A worthy decision..

Today i was so happy for our field hockey when i heard that IHF has been 'suspended' by Indian olympic Association(IOA). WoW! :)

The Chief of IHF(Indian HOckey Fed) Mr.KPS Gill has been sacked and his federation has been suspended. For 15 years this chap has been at the helm of the IHM!! God, has he got no shame to be a chief of a noational federation for so many number of years? Ok, lets say he was there in the responsible post for all these years but what good did he do to the team and the sport in all? This year we failed to qualify for the olympics itself!! Corruption and badly managed team including selection and training to players have done lots of damage to our national pride. God knows how many years will it take to repair the damage done...

Sacking of Gill should've happened long back. But i'm happy at last it happened yesteday. How much could we tolerate so much of non sensical management of indian national hockey team and it's players. It is our national game and worst managed sport in this country as of now. And guess what? Since the formation of IHF in 1928 our team was part of olympics every time and has won eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals in Olympics(of which 6 golds were in a row!). And what a shame it was not to qualify for olympics!! And how many valuable and good players have we lost to bureaucracy....

IOA has now named a five-member national selection committee headed by Aslam Sher Khan, a former MP and former hockey captain. Ashok Kumar, Ajitpal Singh, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillay will be the other selectors. Good. This makes some sense atlast. But it's not the end.... let's see and hope for the best....

Cheerleading and yesterday's IPL match

I watched yesterday's IPL match between Royal Challengers and Chennai super Kings. Though did not grab the match completely, i got to see the good a mount of it. A very well fought contest. I supported the royal challengers being a true Mallya fan.. ;) Don't ask why. heheheee.. okie lemme give it in... he bought the Red skin cheerleading team to our shores for the cheerleading services in matches played by Royal challengers. I thought the Royal challengers really managed to loose a winning match at the end of the day. I would say it was the presence of mind shown by Mr.Dhoni at the end that took away the match from the RC team. :( He's(MS Dhoni) been doing this for quite some time now for Indian cricket team too. Toss the ball to the lesser known bowler when there is a tight situation. I don't know how he thinks about it and manages to pass it to the lesser known bowlers when the situation is so tight. !! Really awesome his courage and mental strength. Keeps his cool at very tense moments. Maybe it's because Dhoni feels that since a new bowler is lesser known to batsmen and hence the tactics employed by bowler might jus work with the batsmen of opposition as they do not know much about the bowling style nor the variety bowler has. For example yesterday's Ross taylor's wicket turned the match for Super kings. Palani amarnath was the bowler and i was looking at him for the first time in action :) So was Joginder sharma in the final over of the ICC twenty-20 world cup last year. It does two wonders. One is for the team being, it gets a crucial wicket. Second being, the new face gets much required recognition. So i would say Dhoni grooms good talents.. :) Nice for the team and cricket as a whole. Keep it up MSD :)

About the too much controversy being created out of the cheerleading thing, i think all the women activist and political leaders should try and watch our indian films and TV channel programs first. What are they shouting about after all? For their own gain or for the real concern they have for the society? God, instill some common sense on these ignorant souls. huh! What a mockery they are making out of the profession called cheerleading!!! Can't they see the positive side to it? Or maybe someone should educate them on fitness or dance. Ah! i get it.... the out of 'shape' fairer sex activists are jealous!! ;) Well, these are my own personal view so please respect it and i'm open to discussion on it any day. :)

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

I don't know how many times this sentence or rather phrase would've been said and analyzed by many around the globe after it was coined in 2005 by none other than Mr.Steve jobs. Most of you would've read it either passed on to you through mail or somewhere on print. So i wouldn't want to go through it again but for people who're yet to read, here it is. BTW, i would like to know how many of you who have read it earlier have acted upon it? or rather at the least tried to act upon it?

