Arvind Iyer

Switching to Wordpress

2006-10-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Was done in 5 minutes.

I made an account in Wordpress. The registration was quite fast.

There was an option to import all blogger posts. I wasnt sure about that. Took a backup of my template and pressed the import button.

In 5 minutes, I got all my blogger posts in Wordpress with comments!!

quite cool!!

Had an Idea. I downloaded Wordpress and uploaded to my website. And this is how it is now : www.arvind-iyer.com

Do have a look and let me know how it is

bye bye Dada!!

2006-10-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

Challenger trophy was the perfect platform for Saurav Ganguly. He was allowed to open too.. All he had to do was make two 50+ scores. With Sehwag's form and Dravid's flop show as an opener, that was all he needed.

But he scored just 24 and 3. If Ganguly cant score 50s against Indian bowlers, there is no way he can handle Australian, Pakistani, South African, Kiwi or even England bowlers playing as an opener for India.

Its very easy saying things like 'I will score centuries and centuries till selectors decide to pick me'.. Very difficult doing it. India needs an opener!! But if he is just going to score 20 odd, then its better to give a new guy (someone like Gambhir) a chance who can score as much but with a chance of improving with time.

A pleasant surprise

2006-10-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Was surprised to see that the Page rank of this blog getting to 4!!!

The timing is perfect too!! almost a year since I started blogging

Crouchie goal against Galatasaray

2006-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Xabi alonso wondergoals

2006-10-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

1) Against Luton. With left leg

2) Against Newcastle.. Right leg

Planning to do Java Programming

2006-09-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

If Wall can open, I can do programming too!!

Is it just me?

2006-09-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or someone else too feels that RP Singh looks like India's Xabi Alonso?

Clear hai part 2

2006-09-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Cricket boring?

2006-09-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

"I think cricket is a boring game to watch" - Sunil Gavaskar

Very interesting comment from someone who scored 36 runs playing 60 overs!!

Yes its clear

2006-09-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Don - Music

2006-08-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

We had some free time in office and we downloaded the songs of Don from cooltoad. We
downloaded three songs - the ones we hadnt seen on tv or heard on radio before. They were 'Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Deewana', 'Aaj Ki Raat' and yes yes yes 'Khaike Paan Banaraswala'.

Opened winamp and put 'khaike paan banaraswala' first. Couldnt wait to hear it since the original is one of my all time favourites. Didnt let me down. It is fantastic and so is Udit Narayan. Replayed it five times and I am going to watch the movie just for this song.

'Yeh mera dil...' wasnt nearly as good. I mean.. it was good but I prefer the original version. Sunidhi is no match for Asha Bhosle.

'Aaj ki raat' was a biggg surprise! I didnt expect much from this but its probably the best song of the three. Alisha Chinoy is fantastic. She is definitely the best female singer in the country. I am not exaggerating. Just listen to her in 'I love you for what you are' , 'Kajra re', 'no entry', 'tinka tinka' and 'maine jisko chaha'.

Will listen to the other songs tomorrow.

My views on the Vande Mataram issue.

2006-08-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

About Vande Mataram being made compulsory in school.

That is good. I've always had Vande Mataram sung during my school prayers and I see nothing wrong with it.

Do I expect Muslims to sing it?

Yes I do. Its a national song and I've always said, Country comes before everything else. I would have had no problems singing an islamic song (if there was any), if it was the national song.

About some Muslims having a problem with it.

Everyone should sing it. Some Muslims say its against their religion to sing it. But that is no excuse. Its quite stupid to see everything from the point of view of religion.

What should those who refuse to sing because they think their religion doesnt permit it do?

Either they should change their religion or they should change their country. India being a secular country is against the principles of Islam too right? And I would also like if all those who are forcing it on Muslims leave the country too. Patriotism and loyalty cant be forced. Also the country will be much better without people who look at everything from religion's point of view.

Or they can go to court asking juDJe to change the song. But as long as its the national song, everyone has to sing it. As simple as that.

Things I learnt from a video game

2006-08-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of EA Sports's Fifa series. Though I love the 98 version for its Indoor matches, But for a year I've been playing 2005 (Not regularly though. Every Sunday or so)..

Initially I found the game quite hard. Used to lose 2-0 to every team inspite of playing with Liverpool. Started a career - Took the Celtic team and changed the game settings to easy. In couple of days I started winning (till then I used to change the team after the first half and score own goals :p ). In couple of weeks I was scoring 6-7 goals per game and I got bored. (1)

Tried playing world class but lost quite badly (lost but only till half time.. afterall I can change sides any time). There was a semi-professional level but wasnt interested in that. Played Professional level and it was 1-1 at half time against Arsenal. It was like that till 80th minute when I had to change side. But I felt I can win in it (which I didnt in world class). So continued with it and in couple of days I started winning with a 1 goal margin (without changing side :) ). (2)

Continued playing in Professional level for three months and I was able to win like 3-0, 2-0. Then there was a time when I just was not able to lose. It was like learning to balance on a cycle. When you learn that, you just cant fall (well, you can but you cant lose balance). It was like batting with no stumps. I got bored again and for the second time I thought about playing world class but this time a bit seriously as I liked getting bowled sometimes.

World class was tough but I was expecting that. I lost 2-0 and 3-0 but I continued as I wanted the stumps. It was more fun losing 1-0 in world class than winning 3-0 in Professional. But losing here means only till 75th or 80th minute. By now, you must have guessed what I do after that :) But right now, I can win 1-0 or 2-1 in world class but against minor teams.

Today, I was at my friend's place and he had this game. Was time for me to show off my soccer skills. Put the game in Professional level and Picked Liverpool against Chelsea. Half time score : 4-0!!!! That was my biggest victory margin in Professional level without 'opposition' putting own goals!! My friend was impressed. I too was but I was more surprised than Impressed at my own improvement. (3)

What I learnt :

1) To Never take any work thats too easy or less. Firstly, I will get bored. Secondly, I wont get to improve & When faced with a bigger challenge, I wont be able to deal with it.

2) Confidence Matters!!! With confidence, anything can be accomplished 90% times. There is 10% chance of failure but with no confidenc, 90% I wont even attempt it.

3) Having good company is important and equally important is to have successful rivals. One cant go wrong competing with the best and aiming to reach their levels.

4) Tough situations should be welcomed. When you face them and deal with them successfully, you can easily tackle other minor things which you considered challenging so far.

Is Hair a racist?

2006-08-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Thats what everyone - especially former Pakistani players and fans are saying.

This is what Pakistani newspaper The Dawn had to say

"there is widespread view that Hair is heavily biased ... against subcontinental teams, particularly Pakistan and Sri Lanka."

Imran Khan

"Hair is one of those characters when he wears the white umpires' coat, he metamorphoses into a mini-Hitler."

Rameez Raza

"The players from the sub-continent universally feel that he is biased, even to the extent of being a racist,"

will come to the ball tampering issue later.

First, some things about Hair's past : (Taken from rediff)

1) A year after standing in his first Test, Hair gave Craig McDermott out with a contentious caught behind decision off Courtney Walsh's bowling to give the West Indies a one-run victory in the fourth Test in Adelaide on January 25, 1993. McDermott and Tim May had added 40 for the final wicket when Hair deemed the delivery to have brushed the fast bowler's glove contrary to the evidence of TV footage.

2) Hair no-balls Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing on seven occasions during the Boxing Day test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1995. Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga led his players off the field in protest only to return and bowl Muralitharan from the other end where umpire Steve Dunne was officiating.

3) Hair describes Muralitharan's action as 'diabolical' in his 1998 autobiography, a charge which prompts the Sri Lankan board to ask the International Cricket Council to charge him with bringing the game into disrepute. He is stood down from a tri-nations series involving England, Australia and Sri Lanka and accuses Sri Lankan Board president Thilange Sumathipala of a 'smear campaign'.

4) In 2004, Hair and fellow umpire Billy Bowden reported Pakistan fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed for a suspect bowling action.

5) Adjudges Inzamam-ul-Haq run out by Steve Harmison in the second Test against England in Faisalabad when the Pakistan captain seemed to be trying to evade the bowler's throw in November last year.

#1 was against Australia.

#2 and #3 was against Sri Lanka and Muralitharan in particular.
Murlitharan doesnt have a clean action. That ICC had to change the bowling rules proved his action wasnt legal. Ok I am being polite. It proved that he used to chuck. We cant call Hair a racist for seeing that almost 10 yrs before than ICC.

#4 Shabbir Ahmed is banned because of his action. So again I see no problems in Hair reporting him for his action.

#5 was a wrong decision. But thats not enough to term him a racist.

That way West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor has been on a mission to give wrong decisions against India since a long time. Too bad we cant call him a racist.

And moreover, Hair isnt the only umpire Pakistan had a problem with. They had problems with most umpires when things werent going their way. Before Hair, they had a problem with David Shepherd as well.

If Hair has a shady past, so do Pakistan.

Its no secret that most of the Pakistani bowlers used to tamper the ball (Not taking anything away from their bowling talents).

Its also no secret that some of their bowlers had / have illegal actions (they chuck)

When England went to Pakistan, Shahid Afridi was caught on camera dancing on the pitch to damage it. He was banned for a few matches because of that.

Inzamam let out a secret when he said he didnt know the rules after getting out obstructing the field and then arguing with the umpires.

Umpire Billy Doctrove agreed with the ball tampering accusation. Why is he not a racist if Hair is?

I am not defending Hair here. Its just that if Hair is a racist based on his past, Pakistanis are ball tamperers too based on their past.

Now, My views on this issue :

1) Did Pakistanis tamper the ball?
No idea. It wasnt shown on TV. So maybe they didnt. But both umpires seemed convinced. I want them to prove it.

2) Did Pakistanis do the right thing by not coming out to play?
Yes. If they thought they didnt tamper they ball, they did the right thing. What is the purpose of going out to play afer being called a cheat? even if they win, it will be said they won by cheating.

3) Should Inzamam be banned?
No. Though he should have been banned for trying to kill a spectator in toronto and then bringing the game into disrepute by obstructing the field first, then arguing with the umpires and later blaming the opposition to play against the spirit of the game, right now he shouldnt be. Definitely not without any proof.

4) What about former asian players calling Hair a racist?
Its stupid and immature. They should demand proof from Hair and then ask ICC to take action on him if he doesnt have any - instead of crying 'that big white Hair guy troubling us lil brown asians'

5) Is Hair a racist?
No. Same way Steve Bucknor isnt.

Downloading videos from youtube.com

2006-08-20T03:05:00.000-07:00

youtube.com is an excellent site with almost every video that you want.

It has Liverpool vs AC Milan Istanbul 05 match
It has Sachin's innings
It has George Harrison's videos
It has bollywood movies

And its very easy to download them all - Thanks to Firefox and its extentions.

Things you need :
1) Firefox Browser - Get it from here
2) Unplug extention - Get it from here
3) FLV Player. The video that you download is in FLV format. Though there are softwares that convert it to avi, I feel its better to get an FLV player. Get it from here

-> Install the extention. Then restart mozilla. Then go to view - > Toolbars - > Customize. Drag the unplug icon next to the address bar.

Procedure

1) Open www.youtube.com
2) search for the video you want
3) when you get the video in search results, open that in a new tab. When video starts, click on unplug icon.
4) it will open a page with four options. One of them has a tick and it says (this is probably what you want to download). Download that.
5) After downloading it, open it with the FLV player

done!!

My favourite Firefox Extentions

2006-08-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

You can get all of these for free from https://addons.mozilla.org/

1) IE Tab 1.0.9.5
This is a great addon for web designers like me. After designing a page and making its HTML and CSS, usually I had to check first in Firefox and then in IE to see that it works in both. With this add on, I only have to check in Firefox. And to see how it will appear in IE, I just have to click on this IE tab.. Saves lots of time and You dont have to open IE.

2) Adblock Plus
With this you can stop the banner ads. And hence the pages load faster.

3) Web Developer
This is fantastic and has lots of tools. You can disable javascript. You can see the style sheet of the page and you can also edit it live. It is a must have for all web designers.

4) Colorful Tabs
It doesnt do any miracle but looks very neat with all the tabs having different colors.

5) Flash block
Works just like Adblock. But the only difference being this will block all the flash animations.

The New template

2006-08-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

I had to change the blog's template because :

1) Got bored with the old one
2) Most of my friends got a new template
&
3) I had lots of time

There are many websites which give free blog templates asking for nothing in return other than a small link for their site.

Though there were many free templates, there were very few 'good' ones. And also there is a chance millions of others liked the same and use that. I thought - since I was spending time to change it, I better change it in a way that it will look totally different. Atleast shouldnt resemble any other blog.

I took primary colors - Red, yellow and blue - got the shade I liked and did the whole layout with these colors.

It took me 2 hrs to change it (CSS and the images).

So far the reviews have been good.

Switching over to Firefox

2006-08-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

I've been using Firefox for a month (Used IE before that) and I am very impressed. It is a million times better than IE.

I am never going to use IE again (unless forced on me by some cyber cafe which doesnt have any other browser).

Reasons why Firefox is much better :

1) Tabbed browsing.
I sometimes get very irritated when too many browser windows are open (Ofcourse its me who opened all of them but still..). Tab browsing :

”Tab-Browsing changes the way you use the internet by allowing you to open links on a page in background "Tabs" and then read them when you're ready. No confusing new windows, no need for context menus, just hold down Ctrl when clicking a link, or use your middle mouse button (if you have one).”

2) Integrated Search Engine
Firefox comes with an inbuilt Google search Engine. Though we can add google toolbar in IE, the one in firefox takes very less space and feels like it belongs to the browser.

3) Blocking Images
Firfox gives us the power to block images from a particular site. Especially useful if you want to download some cracks (which you usually get in a site full of adult photos) or when you have to load the pages faster.

4) Security
Most of the harmful plugins are programmed for IE (atleast till now). Firefox has a popup-block which is very effective.

5) Download Manager
Firefox has a basic Download Manager which is good enough. You can pause your download - continue again. May not be as good as some download manager programs but its free!

6) Faster
According to experts, A webpage loads much faster in Firefox than in IE

7) Themes
There are millions of theme to choose from.

8) Excellent plugins
Firefox addons has some excellent plugins. (Will be a seperate post on that)

An excellent mind-reader

2006-08-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

Today, in office a colleague showed me this mind reader.

Its quite simple :

1) you can choose any two digit number. Ex : 23
2) you have to add the digits : ex : 2 + 3 = 5
3) The sum of the two digits should be subtracted from the number you chose. Ex : 23-5 = 18
4) it will show you all the numbers from 1 to 99 with different symbols against each number.
5) The magic part : It will show the symbol of that number ex : 18

IT works!!!

My colleague told me its real magic. Being a Harry Potter fan, I wanted to believe but I was aware that Computer is a muggle thing and hence cant do any magic.

Whole day I was thinking about it. More I thought about it, more I was amazed at the work. It certainly wasnt magic. But it was soo convincing.

Being a sagittarian, I couldnt concentrate on anything else with this thing on my mind.

Only a few hours ago, when I showed it to my friend I found out how simple it was.

The theory it works on :

1) Any two digit number, when subtracted by the number which is the sum of the two digits, the resulting number will always be a multiple of 9!
example : Take 56. 5 + 6 = 11. 56 - 11 = 45 and that is a multiple of 9
Take 77. 7 + 7 = 14. 77 - 14 = 63 which again is a multiple of 9

2) just before the result screen, when it shows all the numbers, all the numbers which are multiples of 9 (9, 18, 27... ) have the same symbol.

3) And in the result screen, it shows that symbol. As no matter what number you choose, the result will be a multiple of 9.. And hence that symbol!

Very intelligent (atleast to me) work. Well done!

