Reservation ?? Really??

Read a post on Sagaro's blog on the reservation issue, and some of his points are worth mulling over.

It is pretty evident, that this decision by the Indian Government, (yes, the guys you and I voted for) to increas reservation has multiple reasons, the most evident being vote-bank politics. Which politician, in a power-hungry country like ours, in which only numbers matter, wouldn't want the vote of nearly 77% of the country's population. Sagaro makes a couple of critical points, he says that the backward classes in question have not had a comfortable life like most of the general quota students and have had to work and study simultaneously in state run corporation schools. Agreed. They probably do deserve help from the government. I don't think a lot of us are against the idea of reservation per-se. Its the way its being/ going to be implemented now which concerns us!

From personal experience, I can say that it does hurt when you see a student, one that has studied with you all through school, been a very bright student, scoring lesser marks than you in one of the entrance tests ( and by lesser, I mean, a good 10 percentile points lesser) getting into an IIM, easily the country's best and most prestigious business school. This, when other classmates of yours have to slog and be disappointed in the end, because their seat has been taken by someone else. Is this Fair?? Is it fair that, in an educational institution of international repute (IIT, IIM, NLS, NALSAR, AIIMS etc..), you have a complete class of students, half of them entering via the back-door so as to say?? An argument that has been put forth by the guys who have used the quota system is that they compete against the general quota guys once they have been admitted. If that is what you want, why don't you compete against the general quota guys for the admission. If you're good enough to compete later, you must be good enough to compete now.

On NDTV, the other day, I saw a medic saying that he was from a poor family and din't have enough money to attend coaching classes to prepare for entrance tests. So, he took advantage of the quota system and now is a doctor. Fair play and well done to him !! These are the kind of people the government needs to be taking care of, providing them with assistance to prepare for these tests, maybe provide them good education at the primary and secondary school level, rather than at the graduate level.

Sagaro says,

Reservations have worked wonderfully in India. In IITs people tell me how these SC/ST guys at the first year are shy and aren’t very sociable, but by four years they are better off and even overtake these FC guys.

I don't necessarily agree with this. The aim of these institutions is to produce good engineers. Developing personalities is something that is upto an individual and happens along the way. There have been a lot of cases where these reserved students haven't been able to cope up with the general category students simply because they haven't got the kind of scores that most of their classmates have obtained in the JEE exam. Meaning, the kind of foundation that the others have is lacking somewhat in some of these students. It's not their fault mind you!! It's the system's fault. A system that says, "Ok, a seat is reserved for you, you don't have to work as hard as the rest, IIT mil jayega!!." Is this the kind of students that a premier institute like the IIT needs?? Remember, the IIT's are branded as the best engineering college in the country and brand IIT has a huge impact all over the world.

Increasing seats is not an option either. Lot of logistics and admin related problem crop up, like increasing classrooms, faculty and hostel facilities. This is not a feasible option, not for a while now atleast.. Also, in a country like ours, getting a OBC certificate is not that hard a job!! Or so, I am told!! :)

So, what is the solution?? Possibly a middle path!! Provide monetary assistance to these students, empower them at an early stage, so that, by the time they reach class 12 or so, they would not require to use reservation and compete with the general category students!!! This, in all likelihood, seems like the most plausible way out of this situation for now!! Though, knowing the government and the way politicians think, one never knows!!

Cheers

You know that you're in India when ....

-- You drive on the road and a cow suddenly appears outta nowhere!!!

-- You get caught for breaking traffic rules, and escape with either a very small fine or sometimes even talk your way out of it.. Like " I know this politician. that police officer and so on.. "

-- You find people not using the footpath / sidewalk. What is more, when you take a closer look, you actually find that the sidewalk is used for sleeping :-)

-- You drive down an arterial road in a big city, and suddenly have to slow down because a bullock cart is transporting bricks. The bull and the owner are oblivious to the problem

-- You find people using areas behind trees and bushes for relieving themselves!!

-- You see people crossing roads at all places except pedestrian crossings.

-- Auto Drivers indicating one direction but going completely in the other (Chennai specific)

-- Walk along any shopping area and find brands ranging from Mike, Rebook, Adidaas, Radoo all in the same pavement :P

I love the country :)
India rocks!!
Cheers

My GD/PI Experiences

Lots of people wanted me to write about my Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) experiences. My first one was way back in February whereas the last one was sometime towards the end of March. So, will just write a summary of each one!

Feb 14, 2006 - IIM Indore Venue : IIM Bangalore

GD - There were supposed to be 9 of us in the group. One person decided not to turn up. Hence, it was 8 of us. Topic for discussion was a case study involving some venture capitalist and some company. Very boring case and I couldn't understand anything :P. Hell, I din't even know who a venture capitalist was! Spoke some amount, din't exactly know whether I contributed to the discussion. Overall, a very average GD..
Rating - 5.5/10

PI - Was a two-member panel. Nice and relaxed interview. Touched upon a lot of aspects. There were technical questions which I was able to answer reasonably well! Also some other general questions on politics and sports. On the whole, a feel good type interview. Answered a lot of the questions.
Rating - 8.5/10

Final verdict -SELECTED

Feb 16, 2006 IIM Kozhikode Venue: IIM Bangalore

GD - Supposed to be a 10 member panel, only 7 turned up. GD was peaceful, about sting operations and the ethics of it, money involved, the like..Spoke decently, a better GD than Indore. Would rate it at about 7.5/10
PI- This was weird. There was hardly any tech. Most of the questions involved politics, and seemed like an extension of the GD. They also confused me and had some fun with me ( This I came to know later). Never mind, I got thro.. So peace :)
Rating - 7.5/10
Verdict - SELECTED

Feb 22, 2006 IIM LUCKNOW @IIM B

GD - Was on how good governance is the most effective way to curb and eradicate poverty in our country. Peaceful discussion. 7 member GD. We ran out of points towards the end. Another probable reason was that the moderators warned us beforehand to let everyone speak. I think we were being extra careful though !

PI - Moving on to the interview part, this was easily my worst interview. I was asked about anything and everything from Diamonds to VLSI to politics to capitals of countries. The number of times I uttered the "I Don't know" phrase would have exceeded the number of cows that Laloo Prasad Yadav possesses. In short, even I wouldn't have selected myself. Although, I must add, the IIM L professors seemed to think otherwise and offered me admission. Which I have regretfully denied :P

March 1, 2006 IIM Ahmedabad @ IIM B

Supposedly the mother of all interviews, atleast according to a lot of people!

GD - Supposed to be a 9 member group, one person decided that IIM A was not worth his/her time and hence, decided not to show up! Meant that it was reduced to a 8 member group and the topic was a case study, typical WIMWI style. For the uninitiated, WIMWI is an acronym for Well known Institute of Management in Western India. Was a fun discussion, I actually understood and could contribute to the discussion!

Interview - Again, very generic. Asked me about everything from sport (I had written that I support MAN U in the form), cooum in chennai, politics in TN, different newspapers in the country, and my project (which for the record was a total fraud project).

Well, after speaking to me for about 25 minutes, these guys decided to offer me admission into IIM A and thats where I am headed this June :)

Will talk about the other two in another post!!
Cheers

Time for a Change?? Really ??

Its election time in my state and wherever you go, the mood is the same. Debates within family members as to who will come to power, my grandmom asking me why the DMK is not contesting the Saidapet seat, my driver telling me that DMK is going to come back to power, and I retorting saying that Amma will make it again!!

However, over the past three months or so, there are a couple of other parties that have joined the fray, most notable among them being the Lok Paritran about whom enough has been said an written!! Their campaign managers have been telling us to vote for them because they promise change! And eradication from corruption. They don't promise insane stuff like color TV's and rice for Rs.2. Which is great. Its a refreshing chnage from the verbal wars that the two Dravidian parties have resorted to! Karunanidhi on the one hand says Jayalalitha claims to be working 20 hours a day and appeals to the voters to give her some rest from the 8th of May, not for her benefit, but for the benefit of the party. Jaya on the other hand blames the centre (of which the DMK is a part) for not having assisted the government enough during the tsunami and the rains last year.

There have been quite a few mails floating in my class' yahoo group about the elections, TN politics, Lok paritran, some independents, and even Vijaykanth :) I hear that 'CAPTAIN' is contesting all 234 assembly seats!! Wonder how this is going to affect the vote share of the main parties because he is sure to eat into the vote base of both the DMK and the ADMK, but may not win that many seats! Some students of my class have been involved in the campaign for Lok Paritran and have been using the group as a means to campaign. So, I asked them, why should one vote for the Lok Paritran. The answers I got were various, ranging from the young and enthusiastic party, to the educated people, to the IIT brand. But, really, is it fair that one should gather votes based on a 'brand' like IIT?? I don't think so simply because an IIT + NYU education can prepare you for organisational skills and all that, but you need hands-on experience in grassroot level Indian politics to be able to compete. India is a very diverse nation and different people (sometimes members of the same family) voting for different candidates for a variety of reasons!

