Aaj Ki Taja Khabar

Compuware Game....

2007-06-14T15:13:00.001-05:00

After that loss against NCC we headed to Nationwide ground to play the second half of our double header....the umpire was very very rude...we werent scheduled to leave the ground we played on earlier that morning but due to some conflict we had to move to another ground....we had 45 mins between the games on which we banked on to get some lunch....but becoz of the change in venue...we lost most of that time and the umpire wasnt even considerate enough to let us get some food...he said that we wil have to lose some overs if we went for food...thats rubbish....when our car got there the umpire was on the field already gesturing us to come for toss....we had 6 people at that point so when I won the toss i elected to bat....it was a forced decision...but turned out to be a good one....

Sham and Baji opened the innings and were hitting at will against the relatively weaker bowling team....both of them scored briskly....Baji was playing himself back into form by gradually increasing in confidence with each of his knocks....Sham was at his attacking best....both of them put in a quick 60-70 run partnership when against the run of the play.....Baji got out....then Uday was sent in....he too got out quickly...Guru was promoted to get some batting practice....but he got out for a duck.....too bad that he didnt utilize the opportunity....by that point the groupism in the team was brewing....we developed a group system and divided the team into 3 groups and each groups would be awarded with points based on the players performance...this was done to incorporate healthy competition within the team....little did we know that Raghav...would abuse it to the advantage of his group...hehehhehehe...well....Raghav and I kind of steadied the innings and took the score close to 170 when I got out...trying to get over aggressive...Vijay went in and started belting the ball to all parts of the field with neat hits....his hitting was so effective and outstanding that he outscored Raghav ( playing since the 9 or 10th over) in a 9-ball knock...we ended up with 210 odd runs....

their batting too wasnt that great....so Raghav decided to experiment with the bowling....which was a good idea....but he abused the system to give bowling only to the people in his group....result being that his group got about 7-8 wickets that fell that day....anyways....Gabroo bowled and over and so did Guru....Uday bowled a couple and Harsha bowled 3....then Rajni and Thimma bowled 4 each in which Rajni got 5 wickets....he was bowling very well....with a decent flight and good line.....he deserved the wickets he got....the best part was his celebration after each wicket....in panesar style....with pumping fists and running to the batsman...accompanied by a shriek of joy ( or heckling the batsman)....Rohit also joined the party with a couple of overs and wicket....my contribution on the field was just a catch....we got them out for 70 runs or so.....it was a relatively easy game after that close match against NCC...so we ended the league phase with 3-1 record and luckily for me...we topped the group...in spite of my terrible performance against NCC that brought some solace to me....

Game against NCC (20-20)

2007-06-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

Our next game was against Nationwide Cricket Club (NCC)....i know quite a few people on the team as I have been playing for quite some time with Akron CC....so it was nice to see some familiar faces...

The game started late as the NCC guys came late...the umpire rightly punished them for their tardiness by deducting 2 overs from their chase...there was lot of opposition to that....but we started the game finally....we were concerned becoz we had a double header that day and had to play two matches back-to-back....so we were banking on the break between the games to replenish our energy reserves....

Anyways...we started batting...Baji and Abhay started well....scored briskly....got a partnerhsip going...then Abhay got out against the run of the play....Sham walked in and tried hitting out from the first ball....bad strategy....well he got a life....then Baji went...he scored 15-20 runs...I went in with the hope of building some partnerships and keep the score board ticking....sham got out immediately....in walked Raghav....we decided to buckle down and get ones....dont know what got into Raghav....tried lofting the ball...not exactly his strength and got out....to a good catch....in walked the debutant....Vinay...we had a similar discussion in the middle....buckle up and run singles....he did the same things Raghav did and was caught at the same position....Guru came next....both of us are comfortable with each other as we can run our singles fast....so we had a nice little partnership going....then I had a rush of blood and was catch at short third man....we were in a little bit of trouble...as Vijay got out immediatelt and Guru after hitting a good six....thanks to rajni and Harsha...we played out the rest of the overs for 120 odd runs....

Well...we thought that it would be a god total as they had to chase it in 18 overs....Vijay and Guru started of well again...Vijay esp was brilliant...he was in a zone and bowled with good control....we got a few wickets but essentially kept the asking rate high.....Manpreet was introduced and he started with a brillinat yorker....we kept the scoring low and got wickets at regular intervals....I felt we were all good to go...little did I know that I was going to have a horrible day....first I dropped a catch on the boundary line....it was simple catch...that should have given me a hint as to what kind of a day I was going to have....Raghav threw me the ball in the hope of wrapping things up after the other debutant Harsha bowled well and got a couple of wickets...I was taken for 12 runs in my first over...with a six off my slower ball...its been a long time since I hadbeen hit for a six off my slower ball as I have been getting the ball spot on....but this time it didnt work....then harsha bowled another good over and I screwed it up again, i was taken for 12 more runs in the next over...with another six over deep sqaure....I asked raghav to stop me....he obliged....thank god....I dont know what would have happened had I continued....anyways...Gabroo and Guru brought us back into the game with some excellent bowling in the death....but we did give them some freebies by bowling fullish length....on Baji's and Sham's insistance raghav asked me to bowl the last over .....I was surprised ....I said "r u sure?? I am having a terrible day"....he said that he faith in me....I was encouraged....14 required of the last over....started off with runout from the first ball....but then i compenstaed with six of the next ball again....i was like...whats going on....why am I screwing up that bad...8 from 4.....they got 2....6 from 3....bowled a slower ball..that beat the batsman and the keeper all end s up....that went for a bye and another for unfortunate overthrow...4 from 2.....the ball slipped from my hand and I bowled a waist high full toss that went for a single...2 runs scrored....2 balls 2 runss... brilliant piece of fielding by sham...he shot the non striker end wickets down under pressure...1 ball 2 runs...we got the field up but I screwed up with a ball right in the slot that was hit for another six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end of the game and a disastrous performance from me....after all the effort from Vijay, Guru, Gabroo and harha....i gave up 42 in 3 overs!!!!! my worst ever performance....so we lost the game and fell to 2-1....we had to win the next game to top the group.....

Start of the 2007 cricket season

2007-06-04T23:50:00.000-05:00

Cricket season is a much awaited season for a bunch of us who spend most of the time in winter discussing the previous seasons or the upcoming season or (worse) indian cricket team....heheheh

This year the season didnt start off with the customary practice games....we participated in a 20-20 tournament....a first of its kind in this region....13 teams participated...Akron CC had a few new faces....Vijay, Abhay,Rajni, Vinay, Aditya....but most of the team was comprised of players that had represented akron in the years prior....Sham, Avinash, Raghav, Praneeth, Manpreet, Gurpreet, Harsha, Uday, Rohit and myself.....Hari, Manas and Sri Harsha werent available for this tournament.

We started off well against UCC....restricted them to 108 odd runs in 20 overs...this being our first time in 20-20 and also being Raghav's first game as captain of Akron CC....it was quite an experience....Vijay making his debut bowled brilliantly and so did Sham,Uday and Gabroo...I managed to chip in with a few good overs. the only person that had a bad day was Guru...he was pretty deflated after that...he is the most energetic fielder on the team so his silence and drooping shoulders did have an effect on the team....but we bowled well for our first game...the only surprise was that the new ball was shared by Sham (spinner) with VIjay....it took most of our team and their team by surprise...