A lot of times i've read it from the day i got this piece of article. But then it never came to mind that i should act on what I'm reading So what do you call it? a superficial read of sorts it was all these many days. I again happened to come across it this morning and it struck me in the head hard that, here I'm reading it again and all these years after reading it again and again, all i've done is read it and put it to a corner after admiring the wonderfully coined piece of sentence. I've decided to act upon it and am on my way. :) For good or for bad I'm going to give it a try. ;) When i say try, it's 101% of myself into it. Why not you guys too act upon it?

Tashan!! THE Review!! Is a review required?!

What is MATRIX? Who is keenu reeves?!! Well, if the Matrix team and keenu reeves sees Tashan(yeah the movies is out now in the theatres) they'll commit suicide :) Huh! BAKVAS. I've only one word to say for this movie... Pathetic.
Wastage of acting talents to the heights. Why the hell did a role that Saif plays require him? The role required no one of the caliber of Saif. He does justice to audience though by giving his best even if there is no meat in the role. Huh! Impressive was Akshay. His entry was too good. One of the two things i liked in the movie. Well, if you ask me what is another then of course it's Kareena. Holy... she's looking HOT! Very venus-being like.... ;) Watch 'Nasheela nasheela...' song video. You'll know for your self.

Vishal-Shekar have composed some very good songs. The videos are caught in some superb location. Even the movie for the matter of fact are shot in amazing locations.

One thing that i would like to add is the dance compositions. Vaibhavi Merchant's choreography was pathetic in this movie. :(

All in all, the movie is best watched in those promos itself. And that Nasheela song will be playing in MTV. Do watch it as many times you can in the music channels.

I wonder why the chopra production was asking 60-40 % profit sharing in the opening week of tashan from multiplex owners!! They were sure this movie would bring people with publicity only and not by movie standards. So thought to make the best out of it as soon as possible!! ;)

It's all about 'few' bucks made in time!!

What's all the hoopla surrounding the IPL? Ok, for people who are wondering on what is IPL.... Well, it's the same old 'one man hitting and eleven men chasing' game!! Ya, guessed it right, it's cricket guys. Huh!! I know, i'll be making a lot of enmies saying that. ;) I can't help really, without being frustrated. Being a great fan of the game and having played a lot of it myself though at a very small level, i say IPL is confusion and guess what? A lot of people are growing rich and at whose expence? Indian public!!? Exactly. Why? i'll come to it later.

When i'm saying all this, lemme confess first that i'm following each and every single ball being bowled at IPL. Ya, i'm one among the Indian(common) public. We love this game. And we swear by it and for a lot of people the players are Gods(I find no Gods in the players but, i beg to be an eception anyways ;) ). Ain't it a funny feeling when you take your mind away from the middle of it for a moment and think to yourself in solitude about all the fuss being created on this IPL? be it the cricket board or the players, the media etc. Everybody is singing the same song and getting the best outta it. My God it's really over hyped i must say. Marketting gurus have left no stones unturned in promoting IPL to the best level possible. If you don't believe the figures of money being spent and made will speak in terms of volumes to itself. :)

Today i read an article in a news web site saying Mr. ShahRukh Khan(partly owner of IPL team 'Calcutta Knight Riders') owed the calcutta muncipal corporation a sum of 22 Lakhs. Guess why? Charges for the advertisement banners that he had put on the ground for his team. 22 lakhs!! Sh*t!! jus for the banners!! Phew. Jus forget the money now. All i wanted to say is why did the council mayor had to shout it in public? is he too trying to be famous now? God knows. Everybody is trying the best to squeeze tht little that is left in it. Surprisingly, everytime there is still something more when we think it's the end of it.

To the point that i left unspoken on in the first para, on what is costing Indian public. Well, no prizes for the guesses. It's TIME. Everyday at 7PM (even though match starts at 8PM) the TV sets turn on in 999 of the 1000 households. And people will glue to it till 11PM. Every single replay and all the pre match and post match analysis won't be missed out. All the work comes to a standstill. I also do the same, i'm no different when i say this. Yesterday somehow i was busy with some work of mine and all my mind happened to be with the Chennai Super kings and Mumbai Indians!!! hahahahaa. I was surprised when i happened to come to a self realisation that i was not doing the work that i was doing and so merrily i stopped it and went to watch the match. ;) Hmm, i want to stop watching it. But then i can't!! It's like the smoking habit. Want to quit but, can't. ;) I still blame it on myself.