Whether both LP and Vijayakanth can eat into the vote base of the dravidian parties, we'll find out, come May 11th!!

As of now, after saturday, all the political parties will have their fates decided by the voters of this state! All I can say is that its going to be a closely fought election and that "Yeh Public Hai, Yeh sab Jaanti Hai".. Roughly translated, it means, "Its the public and knows everything"

Cheers folks

The Power Of Democracy!!

Saw this news story on CNN-IBN this evening. Assembly elections are on in Kerala and in one booth, situated about 2500 mts above Mean Sea Level (MSL) and 60 km from Calicut, there is only one registered voter. This is a remote location nestled among the forests and for just one voter, there are four election commission officials and two security men sitting there from 7 am in the morning waiting for this one man to come and cast his vote. This practice has been going on for years and usually, he comes by 4 in the evening to cast his vote. This time, he had promised to come earlier and it was a funny sight, seeing these officials wait patiently.

He finally came, or rather, the IBN team had to go into the forests to bring him along, and when asked why he insists on voting at this particular election booth, he says that he pays taxes to the government and is justified in his actions. Incidentally, the law is on his side as well, as it states that a polling station should be within a 1.5 km radius of the voter's residence.

Such is the power of democracy! Even a single vote matters ! So, if you guys are reading this and are yet to get voter ID's, please do so ASAP. Your vote might win or lose an election for someone !

Cheers

For Completion Sake:)

Posting this for completion's sake!! The previous part of this post can be found Here..

Am sorry about the size, please click on the images for a better view..

Speechless:-)

What started off as a 'lets give this exam a shot because the others are doing it ended up in THIS today' -)

I am sorry about the size. Click on the picture to get a better look!

Cheers :)

The Premiership title race is back ON!!

Yeah, the race for the premiership is hotting up with Manchester United comprehensviely beating Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Mourinho must be a worried man now!

Go RED DEVILS!!!

Ad--vert-ise-ments!

As a result of my TV remote conking out ( batteries drained) coupled with my laziness to replace those batteries, I was forced to watch the same channel on TV for the entire day. I attribute this to my laziness in getting up and changing the channel manually. Also, the match on TV wasn't all that bad and it was worth a watch. Yes, even though Saurav wasn't playing :(

Anyways, usually, when I watch TV, I keep channel surfing, especially during the commerical breaks, much to my mom's irritation. She claims that it hurts the eye if channels are changed rapidly. Don't know whether that is true or not, but for the record, I have good eyesight and do not wear glasses or lenses.

But today, I was forced to watch these advertisements on Sahara One. I think that some of these commericals are downright crazy and have no relation to the product that they are trying to sell. I like Airtel's ads. Nice and enjoyable to watch. The entire series, right from the time A.R.Rahman composed the song which became a rage until the recent Shah Rukh Khan - promoted ones have all been nice. Recently, airtel has come out with something called the music shop and it has to be the best ad I watched today!

Other nice commercials that I have liked include the one with Hutch and the dog ( FYI, I do not like hutch with pink now and I don't use hutch anyway). I saw a new ad for lifebuoy soap, one with a kid and all. I think advertising products using kids helps 'cos it grabs the viewer's attention.

My current favorite is the Airtel one !!

On the other side, I can't stand these commercials for beauty products!! Some of them are downright silly and you don't really know what they are selling unless they actually show you the product. The one that takes the cake is the Fair and Lovely ad with kris srikanth in it!! Highly illogical. Or these detergent advertisements where each one claims to be the best!!

Later edit::

Got new batteries!! Won't be seeing ads for a while now!

Cheers

Dada Army!!

Read about this in today's paper! Apparently, a group of Indian fans have started something called Dada Army in order to compete with the Barmy Army. For the uninformed, the Barmy Army comprises of a group of English supporters who travel with the cricket team to all places.

Maybe time for the real 'DADA' to make a return to the team ;)..
What say guys?? The man is after all a class plyer..

Nostalgia??

nos·tal·gi·a
1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.


For some, nostalgia is just a word in the dictionary. It was the same for me too. Until a couple of days back!!

I've felt nostalgic about school life quite a few times, but not to a great extent.
I was thinking a few days back, that these last few weeks are going to be the last ones of my academic life at the undergraduate level!! And suddenly, I realised that I would miss college!! Yeah, all you SVCEians out there who are reading this, yes guys.. All said and done, I would still miss SVCE.. Would miss the campus.. The people.. Everything associated with it!!

To add to all this, a friend of mine sent me a link to some pictures of the school campus.. Nostalgic about that too.. Have spent the last couple of days reminiscing life at school and the fun we all had!!

Cheers

Quotable Quotes:-)

Credit for this post goes to all my classmates of ECE 2002 - 2006 (SVCE).

Some of the gems that my professors have told us over the past three and a half years:-) Sit back and enjoy...
Disclaimer :- The contents of this post are meant to be taken lightly and are not intended to offend anyone!! I am sorry if this offends anyone.

A certain management professor said this!!

You cannot afford to offer yourself to anybody during my class hours"

If u want to go personally by 1.30, go

By the time time will get over

The subject under the topic

do not allow interruptions to yourself

chairman has come today for the day

if not today,atleast by today's evening

all those earlier days was over now

nothing of that kind of thing

dont make my class a moral value

And this latest quote takes the cake! A classmate had actually noted this down and produced it verbatim!

The class started off with him saying, "Occupy the front seats"

And then he goes on to say, "I have been seeing that all of you people of this class are always sitting in the back rows YAAH and HESITATING to come in the front and occupy the so many seats available in the first few rows YAAH.. and you people are always going back YAAH.. So I tell all of you to leave the seats in the back benches and sit in the front seats of the first few rows.."


Apparently, my friend needed an additional sheet of paper on this particular day as my professor was in full flow:-).

Some more from the same day:-

"U cannot take ur leave between the afternoons"...he has more than 1 afternoon in a day I guess!!

A chap walks in late to class and he says, "HOD asked me to absent mark you."

Another professor who taught us in our first year had this to say:-)

He was trying to point out to someone in class and some other guy stood up and says, "Who, Myself??" For that, he replies, "No No, Not myself, but next to the myself :-)"

More in the next few posts.

I've been feeling particularly nostalgic thinking about all these memorable moments gone by!:-(

Had typed this post a week ago, but circumstances prevented me from posting this.

Cheers

Ramesh J (1984 - 2006)

A dear friend of mine, Ramesh, passed away this afternoon in a horrific road accident. Affectionately known as 'Base', he was an amazing guy to spend time with, always living life to the fullest and having fun! He was all set to go the United States with a fellowship as well!!

Dude, we all will miss you man!! Take care!

And guys, if you're reading this, please please drive carefully!

Today's fortune on Orkut :-)

In God we trust; all others must pay cash

So, out with the cash guys!!!

Cheers

I can't sleep....

And I don't know why........

Knotting a Tie!!!

I went to shop for some formal wear yesterday. Got a couple of shirts, a couple of trousers and came out feeling all good about the money spent!

Now, there was this little business of buying a tie, since I did not own one. Now, ties, I must add are very expensive, which is weird, considering that they have the least amoount of cloth on them!! Such are the strange ways of the fashion world. Once, I was watching this show on NDTV called Bombay Talkies where they were interviewing a well known fashion designer (don't remember his name now). Anyways, the stuff at his boutique costed anywhere from 50 grand to about 3 lakhs... 3 lakhs!!!!!!! That's how much it costs to perform an entire wedding!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, lets not digress.. Now, where was I?? Ahh, yeah!! TIES..
So, i go back to this store, in search of a tie. I find one that I like, and then focus my attention on the price tag. It was something like 799 bucks!! I am like, what??? That's how much a shirt costs, and I am sure that more work goes into making a shirt than a tie.. But then, as I said strange are the ways of the fashion world!!

Coming to the ties, common sense prevailed and I decided against spending 800 bucks on something that I am probably going to wear as many times as Saurav Ganguly is going to score a century. So, I went to an uncle, raided his wardrobe and am back with a few ties.

Yay!!! A good day's work, one might think!!
But, I DON'T know how to knot a tie!!!!
*Sigh*

Note to self - Learn to knot tie!!!!

Later Edit

The fashion designer was Tarun Tahiliani!

Cheers

Google Chat

Used Google Chat today!
Its an amazing feature!
Trust google to come up with such innovations!
Cheers

P.S - Will come up with a meaningful post soon!! Too many deadlines to meet :(

FED - EX

At the risk of sounding cliched, the best man on the tour right now is ROGER FEDERER. He plays at a different level when compared to his peers and frankly, I can't see anyone challenging him for the Australian Open singles title.