Our chase started disastrously losing Baji and Abhay in the first couple of overs....both of them caught off guard for playing attacking shots too early in the innings...that too in the first game of the season....but that didnt ditter Sham....he kept counter attacking and that worked for us....he hit some lusty blows but fell trying to be too aggressive...Raghav and I managed to see the side through to victory thanks to some horrendous fielding by UCC... i rode on my luck 5 times !!!!!!!! Yes they dropped 5 of my catches....I couldnt have given any more chances...hehehhe Raghav also was dropped a couple of times....but in the end we managed with Sham and me scoring in 30's and Raghav in 20's. All in all it was good start for the season..... I was chosen Man of the Match...i dont remember when I last won that honor....hehehe

Next we played GahannaCC....we batted first this time....Sham and Baji opened the innings and put up a fine show....it was good to see Baji among runs as he started the season with a duck....sham started from where he had stopped in his previous innings...he even bettered his previous effort....he was at his swashbuckling best....he swatted the attack to all parts of the field....some of the sixes that he hit were huge !!!!!!!! and he wasnt even trying to slog....they were all great looking cricketing shots....it was treat to watch him....we were expecting AkronCC's first century....little did we dream to see that...and we would not even have thought of that to be in a 20-20 game even in our wildest dreams......all of us were excited....but like in the past....AkronCC player threw his wicket when in sight of a 100 and when he had the bowlers at his mercy.....too bad that Sham missed his century but for me...he got one....he scored 92 !!!! and he got out in the 16th over.....cant even imagine what he would have achieved had he played the full 20 overs :):)....then our innings fell apart and suprisingly we ended up with 170 odd runs with only 20 runs to show in the last 5 overs....thanks to sham we managed that score...else it would have been around 120....

Guru and Vijay were on fire when we started our bowling....they had a competition going...and they managed to clean the top order in the first few overs....this despite Guru being hit for a six of t he first ball of the innings....the game was in our control.....Manpreet and I got a few more wickets and we thought we had wrapped it all up....but we were wrong....Raghav introduced Baji and Sham....Baji got a couple of wickets in his first over....but was clobbered in his next and Sham too was hit for a few sixes....so all of a sudden we were under pressure again....Raghav threw the ball to me and asked me to look to contain them....I had noticed that all the balls that were hit for sixes were short of length or in the driving length....so I decided to experiment with blockhole balls and slower ones....it worked and I managed to get a couple of wickets and we wrapped the game....so we were 2-0....it had been a long time since we had a winning start to the season...so all of us were happy and it was no surprise that Sham was chosen the MOM....

more to come.....

Asian Games.....no proper media coverage

2006-12-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

I have been following the ongoing Asian Games for the past 10 days or so....they are being held in Doha, Qatar....the surprising thing is most of the media is not interested in the events unless we win a medal or dont win a medal in an event we were expected win....

It was kind of sad to see a couple of lines on these great atheletes that sweat it out for the country but dont get any news coverage...but people like aishwarya rai, SRK and Indian cricket team hog the news for every small thing they do...

Jaspal Rana, shooting ace, won 3 golds but wasnt the headline for that day..but Ash and Bacchan Jr doing puja at Vaishnav Devi is on the front page!!!!!!!!!! So much for the hard work of the atheletes....on times of india website Asian Games werent even on the front page well till we started winning medals...no lead up articles and how the atheletes prepared and stuff....but the failure of Indian cricket team is scrutinized to the minutest detail and every-tom-dick-and-harry thats played the sport will make a smart ass comment on how the team failed and that something has to be done....brilliant...everyone knows something has to be done and that the players need to regroup and play...thats called stating the obvious...

India though has a 1/3rd of Asian population is finishing a lowly 7th or 8th in the medals tally...thats very disappointing and kind of sad state of atheletics in the country....but the bright side is that we have won abt 52 medals so far...which is by far the largest haul at the Asian games...kudos to the medal winners and the others that tried...

Thanks to Rana (Shooting 3 Golds and a Silver), Sania( 1 Gold and 2 Silvers), Hampy(2 Golds),Paes (2 Golds), 4 x 400m Womens and mens relay teams ( 1 Gold 1 Silver), Advani (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) and other medal winners we have a respectable total for the event but compare that to 147 Gold medals (287 in all) by China and aby 60 Gold medals each by Korea and Japan!!!!!!!!!!! Its a slap in the face of Indian Atheletic Association...but they care less about such things....they will only see the rich haul from this year's edition compared to the previous one...but the difference in the class of athletes...is quite obvious....

Shooters got abt 14 medals...by far the best section of indian contingent but the coach resigned on return as he was disgusted and disappointed with the facilities provided by the administration...Rana minced no words and flayed the Indian Sports Asscoiation (SAI)...for not providing any ammunition in time for practice and stuff like that....he went a yard ahead and mentioned that the credit for his win doesnt go to SAI....but goes to the coach and team....

If you think about it...3 Golds by rana, 2 by Paes, 2 by Humpy, 1 by Advani...are all individual efforts from world class contenders...all these people compete in internatinoal tournamenst and have excelled on their own...so those golds are not due to SAI...so 8/10 golds are not due to SAI !!!!!!!!! Now that speaks volumes of the facilities provided and also about the training standards in India....

Track and field that brought home 6 Golds and 12 other medals in the last edition has 1 gold and 6 other medals to show here in Doha edition...thats like going backwardsrather than forward in progress....and there can be only 2 reason....one, SAI didnt provide enough facilities and exposure and two, athletes didnt perform...most of them gave a lame excuse of not feeling good and sore back and stuff like that...how ridiculous...you train for the whole year for this occasion and then you fall sick on the race day!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come only Indian athletes fall sick and not the Chinese, japs and Koreans???? Its not like we are playing in a cold place either...we are playing in the middle east that has a climate similar to India....if not worse....perfect example....Anju george...Gold medal hope in Long jump....skips lot of tournaments this year to participate and train for Asian games (god knows why you have to skip events when they could have been used as dress rehearsals)....gets a Silver with a below par performance and then complains of sore back and withdraws from triple jump!!!!!!!!!!! Now can anyone explain this to me????

The media doesnt help the cause either as they dont cover the performance of the athletes all thru the year and only cover them at the games and then glorify their failure...medial should reduce the coverage on the Indian cricket and Hockey teams which have been waaaaayyyyy below par in their performances....right now both of them have hit a rock bottom...hockey was even more disappointing as we finished 11th /12 teams at the world cup and didnt even make semi finals of Asian Games!!!!!!!! So much for a nation that won 8 Olympic Golds!!!!!!!!!

The other sad story is that of football...few years ago we are in the top 75 teams now we are ranked 147th in the world!!!!!!!!! How many countries are ranked???? we have been steadily declining but no-one wants to do anything about it...

One of the headlines kind of intrigued me...."Indian Shuttlers disappoint"....well...FYI..this is Asian Games and most of the World's top players are from Asia and Indians are not among them so they are bound to have failures...it would have been too much to expect medals from Indian shuttlers...may be one...thats it...but they did put up a commendable fight and made Pre and Quarterfinals in most of the events....Indian mens doubles team also caused an upset...so instead of showing their performance in positive light they are shown as a bunch of losers....

