Check out the two links.....

Facts abt September 11 Washington

Spoof of Matrix

hey he hey......India Wins !!!!!!!!!!

The win abroad (in Australia) at last !!!!!!!!! Most of us cricket fans are very passionate abt the wins and losses of the Indian cricket team. It was evident from the gathering at my place during the ICC championship, World Cup and now for the India-Aus series. The fact that they have been played at odd times (early mornings) but still we had a good crowd watching the games. The best part was the India-Pak game when we had 50-60 people in Vikas's and my house !!!!!!! But now with India beating Aus in the test match I am sure that those numbers will be crossed in this series.

It was really great to see India win a test match in the Kangaroo land after 21 year and for the first time in the Indian Cricket history we won a match in Aus to go ahead in the series !!!!!!!! That is quite an achievement in itself and speaks volumes of the dominance that AUS team has had over the years. But now things will be changing pretty soon I guess. BUt we need to guard against complacency......thats been a factor which has brought down Indian teams many times over the years...be it Cricket, Hockey, football or badminton etc....we get over confident after a single victory....thats when we overlook the strengths of the opposition and take them lightly....AUS has not won 50 games under Waugh for no reason......they are a great side (probably the best team ever in Test History).....yes you have read that correctly....this AUS team has been the most dominant team ever to have played cricket in both versions. They are talented, hard working, agile on the field, have a never-say-die attitude and confident.......just this one loss will not make them a bad side.....no team can be perfect...they are bound to lose some games......so Indian should watch out for a spirited comeback....watching the Indian team play has been very very encouraging over the past couple of years......whatever people may say (that includes me) or might have said abt Dada (Sourav) they are being proved wrong....he has transformed the team with his attitude and backing of the players. That has been his strength.....gaining the confidence of the players......they respect him for what he does for them and for the team not becoz he is the captain....he gets into the mind of the opposition teams and frustrates them....this has never been the attitude of the indian captains......

The team now has a talented and aggressive batting line up with some good bowlers to back them up. We have always been a good batting side but now we have bowlers who want to perform and at the same time learn more with every match. That has been the difference.....
there has always been a debate as to whether India is Tendulkar's team but now we can say no!!!!!!! he has been a dominant batsman in the one days but has never been the same player in tests (people may feel free to refute....this is my opinion)......he is too aggressive to last for long time at the crease.......he can be devastating and demoralise the bowlers but in test cricket its the ability to last and at the same time score is waht is important....I have been a fan of Azhar, Dravid and Laxman (of course sachin and sourav too) over the years......but I feel they never get the credit they deserve. People may have different notions abt Azhar.....thats a different debate altogether.....but the point is on the field u evaluate a person by his skills.......not by his actions off the field........people say he has fixed matches and alll........still he scores 9400 runs.....just imagine how much he would have scored otherwise....I am not very sure abt the whole issue as to why only he is being made the scapegoat of all this when others were involved too....agreed that he has made a mistake.....but u should not take it away from him that...... he was, is and will be one of the cricketing greats of India ......

Dravid the poor guy....never gets the credit he deserves........people talk abt laxman's 281, it was a great innings no doubt, but no one talks abt Dravid's 180 from the other end, people mention Ganguly's 183 at Taunton but never mention Dravid's 153 from the other end (one more funny incident.....Ganguly was dropped by Murali in the outfield and his throw gets Dravid run-out....what rotten luck)....people talk abt Sachin scoring 186 like God!!!!!!!!!!!! but who was at the other end......ofcourse Dravid with 153 !!!!!!!....people made Kaif hero (he deserved that)....abt his century in the ICC trophy but no one mentioned Dravid's 71.....what abt the world cup!!!!!!! he was there every time the team needed him.....people said that he scored very slow and all that stuff.....is that important when ur team is 30/4 ??????......or when the team is on the brink of losing with the last recognised pair in the middle???? people
talk abt the devastating 98 by sachin against PAK in the world cup......but what abt Dravid's 44* to take the team to victory????? hello is anyone getting the point??? one more interesting stat abt his test performance is that of the 16 centuries he has scored 15 have been meaningful "It often escapes all attention that only one time out of 16 when India's best Test batsman has made a century have India lost the match. Nor have these been centuries, bar one in New Zealand, scored once the match has died. It is hard to know about God and stuff, but few human beings have reached Dravid's levels of recent accomplishment. "

Laxman.....man!!!!! lesser mentioned abt the bad-luck he has had the better it is. First of all he is a good middle order batsman....he is sent opening in West indies....of course its hard to perform there especially in a position u are not accustomed to....he "failed" (had a 50 and couple of otehr good scores).....he was dropped from the team......then he makes a comeback and then establishes a spot in the team......he is still shuffled in the batting order with Dravid.....hello???? is anybody with brains there ????? when a batsman is in form u want him in the middle saving the game for u and not a batsman out-of-form. People agree that Laxman and Dravid are good players but when they are not making runs.....they have to be dropped and that we should not go by past performances!!!!!!!!!!!! but the same people say this when Sachin is not getting runs "he is out-of-form he needs some time in the middle".....isnt that unfair???? Not to take away anything from the great batsman but shouldnt the treatment be same for the talent. Laxman can match sachin in most of the strokes......but remember Sharjah !!!!!!!! Sachin was playing like a God but Laxman was made to take singles to give sachin strike.....how many times have u seen that happen otherway around????? why should Dravid's and Laxman's sacrifice their natural flair and ability for the team when otehrs are not ready to do that?????

I guess this is an endless debate that can go on and on.....but the best part is....INDIA is WINNING, thats what matters

I got my grades.....I am happy that I got more than i expected in a course....

Story of Life ......

WHEN THINGS IN YOUR LIFE SEEM ALMOST TOO MUCH TO HANDLE, WHEN 24 HOURS IN A DAY ARE NOT ENOUGH, REMEMBER THE MAYONNAISE JAR........AND THE BEER.

A PROFESSOR STOOD BEFORE HIS PHILOSOPHY CLASS AND HAD SOME ITEMS IN FRONT OF HIM. WHEN THE CLASS BEGAN, WORDLESSLY, HE PICKED UP A VERY LARGE AND EMPTY MAYONNAISE JAR AND PROCEEDED TO FILL IT WITH GOLF BALLS. HE THEN ASKED THE STUDENTS IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THEY AGREED THAT IT WAS.

SO THE PROFESSOR THEN PICKED UP A BOX OF PEBBLES AND POURED THEM INTO THE JAR. HE SHOOK THE JAR LIGHTLY. THE PEBBLES ROLLED INTO THE OPEN AREAS BETWEEN THE GOLF BALLS. HE THEN ASKED THE STUDENTS GAIN IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THEY AGREED IT WAS.

THE PROFESSOR NEXT PICKED UP A BOX OF SAND AND POURED IT INTO THE JAR. OF COURSE, THE SAND FILLED UP EVERYTHING ELSE. HE ASKED ONCE MORE IF THE JAR WAS FULL. THE STUDENTS RESPONDED WITH AN UNANIMOUS "YES."

THE PROFESSOR THEN PRODUCED TWO CANS OF BEER FROM UNDER THE TABLE AND POURED THE ENTIRE CONTENTS INTO THE JAR, EFFECTIVELY FILLING THE EMPTY SPACE BETWEEN THE GRAINS OF SAND. THE STUDENTS LAUGHED.

"NOW," SAID THE PROFESSOR, AS THE LAUGHTER SUBSIDED, "I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS JAR REPRESENTS YOUR LIFE". "THE GOLF BALLS ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS--YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR HEALTH, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR FAVORITE PASSIONS--THINGS THAT IF EVERYTHING ELSE WAS LOST AND ONLY THEY REMAINED, YOUR LIFE WOULD STILL BE FULL".

"THE PEBBLES ARE THE OTHER THINGS THAT MATTER, LIKE YOUR JOB, YOUR HOUSE, YOUR CAR". "THE SAND IS EVERYTHING ELSE--THE SMALL STUFF."

"IF YOU PUT THE SAND INTO THE JAR FIRST," HE CONTINUED, "THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE PEBBLES OR THE GOLF BALLS". "THE SAME GOES FOR LIFE. IF YOU SPEND ALL YOUR TIME AND ENERGY ON THE SMALL STUFF, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ROOM FOR THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU". "PAY ATTENTION TO THE THINGS THAT ARE CRITICAL TO YOUR HAPPINESS, PLAY WITH YOUR CHILDREN". "TAKE TIME TO GET MEDICAL CHECKUPS". "TAKE YOUR PARTNER OUT TO DINNER". "PLAY ANOTHER 18". "THERE WILL ALWAYS BE TIME TO CLEAN THE HOUSE, AND FIX THE DISPOSAL". "TAKE CARE OF THE GOLF BALLS FIRST, THE
THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER". "SET YOUR PRIORITIES. THE REST IS JUST SAND".

ONE OF THE STUDENTS RAISED HER HAND AND INQUIRED WHAT THE BEER REPRESENTED.
THE PROFESSOR SMILED. "I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT NO MATTER HOW FULL YOUR LIFE MAY SEEM, THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR A COUPLE OF BEERS."

I am back !!!!!!!!!!

The past three weeks have been very very hectic.....I was literally working everyday till 2-3 in the morning. But now I am done with 75% work for the semester....only one take home exam to finish and have another final on Wednesday.....and I will be done for the semester !!!!!!!

I was soo depreived of sleep for the past week.....busy with projects, presentation and a final. I was up till 5 o'clock this morning finishing up a project and then i slept thru the day !!!!!!!!!! I havent done that in a long time....but it feels good to sleep for more than 6 hrs once in a while....I am very fresh and ready to go now.

