This is Anfield

beaten battered disappointed..

2006-10-22T20:08:00.000+05:30

I've just finished watching what was one of the worst performances by Liverpool in recent years. After a bright start (which lasted about five minutes) it was like Liverpool never showed up. Some sloppy defending led to a first half goal from Paul Scholes. Scholes celebrated his 500th game for manyoo by scoring off a trademark late run into the box. Where was the defense? That goal just knocked the remaining steam off liverpool and the players faded into oblivion.. Luis Garcia had the most dreadful of games. The only thing he seemed to be doing was giving the ball away. Kuyt had a fantastic chance from a pinpoint cross by young gonzalez and he failed to make good contact. Manyoo meanwhile made decent inroads into the liverpool area with two good shots from Saha which were parried by Reina.
The second half was pretty much more of the same. Decent attacking play from manyoo and liverpool giving the ball away. A fantastic goal from Ferdinand gave manyoo the two goal cushion. Frankly, half a goal woulda done away liverpool today. The performance was abyssmal. There was no hunger, no urgency, no drive.. that too in a derby match of this magnitude and importance. Benitez's got some serious thinking to do. Perhaps playing Gerrard in centre midfield would be a good start. Tough times ahead. wait and watch..

and GOD has returned to anfield...

2006-01-28T01:19:00.000+05:30

Once again the the boots (or rather the left boot in particular) of GOD (a.k.a Robiie Fowler to rest of the world) grace the pitch at anfield. Albeit only till the end of the season, this is bound to make a significant impact on our season. In addition to his natural goal scoring abilities and poaching instincts what fowler is an unquestionable passion for the club (a quality lacking most current liverpool players saving carra and gerrard). He is after all an out and out scouser. One could see that in his celebration after scoring against united for city. Pity he couldn't complete the move before the game last week. I can't wait to see the welcome he's given by the Kop against birmingham..

"People can talk about having a lot of money to buy players but we've just signed a player with a passion and a heart for this club that no amount of money can buy. We are close to a very high level right now but with Robbie we can go even higher."
- Rafa Benitez (27th January 2006)

fwd : the tale that never was

2005-12-15T16:39:00.000+05:30

this has to be amongst the best forwards I have received... (from Kannan) I dont know if its a real life incident. If not, kudos to the person who came up with this! He/She deserves an award.

the premise...

Here's a prime example of "Men Are from Mars, Women Are From Venus"offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix.
The professor told his class one day:
"Today we will experiment witha new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a shortstory.You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students : Ruby and Craig. (Names changed .. in case this is a true story)

THE STORY...

(first paragraph by Ruby)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Craig)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit ove Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. " A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Ruby)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Craig)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed theUnilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Ruby)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinisticsemi-literate adolescent.

(Craig)

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"

(Ruby)

Asshole.

(Craig)

Bitch

(Ruby)

F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Craig)

Go drink some tea - whore.

(Professor)

"A+ - I really liked this one.*

brilliant! isn't it?

writing as a guest

2005-12-05T12:54:00.000+05:30

I decided to chronicle my terrible but highly entertaining voyage from the taramani road to my desk at tidel park.. somehow it ended up on Somu's blog Click here to check it out.

post mortem (i.e long time no posts...)