Some Remixes / covers / Stolen songs that are better than the originals

2006-08-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

16)
Song : Pyar aaya
Movie : Plan

Oringial : Salma Ya Salama by Alabina

15)
Song : Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast
Movie : Mohra

Original : dam mast qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

14)
Song : Pehli Pehli baar Jab Pyar Kisi se hota hai
Movie : Jab Pyar kisi se hota hai

Original : Born to be alive by Patrick Hernandez

13)
Song : O Maria (The main tune)
Movie : Saagar

Original : Mamunia by Paul McCartney

12)
Song : Kuch Kasme
Movie : Aankhen

Original : Nights in white satin by Moody Blues

11)
Song : Samjhana
Artist : Vital Signs

Original : Red Red wine by UB 40

10)
Song : Khud ko kya samajhti hai
Movie : Khiladi

Original : 99 red baloons by Nena Hagen

9)
Song : Yaara yaara
Movie : Hum Tum

Original : al-Samra Wil Beyda by Miami Group

8)
Song : Yun hi kat jayega
Movie : Hum hain rahi pyar ke

Original : Lovely lady of Arcadia by Demis Roussos

7)
Song : Bin Tere Sanam
Artist : DJ Suketu

Original : Bin Tere sanam from the movie Yaara Dildara

6)
Song : Khambakt ishq
Movie : Pyar tune kya kiya

Original : Eireann by Afro Celt Sound System

5)
Song : Tumse Milke
Movie : Parinda

Original : When I need you by Rod Stewart

4)
Song : Koi yahan nache nache
Movie : Suraksha

Original : Video killed the radio star by the buggles

3)
Song : Jab Koi Baat
Movie : Jurm

Original : Here the whistle blow...a hundred miles by kingston trio

2)
Song : Ya Ali
Movie : Gangster

Original : Ya Ghaly by Guitara

1)
Song : Yeh hai bombay meri jaan
Movie : CID

Original : My darling Clementine by Freddy Quinn

Liverpool 2 - Chelsea 1

2006-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is what Jose Mourinho had to say before the match : "If they(Liverpool) lose against a 50 per cent Chelsea, maybe that will affect their confidence,"

Liverpool losing against a 50 per cent Chelsea!! Its crazy!! I am sure he wont be having that opinion anymore after seeing his side lose to a 50% Liverpool. But I guess he never had that opinion as he started with an almost 100 percent side.

Terry was there.. So was Lampard.. But I expected all chelsea fans to be interested seeing Shevchenko and Ballack play but most of them didnt turn up for the match. And Chelsea's poor performance matched the poor turn out.

Shevchenko was decent. Ballack wasnt impressive at all. Despite all the hype, he doesnt seem to be in the same class of a Gerrard or a Xabi Alonso. The German was nursing a bruised hip as well as a bruised ego when he limped off after only 26 minutes. Lampard was confused playing along with Ballack. Just like he was in the world cup - playing alongside Gerrard. Its only after Ballack left, he started contributing.

On contrast, Liverpool started without Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Craig Bellamy and Sami Hyypia. But the ones started were more than enough for a team full of 'superstars', were expected to win even with a 50 per cent side.

It was like seeing Ricky ponting struggling against Bhajji and Kumble on Indian tracks and when Benitez sent on Gerrard, Alonso and Bellamy, it was like Murlitharan, Vettori and Panesar joining the duo. Chelsea had no chance!

Cricket can never be like Football

2006-08-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

Maybe I am just irritated as the Ind-SL match has been delayed and is likely to be called off. Had a holiday.. waited for the match as Sachin will be back after long.

But this is what I think. Cricket can never be in Football's league whether they introduce 20-20 or 10-10 or 2-2.. A slight drizzle and if the umpire feels a player 'may' slip and get injured, the match is called off.

The commentators say 'Its very disappointing but we should understand that umpires cant risk playing as players may get injured'

understand what? I pay for the channel (and the channel pays the board) and the board pays the players.. I spend days waiting for the match and they call it off... just for rains!!!

The best thing about football is that if there is a match, it will happen no matter what.. Its worth the wait.. That is what I am going to do.. Let the umpire pass time coming out every 60 minutes to inspect the pitch and say the same things. I will wait for the England-Greece match.

iPod review - Goa trip

2006-07-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

I had to be in Goa for some 20 days and I took my iPod with me - Its first trip.

iPod is an excellent travel companion. A full charge (4 hrs) makes it run for 12 hrs. Perfect for a 20 hour train journey.

It is very handy for Long walks, in the restaurant, in the bus stops - anywhere you are alone and have to wait. And ofcourse during the powercuts when you cant do anything else.

But for 20 days, I wish it had something more..

Like

1) Another way of charging it. The place I was staying was a bit far from the city and hence there werent any cybercafes nearby. And the ones in the city (Madgaon) charged much more than what I have to pay here in Ahmedabad.

2) Something like a bluetooth to transfer songs from one iPod to another. In one of the restaurants, a fellow was using the same iPod. He had some good konkani songs. The only way I could've got that was - taking both iPods to a cybercafe, copying songs from one iPod to the Harddisk. Then transfering those songs to the second iPod throught iTunes..

3) iTunes. There should be some other way of transfering songs into iPod. None of the cybercafes had iTunes. Not as if I expected them to have - I wouldnt have installed iTunes if I didnt have the iPod

Rare Tintin Comics

2006-07-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I've read every Tintin comic, I found these three on a website. The first two unfortunately dont have color but B&W have their own charm.

download links :

Land of Soviets : http://rapidshare.de/files/3435524/01_-_Land_of_the_Soviets.cbz.html

Tintin in Congo : http://rapidshare.de/files/3436023/02_-_Tintin_in_the_Congo.cbz.html

TinTin and Alph-Art : http://rapidshare.de/files/3437735/24_-_TinTin_and_Alph-Art.cbz.html

Indian News Channels

2006-07-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

Goa Trip - Amazing Konkan Railway

2006-06-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

If you are going to Goa in a train, You'd find yourself along the most beautiful rail route you've ever seen. 'Welcome to Konkan Railway' say the mountains, rivers and streams which you'd find in plenty.

The Konkan Railway (Railway Symbol:KR) is a zone of the Indian Railways which operates along the Konkan coast of India.

Due to the uneven terrain of the region, railway lines were not laid for many years. The railway was opened to the public on Jan 26, 1998.

KR does not have divisions like the other Indian Railway, however, it has two regions with headquarters at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and Karwar in Karnataka.

The route is a single-line track, and is not electrified yet. It has been designed for high-speed traffic (160 km/h). It is open to goods and passenger traffic. The route, which runs parallel to the Arabian Sea coastline, offers some of the most spectacular views of any Indian rail journey.

With a total number of 2,000 bridges and 92 tunnels to be built through this mountainous terrain containing many rivers, the project is the biggest and perhaps most difficult railway undertaking during this century, at least in this part of the world.

IMPORTANT TUNNELS

Natuwadi 4.425 Kms.
Chiplun 2.215 Kms.
Savarde 3.400 Kms.
Parchuri 2.650 Kms.
Karbude 6.500 Kms.
Tike 4.115 Kms.
Berdewadi 3.933 Kms.
Pernem 3.390 Kms.
Karwar 2.960 Kms.
Bhatkal 1.980 Kms.

I often stand in the compartment steps to have a view outside.. The first tunnel was a great experience!! Firstly, I hadnt expected a tunnel... And secondly it happened to be one of the longest! minutes of looking at total darkness with the train going at 100kmph is something I cant explain...

No. Of Stations 60
No.of Tunnels 91
Number Of Minor Bridges 1679 (with total linear waterway of 5.113 km.)
Longest Tunnel 6.5 km. (Karbude tunnel)
Longest Bridge 2.065 km. (on Sharavati River)
Tallest Viaduct 64 meters in height (on Panval River)
Number Of Major Bridges 179 (with a total linear waterway of 22.1km.)

Bantul : The Bengali Superhero

2006-05-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

Bantul is probably the second most popular character after Feluda among Bengalis. His first appearance was in 'Bantul The Great' Comic Strip in Magazine Shuktara, started 40 years ago.

Bantul is a superhuman who tries to enjoy a leisurely life in a remote corner of eastern India, who comes to the rescue of good people and to enforce the law and punish criminals.

Bantul helped Indian Military and Police a few times to catch terrorists and smugglers. The rest of the time he spends reading books, cooking, fishing, roaming in jungles and mountains, or try to earn some money when he runs short of it.

Most of the times Bantul lands up in a mess when trying to earn money. As he is never conscious of his great powers, he does normal things abnormally and destroys everything!

Affiliations
'Lambakarna' (a small boy, who has a special power of hearing from a great distance.)
an ostrich (by manipulating his wings Bantul flies)

Powers
Bantul has physical power beyond imagination
Bantul can move big things by blowing air from his mouth
Bantul's body is so tough that bombs, bullets or knives cannot penetrate. In a few instances terrorists fired missiles at him, and he used them as football (!!!!!)
Even his tiny hairs (he usually has a shaven head) are so tough that they act like thorns or nails, so if he touches a ball with his head, the ball bursts
Bantul can fly by manipulating the wings of his favorite ostrich (this has to be the best power of all)

Proof of Nagraj's Superiority

2006-05-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

Superman defeated...

Batman Captured...

Spiderman too...

Nagraj to the rescue...

Our superheroes' only hope...

fire...

Saves spidey..

escapes...

Do we need an Indian Spiderman?

2006-05-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Spiderman is cool.. But do we really need a desi version of it when we have our own Nagraj who is so much better?

Powers
Nagraj is able to transform into snake form at will. His body is a container of millions of "micro-snakes" which he can release at will to grow and carry out a variety of tasks, including, but not limited to: a snake that he can fire like a gun; one that can cut through anything; explosive snakes; snakes that can repel evil souls

He can form ropes out of groups of snakes, for use for swinging on or lassoing objects. He can hypnotise with his eyes, and has a searing poisonous breath and lethal bite. If wounded, micro-snakes will swiftly seal the wounds, healing him. His bizarre ability to contain snakes means he is home to a number of allies, whom he can release to carry out independent actions using their own abilities

imagining a fight between spiderman and Nagraj
Spidey (in American hindi accent): Haha, Nagraj, humare pas spiderweb hai, tumhare pas kiya hai?
Nagraj: Ye le, Makdi ki aulaad! (and shoots cobras from palm)
Spidey: Shit! man! Bloody hell! (Jumping here and there until once of the cobras latches on to him and bites him. Spidey faints.... Next morning, Peter Parker wakes up, he's got fangs and a hood...now he is Cobraman...Nagraj's sidekick... )

World cup 2006 : England Squad

2006-05-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

The selection was sooo crazy I thought our own Kiran More was hired to help Sven-Goran Eriksson to select his squad for the world cup.

Goalkeepers
Paul Robinson (Tottenham)
David James (Manchester City)
Robert Green (Norwich)

Defenders
Gary Neville (Manchester United)
Sol Campbell (Arsenal)
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
Ashley Cole (Arsenal)
Wayne Bridge (Chelsea)

Midfielders
David Beckham (Real Madrid)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Michael Carrick (Tottenham)
Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)
Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham)
Joe Cole (Chelsea)
Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)
Aaron Lennon (Tottenham)

Strikers
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Michael Owen (Newcastle)
Peter Crouch (Liverpool)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

At first glance, it looks a superb team.. but...

Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen are injured and its not sure that they will take part in the tournament..

The craziest selection was that of 17-year-old Walcott, who has never played for England and who Eriksson has never seen play live

I'd like a 4-4-2 formation with James as the Goal Keeper..

The four defenders : Neville, Ferdinand, Terry and Cole

Midfielders : Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard and Joe Cole

Forwards : Owen and Rooney

Pakisatan?

2006-05-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

thats what the game says

iPod top 10

2006-04-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

list of top 10 songs heard by me on my iPod last week.. Rankings based on number of times the song was played.

10)When I need you - Rod Stewart
9) koi yahan Nache Nache - Suraksha
8) Dont wanna let you go - Five
7) Vertigo - U2
6) lagi lagi - Aksar
5) Baby can i hold you tonight - Boyzone
4) Piya re - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3) Bheegi Bheegi - Gangster
2) Rescue me - Ultra
1) ya ali - Gangster

Alien attack

2006-04-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

This happened yesterday and so far the weirdest dream I ever had.

Scene 1
It started with me and four of my friends from office with a telescope in the terrace looking at the stars (!!! Graphic designers and astronomy !!!)

Scene 2
Then we spot a car shaped star (!!! well in Adobe Illustrator, a star can be modified into any shape !!!)

Scene 3
Boss calls us down and asks us whether we saw the car shaped car. We say yes... He tells us Aliens are planning to attack Ahmedabad and that the five of us have to fight them (Independance day??? and again a new job for graphic designers)

I ask the boss 'we havent seen the aliens.. how will we defeat them?'.. boss replied 'you all will get a colt python revolvers. And havent you seen any alien movies? nose is their weak spot. shoot them there.. we have to eliminate them fast else there wont be a democracy left in the world' (!! dont know in which movie i heard such a thing.. I didnt ask why this job has to be done by graphic designers!! considered myself as the savior of world democracies.... !!)

Then for hours, the fight continues... hiding, running, shooting, using cheat codes, etc...

The end
only me and an alien are left.. The last scene has the alien having its weapon on my forehead and me having my revolver on its nose (!!).. Bang!!! and both die

Woke up and was glad to be alive!!! maybe its the effect of doing too much creative work, playing lots of video games and watching lots of movies!

DON : First look

2006-04-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

New

Original

First!! at last!!

2006-04-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

Michael Schumacher held off a challenge from world champion Fernando Alonso to win the San Marino Grand Prix and re-ignite his title challenge.

It was Schumacher's 85th career victory and his seventh at his Ferrari team's home track

Sardars in GTA-3

2006-04-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

I just spotted something interesting today while playing GTA-3! Most taxi drivers in the game are Sardars wearing a red turban.

Good to see Indians making their mark in every field.

Sadly, the game Hitman-2 removed its Indian mission after protests from some Sikhs.

iPod Shuffle : Excellent music player

2006-04-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

iPod shuffle is an iPod digital audio player designed and marketed by Apple Computer. Instead of storing data on a hard disk, it was the first iPod to use flash memory (the more recent iPod nano also uses this form of memory). It weighs just 22 grams (0.78 ounces).

Features :
Minimalism has always been a guiding principle at Apple, and the new iPod shuffle is an outstanding example. The slim white shell encases a 512MB or 1GB flash-based player, with nothing more than a four-way rocker ring and play/pause button on the front and a power switch and battery-check button on the back.

It lacks the trademark display, scroll wheel, playlist management features, games, address book, calendar, and notes capability of earlier iPods.

Software :The main program that supports the iPod shuffle is iTunes, which is bundled with the product and can be updated from the Apple web site.

Users can download music from an online music store and use the iTunes software to upload it to the device.

Sound Quality :Just one word : Excellent. It has dead-flat frequency response, less harmonic distortion, and most notably, better bass response than its bigger siblings.

According to this article, Shuffle beats the competitors easily when it comes to handling bass.

Very intelligent marketingTo make up for the lack of display, the Apple guys came out with some very interesting and successful marketing slongans

"Enjoy uncertainty"

"Life is random"

"Choose to lose control"

"Give chance a chance."

"Random is the new order."

Pros and Cons

+) It doesnt have a display screen, doesnt tell you which track is being played, you cant watch videos or pictures or read e-books. But for what it is, its sheer perfection.

+) Its lighter than my bike keychain. No problem carrying around or using it in gym. Also as flash players (as opposed to hard-drive players) have no moving parts, they are the best choice for the gym.

-) The transfer speed is quite slow.

-) Price. Slightly expensive (the sound quality makes up for it though and I am probably the only shuffle user to complain about the price)

+) The controls.

-) Can only be charged through USB port

India's most valuable ODI Player

2006-04-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Indian pace spearhead Irfan Pathan joined a select list of ten Indian bowlers who have taken 100 or more wickets in One-Day Internationals.

In the last year or so, Irfan has been India's most valuable ODI player. He picks up early wicket in almost every game and bats well enough to give confidence to the viewers, which even the other technically better middler order batsmen - Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina dont.

Bowling
Irfan has taken 102 wickets from 59 matches at a bowling average of 24.

Wicket distribution :
Pakistan : 26
Sri Lanka : 18
England : 14
Zimbabwe : 11
Australa : 10

Batting
Irfan has scored 834 runs from 42 innings at an average of 29.

Irfan has 4 half centuries - 2 against Pakistan, 1 against New Zealand and 1 against Sri Lanka

Highest average against :
Sri Lanka : 33
Pakistan : 30
New Zealand : 30

Since Aug-2005
Since August 2005, Pathan has taken 52 wickets from 28 matches and 519 runs with an average of 35 with three half centuries.