He just finished beating Tommy Haas, who for his part, pushed Roger hard and actually took it to a fifth set decider. In the first two sets, he seemed like a man in a hurry, winning it pretty comfortably. Then, suddenly, he began to look mortal and made a few errors, resulting in Haas winning the next two sets. In the decider, it was Federer all the way winning it 6-2.

Hope he goes on to win the open, especially with the No. 2 and 3 seeds out!!!

Hilarious!!!

Far easier than typing a post!! Will put up a more meaningful one soon!!
Cheers

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm" You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone... Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-) You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear. Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing. The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person. Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life. You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face. Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

Happy 2006, random thoughts and more!

Yeah, I know, I haven't been paying much attention to my blog recently. I could blame it on exams and lack of time, but its just me being really lazy!

First things first, almost a week has passed since the first sunrise of 2006 and let me wish you guys a very happy new year. Better late than never, I might add!!

Its been a good week, actually, an excellent first week of 2006. I am currently in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh attending a conference on VLSI design. Well, I primarily came to the conference because I needed a change and I am thoroughly enjoying it! Met a lot of people, went out and saw the city and its changed since the last time I was here was in November 1999. To top it all off, I am having a lot of fun at the conference itself. Whoever thought that a conference was only for old people and techies who have nothing better to do, think again! Its been organised very well, with a lot of entertainment provided by the sponsors. ATI are the chief sponsors and they have a stall with an X Box 360 and some really cute models :-P. Needless to say, I have been spending quite a bit of time at that particular stall (Playing games actually, lest you dirty minds think otherwise). That apart, the entire setting at the Taj Krishna and the conference is amazing. I've met a few people who I never thought I'll meet and its been good.

I also had started a post regarding some of my observations on this city, but I haven't completed that yet and will post it up soon!

Digressing to a completely different point, I have a few decisions to make, I am hoping that I don't have to make them for a couple of months atleast, and I also have to finish a lot of pending work that I have been putting off for a while now!
For those who did not understand the last paragraph, don't bother! It's just me rambling!!
Happy 2006 everyone!
Cheers

P.S - Am typing this from the lobby of the Taj and hence limited internet access. Shall put up a much longer post when time permits.

One year on...

One year ago, on this day, a killer tsunami struck the coast of Southern India causingmassive loss to both life and property. I was watching NDTV just now, and they carried a special episode from Karaikal, on the eastern coast of India. Actually, all through the day, NDTV has been airing specials on the aftermath of the tsunami and taking a look at how life moves on for the people affected by this terrible terrible disaster.

Even though I wasn't in any way affected by the wave, I know a classmate of mine, originally from Cuddalore, whose family business was ruined by this wave and its taken them quite a while to rebuild it from scratch again. Another friend of mine had a narrow escape on ECR on Dec 26th 2004. There have been numerous people who were affected both directly and indirectly by the tsunami. As I was watching NDTV, A.R.Rahman and his troupe of singers including Sivamani, the percussionist were performing in Karaikal free of cost, just to bring some joy among the locals living there. It was really nice to see the children smiling again, the people thoroughly enjoying the music and for a few hours atleast, leave their troubles and agonies behind and savouring the moment. Another story that I saw on NDTV Profit was from Nagapattinam and how the government had set up a fixed deposit of Rs.5 Lac for children who had lost both parents in the disaster and Rs.3 Lac for all those who had lost one parent. Also, many offers have poured in from generous minded folks willing to sponsor a child's higher education. I believe that adoption is also an option, but the government is playing safe and letting NGO's, and reputed ones at that, handle the entire situation.

In Cuddalore, there was a story of a 9 year old boy, who had lost his entire family except his little sibling,all of 3 years old. The problem here was they had been separated on the fateful day and the baby was handed over to the first person who was willing to take her. Now, Tanveer, is on a mission to find his sibling.

On one side, we have families trying to rebuild their lives, and moving on with things, living in government provided shelters and waiting to move into permanent houses, and on the other side, the darker side, we have stories like Tanveer's, for whom the bitter and painful memories of Dec 26th 2004 haven't diminished. Such stories do tend to move you and I can only hope that no further hardships occur and that these people will also be able to lead a normal life and most of all, enjoy living! Sometimes, I wonder, at how fortunate we are.

Today has been a day of mixed emotions, some good, some painful, a day of remembrance, a day spent in saying thank you to the Almighty for having helped these people tide over the last one year, a day of hope, a hope that the souls of those unfortunate people rest in peace, a day of sorrow and grief for some, a day of happiness for some, happiness in the sense that one year has passed and that things can only get better from now on!!! Its a sad memory indeed!

One year on....

IBN

IBN has been launched and is officially on air from last friday (16th of December). I don't get it in Chennai and I am calling the cable operator to find out why!

For the uninformed, IBN is the 24 hour english news channel started by CNBC and at the helm is Rajdeep Sardesai, the journo who quit NDTV last April. His wife, who is also a journalist is helping him with the channel and the website is pretty well designed as well! Slight touches of NDTV, but then, some of NDTV's men are working here as well! Bhupendra Choubey, who used to cover the BJP in NDTV is chief political corrspondent (or some thing like that), Anubha Bhosle is another familiar face, Prabhakar Kumar is another. Also, ex headlines today man H.R.Venkatesh is with NDTV and works the parliament beat.

One interesting section on the web page is the blogs section where some of the people at IBN blog about their job. Incidentally, Rajdeep also has one and his first post is on the launch and the behind the scenes work involved in starting a news channel!! And it gets updated everyday! So, give it a read when time permits!! There is also a section named your voice in which blogs are quoted! So, yeah, seems a nice initiative from IBN.

Cheers

Googlism

Its something that I found online.
Googlism is a site using which you can find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!

Try this! Its fun!

Yeah, also, my exam has been deferred again! What else is new??

Fanoos

Fanoos - What a name to give to a cyclone/storm. Wonder which language and what it means??
Fanoos has advanced and is likely to hit the Tamil Nadu Coast soon. I just hope everyone is geared up and no loss of life or property occurs. But seriously, I don't think this state can take another bout of rains! Its already cloudy as I type this!


Click here to view the cyclone three days ago!

Cheers

Another One??

Reports are saying that one more low pressure region is forming in SE Asia and may move in the direction of India and strike the coast of TN and Andhra (don't know where).

Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen and the weather men are wrong like they always are. Seriously, this city can't take another bout of rain! Its already overflowing!

But, the satellite picture doesn't look too good, does it. :-(

P.S - I have circled the areas which look scary!!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Archana and here I go!!

7 things that I plan to do:

Study for my exam on monday
Back pack through Europe
Climb Mt.Everest
Start playing tennis once again
Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Watch a football game at Old Trafford
Complete this tag

7 things that I can do:

Talk non stop on any topic
Prepare for monday's exam
Watch the Lok Sabha proceedings without getting bored.
Solve the hindu crossword
Spend hours online playing scrabble
Tag atleast one more person
Finish this tag

7 things that I can't do:

Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Play Quake
Dance well :P
Stand next to a bird ( The flying kind!!!!)
Drink plain milk
Understand the purpose of the GRE
Understand how the US university admission system works

7 Words I use most Often:

LOL
Ok
ahhhh
alright
Hey
Oh
Yeah

7 blogs(untagged ones) that I wish to tag:

Camphor
S
Zydar
Brownie

and anyone else who is willing.

Cheers

Cricket in the Rains!!

The last three matches in Chennai have been disrupted due to wet weather and its high time the BCCI took note of this fact. Matches should not be scheduled in Chennai during this time of the year.

Sharad Pawar is the new president and I hope that it makes a difference. There is another test match beginning in about 7 hours time. I sincerely hope that Cyclone Baaz either finds an alternate route or stays put in the Indian Ocean for a few days.

Cheers

Goodbye Laloo, Welcome Nitish!

The Bihar verdict is out!! The voters have spoken!! Its been a vote for change this time in Bihar with the Rashtriya Janata Dal( RJD) alliance virtually wiped out of power in the state. Out of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly, the National Democratic Alliance comprising the Janata Dal United and the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged a whopping 145 seats, well clear of the magic number of 122. The blame game has started but it was refreshing to see Laloo accept defeat gracefully and welcoming the new government in Bihar.

As far as the media coverage goes, it was extensive with every news channel wanting a chunk of the limelight. I even noticed that the different news channels were jostling over who gets to talk to the winner first and it ended with Barkha Dutt of NDTV dragging a NDA MP and filming an interview with him. It was also surprising to see Rajdeep Sardesai on CNBC. He has joined the channel and is currently involved in launching a 24 hour English news channel called IBN. Lots of ex NDTV journos are now involved in it and are helping Rajdeep as well. Hoping that it launches soon, because for Indian Politics, Rajedeep Sardesai is the man to watch.