2005-11-24T14:50:00.000+05:30

Sorry about the poor pun on the title. Couldn't think of another one. Been a long time.. To say that I was busy preparing for CAT would be poor alibi. It'd be like the stupid stuff one has to make up while conversing with people at work that you don't really know. That pretty much brings me to the topic of this post.. silly exchanges at work just for the sake of talking. Why is it that absolutely everyone who u've ever met at work has to be acknowledge each and every time you pass them? I mean.. its in the corridors.. the water cooler, the canteen and even the loo. It starts off in the morning with a polite 'hi' or a 'good morning' (if its a boss) and later evolves into a meaningless shrug towards the end of the day which pretty much says 'yeah i know u work here.. so do i'. And who can forget the post lunch exchanges.. 'had lunch?' yeah! u? yeah! good.. otherwise u'd starve!
Ofcourse as the weekend approaches.. the exchanges become more pleasant. the 'had lunch' transforms to 'what plans?' and the shrugs carry a lot more meaning. It is ofcourse not as monotonous as it sounds.. there are new dimensions that are added here and there. Such as heavy rains (especially the last month) and ofcourse birthdays.
It was with the birthday saga that I had my wierdest experience yet at work. This was when i'd barely been at Sify for a fortnight.. 8.45 am. I walk in to Tidel Park, go up the elevator and enter the loo to wash up.. I look at the mirror and see this guy washing his face. (Now I just about knew who this guy was and couldnt recall the name at the moment)
Guy (name not revealed for fear of getting beaten up) : Today is my birthday (with a reaaaly big smile on his face!!)
Me : ... {... => stunned silence (thinking - wtf)}
Guy : (still carrying the stupid grin)
about 5 seconds later..
Me : (muttering) oh! many happy returns
Guy : thanks (needless to say.. still smiling)

Me (moving on.. moving the finger near my ear a la asterix) is this guy is crazy? (to another unfortunate soul who apparently had been subjected to the same, 5 mins earlier)

Perhaps it is to avoid situations like these that the company puts up the names of the birthday guys and girls on the notice board as we enter.. wishing them.

friends, romans, countrymen... lend me your earphones!

2005-09-02T09:41:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon a very useful concept yesterday when I was testing out Google Talk. (which rocks btw..) I didn't have a microphone on the laptop.. Was wondering how much a microphone costs. My teammate innocuously suggested that I try using earphones as a speaker. Naturally i laughed it off.. However he persisted and i decided to give it a go.. It works.. and works beautifully! I then proceeded to test out the same by calling Somu (a collegue at work) who also did not have a microphone on his laptop. The conversation was as follows..
(Legend : A (v) implies Akshay speaking
S (t) implies Somu typing)

A (v) : Dude can you hear me??

No response (At this point i didn't know that he too didn't have a microphone)

later...

S (t) : wtf??

A (v) : if you can hear me.. type yes

S (t) : yes

(sounds like the Bell - Watson conversation doesn't it?)

and then the conversation proceeded to how i managed to accomplish what i had.. Mind you i had to walk over and demonstrate the same to him as proof of concept!

So.. if you wanna use the earphones as a microphone for chatting/recording stuff just plug them into the microphone slot. (Apparently only one of the earphones functions as a microphone and I don't know which one.. So I would advise everyone to hold both up to your mouth)

the barclaycard premiership 05/06 season.. a brief preview

2005-08-17T23:41:00.000+05:30

Who can Challenge Chelsea?
Blue is the color, soccer is the game
We are the champions
Chelsea is our name
Chelsea, Chelsea,Chelsea

Last year the English Premier League was dominated by Chelsea FC who clinched the Championship Title at a canter, 12 points ahead of Arsenal and 18 points ahead of Manchester United, and in taking the championship to Stamford Bridge for the first time in 50 years, lost only one game and conceded a miserly 15 goals.

too good? Well, it'd be hard to replicate that... even for Chelsea. As Arsenal have learnt the hard way... Retaining the premiership title is not an easy task.

It's gonna be a cracker of a season.. I can hardly wait!

the liverpool perspective
We are the European Champions and thoroughly deserve to be so!
Champions ride their luck and we did exactly that in Istanbul last May, when we came back to snatch the European crown from a bewildered AC Milan.
Liverpool have been defending their Champions League title since last month, having been required to enter the competition at the first qualifying round stage, and a result will hit the ground running for the opening games of the new season.

some points to ponder ...
Our Best close season buy?
Rafa Benitez has brought in Peter Crouch and Bolo Zenden, but the shrewdest purchase of the summer could prove to be 20-year-old Mali international Mohamed Sissoko. Comparisons to a young Patrick Viera have been drawn, and with Didi Hamaan approaching the twilight of his career, the stage is set for the holding midfielder to complement Liverpool’s two truly world-class midfielders, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

Player to watch?
It's gotta be Gerrard... It’s difficult to look beyond Gerrard for this one. By his own admission the Liverpool captain blew hot and cold last season, but when he raised his game he was simply devastating. With the trauma of his on-off Chelsea transfer hopefully behind him, he can look forward to a season where he cements his reputation as one of the Premiership’s hottest talents. His form in the Champions League qualifiers certains suggest as much!