Now back to Sapna's story.......


hmmmm.....where was I???? haaann.....then for a couple of days I found it difficult to find a place for her to stay temporarily before she found a house. Fortunately, disha said that sapna could stay at her place for a while and that they were looking for a house too.....so they would also be moving out pretty soon.......I thought....its Ok as it will be of great help for sapna to stay with them and look for a house with their help. We moved her into Disha's place that night.....it wasnt too hard as Sapna was living out of the suitcase......not very surprisingly, sapna hit it off well with what started out as Disha and Co and now Sapna is an integral part of that group.....she got aong well with everyone and everyone liked her immediately....adi,hemant, raghav,aarti,shyamala,nihir,nishant, pankaj, manas,raashi,anurag,priya & priya, shradha and later madhu and brijesh........everyone became a good group

then started her search for a house and roomies !!!!!!! Me being the ISA president had all the info needed for anyone who is looking for a roommate.....hheeheee.......but then Priya (then known as Rajiv's friend) and Shradha (then known as Raghav's friend) got in touch with Sapna and they were all set to live together.....I dont remember the exact details as to how they got in touch with each other......thats why the people reading the blog should write comments describing the missing pieces :):):)......she looked at a couple of houses and she liked one on the allyn street......what was better was that Disha and all would be her next door neighbors!!!!!!!!!! she wasnt ready to pass on such an oppurtunity ......so she called me that night and asked me if I could come and have a look at the house the next day......though I myself hadnt looked for houses anytime prior to that....i said that i would be there the next evening.....it was a decent house but had a lot of cleaning up to do.....the rent wasnt exhorbitant either....but all this would have made more sense had she had roomies by then......but all of us convinced her that there would be a lot of girls coming that fall and that they would gladly accept to live with her......how many of us would let up on a chance of coming straight into the house u would live in, when u come from India ?????......i know Adi came straight to Torrey St.....hehehehhhe.....

Priya, Shradha and Sapna became roomies and from then on alll of u know what has happened and how we became good friends.......I guess Phani, Hemant and Sapna became great friends over the summer and they were a trio wherever they went !!!!!!!! all this till the worst fellow phani left for connecticut and now all of a sudden Sapna left fr India tooo.....i got to talk to her once but other than that there has been no news abt her....i didnt even get see her update till today.....i was soo busy that i havent been in touch with anyone.....

Swamped with work.....

I am really sorry for delaying the update on the blog.....i have been swamped with work.....its been a busy busy....couple of weeks.....I know that writing will not take a long time....but somethings have to taken care of first and the post on Sapna cannot be written in haste.....so please bear with me.....as I promise that one of these days....I will continue with the story......

In the meantime.....I would like to wish my darling sister Deepika a very very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....Hope u had a great day

Farewell........

Wednesday night was my cooking turn and as usual I had gone to play racquetball with Kiran and started cooking at 9pm. Then i saw that i had a missed call from Hemant....little did I know why he had called.....he had called to let me know that they were going out for a farewell dinner for Sapna (huh?????)....what ?????? farewell !!!!!!!!. I was stunned !!!!!!!! I didnt understand what was going on??? why are these guys giving a farewell dinner to Sapna when she is getting married in Jan and was planning on leaving akron after that ???? I was totally confused....i had no clue that she was leaving for India the next day !!!!!!! It was too late for me to join them for dinner and as it was I had to cook for my roomie. So I called Sapna and asked her to let me know once they get back from dinner.

In the meantime, while cooking I was thinking about how I met her and all that. Its actually an interesting story....we had a common friend Nitin (studying in houston)....I had no clue who Sapna was (till last June).....Nitin called me ask abt Akron...what kind of a place it was and if they had a good student population and all that stuff.....then he told me that Sapna got a job there and wanted to talk to someone abt the place....Sapna who???? then he told me that she was his best friend's (Sandeep) Girl friend and all. I told him that she can call me and that i could take care of her accomodation temporarily. Then i talked to her a couple of times and I didnt know where to set her up??? so I decided to ask her if she had any problems staying with me for a couple of weeks ???? I told her that i was staying alone...my roomies had gone to India....and that she can have a room for herself....as expected she said that it was fine with her. She came to Akron on the weekend of the july 4th....Sandeep came the next day. when I went to meet her on her arrival I was surprised to see the car completely Jam packed and had enough space to just accomodate her. even if I tried I could have gotten into the car....it was well packed....heheheh. I showed her the route to her workplace and we had a lot of fun the 2 weeks she stayed at my place. Most of the times i got invited for dinner so I used to take her along as we would get better food than we could cook. Then Nishant came back from India.....now we had to look for options to set Sapna up temporarily....it wasnt too hard as she was a talkative and easy going person....


I have to go to a seminar now....willl complete the blog soon...hheheheheh

We got the Intramural Champions shirts.....

As I mentioned in my earlier post....we are the new Wallyball Intramural Champions.....we got our shirts today. The shirts are the prize we won for our tournament victory. All of us went to the office eagerly....atleast the other three guys did...I was kind of enthu but not very very excited as I was a couple of years ago when i won my first shirt.....all of us chose the sizes and colors to our liking and we even got a shirt for the 5th guy on the team who played only 1 match !!!!!!!!! but I guess that worked well for the rest of us as we practiced together and performed as a team better....he could not make it to the practices and most of the matches due to class...

I must have won atleast 14-15 shirts so far in my three years here.....not that I am boasting.....but I have been lucky enough to get the shirts for my friends too.....though I won many shirts i think i have only 4 with me.....I gave them to my old roomies, friends and also sindhu. I even took some shirts to india to give them to my friends as they had a University of Akron logo on them. Badminton was the main reason that I got that many shirts.....I used to win the singles and Mixed doubles regularly and the year Hemant was my partner i even won the doubles (that reminds me....hey hemant did u get a shirt for that????). We used to get shirts for playing against the Kent State University in the Inter-university games. Wallyball and racquetball got me more shirts. so over all I am happy that i won the shirts becoz I have never bought a University of Akron shirt....I have bought my department and College of engineering shirts but never the Univ shirts.....hey that reminds me of one more thing....last year at the International Dance party I won the "Best Male Dancer" award for which the prize was.....one more shirt (heheheheeh)....I gave that to a friend who I felt was/is/will be a better dancer than me (i think I better fit the TP dancer or Ghati dancer category). I think thats too much of writing on shirts....I dont think I have ever written so much abt shirts.....

Comment section added......

hey people.....i have added the comment section....I have been wanting to do this for a long time but had no clue how to do it. Thanx to Rajesh I found out how to put it on, actually it was very very simple......but... once u know the process most of the things are simple...isn't it ???

Fall'03... Wallyball Champions....BIOHAZARDS !!!!!!!!!!

Biohazards is our team name and we as u must have guessed by now that we won the thursday night league of the intramurals (intra-collegiate).......yeah !!!!!!!!!!! we had a very very close game...but ultimately we won !!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very very happy.

It was a very satisfying victory as it was a sweet revenge.....we had lost to the same team in the league stage. That loss made them the top seeds and us the second seed . We were comfortably wining that game and suddenly our game fell apart and we lost in three games....that was a very frustrating loss. Tonight we were determined to beat those guys.....our team Rajesh, Shadi, Luay and myself....have to beenplaying well lately......Shadi and Luay upfront for setting up and spiking, rajesh and i stand in the back court to receive the serve and to take the smashes...... to do all the running around. We started off with a series of good serves and solid spikes. shadi is our main spiker....if he has a good day we win easily else it becomes difficult. Its hard to win without spiking. The other team were good athletes and we covering the court with ease. we won the first game easily 15-7. we didnt expect such an easy victory but we took the win. Then we expected them to make a comeback.....to our surprise we took off....exactly the way we did in the first game and we ran to a 13-2 lead......all of us were playing well and shadi was having a great day....then it all started....they got their game together and our game started falling apart......they won point after point and finally won the game....15-13. thats 13 points on a strech!!!!!!!!! we were down and we getting back the memories of the previous loss.....the final game was played at their pace and they kind of dictated the terms in the first few points.....they were up 9-3 and shadi lost his cool.......once he loses his cool his game falls apart and he starts making silly mistakes......then we started our comeback...we were very very determined. shadi regained his composure......Luay started controling his spikes and served well.....rajesh was running down everything. So we were back into reckoning.....we equalled at 9-9.....now it was their turn to get restless and they started to come under pressure...from then on every point was contested closely and the rallie became longer and both the teams were pumped up. we could see the emotion in both the sides after winning a point. we somehow got the upper hand and shadi at one point made a brilliant retrival with his foot (any part of the body is allowed).....we won the game 15-12. atlast we win back the title......yes, we were the champions for 2 years....2000-01, 2001-02....but last year we couldnt get a team together so we couldnt play.

this week has been pretty hectic with midterm, homework and project discussions for Dr.reddy's class and Dr.V's class.....the semester is coming to an end and its going to be busy time for all of us with 2 projects, one paper presentation and two final exams and another midterm......

India has lost both the games that i watched.....its very disappointing to get up at 4 in the morning (or not sleep all night) and watch for 8 hrs to see them lose.....not that they are not trying....but they can do better. welll I hope they do better from now on and we go on to win the cup.....that looks a difficult propsition seeing the Aussies play....man !!!!!!!!!! they are definitely a team to beat!!!

watched MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.......it was very very disappointing....it wasnt that bad but I went in expected more. I was very disappointed with the second movie so i was expecting them to make up with the third......but alas I was disappointed. the movie was too slow and boring for the first 30-40 mins....from then on its was ok.....but Adi, Sindhu and I were having our own fun by passing comments....

Now my hopes rest on LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING....and i am sure that it will not disappoint....

Cricket time again......