On to other happenings and the India V South Africa match was abandoned in Chennai today due to persistent rain. Sad, considering that I had gone to the stadium and had to return disappointed.

The biggest challenge that the NDA has is to improve Bihar. The big question to be asked here is whether anyone can ever improve Bihar to a large extent and put Bihar on the path to recovery. Its a question, which will be answered, perhaps as time passes.

Cheers from a very wet Chennai!!

Heights of desperation??

I was orkutting in general and found some scraps in girls' scrap books that really speak of these guys' very low self esteem. Call it weird/funny/desperate, I think it speaks volumes about the heights of desperation that these guys are going through.
Some excerpts from random scrap books:

hi..thought of scrapping becoz im badly n need of freindz...n ur profile 2 is impressive..just check out mine n decide...but whtever it b plz do scrap back...me waiting.......

hiiiiiiiii
know me no na i know how can u know me if u wanna then add me up.
one compliment u looking graet a typical indian girl

Hi xxx... yyy from zzz. Came across ur profile. Nice 2 c u. Like 2 be in ur buddies list. Will u add me to it? Scrap me n we'll know 'bout each other

And this one takes the cake!!!

Hi ,

I am xxx here from yyy.

Tell me abt ur self!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you knw tamil language!!!!!!!!!

eppadi iruuka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DDDDiiiiiiii

Disclaimer:
I have just picked up some random quotes and have no intention of offending anyone.

Cheers,

WHAT????????

Roy Keane has left Manchester United Football Club!!!!!!!!! This is the latest news and the most shocking piece of news I have heard in a while!

Apparently, the future at the club was untenable and after playing for tweleve years, it was time to move on!!! Getting Michael Ballack to Old Trafford seems to be even more important now!

More on the story later!!
We all will miss you KEANO!!!

*Later edit:The Manchester United website has some more news and quotes from Sir Alex, David Gill and the man himself.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said:
“Roy Keane has been a fantastic servant for Manchester United. The best midfield player in the world of his generation, he is already one of the great figures in our Club’s illustrious history. Roy has been central to the success of the Club in the last 12 ½ years and everyone at Old Trafford wishes him well in the rest of his career and beyond”

Roy Keane said:
“It has been a great honour and privilege for me to play for Manchester United for over 12 years. During my time at the Club I have been fortunate to play alongside some of the best players in the game and in front of the best supporters in the world. At all times I have endeavoured to do my best for the management and the team.

"Whilst it is a sad day for me to leave such a great Club and Manager I believe that the time has now come for me to move on. After so many years, I will miss everyone at the Club.

"I send my best wishes for the future to the management, players, staff and supporters of the Club.”

Chief Executive David Gill said:
“Roy has been a towering figure at the Club for over a decade. His dedication, ta
lent and leadership have been qualities that have marked him out as one of the true greats. On behalf of everyone at the Club, we wish him every success in his future career.”

I am still in a state of shock. It was a common rumour that Roy was leaving at the end of the season and all Man Utd fans were prepared for that. But, so early and suddenly!!! Astounding! He din't even get to play a farewell game at Old Trafford!!!

Its Exam time.. Again..

Yeah, its that time of the year when one is required to prove to the university that he/she has gained something over the past few months. Its exam time again folks! Its 2 in the morning and my exam about 32 hours away and I am not even close to being prepared.

Shall keep updating as and when time permits
Cheers everyone!

Minister without a portfolio

News came in this evening that Natwar Singh has been stripped of his Foreign Ministry portfolio. Apparently, the official reason was that there would be a conflict of interest since the committee set up to probe the Volcker report would have to contact the United Nations Officials via the External Affairs Ministry. Clearly, Natwar Singh then could not remain boss.

However, he has not been asked to leave the cabinet. Which means, he still gets Union minister treatment like a free bungalow, free telephone calls every month, and other allowances that only union ministers are eligible for. And whats more, he doesn't have to discharge any duties till his name is cleared.

Talk about leading a relaxed life!

Normal Service Resumes!

Manchester United finally put in a performance that was long awaited this evening at Old Trafford. Their opponents -- the premiership champions and seemingly invincible Chelsea. It was over a year ago that Chelsea last suffered a premiership defeat. Incidentally, that was also in Manchester.

It had been a tough 7 days for Sir Alex and his side as Man Utd got comprehensively beaten by Middlesborough 4-1 last weekend and then by Lille in the Champions League in midweek. Captain Roy Keane ( who is injured btw) got into the players and criticized them for their lack of committment and desire on the pitch. But, it seemed a long shot. I for one, did not expect United to beat Chelsea because I thought that Chelsea just had too much quality in the midfield with the likes of Essien, Shaun Wright Philips, Lampard, Joe Cole, Duff, Makelele, and Robben.

We started well, kept up the momentum, scored a goal through a wonderful header from Scottish international Darren Fletcher and soaked up the pressure from Chelsea in the final third of the match.

The victory brings us within 10 points of Chelsea with a game in hand. Thats against Wigan Athletic, who are new comers to the Premiership and currently lie second above United and below Chelsea. I hope that this is the turning point of our season and this win enables us to put together a good string of results and hopefully catch Chelsea

GO REDS!!!
Cheers,

Another Test, more interesting though!

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (83%) high which suggests you are very relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.. Orderliness (43%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

trait snapshot:
rarely irritated, positive, tough, non phobic, fearless, likes the unknown, self reliant, high self control, confident, trusting, strong instincts, prudent, optimistic, willful, likes parties, prefers a specialized career, takes charge, altruistic, strong, high self concept, adventurous, practical, thoughtful

Looking at the results, I would say they are reasonably accurate!
Test courtesy Brownie
Cheers,

Its the festive season, but......

Its that time of the year again! Diwali is coming up in about 24 hours and so is Id/ramzan later this week! So, its celebration time for a lot of people all over the country and to those desis living outside India.

However, this year in itself has been characterized by quite a few calamities resulting in a lot of people losing their lives. It started of with the Tsunami (techincally, it was in 2004 but still.. ), then there were the hurricanes Katrina and Wilma (nice names for hurricanes!!!), the POK quake, the floods in Mumbai (Bombay), rains in Chennai. There have also been other terrorist attacks both in London and in New Delhi. Not to forget the train accident a couple of days ago in Andhra due to the rains!

So, while we celebrate, it is only fitting that we take a moment to remember the poor and innocent souls who lost their lives for no fault of theirs.

If you're planning to celebrate and have fun, please remember that there are so many people out there who have been deprived of their near and dear ones and who can't celebrate!

Happy Diwali and have a wonderful time this festive season!

Cheers,

Egpytian Hieroglyphs

My name in Egyptian!!!
Cheers,

My name using Egyptian Hieroglyphs!

Try your name

Script by

The brain test

Another one of those online tests!!

Abhi, you are Left-brained

Most left-brained people like you feel at ease in situations requiring verbal ability, attention to detail, and linear, analytical ability. Whether you know it or not, you are a much stronger written communicator than many, able to get your ideas across better than others.

It's also likely that you are methodical and efficient at many things that you do. You could also be good at math, particularly algebra, which is based on very strict rules that make sense to your logical mind.

Taken at around 11 pm. Courtesy Sanjeev.
You can barely see the mechanic in the background.
For details, refer previous post Here.

Cheers,

A Tiring day, I must say!!

Yeah, Saturday was a pretty tiring day and I was totally gone when I came back home. Hence the delay in the post.

I had to go to college inspite of the fact that it was a saturday. To make things worse, I had slept only at 4 am on Fri night, wait, scratch that, make it Saturday morning. Hence woke up feeling all groggy and was still in a somnolent state as I trudged into college. I had two tests, part of the Continuous Assessment Tests (CAT) as the SVCE junta call it. And in between these two, we had a gap of about 2 hours. I had to run around to pick up a few photocopies, get records signed, meet my recommenders and a whole lot of other work. And even though I had 2 hours in the morning before the first exam, yours truly hadn't touched his books and hence had to spend the time sleeping/studying/looking around, not necessarily in that order.

First exam done and I had given a reasonably good paper. Started work on the aforementioned photocopies, records and recommendations et al.. Yeah, I had to have lunch also in the middle since I was starving. I had gotten up late and had hence missed breakfast. Another task at hand was to prepare for the second exam. Anyway, I got around to doing most of these things and gave a good paper much to my surprise.