Comparing him with other all rounders,

Irfan : 28 matches - 519 runs - 35 avg - 52 wickets - 21 bowl avg
Afridi : 16 matches - 165 runs - 11 avg - 15 wickets - 19 bowl avg
Flintoff: 12 matches - 361 runs - 33 avg - 14 wickets - 34 bowl avg
Kallis : 16 matches - 321 runs - 25 avg - 9 wickets - 42 bowl avg
Razzak : 18 matches - 310 runs - 28 avg - 10 wickets - 53 bowl avg

he hasnt done too badly :)

Coloured

2006-04-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

This poem was nominated poem of 2005 for the best poem, written by an African kid.

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black..
And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..
And you calling me Colored ??

Honda Shine : First Look

2006-04-19T01:38:00.000-07:00

Designed to ensure superior ride quality and ease of handling through revolutionary Ergo Tec design, Honda Shine is powered by a newly developed 125cc ‘optimax’ engine, which maintains optimum inputs for maximum output and incorporates and have best balance of mileage and pick up.

Equipped with a host of advanced technologies like multi mapping CDI, Tumble Flow Combustion Chamber, Long intake pipe and connecting tube, CV carburettor, two way Air Jacket and pulse exhaust system, the 125 cc Optimax engine delivers class leading 10.3 BHP which enables the bike to deliver the best balance of pick up and mileage. Honda- Shine competes a 0 - 60 kmph run in just 5.3 secs and returns a class leading 65 kmpl in the process of Indian riding mode

Ergo tech design with light weight advanced diamond frame and double suspension offers superior absorption of shocks and vibrations thus providing an excellent ride comfort and stability. Riding position based on human engineering ensures less fatigue and firm and wide seating space with comfortable seating posture for pillion rider

Honda shine has been endowed with new modern intelligent life appeal, which possesses a balance of decent looks with tough and macho appeal and an image of sporty looks with international taste. Features like tank to seat flow, muffler incline and moderate bending forward style coupled with impressive fuel tank knee grip, excellent contours with frills and finish of each body element and international Honda design.

It will be available in five distinct colours Wild purple Metallic, Champion Blue Metallic, Black, Alpha Red Metallic and Geny Grey Metallic

Pulsar 250cc : First Look

2006-04-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

Re-installing Windows XP

2006-04-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

I had to format my C drive which had Windows XP and Install XP cleanly again. So I tried the three methods I knew

1) I started the PC and when XP started, I put the XP CD in the drive and clicked on Setup. It restarted and during startup asked me to choose one of the two : existing Windows XP or Windows XP setup. I chose the Setup and it started. The problem was I was able to format other drives but I couldn’t do anything to C drive as it seemed to have some setup files.

2) Then I tried the windows 98 way.. during Startup, pressed F8, chose safe command mode and tried formatting C drive. But again, XP doesn’t have Dos with it and the command mode it has works under XP.. So I wasn’t allowed to format.

3) I tried booting with the windows XP CD but in the BIOS setup, it wasn’t showing the CD drive and hence I couldn’t use it as the first boot device.

I called my friend Tejas who is an expert in these things and he sent a skilled Hardware Engg. Immediately.

He too initially had problems making CD Drive as the first booting device but soon found out that it was because of the jumper settings. On the back of the CD Drive, there are some pins and a jumper. You should put the jumper on the pins correctly to make it either a master or a slave drive.

And when done correctly, The drive will be detected and be allowed to be the first boot device in BIOS setup.

After that, the Third method I knew can be done.

Tips on how to answer a question you dont like

2006-04-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Journalists waiting outside the prime minister's residence on Race Course road were attacked by the supporters of Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari of Jama Masjid, when they tried to stop him for answering some their questions.

Bukhari accused the media of being agents of the Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh, who were out to spread communal disharmony. The Imam did little to stop journalists, including women scribes, from being attacked by his supporters, who also used abusive language.

The trouble started when Bukhari stepped out after the meeting and Zee News correspondent Yusuf Ansari asked a question, which was apparently not liked by the Imam's supporters. This led to an argument and later a scuffle between them

“We asked whether you have talked to the PM over 8.33 per cent reservation to economically and socially backward Muslims, he could not answer and I kept requesting him to stay longer and answer my question. All of a sudden, his younger brother Yahya Bukhari and supporters started abusing me and hit me with a microphone,” said Ansari later, demanding action against the Imam.

I wasn’t very surprised by this. Afterall what can be expected from the son of Syed Abdullah Bukhari – Known for making anti-national speeches.

But its funny to see someone who doesn’t accept the Gujrat riots as a natural reaction to what happened in Godhra react this way to a simple question

Two great quotes

2006-04-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

Players of a certain team need to shut up and concentrate more on Cricket. Hopefully what happened in the last two days will make them do that.

Ricky Ponting
"Bangladesh dont deserve test status"

Australia vs Bangladesh Day 1

Bangladesh : 355/6

Day 2

Bangladesh : 427 all out
Australia : 145/6

Shane Warne

''Murali got most of his wickets against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but in comparison I played only one Test against Zimbabwe and am yet to play against Bangladesh,''

Shane got to play his first test against Bangladesh yest... One wouldve expected him to take 3-4 wickets if not 6-7

But all he managed was figures of " 20 overs - 1 maiden - 112 runs - 0 wickets" before excusing himself with some injury. Interestingly, Stuart McGill picked up 8 wickets.

Elegant in everything he does

2006-04-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Easy Target

2006-03-26T01:47:00.000-08:00

Source : One More Opinion

….. Having said that Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly have always had the luxury of failing and that failure was never held against them. This was because there was always Tendulkar that the media could blame. This is important to remember because while the media always elevated Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman to God status, they never really blamed the trio for fourth innings failures or more rearguards because more often than not, Tendulkar would fail with them. A fair share of the criticism for losing to Pakistan and England in the final tests at home needs to be laid at the others, but our focus is always on Tendulkar due to his exalted status and due to the fact that he has consistently delivered runs. The giant wins that Kumble bowled India to before the advent of Dravid and Ganguly were based largely on huge first innings totals built on the back of Tendulkar's contributions. The problem with those wins is that they were smooth efficient wins. As someone has said, smooth, efficient and effective is often boring. The Tendulkar wins were dull, boring and one sided. He obliterated the opposition. Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman by contrast have led India to wins in more romantic circumstances. More often than not they contributed to the lousy situation first and when the world expected Tendulkar to stem the rot in the second innings, Dravid or Laxman or Sehwag would provide the impetus. Does Tendulkar need to stay or go? He deserves to stay at least till the next World Cup. His one day batting remains fantastic. His test form has deserted him, perhaps for good. Unfortunately for him, there is no replacement on the horizon. None of the new middle order bats have the temperament for giant hundreds or a well-paced innings. They don't have the technique either. This includes Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao et al. What's likely to happen? He'll stay and not deliver. He will weather more criticism than his colleagues. His skills have not changed. His temperament has not changed. He is probably simply bitter due to the constant sniping and hence his attitude has changed. He is no longer allowed to play for India. He is being forced to play for himself. He will yet score the odd century or double. Perhaps even a triple. But is that defining innings in the offing? Maybe. Gavaskar's last test innings produced a masterpiece, yet India didn't win. Vengsarkar, Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri et al. All failed. Yet Gavaskar was pilloried for not staying "till the end" to lead India to victory. Tendulkar too has faced similar criticism for his Chennai masterpiece against Pakistan. No one remembers that Dravid, Ganguly and others did nothing in that game.
Read more…

Does India deserve a Sachin Tendulkar?

2006-03-25T23:35:00.000-08:00

Sania Mirza got a Padmashree for getting the highest rank ever by an Indian woman player – 31!!

Dhoni is considered the future of Indian Cricket – His shot in Mumbai’s second innings didn’t change anything.

But it seems no one is willing to give even 16 matches to a person who has been number one for over 16 years.

In most of the forums, Cricket sites and especially Indiatimes.com, one thing everyone wants is the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar.

One argument is that he isn’t among the top 5 batsmen in the team. I don’t think so. Neither does ICC rankings. Sachin is third in the team behind Dravid and Sehwag.

Sachin has played 9 tests since he came back from his injury break. And has a match winning century against Sri Lanka in Delhi. And has performed better than the two ‘better’ players in the matches lost.

India lost two tests in that time. Both batting last. First in Karachi and then in Mumbai. Sachin averages 21 (which is a pathetic average). But… Dravid averages 16 and Sehwag 3!!!!

Its fair to ask him to retire if there is someone like Clarke or Hussey waiting. Who can fill his place when even Ganguly’s place hasn’t been filled by a good enough player??

Its like having 2 bad days in office after working for 2 years and the boss saying I am not good enough. I would’ve resigned without worrying about how the work will be done after me. Sachin I think would’ve retired after the Mumbai test if he wasn’t as unselfish.

There’s a catch

2006-03-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Source : Hindustan TImes

A top level meeting at the BCCI office in Mumbai. Those present: Sharad Pawar, Greg Chappell, Kiran More and Raj Singh Dungarpur.

Pawar: Thrashed by a third rate England team! We have become the laughing stock of the nation. It’s time we get Sourav Ganguly back.

Chappell: But Mr Pawar, how can that be possible? He is out for good.

More: I have been telling people that as long as I’m alive, Sourav cannot be in the Indian team!

Pawar: Then you better die fast! Look, I want Sourav not in the team but as a fielding coach.

Dungarpur: Sharadbhai, the stress is telling. Why don’t you take it easy for a few days?

Pawar: I am perfectly okay. Look, the team fielding has become atrocious.... They are a bunch of butter-fingered buffoons. How many catches did they drop at Nagpur and Mumbai? One dozen, two dozen?

Chappell: Well, these things do happen. You know, the glorious uncertainties of cricket.

Pawar: You are the worst uncertainty. You have been yelling from rooftops that this would be the best fielding combination available and that Sourav had been dropped because he could not field. You held up Yuvraj as an example and he dropped more catches in Mumbai than the number of times a baby drops a thimble!

Chappell: The truth is I’m allergic to Sourav.

Pawar: Then why don’t you think up of some under-arm tactics to take care of your allergy. I want Sourav as the fielding coach and that’s that.

Dungarpur: But Sharadbhai, what about the team morale?

Pawar: Morale? At slip position, Dravid has slipped up too many times. Is Dhoni a wicket keeper or a Catch 22? Kumble can neither bend nor catch a ball. Sehwag and Munaf move like hippos. What a fielding combination! This is all due to Greg and More. I’ll sack both of you!

Chappell: In that case, I have to go back and coach the South Australian Under-5.

Pawar: I am not concerned with that. But you have let me down badly with your tall claims. Come to think of it, you too can attend Sourav’s coaching sessions. Perhaps, you can learn a thing

“Sachin booed by Mumbai , WOT BULLSHIT!!!!!” by Nikhil Gokhale

2006-03-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hey All,
You must be asking why is Nikhil so confident about mumbai crowd not booing down sachin...Well the answer is I was at Wankhede yesterday....
I will explain abt it later ....
Well it started with myself and my frd Nirav reaching the ticket window at 7 in morning ....The queue was growing from dat very moment..We waited and waited untill v got the tickets as usual ghusing in between .... The moment we got the tickets my heart started pumping really faster dan normal and I just started running towards the stadium ....I was really desperate to get in ...Then my frds brought me back to reality so v waited to have our breakfast ...I was physically with them and mentally................u no where

The moment we left that hotel my heart started beating harder and harder...As we approached the stadium I heard a loud cheer I thot a wkt had gone down I literally started running on the road leaving my frds behind............... I just couldnt wait to get in !!!

And then the moment arrived I was in the stadium and as I entered I saw 1000s of INDIAN present there to cheer their GODS.....I saw them and then I saw my GODS ......my IDOLs I just couldn't believe my eyes I could c SACHIN I could c DRAVID everyone.....Actually I had tears in my eyes but I controlled them ...Then v found a place for ourselves and settled down (settled down ???? not really)

Well the atmosphere was simply electrifying at the stadium ...For me it was the 1st time I was watching a match in the stadium ....I had all my adrenaline pumping..And then the chants started INDIAAAAA INDIAAAAAA......
YEAH I WAS IN THE NORTH STAND...............
Then there was no stopping ....The crowd first cheered for shreesanth who was fielding in front of us ....He returned a smile and told us to cheer for MUNAF who was bowling .....The crowd took over MUNAF MUNAF............
Then it was turn of the GOD ...........SACHIN TENDULKAR
He was fielding at mid off then ..with bowler running away from us....Sachin just fielded one bowl and the crowd went berserk...People were cheering like anything SACHIN SACHIN .....and then he waved at us ...The intensity of over chants increased after that ..... It was awesomeeeeeeeeeee.......
The best moment came when sachin took the running catch .....We were dancing ,clapping, shouting ,whistling and wot nottttt............Again the crowd went ........SACHIN SACHIN The entire NORTH STAND was rocking ....We were audible at the pitch.... bcoz the players were looking at the stand one by one tho chori chori....
The same thing happend when DRAVID took the blinder .... Again dancing shouting whistling.....The catch was simply incredible ...... I still believe he is the best slip fielder......... The wickets started tumbling MUNAF was on hatrick and we were on a HIGH......
I would like to mention here that "Meine janam jitni gali kisiko abhi tak nahi di utni gali kal stadium mein di hai " As usual Pakistan was abused like nething haha.... But I would like to mention that sabse jyada agar kisine gali khayee hai to woh hai MONTY PANESAR ...The entire NORTH STAND was totally ruthless in his case .... Flintoff was abused ,hoggard was abused ....Flintoff made a wise decision and made MONTY field near NORTH STAND... Frankly speaking he used MONTY to good effect he used Monty as a bowler and as a shield against the NORTH STAND ..... MONTY was punished by the crowd ...First the chants were INDIA INDIA or EAST STAND SUX ... After Monty's arrival each chant ended with "Monty Bho_ _ _ _ ka" Along with him the BARMY ARMY was screwed by the crowd....
This was the scene at WANKHEDE and today morning I read a headline in the newspaper "Sachin booed by MUMBAI crowd" wot BULLSHIT....
If ne one booed SACHIN woh ghar jinda thodi jata tha???....Total nonsense
If ne one booed SACHIN they must b 10 or 20 in number...It is extremely disheartening to c the INDIAN PRESS making this a front page headline and ignoring the cheering that NORTH STAND provided for SACHIN and co
Please forward this link to as many INDIANS u know let everyone know the reality that
MUMBAI LOVES SACHIN AND MUMBAIKARS WILL LOVE SACHIN TILL THEY EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SACHIN SACHIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bye Bye Bye Bye,
Nikhil Gokhale.
P.S :- INDIAN MEDIA SUCKS........

Source

Sachin should be treated like Ganguly

2006-03-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

After another failure with the bat, many of my friends (none of them Bengalis) told me that the selectors shouldn’t be biased and Sachin should be treated the same way as Ganguly.

I fully agree with them.

No. I don’t mean Sachin should be dropped. All I want is Sachin should be given same number of chances Ganguly got.

This is how they performed since 2004.

ODIS
Sachin 41 matches 1461 runs 38 avg (career avg is 44) 3 centuries 8 50s29 wickets
Ganguly 44 matches 1156 runs 28 avg (career avg is 41) 0 centuries 8 50s and 6 wickets

Tests
Sachin 21 matches 1470 runs 59 avg (career avg is 56) 4 centuries and 5 50s
Ganguly 44 matches 1156 runs 28 avg (career avg is 41) 0 centuries 8 50s and 6 wickets

But.. Sachin’s form is worrying. He fares well when compared to Ganguly but that’s very much like us comparing our country to our neighbours and feeling happy that we are ahead in most things.

Form is temporary – Class is permanent. But one cant be in the team forever just because of the class. One needs form and performance too. To see whether this loss of form is really temporary, he should be given atleast five more tests. One bad year in a career of 17 isnt that bad.

One big reason I don’t want Sachin to be dropped is – because I feel there is no way we can win the world cup without him.

Imposing Temples : Part 1 : Konark Sun Temple

2006-03-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

The magnificent Sun Temple at Konark is the culmination of Orissan temple architecture, and one of the most stunning monuments of religious architecture in the world.