I can go on and on about this topic...will have to continue about this later...

Mid-Atlantic Badminton Classic 2006

2006-11-12T23:10:00.000-05:00

Its been a long time since I have competed in a badminton tournament...played intercollegiate in 2000 and thats abt it...last played competitive badminton at district level in 1992....so it has quite sometime....so i was all excited to play in the tournament....

It, Mid-Atlantic badminton Classic 2006, was held in Bryn Athyn PA, over the past weekend...I competed in Mens Div B Singles and Doubles....Div A would have been pushing too hard to compete when I am competing after a long time...just to give a feel of Div A....people on the US national team and No.1 under 22 player in the US played in that level...in Div A doubles people like Vincent Lobo... was no.1 doubles player in india for 4-5 yrs and played for India at Thomas cup level...played...so it was way out of my league to even think about competing in Div A....not yet atleast....just started getting back into badminton after a long time...play at a Club in Bryn Mawr PA (15 miles from Philly)....actually Vincent lobo also plays at our club...so its a treat to watch that guy play...unbelievable player....

coming back to the tournament....friday evening was the singles tournament...I least expected to make it past the secon d round...i had a easy first round....but i played horribly...won 21-5, 19-21, 21-6...second round was against a student from MIT...heheheh...u guessed it right...an oriental guy....watched him play and beat my friend...so thought thats it for me...but had a good game...kind of warmed up and started playing well...moving well on the court...won 21-18,17-21,21-18...i was dead tired and excited at this point...i had already met my goal that i set for the tournament....

next up was Semi-final against Srikar...from Alaska...he seemed to be a good player...and as the game go underway...I could see that he was clearly a better player...and was just taking me apart...decided to hang in...waited for his mistakes....won the first game 21-19 on the most sensational rally i have played in my entire life !!!!!!!!! it must have had 20-25 shot exchanges....ended with reflex (lucky) smash return from me parallel to the net into my opponents face...i couldnt belive i made that shot!!!!!!!!!!! in the next game he upped his game to another level and dissected my game to win 21-13... i was tired at this point...he had two of his friends that play in men's div A rooting for his and kind of making guestures to help him...I was thinking...."ok, suneel u played well so far...just hang in there and see if u can make it as close as possible"....it went neck-to-neck in the final game...he was always on top of things and was ahead in score...the new scoring system doesnt let u make any mistakes as u win or lost a point every time there is a mistake...it was rally scoring like in TT and volleyball...u can win a point even on opponents serve...i managed to win the game 21-18 !!!!!!!! i was in the final of Men's B singles!!!!!!!!!! i couldnt believe that...I was completely exhausted...played singles after a long time and at that point I had played 9 games of singles in 3 hrs!!!!!! so i was tired...at the scoring table they said that the final will be played whenevr I was ready!!!!!!!!!! they meant that night!!!!!! i told them 15-20 mins as it was already 9:40 pm...and I had to come back that night...1 hr drive and go back to play the doubles early next morning...so i wanted to get done ASAP....

My opponent was a guy from Drexel university...he had beaten his opponents in straight sets...so had played 6 games till then and i had played 9....so he had the advantage of playing fewer games....in the warm up i was trying to probe for some weaknesses but couldnt find any and I saw that he was quick on the court...I had the same sinking feeling that i had befor ethe semi-final game...but suprisingly i was getting to almost all the shots that he was playing so that lifted my confidence....he won the first game 21-18....it wasnt as bad as i thought....but i could see that he was clearly tired...not that i was fresh to play...but I was kind of thankful for my half-marathon training...i had run a half-marathon in september so my stamina was kind of holding me up quite well....I started making my opponent move on the court and started stretching him...he was up to the task and made me move as well...so both of us were dead tired and were stalling for time whenevr we could and were glad that the referee offered 60 secs break at mid-game...we were glad....i prevailed 21-16 !!!!!!!!!! now with one more game to win...i thought of going for the kill initially so that i can jump ahead and then slow down....I expected my strategy to work as my attack would tire my opponent also...my plan worked perfectly and I jumped to a 11-2 lead....from then on it was a uphill climb for both of us...as there were long pauses between serves as we were stalling for time....finally I finished the game 21-10 !!!!!!! I was jubiliant but too tired to celebrate...couple of my friends had stayed back to watch my game and they supported me in the final game that helped immensely...its a feel good think when u look at someone and they clap for u and encourage u and root for u...thanx Devin and Haiti...actually they were rooting for both of us as they were Drexel too:):)

I was tired and literally would have given 100 bucks to anyone who would have offered to drive me home!!!!!!!!!!!!! but couldnt find anyone...

had 5 hrs sleep and hd to get back to play my doubles match the next day....

Fwd: Indian Cricketers vs Indian Soldiers

2006-11-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

I am not against Indian cricketers or Cricket...in fact I am more a cricket fan than any other. But thought that this mail is worth forwarding.... After loss against New Zealand, India is back to normal with peoplestill hoping for a miracle. In a way it was good that we lost and people now have come out of their craze for arguably most overrated, over promotedand overpaid team.

There is a war on in Kashmir and India has lost 51 soldiers and officers.They are fighting at a height of 17000 ft. It is -5 to -30 C inclement weather.The intruders, 80% of whom are Pakistan army soldiers, are at the top of mountainand our brave soldiers are actually climbing those mountains with rope, against the fire.

Some figures that may shock you:An Indian air force flight lieutenant is paid Rs. 1200 flyingallowance per month and he is supposed to make 40 sorties in aging Migs.That is about Rs. 25 per sortie after taxes. If he dies his family getspaid Rs. 2 lakh.

The man of the match in any World Cup team gets 3000 pounds,about Rs 2.1 lakhs.

When flying over Kargil at 18000 ft the flight lieutenant isjust 1000 ft above intruders armed with American stringer missiles and caneasily be shot down. Yet, he does it. Nachiketa who returned frompakistan captivity will be back for action. And whom do theydo this for?

A person in Bihar has offered 111 coconuts and intends tooffer 10001 more. A large corporate and BJP local unit offered prayer atSidhivinayak temple and distributed prasad. A youth in Gujarat is on fast.No, none of the above is for Indian soldiers, its for India's win in World Cup.

You may be aware of how important the life of a US marine is.

if 5 of them lose their lives, all newspapers in US cry as if world warhas started. There are stories of their families and how they curse US government.Fl. Lt. Ahuja was killed in cold blood and he was cremated by his four year old son...The head line in Times of India was about India\'s win over England.And our team can not make 4 runs in 7 balls against Zimbabwe!!! Andpeople in India or Indian people across the world still worry about their performance.

Azhar...the wristy magician..the forgotten hero

2006-10-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

I saw an article on Rediff that was asking the readers to post their opinion abt Azhar being invited to the celebration and felicitation function of all the cricket greats.......I was pissed off with the article as it was titled in a manner that points out BCCi making a mistake in doing so....