Boarded the bus and got some much needed shuteye. Sleep is the most refreshing thing! The level by which one's concentration improves after a nap is amazing. Ok, Enough digressing. Back to where I was. Yes, I am back home and eat something and settle down on the couch to watch a football match. A friend of mine calls and says lets go to Landmark. (Btw, for the uninformed, Landmark is a huge bookstore in Chennai). But before that he said, he needed to go to the ATM for withdrawing some cash. Since he didn't have a bike at that moment, it was decided that I pick him up and we first visit the ATM and then make pur way to Landmark. Mind you, the time was 7.35 pm already. I leave asap and reach RK's place (the friend is RK, Btw) and we head towards Pondy Bazaar. This ATM was somewhere close to Maya's plaza and it was on the right hand side of the road. RK suggested that I take a right some 100 metres before and just park and wait while he goes to the ATM. This is beacuse there was no place to turn opposite the ATM. Being the wise guy that I am, I rode along slowly on the bike on the wrong side of the road looking around for a place to park. I had completely forgotten that there was a police station next to the ATM.

Well, a plainclothes cop caught me and demanded to see my license. I demanded to see his Identity Card and he produced one. Likewise, I returned the favor producing the Driver's license. He was drunk and high and was talking as if he was the head of the police force. All I could do was humor him and by this time, RK had also joined in. He demanded 110 bucks and told us to go into the station, get a challan(or whatever he called it.. don't really remember) and pay at a mobile court on monday. We were getting late as it was past 8 already and we din't know when Landmark would close. Our man then launched into a long story about he finishing B.A in 1971 (Congratulations, Mr. Head Constable) and that he had a son who was about our age pursuing Engineering in Jeppiar College. ( Well done, Mr.Son of Mr. Head Constable, you make your papa proud!!). RK found this bit funny , I must say. I wisecracked saying, "We are also like your son, can't you let us go this one," for which both Mr.Head Constable and RK launch into vociferous laughter. Anyway, we humored him and then paid him 50 bucks by which he probably would have gone to the nearest wine shop and gotten himself another "quarter". I know people, its encouraging corruption but then, it was getting late and we din't want to go through a whole bunch of paperwork.

This done, we finally made our way to Landmark and reached there by 8.28. Went in and we were done with our work in 5 mins. Both me and RK were browsing through the books section till the landmark people decided to shut up shop and switched off all the lights. Time for us to leave. By this time, we were both reasonably hungry as well. Made our way to Sweet Chariot, just across the road from Landmark at the Ispahani Center. Had something to eat, and finally I dropped RK off at about 10 pm.

Did i say finally?? Well, that was what I thought as well. Was looking forward to going home and watch the highlights of Man Utd playing Sunderland. But alas! It was not to be. My vehicle developed a flat rear tire near little mount and the time was about 10.15. I had to wheel the bike for about a kilometre and half till a petrol bunk. Unfortunately, the shop there was closed, (why blame the poor shop owner, it was saturday night, he probably would have gone off for a nice booze or a movie with his lovely wife) and I decided to call Sanjeev whose house was quite near. Sanjeev came and we decided to park the bike at his place and then come and take it the next day. As luck would have it, at about a distance of 300 metres from the petrol bunk, there was one puncture shop that was still open, mind you, the time was about 10.45 now. On removing the tube, this chap said that there are 4 punctures, one fresh one and three at places where the stickers from earlier puncture mendings was peeling off! He said that I would be better of buying a new tube. Logical, yes! Except for the fact that I would not be able to buy a tube at that unearthly hour. This man offered to buy me one from a house of some mysterious person who will not talk to customers. The deal was that both me and him go to the guy' place but I stay out of sight. Sounded maha shady to me. I refused telling him to mend the punctures and that I would have the tube changed at my convenience. Sanjeev, thanks for giving me company dude! I owe you one.

Got the bike mended at 11.30 and drove back home all tired and irritated. I wanted to post this yesterday but was just not upto it.
Phew! This has ended up being a long post, though I din't intend to make it one!
If you are still here, thanks for being patient.
Cheers,

I am an easy rider!!??

Got this from some blog when I was randomly blog-hopping. Why don't you guys take the test as well!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Cheers,

Untitled

I couldn't come up with a title:-D.
Anyways, been pretty busy with a lot of stuff lately, mainly applying stuff. This thing just takes up so much of your time!! Will post soon!!
have a great weekend
Cheers,

Chappell vs Ganguly : Is the saga over??? - Part 2 of a two part post

To continue from where I left off in Part 1, there were other allegations levelled against Ganguly. One of them was that Ganguly spread tall tales about stuff that Chappell supposedly told him but Chappell denied these things by saying that Sourav only targeted middle order batsmen as they were the people most likely to replace the skipper in the Indian Line-up.

Chappell concludes by saying
"As I said to you during our meeting in Colombo, I have serious reservations about the attitude of some players and about Sourav and his ability to take this team to a new high, and none of the things he has done since his reappointment has caused me to change my view. In
fact, it has only served to confirm that it is time for him to move on and let someone else build their team toward the 2007 World Cup.

This team has been made to be fearful and distrusting by the rumour mongering and deceit that is Sourav's modus operandi of divide and rule. Certain players have been treated with favour, all of them bowlers, while others have been shunted up and down the order or left out of the team to suit Sourav's whims.

Ladies and Gentlemen ( and third sex too!!), the jury is out on this issue. And I guess, time is the best judge on all these matters.

**Updates**

Freddie Flintoff has spoken against Ganguly by calling him arrogant and terming him "Lord Snooty". Read the full story here.

Sunil Gavaskar on the other hand has spoken in favour of Ganguly but as he himslef admits, he has seen very little of Ganguly.

**End Updates**
And I am sure this is not the last we are hearing about this!
Cheers,

Chappell vs Ganguly : Is the saga over??? - Part 1 of a two part post

I would think not!!! Judging by the run of events today, definitely not! Chappell and Ganguly were called upon to present their respective cases in front of the BCCI's special committee. This committee consisted of noted names like Ravi Shastri, Sunny Gavaskar and BCCI (*so called*) administrators like S.K Nair and Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the president. Also present was past BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, though I can't understand why he was called.

A quick flashback as nothing of great significance took place today. All the action took place over the last few days!

It all started with Saurav Ganguly telling the media after the first test match in Zimbabwe that he had been asked to step down by the coach. This was later denied by Greg Chappell in his by-now-famous E-mail to the BCCI president. More on that later.
This was the beginning of what would turn out to be one of the most hostile and much publicized confrontations in Indian Cricket's long history.

This done, soon after the Zimbabwe tour ended, Greg Chappell fired an email to the BCCI defending his position in the entire matter and also voicing his views on the current state of the Indian team and its captain. This was a 6 page email that was leaked to the media (sources unknown :-))

Greg Chappell begins by saying that he had never asked Sourav to step down but to rethink his position after the end of the series. Ganguly had asked him for his opinion on his current batting form to which Chappell replied, "I told him that I thought he was struggling as a player and that it was affecting his ability to lead the team effectively and that the pressure of captaincy was affecting his ability to play to his potential. I also told him that his state of mind was fragile and it showed in the way that he made decisions on and off the field in relation to the team, especially team selection."

He goes on to say that Ganguly used to make frequent changes to the team and that his frame of mind was not proper and this reflected on his decision making skills both on and off the pitch!

He also added and I quote :
"I also told Sourav that his nervous state was affecting the team in other ways as he was prone to panic during pressure situations in games and that his nervous demeanour was putting undue pressure on the rest of the team. His nervous pacing of the rooms during our batting in the final plus his desire to change the batting order during our innings in the final had also contributed to nervousness in the players waiting to go in to bat. His reluctance to bat first in games I suggested was also giving wrong signals to the team and the opposition and his nervousness at the crease facing bowlers like Shane Bond from NZ was also affecting morale in the dressing room".

Chappell further goes on to say that based on all these above mentioned observations and some other comments from fellow team members, he is of the opinion that Sourav should consider stepping down and allow some other member (Rahul) to lead the team and look ahead to the WC 2007!

Coming to the most shocking part according to me! The feigining of injury during the practice match against a weak Zimbabwe 'A' side!! According to Greg Chappell,
"The following day Sourav batted in the match against Zimbabwe 'A' team in the game in Mutare. I am not sure of the exact timing of events because I was in the nets with other players when Sourav went in to bat, but the new ball had either just been taken or was imminent when I saw Sourav walking from the field holding his right arm. I assumed he had been hit and made my way to the players' area where Sourav was receiving treatment from the team physiotherapist, John Gloster.

When I enquired as to what had happened Sourav said he had felt a click in his elbow as he played a ball through the leg side and that he thought he should have it investigated. Sourav had complained of pain to his elbow at various stages of the one-day series, but he had resisted having any comprehensive investigation done and, from my observation, had been spasmodic in his treatment habits, often not using ice-packs for the arm that had been prepared for him by John Gloster. I suggested, as had John Gloster, that we get some further tests done immediately. Sourav rejected these suggestions and said he would be 'fine'. When I queried what he meant by 'fine' he said he would be fit for the Test match. I then queried why then was it necessary to be off the field now. He said that he was just taking 'precautions'.