How safe is the boss?
If Liverpool had not won the Champions League then last season would have been viewed as an unmitigated disaster. 37 points off the pace in the Premiership and 11 defeats on the road was simply unacceptable and Benitez knows there will have to be a considerable improvement. He looks to have the right temperament and tactical nous to turn Liverpool’s Premiership fortunes around, but it’s worth remembering how quickly Gerard Houllier fell out of favour at Anfield after delivering the cup treble in 2001.

Where will we finish?
Fourth. Liverpool have a lot of talent to draw from and will surely not allow themselves to fall as far behind the big three as last season, but inconsistency and a daunting fixture list (they could play more than 70 games this season) will probably see us fall short of being genuine title contenders once again.

P.S : Please excuse the liberal usage of we/us/our in context with Liverpool.. but that's how it is!
P.P.S : Interesting piece of trivia....
Only one club (incidentally also from merseyside) does not have to wear away kits for all domestic competitions in England..
Ans : Preston North End. PNS being the champions of the first ever league competition are exempted from wearing away kits.. and the home team will have to adjust should their kits clash!

this statement is false!

2005-08-05T06:19:00.000+05:30

One of the the most famous paradoxes of all time.. The Liar's Paradox. Consider the sentence 'This statement is false'. If we suppose that the statement is true, everything asserted in it must be true. However, because the statement asserts that it is itself false, it must be false. So the hypothesis that it is true leads to the contradiction that it is true and false. I chanced upon this and whole lot other paradoxes at WikiPedia ..
Here are some of the interesting ones.....
Horse Paradox (This is hilarious)
Grandfather Paradox (Old chestnut)
Monty Hall Problem (Khul Ja Sim Sim)
Two Envelope Problem (nice one!)
The Mpemba Effect (No he's not a cricketer from zimbabwe! but this is a slitcha technical one)

have fun working 'em out....

damn oppenheimer!

2005-07-23T22:39:00.000+05:30

For those who own nokia phones (i'm guessing 90% of the poeple who read this), here's an interesting observation. A simple and very frequently used word such as 'damn' is not present in built in dictionary. However the word or rather the name 'Oppenheimer' is! The story behind how i chanced upon this singularity is quite interesting.
During an SMS conversation a friend of mine messaged me..
'Can you believe that the word 'damn' isn't in the nokia dictionary?'
my reply was...
'yeah! but u know what... Oppenheimer is!'
(Now i was pretty much typing randomly and somehow subconsciously typed out Oppenheimer.. Don't ask me why!)
This was a long time back.. It all came back to me during a similar discussion this evening about what is and isn't included in the Nokia Dictionary.
signing off....

P.S : You guys must be trying out oppenheimer now... Remember i guarantee the results only on a nokia phone!

Eureka!

2005-07-02T14:51:00.000+05:30

I figured out how to blogroll! I know it isn't exactly rocket science... However after many futile attempts (and screw ups), I managed it! It is simple after all.. Merely involves elementary knowledge of html and cut & paste skills. Still, on the first few attempts i managed to screw up my blog page royally.. (classic TARFU situation) but i prevented my webpage from being FUBAR! For those of you who aren't familiar with FUBAR.. It stands for F&*$ed Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair. (So you can now work out TARFU!) It's actually standard linux terminology now. If you've ever worked on linux, you must be familiar with the foo and the bar which are like standard filename substitutes for the unknown.. It's supposed to signify programmes that have become so messy and complicated that they are fubar. Fubar is technically a quasi-military acronym which is believed to have been originated from British WW2 army slang.. Variations of the same include SNAFU (Situation Normal! All F@^%ed up) and FUNDY (F@%$!ed Up Not Dead Yet!) How the unix programming jargon came to incorporate british army slang is still a mystery.. People suggest that these two evolved independently in two separate continents (kinda like human beings). I don't think so.. The resemblence is uncanny!
I first heard of it in a 1989 action move 'Tango & Cash' (which is so bad btw that it's worth a watch just to have a coupla hours of laughter!) Ofcourse i did'nt think so back in the early/mid nineties when i saw the movie. Back in 9th class, It was a super 'cool' movie.. Great slang! Brilliant Action! Good guys whipping the bad guys! What more could you want!
P.S : In case you haven't figured out TARFU ... Things are Really/Royally F@$!ed up!