Then i read the comments from the users....it was an overwhelming victory for Azhar fans!!!!!!! 99% of the people that responded said that BCCI is atlast doing the right thing...how true...can u imagine the same kind of ban and ill-treatment being dished out to Shane warne, mark waugh, crookes, gibbs....and many other people that were implicated and in some case confessed to accepting "gifts" from "information seekers"....thats the sad state of affairs of Indian cricket where the Board elections take much of the time of the Board members than they working to improve the state of Indian cricket at grass root levels...

Azhar...no doubt did a wrong thing by accepting money (well...that is still to be proved)..though CBI cleared Azhar for not finding any evidence against him...lets assume that he did something wrong....but does that discount his talent as a player??? how abt the manoj prabhakar hidden cam adventure on Kapil, sastri and gavaskar!!!!! people seemed to have forgotten that episode...abt how kapil was implicated in Wadekar's match report and also in the version of Lele then secretary of BCCI.... but all these players are being hailed as "greats" and "heroes" of indian cricket when the man who brought laurels to the Indian team with his brilliant batting and fielding is being tainted as a cheater!!!!!! Double standards of the highest order!!!!!

Gavaskar was quoted to have said "Azhar is God's gift to Indian cricket"...that he was can be seen from his batting record....how many peple can claim to have scored hundreds in their first three tests??? how many can claim to have scored a century in first and last test matches???? how many people would have come forward to take up Captaincy in those turbulent times of early 90's....there was kapil in that team too...so why was Azhar selected???? its based on sheer talent and determination that he rose from a normal player to a brilliant batsmane with wrists that defined logic to all cricket experts....

As far as I can remember anything abt cricket I have been Azhar's fan ....I dont have too much info abt his personal life...but that applies to Sachin, dravid, sampras, Schumi, gopichand, Dhanraj pillai etc also....but based on his talent i can never adore a person/player more....i used to be mesmerised by his wrist work....too bad that i can never emulate even 10% of his wristiness in my own batting:)...but i try and compensate taht with using my wrists in badminton:):)

people have said a lot of things abt Azhar bringing disrepute to the "indian team" and he tarnished the image of the Indian team....he misused the greatest privlege according to some...but is cricket that important to t hose people that are criticing him??? how abt the politicians....we compromise on all of their wrong doings and nevr even bother to find out abt their cases being solved or not??? how come when those issues are far more damaging to the society people tend to turn a blind eye but when Azhar's topic comes to play their use double standards....the contrasting point is that people are evening protesting to save "Afzal" the guys implicated in the parliament bomb blasts but still want to hard azhar after all thses years that he had spent in seclusion and away from public appearances.....

I can go on and on...but i will keep some views for a later time.....

The Man who invented "Ctrl+Alt+Del"

2006-09-14T23:13:00.000-05:00

Lage Raho Munnabhai...rocks

2006-09-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

The brilliant,dynamic and adorable goon duo...Munna and Circuit (aka Sarkeshwar) are back!!!!!!!!!! This time they had a ton of expectations to meet and meet they did with aplomb....in a total tapori ishtyle. Most of you might have already seen the movie or read the review for the movie...so I will not repeat the storyline here...

I cannot recollect the last movie that I had seen that was a total TP from start to end....I enjoyed the film thoroughly..and so did rest of the people with me in the theater. The audience satisfaction could be gauged by the standing ovation that people gave at the end of the movie and also by the applause that the jokes were receiving.

All this, while preaching Gandhian way of life (gandhigiri)...hats off to Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi for the brilliant story and screenplay. The fact that they could bring out the gandhian values tagged with humour such that current movie going audience could associate each of the situations in the movie with their life. The fact that Munna was a common man trying to preach gandhigiri makes the concept very appealing.

Though Sanjay Dutt as Munnabhai aka Murli Prasad Sharma was terrific for me the star of the movie was Arshad warsi as Sarkeshwar aka Circuit!!!!!!!!!! He was simply brilliant with his sense of comic timing, dialogue delivery,expressions and spontaineity...if you thought that his performance in MBBS was terrific he delivers a performance that is a notch here....his vinamratha was awesome....

Sanjay Dutt looked old in the movie but put up a performance that makes you wonder if he was born to be munna...I cant even imagine any other actor playing Munna...his comic timing and dialogue delivery were simply superb....his growth as an actor can be seen in the ease with which he handles comic, emotional and tough-guy scenes.

Vidya Balan...who played Jhanvi...munna's love...was excellent...she was supposed to be brilliant in Parineeta (I have not yet watched it). She seemed to be a perfect cast for the girl-next -door and ever-smiling-shy girl. She brought the babe-factor to the movie...she looked really good in her casual dresses and with a wonderful smile...watch out all the actresses...here is a girl that has the talent, looks and skills to give you all a run for ur money...she is here to stay.

Boman was also very good as lucky singh...the villain of the movie...just as in MBBS..he portrayed the role of a punjabi with perfection....

The support cast was also very good..making the movie an overall master piece....

But the movie will not be complete without the man!!!!!!!!! Bapu...Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi....Dilip Prabhavalkar played the part to perfection... he portrayed the Mahatma very convincingly. The character of Bapu was handled very well and by introducing the non-violent Mahatma to the goon-munna Hirani weaved a memorable story.

The gandhian values which have mostly been used by politicians in their speeches were brought back to life and they were introduced to the generation-X in a mind-blowing package that is bound to have some kind of an impact like Swades, Rang de and bhagat singh. But the most telling difference is the end value...whatever was shown in the movie can be realistically applied to our daily lives unlike the other movies.....

All-in-all this movie is an thru-n-thru entertainer and a must watch...I would have liked to mention some of the jokes but didnt want to spoil the fun for the people that had not yet watched the movie...

India paying tribute for 9/11....will such things happen in the US???

2006-09-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

The picture here shows a tribute from Indian citizens to the deceased/victims of 9/11. Can you even imagine such a thing being done in the US for the deceased in Mumbai/Malegaon/other terrorist attacks in Kashmir???? All this claiming that they are working towards world peace....yeah right...they have only fought in the wars where they have been directly involved. They call the people attacking twin towers as terrorists and people causing troubles in Kashmir and other parts of India as Militants...a rather mild word used for those monsters.....

Work an Hour....Asha

2006-07-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

No matter how long a journey is, it starts with one small step.
Donate an hourhttp://www.workanhour.com

A foward thats worth reading once...hehehe

2006-07-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

If u TREAT her nicely, she says u are IN LOVE with her;
If u Don't, she says u are PROUD.
If u DRESS Nicely, she says u are trying to LURE her;
If u don't, she says u are from UGANDA.
If u ARGUE with her, she says u are STUBBORN;
If u keep QUIET,! she says u have no BRAINS.
If u are SMARTER than her, she'll lose FACE;
If she's Smarter than u, she is GREAT.
If u don't Love her, she tries to POSSESS u;
If u Love her, she will try to LEAVE u.(very true huh?)
If u don't make love with her., she says! u don't Love her;
If u do!! she says u are CHEAP.
If u tell her your PROBLEM, she says u are TROUBLESOME;
If u don't, she says that u don't TRUST her.
If u SCOLD her, u are like a CHACHA to her;
If she SCOLDS u, it is because she CARES for u.
If u BREAK your PROMISE, u Cannot be TRUSTED;
If she BREAKS hers, she is FORCED to do so.
If u SMOKE, u are BAD BOY;
If she SMOKES, she is a GENTLELADY.
If u do WELL in your exams, she says it's LUCK;
If she does WELL, it's BRAINS.
If u HURT her, u are CRUEL;
If she HURTS u, u are too SENSITIVE!! & sooo hard to please!!!!!
If u send this to girls, they will swear that it's not true.......
but if u don't, they say u are selfish.....