In Hinduism, Surya is the chief solar deity, son of Dyaus Pita or Indra. He has hair and arms of gold. His chariot is pulled by seven horses, which represent the seven colors of rainbow. Tvashtri is his son, as are the twins Yama and Yami and the Asvins (by Saranya).

Another name also used in vedic astrology is Ravi.

Built by the King Narasimhadeva in the thirteenth century, the entire temple was designed in the shape of a colossal chariot with seven horses and twelve wheels, carrying the sun god, Surya, across the heavens.

The alignment of the Sun Temple is on the east-west direction. The Temple is located in natural surroundings, abounding with casuarinas plantations and other types of trees, which grow on sandy soil. The environment is by and large unspoiled. Gentle undulating topography around the Sun Temple lends some variation to the landscape.

The Sun Temple of Konark marks the highest point of achievement of Kalinga architecture depicting the grace , the joy and the rhythm of life all it's wondrous variety. There is an endless wealth of decoration from minute pattterns in bas-relief done with a jeweller's precision to boldly modelled free standing sculptures of exceptionally large size.

Under the crackling wheels of past events , the Sun Temple has lost its main sanctuary but the remaining structure and the ruins around testify till today the boundless creative energy of Orissan artistes and their impressive contribution to the treasury of Indian Art and building technique. Standing majestically on the sandy coast of the Bay of Bengal, the porch, in its solitary grandeur is an eloquent testimony of a gracious and mysterious past. Dedicated to Sun God, this temple was constructed by Raja Narasinghs Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty was dazzling supreme in the political firmament of India.

The Sun Temple built in the thirteenth century was conceived as a gigantic chariot of Sun God, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven pairs of horses. Majestic in conception, this Temple is indeed one of the most sublime monuments of India, famous as much for its imposing dimensions and faultless proportions as for the harmonious integration of architectural grandeur with plastic allegiance

The main sanctum which (229 ft. high) was constructed along with the audience hall (128 ft. high) having elaborate external projections. The main sanctum which enshrined the presiding deity has fallen off. The Audience Hall survives in its entirely but of the other two viz the Dancing Hall(nata Mandir) and the Dining Hall (Bhoga-Mandap), only small portions have survived the vagaries of time. The Temple compound measures 857 ft. by 540 ft

A huge stone containing nine planetary gods is called as Navagraha slab. The architectural use of Navagraha is according to the medieval convention a kind of prophylactic measure for the safety of the temple and can be seen almost in every temples in Orissa. The Sun temple also has a huge Navagraha slab richly ornamented, placed over the front door of the Mukhasala (Jagamohan), at a height of about 18 feet. This huge stone made up of chlorite had 19'.10'' (6.045 m) length, 4'.9'' (1.45 m) breadth and 3'.9'' (1.43 m) height. Originally it weighted 26.27 tons. Towards the end of the 19th century the Government of Bengal at the instance of the Bengal Asiatic Society, opening a Tram line upto the sea beach tried to take the Navagrah slab to Calucutta. But no sooner they took it hardly 200 feet ( 60m ) all the sanctioned money was exhausted. Again after some years they tried to take it. To facilitate the removal the slab was longitudinally cut into two pieces. But its heaviness even after cutting and the sandy track all around saved it from being taken away. It was subsequently left at distance of about two furlongs from the temple site, where it was lying for more than sixty years. Very recently the Government of India arranged for its installation in a separated shed, close to the temple compound. Now the bigger part of the Navagraha slab lies in the south-eastern corner outside the compound.

Fall of temple
The most popular cause rests with the Kalapahad as the root of the fall of Konark temple. According to the history of Orissa, Kalapahad invaded Orissa in 1508. Including Konark temple he had also destroyed a number of Hindu temples in Orissa. It is described in the Madala Panji of Puri Jagannath temple that Kalapahad attacked Orissa in 1568 and it was an evil hour for Orissa. Including Konark temple he broke most of the images in most of the Hindu temples in Orissa. Though it was impossible to break the Sun temple of Konark, the stone walls of which are of 20 to 25 feet thick he somehow managed to displace the Dadhinauti (Arch stone) and thus made a way for the temple to collapse. He also broke most of the images and other side temples of Konark. Due to displacement of the Dadhinauti, the temple gradually collapsed and the roof of the Mukasala also got damage due to the stroke of the stones falling down from the temple top.

Consequent upon, Orissa came under the Muslim administration in 1568 and there were constant attempts to destroy the Hindu temples. The Pandas of Puri, to save the sanctity of the Puri temple, took away the Lord Jagannath from the Srimandir and kept the image in a secret place.

Similarly, it is said that the Pandas of Konark took away the presiding deity of the Sun temple out of the temple and put under sand for some years. Latter on the said image was removed to Puri and kept in the temple of Indra in the compound of the Puri Jagannath temple. According to others, the Puja image of the Konark temple is yet to be discovered. But others hold the view that the Sun image now kept in the National Museum, Delhi was the presiding deity of the Konark Sun temple.

Need some Changes!!

2006-03-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Starting with the captain. Though he has been batting well, he dropped catches in all the three tests at crucial moments.

At slips, one doesnt need only sharp reflexes but also the mind should be clear to concentrate. Maybe the captaincy is affecting him there. In that case he should field either in cover, mid-off or mid-on - This will also mean he is nearer to the bowler to give him suggestions.

Next is India's premier batsman - Sachin Tendulkar. I think he should come at #5 and Yuvraj Singh at #4. Sachin plays superbly when he has to attack - like he did in the second innings of Nagpur test.

Also it will take some pressure off Yuvraj Singh, who will know he can play his shots as there is Sachin to follow.

The biggest worry for me is Irfan Pathan. He does get movement on the air and off the pitch but its not very effective as he bowls them at a speed of 120-125. One needs to bowl atleast at a speed of 135-138 to trouble the batsman.

Mr.TA Shekar of MRF Academy says Irfan is probably doing that because he doesnt want to get injured. Nobody wants anyone to be injured but to me, an Irfan Pathan who bowls at 135 and missing a match every now and then is more valuable than an Irfan Pathan who bowls at 120 - gets a wicket or two in a test and scores 50 odd runs.

Finally, the Turbanator. I dont know much about spin bowling and I really have no idea what he is doing wrong but he doesnt look as dangerous as he used to. Maybe its due to the finger injury he had in Pakistan that made him miss the ODIs. I expect him to pick some wickets in this test. If he bowls the same way he did in Nagpur and Mohali, I wont mind if Ramesh Pawar replaces him in the ODIs

Why is pop considered inferior?

2006-03-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

There are many I know who think liking rock music is ‘cool’. They all pretend to like Metallica, Guns n roses, The Doors and Aerosmith – hear them – get a headache but still are happy calling themselves ‘rock fans’!

I don’t have problems with people liking rock. After all everyone has different choices. But it seems most of these ‘rock fans’ decide to dislike pop music just because it is considered inferior.

I was travelling on a train from Bharuch to Ahmedabad. As it was an AC coach, I got bored as I couldn’t do my favourite train activity - looking outside. Sitting next to me was a tall fellow reading a Ken Follet book. After sometime he asked me if I was using the walkman. I wasn’t. Gave it to him and took the book. When we reached Baroda, he told me the songs were good and asked what album it was. Told him it was ‘ABBA Gold’, which is a collection of the greatest hits of one of the greatest bands – and that I carry it everywhere. He took the cassette case and was a bit disappointed seeing Polygram mentioning ‘POP’ on the left.

“Oh you listen to pop?”
“yes I do”
“No rock?”
“These genres don’t matter to me. I like a good song – doesn’t matter if its by Marc Anthony or The Travelling Wilburys or Vital Signs”
“Only rock for me. Real music”
“Real music?”
“Yea. What are your favourite bands?”
“The ones that come to my mind are U2, The Eagles, Travelling Wilburys, Vital Signs and The Corrs”
“U2 is rock”
“right”
“I like U2, Pink Floyd, MLTR, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith”
“MLTR is a rock band????”
“of course. Michael Learns to Rock”
“of course”
“But you did like ABBA Gold right?”
“its good but I prefer rock”

He isn’t a rare character. I was going through the reviews in amazon site for ‘ABBA Gold’. Out of 5, many gave it 3-4 stars inspite of loving it because ‘5 is reseved for rock music’.!!

Many criticize ABBA for their ‘cheesy’ lyrics which I think is unfair. They were a Swedish band and had to learn English and write songs. And it isn’t too bad if you compare it with songs written by four Liverpudlians except for let it be.

The Gladiator

2006-03-14T17:29:00.000-08:00

Think of Yamaha and you will think of RX-100!!! Atleast in India. Not that Yamaha didnt come up with good models after that.. Crux, Libero and Fazer were good but all of them were outclassed and outsold by their opposition (Hero Honda, Bajaj and TVS).

But its all going to change. Now with Apache replacing Pulsar as the best 150CC bike, it will be interesting to see how Yamaha's 150+CC Gladiator fares which will be launched soon this year!

Am I a rightist??

2006-03-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

I am anti-socialism

I am against religious conversions. This I think is the root of all evil.

I think Country comes before religion. Whatever I am, whatever I have is all because of country and not religion.

I am against reservations on the basis of religion and caste. If every religion is equal, then there should be the same laws for everyone. If someone wants to marry twice because its allowed in their religion’s law, will they accept punishments according to their laws too? I don’t think so

I am in favour of uniform civil code

Am I one?

Some things I really hate..

2006-03-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

10) Emraan Hashmi movies minus the songs
9) Bad, bad server. No donut for you
8) The meaningless term ‘match winner’
7) Benfica club
6) Media overhyping Sania Mirza
5) Comparing every tom, dick and inzi with Sachin Tendulkar
4) Anu Malik and Johnny Lever after the Aaj Tak’s ‘Godfather’ show
3) Reservations based on caste
2) Religious Conversions
1) Minority appeasing

Ganguly continues to prove More right!

2006-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

After being hit for a match winning six off the last ball in the previous match, Ganguly was out for a golden duck against North in Jaipur.

Opening the batting for East Zone, he was caught behind off medium-pacer Joginder Sharma.

East lost by 52 runs

SIMI’s role in Varanasi Blasts!

2006-03-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

A little known group calling itself the Lashkar-e-Kahar has claimed responsibility for the Varanasi serial blasts of Tuesday..

"If the harassment of Kashmiris and arrests don't stop we will not allow the people of India to sleep in peace," the spokesperson said, and warned of more such attacks across India

Highly placed intelligence sources in New Delhi say that in their records, Abu Kahar is an operative linked to the Student Islamic Movement of India

The banned SIMI's involvement is under probe, the sources added

Another huge problem, arising out of the idea that religion is more important than the country!!

Champion of the day!!

2006-03-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

Scott Styris : 103 runs and 2 wickets

Country or religion?

2006-03-09T04:23:00.000-08:00

I had an argument with my friend in Karachi regarding this. According to her religion should always come first and be the first priority.

I don’t agree with this. Just make a list of things you have/got because of your country and compare with the religion list. I am sure the first list will be much longer.

Told this to her and the reply was “its true. But Its because of God I belong to this country.” Wow! I had nothing to say

Let me know your views

The Rise of India : American Perspective

2006-03-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

What will India's innovation and booming economy mean for Americans?

Nice Video

Is cricket really a batsman’s game?

2006-03-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Commentators say this thing ‘Cricket is a batsman’s game’ often. Maybe its because I am not a bowler but I feel its not at all true.

When a bowler goes for runs in a flat wicket, everyone blames the pitch. But if a batsman fails on a pitch that assists the bowlers, many question his technique and temperament.

Even if a bowler gets smashed for runs, he has many chances to come back and get a wicket. But for a batsman, if he is out, that’s the end!!

A bowler when tired, can go off the field and come back. A batsman has to stay there and concentrate till he gets out!

Bowlers can ask umpire the reason an lbw decision wasn’t given. A batsman can never ask why he was given out when there was an inside edge.

BLACK

2006-02-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

BLACK wins 11 awards in this year's filmfare awards!!!

Big B - Best actor of 2005

Rani - Best actress of 2005

Spiderman goes Black

wowwwwwwwww!!! This black outfit is even better than that of Batman!!

Awesome song

2006-02-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

I keep listening to this song since last week.

Sung by Mohd Rafi and Geeta Dutt
Movie : Pyaasa (1957)
Music : SD Burman

Song : Hum aapki aankhon mein

hum aapakee aankho me, is dil ko basaa de to
hum moond ke palakon ko, is dil ko sajaa de to

in julfon mein goondenge, hum fool mohabbat ke
julfon ko zatak kar hum ye fool giraa de to

hum aapako khwaabon me, laa laa ke sataayenge
hum aapakee aakhon se ninde hee udaa de to

hum aapake kadamon par gir jaayenge rash khaa kar
isapar bhee naa hum apane aanchal kee hawaa de to

The Revenge

2006-02-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

On the left: “Islam” is caricatured
On the right: the “Western media” bows in front of a toilet bowl, labeled “Zionism,” from which fire, labeled “the Holocaust,” emanates. Behind this is the devil, a menorah and the Star of David

The Western Media

Why I published those cartoons

2006-02-26T23:36:00.000-08:00

By : FLEMMING ROSE, culture editor of Jyllands-Posten

I agree that the freedom to publish things doesn't mean you publish everything. Jyllands-Posten would not publish pornographic images or graphic details of dead bodies; swear words rarely make it into our pages. So we are not fundamentalists in our support for freedom of expression.

But the cartoon story is different.

Those examples have to do with exercising restraint because of ethical standards and taste; call it editing. By contrast, I commissioned the cartoons in response to several incidents of self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears and feelings of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam. And I still believe that this is a topic that we Europeans must confront, challenging moderate Muslims to speak out. The idea wasn't to provoke gratuitously -- and we certainly didn't intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world. Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter.

At the end of September, a Danish standup comedian said in an interview with Jyllands-Posten that he had no problem urinating on the Bible in front of a camera, but he dared not do the same thing with the Koran.

This was the culmination of a series of disturbing instances of self-censorship. Last September, a Danish children's writer had trouble finding an illustrator for a book about the life of Muhammad. Three people turned down the job for fear of consequences. The person who finally accepted insisted on anonymity, which in my book is a form of self-censorship. European translators of a critical book about Islam also did not want their names to appear on the book cover beside the name of the author, a Somalia-born Dutch politician who has herself been in hiding.

Around the same time, the Tate gallery in London withdrew an installation by the avant-garde artist John Latham depicting the Koran, Bible and Talmud torn to pieces. The museum explained that it did not want to stir things up after the London bombings. (A few months earlier, to avoid offending Muslims, a museum in Goteborg, Sweden, had removed a painting with a sexual motif and a quotation from the Koran.)

Finally, at the end of September, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with a group of imams, one of whom called on the prime minister to interfere with the press in order to get more positive coverage of Islam.

So, over two weeks we witnessed a half-dozen cases of self-censorship, pitting freedom of speech against the fear of confronting issues about Islam. This was a legitimate news story to cover, and Jyllands-Posten decided to do it by adopting the well-known journalistic principle: Show it, don't tell it. I wrote to members of the association of Danish cartoonists asking them "to draw Muhammad as you see him." We certainly did not ask them to make fun of the prophet. Twelve out of 25 active members responded.

We have a tradition of satire when dealing with the royal family and other public figures, and that was reflected in the cartoons. The cartoonists treated Islam the same way they treat Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions. And by treating Muslims in Denmark as equals they made a point: We are integrating you into the Danish tradition of satire because you are part of our society, not strangers. The cartoons are including, rather than excluding, Muslims.

The cartoons do not in any way demonize or stereotype Muslims. In
fact, they differ from one another both in the way they depict the prophet and in whom they target. One cartoon makes fun of Jyllands-Posten, portraying its cultural editors as a bunch of reactionary provocateurs.

Another suggests that the children's writer who could not find an
illustrator for his book went public just to get cheap publicity. A third
puts the head of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party in a lineup, as if she is a suspected criminal.

One cartoon -- depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban -- has drawn the harshest criticism. Angry voices claim the cartoon is saying that the prophet is a terrorist or that every Muslim is a terrorist. I read it differently: Some individuals have taken the religion of Islam hostage by committing terrorist acts in the name of the prophet. They are the ones who have given the religion a bad name. The cartoon also plays into the fairy tale about Aladdin and the orange that fell into his turban and made his fortune. This suggests that the bomb comes from the outside world and is not an inherent characteristic of the prophet.