Rather than make a scene with other players and officials in the vicinity I decided to leave the matter and observe what Sourav would do from that point on. After the loss of Kaif, Yuvraj and Karthik to the new ball, Sourav returned to the crease with the ball now around 20 overs old. He struggled for runs against a modest attack and
eventually threw his wicket away trying to hit one of the spinners over the leg side.

The next day I enquired with a number of the players as to what they had thought of Sourav's retirement. The universal response was that it was 'just Sourav' as they recounted a list of times when Sourav had suffered from mystery injuries that usually disappeared as quickly as they had come. This disturbed me because it confirmed for me that he was in a fragile state of mind and it was affecting the mental state
of other members of the squad.

When we arrived in Bulawayo I decided I needed to ask Sourav if he had over-played the injury to avoid the danger period of the new ball as it had appeared to me and others within the touring party that he had protected himself at the expense of others. He denied the suggestion and asked why he would do that against such a modest attack. I said that he was the only one who could answer that question.

Rest in part 2
Cheers!

Dress codes, mobile phone ban, What next???

Anna University has done it again!!!(don't think that it is fit to be called a university anymore, more like a prison) Quite clearly, there is a generation gap between the VC of the univ and the students of today. I don't think anything else would explain the actions taken by him and mentioned in the title!!

Recently, he announced a bizzare set of rules that would apply to all the 230 odd colleges that are affiliated to this Univ. That constitues like most of the engineering colleges in the state barring the IIT, NIT and a few deemed universities. Banning mobile phones during lecture hours is one thing, imposing a blanket ban on them is another. What rights does the university possess to tell me when and where to use my mobile phone?? I agree that its use can be curbed during the lecture hours but not during my free time!! Does the university pay my bill?? Considering the fact that most of the colleges are located outside the city limits, cell phones are essential as many a time, delays can occur on account of traffic jams and students need to inform their loved ones at home in order to reassure them!!

Coming to the dress code part, this is the most ridiculous rule I have ever come across. Fine, I agree that students should dress conservatively but this doesn't mean he tells us what to wear. This move seems to be a sexist one according to the girls because it prohibits them to wear anything other than Salwars. Tell me, does this mean that guys will stop ogling at them and concentrate on academics. Students who study regularly will continue to do so and people who don't won't change their attitude overnight and start concentrating on their books just because such weird rules are imposed!!! It doesn't spare guys as well, we apparently are not allowed to wear jeans!!! What!! Why!!! Reason given is that engineers are professionals and should dress professionally. I mean, its the brains of the engineer that matters and not the appearance in the end!!! Most college goers are teenagers or people just out of their teens, they shouldn't be told what to wear!! At an age where they are allowed to drive, drink leaglly, elect a Prime Minister, use credit cards, the last thing they want is for someone to tell them what to wear!!! I think the univ should stick to imparting education and not moral policing. Parents know best and when they don't object, why should the Univ?? Do you really think that this rule would be followed by students?? I don't think so as the only thing that guys wear is their unwashed faded blue denims.

Instead of wasting its time on such trivial things, the Anna Univ must concentrate on improving the standards of
1. Question Papers

2. Evaluation System ( The less said the better!!)

3. Supporting colleges by providing infrastructure

4.Good quality faculty

I could go on and on!!!!

Footnote:-
Quote from the Anna Univ website. Read it here

Its been pasted here for easy reference!!


Taking its penchant for disciplinarian education a step further, Anna University has banned the use of cell phones and prescribed a dress code for students in all engineering colleges across the State from Thursday.

It will also take a serious view of any film-based cultural events being held in such colleges, Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan told The Hindu .

The restrictions will be in force in 227 engineering colleges, apart from the university's four constituent colleges where a ban on camera phones is in force. The varsity has dispatched letters to the effect to the institutions. "There will be no military-like strictness in implementing the rule and institutions have been asked to go about it in a phased manner," Dr. Viswanathan said. Students violating the ban will be warned and then proceeded against according to the code of conduct rules.

The dress code states that students should not wear jeans, t-shirts, skirts or sleeveless and tight-fitting outfits and enjoins them to dress conservatively.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, while certain outfits detract from the seriousness of academic pursuits, cell phones, especially those that come with cameras, cause problems on campus and eat into valuable lecture time.

THE ASHES HELD ALOFT

this might be on everyone's blog!!! But what the hell!! :-P

The Ashes are back with the English!!!

For all you non-cricket lovers out there, forgive me for posting about the ashes twice in a row. Well, this post is slightly behind time but what the hell!!! Better late than never!!

If you haven't already heard it from someone, hear it now..

THE ENGLISH HAVE WON THE ASHES !!!!!!

Michael Vaughan and his team have totally outplayed Ricky Ponting's men and have beaten them comprehensively to bring the ashes back to the Northern Hemisphere after a gap of 18 years. Ricky Ponting was gracious in defeat though accepting that England were just too good for them. A quick recap:

Lords - England beaten comprehensively by a margin of over 200 runs! I was like, this is going to be another one-sided affair with the Aussies steamroling the Englishmen.

Edgbaston - A thriller which went right down to the wire!! England should have won easily but Brett Lee played a heroic innings but England prevailed winning by the slimmest margin of 2 runs

Manchester - Again a thriller, the Aussies were forced to hang on till the last ball, infact for four overs, McGrath and Lee survived Harmison and Man of the Series Flintoff. Match Ends in a draw

Trent Bridge - This was a superb performance by England and they won this by 3 wickets

The Brit Oval - It was all down to this one test match. England needed to avoid defeat to get the ashes and that is exactly what they did. Another fact which helped was that it rained quite a lot and a lot of time was lost to that.

Never again will umpire Rudi Koertzen remove the bails to such a loud cheer. England had done it!!!!! And the ashes were back!!!!!

What a thriller!!!!

I am yet to recover from the nervy thriller that just ended in a deserved victory for the home side. For all you people who still do not know what I am referring to, I am sorry to say this but you guys have missed some of the finest test match cricket this generation has ever seen. Not yet got the funda??? Its the ashes test series that is presently on between England and Australia with England being the home side!!!

For those who don't follow too much cricket (and I doubt if anyone like that exists), the ashes is a legendary test series that is played between england and australia for the ashes urn!! I am not going into the funda of the legend and how it was named the ashes etc.. Maybe I shall leave that for another day.

This current edition of the ashes is a 5 match series being played at various venues across England. The first match was at the "mecca" of Cricket, ie, Lords. This test match was won in a rather convinving fashion letting us all believe that it was going to be another one sided serious with the Aussie juggernaut rolling ahead and crushing England and regaining the ashes. But, the rest of the series, so far atleast had something else in store for us. The next three test matches at Edgbaston, Manchester and Trent Bridge were real thrillers. They had everything in it, brave batting, superb bowling, bad umpiring decisions, good fielding, some excellent catching, match winning or match saving knocks, you name it!!!! The one at Edgbaston was won by England, the victory margin being two runs.

The next one at Manchester was even better!!!!! It was heartbreaking to see England not being able to clinch this one as a defiant Ricky Ponting played one of his best innings scoring 156 and then Brett Lee defending for all he was worth to keep England from winning the test. All England needed here was 1 more wicket and they would have been home!!!

The fourth test which is the most recent one and just finished an hour back had Australia with their backs to the wall again and this time, the English made sure that it remained that way by winning this one. This time, the margin was three wickets!!!!

Am really looking forward to the finale!!!

Cheers

Goooooooogle Talk

Google has come out with their own messenger software and have appropriately named it Google talk . Check it out Here. Apart from its simple and sleek looking interface, it has a free calling facility. Its still in Beta though and emoctions are not yet available. Give it a try and drop me a line at abhi.gopal@gmail.com
Cheers,

The Bangalore Trip - Day 1

This is going to be a multi part post and I am posting the first part here.

Its been ages since I have blogged. Its been ten days since I have returned from my short trip and I guess I should have blogged earlier. Its just that life has been moving at an extremely fast pace these last few days that I haven't really had the time to really sit down and organise my thoughts (yes, i can see you people grinning and wondering, "What thoughts???").