Okie... all said and done. I wonder what would happen today in the tie between Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. ;) heheehehee...

The inheritence of loss....

Read a beautiful book. 'The inheritence of loss' by Kiran Desai(About). What a book i would say!! A must read for book lovers. Beautifully written. Each of the the sentences was a pleasure to read from. A story set in a sleepy town called Kalimpong in the lap of Himalayas.

Kalimpong, little did i know or hear about this town till date. The author has left picture in my mind so beautiful that i would like to someday visit this town of Kalimpong. Though violence seeps in in the form of GNLF(Gorkha national liberation front) somewhere in between the setting of the story, only the picture beautiful remains in my mind. It's a beautiful mix of stories of individuals who are connected to each other in day to day life. Of their striving to lead a normal life amid confusions during the riots in Kalimpong.

Be it Sai and her love for Gyan her tutor or the Judge one Mr. Patel who's retired or the Cook of the judge and his son biju who works a menial illegal labour to earn a living amid confusions, it leaves you with lots so so real characters around. They form the major characters of the novel and the rest of them like the Lola-noni sisters who are so typical bragging to each other kinda sisters, Neighbors Uncle Potty and Father Booty. These are the kind of characters you find in day to day life. The story unfolds very nicely as you go on reading... till the last page it is a pleasure to read the book.

This book left me wondering with 'Why do people of same country have to fight each other in the name state or a land of their own?'. Considering that they belong to the same country even if in any of the state!! This is something very common and i've pondered on them a lot many times earlier too. And it is not bound to a state or to a country.... it's there everywhere.

All in all this book justifies the Man booker prize(About) it won in 2006. Too good. Do read it if you get a chance...

A wekend gettaway...

This Saturday turned out to be a pretty much busy day. Me and my roommate buddy were supposed to bike to the Malpe beach which is nearby early in the morning. Jus before sunrise we got up and we did start out as planned. Cycling a distance of close to 8Km one way we reached the shores of the beach sooner than we'd expected(might not be much for some though). Never even in the wildest dreams i thought that i actually one day would be cycling this far!! I would like to thank my buddy for this. Alone i would've never done this. His high spirits kept us going. Thanks Raghu!
We managed to get back well before than we had earlier anticipated. Good :) Not a bad start to our biking expeditions. Have managed to click some snaps and will publish it sometime soon on this blog.
After the morning busy schedule Raghu was feeling bored and he was a bit down too bcoz of some reasons known to him ;). So we thought we would go some place nearby on my motorbike. This kind of instant plans are the best. You are always in for a surprise on lot many things. Everything is planning in a crash time. And so it was decieded we would go to Hanumangundi waterfall. He agreed upon it as he has not seen the place yet. Though i have been to this place a number of times in the past, i wouldn't mind driving to this place once in a while. This place is so so so refreshing as it lies amidst Kudremukha national park. A natural hotspot filled with wild life and evergreen forest. Your eyes and body are in for a long treat when you travel on this road. So much rich in biodiversity is this place.
And as decied we started our ride to this place jus before noon with another friend of ours(read Vivek) who was on his motorbike for company. Jus thought 3 people would be better than two ;). Three of us grabbed lunch in a restraunt called Prakash which is in Karkala(40 Km away from Udupi). Quite a nice eatery i would say serving good south Indian food. I do stop here whenever i am in Karkala for a eat. :) People who know me know it quite well that i'm a foodie... Anything goes right for me untill it's vegitarian. Loaded with heavy lunch and water cans we started the uphill motoring on the winding roads towards the falls. Did i mention that the roads are maintained quite nicely and driving on a motor bike is jus pleasure here. Taking the curves at higher speeds gives you a high. :) You've the pleasure of speeding as the traffic is almost neggligible and roads are wide enough too. Endless options for people with power bikes. I wish i owned a Yamaha R1. ;) But for now i had to be contented with my Bajaj Pulsar. A bike with 180cc engine capacity and a muscle of 16BHp. Stopping for couple of times at places with breathtaking view of the place we reached out spot.
We needed to descend quite a few hundred stairs to reach the waterfalls. And once descended, you jus can't resist getting into the water. The water is crystal clear and a dip in the water makes you wonder if someone is cooling the water and sending it down from some point upstream. It's so CHILLING. But then you get used to it as you stay in the water for a while. Staying in the water for a good hour we decieded that we should get out and get going back again if we needed to get back to our place before dark.
So filled with fresh oxygen in our otherwise dust filled lungs we sarted out journey back to Udupi which is about 80 Kms away. A good one and half hours and were back to the warm surroundings (comapritively) of Udupi. Only thing i wanted at that moment was a thing called bed. ;) So much in a day and my body was aching for some sleep... Zzzzzzzzz!!!