Yesterday we played cricket after a long time....we played tennis ball cricket. We played Seniors Vs Juniors.....all the juniors who could make it were on one side and we (seniors) were mostly from the Akron Cricket team....it didnt take us long to realise that tennis ball cricket was completely different from the season ball cricket......we got used to playing with all the gear that we were too early for the shots and were swinging before the ball even reached us. But we were also trying to have as much fun as possible while playing some serious cricket.

Our team: Rajesh, Honey Venkatesh, Avinash, sunny, vikas, Adi, hemant, Dhanraj and myself. The juniors were also equal in number.......we played 3 matches...one 6 over game, one 4 over game and a last 2 over game.....we won the series 2-1....the games were hotly contested and people got real serious at times but over all we had a great time.....the problem with tennis ball cricket is that we have many people and have less overs to bat and bowl. so people should understand that they cant do both.....if u bat then wait for ur turn to bowl.....if u bowl then go last to bat......these should be the general rules of play.....but these are my views as winning is not of as much importance as is having fun. we wil try to play as much as possible to play until the weather interferes.....its getting cold and we are lucky to get the couple of days of warm weather.

I didnt sleep at all last night.....as I was up till late to watch a telugu movie with Sindhu and her roommates....it was 2:45 Am by the time we were done with the movie and I was going to sapna's place to watch the India-Australia match.....so we stayed up and talked till 3:50 and then i dropped sindhu home and went to sapna's place. The match started on a positive note for us.....Zaheer got Hayden with the first ball of the match.....but from then on nothing went right for India.....Aus went on to score 286/8 and then we started....in the mean time...Sapna made some tea for us....Hemant, Adi and Chappar (Honey).....India started off on a disastrous note....Veeru got out the first ball of the Innnings :(:(....from then on Laxman followed....tendliya played well but he got out for 67 (or 69) thats it....Dravid got out tooo for 59 well made runs and then on we just collapsed like 9 pins. We were all out for 209.....ggrrrrrrr....we lost to a second string Australian bowling attack !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant believe that.........our first string attack gets beatn by them all the time....cant we even beat their second string consistently????????

I had met with my advisor after a long time.....I finished making a poster of my master's research and had given it to my advisor for corrections...he liked the poster a lot but needed some to check the details of the poster. He is back into the lab ...... that feels goood......we were worried that he would not be able to make it back for 5-6 months.....but his recovery has been very astonishing and he was back in no time. though he is not completely back into his research mode......but he comes to the lab 2-3 times a week to the lab. thats more than enough to keep the current research going.

The winter is setting in very fast......its been very cold for the past couple of weeks...but the last couple of days were nice and warm to wear shorts.....probably for the last time for the next 5 months.....

Fun Filled Evening at Central Hower.....Diwali 2003

Last night we had our Diwali function at the Central hower high school......its just outside the University Campus. It was selected as the venue as its not far for the Indian Students to walk down to the function and also has a very good auditorium....3 of the past 4 diwali functions have been held at the high school.

It was a fun evening.....all of us enjoyed it.....there were a lot of americans and other internationals at the party...more than usual....but the student turnout was not as expected but anyways we had a crowd of abt 350.......the Mayor of Akron attended the function for the first time and the president of the University Dr. Proenza also attended the celebrations.....the first 15-20 minutes of the program were made boring by the countless speeches.....they were supposed to be scheduled such that the speeches will be between programs.....but Dr.Midha had his own ideas....Rajesh and hemant (MC's for the evening) had their script written for good opening remarks and to make a nice platform for the whole show to launch.....but Dr.Midha took over the mike and just wrote his own script.....he should have let the MC's know what he had planned on doing. THere was a good slide show depicting Ramayana and the significance of Diwali.....I think the student President should be given the oppurtunity to start the evening as they work their...xxxx's....off to make the show happen....it happened even last year....I had prepared a speech regarding the significance of Diwali and how it is celebrated in india........Dr.Midha went on stage first and spoke abt diwali...and abt everything else that I wanted to talk ....so when i went on stage I said "Dr.Midha said everything that i wanted to say.....so i have nothing else to say...enjoy ur evening.." and the same thing happened this year with Madhu....poor girl...she didnt have anything to say as Dr.Midha and the other speakers killed the first 20 minutes which included the intro....


anyways....the cultural program started with a Bharatanatyam....it was performed by a cute little girl....she was really good and had nice expressions....I guess thats the key to Bharatanatyam...Bhushan and Co....then performed a skit that was based on the choices we make abt coming to america or to stay back....it was nice play....though some of the situations were exaggerated. Our (Mine and Rajesh's) variety singing was next.....we had just practiced once....the night before....we sang 8 songs....all of them were sung with lyrics of one song in the tune of the other....it was well received by the audience....we were encouraged by the response and that encouraged us to perform better in the rest of the program..... our next performance was the play....the bollywood spoof "teri biwi sirf meri" it also generated a good response from the audience. the play had all the typical bollywood dialogues, characters and situation...so it was well appreciated.....i could hear a lot of people laughing....but Sapna's laughter was above all.....we could hear it distinctly heheheheheheh.......I was scared that Madhu and Adi will have a fit of laughter on the stage....I dont thing we had a single practice in without either of them bursting out of laughter.....but they controlled it on stage so the scenes turned out great. Vikas....Sacheeen....was the star of the evening....at least with our play....his every action and dialogue drew laughs and claps.......Mrityu was also very good in his short but a dynamic role of "Shine master kachra"......Adi was majestic in his kings role "Raja Gajendra Singh".....Madhu and Rajesh "Chandu aur pappu"....were the lead pair for the play.....they have made their identities now....from now on they will be addressed as Chandu and pappu.......but the main attraction of the evening was the dialogue "yeh lijiye boost" by Honey venkatesh (I mean, Hari Venkatesh).......

Our Dance went well too......I was actually tenses before the dance....trying to remember all the steps so that i wouldnt mess up the efforts of the others.....we practised hard for more than a week....with 2 hrs everyday...overall it was a great show and the food at the end of the show was good too....it was catered by "Saffron Patch "..... The arrangements for the food were very well done..it was very organised and there was no usual rush for the food as there were three station serving food....it was very well planned....well done...Madhu, rajesh, Hari and the other ISA committee members.....

Diwali practice.......

For the past week or so I have been very very busy with practices of the dance and play that I am participating at the Akron Diwali function. The prcatices have been very very hectic as we had auditions on Sunday......thanks to Rajesh and Madhu (the main couple of our play) who were also on the auditioning committee....both our performances got selected. Actually, rajesh and I are in 3 programs.....Dance (hollywood bollywood), Play (Teri Biwi Sirf Meri), Twist The Tune (VESIT style).

In Twist the Tune I sang "Jhumma Chumma" in the tune of "Aankhon ki ......gustakiyan" and Rajesh sang "Didi Tera Deevar Deewana" in the tune of "Kahi dhoor jab din dhal jaaye"....... this is basically a common thing to do back home at the college fests....but here in akron most of the people have not been exposed to it. I had performed this a couple of years ago....the peope liked it too.

We have been practicing hard for the dance and the play. Manisa, Ankita, Prachi and Megha are the girls in the dance and Parvath, Prasanna, rajesh and I are the guys. My partner is Ankita. We have been trying to choreograph our dance with a lot of enthu....but we end up with limited success. we have 5 days to go for Diwali and we have only half the song choreographed. But we have solved our main problem....getting the 4th guy...thanx to prasanna.

The same is the story with the play....our cast includes.....Rajesh, Madhu, Hari, mritunjay, Vikas, Adi, hemant and Myself. We have been trying to make the script as funny as possible....its basically a bollywood spoof. It has all the typical bollywood stuff in it...action, drama, emotion, romance.......

we lost in wallyball last week.....we will be seeded 2nd in the playoff's not that it would matter a lot. we will be having a tougher draw. we lost to a team of just two guys.....it was the worst game that we had played so far....we won the first game....15-6, and then started out troubles.....they started playing smart and stopped serving to my end....they started serving such that it would land between Rajesh and Luay....they are usually good in communicating but that day both were trying their best and tried getting to the ball together a lot of times....we got under pressure and made some crucial mistakes.....we were just giving the ball away... and we paid the price for that. Shadi was having an Off-day too.

I got the ball rolling for the cricket club at last....we have been trying to do that for the past 2 yrs.....and we started the process now. its better now than never ..right??? Hopefully we get accepted as a new student organization...this way we will get some funding for the season and probably a new kit ..hehehehh

Diwali Coming Up......

Its diwali time in akron and as usual I have become busy with dancing and acting in a play. Everyyear it has been my routine that I take part in some thing or the other in the Diwali party. I have danced .....though i am not a good dancer....who cares....I dont :):)....

first year we danced on a medley.....we had Kaho na pyaar hai (eee mere dil tu...gaaaye jaaaaa)...yes !!! we did the Hrithik step....then...Hum tho muhabbat karega....Aiyla re ladki mast mast...jindha hai hum tho (josh).....piya piya ooo piya piya.....rangde mujhe rangde (last two by only the girls)...and the finale was "Phir bhi dil hai hindustani". It was fun as we had 10 people dancing for the medley. The practices went till like late in the night and we had all kinds of fun.....it was my first year....I was also the food volunteer at the party....heheheheh...any guesses who had the maximum number of gulab jamuns that night ?????

second year there was a lot of enthu junta that came to the polymer engineering program and wince then we have been doing a play every year....our script architect was Hemant....first year he wrote the whole script by himself....though the scenes are usually performed with everybodies suggestions and inputs the idea behind the whole thing was hemants. I even danced for the song in Lagaan...."Madhu ban mei kabhi kanha kisi gopi se mile"....I didnt listen to that song for the next 2-3 months. I was fed up with the song....the same group that performed the song also performed at another diwali party in Cleveland!!!!!! can u believe that !!!!!.....the guys there liked it sooo much that we were asked to perform the same dance twice in a row!!!!!!!!. we were dead tired after that:):)
At the akron Diwali...we did the dance but our play was a big hit as it involved the life of the students that come to teh US.

third year...there were a lot of things to be taken care of.....I was the president of the association and had to do a lot of running around.....but my committee....rajiv, aanchal and harsh were extremely hard working so we had little trouble in organizing it.....not that everything went smooth.....always there is something that has to go wrong....right ???. We decided to do a medley again on the Khan's and we also did a play. This time I was also a part of the script writing. Hemant and I decided to do a play in which a director comes to akron and tries to get inspiration abt his characters from the students in akron.....it was fun play. I danced in the medley......Sheshe se shesha tak raaaye (devdas), Chak doom doom (DTPH), Apun bola (josh), rukh jaaaa ooo dil diwane (ddlj), bole choodian (k3g).....and we did the finale with lamp dance for Ar Rehman's Vande mataram......it was a good show....we did a great job....I enjoyed it.