A monster called..."Reservations "

2006-07-07T17:31:00.000-05:00

When this whole thing abt the reservations for OBC's in IIT's,Medical Colleges and higher educational institutions started I was in India.... the government had simply made a statement without understanding the repurcussions of such a step. the students from these institutions went on a strike...especially the docs...the most shocking incident that comes to my mind even today happened in "Amchi Mumbai"...

The medical students were protesting in a peaceful manner with just a rally and no violent slogans and stuff....at one point they all staged a sort of "dharna" in front of the assembly or CM's office i dont remember exactly. The police intervened out of the blue and started lathi charging the students without any warnings or any kind of persuasion....it was unbelievable that they did this when the whole thing was being televised nationally!!!!! All the news channels aired the bloody scenes of the students getting beaten up by the police mercilessly...the worst was still in store...female students were also assaulted (i guess thats more appropriate than lathi charge) by male police officers.....lot of the students were severly injured.......it was a painful sight...the future doctors of india being man-handled that way.... the next couple of days saw a lot more invovlvement of the students from around the country in opposing the reservation demon....

Some students in Delhi also went on hunger strike....all the newspapers and news channels covered the whole episode but there was no response from the government...students continued their hunger strike for abt 15 days and in the meantime more students and resident docs joined the "strike"....and what were the great indian politicians doing....."Nothing"....i couldnt believe that not a single MP or MLA etc didnt release a statement in the press abt the whole issue....on top of this as if to rub salt on injury....all the resident docs were handed a return-to-work-immediately-else-get-fired notice!!!!!!!!!!

The man of the moment"Arjun Singh" then criticizes the Knowledge committe for showing some kind of support to the whole issue...when all they said was that the government was acting in a haste and that they should consider all options and how they will be implemented before making press statements...the pressure that was building up was so intense that a couple of well known and respected members of the knowledge committee...Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille... resgined from their posts on the committee.....

I couldnt fathom the fact that the "National knowledge Committee" had a panel of elite and well-educated people but could be vetoed or overruled by a bunch of illiterates or educated-morons called "netas". I was glad the day Manmohan singh became the PM as I was thinking...."Which other country in the world has a President and a PM with PhD's ???"....but looking at the current situation it makes me think why had i even considered that India would be in better hands...

Atlast the government thinks that it has a master plan to counter the ever intensifying reservation struggle...feels weird as it sounds like freedom struggle.......they come up with a proposal that they thought would hushhhhhh the agitated crowds....."we will not take away anything from the students...inorder to accomodate the reservations for the OBC's we will increase the number of seats in the colleges!!!!!!!!!!"

are u kidding me!!!!!!!! First of all...most of the colleges in India are under-staffed with moderate or poor infrastructure and now they want to increase the number of students to increase the burden on a run-down education system!!!!!!!!!

One thing I never understood was "Why do people need reservation based on caste???". i understand that people need reservations but that should be economic-based and not caste-based....even for the econimically needy provide reservation till 12th grade and not after....people should get a seat in college..be it IIT or IIM or AIIMS or any other...based on merit...if u are economically backward but deserve aseat based on merit then the govt should make provisions to provide a "free seat"...where in the student wil lnot have to pay for higher education....

Looking at how things are going can u imagine what the standard of IIT and IIM would be after the reservations are implemented??? The day when a IIT / IIM degree (which is considered almost peerless in India) will be no different from a Mumbai/delhi/osmania university degree is not too far.... I pray that it shouldnt happen atleast in my lifetime...not that it should happen afterwards...

A verbal dual on a forum in TOI caught my attention and it is worth mentioning:

Pro-reservation guy: you upper caste people esp brahmins think that by giving us reservations for 60 yrs after independence u can make us forget the suffering of 3000 yrs when our caste people were insulted and treated like untouchables....we deserve to get reservations!!!!! (Can u believe this guy????)....by the way the original version had lot of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors...

Response: Dude!!!!! Are you completely out of ur mind!!!! What are you blabering??? I do agree that some people had been suppressed for 3000 yrs but we didnt do it....get that...u say that you have been given only 60 yrs of reservations blah blah...have you ever been suppressed??? or treated like an untouchable??? NO.....then why the #@$% should you get reservation....you say that your people were ill-treated...so they deserve the reservation....so the people prior to independence are the once that deserve it, not a piece of @#$% like you who wants to ride on their shoulders and deprive a student of merit from getting into a college.....if you think you deserve the seat earn it with merit...prove that you are more capable than the other guy...

Links to watch India-Pak cricket series 2006...Live

2006-01-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

The following are the links to watch (to my knowledge) to watch the ongoing India-Pak series live..but these are not free links...there is ~ $25 charge to each....check them out

www.livecricketon.tv

www.desicricketlive.com

Back after a long time....hopefully will be regular from now on !!!!!!!

2006-01-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking of writing a blog for a long time but have been very lazy in implementing the idea!!!!! But at last I have decided to get back into it....

A lot of things have happened since I had written my last post....for starters....I got engaged (with Sindhu) and we will be getting married on the 19th of May........so thats some good news !!!!!!!!! at least for now... cant say for sure if it is good or bad news ...ehhhheeheheheheh

I had my PhD proposal and candidacy which was kind of a nightmare as expected but I barely managed to pass them. Proposal wasnt too bad I had a couple of questions that were hard to answer but thats ok....but the candidacy exam was a comeplete disaster..... atleast from my view...I didnt do too well...i answered all the difficult questions but messed up big time with the easy questions....i dont know what happened but I suddenly got tensed and my mind went blank on some things that were basics of biomechanics...my PhD committee members are definitely kind hearted, I can vouch for that (now that they passed me after my dismal performance).

My first publication as a first author for a journal article got accepted for "Clinical Biomechanics"...that was a very exciting day and I was all pumped up...it is indeed a very satisfying experience to see that the work you do is going to be published in a major journal.....

I taught my first class in the college of engineering...i taught "Soft tissue biomechanics" which is basically dealing with bones, ligaments, tendons and cartilage....i taught 1/3 rd of the course...i was completely incharge of my 1/3 rd including the exam....it was a very good experience...I was tensed for my first class...i had made notes that was supposed to last me for 50 minutes but I could have talked for 2 hrs with the stuff that i had prepared for.... I thought 50 mins was too short and will not take much time to finish but on that day I realized how long the 50 minutes actually were....but i guess thats becoz of the butterflies in the stomach ..blah...blah...blah...after that class 50mins used to fly by and I used to be surprized when the class used to remind me that it was time to stop....i guess i kind of settled down into the routine...

Sindhu had gone to India to attend her brother's wedding so I was a bachelor for 6 weeks...it was kind of good that I had time for myslef but it was kind of boring without her being around...I think I kind of gottend used to her being around.....i didnt know what to do with my time...initially I was preparing for my exams but after that I started watching a lot of movies (not that I usually dont)...