Undying!

Eternal word isn't it? Is there something worldly which would last for ever? Here everything comes with an expiry date. That is what everyone says at the least. Now this is debatable topic. I know, the topic i'm writing is such. But still i would like to take a go on this topic.

Only thing that i can see now as timeless is 'time'!! Or does it also have the earthly qualities! Who knows. Only time would tell. But as we see it is endlessly ticking on it's own without caring for none. Unabated. Let's stop at this here and....

Lets think. What happened to the moment that just passed by? I would say it just died and only memories are left of it. Yes, the moment died timely but, time past are memories and they don't die. The time that you spent reading this last few lines would never be yours again isn't it? How you spent the time is all that is left with you. That's why i said time is undying. You end up compensating the time past by doing infinite things that becomes a part of you.

So what really is undying or everlasting in everyone's right? Maybe it is something that you do when you are finitely living on the face of this planet. :)


PS: If it is confusing then leave it where it is. Else, give it a thought.

Continuation of last two posts...

Yea, this post is the one were i'll end the two posts that i've left incomplete. Out in the last two incomplete posts, i talked about one of my passion that got rejuanated recently 'Cycling' and another one was about places around Udupi. Now when i say places around Udupi, i forgot to mention that i've been to many of the nearby places. I know i've lot more left to see but then most of them have been covered. When i say i've seen most of the places i also should say that i did most of the travelling by my MotorBike(which i'll speak off in some post later) or some other motored vehicle. I think you've got it by now what my intentions are. Ya, i would like to do this travelling in and around Udupi on my Bicycle. So two of my interests meet at a common point now. A purpose is formed. I don't know how many of them i'll be able to cover with the bicycle but, atleast there are some i do want to take up first. Another issue that i'm not sure about is the fact that if it's safe to bike along the NH 17(famed national highway for rash driving) using my bike. So some of the places that i have access to through this route will have to be put on hold. But then there are lots of places that i can visit without needing to travelling by this dreaded NH17. For instance one such place is Karkala which is about 40Km away from here. Surrounded by greenery this small but beautiful town sits just near to the famed Kedremukha national park. For more info on Kudremukha you can go to 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudremukh_National_Park'. Saying all this i need to figure out how will i do the uphill climb in my bike!! ;) Hmmm, as they say 'Necessity is the mother of all inventions'. There should be a way around this. Other than that for short trails on my bike i've Kaup and Malpe beaches. Sorry, i couldn't find interesting links on the internet to give a detailed info on these spots. Maybe i'll write the info sometime soon. Hehehehee.
So that makes it pretty much clear why i wrote the earlier posts on cycling and travelling aroud Udupi. Will keep you updated on the developments in this regard.....

After a small break...