This year we are still in the planning stages for the play....Rajesh and i are writing the script....we were up till 4 last night trying to finish the script. Both of us are also in the dance...for the song in Hollywood Bollywood......Sona Sona roop hai.....


The night before we were up till 5 in the morning finishing the homework for Dr.Reddy's class. we were pissed big time when he didnt collect the homeworks......welll but we have finshed it so we are happy......Phani had come down the other day from Connecticut.....it was good to see him but unfortunately we couldnt spend a lot of time.....but we met for a little bit at Sindhu's place for Dosas....Sindhu, Renu and Prathyu made some amazing dosas......I hogged on those dosas and went to see the browns game which the went to win 13-7 against the Oakland Raiders. It was fun watching the game with Kiran, Bhaddu, Anil, Kumar and Amru.

I was very very disappointde to see OSU lose to Wisconsin late saturday night.....I had come home early from teh freshers party to watch the game.....but their loss totally disappointed me and I vented my anger on Sindhu.....poor Sindhu....she got angry and I had to make up for my anger later.....

this weekend is going to be hectic as usual with diwali practices and auditions......and also some homeowrk and studing.....hehehehhehe

Gearing up for the weekend............

With the cricket season coming to an end I have all the time in the world for this weekend. I am getting this much time after a long time. I mean.....we have had some off weeks in the season tooo...but I went out of town or did something that weeekend.....but as of now I have no plans for the weekend. I am done with all the mid-terms and I am done with all the homeworks.....so I mostly have free time....which I think I should utilize in jump-starting my PhD qualifiers preparation. I have been too lazy to do anything in that direction so I guess its time to start it.

I am looking forward to the OSU football gamel....I have been following OSU as we (akron) dont have a great team....they are the defending national champs.....this weekend they play Wisconsin....an old rival.....OSU has a lot of rivalries with the teams in the Big ten. U Mich....Penn State....MSU.....Iowa.....Wisconsin....etc etc. OSU has been the envy of most of the teams this year as they have been on a winning streak.....17 games....which started last year....they went undefeated last year to win the national title and this year they have been undefeated so far.....


This weekend the cleveland browns (the professional football team) plays the Oakland raiders....I have never seen the Browns play the raiders....Raiders came in second last year and the browns 9th. Both the teams have not been doing great this year...so it should be an interesting match.....any guesses which team I would be supporting????.....hehehhehe....ofcourse the browns!!!!!!!!!! Last week tim Couch (Browns quarterback).....the quarterback is the offensive captain who runs the plays and throws the ball....played an amazing game to beat the traditional rivals.....Pittsburgh Steelers....the rivalry is one of the oldest in NFL...browns trashed the steelers.....33-13....it was good game to watch.

I will be playing badminton again tonight ....there is this chinese kid (14 yrs old) who started coming to play at Akron....he is nationally ranked 4th in the US .....i have already lost to him three times....but I am getting back into playing Badi tooo.....so I hope I can give him a better fight tonight.

I worked this morning at a Health Expo......it was like a manufacturers exhibition......i volunteered for a couple of hours and then went around to pick up the freebies..........i got a bouncing ball.....cool key chains...frisbie....water bottle.....There was registration for a marathon....it was a 5km run.....but the entry fee was like $100.....it was for fundraising for the cancer patients....I was thinking of running...but once I found it was $100.....I backed out....may be 10-15 was ok....but $100 was tooo much

Last night in Wallyball......we won against Sigma Nu (a fraternity team).....we won 15-2,15-0.....the best part of the match was that in the first game rajesh served for straight 9 points....from 6-2 to 15-2 !!!!!!!!! Then at the start of the second game......I started serving.....i served for 15 straight points!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is the second time I am doing that in 2 yrs!!!!!!!! It is a fun game....Luay and Shadi (our other team members).....we merely spectators for most part of the game....but they will hold the key in the next game....we are playing another undefeated team.......that match will decide who willl top the league and who will get the top seeding for the playoffs

well.....I am off for a quite and a peaceful weekend (atleast I hope).......

Done with Mid Terms !!!!!!!!!

I have just finished with my mid-terms......I had a test last week and another one today....I didnt do too well on the Advanced Engineering math exam but I guess I did decently in the Finite Element Analysis exam today.....but could have done better (common words after an exam :):) )......The FEA exam was a total bouncer as we were all expecting huge matrices with difficult governing Differential Equations but the whole exam had very few numerical questions.......it was alll theory or theory based to our surprise....I know that i screwed up in a couple of questions but I am hoping for the best. Getting back to classes has not been easy as I have not taken any exam or a class for over an year.....I am taking time to get back into the study mode....for the past one and half years I had beeen in programming and research mode. In the classes that i have enrolled for....I get more homework than I used to in my previous classes...thats getting hectic too....in the math class we have submitted 5 homeworks in 6 weeks and have also written an exam!!!!!!!!!! Well....PhD is not just research and project.....thats what I found out....it even has a lot of coursework which i didnt anticipate......I was hoping that I would done with 36 course credits but now I found out that I have to take 48 course credits that is .....6 courses after this semester !!!!!!!!!!!

I watched Koi Mil Gaya ....i got the cassette from Rajesh. It was a good movie...Hrithik wasnt overacting for a change for most part of the movie....he did a good job of acting as a retard. Zinta was gorgeous as usual.....the special effects....spaceship and the alien look for real....unlike most of the bollywood films.....it was good to see some good shots of the spaceship....they reminded me of Independence Day....welll, I guess thats why they hired the same guy...to replicate the spaceship outlook. It was cool anyway.

Over the weekend we played a six-a-side tournament in Colombus which was a partial success for the team as we came in second...we finsihed second even the previous year.....it was very very frustrating for finish second again but something is better than nothing right ????? we got a trophy and 6 panama hats....those round ones which the cricketers wear (Jadeja, gavaskar etc...). It was a fun weekend....but it was very very cold, our hands were hurting when we caught the ball......usually I dont drop straight forward catches on the boundary but on that chilly day I dropped 3 !!!!!!!!!!!! that was very very unusual but I am not very concerned abt that as i know the reason for dropping the catches (the cold made my hands numb!!!!!!!!). Hari, Baji, Gabroo and Sunny were brilliant in the bowling department.....i had a bad day as I got hammmered for nearly 55 runs of the 3 overs that I bowled in the 3 matches......Bharat from CCC (winnners of the tournament).....Player of the tournament....hit me for 5 sixes in the 12 balls that I bowled to him.....that was impressive batting performance by him....Kiran destroyed the ECC attack in the semifinals when we chased 60 runs in 3 overs !!!!!!!!! (they were all 6 over matches). It was brilliant hitting. One good thing abt the weekend was that we had a close game with Absar CC (last year's winners)....which we managed to win on the last ball !!!!!!! it was a pretty close game and it was a sweet revenge......they were eliminated from the tournament with that loss !!!!!!!!!!

Dont have any great plans for the weekend other than playing badminton on friday.....i am looking forward to that !!!!!!!!!

Eventful week......

I had just written a long blog and the computer crashed!!!!!!!!!!! why does this happen only with me.....

Ok..now I will make it short.......grrrrrrrrr.....

I started playing racquetball with Kiran the past week.....he is a very good player......initially I used to lose to him under-5 but then started learning from him.....now we mostly split games.....he is the only person right now in the University (that i know of)....that can beat me on any given day!!!!!! I lost interest in playing the game over the past 3 months.....but now I started playing again with Kiran...so enjoy the game....the first day itself I could see a marked difference in my game....basically my approach to the game....now I have to win every point....no free points !!!!!

I got my wireless card configured with the University network!!!!!! thats a very nice feature as the whole campus is wirelessly connected...so i can be anywhere on campus and stilll access the net....but there is a problem with that too....hmmmm...ever since I got the wireless card I have been having a lot of problems.....the card I bought works at home but doesnt work in school !!!!!!!! so i had to borrow another card from a friend which works at school but didnt work at home....there was some network compatibilty problem......so in the process of configuring the card at home I worked till 3 in the morning on wednesday......it was a futile effort....my friend also had come to help me but it didnt work....we tried everything possible....including system restore ....but it didnt work...so we gave up and went to bed......the next day my roomie tell me that the network was down on wednesday due to a router problem!!!!!!!!!!! grrrrrrrrrrr.....all night wednesday i was trying to get the wireless card working when the router itself was down !!!!!!

I got a new phone.....nokia 3650...my new number is 330-289-4901.....u can contact me at this number from now on....I gave my old phone and service to a friend so from now on if u call at 330-322-7896 she will be answering the phone!!!!!!

Wireless at last...........

Anil (my roomie) and I have been thinking of getting a wireless router and a wireless card for my laptop for quite sometime........but that was all planning and no implementation. this weekend (thanx to the postponment of the cricket tournament) we decided to finish our mission.