On occasion, Jyllands-Posten has refused to print satirical cartoons of Jesus, but not because it applies a double standard. In fact, the same cartoonist who drew the image of Muhammed with a bomb in his turban drew a cartoon with Jesus on the cross having dollar notes in his eyes and another with the star of David attached to a bomb fuse. There were, however, no embassy burnings or death threats when we published those.

Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn't intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy.

This is exactly why Karl Popper, in his seminal work "The Open Society and Its Enemies," insisted that one should not be tolerant with the intolerant. Nowhere do so many religions coexist peacefully as in a democracy where freedom of expression is a fundamental right. In Saudi Arabia, you can get arrested for wearing a cross or having a Bible in your suitcase, while Muslims in secular Denmark can have their own mosques, cemeteries, schools, TV and radio stations.

I acknowledge that some people have been offended by the publication of the cartoons, and Jyllands-Posten has apologized for that. But we cannot apologize for our right to publish material, even offensive material. You cannot edit a newspaper if you are paralyzed by worries about every possible insult. I am offended by things in the paper every day: transcripts of speeches by Osama bin Laden, photos from Abu Ghraib, people insisting that Israel should be erased from the face of the Earth, people saying the Holocaust never happened. But that does not mean that I would refrain from printing them as long as they fell within the limits of the law and of the newspaper's ethical code. That other editors would make different choices is the essence of pluralism.

As a former correspondent in the Soviet Union, I am sensitive about calls for censorship on the grounds of insult. This is a popular trick of totalitarian movements: Label any critique or call for debate as an insult and punish the offenders. That is what happened to human rights activists and writers such as Andrei Sakharov, Vladimir Bukovsky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, Boris Pasternak. The regime accused them of anti-Soviet propaganda, just as some Muslims are labeling 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper anti-Islamic.

The lesson from the Cold War is: If you give in to totalitarian impulses once, new demands follow. The West prevailed in the Cold War because we stood by our fundamental values and did not appease totalitarian tyrants.

Since the Sept. 30 publication of the cartoons, we have had a constructive debate in Denmark and Europe about freedom of expression, freedom of religion and respect for immigrants and people's beliefs. Never before have so many Danish Muslims participated in a public dialogue -- in town hall meetings, letters to editors, opinion columns and debates on radio and TV. We have had no anti-Muslim riots, no Muslims fleeing the country and no Muslims committing violence. The radical imams who misinformed their counterparts in the Middle East about the situation for Muslims in Denmark have been marginalized. They no longer speak for the Muslim community in Denmark because moderate Muslims have had the courage to speak out against them.

In January, Jyllands-Posten ran three full pages of interviews and photos of moderate Muslims saying no to being represented by the imams. They insist that their faith is compatible with a modern secular democracy.

A network of moderate Muslims committed to the constitution has been established, and the anti-immigration People's Party called on its members to differentiate between radical and moderate Muslims, i.e. between Muslims propagating sharia law and Muslims accepting the rule of secular law. The Muslim face of Denmark has changed, and it is becoming clear that this is not a debate between "them" and "us," but between those committed to democracy in Denmark and those who are not.

This is the sort of debate that Jyllands-Posten had hoped to generate when it chose to test the limits of self-censorship by calling on cartoonists to challenge a Muslim taboo. Did we achieve our purpose? Yes and no. Some of the spirited defenses of our freedom of expression have been inspiring. But tragic demonstrations throughout the Middle East and Asia were not what we anticipated much less desired. Moreover, the newspaper has received 104 registered threats, 10 people have been arrested, cartoonists have been forced into hiding because of threats against their lives and Jyllands-Posten's headquarters have been evacuated several times due to bomb threats. This is hardly a climate for easing self-censorship.

Still, I think the cartoons now have a place in two separate narratives, one in Europe and one in the Middle East. In the words of the Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the integration of Muslims into European societies has been sped up by 300 years due to the cartoons; perhaps we do not need to fight the battle for the Enlightenment all over again in Europe. The narrative in the Middle East is more complex, but that has very little to do with the cartoons.

Trip to Adalaj Step Well

2006-02-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

Adalaj Step well is 18 Kms from Ahmedabad. The step well was built in 1498 AD by Ruda, wife of Vaghela chief Vairasimha.

This is what it looks from the top. Its on the ground level. On the left are my friends on top of the main entrance.

From the main entrance, the steps go down. Its a five storeyed structure and as we went down, it got cooler and cooler.

From the top, there are spiral stairs to go down.

There were lots of beautiful carvings on either sides of the steps that go down to the well.

View from bottom

View from top

There is a decently maintained garden both the sides. There were lots of changes from my previous visit. There were lots of visitors. There were some guides too. All good but I saw some Manikchand cover floating on the well water. I think they should stop the free entry and charge 10-15 Rs for a visit. That will stop idiots to use the well as a dustbin and also they will get some money to maintain it.

MF Hussain's masterpieces!!!

2006-02-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

This picture shows a naked Lord Hanuman attacking a naked demon king Ravana while Goddess Sita is sitting naked on Lord Ravana’s thigh.

Goddess Sita has never been rescued by Lord Hanuman!!! When did this happen??? Definitely not in Ramayan.

Bull copulating with Parvati.

Godess Lakshmi on the head of Ganesh.

Goddess Durga in the nude having sexual intercourse with a tiger

All good things have to come to an end. The next three are paintings by the same man but there is a difference. All the three are of muslim women. Maybe MF Hussain thinks muslim women dont look that good without clothes..

MF Hussain's daughter and mother

Fully covered muslim lady

Prophet's daughter Fatima

Award for the most imaginative painting goes to..............

this...

Illegal Bats and Bad Quotes

2006-02-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

Aussie captain Ricky Ponting has been using an illegal bat for quite some time now. The bat, a mixture of wood and carbon graphite, was launched in 2004 .

The first thing that came to my mind when I read about this was Ponting’s quote when Dravid was fined for ‘tampering the ball’ by Clive Lloyd (Vice captain of anti-India team led by Steve Bucknor).

Ponting’s Quote :
"I don't think you'll see us doing anything like that,"

Sometimes I wish Dravid was a bit like Ganguly and give everything back. More than the Natwest Final, what I liked was Ganguly’s reaction after the win. Lords may be a great place but its just a cricket ground – just like Wankhede.

But I don’t see Dravid saying things like “You wont catch us using illegal bats”…

Why Ganguly was dropped?

2006-02-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

Sourav Ganguly has been dropped from the Indian squad for the first Test against England at Nagpur beginning on March 1.

It’s a bit surprising as he didn’t do too badly in Pakistan. I don’t know why he was dropped but the reason maybe one of the following :

Reason 1 : Selectors’ version
More said the team was picked keeping the future of Indian cricket in mind.

"I think we have done very well in one-dayers from which some new faces have emerged. The Board has decided to give these youngsters a chance, it is a very important move for us,"

Asked about Ganguly's exclusion, a slightly irritated More said, "we did not discuss only one individual. There are 15 players, why don't you ask about Dhoni who has performed very well."

"We spoke to Dravid. He had some ideas and he said he was happy about it (selection),"

Reason 2 : Ganguly’s attitude problem

Source : Indian Express

Over the past few weeks Ganguly himself had shown, on the field and off it, that he doesn’t really fit in with the Chappell school of cricket.

A reluctance to play domestic matches and a conspicuous tendency to stay aloof from the Bengal team eventually gave his critics enough ammunition against him.

Since his return from Pakistan, the CAB has had to face several uncomfortable questions over Ganguly’s ‘‘attitude towards the Bengal team’’ during the Ranji Trophy one-dayers

First, he said he wouldn’t travel with Deep Dasgupta and the team to Jamadoba, near Dhanbad. Then, despite repeated ‘‘requests’’ from the CAB, he dodged Bengal’s opener against Tripura on February 11. He eventually agreed to play the remaining one-dayers but the CAB cringed when he was seen travelling to and from Kolkata every day instead of staying with the team.

Not that he had a good time with the bat there: The left-hander managed just 92 runs in three matches, averaging a modest 30.66. And his 72 against Jharkhand came only after he was dropped twice, on 11 and 16. His two other knocks, of 12 and 8, would not have inspired the national selectors.

Reason 3 : ‘More’ problems

Some say Ganguly was never liked by selector Kiran More. Firstly, he had everything his way when he was the captain. He got the players he wanted and didn’t give much importance to selectors.

Then during the Abhijit Kale bribery thing, he was against Kiran More and supported Kale.

“I am not too sure that a person like Kale could do such a thing”

"I have known Kale for a long time. I will have to wait and see. I still do not believe in it,"

Om and Buddha Mats!!! Really cool...

2006-02-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

where they get money from??????

2006-02-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Minister of Minority Welfare Yaqoob Qureshi has offered a $14million reward to anyone who beheads one of the Danish cartoonists who outraged Muslims by depicting Mohammed.

He said the killer would also receive his weight in gold. He made the offer during a rally in his constituency in Meerut, northeast of Delhi.

----------------------

The Hindu Personal Law Board on Thursday announced a Rs 51 crore reward for eliminating artist M F Hussain and others while a Congress Minority Cell leader offered Rs 11 lakh to any ‘patriot’ chopping off the painter’s hands for hurting Hindu sentiments.

Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of Goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash by the board, its president Ashok Pandey said in a statement in Lucknow

If Uttar Pradesh Haj Minister Yaqoob Qureshi undertook the job ‘he will be given Rs 101 crore’, it added cryptically.

Peace will not prevail on earth unless such people are eliminated, he said and urged Qureshi to set out on the mission

--------------------------

noble thoughts indeed!! but where do they get so much money?

More cartoons

2006-02-22T17:59:00.000-08:00

Face Recognition

2006-02-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

I read a post in my Aussie friend Mary's blog about this site.

www.myheritage.com

you just have to upload your photo and it tells you which celebrity you have resemblance with along with percentage. quite cool!!

I tried and this is what I got..

Marc Anthony - 73% wow!!!!

Creslaw Milosz - 72% . Dont know who he is!

Tarkan - 68% . He is a pop singer

Srk - 60% .. oh yeah???????

Mario : Nintendo's Mascot

2006-02-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

Super Mario!!! I'm sure anyone who knows a bit about video games must’ve played this game.

The console was my most prized possession when I was in school. And like many others, my favorite game was Super Mario. I played the game for 5-6 years but I had no idea who Mario was. Nintendo was a Japanese company but Mario was an Italian name. It made no sense..

Mario is Nintendo's mascot, and he is almost certainly the best known video game icon in history, appearing in hundreds of games, most of them bestsellers.

Name

Mario's full name is believed to be Mario Mario, while his brother's full name is believed to be Luigi Mario, making them literally the "Mario Bros."

Mario was named after Mario Segali, the landlord of Nintendo of America's Seattle home in 1981. When a Japanese copy of the new Donkey Kong game arrived, the NOA staff had to translate the story and character names into English. The lead character, known in Japan as "Jumpman" needed an English name. After interrupting a meeting discussing this issue, Segali blasted the president of NOA, Minoru Arakawa, because the firm's rent was overdue. By the time of Donkey Kong Junior's production, Jumpman had officially become Mario.

First Appearance
Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong, while Mario's brother Luigi first appeared in Mario Bros. The Mario franchise has sold 184 million games, making it by far the best selling franchise in the history of video games.

Officially, Nintendo producers have stated that Mario's biography is kept simple in order to make the character versatile, and reusable in many different games and situations. Mario is one of the most underdeveloped characters in the Mario universe however, with characters such as Bowser and Princess Peach having more complex, consistent, and unique back stories.

Profession
In his first appearance in Donkey Kong, all that was stated was that he was a carpenter who had to save Pauline from Donkey Kong. His third appearance in Mario Bros. changed his profession to plumber, which was more fitting with the pipe theme of that game. Here, Mario and his brother Luigi cleaned out the sewers of Brooklyn.

Over the course of his many games, Mario has rescued a number of women from captivity (including Pauline, Princess Peach, and Princess Daisy) and has become regarded as a great hero in the Mushroom Kingdom. There is no definitive timeline for the events in the various games, most of which could be placed in nearly any order

Looks
Mario's distinctive look is due to technology restrictions in the mid-'80s: with a limited number of pixels and colors, the programmers could not animate Mario's movement without making his arms "disappear" if his shirt was a solid color; they did not have the space to give him a mouth or ears; and they could not animate hair, so Mario got overalls, a moustache, sideburns, and a cap to bypass these problems. Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto has also stated when interviewed that Mario wears a cap because he finds it difficult to draw hair.

When Mario was first conceived, he looked, more or less, as he does today: a short, plump man with the trademark hat, brown hair, black mustache and overalls. He normally wears blue overalls on top of a red shirt, but such was not always the case. Originally, he wore red overalls on top of a blue shirt — almost exactly opposite what he wears now. The American Super Mario Bros. 2 was the first appearance of his modern outfit (the box had the red overalls-on-blue shirt, but the game itself had a blue overalls-on-red shirt); however, it was Super Mario Bros. 3 that standardized today's blue overalls-on-red shirt outfit. (Incidentally, the original Super Mario Bros. has neither in-game; Mario wears a brown shirt with red overalls).

Personality
Mario is generally kind hearted and heroic. In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, it is shown that he tends to speak his native Italian tongue when he's angry. It is generally agreed that Mario is braver than Luigi; Luigi is the more cautious brother. Also, Mario may be the more unintelligent brother, as is shown in some games.

Abilities
Despite his apparently chubby appearance, Mario's most prominent feature is his athletic jumping ability. At first, that was the extent of it — just jumping — but more abilities were built on top of this. When he runs fast, he jumps higher than normal, which, given the right power-up, is required to fly; in such games, he would stick his arms out at his sides when at maximum speed to signify the proper jumping time. Super Mario Bros. 3 secretly gives little Mario (before a Super Mushroom) the ability to jump off of a wall to attain even more height, notably in the sixth world. Super Mario World added the ability to spin-jump, which allows Mario to break blocks beneath him if he is of sufficient size to do so, without the requirement for another power-up or a Koopa Shell. Later, Super Mario 64 added the ability to jump higher with consecutive jumps, as well as a long jump, a back-flip, and a ground pound. It also made jumping off of walls much simpler to accomplish. Super Mario Sunshine then re-introduced the spin jump, which makes Mario fall slower than a normal jump (though he jumps no higher).

When Mario obtains a Super Mushroom, he becomes Super Mario. In this form Mario has the ability to break bricks with his fist, at the cost of possibly being unable to maneuver in small gaps. If an enemy hits him, he turns back into normal Mario again.

Mario's second-most popular move is a move that most video game characters have- the punch. This is generally a move that Mario has in adventure games with no set battle system and is his weakest move. If Mario punches twice, the third blow will be a kick.

In Super Mario Land, instead of fireballs, Mario throws superballs, which bounce off walls. Like the Super Mushroom, it has since disappeared from the newer games. In most games, Mario in a special form will be transformed into Super Mario instead of shrinking to regular Mario when hit.

The Starman gives Mario invincibility for ten seconds, also allowing Mario to defeat enemies just by touching them. It has not disappeared from the games entirely, in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, Mario (with help from Yoshi, Luigi and Wario in SM64DS) has to collect enough power stars to free the princess.

Hutch Cup : Heroes and Zeroes for India

2006-02-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

Heroes

Batting

1) Yuvraj Singh
5 innings – 344 runs – 172 Avg – 1 100s 2 50s – 97 strike rate
Leading run scorer of the series with the second best average. Had four 100 run partnerships with Dhoni (Karachi), Dravid (Rawalpindi), Tendulkar (Lahore) and Dhoni again (Lahore)

2) Sachin Tendulkar
4 innings – 237 runs – 59 avg – 1 100s 1 50s – 90 strike rate
Ended the ‘endulkar’ debate with a superb century in Peshawar. Followed it with an even better ‘95’.  Had three key 100 run partnerships with Dhoni (Peshawar), Yuvraj (Lahore) and Sehwag (Rawalpindi)

3) Mahendra Dhoni
4 innings – 219 runs – 219 avg – 0 100s 3 50s – 137 strike rate
Has been dismissed only once and that too because of a brilliant catch by Shoaib Malik. A great finisher..