Went to Austin,TX for thanxgiving to meet my old friend...praveen kumar pasupathy...it was a blast of a trip...i should say that Austin is a great place....its weather is nice... being from OHIO i was kind of glad that I was in TX at the end of November!!!!!!! Went to HOuston, san Antonio ... it was a 4 day trip but a great trip....caught up with praveen after a long time....

went to DC for Christmas...for a surprise party for...Grace....it was a fun trip as it was my first time in DC....she was surprized that Dipti, Sindhu and I drove down for her B'day.....it was a nice a surprise planned by Himanshu (her husband). Sindhu and I went to see the museums...we saw the National Museum of Natural History and Air and Space Museum.....we spent 4 hrs (combined) but I could only see 1/2 of natural history museum and 1/3 of air and space..but Sindhu was tired so we called it quits....it was indeed a nice experience...i could have easily spend 3-4 more hrs....also caught up with a couple of friends of mine and sindhu after a long time so all in all it was a goodtrip....we had a small incident on the way back which could have been disastrous but didnt turn out that to be bad....

spent the new year's with come friends in Akron, Milind (my old roomie) and Bhavna had come down from East Lansing, MI and all of us (Anil & Subha, Amru & Darshana, Gaurab & Anu, milind & Bhavna and Sindhu & I) had a nice time on new Year's eve playing TABOO, watchinng the Ball drop on TV and playing Mafia (it is an awesome game!!!!! ) till 4 Am....

I think I have kind of written too long a post after a long time...so will stop here for now...

Happy Dussera

2005-10-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone....wish you all a happy dussera...hope this day brings you joy and for all those who are in India hope you have tonnes of home made sweets...and for all of us poor grad students and fellow indians in the US...go buy some sweets from the Indian store and enjoy the festival.

Thought for the day

2005-10-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot...And I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely...Why I succeed.

--Michael Jordan

When everything goes wrong........

2005-09-01T22:27:00.000-05:00

Last week I had two experiences that have made me believe that some of the days everything that you do goes wrong.....

On sunday, Sindhu and I had invited some friends over for dinner but being brilliant at time management we had committed to a couple of friends that we will go to a telugu movie "Athadu" with them in Cleveland. Sindhu, poor thing, got up at 7 AM on sunday and started cooking so we can finish most of the cooking but afternoon and go watch the movie...I too got up at 8 AM with some help from the alarm...I jumped in straight away after a cup of coffee...we cooked for most part of the morning till 10:15 when my friend called and said that he wanted to go to the temple too so we will have to leave by 11:15...by that time we had finished Palak Paneer, Carrot Soup, Kofta Curry (Partly)....so we showered and went to the temple and watched the movie and came back and jumped straight back into cooking...we made fried rice (different recipe this time)...Sindhu wanted to make Gobi Manchurian (she is an expert at that)....when she started with that we realized that we were out of corn starch... and in the mean time I was getting hungry as I had very little to eat from the morning...how ironic ??? i was cooking since morning and I never had a chance to eat...I didnt want to eat the stuff that we were cooking so decided to make a sandwich...first of all the fridge wasnt working well...so the patty wasnt frozen so I wasnt sure if it will taste good...wanted to make it as usual in the microwave.. but that was being used tothe Gobi stuff...so decided to heat it on the stove...in the mean time I put some bread in the toaster....the patty got burnt and so did the toast so I could eat that and threw it away (I hate throwing away food)...thought will have some rusk....but took a bite and realized that it had softened up...grrrrr....tasted aweful...I was getting hungry by the minute...then Sindhu said that we were out of corn flour which is an essential ingredient for Gobi Machurian (GM)...so I went to the indian store hoping to find it there....but there was no luck....so came back but by then Sindhu had furthered her preparation so I had to think of an alternative so went to the closest grocery store....I could find corn starch for 15 mins...I found everything that could be made out of corn but not the one that I wanted...finally made it back and we finished cooking just in time when my friends arrived...luckily they had volunteered to get dessert else we would have been in a fix:):)

Episode two:

I had a grant submission today and I was asked to write the grant abt 72 hrs before the deadline !!!! Normal time for grant preparation is 2-3 months for making up a good grant and more over this waa my first major grant ever and I was to do it from scratch to finish with no reference to prior grant applications.....I went abt the task like a maniac....i wrked abt 12-14 hrs a day on the grant and was on the verge of going insane when I found out that I was going to miss the deadline as the signed cover letter had to reach Atlanta by thursday at 5PM....and it was 2 AM on thursday when I found that out....this was about the time I almost finished with the grant proposal....my world was just about to draw a blank but I decided to call them this morning and to my relief they said that it can be electronically submitted today and the letter can be mailed by the next day....got one day's extension...that was all i wanted...now I had to get the signatures from all the people involved in the project which is a big deal as I am dealing with residents and surgeons that are hard to catch hold of....and on top of that my advisor had not given me his CV which was essential as he is the Principal Investigator (I not being a citizen cannot be a PI)....the signature page doesnt come up till all the documents are electronically submitted !!!! great...i had to wait till 3:35 pm for my advisor's CV as he was in meeting constantly and had some other things to do....he gave me the CV finally but with some corrections that I had to make great!!!!!! then I printed the thing out ran over to the OR and got the resident's signature....had to wait for him to finish his surgeryand I didnt have much time left...then i noticed that the grant application needed some official's sign too !!!!!! so I made a couple of calls and got to the person who had to sign on that and went to him..he was very very co-operative and signed it immediately...now I had to FedEx the letter in next day shipping and I wasnt aware of the ;last pick time for next day air...so borrowed my advisor's car and went to FedEx...according to Murphy's law....there was lots of traffic and when I got there, there was a line....some printer was down so they were fixing it, finally the line moved....and when it was my turn the weighing machine had some issues and then the credit card receipt printer went out of paper !!!!! great !!!! everything happpening at the worng time...then finally I pay and get out...there is big traffic jam and it delayed me till 4:40 pm to get back....then finally I got on to my PC and put everything together anc hit the submit button at 4:50pm....ten minutes before the deadline.....now that I had such an adventure for this grant I will be very very happy even if it is partially accepted.

Episode 3:

I will make it short....

wednesday evening...wanted to heat up the boiled eggs....put them in the micro wave.. and started making masala for Kootu...and also put some dal to boil and was cutting eggplant... all this was being done simultaneously so i can go and play badminton....I forgot abt the eggs and I had a mini explosion in the microwave...I had to clean all that up and in the mean time...the masala got burnt....and then for some reason the dal got burnt too....then I started grinding the masala and found that it wasnt getting ground in the Grinder....so put some peas and water to elevate the level of the paste to that of the blades so they can grind the masala....but it turned out to be a disaster as the peas had gone bad due to the non-functional freezer...had to throw that away....I settled for plain dal with tadka (dal was what I could salvage from the burnt vessel) and eggplant...

An Interesting forward....