So our mission for the weekend was "Going wireless". We set out to accomplish our mission by getting the necessary hardware. We bought the wireless card and router from BEST BUY, an electronic goods store. we were glad that we got some rebates on the stuff we bought.....so now that we had the raw material for the project we had to set up the network....once we got home both of us got to work.....he started setting up the router and I setup the wireless card for my laptop.....as expected my job was easier than his as my laptop detected the wireless card immediately but we had difficulty setting up the router and configuring it. But we managed to get the whole thing working by evening.....then we realised that we were HUNGRY !!!!!! ......we had not eaten any thing since breakfast so we ordered pizza. We had a satisfactory meal as we had the network up and running....yeah!!!!!!! But all this came at a cost.......I could not see my favorite College Football team...OSU....play and win against Northwestern.

Later that night we were going to attend the "garba" organised by ISA and ICAGA (indian students and community associations of Akron)......Bhaddhu had come home and Anil said that we wasnt interested.....so Bhaddu, Sindhu, Prathyusha, renu and I decided to go to the Garba at 7:15pm. Most of my friends were attending the Garba organised in Cleveland...but we decided that we will attend the one in Akron.....if we dont attend that then who will......also I know how much effort goes into organising an event of that sort. but at 7:10 i get a call from Rajesh (secretary for ISA) that there were hardly anyone at the Garba in Akron........he wanted to know if we would be interested in going to the cleveland one with Hari, Sunny, Sirish, Dhanraj and Avinash !!!!!!!! So we had a change in plans and attended the Garba in Cleveland.......the entry fee for Garba was $5 (per person) and $2 for a set of Dandiya's. man!!!!!!! that was expensive. But its fun attending the event as it was paisa vasool !!!!!!! All of us had fun. I find Garba very very confusing.....I mean the normal steps are fine.....but the ones which need u to turn confuse me a lot. How many ever times I learn that dance I always forget the steps.....but thats ok....I usually get a hang of it in 10-15 minutes...

there were a lot of people at the Garba.....mostly Gujju's...we had fun....all the guys from Akron formed a small circle for ourselves and we had our on version of Garba.....Some of us had the courage to join the main circle....but it was very very hard to follow the steps...as they were changing them every 5-10 mins....i mean, we are not experts...so by the time we got hang of the steps they used to switch to another one. but it was fun....then after a break we had dandiya.....it was fun too (expect that I got hit on my knuckles with the stickes).....it still hurts.After the dance they had arranged for "Aarthi"..for Ambe maa

After all the ceremonies...Nisha, Amol and the rest of us went to Eat-n-park for dinner. we were very very hungry and our order was delayed due to the large crowd atthe restaurant. Sindhu and I then dropped Prathyu and Renu home and joined Bhaddu, Amol and Nisha for a game of Monopoly at Bhaddhu's place....It was a fun game...Nisha had the most unfortunate game I had ever seen.......Initially she went into Jail and repeatedly went back into it...the effect was such that she coudlnt manage to get a single ticket on the board...eventually she gave up...but there was some consolation for her as Amol won the game !!!!!!!!

Its already an year......

On Saturday night at 2:00 am Sindhu and I celebrated our first anniversary (the day she said yes to my proposal).......ever since my life has changed.....I cant say exactly how its made a difference.....but it has been different. Before we even realised one year haas flown by and now at the end of the first year we feel that we have known each other for a long...long....time. We wanted to celebrate the occasion at 2 in the morning becoz that was when she actually said YES to me..... uske pehle mera chehra dekh ne laaayak tha....pooora phata hua halat mei that mei.....but the relief and happiness I experience afterwards was unbelievable.......

On saturday....I went to Columbus...to play cricket !!!!!!! What a way to celebrate the occasion.....that too alone....she had to study for her class and also had to attend her friends Mehendi.... Our cricket team hasn't had any luck over the past year when we travelled to columbus....this year we are still without a win in Columbus after 5 games!!!!!!!! The last one was no different.....we got there at noon....and had to park 15 mins away from the ground due to the OSU home football game....great!!!!!!! BUt Hari, Rajesh and I had a great time in the car....we had discussions on many topics but the conversation used to always end up with us talking abt cricket.... Phani....was the visiting captain of the team from Connecticut ......yes .....he was the visiting captain as he had driven 8hrs to Akron on Friday to play on Saturday and then drove back for 8 hrs on Sunday!!!!!!....thats what is called...Enthu....

Phani lost the toss....useless fellow....they always used to curse me for losing the toss...but FYI....PHANI hasnt won a toss so far......4 out of 4 losses!!!!!!!!! I am much better...... we were put into bat....for the first time I was without any pressure.....its true....believe me!!!!!....it did make a lot of difference to me mentally...thru out the game....I was much more relaxed and enjoyed the game like never before in the season.....though there were some incidents which did upset some of us. Brijesh and Kiran opened.....Brijesh has been trying to find form for some time....he has been scoring runs but not very comfortably....he needed to spend some more time in the middle.....but he went for an extravagant (I didnt see the stroke..it was described by the others)...and was caught behind....In came "Hurricane" Hari....he has been struggling too....Kiran on the other end has been gaining confidence with every knock.....Hari was bogged down by some good bowling....he couldnt get his usual singles...so he went for an attacking stroke and was caught in the slips (rather short thirdman).....he made 8(33) that was very very unusual of him. Phani..who had not touched the bat in 3 weeks...walked in....he wasnt very comfortable at the beginning but he started middling the ball pretty soon...all this while Kiran was playing bea...u..tiful shots and scoring freely.....Phani then came into his usual self and was settled...all was going well.....when he suddenly decided to take on the bowling and got caught at the long-on boundary.....the fielder was moved up so Phani was decieved...10(30). I walked in with the score reading 83/3 in 20 overs. Kiran in his usual way asked me to stay till the end (well...thats what I usually try..heheheh). A spinner was bowling.....I got a short ball...my eyes lit up (pull..by the way is my favorite shot)...I pulled the ball to the legside boundary.....yeah!!!!!! That was a confidence booster...i always like it when i get off the mark straight away.....Kiran then finished his fifty.....thats his 3rd fifty as an opener...way to go Motu!!!!!!! immediately....he got caught in the short thirdman region off the spinner....that was a meek dismissal...it was a tame end of an attacking knock 55(57)....in came avinash..both of us have a good understanding for running between the wickets...that fact that both of us trust the other person's call helps a lot while running....we started running aggressively and started pushing for 2's and 3's where there were only 1's and 2's. we decided not to slog till the 28th or the 29th over...it didnt make sense to heave at the ball miss it and then heave at it again....instead play sensibly and get 2 runs of those 2 balls and save ur wicket tooo. I was playing welll.....I hit my first boundary on the off-side......yes....my first off-side boundary in 3 years!!!!!!! can u believe that....the second one soon followed......I was delighthed.....avinash started lofting the ball too.....he plays the lofted shot brillliantly by going down on his knees....its a treat to watch that shot....in the process of increasing the run-rate in the 29th over....i got a top edge and was caught...welll...no regrets....31 (28)......Avinash soon got out tooo he played extremely well for his 25 (23)....Sunny tried to use his long handle shots but wasnt very successsfull......Hemant went in but never got a chance to play....we finished with 155 runs (5-10 runs short of what I was expecting).......

We didnt bowl well and didnt field well either...we gave a lot of wides initially and on the whole dropped 5 catches (one of a no-ball)....but a catch is a catch...and missed an easy run-out chance. Raj bowled very well and sirish showed some glimpses of good control with the new ball..he needs practice....we lost it in the last over....i didnt have a great day with the ball I must have gone for 6 -7 runs an over.....i think i need to do something abt this bowling thing..i havent been bowling well lately.....Phani was pissed off due to some decisions made by the people on the field against his liking....over all...we had another close match which we lost....time to win some...

on our way back....Rajesh, Phani, Hari and i ....had a blast...we took a 1 hr break at waffle house to have dinner and we had non-stop non-sense and fun in the car....once I got home I met Sindhu and we spent the rest of the evening (10:45pm to 2:30 am) together.....I made up for this the next day.....Took her to the temple and took her shopping and for a movie!!!!!!!!

Classic Definitions & Cool Meanings:

1. Cigarette : A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end & a fool at the other.

2. Love affairs : Something like cricket where one-day internationals are more popular than a five day test.

3. Marriage : It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her master

4. Divorce : Future tense of marriage

5. Lecture : An art of transferring information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either".

6. Conference : The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.

7. Compromise : The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.

8. Tears : The hydraulic force by which masculine will-power is defeated by feminine water-power ..

9. Dictionary : A place where divorce comes before marriage.

10. Conference Room : A place where everybody talks, nobody listens & everybody disagrees later on.

11. Ecstasy : A feeling when you feel you are going to feel a feeling you have never felt before.

12. Classic : A book which people praise, but do not read.

13. Smile : A curve that can set a lot of things straight.

14. Office : A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.

15. Yawn : The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.

16. Etc. : A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.

17. Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.

18. Experience : The name men give to their mistakes.

19. Atom Bomb: An invention to end all inventions.

20. Philosopher : A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead.

21. Diplomat : A person who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.

22. Opportunist : A person who starts taking bath if he accidentally falls into a river.

23. Optimist : A person who while falling from Eiffel Tower says in midway "See I am not injured yet."

24. Pessimist :- A person who says that O is the last letter in ZERO, Instead of the first letter in word OPPORTUNITY.

25. Miser : A person who lives poor so that he can die rich.

26. Father : A banker provided by nature.

27. Criminal : A guy no different from the rest... except that he got caught.

28. Boss : Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.

29. Politician : One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence after.

30. Doctor : A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you with his bills.

31. Computer Engineer : One who gets paid for reading such mails......

Roomie's Birthday

Its my new room-mate Anil's B'day today....we had the usual midnight b'day celebration by having all our friends over to our house. We had fun.....especially becoz Anil wasnt suspecting anything of that sort.....he had gone to bed and I had not come home till 11:40pm...he thought something would happen but when he didnt even see me at home he went to sleep peacefully....at 11:40 Adi, Sindhu and I sneaked into my apartment with the cake and the party supplies.....at 11:55 all my friends had come over without making any noise....then we woke him up with 2 mins to mid-night.....he was surprised and was forced to get up in the middle of his peaceful slumber.....then we had the usual cake lit with candles and the happy b'day song....but the absence of Mr. Ravi Ayyer was felt...mainly becoz he is the expert in singing the "Happy B'day song"....but Bhushan made up for that by singing the normal song and adding "Many Girl friends to you......".