4) Rahul Dravid
5 innings – 205 runs – 41 avg – 0 100s 3 50s – 0 100s 3 50s – 75 strike rate
Played his role of sheet anchor to perfection. Was a bit slow in the 5th ODI but when there is Dhoni to follow, it just doesn’t matter.

Sehwag and Irfan averaged over 30. Raina wasn’t dismissed in the series.

Bowling

1) Irfan Pathan
4 matches – 9 wickets – 18 avg – 25 strike rate – 4.5 economy rate
Some ‘expert’ said Irfan is losing his bowling and has become a batsman. He did score a 65 in the first ODI and was wicketless. But in the next three, he took 3 wickets. Economy rate of 4.5 in such high scoring series is fantastic.

2) RP Singh
3 matches – 8 wickets – 17 avg – 22 strike rate – 4.7 economy rate
Wasn’t picked for the first two ODIs but the UP medium pacer took 8 wickets in the last 3 with an economy rate of 4.7.

Agarkar took 6 wickets at an economy rate of 5.5. Sreesanth took 6 wickts at an economy rate of over 6.

Sachin Tendulkar bowled at an economy rate of 4.7 picking 2 wickets (Inzamam both times)

Zeroes

Batting

1) Mohammad Kaif
4 innings  - 13 runs – 4.3 avg
He is in the team because of his fielding. Now that most of the youngsters field as well, he will have go give good performances soon.

2) Gautam Gambhir
3 innings – 61 runs – 20.33 avg
He had a golden chance with Sehwag injured. Unfortunately he wasted all the three opportunities he got and will be dropped when Sehwag gets alright.

Bowling

1) Zaheer Khan
4 matches – 3 wickets – 67 avg – 62 strike rate – 6.48 economy
Poor bowling. His fielding was worse. Will be surprising if he gets selected against England.

Blood 2 : My favourite computer game

2006-02-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

Blood II: The Chosen is a 1998 FPS(First Person Shooter) game , developed by Monolith Productions and published by GT Interactive. It is a sequel to Monolith previous game Blood featuring a completely new, fully 3D engine that was developed in-house by Monolith, the LithTech engine.

About Blood
Blood was released in 1997. Blood, with its arsenal of curious weapons, numerous enemies, and liberal amounts of gore, truly does justice to its name. Disturbingly for its time, certain enemies would scream as they were set on fire or otherwise injured, while other characters' heads could be shot off and kicked around.

Story
The game's hero (or anti-hero) is a man named Caleb (voiced by Stephan Weyte). Once the top general of a cult called The Cabal, which worshipped the god Tchernobog (called "The Voice" in the credits and played by Jason Hall, CEO of Monolith), he, along with his assumed lover Ophelia Price and two others, are killed in 1851 for unspecified "failures" in the god's name.

Declaring "I live AGAIN!" (a reference to the film Army of Darkness), Caleb suddenly rises from his grave 77 years later wanting vengeance and answers, in no particular order. Blood will flow as he treks across the world through various Cabal strongholds and back into Hell itself.

Garbed in a dark cloak and broad-brimmed hat and with eyes glowing crimson, Caleb immediately begins his quest of ridding the world from the minions of Tchernobog. Caleb is a cynical, sarcastic man with a bent towards sadism, taking pleasure in killing almost anything that may impede his quest. Though his pleasure-in-pain obviously removes consideration of Caleb as a true hero, he does have a slight attitude change between Blood and its sequel. By Blood 2, which takes place 100 years after the events of the first game, Caleb has been forced to show more tolerance for innocent bystanders. This does not affect gameplay, however, as he can still kill them in-game without repercussion.

The Sequel
The year is 2028 and Caleb, the undead anti-hero from Blood, after the final confrontation with his old master, the god Tchernobog, has spent the last century trying to figure out a way to resurrect his fallen comrades, including his lost love Ophelia, but to no avail. During these years he has grown somewhat more tolerant towards other people, so much that he can actually avoid killing everyone he runs into, but not that much to stop him from bringing along a weapon wherever he goes.

However the Cabal, the cult of Tchernobog, is not dead, but has undergone a radical change that transformed what once was a dark, secret cult into CabalCo (short for Cabal Company), a powerful and wealthy business company. The Cabal in its new form still seeks to dominate the world, but rather than using magical means, it employs the power arising from its preheminent economical position, penetrating into the everyday life of the people thus controlling it. Apparently the Cabal has decided to briefly forget about Caleb (labelled as the Great Betrayer), but it has not forgiven him: Gideon, the man behind the Cabal's change and current head of CabalCo, wishes to bring back his cult to its full, former glory by slaying Caleb and getting back from him the Tchernobog powers the Chosen has absorbed after defeating the god.

Gideon appears to Caleb, goading him into a chase across some of the most dangerous CabalCo controlled locations. Contemporarily a growing number of dimensional rifts are opened, allowing creatures from another dimension to cross the border and reach our world. Caleb is therefore tasked both with the necessity to stop Gideon and CabalCo from dominating the world and to close the dimensional rifts with the Tchernobog powers he owns, to avoid a fatal collapse of the fabric of space and time. During his quest Caleb receives the help of the other Chosen, Gabriella, Ishmael and Ophelia brought back to our reality by the dimensional rifts.

Gameplay
In single mode the player can choose to undertake the game's quest against the Cabal as one of the four Chosen. However only when playing as Caleb the in-game cinematics are shown and the story developed. Blood II gameplay is influenced by the character choice at the game start-up because every Chosen has different weapons marksmanship levels and different amounts of maximum hit points and armor level. For instance, Gabriella can deal out the maximum damage when using firearms, but she is not skilled in the usage of magical items. She also has the strongest armor level available. Conversely Ishmael and Ophelia are more dangerous when using magical weapons, such as the Voodoo Doll or the Life Leech. Caleb is the most balanced character being able to use with good efficacy both firearms and magical means.

The game is divided in chapters: each chapter can be reached by the player only completing the previous one. During the first chapter Gideon appears on a Cultist filled underground train, taunting Caleb and starting the chase that will take Caleb across the city, into a museum, through the steam tunnels, to CabalCo's Center for Disease Management, an airship, then again across the city and to an old cathedral in ruins for the showdown with the first boss. During this chapter Caleb is reunited with Gabriella, who used to be Gabriel in the first game. As she witnesses Caleb's perplexity at her change the only answer given by Gabriella is: "It's a long story."

The second chapter starts again on an underground train, filled with more dangerous enemies leading back into the city. Caleb will storm across entire districts, wreck havoc in a CabalCo Meat Packing plant until he reaches some catacombs and the second boss. During his wandering Caleb will also meet Ishmael who informs him that only by using the Tchernobog powers the dimensional rifts can be closed.

Back on an underground train for the third chapter (with even more deadly foes) Caleb travels to the top CabalCo facilities such as their Research&Development building and the company HQ for a first fight with Gideon. When Gideon cowardly flees using a dimensional rift, Caleb can finally meet with Ophelia, but any celebration for their coming back together has to be postponed, since Caleb decides to enter a rift himself to get finally rid of Gideon and to repair the fabric of space and time.

Weapons

Knife

9mm Automatic Pistol

Mac-10 Sub Machine Gun

Sawed-Off Shotgun

.50 BMG Sniper Rifle

M16 Assault Rifle

Howitzer

Minigun

Napalm Launcher

Flare Gun

Proximity Bomb

Remote Bomb

Time Bomb

TW-X59 Tesla Cannon

Death Ray

Insect-A-Cutioner

Singularity Generator

Voodoo Doll

The Orb

Life Leech

Enemies

Cultists

The lowest designation of Cabal soldier, the role of the Cultist has changed with time. Once the wheels of the Cabal army, in the modern world it has become necessary to adapt the role of Cultists so that they could move freely through society. They are followers of the Cabal, early initiates who are recruited, or brainwashed, into service from inside Cabalco. They dress in official corporate attire so that their presence will not be obstrusive, allowing them to integrate into any aspect of normal society. Their training consists of little more than a psyche profile and a possible brain wipe to assure that they will be adequately dedicated to the Cabal. For that reason they are not suited to heavy combat, but are adequately imposing to be used as security, for missions of lesser importance or simply to intimidate the general populace. Cultists are generally of average to low intelligence (or they would have risen to a higher rank in the Cabal). They are only trained in a limited arsenal of weapons, mostly handguns, and in combat situations their lack of training prevents them from working effectively together. Despite these weaknesses, they are still considered the backbone of the Cabal infrastructure, maintaining the Cabal's power by infiltrating normal society with their imposing presence, acting as an early warning system, and at times becoming human shields for the more advanced Cabal members, such as the Fanatics and Zealots. Cultists are usually armed with pistols, but have been known to carry SMGs and flare guns occasionally

Fanatics
The most loyal followers of the Cabal have been organized as a paramilitary unit. They are well trained to work alone or in group and deploy with the most varied arsenal. They wear body armour which protects them for a short while and look like a cross between the SWAT team and the HAZMAT team. They patrol areas that are of higher importance to the Cabal and are a sent in to interviene if necessary. Fanatics are typically armed with SMGs or assault rifles, but have been known to carry weapons such as tesla cannons and howitzers. Fanatics also carry a personal explosive device they will activate when gravely wounded to start a kamikaze attack.

Zealots
Only a select few Cabal members get chosen to undergo the process that will transform them into a Zealot, and even fewer survive the ritual that follows with their sanity intact. Zealots are an invaluable resource in the Cabal army, as they are the only members of the Cabal with mastery of the Dark Arts. These abilities give them extremely effective offensive abilities, but they are generally too valuable to be used as grunts. Zealots usually accompany a group of lesser Cabal members like Fanatics. They provide backup by using their magic to defend, heal, and generally strengthen the performance of an attack group. Zealots are generally intelligent and well-trained. They do not panic or lose control easily, and will coordinate well with most other Cabal units to get a job done. Zealots are generally feared by other members of the Cabal due to their cold-hearted, almost inhuman personalities. No one knows why they cover their faces. Many claim they no longer need normal senses. Others say that it is so they don't have to be forced to look upon the faces of other, lesser, Cabal members, maybe it is simply an intimidation tactic. The most likely answer is that what they saw during their transformation ritual so taints them, they fear looking upon the world with natural eyes. Zealots wear long overcoats with spiritual armour and cover their faces. They carry a staff with a cresent moon which they uso to summon either an electrical blast, a fire blast or a concussive blast

Prophets

Prophets are highly intelligent, highly trained fanatics. Their purpose is to protect the Cabal's most precious commodities. They are heavily armored and resistant to damage. Prophets represent the best the Cabal has to offer. Much like the Fanatics, they can use almost any conventional weapon, but they are much more likely to use higher power weapons like the Napalm Cannon or the Minigun. They will attempt to dodge you fire, but they tend to rely more on their superior endurance and strength than on fancy acrobatics

Otherworld Creatures

Bone Leech
The Bone Leech is a small, worm-like parasite. A fairly weak creature, its power comes from its ability to infest and take over other creatures, providing it with a means of protection, a more effective way to attack, nourishment as it grows, and most importantly, a breeding ground for more Bone Leeches. The Bone Leech will attach itself to your face and suck out life, unless you can remove it by hitting the Use key.

Thieves
Small, stealthy, spider-like creature that attack from behind attaching to the base of the skull, injecting a poison that slowly destroys the victim's nervous system until death occurs. If the poison does not immediately cause death it will cause extreme disorientation. The Thief will attach itself to back of your skull and inject you with its poison. You will need to hit the USE key rapidly to get it off of you. Be prepared to get a little dizzy before you manage to get them off.

The Hand
The corpses that the minions of Tchernobog use to make zombies aren't always in the best of shape. Sometimes, only a limb is salvageable. Usually, the Cabal's surgeons can fashion various bits and pieces into a serviceable undead soldier, but certain leftover parts can be effective all on their own. If one of these horrors gets hold of you, you've got to push it off before you can kill it.

Soul Drudge

The Soul Drudge is a human who has been infested by the Bone Leech, which burrows into the chest of a normal human, and comes to rest on the infected person's upper spinal column. From there it takes over the nervous system. This allows the Bone Leech to control all movement of the victim, although its control is awkward in the beginning, making the Soul Drudge a slow and clumsy creature. The Soul Drudge will generally attack anything that gets too close to it, most likely out of self-defense, although packs of Soul Drudges have been seen hunting prey, presumably looking for hosts for more Bone Leeches.

Drudge Lord
The Drudge Lord is basically a more developed version of the Soul Drudge. The Bone Leech has grown, and now pierces the arms of the victim with large, hooked limbs to allow it better control. The victim is either no longer aware, dead, or too far gone to react at this point. The Drudge Lord is larger, tougher and deadlier than the Soul Drudge, and has metal plates that it has bolted to its chest to protect the bone leech embryos inside. The Drudge Lord will attack almost any living creature, and do so spitefully. They have an extremely hostile and ill-tempered disposition, and little or no fear. Drudge Lords are not often seen working together, presumably due to their poor temperament, but they often have Soul Drudges acting as their servants

Drudge Priest
The Drudge Priest is a larger creature with fully developed magic abilities. The Drudge Priest seems to hunt only to infest new victims, and will often have a host of other Drudge creatures doing its bidding. Attacks on this creature will often cause the breeding sack that is its stomach to spill dozens of Bone Leeches down on the unsuspecting attacker

Shikari
The Shikari is a pure predator. It hunts in packs or alone, and has excellent tracking and sensing abilities. Very mobile, it jumps and runs. When it reaches its prey, it rips and devours in a ferocious frenzy. If something gets too close, it will attack viciously to protect its kill until the meal is complete

The Naga
The Naga is the boss featured at the end of Chapter One. The Naga uses one of three different attacks. The first is a powerful laser beam, the second is throwing a bone, and the third is a powerful concusive blast that will bring the room down on your head if you leave his sight.

Victory for small town India

2006-02-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

I read this in todays Times of India. Written by Ronojon Sen.

Its no coincidence that when as Mahendra Dhoni hogged the limelight in Pakistan, Uttar Pradesh quietly won its first Ranji Trophy. The twin incidents reflect what a leading cricket historian describes as decentring of the game. The Indian cricket team, particularly the ond-day side, is chock-full of players from India’s hinterland: Besides Dhoni from Jharkhand, Mohammad Kaif, RP Singh and Suresh Raina are from UP and Sreesanth is only the second player from Kerala to play for India. If you count Baroda, which does have a cricket tradition going back to its princely days, two more players can be added to this list (Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan). Indeed the powerhouse of Indian cricket, Bombay has been reduced to only two representatives in the national team : Sachin Tendulkar and in-and-out Ajit Agarkar.

There have of course in the past been stars from outside India’s traditional cricket centres – the four big metros plus Bangalore and Hyderabad. One of the cricketing greats of pre-Independence India, Palwankar Baloo was literally from the margins of Indian Society. He was not only born in Dharwad, but was a Dalit to boot. That he led the bowling attack of the Hindus at a time when caste prejudices were rife says a lot about cricket being a great leveller.

However, unlike earlier Indian teams, the current side is bristling with players from cricketing backwaters. This can be interpreted not just as a decentring of cricket but also the nation. Just look around and there are sure signs that small-town India is on the march. From a nation with a few big cities set amidst wide swathes of countryside, India is experiencing rapid urban expansion.

In 1991, India had 23 cities. Now it has 35 cities. By some estimates, 28 percent of India’s population lives in cities.

This narrowing of the gap between the two Indias found expression in last year’s blockbuster Bunty aur Babli. The film, incidentally made by a Kanpur-born director, is a story of two small town wannabees from fictional Fursatganj and Pankinagar and their dreams of making it big. Jaideep Sahni, who authored the screenplay for B&B, recently wrote about this yearning of small town youth to match and even better their counterparts in metros. It comes as no surprise that the reigning sex symbol of Bollywood is from Rohtak.

Dhoni is perhaps, the best example of small town kid coming good. A dashing bat and a mediocre keeper, within a year of his international debut he already endorses a wide range of products and commands around Rs 50 lakh per endorsement. Such is his popularity that even Pervez Musharraf has confessed to being a fan of Dhoni and his hairstyle. In many ways, Dhoni represents the new mindset of small town India – aggressive, uncomplicated, unabashedly consumerist and ready to take on the world.