Well, coming back to where I started from, the Bangalore trip was awesome fun!!! Three other friends made the trip with me and this included RK, NR and Mrigank Sharma. We left on wednesday night and reached Bangalore Cantt Station in the early hours of Thurs Morning at about 5.10. Its been ages since I have been to Bangalore and the first thing that I noticed about Bangalore was the weather. At that time, it was pretty chilly weather. RK and me were wearing shorts and were having a tough time holding bags and also putting our hands in our pockets. We took an auto to CMH road where RK's friends lived. We woke those poor fellows up at an unearthly hour and stacked our bags there and grabbed some shuteye. This keeping in mind that we had to report at WIPRO's HQ located at Electronics City which was about 25Km from where we lived and an hour's commute considering Bangalore's worst traffic situation. (More on the traffic situation later). All of us woke up in an hour and grabbed some breakfast and boarded an auto to Wipro. At first we thought that this auto driver was following a roundabout route considering the time it took. But later we found out that it was the shortest possible route.

We reached the conference venue at about 9 and completed the necessary formalities relating to registration and obtaining food tokens for all the three days ( very very important). I won't get into describing the mundane details of the conference itself but it would suffice to say that we had an enjoyable time and spoke to a few people from our field itself and gained very useful experience which I am sure will help us in the future.

Day 1 was came to a close at around 5.30 in the evening and we left for MG road (For dummies and first timers, there are only three roads in Bangalore that are worth visiting and these are MG road, Brigade road and Commercial street, the first two being perpendicular to each other). I had to meet a couple of friends there and RK had to meet his old classmates. Once we reached MG, RK left to join his friends while the three of us went to meet my friends. We chose Barista as our meeting point because it was the first thing that we set our eyes upon. One of my friends was from the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and he gladly offered to show us round campus and hence we boarded an auto to IISC. We saw the hostels, ate dinner at the mess ( which I must say was very very good again) and ended up walking a good 8 kms around the campus and managed to see about 30% of it at best. Our day done, the three of us boarded an auto back to CMH and spent about a couple of hours chatting and getting to know the other guys who gladly offered us their apartment for the weekend.

This was Day 1
Will post about the remaining days a.s.a.p
Cheers

This is on request

This post is put up on behalf of Sylvester who is in the EEE dept at SVCE.

Will come up with a post myself soon..
Cheers..

Disclaimer:-
[The following piece of text has been pasted directly from Sylvester's blog].

Re-Invigorating SVCE
If it is not asking for too much kindly pass this along to fellow SVCEians. If not SVCEians for SVCE...who else? I will forward further details as and when something concrete is done.

If possible could you put up a link to these URLs on your sites, blogs, groups, sms...everywhere!. Thanks!

www.greymind.com/gather ( name it SVCE RESEARCH HUB)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roboticsclub/ ( name it SVCE Robotics Club)

please note: the first site will shortly be housed in the SVCE server( where it rightly belongs!!!!)...we would then of couse provide a redirect from the current url but if you could later correct the URL nothing like it! But for now kindly let the rest know of these two sites and please put the links up if possible. Thanks once again!


I will be delighted to hear from you! Please do let me know...suggestions, ideas, constructive criticism....together we can perform miracles.

Counting on your support!

A short break

Am off to bangalore for a few days. Back on monday morning. So won't be able to reply to all your emails etc..Have a great weekend and a great Independence day as well!!!
Cheers,

There is somethin about this man!!!!

Amitabh Bachchan is back!!! And so is KBC!!! Normally, I am not the kind of person who watches a lot of TV but I watch KBC solely for Amitabh. The man has one hell of a screen presence and if not for him, I don't think KBC would have had even half the success that it has managed to achieve.

On Friday, KBC 2 which is a new series with higher stakes and a slightly modified set of rules started airing. The first participant was an IITM Engg student from Bihar. He won 6.4 Lacs.. But, thats not the main reason why this show has such a huge following. Its becuase of the man who sits opposite to the contestants, and guides them thro' the entire show.

Amitabh calls the show Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwithiya. At 9 pm, the lights dimmed and the familiar KBC tune went on air. The Big B was dressed in a smart leather jacket and a floral shirt underneath. A very casual look and a refreshing change from the formal clothes he used to wear earlier. The usual Fastest Finger First round followed and the IIT guy made it through. Another change that I noticed is that Amitabh casts doubts into the mind of the participants causing them to be slightly more circumspect with their answering.

Bottomline is that even though its a new series and some things have changed, for instance, participants get a fourth lifeline after answering 5 questions and that the stakes have doubled and is now 2 crores, its like KBC had never taken a break and the good old show is back!!!!!

An Eventful Day!!!

Yeah, July 25 which was a couple of days back was a very eventful day. It was the day my results were announced for the (not so) recently concluded semester exams and also the day when I gave my GRE.

Starting off, my exam was scheduled for the afternoon and hence I got up at around 8. It was a pretty dull morning and after having a shower and breakfast, I left for the test center, which is about 25 mins from my place. I realised that I had reached early and hence had quite a long wait in store. Luckily, there was this other guy who I knew and hence we whiled away the time chatting.

Exam was done by 4 and I had done reasonably well!! Though it was not my best performance, it was not a bad one by any stretch of imagination. I reach home in half an hour and learn that my exam results were to be announced that very same evening but at 8pm. I said to myself, "Ok, that is still about 2 and half hours away and that I can relax for sometime, maybe even a small nap. But as luck would have it, I got some phone calls and before I knew it, the time was about 6.15. And then, I start getting smses telling me that the results are out. I was like, "Oh My God!!! So soon!!!."

To top it all off, the University page refused to load and it was my friend CK who called telling me that the page was loading for him. He checked his number and had cleared all his subjects. I was like, "dey check mine also da." and was waiting with bated breath. My heart almost stopped beating when he said, wait, ur page is loading and when he said I cleared all, I was like, thank GOD!!!!!! Was a huge relief.

Results done, back to phone and cell and landline kept buzzing regularly to keep me occupied till late into the night!!
Cheers!!

Killing Innocent people!!!

On 7th July, multiple terror attacks rocked the city of London killing around 50 people and injuring several others.

Just a couple of weeks later, just as London was recovering from the earlier attacks, police found 4 undetonated explosives in various public areas, the most notable being the ones on the London Underground System which serves as the backbone of London's public transport system.

Barely 24 hours had passed when bombs went off in a tourist resort in Egypt killing 88 people and injuring around 200 of them.

All of them innocent tourists who were on vacation and just wanted to have a relaxing holiday. But these terrorists, whoever they might be don't spare anyone.
And these kind of headlines just keep appearing all over the newspapers. Just recently, I read that an explosive device had gone off in a shop in Patna and that another one had expolded somewhere in Spain.

I am hoping that these are the last ones and that the terrorists realise that they are killing people who are not at fault at all!!!

My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in these attacks.

Take the tests

This site has some really cool tests and other stuff that will keep you entertained.
Anyways, I took one of the tests and this is what appeared.

Template Change

Yes, it was long overdue.
I have changed the template on my blog and played around with the colors as well.
Also incorporated are weather updates and Google search. Hope all of you like it
Cheers!

Discovery all set to blast off!!!

The NASA space mission DISCOVERY is all set for its launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. This is NASA's first mission since the Colombia disaster which ended in a crash over the state of Texas killing all the seven crew members on board. Among them was our own Kalpana Chawla from Haryana.

And according to NASA, they are taking no chances with regards to safety of astronauts and there are goin to be 112 cameras, YES, 112 cameras filming the lift off to check for possible debris and other related safety issues.

*update*

As I am typing this, there is still just over an hour and 35 mins left for the launch.

*end of update*

On a personal note, I would love to see Discovery being a successful mission and people's faith on NASA being reinforced.

*Update 2*

Due to some techincal problem in blogger, I was not able to post this some half hour back. Now, I find that the Launch has been delayed due to a problem in the fuel tank.

From the NASA page,
Today's Return to Flight launch of Space Shuttle Discovery has been postponed due to an issue with a low-level fuel cutoff sensor onboard the vehicle. The sensor protects an orbiter's main engines by triggering them to shut down in the event fuel runs unexpectedly low.

*end of update 2*

On a personal note, I would love to see this mission become a huge success and people 's faith in NASA reinforced
Cheers!

Take The Survey

99 questions

Thanks to Suderman, I am posting this on my page.. Read on.

1. What is your full name? Abhishek Gopal

2. When is your birthday? May 12, 1985

3. What is your sex? Male

4. Do you have siblings? No, only son!!!!!!!!

5. Who do you live with? Mom and grandmother..

6. Are you single? YES.. Atleast for Now.....!!!!

7. Do you have pets? Na..

8. What is your hometown? Born in mumbai, been brought up in chennai(madras)

9. Where do you live now? Madras

Part 2 - What is your favourite...