My Apartment is a small one...in the sense...it doesnt have a living room....it has 2 bed-rooms, 2 bath-rooms and a kitchen.....so even if we have 2 friends come over the palce looks crowded.....and yesterday we had 15-20 people in the same house....just imagine how it must have been!!!!!!!!! It was like a market place back home in India where you have to invariably rub shoulders with the person next to you when you move !!!!!!!!!

Before all this happened there was a mystery......when is anil's b'day.....I mean 17th or 18th ???...me moving into the house only a month ago didnt know when his B'day was......I asked mikki....Anil's old roomie....he said "shayad....17th ya 18th but pakka yaad nahi hai "....so I called Adi...." shayad 17th ko hai"...but not sure....so how do we know when his b'day exactly is ???? I thought I will ask Badri....anil's roomie 2 yrs ago...but he lives in arizona .... a different time zone and he was at work...I only had his home number....what to do???....then the Genius in me and Adi agreed to the same thought.....he solved the mystery!!!!!!!! guess how ???..... we asked Anil himself when his b'day was !!!!!!!!!! can u belive we did that !!!!!!!! but anyways we had fun at his b'day thanks to adi...who invited all the friends home as I had gone to the cleveland temple in the evening....

New blogger

Hey guys....welcome Rajesh to the world of blogging....he has started writing blogs too....I guess like me he has been inspired by our own Hemya... hey buddy u have introduced the world of blogging to the desis in Akron...hats off to u. Rajesh has taken over from me as the official match report writer...check his blog out for the match report on the Saturday game.....

I heard a great deal abt the performance of the team on Sunday.....I have been told by some that it was the best performance given by an Akron team.... i am glad to hear that....as now I am happy that my decision to step down will not have a great effect on the team. The team did better when I wasnt the Captain...probably thats what the team needs.....a new captain....though I feel happy that the team has started coming togther...I feel sad that i could get the team to perform at their best. Had we seen the level of enthu and team spirit that we have been seeing of late we would have done much better in the Mid-west tournament.

well....In life everything doesnt go how u want it to happen....so here begins one more chapter in my cricketing years at Akron......

I stepped down as the Captain

I had been the captain of Akron CC for the past two years and I had a great time. I enjoyed the captaincy and I learned a lot abt the game and abt captaincy. But of late I have not been enjoying being the Captain as there has been lots of pressue and lot of resposiblities and due to lots of incidents that have irritated and frustrated me.

I first started playing in my rookie season along with Badri, DK, Dabba, Kiran, Ram, PDP, Anand, Hemant Shah, Sudipto, Guru, Chirag, Puneet etc.... I hadnt played a lot of season ball cricket in India but here i was gladly accepted into the team (though I earned my first match due to the only reason that I had a car!!!!!!)...but from then on I earned my spot with my bowling and fielding....I used to bat at No.8 (or something like that).....the next year I took over as the captain !!!!!! I was surprised too.....but I put in more effort in my batting and played decently....this year I had a great season (for my standards) with the bat, ball and on the field......but this year there have been lot of instances that have collectively had their toll into making my decision to step down as the Captain. I used to enjoy the sport in the first year.....but the past two years theye have been a lot of pressure on me concerning the compsotion of the team and abt player's batting and bowling positions.

This year there have been a lot of ego clashes on the team and there have been a lot of other incidents on and off the field that have made the game less enjoyable. Some of the incidents (I am not taking the names of the players involved in the incident to protect their privacy but the people can easily identify themselves).......

A player gets drunk the night before inspite of million reminders that we have a game the next day.....then doesnt get up in time, doesnt lift the phone (reminds of Ram of the previous season).....I had clearly told people in both years that nobody will go to anybody's house to wake somebody up. It becomes atleast the moral responsibilty of the person to get to the game on time. But both the years the same person against my will went and woke up the drunk guy. Last year i had dropped Ram in the similar scenario....but this year I was forced by the team members not to drop the drunk guy.....he claims he is fit to play.....he is a good player....but a good player without discipline is worth nothing.

A player who had been dropped from the side gets angry and stops talking to me and gets pissed off.....what did i do personally to him?

A player who had never batted at position X before but insists that he wants to bat there.....how in the world am I to guess that he will excel there.....I mean think abt it....a good batsman is going thru a lean patch....and hasnt been scoring a lot and had been throwing his wicket away in time crunch time....when he approaches me and says probably I will keep my head down and play if u let me play at position X ???????? What am i supposed to think??? That a particular person will only bat well if he is sent at position X?? is that kind of a black mail???? whats worse......the other people supporting the reason that he will put his head down at X ??? why??? cant he put his head down and play wherever he is sent in????? is that kind of mentality good for the team??

Players constantly complaining that their arms are hurting and they are injured some way or the other and that they want to stand close-in !!!!!!!! if u are injured why play the game ???? let someone else who is 100% fit play the game !!!!!! why should the captain be pressurised to change his field becoz u are complaining???? Due to this reason.....I had to field in the deep for most part of two years!!!!!!!! How many captain do u see controlling the team from Deep mid-wicket, long on, long-off positions???????? I enjoy fielding there but I want to field close in tooo.....if any one thinks I dont have the reflexes and anticipation to stand close in....please get on the court with me in Badminton and racquetball......I can show what reflexes and anticipation are !!!!!!!!!!

A player is down with flu and he had been fielding in the deep for 20 overs......he is tired so he asks a teammate "can u switch with me" the player declines !!!!!!!! Have atleast a humanitarian consideration!!!!!! The same tired guy later played one of the best knocks I have ever seen on the cricket field.....the commitment he showed cannot be equalled. He was tired, down with flu, had a sore throat, had cramps during his batting.........but he was ready to run twos but the new player who came in isn't ready!!!!!!! thats ridiculous....considering the fact that we lost the game by 1-run !!!!!!!!

A bowler has bowled 4 wides down the leg-side and is having trouble controlling the ball.....instead of encouraging him and urging him to bowl well and finish the over....one of our own players taunts at him in fornt of the other team "off-stump karke cheese hotha hai uske upar daal.....nahi hua tho sirf khada rehke daal"

i ask people to run 4 rounds of the ground during practice, people come up with great excuses for not running. There are some guys who religiously and sincerely run 4 but there are others who run 1 or two and stop and no questions should be asked why he didnt run!!!!!!! some people say "i played basketball and now i dont need to run", "I played racquetball", "I will bat and run", "I cant run today becoz my feet hurts and if i run today i cant play in the game tommorow (they why play at all!!!!!!)"

i drop a lplayer from the team he gets pissed off......takes it home with him and shows his anger on the roommates!!!!!!!! his poor roommate calls me up and tells me that he was droppping himslef from the team to let the pissed off guy play.

I make a bowling change it clicks in one game and make the same bowling change in the next game and it fails people say "that was a bad move, u should have atleast asked one of us".....what were they doing when i was making the bowling changer???? Am I unapproachable on the field???? Am I a hilter??? do i dictate terms on the field and not listen to ideas???? If u have an idea let me know...I will implement if its good. Dont criticize the captain later for the thing u think he should have done (when u didnt tell him on the field)....thats what is called player participation!!!!!!

I make somebody stand in a particular position he is like "yeah position bahut boring hai....4-5 overs mei ball ek baar atha hai u can put player Y here I will stand there".....why should player Y stand in such a position???? will he not feel the same!!!!!! I know what my resources are and i know who will do well where.....for that player "fielding doesnt only involve stopping the ball...it also involves catching the ball and cricket is abt catching the few balls that come in ur direction and waiiting for them in patience"

I drop somebody for player X who had been playing the team for more than a year and had performed well previously but is going thru a rough patch....that somebody throws tantrums.....u played welll...but u are new on the team and it will take the Captain sometime to get confidence in you. Its like....u have a friend for 4-5 years and there is this new guy in the town....I hang out with him one day I enjoy with him but the next day.....both the old friend and the new guy call me at the same time who will I give preference?????

Player X goes for a catch drops it and shouts at the guys standing next to him "u scared me!!!!!" what is that supposed to mean??? when u catch the ball only u are supposed to be near it??? I mean its a cricket field with 11 players on it and when u call for the catch people will not go for it but dont expect them to get out of ur sight. the least u can say after the drop is "Sorry"

During the game i ask volunteers for umpiring!!!!!! I get one....only Raj (I have taken the name becoz he was the only guy who used to come forward)..now people are volunteering but not very enthusiastically....the answers I get "I umpired one game already","i am tired","I have go to the loo"etc......are I and Raj not tired????? We field, bowl some overs and we are as tired as u are .....dont we need rest before we go into bat....try fielding for 35 overs (bowling 5-6 overs), stand on the bournday line all game, umpire for 20 overs....get into bat when u have more than run -a-ball situation and u have to run like crazy and keep ur wicket and get to the target

For the all-star game some people werent too happy with the nominations!!!!! I felt really bad that people didnt feel that the nominations taken by vote werent completely accepted.....Hari, Adi (any doubts???), Brijesh (he was having a great season till then), me (u have any problems please let me.....I can justify myself....rather my stats can do the justification)

I can go on and on with all these situations but by now I have wasted 2 hrs writing so I will stop here

I know that by this time I would have hurt somebodies feelings......but I put in all the things that had irritated me and that I personally felt werent right. I would like to apologise if I hurt ur feelings...but it was time that I got this out as i was unable to bear it by just keeping it to myself

but before I quit...some good words:

Hemant, guru, Vikas, Sirish.......U guys have been on rotation for most of the season....u guys performed the few times i had asked you to step up. U guys are great....I would like to thank u all for taking some decisions sportingly. i know that its hard to be on rotation but its just time before u get permanent and someone else is on rotation

Cricket News.....