These gone two days i was not in mood to blog as i was not mentally free. Had to visit my parents as as my mom is not keeping well.. In last two days her condition is seemingly lot better. Now I'm back in Udupi, the place where i stay and work. The place that has been more than home for me for last 3 years and 5 months. As i say this i feel it would be appropriate i give a intro to the city where I've been staying this long. It's not that Udupi needs my intro desperately. It's got an identity of it's own. For years its been home to Lord shri Krishna mutt and to lot of shree Krishna worshipers.
I feel Udupi is a nice place to stay. Though it's summer now and the temperatures are soaring day by day this city otherwise has a moderate climate throughout the year. As i'm writing this blog i'm sweating. Hard work you see.. ;) hahahaha. There are lots of places in and around Udupi that is worth a visit and have been frequented by lot of people. I've traveled to some of the places around during this short stay of mine here. Will be writing some of my experiences in some of the blogs that would follow this one...
It's almost my bedtime now. Gotta catch some sleep now. Bye for now.

Second post.... Cycling!!

The second post on my blog the very next day of starting the blog is something that won't come as a surprise. But still, there are so many things running inside my head now. Am confused what to write. Hmmm...anyways, let me start something now before this becomes a para of it's own!! ;)

One of my most loved pastime used to be cycling as a kid(Not that i've grown very old now). I loved my tricycle as small kid at age of 3. Whole day i used to go around on my three wheeler inside the house. Making strange noises with my mouth that today's Hayabusa owners are familiar with... ;) Hehehee... you know how it is. Now this untill my mom got fed up with the sound of wheel rolling on the floor and my noises(though it was like music to me then). And as all good things come to an end, my cycle broke down to two pieces when i did the unwanted. Took it to the play ground. Now this did not break it. I fancied dirt bikes as a kid and thought i could do the same wit this 3 wheeler of mine and i crashed on my first stunt. No Surprises. That was the end of the tri cycle.

Then i went to school and had nice time untill one fine day i got a bicycle at my age of 11. A red Hero 'Impact'. And it was to be my companion for another two years before i was sent to a boarding school. No more bicycles as bicycles were not allowed to be carried to the hostels. All the fun i had riding cycles were lost in the next 10-12 years. Untill, one fine morning when i happened to notice a bicycle riding kid. I stress 'notice' because a cyclin kid is not a rare sight. But that particular day fortunately i happened to remember my days as a kid. the fun and frolic i had riding those 2 cycles. I wanted one now. But the problem was convincing my people around me that i wanted to ride one too. None of my friends liked the idea of me on a bicycle. Don't be surprised, not many people in my country pursue cycling as a hobby when they grow up to be men. They are happy jetting off in thier motored vehicles. Also many of them don't have slightest of the idea what goodies a cycle can bring you even when you are in your 20s. Some jeer and some wonder as you cycle your way. Here cycles, after a certain age is only for people who can't afford to buy a motored wheel. They jus can't take the fact that it can be good means of exercise, Stress buster, means of transport and above all, GREEN. Ya, i love the fact that it's more environment friendly than all the two wheelers if i am not wrong. Though the pace at which you reach the destination is slow, we could always use it on day when we have ample amount of time to get our work done. I went ahead and bought my Hercules 'Omega' with 21 gear combinations.

To be continued...

my First Post.

After a long long thought process on whether to blog or not to blog, i've come to a conclusion that i would blog. No prizes for guessing what ept me away from blogging. ;) Ya it is laziness. Now that i've arrived here finally, i've Jus decided that i would keep writing my mind out. I'm saying this because for a long time i was contemplating on what topic i should choose to blog. I did not want to run out of topics and so i chose to write anything that comes to my mind. Maybe in future i would sit down to write a different blog that would be specific to one topic. But for the time being it's 'anything & everything'. hmmmmm, makes it very easy for me to write as i need to think less on what i should be writing. And i can concentrate more on the topic i am writing. :)
Now the interesting part is that i've not told anyone whom i know off personally about this blog. Not that i dont want them to find about this blog, but then i've reasons why i would not tell them about this. If they find out it's great. But then no regrets if they don't. ;)
This is it for the day....