TOW the tag about books

2005-07-01T09:34:00.000+05:30

for those who haven't watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S,
TOW = the one with/where
which is how all (except one) of the episode titles begin... for example 'the one where Phoebe runs' in season 5. (Info on the one exception later in the post..)

Ah well.. moving on.. I've been tagged (ages back tho') and here are the answers

Total Number of Books I own

too many to name..
a large number of them destroyed or disposed (travesty!) cause my mom felt it took too much space!

Total number of books given to others and never came back

again too many to name..
most notably : Jack (God knows where that is..)

Total number of books flicked from others

This time the quantity is finite... I would however use the word 'borrowed'. They are all in my shelf tho'.. A corner of my Book shelf that my friend refers to as 'Akshay's stolen books' shelf!'
I'm sure he has a shelf titled 'Books stolen from Akshay'.
The most notable one here is Zen and the art... which i still haven't read.

Last Book I bought

Sein Language by Jerry Seinfeld.. Brilliant! Hilarious!
It basically contains extracts from his stand up stuff..

Last Book I was gifted

'Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman' by my cousin

Last Book I read
The Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley
A funny book with illustrations of various scenarios where bunnies commit suicide.. it's got loads of trivia.. You really have to figure out some of the scenarios..

I am currently reading

Sein Language.. obviously

Five Books that mean a lot to me (Well prolly not 'mean a lot' but defenitely the chosen ones..)

This list has got all the usual suspects.. and then some surprises!
NOTE : This list is in no particular order!
NOTE 2 : Except for number 1...

1. The Godfather
2. Lord of the Rings - the trilogy
3. Hound of the Baskervilles (Abridged Illustrated Version... first book i read!)
4. You cannot be serious! (John McEnroe's auto.. very nice read)

3 books I started reading, but never completed

1. Day of the Jackal (Don't ask me how!)
2. H2G2 (again.. don't ask me how!)
3. First Among Equals (Jeffery Archer)

Books I tumbled upon in old drawer

1. Some old Amar Chitra Kathas
2. Sunny Days (by Gavaskar)
3. Mastermind Inda volume 3

Books that made zero sense to me

1. Most of my college books... Most notably 'Advanced MicroProcessors' by Govindarajulu (Who incidentally turned out to be the Chief guest at our Symposium)
2. Ulysses (rather the few pages of the book that i laboured thro')

Who am I gonna tag ?
Nobody...

P.S : The friends episode was one from season 3 : It was titled 'The one without the Ski trip'

ae dil hai mushkil.. jeena yahan

2005-06-17T21:09:00.000+05:30

zara hatke, zara bachke,
yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!

Heard the song last night... (well atleast the full version..) Brilliant! It's got a lingering melody.. Coupled with the voicesof Mohammad Rafi and Geeta Dutt (man she sounds gorgeous!), it was a fantastic experience. I just left it awn and awn and awn.. in repeat mode in winamp. Never got tired of it... If anyone wants to hear it, let me know... I'll mail it to ya!

Oh and btw.. I've been tagged! Grr!
that.... will follow in the next post..

2005-06-16T19:46:00.000+05:30

thought i'd post a quiz i conducted sometime back at work.. It's a simple written quiz.. with answers enclosed

KWIZ WHIZ??

(Sorry about that.. it was a desperate last minute attempt at a name for this event)

The Rulez......

Most answers can be worked out. So... Guess!

If u have no idea ... guess wildly

If u really have no idea ... guess even more wildly

Im guessing you are getting the picture by now

My decision is final... blah blah blah

In the rare event that U want to dispute the previous rule... remember.. I have the prize..

In the even rarer event that you are still reading the rules please get on with the actual quiz.. Time counts..

To state the obvious.. Question 0 carries no points...