Our Cricket season came to an end about three weeks ago when we lost to OSU Alumni team in Columbus. I will put up the reports abt the matches later (may be!!!!!!). WE had a double header which was just a formality as we were out of contention for the playoff's.

The final four games of the season were not good ones for us....we lost three and won only one. We lost to WVU by one-run !!!!!!! Lost to Cleveland by 5 wickets .... that loss put us out of the tournament. Then we beat Cleveland2 in an inconsequential game....but that game recorded the first century with which AkronCC was involved (though it was scored against us). The last game of the season was with OSU and we lost that in the last over. It was a good game which turned kind of rough towards the end of the game when some of their players started taunting us and vice-versa.

The only positive abt the last 4 games is the emergence of Kiran as an attacking opener...his scores in the three games that he opened were...24,66,84 !!!!!!!! Thats a great string of scores and with that unbelievable performance at the end of the season he tied for the batting honors for AkronCC with Hari, both of them finished with 222 runs. The other bright spot is the 5-wicket haul of Adi in the last game....he finished the season with 16 wickets and he stood 8th in the overall standings for the Mid-west tournament. Phani tooo scored a fifty in the game against cleveland2. I had a decent finish to the season with the scores of 17(not out),23,7,19 (not out). This season I had a decent showing with the ball, bat and on the field. I fiinished with 155 runs (5th on the team), 11 wickets (2nd on the team), 7 catches and 2 runouts (1st on the team and 7th in the Midwest tournament). The complete stats for the AkronCC team for the 2003 season have been posted on the web, Stats on the midwest site. Both the stats differ due to the incorrect or incomplete scorecards and the washed out games.

We had the all-star game in Columbus. Four members from AkronCC were selected to represent Group B in the all-star games. Adi, Hari, Kiran (based on his brilliant battting in the end) and myself. The chief guests for the all-star games were Faoud Bacchus and Larry Gomes. Both of them as most of you know represented the Westindian team of the 70's and 80's. They were a part of probably the best all-time test team. we had the privilege of playing with them. Actually Adi and I have had some memorable moments tooo.....

I had the privilege of bowling to Bacchus (250 Highest test score !!!) the first ball was dispatched for a four, the next ball was a wide....I thought "Gaya....meri tho abhi band bajegi". But fortunately.....I found my rythm sooon and I started bowling my usual wicket to wicket stuff. I bowled 4 dot balls in a row!!!!!!!!! i couldnt believe it. Then the next ball is the ball I will remember for the rest of my life......... I bowled my slower delivery that deceived Bacchus and induced an Outside edge which the wicket-keeper collected safely. I was very confident that he would walk or that the Umpire would give him out.....but to my disappointment he was given not-out. Everyone on the field heard the edge. But I was later informed by one of my team-mates that they had decided not to give bacchus out in the first 7-8 overs....and I bowled the 6th !!!!!!!!!! I was very very delighted and now I have some memories to last for a long time.....but my joy was short lived as I was spanked for 16 runs in my next over!!!!!! That was the end of my participation in the all-star game. I had one more positive thing.....I was not out on 10 at the end of out batting when all the other all-stars on our team struggled to get runs. I was in there for 4-5 overs and must have run 25-30 runs easily.

Now to Adi's memory.....Adi bowled a maiden over to Larry Gomes (the west-indian Mr.Dependable)....bowling a maiden over to a world-class batsman in a limited overs match is not a small achievement!!!!!!!! Its a memory to cherish for a lifetime. I mean.....how many times do we get to play on the same stage as the international superstars in our lifetime???? and in that how many times can u get them out or bowl a maiden to them???? thats what I was talking abt. I wasnt there for the game so cannot write anything abt the over else I would have given a ball-to-ball description.

Kiran and Hari had a good outing too. though Hari was disappointed for not being able to bat much.....he selflessly gave-up his wicket in an attempt to increase the scoring when the others to follow took their own time to get their runs!!!!!!! Kiran on the other hand had a good day with the bat. he scored well in both his knocks. he scored 44 in his first game and 35 in the second. He was simply amazing to watch.... I mean his strokes were breath-taking. So good were his strokes to watch...that even Bacchus acknowledged him in his speech at the dinnner later that night.

Group B lost to Group A in the first game, Group C beat group A in the second match and Group B massacered Group C in the third......Groups A and B played the all star final in which Group A beat Group B comfortably.

We wanted to watch the big scorring Hammad mallik and Hammad Bhokari in action....but we were very very disappointed to see that they were very very unsportsmanly and played with little sportsman spirit. They were sooo bad that later I was told that when Kiran hit Hammad mallik for a six the whole team of Group C was very very happy (Group C was the group for whom mallik was playing or rather captaining).

One more thing abt the all star game........The Legend of DK....the last couple of years the players of AkronCC must have heard abt the legend of DK a lot from the veterans on the team. It goes like this....DK, an Akron Alumni....a stylish batsman....used to open for akron and had only one significant knock (in the one year that I played with him). He used to play himself in and get a measure of the bowling ....standard procedure for a good batsman...then play a brilliant shot ...which will be applauded even by the opposition....infact only the opposition applauds as his team mates knew what was coming next....he used play a stupid shot outside offstump and get caught either in the slips or by the keeper.......this was a usual thing to happen. He is very famous in Akron for his standard 15 min stay at the wicket. The all stars from Akron got to see him in action and he did exactly what he was famous for......the standard DK time in the middle and got out caught behind!!!!!!!! Kiran and I had already mentioned to Hari and Adi what Adi would do but they werent too sure abt that.......but the man, DK, himself wrote the whole script to convince them......convinced they are!!!!!!!!

Job situation seems to be improving :):)

Yes....I think the job scenario is improving slowly but steadily. For the past year of so there havent been a lot of jobs available and I hadnt heard abt a lot of people getting jobs but in the past couple of months there has been a good change in that scenario (atleast among my friends!!!!!!).

Phani (Polymer engineering) got a job in Connecticut, Hemant (also in Poly Engg) got a job in Akron, Ekta (Biomedical Engg) got a job in Philips Medical Systems in Cleveland, Rajiv (Stats) got a Job at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Aanchal (stats) got a job in New Jersey, Saswati (also in stats) got a job at Mercer in Cleveland. Thats a lot of jobs in the past couple of months. I guess the people who are looking for jobs now should consider this as a good omen and continue their job search with new vigour.

My advisor is getting better by the day so I feel happy and most of my thoughts had been revolving around his recovery as my future depended on it. But now I think I have made a couple of decisions with the help of friends and family which will help me decide my path from here on.

I am back !!!!!

I would like to apologise to all my friends who read my blog regularly. I had been pretty busy of late and with the classes starting I wasnt able to find time to write anything on the blog. The fact is that I had made two posts earlier but at the crunch time the computer crashed!!!!!! That was a waste of 3 hrs combined :(:(

Anyways, from now on I will be updating my blog regularly and try to get some interesting stuff so that u dont get bored just reading the cricket reports:). For today I wanted to start on an easy note so I copy pasted from a forward abt the Mumbaiyya terminology....I am sure that most of you guys who find undersdtanding the mumbaiyya language will find this very very useful and informative...read and enjoy......

1. There's a minor problem- Arre yaar, "Waanda" ho gaya

2. There's a big problem - Arre yaar, "Jhol" ho gaya

3. There's a huge problem..(unsolvable)-Arre yaar, "Raada" ho gaya

4. You'll be surprised . Ekdam "Hill" jayega tu

5. I am going out of this place Chal apun "Kaltii" marta hai.

6. Don't make a fool of others Dekh , tu "Shendi" mat laga sabko

7. Just get out of here,you oversmart fool!!-Chal e shane, "Hawa" aande

8. I am not a stupid out here - Apun kya "ALIBAUG" se nahi aaya

9. There's some misunderstanding-Arre kuch "Galat Faimili" ho gayi

10.Do u drink daily? Tu kya roz "FULL TO" hota hai?

11.See, You are afraid.. Dekh , teri to "FAT" gayi

12.Shall I just bash u? E Du kya "Kharcha Pani"?

13.Just take him into a secret place -Use jara "Khopche" me leke ja

14. O .. What a beautiful lady !! - Kya "Zakaas Item" hai yaar!!

15.Don't just bluff....OK?= E Jyaada "RAAG" mat de..

16.Ya..she is staring at u.. buddy!!!=Kya sahi "LINE" deti hai "Bhiduu"!!

17.Don't take much tension.. Jyaada "LOAD" nahi leneka kya??

18.Your clothes are very awkward!!=Kya "ZAGMAG /DHINKCHAAK" pehna tune?

19.I don't care about it much..!!=Abe yaar , "Hata Saawan Ki Ghata"

20.Please don't overbore me....== Jyaada "PAKAA" mat be tu

21.All this must be done without anyone's notice Sab kaam "SUUMDI" me hona chahiye...kya?