2005-08-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

This was an email forwarded by my friend Hitesh...very
innovative and funny...I kind of got bored half way
down the list though:):)

A for apple.
B for bada apple.
C for chhota apple.
D for dusra apple.
E for ek aur apple.
F for fokat ka apple.
G for gol apple.
H for hazar apple
I for itney saarey apple?
J for jaao nahi khaana hai apple
K for kaise nahi khaayengey apple
L for lena padhega tumko apple
M for mujhe nahi chahiye itne apple
N for naa nahi kehtey kyunkey yeh hai apple
O for Oh to tumne khaa daale yeh saare apple
P for peth bhar khaao apple
Q for qismat mein nahi hoti hai sabke, yeh apple
R for roz agar khaao tum apple
S for sehetmand rahoge khaaogey agar tum apple
T for tumko nahi milengey itney achey apple
U for udhaar kii nahi hai yeh apple
V for very tasy hai yeh apple
W for waste na karo time aur khaalo jaldi se apple
X for X'mas mei bhii khana padenge apple
Y for youn na chehra phero dekhkey apple
Z for zaraasa aur khaalo aaple aur...

Work an Hour for a worthy cause.....

2005-07-25T21:53:00.000-05:00

My friends Bharadwaj and Gautam have been working with Asha Foundation for the past few years.It is a foundation that helps homeless kids in india thru donations and funraisers...

one such fundraiser is called "Work an Hour"...in this u can donate as much as you want but the concept is to contribute an hour's pay for this worthy cause... please click on the following link and work for an hour for the needy kids in India


http://www.ashanet.org/workanhour

Amazing run with the cricket matches for Akron Cricket Club

2005-07-25T19:56:00.000-05:00

After I got back from india I didnt get a chance to write .... and I have been lazy in posting for a while now...

Its summer time in Akron and also time for some cricket....we are playing in the Midwest cricket Tournament which comprises of 31 teams from 4 states...its fun as it gives a lot of people like me who never got to play cricket with Season Ball and all the equipment back home in India a chance to play at competitive level....

This year we didnt think that we will be able to put 11 people together to form a team to represent Akron in the MCT .... but we managed to get some people from the neighbouring Kent State University and also a couple of guys from Goodyear....we started disastrously...losing the first 2 games...and one getting washed out....in the mean time me and a friend Raghav were in India...me for my sister's wedding...had a blast...once we got back we heard that one of the better players on the team had fractured his finger and we were looking down and out....then started our dream run of victories....we first beat Ohio State University then beat Nationwide Cricket Club and Everest Cricket Club (one of the better teams in the league) in a double header weekend in Columbus...all of a sudden people started noticing AKron CC and we were thinking of making the playoffs....we beat West Virginia University team last weekend and now were 4-2 after a 0-2 start to the season .... we thought that we wouldnt make the playoffs for sure...but becoz of this turn around we have a chance of making the playoffs if we win this weekend...the team we are playing is ECC whom we had beaten once....we ended 3rd in the pool and they 4th so only one team goes thru as the top 2 teams have already made it to the playoffs...so its do or die situation for us....we would have been in a better position had we not lost the first two matches but huge margins....that has made our net-run-rate less than that of ECC....

This year I have enjoyed playing cricket though I am not performing too well becoz of the team...it has been wonderful to play on a team where everyone is contributing to the victories...so far it has been a team effort with everyone chipping in with batting, bowling and fielding...

Abt my trip to India....it was an awesome trip !!!!!! I was attending my sister's wedding...I had missed her engagement and also all the other functions related to the wedding so I was determined to have a blast at the wedding making up for all the lost time for having fun....I did have a blast with all my cousins....they have all grown up and I actually can have a decent conversation with them other than movies etc....it was nice to see all my uncles, aunts and my parents and grandparents...I had only spoken to my Brother-in-law at that time so I was all excited to meet him in person....we had a nice time together....all in all I had a great time at the wedding in spite of my broken finger...actually I had a partner in by brother-in-law's brother-in-law...even he had a broken hand and we were given all special treatment and nice table to eat during the buffet...I enjoyed all the attention:)....the only bad part of the whole trip was the plane journey either way....on the way there I got delayed by 4 hrs and also got my bags a couple of days late and on my way back i was delayed in Paris for a day....it sounds like a nice break to have in paris...but I was at the airpost most of the time...will write abt that horrible experience in a later post.

I have a couple of conferences coming up and also writing my proposal so have been pretty bysu lately...the only low point of the past couple of weeks has been today as my first research paper as a First Author got reject by the biggest journal of my research field...but I will try for some other jjournal and see how I can change the paper for this journal.

Back to blogging after a long time.....

2005-05-02T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have been pretty lazy in getting back to blogging....but finally I decided write something....

The semester is coming to an end and I am kind of getting busy as I have to wrap up a couple of things before I go to India....I am all excited this time as I am going for my sister's wedding...there is not much shopping to do except for my sis and my would be jiju...and a couple of things that my friends wanted....

I watched the India-Pak series (only the last 3 one-days) on a website called Desi-media.net. It was a a horrible experience as we watched it into the wee hours staying up late and our team kept disappointing us with their brilliant performance....it was frustrating to watch India lost match after match to an under-strength PAK team....the fact that our bowler's could bowl well on home fields makes me wonder how they would perform abroad...the selectors should seriously consider other options for bowling if the current players are not doing well...Sehwag thought that he played well in the Tests and the first 2 one-days so he can throw his wicket away....SRT felt that he performed with the ball in the first game and then scored a 100 in the 4th so his job is done....except for the 100 he looked out of sorts in the middle....then came our man of the moment...Mr. Dada ganguly....what can we say about this once good batsman but now a sitting duck....I dont know what happened to him for this tranfomration to happen bt right now he doesnt deserve to be on the team after the performance he put up in the last series.....he should go back to the drawing board and figure out his flaws like how Dravid did after he was criticized and dropped from the One-day team, can you even imagine a team without him (Dravid) now....it would be a disaster in waiting...there would be an instant collapse 50-70% of the time India would have batted....people will say he wasnt outstanding in this series...he didnt get an MOM....scores a century but doesnt get the award (they could have shared it)...dhoni scores a century who was at the other end supporting him ???....who saved us in the 5th game with kaif ???... Yuvraj was a disappointment...and kaif was partially successful in the limited chances that he had....Dhoni was good but his temperment needs some work...you just cant blast everyball....the rest of them less said the better....

Had gone to Raleigh, North Carolina for visit a couple of friends (Nisha and Amol)...over the last weekend of spring break (Apr 2nd weekend)...it was long drive and I was the only one driving as Sindhu didnt have her license to drive....Raleigh trip was nice as we had fun together and didnt try to do too many things....went out for 2-3 hrs a day and ate at home and watched some movies together....it was general TP nothing out of the world....but that according to me is quality time spent with friends as we get to talk and have fun instead of going on 8-9 hr site-seeing expeditions....

The weather has been pretty crappy....can you believe it ....we had snow in the 4th week of april and we are having sleet (ice and rain) in the first week of may!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is what I call typical Ohio-weather....it had already ruined the start of the cricket season...but hopefully it will get better and we will have a great season...

Watched a movie called SAHARA.....thought it was about treasure hunt and was expecting to see some stunning discoveries and chases like in Indiana Jones...but to my disappointment it was only as good as any second grade Hollywood movie...some of the scenes even reminded me of Mithun-starers !!!!!!!!!! All in all I was extremely disappointed and will think twice before spending my hard-earned money on such movies...I have to settle a score with my friend KG on this matter...he said it was a good movie...wait till I meet him....