This attitude has begun to subtly influence the Indian cricket team. This is reflected by two interesting, albeit minor, sidelights in the just concluded Pakistan tour. One was Virender Sehwag’s statement, when he and Rahul Dravid were on the brink of record that he hadn’t heard of Vinoo Mankad or his 413 run partnership with Pankaj Roy. Sehwag, a Delhi player but raised in mofussil Najafgarh, betrayed his complete ignorance of cricket tradition and an icon of Indian cricket. Such a lapse would have been blasphemy for cricketers trained in the traditional nurseries of Indian cricket.

The second incident occurred when the Indians successfully appealed against Inzamam ul-Haq for obstructing the field. Though Rahul Dravid was within his rights to appeal, it showed how aggression and a disregard for fairplay have become ingrained in the Indian team, so often derided as lacking killer instinct. It is ironic that Dravid comes from a cricketing tradition that boasts of Gundappa Vishwanath, who was legendary for sportsmanship. Photo of the usually mild mannered Dravid, fists clenched and face contorted, after winning the ODI series said a lot.

Dumbledore is not dead

2006-02-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com/

This is an interesting site!! The owner thinks Dumbledore is still alive.

Dumbledore Clues : http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com/dumbledoreclues.html

Snape Clues : http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com/snapeclues.html

Some interesting clues from the site :

The UK edition of Half-Blood Prince is missing some text that is included in the American edition, and it's text that is very important to this clue!

UK edition
"He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got not choice." "Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban...when the time comes we can protect him too...come over to the right side, Draco...you are not a killer..." Malfoy stared at Dumbledore

American edition
"He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice." "He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me -- forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it. Nor would the Death Eaters be surprised that we had captured and killed your mother -- it is what they would do themselves, after all. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban...When the time comes we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco...you are not a killer..." Malfoy stared at Dumbledore.

Both of the ommissions are directly related, they are about having Draco appeared to have died, so it would seem the ommisions are intentional.

Did J.K. include those lines originally, and then decide she had gone too far and made the clue too transparent and obvious? Is it possible she decided to remove them, but the lines got accidentally included in the American edition anyway?

This is very interesting, isn't it? Draco doesn't take him up on it, but Dumbledore is saying he has ways that could make it appear that Draco died when he really hadn't. Doesn't that sound exactly like what we suspect that Dumbledore has planned for himself?

5 reasons for Pakistan's loss

2006-02-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Why Pakistan lost the ODI series?

There are many theories on why Pakistan lost the series. Many say its because of injuries to ‘key players’ Shoaib and Afridi … the great Imran Khan (in his ‘if I was the captain…’ style) says Younis Khan should bat at #3… And most believe that the toss played a crucial role.

I don’t think Pakistan lost because of the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. If Pakistan didn’t have Shoaib, India too didn’t have Harbhajan Singh – who bowled beautifully against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Afridi did play the first two ODIs and did nothing. But India must’ve missed Sehwag – who even when getting out at 20s and 30s always gives a good start and takes the pressure off from the other opener.

Imran Khan was a great player and I respect him for that. But his ‘if I was the captain…’ is getting very boring and the things he says shows that he doesn’t understand the modern one day cricket. Mr.Khan wants another Khan – Younis to bat at #3. He keeps saying this every match even after watching Shoaib Malik scoring 90s and 100s. Younis Khan may be a good test #3 but that doesn’t necessarily make him a good ODI #3 batsman. Even Dravid doesn’t bat at #3 all the time. But Imran is right when he says Inzi should take more responsibility and bat at #4. Inzy has over 10000 ODI runs and it doesn’t look good when a player of his caliber hides behind youngsters. The reason Woolmer gives is that they don’t want to expose Inzy to the new ball. If Inzy cant, how can they expect youngsters to do it?

Toss was crucial in the series but then both the teams won it twice. Inzy won the toss and elected to bat first in the 2nd ODI. He said he would’ve batted first had he won the toss in the 3rd. So Toss too wasn’t a big factor. But yes.. Inzi’s captaincy sure was one of the reasons India won so easily.

The reasons according to me are :

5) The fielding!! India were much superior in the field. It made a difference of atleast 20-25 runs per match.
4) Pakistani batting ordert. Inzamam and Yousuf shouldve taken more responsibility and batted at #4 and 5 insteaded of sacrificing the youngsters by hiding behind them
3) Yuvraj Singh!!! Hasn’t he matured????!! Pakistani bowlers seem to have no answer to him. First he scored that 100 in the Karachi test where everyone else failed. Then played three match winning knocks in the ODIs. One more such knock and he should be the man of the series
2) Woolmer!! Seems to be trying to create another SA team out of this Pak side by having weird strategies and a fixed lineup. His ancient ideas worked with SA because of their fielding – an area where Pak lack behind most teams.
1) Inzi’s Captaincy!! Not only Dravid outthought him in all the matches, he set a bad example for his team – with the bat, in the field and his offfield comments.

Sachin after world cup 2003

2006-02-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

Tendulkar became Endulkar because of his poor form since world cup 2003. Its supposed to be the worst phase in his career. In that time, Rahul Dravid supposedly became India’s best batsman, Ricky Ponting became peerless and Inzamam a matchwinner!!

World Cup 2003 got over on March 23. I searched for records of top batsmen after April 2003 and this is what I found :

Rahul Dravid : 72 matches 2499 runs 43 avg 3 100s 23 50s

Ricky Ponting : 79 matches 2963 runs 42 avg 6 100s 20 50s

Inzamam Ul-Haq : 65 matches 2273 runs 48 avg 2 100s 18 50s

Brian Lara : 50 matches 1562 runs 36 avg 3 100s 8 50s

Jacques Kallis : 55 matches 1989 runs 47 avg 5 100s 14 50s

All these batsmen except for Lara have done well. Lara has a poor (by his standards) average of 36 but unlike he doesn’t face criticism from everyone. That’s what separates Sachin from others – The pressure he has to handle.

Now, coming back to Sachin’s performance, this is it :

Sachin Tendulkar : 48 matches 1927 runs 43 avg 5 100s 10 50s

This is not bad at all. Played 17 matches less than Inzamam and scored just 300 runs less. Played 7 matches less than Kallis and scored just 62 runs less.

Nervous 90s

2006-02-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Saw a surprising headline in Indiatimes “Sachin is nervous in the 90s”

The article was about how Sachin has the record of most dismissals in 90s. Luckily there was no Sachin bashing in it criticizing how he ‘chokes’

List of Sachin’s 90’s

95 vs Pak in Pak 2005/06 at Lahore.
93 v SL in Ind 2005/06 at Nagpur.
97 World Cup v SL in SA 2002/03 at Johannesburg.
98 World Cup v Pak in SA 2002/03 at Centurion.
93 Asia Cup v SL in 2000 at Dhaka.
93 v SA in Ind 1999/00 at Nagpur.
93 v Pak in Aus 1999/00 at Hobart.
95 v Pak in B'desh 1997/98 at Dhaka.
91 v Eng in UAE 1997/98 at Sharjah.
90 World Cup v Aus in Ind 1995/96 at Mumbai

Help!

2006-02-15T03:35:00.000-08:00

From Divya Singh (Siemens)

Dear Friends please help, if possible. This is important to Me.

so I am asking you to please forward it. Please Send this to all your contacts. If anyone you know who Has survived NON SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER, please inform Me at the address given below.

My husband has it and I Would like to know whattreatment was used. Please Forward this to everyone on your contact list. From The bottom of my heart I thank you.

Thank you,
Divya Singh
Inform here: SIEMENS, Siemens Information System Limited, #84, Keonics Electronics City, Hosur Road, Bangalore - 561 229. INDIA Please keep forwarding this, even if u r unable to help. Somebody else might Be able to. GOD BLESS

Inzamam bhai's post match interview

2006-02-15T03:10:00.001-08:00

Rameez: So Inzy, disappointed with your performance today?
Inzy: Bismilla-e-rehman-e-rahim. Thank you allah.ya the indian batsmanis play very good today. we is try very hard but is not win the game.
Rameez: Any words for Dhoni?
Inzy: Ya dhoni is play very well. He is hit his shot very hard in ourgaps. In start, we is protect our gaps very well. the grass is alsothick.. but dhoni is split our gaps with his bat.
Rameez: Another ordinary bowling performance?
Inzy: Ya our balls is loose. the bowler is went for many run. Asif isbowled well. Also, after some shots the ball is out of shape. umpire isnot give another ball.. it is tough to play with one ball
Rameez: Dropped catches.. did that prove costly?
Inzy: ya the ball is not stick to our hands. we is practice a lotsticking our bat in our hands.. but now we is more practice stickingballs in our hands.
Rameez: Any plans for the next match?
Inzy: ya India is on top but we is try to bounce on our back. Inshaallah we is play better.
Rameez: All the best Inzy
Inzy: Thank is you

Mohammed Cartoons - addendum

2006-02-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

Saw a comment by Fariha asking if any Muslim has ever depicted Mohammed in any way...if I can trust the following article, I would say yes and that too, in a suggestive way...follow the link

http://evolvedmonkey.blogspot.com/

I am not justifying the cartoons as I have already said in my comment there but the kind of reactions we see around are baffling...in Islamabad, an Indian High Commission car was burnt and storming of embassies were attempted...two people had to be shot dead in Lahore...where is all this leading to? Why are the protesters targetting innocents and why the Indian high commission? It's some Danish newspaper that published the stuff for heaven's sake. Why not bring them to book rather than protest against innocents.

The Batting God

2006-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

I always found it a bit too much when some of my friends call Sachin the ‘Cricket God’ but looking at this video, that’s exactly what came to my mind..

Video Link

All the shots are elegant with a touch of arrogance and lots of class.

Some of the best shots were :

The flick towards midwicket off the dutch bowler which at first looked like a mishit

All the shots off Glenn McGrath

Another midwicket flick off Guy Whittal

The straight smash which almost killed Aleem Dar

That shot sending caddick out of the ground!!! Can never forget it

All the extra cover drives

The two new shots – Six over point off Shoaib Akhtar and Dilhara Fernando

Enjoy!

Super Rule?

2006-02-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

Super Sub : One of the most controversial rule in international cricket, captains and coaches are asking ICC for some changes.

Inzamam
“In the first place, the super-sub rule should be scrapped from limited-overs cricket,”

“If the rule was to be continued naming of substitute player should be allowed after the toss,”

Rahul Dravid agrees..
''I kind of agree with that (naming the Super Sub after the toss). At the moment it (the rule) tends to favour the team that wins the toss.'' ''Sometimes you get the double benefit, that of winning the toss but also of using your Super Sub. Sometimes you cancel the disadvantage of losing the toss. But either way you look at it, it benefits the team winning the toss,''

''This is being decided by the ICC on a trial basis for 10 months. We will be giving our suggestions at the end of it,''

Ricky Ponting wants the rule to be axed..
"We’ll keep trying and making the best of it but I’d like to see us going back to 11 against 11 for the World Cup."

Naming the super-sub after the toss is not a great idea as it makes it 12 vs 12.

The rule can be looked at in two ways :

An extension of toss. Win the toss and play with 12 players..

Some compensation for the team that loses the toss. Pick the super-sub thinking you will lose the toss. For example, if it is good to bat first, pick a batsman as a supersub so that if you have to chase, you can have an extra batsman. Same way a bowler if its good to bowl first. Many will consider this negative but according to me it’s the most practical way of using the super sub.

Ten Sports commentators

2006-02-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ten Sports somehow managed to get a team of world’s worst commentators. With Rameez Raza, Sivaramakrishnan, Waqar Younis, Michael Holding, Arun Lal, I am glad I didn’t have to watch the test matches.

Even the so called expert panel has Sanjay Manjrekar, Naseer Hussain and Imran Khan.

India vs Pakistan : 3rd ODI

2006-02-13T21:32:00.000-08:00

It was interesting to watch Sachin bat yesterday. He left alone more than he normally does. This is what the writer feels too..

Source : Cricinfo

Strangely, and this maybe because I have watched most of Sachin Tendulkar’s career before I began covering cricket, I have rarely noticed him when he leaves the ball.

Through the nineties, Sachin letting the ball go was often like a commercial between overs – take your eyes off for a moment, finish off any small pending work and then refocus on the game. It was a brief interlude, as if he was taking a breather before conjuring up further magic.

It was Dravid who came to one’s mind while uttering the words ‘well-left’. It was stuck in the memory – that exaggerated leave which appeared to have been executed after he had cracked several algebraic equations. Everything was precise about it, to a fault in fact, and one noticed it more and more.
With that as the backdrop, you can understand my queer feeling when I watched the game today. Here, right in front of my eyes, was the great Mr. Dravid, yes the wall himself, being turned inside out, struggling against the darting cutters and generally looking a mess against the new ball. And there was the great Mr. Tendulkar, against the same bowlers on the same pitch, judging line immaculately, shuffling nimbly at the crease and shouldering arms just at the right moment.

Here was Dravid, playing and missing, poking, almost choking under the seaming handcuffs. And there was Tendulkar, alert and cool, determined and completely assured, reading the angularities, predicting the bowlers’ tactics, thwarting, thwarting, thwarting. Asif and Gul were jagging it all over the place, breaking through the defensive fortress that is Dravid but against Tendulkar they had not a chance.

For nearly seven overs, he dodged and no amount of movement appeared to matter. His 95 runs made the vital difference between India’s victory and defeat but nobody should forget those snaking deliveries that he harmlessly let go, helped remove the shine and laid out the easier path for the rest of the batsmen.

Tendulkar letting the ball go was a sight in itself. Tendulkar letting the ball go, while Dravid groped in the darkness, made the sight that bit more astonishing.

I thought Sachin struggled a bit too when the ball was moving.. The partnership between Sachin and Dravid was as important as Sachin-yuvraj and Yuvraj-Dhoni partnerships because it was the time ball was doing everything.

Dhoni was brilliant but I still think Sachin shouldve been the man of the match.. Not only did he score 95 and saw off the most difficult period, he also took a wicket of Inzi giving 52 (excellent for a parttimer on a flat pitch).

Inzamam : Obstructing the series

2006-02-10T05:33:00.000-08:00

Inzamam's reactions reminded me of the 1999 test match between India and Pakistan.

Tendulkar played a wristy stroke towards the mid-wicket boundary. He completed two runs and scrambled to the crease for the third but stumbled after colliding with Shoaib when a throw from the deep hit the stumps.

Tendulkar was given out by the third umpire, a decision which irked the Eden Gardens audience and they didnt let the match continue.

The match continued only after Sachin Tendulkar, accompanied by Jagmohan Dalmiya and policemen, went around the Eden requesting fans to calm down. He didnt make a single comment on that.

seven years later..

Inzamam was given out obstructing the field - controversial but his own fault. He argued with the umpires as if it was their fault not explaining him the rules. Later he was seen taking out his anger in the dressing room (thank god younis khan was on the ground).

This is all fine. The things he said off the field is what worries me.

First he accuses the Indians of playing against the spirit of the game. Then he says if he was Rahul Dravid he wouldnt have appealed (ofcourse he wouldnt have.. he didnt know the rules!!)

Then he says the incident would have adverse effect on relations between the two opponents and it might have left a bad taste in the mouth.

comparing Sachin and Inzi, both are great cricketers. But comparing the way they conduct themselves on and off the field, one is a great sportsman while the other is just a great cricketer.

The last comment (regarding the appeal having an adverse effect on relations) I think was highly irresponsible. So far the series has gone well but now I am not sure. People who read Inzamam's comments may feel like throwing more stones on players and the sledging will definitely increase.

Inzamam the batsman was out obstructing the field. Inzamam the captain may well be out obstructing the series.

Were the cartoons as offensive... ?

2006-02-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

as these..

OM in ladies underwear

Lord Ram in Shoes

Lord Ganesh selling beer

Lord Ganesh in slippers

Lord Shiva selling beer

A cool(???!!) Lord Shiva

This one is the best :)

Fortunately, inspite of 'God of Destruction' Lord Shiva featuring in two of these, there werent any burning of buildings or murders

Controversial Mohammad Cartoons!!

2006-02-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

These were the controversial cartoons published in the the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005.

Muhammad as a simple wanderer, in the desert, at sunset. There is a donkey in the background.