Questions 1,5,6 are starred... (ie tie-breakers)

0. just to ease everyone in... Which was the 2nd Indian Company to be
listed on the NASDAQ?
SIFY
1. Connect the following...

Arguably the first Indian chain of five star hotels TAJ

A temple situated 50 kms south of Izmir (a town in turkey ) ARTEMIS

Subject of a Boney M song... Rivers of ______ BABYLON

An object that is about 145.74 metres high... spans 229 m2 in area... GIZA

A spiritual leader amongst other things... who upheld law, justice and morals. His name means bright when translated to English.... ZEUS

The connection ofcourse is FULLY FALTHU.. Also I wanted everyone to associate each of the above with the correct team... simply saying fully falthu woudlnt get full points

btw.. in case you're wondering what that was... dont bother! It was an event specific question (yea the question was lame. still... it prevented non zero scores)

2. Everything ripped apart in a New York minute...- What cult classic starts with this line and features a suicidal DEA detective tracking a drug cartel dealing with narcotics named after Norse mythological legends? (Its neither a movie nor a book nor a play)
MAX PAYNE (People who have played the game and didnt get this... i shall wait while you bang your heads........)

3. What are the titles to these much awaited book/movie sequels... (0.5 points each)
Harry Potter 6 : Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince (almost universally cracked)
Star Wars Episode 3 : Revenge of the Sith (in contrast and as i expected.. nobody got this)

ofcourse that's public knowledge now.. this quiz was six months back!

4. biz for a change.....
Deepak Puri joined hands with the Switzerland based ----- in1983 to manufacture time-keeping solutions. He soon left that segment. Later, at his friend's office at IBM, he saw `something like a fan' and used it for some relief from the heat. His friend reprimanded him and told him what it was. The business potential of it struck him and he entered this field. Now, the company's daily production is over 5 million units, is a master in mass production and is one of the top five companies of the world in its field. Which company and what product? (Clue : Most of us at SIFY cant use the product due to infrastructural hazards)
(Clue 2 : U can most definitely work out the product from the first clue... and hence the company name becomes obvious)
MOSSER-BAER and the product ofcourse was the CDs ... which most of technlogy cant use due to non availability of CD Drives (Infrastructural Hazard)
I think only one person got this... if so Kudos to him/her!

5. If one, two, three, four" in welsh (language of Wales) is "eeny meeny miney moe" what is welsh for eight, nine, ten?? (think nursery rhymes!!)
HICKORY, DICKORY DOCK!
Again very few teams got this... in the end it turned out to be the decider... which gave the prize to TIER 1

old chestnut.. i apologize

6. This successful franchise started on June 15, 1958 in Wichita, USA when brothers Frank and Dan Carney were approached by the owner of a small building who wanted a nice neighborhood business, and had read a recent Post's article about the latest craze among teenagers. The brothers borrowed $600 from their mother, located one John Bender, an airman from McConnell Air Force Base who had worked in the field before, purchased some secondhand equipment and were ready for business. However, the building had a sign with room for just nine characters. They wanted to use in the name, which left room for a word with only three characters. They completed the name with an observation from a relative who commented about the state of the building. Which company was thus born? (Clue : company name is of the form _____ ___ (5 letters,3 letters))
(Give Away Clue : Think food)
PIZZA HUT (widely cracked)
7. Obligatory Cricket question....... Keeping in mind the ongoing series
He made a 96 on test debut against Sri Lanka and was wrongly judged LBW. He boasts of a test batting average in excess of 55 and a one day batting average of just about 40. Among other things however, he has the unfortunate distinction of being having taken more catches than the number of runs he scored in a 3 test series. WHO?
RICKY PONTING (keeping in mind the current series.... everyone had to get this!)

actually the facts on this one have been slicha adjusted for dramatic effect

8. movie trivia ... X supposedly (on his dads advice) does not answer phone calls from unidentified numbers. So when Mani Ratnam called him up, he didn't take the call.. Thank God (or Why God? whichever one is applicable) for X's friend and Ratnam's former assistant Shaad Ali (Saathiya), who got the two talking and X landed a role in Mani Ratnams most recent hindi venture...
ABHISHEK BACHAN (i dont know the spelling)