Our game against Cuyahoga....Their Innings

Cuyahoga started their innings with their two best batsman and they were very very aggressive from the begining....Hari had a disastrous start with two wides reaching the boundary as byes. By the end of the first over they had 16 runs and Manpreet was hit for 2 fours in his over. I gave Hari one more try but he was hit for 9 runs in his second over. Then manpreet was hit too and in no time they reached fifty. I tried Kiran but with no luck.....he was hit too....so I experimented and brought on Avinash.....as he bowls into the batsman cramping them and giving them room to free their arms. The change worked as he immediately bowled the most economical over of the innings till then, I brought Adi....our most economical bowler of the season. He bowls straight and gives no room. He got a break through straight away....he got Kamal their Captain an their main batsman.....it was a lucky dismissal as he was given out LBW of an inside edge. We got the decision and we took it. we were more than happy to get the wicket. The team which was quiet during the run flow suddenly started to shout and encourage each other. Suddenly the runs dried up and the otehr set batsman was getting restless and fell for a good piece of bowling by Avinash....he got him to play outside off stump and gave a n easy catch to the Raj at thirdman.

On the other end Adi was tightening the screws and drying up the runs. He was spot on every delivery......the new man in was very confident and stylish lefty. he was playing beautifully...he hit a majestic six off Adi. It was wonderful shot to watch. But we had to get this guy out....Adi then bowled a straight ball which he misread and got bowled!! That was the wicket we were looking for. We were all very delighted and excited. IN the mean time one of the Cuyahoga players...Imran asked me forr a runner......he was injured before the game and came into the game with an injury. I woudl have allowed a runner for any other team other than this one. They were very very rude oin the field and sledged hard and they showed unsportsman like behavior so I decided not to allow a runner. The other members of Cuyahoga got pissed at that but we played fair. I brought Hari back into the attack and Hari responded brilliantly with controlled bowling which fetched him 3 wickets in 3 overs.....it was very very good spell of fast bowling. i brought raj on from the other end and he got a wicket straight away too. The wickets were falling at regular intervals but the runs were being scored at a high rate too. So the only way to win was to get them all out and we got that. In the mean time I caught a one handed catch in the long off position. i was very thrilled. Then i brought myself on...and I got 2 wickets in 2 overs. i was very very happy and we had won the match comfortably thanx to Adi and Baji for the tremendous bowling perfomance. hari tooo bowled very well but the Man of the Match was Avinash who had batted brilliantly and then bowled extremely well in the pressure circumstances. Over all it was a very very satisfctory victory, All of us had lots of things to say abt the victory so as usual we met at Adi's place after the game.....

An Amazing speech...........

This speech was delivered during the commencement exercises of the UP graduating class of 2003 by Mr. Butch Jimenez, the youngest commencement speaker in the university's history. He once dreamed of doing so, and it came true!!! :-) Students wished they had a pencil or paper to jot down notes during the speech; some even wished they had a tape recorder. Some members of the faculty found his speech practical, refreshing, and funny! Butch Jimenez, head of PLDT's media and strategic communications department, delivered this speech at the UP Diliman Class 2003 commencement exercises.

What's better than...?
By Butch Jimenez

Better than being negative As college students, you're just about to set sail into the real world. As you prepare for the battleground of life, you'll hear many speeches,read tons of books and get miles of advice telling you to work hard,dream big, go out and do something for yourself, and have a vision.

Not bad advice, really. In fact, following these nuggets of truth may just bring you to the top. But as I've lived my life over the years , I have come to realize that it is great to dream big, have a vision, make a name, and work hard. But guess what: There's something better than that.

So my message today simply asks the question, What's better than...? Let's start off with something really simple. What's better than a long speech? No doubt, a short one. So, you guys are in luck because I do intend to keep this short.

Now, let me take you through a very simple math exam. I'll rattle off a couple of equations, and you tell me what you observe about them. Be mindful of the instructions. You are to tell me what you observe about the equations.

Here goes: 3+4=7, 9+2=11, 8+4=13, and 6+6=12. Tell me, what do you observe? Every time I conduct this test, more than 90 percent of the participants immediately say, 8+4 is NOT 13, it's 12!

That's true and they are correct. But they could have also observed that the three other equations were right. That 3+4 is 7, that 9+2 is 11, and that 6+6 is 12.

What's my point? Many people immediately focus on the negative instead of the positive. Most of us focus on what's wrong with other people more than what's right about them. Examine those four equations. Three were right and only one was wrong. But what is the knee-jerk observation? The wrong equation.

If 10 people you didn't know were to walk through that door, most of you would describe those people by what's negative about them. He's fat.He's balding. Oh, the short one. Oh, the skinny girl. Ahhh, 'yung pango.Etc.

Get the point? It's always the negative we focus on and not the positive. You'll definitely experience this in the corporate world. You do a hundred good things and one mistake-guess what? Chances are, your attention will be called on that one mistake.

So what's better than focusing on the negative? Believe me, its focusing on the positive. And if this world could learn to focus on the positive more than the negative, it would be a much nicer place to live in.

Better than working hard

We have always been told to work hard. Our parents say that, our teachers say that, and our principal says that. But there's something better than merely working hard. It's working SMART.

It's taking time to understand the situation, and coming out with an effective and efficient solution to get more done with less time and effort. As the Japanese say, "There's always a better way."

One of the most memorable case studies I came across with as I studied Japanese management at Sophia University in Tokyo was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a box of soap that was empty. It immediately isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management tasked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No
doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast.

But a rank-and-file employee that was posed the same problem came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Clearly, the engineers worked hard, but the rank-and-file employee worked smart. So what's better than merely working hard? It's working smart. Having said that, it is still important to work hard. If you could combine both working hard and working smart, you would possess a major factor toward success.

Better than dreaming big

I will bet my next month's salary that many have encouraged you to dream big. Maybe even to reach for the stars and aim high. I sure heard that about a million times right before I graduated from this university. So I did. I did dream big. I did aim high. I did reach for the stars. No doubt, it works. In fact, the saying is true: "If you aim for nothing,that's exactly what you'll hit: nothing."

But there's something better than dreaming big. Believe me, I got shocked myself. And I learned it from the biggest dreamer of all time, Walt Disney.

When it comes to dreaming big, Walt is the man. No bigger dreams were fulfilled than his. Every leadership book describes him as the ultimate dreamer. In fact, the principle of dreaming and achieving is the core message of the Disney hit song, "When You Wish Upon a Star".

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are; anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do," as Jiminy Cricket sang.

But is that what he preached in the Disney company? Dream? Imagineering

Well, not exactly. Kinda, but not quite. The problem with dreaming is if that's all you do, you'll really get nowhere. In fact, you may just fall asleep and never wake up.

The secret to Disney's success is not just dreaming, it's IMAGINEERING. You won't find this word in a dictionary. It's purely a Disney word. Those who engage in imagineering are called imagineers. The word combines the words "imagination" and "engineering."

In the book "Imagineers," Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, claims that "imagineers turn impossible dreams into real magic."

Walt Disney explained there is really no secret to their approach. They just keep moving forward-opening new doors and doing new things, because they are curious. And it is this curiosity that leads them down new paths. They always dream, explore and experiment. In short, imagineering is the blending of creative imagination and technical know-how.

Eisner expounds on this thought by saying that "Not only are imaginers curious, they are courageous, outrageous, and their creativity is contagious."

The big difference with imagineers is that they dream and then they DO! So don't just be a dreamer, be an imagineer.

You must have all been given a lecture at one time or another about the importance of having a vision. Even leadership expert John Maxwell says that an indispensable quality of a leader is to have a vision. The Bible also makes it very clear that "Without vision, people perish." So no doubt about it, having a vision is important to success.

But surprise! There's something more potent than a vision. It's a CAUSE. If all you're doing is trying to reach your vision and you're pitted against someone fighting for a cause, chances are you'll lose.

The Vietnam War is a classic example. Literally with sticks and stones, the Viet Cong beat the heavily armed US Army to surrender, primarily because the US had a vision to win the war, but the Vietnamese were fighting for a cause.

In the realm of business, many leaders have visions of making their company No.1, or grabbing market share, or forever increasing profits.

Nothing really wrong with that vision, but take the example of Sony founder Akio Morita. He did not just have a vision to build the biggest electronics company in the world. In his biography, "Made in Japan," he reveals that the real reason he set up Sony was to help rebuild his country, which had just been battered by war. He had a cause he was fighting for. His vision to be an electronics giant was secondary.

What's the difference bet ween a vision and a cause? Here's what sets them apart...

No one is willing to die for a vision. People will die for a cause.
You possess a vision. A cause possesses you.
A vision lies in your hands. A cause lies in your heart.
A vision involves sacrifice. A cause involves the ultimate sacrifice.

Just a word of caution. You must have the right vision, and you must be fighting for the right cause. In the end, right will always win out.

It may take time, and it may take long. But if you have the right vision and are fighting for the right cause, you will prevail. If not, no matter how sincere you are, if you are not fighting for what is right,you will ultimately fail.

Two final quotes

Allow me to end with two quotes that I have lived by ever since I stepped out of UP. The first comes from the Bible, which says, "To whom much is given, much is required."

Having been given the opportunity to study in UP, no doubt, much has been given to you in terms of an excellent education. Don't forget that in return, much is now required of you to use that education not just for yourself, but for others.

And as you move up and start reaching the pinnacle of success, even more will be required of you to look at the welfare of others, of society and of the country.

Though I have often dreamed of addressing any graduating class of UP Diliman, I never really thought it would happen. This brings me to the second quote I have held close to my heart as I traverse the destiny God has laid out for me.

"There is no destination beyond reach of one who walks with God." My standing in front of you today, as the youngest commencement speaker of this esteemed university in 92 years, is proof of how true that quote is.

A final review:

* What's better than focusing on the negative? Focus on the positive.
* What's better than working hard? It's working smart.
* What's better than dreaming? Imagineering.
* What's better than doing something for yourself? Doing something for your country.
* What's better than a vision? A cause.
* What's better than a long speech? Definitely, a short one.

Thank you and congratulations, UP Diliman graduating class of 2003