Muhammad standing in a gentle pose with a halo in the shape of a crescent moon. The middle part of the crescent is obscured, revealing only the edges which resemble horns

The Islamic star and crescent partially symbolizing the face of Muhammad; his right eye is the star, the crescent surrounds his beard and face

Another drawing shows Muhammad prepared for battle, with a short sabre in one hand and a black bar censoring his eyes. He is flanked by two women in niqaabs, having only their wide open eyes visible

Muhammad standing on a cloud, greeting dead suicide bombers with "Stop Stop vi er løbet tør for Jomfruer!" ("Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins!"), an allusion to the promised reward to martyrs

An Arab-looking boy in front of a blackboard, pointing to the Farsi chalkings, which translate into "The editorial team of Jyllands-Posten is a bunch of reactionary provocateurs". The boy is labelled "Mohammed, Valby school, 7.A", implying that this is a second-generation immigrant to Denmark rather than the founder of Islam. On his shirt is written "Fremtiden" (the future).

Two angry Muslims charge forward with sabres and bombs, while Muhammad addresses them with: "Rolig, venner, når alt kommer til alt er det jo bare en tegning lavet af en vantro sønderjyde" (loosely, "Relax guys, it's just a drawing made by some infidel South Jutlander", connoting a harmless local from the middle of nowhere).

Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, with a lit fuse and the Islamic creed written on the bomb. This drawing is considered the most controversial of the twelve

On September 30, 2005, the daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten ("The Jutland Post") published an article titled "Muhammeds ansigt" ("The face of Muhammad"). The article consisted of 12 cartoons (of which only some depicted Muhammad) and an explanatory text, in which Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's culture editor, commented:

"The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is of minor importance in the present context. [...] we are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end. That is why Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten has invited members of the Danish editorial cartoonists union to draw Muhammad as they see him."

Jyllands-Posten published two open letters on its website, both in Danish and Arabic versions, and the second letter also in an English version.[10][11] The second letter was dated 30 January, and includes the following explanation and apology:

In our opinion, the 12 drawings were sober. They were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologize.

The cartoons are very offensive but now that they have apologized, I think it should be forgotten. Its exactly what Mr.MF Hussain does. Apologizing after painting hindu gods nude. Iam glad that Muslims in India didnt resort to violent demonstrations.

If you dont know where you're going.. Any road will take you there!!

2006-02-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

Like This song by George Harrison a lot!!

Oh I've been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike with a bus and a train
Traveling there and traveling here
Everywhere in every gear

But oh Lord we pay the price with a
Spin of a wheel - with a roll of a dice
Ah yeah you pay your fare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

And I've been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves - in
watery grottoes and mountainous caves

But oh Lord we've got to fight
With the thoughts in the head with the dark and THE light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

You may not known where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered how
you got this FAR

I've been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face - in the ice
and the snow

But oooeeee it's a game
Sometimes you're cool, sometimes
you're lame
Ah yeah it's somewhere
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

But oh Lord we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of
the dice
Ah yeah, you pay your fare
And if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn't born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no size
Oh yeah, you just don't win
It's so far out - the way out is in
Bow to God and call him Sir
But if you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

Why Moin Khan?

2006-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Indian Express is my favourite Indian newspapers. I am worried they are lowering their standards by inviting players like Moin Khan to write columns. I know its good to have Pakistani perspective but why Moin when they already have Javed Miandad?

In his first column, he started the Endulkar debate with this :

“The Faisalabad Test will go down in the annals of history as another run-feast. But as I see the game, I fear this may just be the beginning of the end of Sachin Tendulkar, the man we all respect, adore and love because of his tremendous natural talent and humble attitude”

The more I look back at his dismissal, the more convinced I get that the downhill journey for the little champion has started because it has been established that, according to the laws of the game, he was not out as the ball had made contact with the right glove that was not in play

What is even more mind blowing is that he did not look at the umpire and immediately started his long walk towards the pavilion. I am not willing to buy the theory that Sachin did not know the laws of the game. If Michael Kasprowicz knows them, then I am sure that after playing for 16 years at the highest level and having led his country for a couple of years, Sachin knows all the rules by heart

Then what prompted Sachin to leave the pitch on which six centuries and two 90s were scored? Hostile bowling by Shoaib Akhtar, or the tension-filled dressing room atmosphere that often gets on the nerves of the batsmen who start feeling suffocated?

Whatever may be the real reason, the fact of the matter is that Shoaib Akhtar literally exposed Sachin's present-day ability against quality fast bowling during a spell that will certainly be remembered for long. Even on a dead track, Shoaib was charging in at Sachin, bending his back and putting all his energy into his deliveries. One could see those terrifying, hungry and wild looks in the eyes of Shoaib when he reached Sachin at handshaking distance on his follow-through.

As a wicketkeeper, Sachin's controversial dismissal also reminded me of a few batsmen who preferred walking off the pitch on their legs rather than being carried away on stretchers when the great Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were at their brilliant best. I wish I am wrong in my assessment of Sachin, but, at least, that is the impression he has left after his Faisalabad outing.

May be when he takes an emotional walk in the national stadium, the desire of continuing for a few more years with distinction and merit will be re-ignited. But for the moment, the Sachin I saw batting at Faisalabad was certainly a shadow of the Sachin who courageously faced and ruthlessly punished the greatest bowlers of the past decade”

In his second column, he talks about Inzamam Ul Haq’s dismissal..

“To me, it appears that the Indian team was desperate to win the game by hook or by crook, no matter even it came at the expense of the norms of this sport known as the gentleman's game.

I don't blame Suresh Raina for throwing and then appealing. He is new to the game and his enthusiasm is understandable. But the backup by skipper Rahul Dravid is deplorable. He is not new to the sport and should have realised what consequences his decision would have on the bearing of the series (being played under the banner of friendship) and likewise, on his personality.

A captain needs to stand tall and handle situations, specially when they come in critical stages of the game and I think, Dravid has not only let himself down but also his team. I am dead sure that if Sourav Ganguly would have been the captain, the matter would have been defused tactfully and sportingly. But probably, Dravid still needs to go a long way before he can fit properly into Sourav's shoes.

I understand that according to the laws of the game, Inzamam was out and if he does not know the laws, then it is not the fault of the law but Inzamam himself. But my point is that there are several cricketing laws that we don't follow because they are not considered within the spirit of the game.

Batsmen don't run for singles or twos when the ball is deflected off their bodies or bats from throws, batsmen pick the ball and throw it to the close-in fielder or the bowler when it falls close to them. So much so, when Greg Chappell told his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball under-arm, it was also within the laws of the game.”

Moin talks about the ‘spirit of game’. I’d like to know where he was when Wasim and his boys appealed when Sachin’s bat came off the crease after colliding with Shoaib?

He then compares it with the under-arm incident. While the under-arm was deliberately done, the throw wasn’t. Raina wouldn’t have known Inzi will stand there and arrogantly play a forward defensive shot.

I am not sure if has seen Ganguly leading the side but I am dead sure that If Ganguly was the captain, he definitely would’ve appealed (unless he too like Inzi doesn’t know the rules after scoring 10000 runs).

He then takes a dig at Inzi..

On Inzamam's part, I think it is time that he reads the laws of the game instead of making himself a fool in the prize distribution ceremony by saying he does not understand the law. If a man after playing international cricket for 16 years can’t understand the laws, what message he is passing on to the next generation of players present in the dressing room or knocking at the doors of international cricket.

!!!!

2006-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

I have no idea about the recent controversy on these cartoons but this cartoon was interesting!!

No more Fourth Umpire

2006-02-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Doordarshan not to air its programme 'Fourth Umpire' during lunch breaks of the on going One-Day International cricket series between India and Pakistan and carry "uninterrupted feed" of the matches received from Ten Sports

It will be a relief for those like me who have to watch the match on DD. Instead we will get Straight drive with Sanjay Manjrekar, Imran Khan and Naseer Hussain. Not that its any good but much better than the fourth umpire team of ‘Charu Sharma, Mohinder Amaranth, Kris Srikkanth and Atul Wassan

Road Trip 3 : Nalsarovar and Lothal

2006-02-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

Nalsarovar lake is 80 KMs from Ahmedabad. The Lake is spread over an area of 115 sq. KM. It is believed to harbour more that 250 species of birds. In winter, the birds migrate from north and descend in thousands. Visitors cam glide slowly through the silent waters in small boats. Some prominent birds found here are jacanas, moorhens, coots, grebes, kingfishers, egrets, darters, storks, cormorants and ducks.

Our Plan was to get there before sun-rise (sun rises in these parts at around 6.30-6.45). There was a highway till Sanand. We started at 4.50 and our initial thoughts we will reach there on time with a speed of 45-50 (which is our average speed!! Safe drivers we are!!) but we lost our way asking some people the direction. Either we didn’t understand it or that guy really didn’t know the route but what happened was we lost 15-20 minutes because of that. The route from Sanand to Nalsarovar was excellent. Quite narrow but the road was too smooth. The best part was the two-three vehicles we found on that road were all going to Nalsarovar and none came opposite us. So we thought its safe to touch 70 speed but like it always happens, we were driving at 85 in five minutes. The only problem was the light. The roads didn’t have any light on either side and it was 5.30 in the morning. So the guy driving behind had to totally rely on the one in front for the route. It was a bit risky since at a speed of 85, you cant have lot of control if you want to turn suddenly and either side of the narrow roads were trees for most of the part and in between there were bridges with farms below. But we were good enough bikers and reached Nalsarovar at 6.25.

But But But…. There was annual bird census going on and we weren’t allowed inside. The news was in today’s papers but then no part of Ahmedabad gets newspapers at 4.45!! It was very very disappointing. We waited there for half an hour giving our bikes some rest and also hoping the security guys will have a change of heart and allow us inside. Three more cars came and all were told that they cant enter today. We felt happy!! Weren’t the only ones!!

Lothal, a Harappan site was 30 KMs from Nalsarovar. We thought instead of going back we will visit it instead. We first had to reach Bagodara (20 kms away) and the to Lothal. We took a shortcut to Bagodara and the road was a bit too narrow and was being constructed. But the scenes on both sides. Green Green farms and lots of birds more than made up for the bad roads. So had to go at a speed of 40. We stopped often to see what farms were there and tried to catch a bird on our camera. In Bagodara, we filled petrol again as the trip was going to be 100 KMs more than what we had planned. Also we found a roadside restaurant and had tea and cholafali (a local delicacy).

The Road from Bagodara to Lothal was a beauty. Spotlessly clean inspite of having more traffic. Average speed there was 60. We reached Lothal at around 10.30AM. Lothal is in Saragwala village in Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district. Meaning of ‘Lothal’ is ‘Place of the Dead’

At first we saw some stones, some water and that’s all. We were very disappointed. We had heard so much about it and it didn’t live upto our expectations. The problem was i) none of us had very good knowledge of the history and ii) we couldn’t understand most things and iii)most of the excavated things were re-filled.

Then we decided to check its museum. We checked the an image illustrating how it was in those times. We started comparing that with what we saw outside and understood a bit more.

The museum had a book on Lothal but it was a bit too much in detail. Instead the archeologist there generously gave us a four page brochure with basic info on Lothal. The following info are taken from it.

The site was excavated by Dr.S.R.Rao from 1955-1962 which unearthed many structural remains of Harappan town (2500-1900 BC)

The entire settlement was divided into

Acropolis

Lower town

Acropolis
The chief lived in the acropolis where houses were built on 3M high platforms and provided iwht all the civic amenities including paved baths, underground drains and a well for portable water.

Lower town
The lower town was subdivided into two sectors. I) the main commercial centre in which craftsmen lived and the other is residential sector.

The bead factories, situated where the 8th street of the commercial area and the 5th street of the residential area meet, comprised the main industry of the Harappans. They probably settled (or their culture came) to the Gulf of Cambay region because of its agate and precious stone resources

The factory comprised 11 rooms, which included worker's quarters, warheouses and guard rooms, surrounding a courtyard. The main bead making machine was a twisted chambered kiln, made from mud plastered bricks, which was used for heating the stones used to make beads. Bellows helped raise the temperatures within.

Lothal was especially famous for its micro-beads. These were made by grinding materials, rolling them on to a string, baking it solid. Finally the baked roll was sawed into required shapes and sizes.

Unique necklaces were made with microbeads of gold. Some were as little as 0.25mm in diameter. They are testimony to the science of beadmaking perfected by the Indus Valley civilization, and has not been surpassed by artisans in the Gulf of Cambay today.

The middle classes who could not afford gold contented themselves with gilded copper wires. Low income groups must have worn ornaments from shells and clay. Coppersmithing and pottery reached high standards of development in the lower town.

The Dock
The dominant sight at Lothal is the massive dockyard which has helped make this place so important to international archaeology. Spanning an area 37 meters from east to west and nearly 22 meters from north to south, the dock is said by some to be the greatest work of maritime architecture before the birth of Christ. To be sure, not all archaeologists are convinced that the structure was used as a dockyard and some prefer to refer to it as a large tank that may have been a reservoir.

It was excavated besides the river Sabarmati, which has since changed course. The structure's design shows a thorough study of tides, hydraulics and the effect of sea water on bricks. Ships could have entered into the northern end of the dock through an inlet channel connected to an estuary of the Sabramati during high tide. The lock gates could then have been closed so the water level would rise sufficiently for them to float.

An inlet channel 1.7 meters above the bottom level of the 4.26 meter deep tank allowed excess water to escape. Other inlets prevented siltation of the tanks and erosion of the banks. After a ship would have unloaded its cargo, the gates would have opened and allowed it to return to the Arabian sea waters in the Gulf of Combay.

Archaeological finds from the excavations testify to trade with ancient Egypt and Mespotamia. The hydraulic knowledge of the ancient Harappans can be judged by the fact that boats could dock at Lothal in the 1850's. In 1942 timber was brought from Baruch to nearby Sagarwala. It is said that then the dockyard could hold 30 ships of 60 tons each or 60 ships of 30 tons each. This would be comparable to the modern docks at Vishakapatnam.

Warehouse
A long wharf connected the dockyard to the main warehouse, which was located on a plinth some 3.5 meters above the ground. The first concern of the Harappan engineers might have been to ensure against floods and tides (which may have been their undoing at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa).

The whole town was situated on a patch of high ground. Rising from the flat alluvial plains of Bhal a wall was erected to encircle the town, and a platform was built where goods were checked and stored. The warehouse was divided into 64 rooms of around 3.5 square meters each, connected by 1.2 meter wide passages. Twelve of these cubical blocks are visible today.

Seals were used to label imports and exports passing through the dock. Some of these labels or tags have been found during excavations. Kiln fired bricks, which the Harappans had learned were unaffected by tidal waters, were used in making the passages to protect the cargo

Drainage System
An elaborate sanitary and drainage system, a hallmark of ancient Indus cities, is in evidence everywhere at Lothal

The most unique aspect of planning during the Indus Valley civilization was the system of underground drainage. The main sewer, 1.5 meters deep and 91 cm across, connected to many north-south and east-west sewers. It was made from bricks smoothened and joined together seamlessly. The expert masonry kept the sewer watertight. Drops at regular intervals acted like an automatic cleaning device.

A wooden screen at the end of the drains held back solid wastes. Liquids entered a cess poll made of radial bricks. Tunnels carried the waste liquids to the main channel connecting the dockyard with the river estuary. Commoner houses had baths and drains that emptied into underground soakage jars.

Return
We decided to come back at 2. First we went to a cheap looking (price wise) kathiyawadi restaurant. This was the worst part of the trip. The food was below average, I got a duplicate-thumbs up and it cost us 150!!!!

I have no words for the highway on which we came back!! Extremely straight and smooth, there wasn’t much traffic and we easily went at 70-75. It was one straight road and reached Ahmedabad at 3.30.

Total Distance : 85 + 30 + 61 = 176 KMs
Total Cost : 100 (petrol) + 75 (cigarettes) + 150 (food) + 40 (drinks) + 30 (snacks) = 395 Rs.

Sudoku - today on Times

2006-02-04T01:29:00.000-08:00

This one is interesting. Try solving it

More P800 Pics : My 7 month old Cousin

2006-02-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

Some more photos taken from my P800 : My 7 month old cousin - Hrishikesh

Fevicol : A great ad

2006-02-02T23:58:00.000-08:00