9. an old chestnut.... who was the first cricketer ever to be given out by the 3rd umpire in international cricket? Incidentally he made his debut in the same test match as another famous cricketer (who now works for ESPN/STAR commentary team). For bonus points name the other cricketer also..
SACHIN TENDULKAR..... WAQAR YOUNIS (a lot of people guessed Wasim Akram.. but he debuted much before sachin... around 1985 i think)

10. Easy one... Identify the brands sporting the below logos... (indicated below is their market share at the end of quarter 4 last year).. 0.5 points each
24.8% 5.4%
LOGITECH
SONY ERICSSON
(almost everyone got Sony Ericsson... Logitech not so much..)

well.. i couldn't find the visuals.. so sorry abt the last question

hot, hotter...

2005-06-03T19:57:00.000+05:30

And just when you think it can't get any hotter.. It does. That, is Delhi... Having spent a couple of weeks in Delhi and surrounding areas.. I shoulda been well prepared for a one day trip to Jammu.. Well what can I say... Jammu's a place best avoided in the summer. It was just as hot as Delhi (inspite of being around 500 metres above Sea Level (a statistic verified by a GPS reciever)). What makes it even worse is the public transport system. The autos are these old god forsaken front engine vehicles (yes.. i'm talking about the ones that had been eradicated from Chennai over a decade ago) which labor their way across a City at a max speed of 5 kmph. To top off all that.. it cost hell of a lot! Makes you think of Chennai auto guys as saints! (I'm not joking it's just that bad). The alternative to the auto system is a network of Matadors (these were eradicated around 5 years ago) that go around the city. To travel by this is a whole lot cheaper... if you're willing to put up with the crowds and even noisier engines.. I did however almost witness a guy jumping off the terrace of a four storey building in to the grass below. We were at that moment inside the building and not on the terrace from where we'd left around 15 minutes before the incident. This dude was some senior engineer working at Power Grid Corporation (PGCL) where our base station was located. What followed was a police enquiry.. The three of us (from Sify) were questioned (as we had been in the terrace in the morning). We could see the holes in the grass where the guy had fallen.. Not a sight that one would be queing up to see. The rest of the staff claimed that the guy was a bit of a Psycho.. Well, nobody can find out for sure now...
Naturally given the state of things so far, I was hoping to get back asap.. Managed to scrape a seat on a volvo. However that turned out to be the last seat in the bus (the one in the middle row at the end).. easily the worst place to sit for a 11 hour bus journey.. All in all a pretty forgettable trip! Am back in Delhi now.. Hoping to get back soon!

European Champions!!

2005-05-26T18:27:00.000+05:30

Unbelievable! That one word just about sums up the fantastic match that was the final. 3-0 down at half time against one of the meanest defences in Europe.. Shevchenko, Kaka and Crespo looking deadly on the break.. Who'd have given liverpool a chance? Even the most optimistic liverpool fan had given up hope.. The second period however saw a total reversal of roles.. One goal by inspirational Steven Gerrard set the tone. Vladimir Smicer squeezed a shot past Dida soon after. Xabi Alonso followed up a missed penalty to level the match! Incredible... from 3-0 down to 3-3 in 6 minutes. The game resumed after the 3rd liverpool goal in a normal manner. Milan had finally risen from their slumber. Extra time was a tense nail biting affair for all liverpool fans! The players according to Gerrard had nothing left in the tank after the superhuman second half performance and were playing for penalties. Milan came close several times and Dudek made phenomenal double save to deny Shevchenko. The second shot was literally from within a foot from Goal!

Penalties! Liverpool looking more confident having survived (yes it was more survival than anything else for 30 minutes) extra time without conceding. It started in perfect fashion for liverpool with Serginho spraying wide and Pirlo having his effort saved by Dudek. Hamann and Smicer gave Liverpool the advantage.... And Shevchenko of all people missed or rather had his shot brilliantly saved by Dudek, sending millions of reds fans all over the world into dreamland.. It was an incredible night! European Champions! It sounds stunning!

Thought I'd end this post with one of the ol' liverpool songs ... (sung to the tune of 'Land of Hope and Glory')

we hate nottingham forest..
we hate everton too.. (they suck)
we hate man united..
but liverpool, we love you!

nostalgia.....