10. Colour? Blue

11. Day? Friday.. the weekend is approaching

12. Month? I dunno. None in particular I guess.

13. Season? Hot only. Havent seen any other weather in chennai

14. Animal? Dogs are adorable. Cats are fine as well

15. Flower? Me dont like flowers..

16. TV Show? any sport show, or any reality show on AXN .

17. Movie? The Shawshank Redemption rocked!!!!Mohabbatein was good as well.

18. Commercial on TV? The Hutch Ads. Even if I use AIRTEL

19. Song? Musu Musu by Shaan, Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko

20. Food? Love Pastas........

21. Disney Character? Mickey Mouse

22. Cartoon Character? Scooby Dooby Dooo

23. Non-alcoholic drink? Tender coconut water

24. Alcoholic drink? Don't drink much!! HAve the occasional beer.

25. Kind of dessert? Butter scotch Ice cream

26. Restaurant? Noodle house, New Yorker, Saravanas for the southie foods..

27. Store? Landmark, Odyssey.. Any book store basically

Part 3 - If you could...

28. Go anywhere in the world where would you go? Venice

29. Talk to anybody dead or alive who would you choose? Hmmm.. Osama Bin laden

30. Do anything you wanted to what would you do? Buy a house in Manchester and watch Man Utd play every week at OT

31. Change one thing about the world what would you change? Attitude of Indian Politicians

32. Have one superpower, what would it be? Invisibilty:-D

33. Change one thing about your past what would u change?Nothing, I have no complaints. Nothing specific actually

Part 4 - What is your least favourite...

34. Colour? Pink.

35. Day? Any working day which involves waking up early.

36. Month? Again , nothin in particular

37. Season? Summer

38. Animal? Cant stand Birds, if tht qualifies as animals!!!!!

39. Flower? Everything and anything

40. TV Show? ALL SOAPS STARTING WITH K - read EKTA KAPOOR SOB STORIES.

41. Movie? Yaadein, The devils advocate

42. Commercial on TV? The ads for underwear.. Disgusting!!!!

43. Song? Anu malik in Har dil jo pyar karega. Cant remember the lyrics now.!!!

44. Food? Lebanese.

45. Disney Character? None. i guess they are all ok..

46. Cartoon Character? Jetsons!!!

47. Non-alcoholic drink? Water Melon Juice

48. Alcoholic drink? Again not much of an alcoholic...So..

49. dessert? Death By chocolate

50. Restaurant? cant seem to think of anything..:-D

51. Store? Foodworld!!!

Part 5 - If you\'re a girl fill this part in (guys skip to part 6)

52. What do you look for in a guy?
53. Long or short hair?
54. Book smart or jock smart?
55. Tall or short?
56. Big or little muscles?
57. Sweet/sensitive or Sweet/tough?


Part 6 - If you\'re a guy fill this part in (girls skip to part 7)

58. Tall or short? Preferably medium!!But then, cant wish for too much can I...!!!

59. Beauty or brains? Both, brains more than beauty though.. Cant stand DUMB WOMEN!!!

60. What do you look for in a girl? Sense of humour, understanding and gentleness. I dont like loud and aggressive women!!

61. Long or short hair? Long hair....

62. Curly or straight? Preferably curly!!! Most of the gurls I fall for seem to gave curly hair.. Straight is fine too..

63. Sweet or butch? Sweet definitely..

Part 7 - The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear....
64. Farm - Chicken
65. Zoo - Vandalur
66. Red - HOT!!!!!
67. Bug - Beetles
68. Punk - wannabes
69. Ralph - Ralph?? Who???
70. Glue - Fevi Stik
71. Mouse - Mickey
72. Fire - my current display pic on MSN messenger
73. Life - Long
74. Phone - Tring Tring!!!!

Part 8 - In the next 10 years do you see yourself...

75. With a job? Yes!

76. Married? Hmmm.. Yeah. I guess so...

77. With kids? Dunno.. One probably

78. In a different town from the one you're in now? probably..depends on the next year of my life..

79. With a pet? No.. Don't think so..!!!

80. With a lot, or a little money? Lot of money.. Surely.. Why would anyone imagine himself with little money!!!!

81. In your own house? Yea..surely..

82. Happy? Dumb question! Of course!

83. Still friends with the friends you have now? yeah.. but I am not very good in keeping in touch with ppl.. But Will try my best!!!

Part 9 - What is your favourite memory of...

84. Elementary school? Was In Ahmedabad and the rest of my primary and middle school in chennai. Loved my chennai school, lotsa greenery around..

85. Highschool? My ex girlfriend!!!!!!!! Again, the IIT Campus and the beauty and serenity1!!!

86. College? Still in college.. Will answer in abt a yrs time..

87. University?Again. Not yet....

88. Prom? Dont think I remember!!!

89. New Years? The usual ones yes!!! But specifically, one new years night, I was driving, about 2 in the morning, was a wild drive, almost hit a cow and on the way back, took a right near tidel park and entered the wrong lane.. there was a lorry coming full speed on the opposite side and a police jeep behind.. Just managed to swerve at the last minute!!! Was a close one!!!!
90. St. Patricks day? None..

91. Christmas? Santa claus is all I can think of!!!!1

92. Halloween? Not applicable

93. Summer? HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!!and my birthday falls in the month of May too

Part 10 - Would you rather be...

94. Hot or cold? HOT

95. Tired or wired? Wired

96. Hungry or full? Full

97. Tall or small? Tall!

98. A lion or a tiger? Lion!

99. Canadian or American? Indian!

thats it!!!! DOne!!! finally!!!Let me see how many people actually have the patience to do this! He he he!

Dum Dum Deega Deega, Mausam Bheega Bheega

Yes ... Its raining in Namma Chennai. Well, not very heavy rain. But enough to cool the city down and bring a smile on people's faces. And to top it all off, I got drenched all the way from Anna Flyover till home. Awesome feeling.

For a rain starved and water-less(donno if tht is a word) like Chennai, this is a welcome surprise..

Happy getting wet..
A :-)

Random Thoughts

I am sitting in the library at IITM and this shared LAN connection is dead slow.. To kill time, me bloggin :-P
I came here in the morning at around 11 am and its now half past four. Actually accomplished lot and also did a lot of Vetti stuff like what I am doing now..

Thought 1:-

David Sheperd retires

This is one guy whom I respect in the cricketing arena. Umpire 'Shep' as he is known to people close to him stood in his final test match at Kingston, Jamaica some three days back. A chubby man from England, he was one of the most widely respected cricket umpires in the world. Loved the way in which he used to hop on one leg whenever the score was nelson (111, 222, 333 etc.. ). It was a wonderful gesture by Brian Lara to present him with a bat.
Hope Shep enjoys his retriement.

Thought 2:-

Why do so many people opt for software jobs?

This is one question that I have been trying to answer for quite some time. Recently, a friend of mine got a job at Tata consultancy services (TCS) thro' the college campus recruitment office. Now, this guy is a mechanical engineer. Maybe he has very good programming skilss and all that, but all that aside, I was wondering what made him opt for software when he has so much knowledge in mechanical engineering. This is just one example. There are numerous cases in which this has happened, people from non software backgrounds enter the software industry.

Is this due to the fact that there are lot of jobs in the offing in the software industry??

Is this due to the lack of jobs in core companies. ???

Is it because software companies supposedly offer better pay packets? Better hikes, other perks , etc.. ??

These are some of the questions that are in my mind right now..
From what I hear, the software job is pretty demanding and you just have to keep staring at the computer screen and coding . Doesn't that sound really boring??
I am glad I will never know.. Cos' come what may, I wil never ever accept a software job. Thank God for that!!

More thoughts will follow:-D

Amal, Vimal, Kamal EVAM INDRAJIT

This post derives its title from this play I saw today. It was by this very popular theatre group EVAM . This was one of their serious plays. Atleast that was what I expected.
And yes, it did turn out to be a serious theme with bits of humor injected here and there.

Me in no mood to type out a review. Check out their website for when they are performing. I do know that they are premiering a new out and out comedy play on Aug 15th. Hoping to check tht one out

Clay Court tennis at its very best

This week is the second and concluding week of the Clay court season with the French Open Championships happening at Roland Garros. Normally, I don't watch too much clay court tennis beacause its unexciting with all unknown and unheard players battling it out from the baseline. I like to watch serve and volley kinda tennis. But, this week changed that.

I watched the Quarters between Mariano Puerta and Canas. Canas is a very good player from Argentina and traditionally, all players from there are great Clay courters. The match lasted five wonderful sets and Puerta hit some amazing forehand winners and literally hit Canas out of the court in the final set. Too good

Just finished watching what was dubbed as the match of the tournament which was between Federer and Nadal. It was a good game but somehow, Federer gave me the impression that he was not at his best. He did not attack Nadal's serve too much and generally was very defensive. Am not taking any credit from Nadal. He did just the opposite, played very aggresively and won.
He truly deserved the win.

Looking forward to the final now