I have been very unlucky with the injuries aspect....the Cricket season hasnt even started and I have injured myslef quite a lot....first got hit on the Chest playing cricket, then got hit by a soccer ball on my thigh when I was just passing a bunch of guys playing soccer...it left a black mark...and it still hurts (been a month).....then slipped and fell from the treadmill....skin on my left knee was scrapped pretty bad thought i was healing from all these then I dropped a weight on my index finger and nearly crushed it....right now its better but it still hurts to bend the finger....I also sprained my back somehow...and I had to stop lifting ab crunches and also had to slow down in running...it stinks!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate injuries.....but I am glad that all tehse happened after the Racquetball intramural....I played in the tournament after a long time...its been 2 yrs since I have stopped competing in State and NAtional tournaments so I thought its OK for me to play in the school tournament....last couple of years I didnt take part as I thought it was unfair to play against people who are novices....but I saw some people take part in some of the sports this year even when they are actively taking part in ranking tournaments....so I decided to compete...it was fun except for a match against Giri...he irritated and annoyed me a lot with unsportsmanly like behavior.....but I made it past him and went on to win the tournament....I got a t-shirt as the prize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sindhu finally got her driving license...it happened yesterday....after 3 unsuccessful attempts she finally cleared the driving test....it was quite a relief for her (and me) as it was her last attempt ...had she failed she would have had to wait for 6 months before getting another shot at the license....she is very relieved and treated herself to a mini-ipod!!!!!!! it arrived today (actually she bought it a week ago:))

I think i will have to stop here....and continue in my next post so people dont get too bored and I too will have something to write in my next post:):)

11 days for my India trip...............

Dodgeball....

2005-03-24T21:24:00.000-05:00

Last week I played Dodgeball!!!!!!! thats funny as I had always played that game in the sports period in school back home in India....but here the game was completely different as it was pitted on a basketball court.....7 balls are lined up on the middle of the court and both the teams stand at either end of the court, when the whistle is blown both the teams run towards the balls and try to get as many balls as possible on their side...once that is done you need to get back atleast to the free throwline in their half before throwing the ball at the opponent, you can get a person out by hitting the person anywhere on the body below the shoulders....but the ball should not hit the ground before hitting the other person else that person is safe....

but the flipside is if you throw it too high to get someone out and if a player on the other team catches your throw before it hits the floor then you are out....so you should be carefull when you throw the ball...but you can throw the ball only from your half...once you get the opposition team to 3 people your team can start attacking by moving into their territory...you can go as close as the 3-point arc and try and get the people out...the team getting the entire team out is the winner....we play best of 5 games and first to reach 3 wins is the winner for the night...

it seemed to be a very very simple game to play at first but once I started playing it was very very hard to throw the ball as it was soft and hard to grip...I used to be a goal-keeper in soccer and I am used to throwing a ball but this was hard as we had to be accurate and fast....it was very very hard to hit the people on the full....the first couple of games I got out for throwing the ball to high and letting the other team catch it....but it was fun as you try to come to the half line to get a closer hit at the opponent and he is waiting for you to do the same so he can get a better shot at you...overall it was a fun experience...it would have been better had my whole team showed up as we had to forfeit our game due to lack of players...we played scrimmage games with the people that had showed up....so it was fun....

this is going to be a weekly affair so every sunday night will be an eventfull one atleast for the next 4 weeks:):)

7 weeks to go to india....the countdown begins:)

Live India -Pak Series (Free)

2005-03-11T18:01:00.000-05:00

A friend called last nite and told me abt this link which streams live cricket...India Pakistan Series....online for free....I thought it would be a straight forward link....but there is a process to it....here it is

go to www.asu.edu....type tamil in the search box on the right hand top corner...a page of links will open up...click on the 3rd link from the top .... Rams 3M or something like that.... it will take you to a personal home page which also has a lot of links...look down the list...probably the 15th link or so u will see 24hr Doordarshan low quality live link click on that .....the streaming will start in Windows media player....the connect is not that great as there are a lot of people logged on to it....so please me patient and keep refreshing...

Once connected the video is not that clear but good enough for free viewing of the match

watch and enjoy cricket and support the Indian cricket team:):)

A lot of things have happened since the last post

2005-03-04T00:06:00.000-05:00

I have been quite busy for the past couple of weeks....and also have been lazy to post anything so finally I have decided to write something before i forget blogging :):)

A lot of things have kept me busy...I thought that the last semester of classes would be a cake walk...on the contrary its turning out to be the most difficult and time consuming semester of my academic career at U Akron. I have enrolled only in two courses but they are proving quite a handful...one is a 700 level and other 600 level...both of them in Mechanical engineering department....Non-Linear Finite Element Analysis and Applied Stress Analysis -I...sounds like fun doesnt it ????

I have never gotten the amount of homework that I have had in this semester so far and we are only abt half way thru !!!!!!!!!! The homework problems have also been very very challenging and have been very very time consuming...the midterms dont help the process either...they only add on to the misery. But the worst part is when u think you have done quite well in the homework / exam...you get your papers back and see that you made some silly mistakes that cost you 5-10 points when you werent supposed to lose any...that is indeed very very annoying. welll i think I will stop here abt my academic hardships...else people will think I am getting tortured or something....its not even that bad :):)

For the past month or so I have started working out (light weight training) in Gym, I have also been playing a variety of sports too (racquetball, badminton, TT, volleyball, tennis) that have kept me busy and on my toes....I have become very very health and fitness concious of late...but all these activities keep me going throughout the day and also in the night....they keep me active...I am glad that I getting to do all this....though I am not sure how long I will be able to do this actively...

I have finally booked my tickets to India...13th May thru 8th June....I will going to home sweet home...for my dearest sister's wedding...the only sad part of the whole deal is that Sindhu will be missing the trip as she will be on OPT....that doesnt guarantee the return into the US...so we dont want to take a chance...My sister is all excited and so is everyone in the family. It will be one hell of a trip as it will be veyr brief but event filled....I need to go get my F1 Visa renewed and go to Visakhapatnam for the wedding and also visit Sindhu's parent in Hyderabad and meet all my friends...etc etc...I am looking forward to the wedding as I missed the engagement and missed a lot of the festivities related to the wedding...is liye poora vasool karke aneka...total dhamaal in short.

Sindhu...poor thing has been thru a bad experience with the OPT..she had applied for one in Dec but the school didnt send it thru till Jan so she lost 30 days of precious time...the rule says that she will be able to work in the US till 90 days from the date INS receives the application for OPT....now she got 2 offers for internship from Philips Medical Sys and she is not able to take it up as the Employment Authorization Card will not be processed in time thanx to the school authorities...its too bad as she had been trying hard to find a job and when she found something it had to turnout this way....I hope her luck changes soon and that she gets job/internship soon.

on a lighter note.... last weekend I watched "The Incredibles"....man!!!!!!!!!!! that was an awesome movie....it was a full to timepass movie and complete paisa vasool (though I paid only $1.50)..... I would have written a post on the movie but the most of you would have seen it and there is no point writting about something everyone knows about....all I will say is that I will definitely watch the movie again....atleast for the little kid who keep running all over the place....