2005-05-21T18:01:00.000+05:30

Back in delhi... After a loooong time. (loooong = 4 years). Realized that i really missed the place. Most of all the language. I am ofcourse referring to the 'barnshoots' which are dished out so liberally here. Brings back memories of school. This brings me to the main subject of the post... the word 'barnshoot'. Itw brilliant really.. there are so many versions of the same word. It's appropriate no matter what the context is and one can use it to start a sentence, end it and also throw in a few in between. Every dilli walla worth his salt is brilliant at delivering the same. It ranges from the most colloqial form ( = 'banjo' : should be said in an extremely nasal tone) to the most sophisticated form ( = 'banjo' : in a slightly less nasal tone). It finds its use in moments of anger, when escalated versions on the word (you know what i mean) are employed. It also finds its use in moments of joy where the number of iterations reveal the naked emotions on the protagonist's face... All in all a supreme tool to have in one's vocabulary.. the nuances of which can only be undertood fully if one spends some time in delhi or neighboring areas.

upcoming mensa test

2005-05-13T09:08:00.000+05:30

FEI.. (for everybody's information).. there's a mensa test test coming up.. on May the 15th!
To register... click here

post script

2005-05-12T22:10:00.000+05:30

SPOILER WARNING!!
in the rare event that u haven't seen chandramukhi

chandramukhi! good? bad? or ugly?

2005-05-12T21:39:00.001+05:30

An interesting question.. that certainly does not find an answer in the three given choices. Also forgive me for posting a late review... It was by no means a bad / ugly movie tho'... Of course after 'Baba' .. Anything goes! However chandramukhi sans the snake (wtf was that?) and the superman scene (with the fish tank et all) woulda been a good movie.
It starts off in a standard manner. Much like any big Rajni movie has always done... fight and/or song. The first half has all the elements of a classic Rajni movie. One fight + 3-4 songs + budding romance + light comedy.... only thing missing was the punch line. The movie takes a refreshing turn as it progresses {I didn't bother to find out the story from the mallu orginal or the kannadiga remake (which btw i'm sure would be interesting)}.. And frankly.. Jyothika gave a very decent performance. Believe me.. the first time u see her 'chandramukhi face' .. it is mildy scary. Well.. Rajni did ofcourse get his punch line in the end. I am ofcourse referring to 'Lakka Lakka Lakka...' And everyone live happily ever after...
All in all.. worth 80 bucks.. and perhaps even another view on Jaya TV when it actually airs..

2005-05-04T10:03:00.000+05:30

victory!

ISTANBUL...... Here we come!

2005-05-04T09:56:00.000+05:30

It was another memorable night at anfield. The underdogs slew the champions.... but only just! Liverpool went ahead in the fourth minute thro' a controversial goal by Luis Garcia and held on to that scoreline for 86 more minutes (followed by 6 (yes that is right SIX) minutes of injury time). It was a brilliant defensive display spearheaded by Jamie Carragher. What a season he's had! May 25th.. Milan or PSV? We don't care... Just Bring It!

2005-04-29T09:23:00.000+05:30

anfield

Was 0-0 good enough???

2005-04-29T08:49:00.000+05:30

Wednesday Night, 00.10 hours IST... the stage was set... the semi-final!
Q : Who will face Milan?
Ans : The tie is as finely balanced as can be.
0-0 at Stamford Bridge! A scoreline that's happened only once this season. Achieved surprisingly by Man City (who also inflicted upon Chelsea their only defeat of the season in the premiership) . Chelsea paid the price for some woeful finishing and must now fight for place in the final of the Champions League as the first leg at home to Liverpool ended goalless. Chelsea however just need to score at anfield an not lose the game. The onus is on Liverpool to produce the kind of display they have done in the Champions League this season time and again against the likes of Olympiakos, Bayen Leverkusen and most recently against mighty Juventus!
Whatever happens... It's gonna be a fascinating encounter.... Can't wait till Tuesday Night!!

You'll Never Walk Alone

2005-04-25T08:37:00.000+05:30

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone