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.....
October 13, 2006
September 14, 2006
September 11, 2006
Lage Raho Munnabhai...rocks
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???
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.....
July 19, 2006
Work an Hour....Asha
No matter how long a journey is, it starts with one small step.
Donate an hourhttp://www.workanhour.com
Donate an hourhttp://www.workanhour.com
A foward thats worth reading once...hehehe
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.....
July 07, 2006
A monster called..."Reservations "
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...
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...
January 15, 2006
Links to watch India-Pak cricket series 2006...Live
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
www.livecricketon.tv
www.desicricketlive.com
January 09, 2006
Back after a long time....hopefully will be regular from now on !!!!!!!
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...
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...
October 11, 2005
Happy Dussera
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
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
September 01, 2005
When everything goes wrong........
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...
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...
August 20, 2005
An Interesting forward....
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...
July 25, 2005
Work an Hour for a worthy cause.....
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
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.
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.
May 02, 2005
Back to blogging after a long time.....
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...............
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...............
March 24, 2005
Dodgeball....
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:)
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:)
March 11, 2005
Live India -Pak Series (Free)
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:):)
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:):)
March 04, 2005
A lot of things have happened since the last post
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....
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....
February 11, 2005
Super Bowl 2005
For most of my friends in India this is something new....its the final of the National Football (American Football not Soccer)league...the people here call it the World Championship....here everything is a World Series or World Championship...
The Irony of that brand name....only the teams from the US take part in the events. NBA champions are called World Champions but USA got knocked off in the preliminary rounds at the Real World Championships where the teams from all over the world compete, they barely managed to get a Bronze at the Olympics after 3 humiliating defeats.....Baseball finals are called the world series but Cuba gets the gold at most of the Olympics....is there something that I dont understand or these people dont ?? How can someone be a World Champion when teams from neighboring countries also dont take part in a tournament.....
Well..coming back to the Super Bowl 2005....every year its a big event for people to get together (in some cases bigger event than Christmas) eat chips and other junk food and drink lots of beer and other cola drinks...basically a lot of calories !!!!!!! I like the event for its commercials...the best commercials of the year are aired during the gametime...some of them are really hilarious but mostly average and some suck...I am still a bigger fan of Indian commercials....Bajaj,Rasna, Lifebouy, Vico-turmeric, dabad lal danthmanjan etc.... they have a catchy tune and nice jingle to go with:)
We had great time before the Super bowl with a potluc lunch (idli, sambhar and Chatni)...during the game we had potluc dinner...Fried rice (Subha), kofta curry ( Sindhu), sambhar (sindhu), egg curry (anil) and desserts .... Gulab Jamun (amru), Chocolate Chip cookie pie and Cappuccino Jello Pie (urs truly)...we ate a lot that day with Chips, garlic bread, pop and beer servings as finger food and drinks... we played a great game called ..."mafia"...that was the first time that I had played that game...it was a brilliant game...I might sound silly if I explain it but when u play it u will realise what a great game that is....u can spend hours without realizing time....
welll....let me also mention abt the game before I get bored writing abt the Super Bowl:):)....It was between Eagles (Philly) and Patriots (NE).....every one that I talked to wanted to Eagles to win but all of us knew that the inevitable thing was a "Patriots victory"....if u would ask me who would I like to see win the answer would be "Eagles"...but if I were to bet on it then i would have put my money on the "Pats"....they are a greAt team but the only reason i dont like them is becoz they beat my fav team "Colts" and also becoz they have won 2/3 times so there should be some change in the final results...
well the game as expected was pretty close but the result was never in doubt as the Pats defense had the eagles on a leash even with their best received TO on the field...Bellichick (pats coach)....showed the world why he is called the "king maker"...he is the brains behind the team and is a brilliant strategist...he would have analysed every possible play before the start of the game itself and would have had his defence ready for all those situations...well the final score 24-21 might not sound as if the game was one-sided but it was very clear who was going to win through the final three quarters...
The Irony of that brand name....only the teams from the US take part in the events. NBA champions are called World Champions but USA got knocked off in the preliminary rounds at the Real World Championships where the teams from all over the world compete, they barely managed to get a Bronze at the Olympics after 3 humiliating defeats.....Baseball finals are called the world series but Cuba gets the gold at most of the Olympics....is there something that I dont understand or these people dont ?? How can someone be a World Champion when teams from neighboring countries also dont take part in a tournament.....
Well..coming back to the Super Bowl 2005....every year its a big event for people to get together (in some cases bigger event than Christmas) eat chips and other junk food and drink lots of beer and other cola drinks...basically a lot of calories !!!!!!! I like the event for its commercials...the best commercials of the year are aired during the gametime...some of them are really hilarious but mostly average and some suck...I am still a bigger fan of Indian commercials....Bajaj,Rasna, Lifebouy, Vico-turmeric, dabad lal danthmanjan etc.... they have a catchy tune and nice jingle to go with:)
We had great time before the Super bowl with a potluc lunch (idli, sambhar and Chatni)...during the game we had potluc dinner...Fried rice (Subha), kofta curry ( Sindhu), sambhar (sindhu), egg curry (anil) and desserts .... Gulab Jamun (amru), Chocolate Chip cookie pie and Cappuccino Jello Pie (urs truly)...we ate a lot that day with Chips, garlic bread, pop and beer servings as finger food and drinks... we played a great game called ..."mafia"...that was the first time that I had played that game...it was a brilliant game...I might sound silly if I explain it but when u play it u will realise what a great game that is....u can spend hours without realizing time....
welll....let me also mention abt the game before I get bored writing abt the Super Bowl:):)....It was between Eagles (Philly) and Patriots (NE).....every one that I talked to wanted to Eagles to win but all of us knew that the inevitable thing was a "Patriots victory"....if u would ask me who would I like to see win the answer would be "Eagles"...but if I were to bet on it then i would have put my money on the "Pats"....they are a greAt team but the only reason i dont like them is becoz they beat my fav team "Colts" and also becoz they have won 2/3 times so there should be some change in the final results...
well the game as expected was pretty close but the result was never in doubt as the Pats defense had the eagles on a leash even with their best received TO on the field...Bellichick (pats coach)....showed the world why he is called the "king maker"...he is the brains behind the team and is a brilliant strategist...he would have analysed every possible play before the start of the game itself and would have had his defence ready for all those situations...well the final score 24-21 might not sound as if the game was one-sided but it was very clear who was going to win through the final three quarters...
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