Tweets

Is playing Stick Cricket and Poker :(
about 3 hours ago from web

Feels good to know i still remember my 3rd sem Engineering stuff .Was teaching a couple of friends yesterday for their exams :)
about 6 hours ago from web

Tried my hand at the World Series of Poker Knock-out stages.Yeah,I got a bad hand.
about 7 hours ago from web

is feeling terribly lazy on a Monday morning.The problem with hols.
12:58 PM Jun 15th from web

Can't help but thinking that the Indian cricket team will soon turn out to be like the England football team.All hype no show.
1:57 AM Jun 15th from web

http://bit.ly/12ZRU2
7:50 PM Jun 14th from web

A Mcdonald's is coming soon to Annanagar :) I guess this is only the 2nd in Chennai after the one far far away in OMR. I'm lovin it
6:13 PM Jun 14th from web

Was taught 'Personal Pronomen' in German class today.Have to admit it's getting a bit difficult.
10:37 PM Jun 13th from web

Picked 4 man of the match winners of the T20 WC in his fantasy team @ cricinfo
10:29 PM Jun 13th from web

is watching Lord Of The Rings : Fellowship of the Ring.Again.Long time no see.
4:25 PM Jun 12th from web

watched 'Eastern Promises' and liked it. The best movie about Russian mafia.
4:11 PM Jun 12th from web

Goodbye Ronaldo. Good fucking riddance.
10:11 PM Jun 11th from web

is watching season 2 of The Big Bang Theory.Hope i'll finish it before going to play football at 4 :)
2:06 PM Jun 11th from web

is hoping there is an early WSJ series release.Can't wait for chapter 451!
1:40 PM Jun 11th from web

Moral of the story :
"In the year 3000 YouTube Twitter & Facebook will merge into 1 super time wasting site called YouTwitFace"

R.I.P Michael Scofield

Michael Scofield is probably the most loved television character in recent times.
For those of you who don't know him - Michael J. Scofield is the main protagonist in the American television series Prison Break. He is portrayed by Wentworth Miller.
Talking about Prison Break as a whole, definitely season 1 was the best and i doubt if that standard can ever be matched.Season 2 was bad but entertaining nonetheless. Season 3 had the potential to be brilliant with the all new scary prison and stuff but sucked big time. Season 4 was worse and at one point of time I felt like i got to watch this end just because i have started watching this. It was turning out to be pathetic.Then,FOX decided to take a break and came back with the second half of season 4 not so long ago.There were 5 remaining episodes.
That set the clock back.I expect a lot of people to disagree with me but to me the end of season 4 was great, especially considering how the writers had screwed up before.Of course there's a huge amount of 'Omg! That's impossible' factor...but you are here for entertainment aren't you?
But after the end that was given...did they have to give Scofield a natural death? There were seemingly endless ways of killing him but brain tumor is rather dumb! I am OK with the series ending now because i feel any more seasons from now and it would be like the dumbest show on the planet.
Anyways, there are still 2 special episodes lined up for a direct DVD release on June 15 that is expected to show the events during the 4 years that were skipped.

After all the screw ups this show has offered one more 'Hey that guy ain't dead' won't look bad after all.
'Be the change you want to see'.

WTF!

It's that time of the year when you say 'What the fuck?!' more than anything else. Yes, it's the time of my semester exams. Battle begins May 21 and goes up to June 4. But, what the fuck? I got 14 days as hols for an entire sem!!

Hail Spurs!

(Read previous post)
Saturday 21st March 2009
Fulham 2 - 0 Manchester United
Devastated.Yes.
Not destroyed.

Tottenham 1 - 0 Chelsea
Did anyone say Spurs and relegation in the same sentence?
Go Europa Spurs.Tottenham for 7th place!!

I guess the blues are out of the title race! No wait!
Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal are still contenders.No comments.

Sunday 22nd March 2009
Liverpool 5 - 0 Aston Villa
Great win.
Okay, so Liverpool have had a tremendous two weeks. We’ve had a tremendous two decades. Thank you Liverpool for making the league a bit interesting towards the climax.I reckon,it still won't change things big way.

Move on...

People who know me, know that I am a huge Manchester United fan.I choose to post my love and views on the team not a day after they lift yet another silverware but after a humbling and a cruel defeat against our most bitter rivals.

Saturday 14th March 2009
Score: Manchester United 1 - Liverpool 4
I thought we were still in the game after being 2-1 down.United were pressing hard for a goal.They looked dominating.But,against this Liverpool side,it was a dangerous ploy.They left the defense unguarded and the Scousers were lethal on the counter-attack.The heart of United's defense this season - Nemanja Vidic committed a rare second mistake of the day that earned him a straight red.No arguments.
If there’s any justice, Nemanja Vidic will win the Footballer of the Year award.I hope and pray that this one match not decide the prize.
It was time for the Liverpool fans to celebrate.I could see a lot of empty red chairs on the stadium much before the final whistle.I don't remember the last time i saw that.I received plenty of insulting messages from my Man-United hater friends.I pity them.They don't look at the larger picture.United are in front by 4 points with a game in hand.Potentially it could well be a 7 point lead with 9 games to go.Inter Milan are in a similar position in the Serie A and Jose Mourinho has already declared that they have won the Scudetto.But,even more pity goes out to the Fulham players who are to face the devils next Saturday.What backlash they could face remains to be seen.It’s just a shame the game isn’t on Tuesday or Wednesday because a week is an awful long time to wait to get that defeat out of the system.
It will still be difficult to get this defeat out of the system if United were to lift an 18th championship trophy in May.Sir Alex was calm and thoughtful in his post match interview.He was already talking about their response.

Whatever be the magnitude of the response,the Manchester United community would want an early revenge.When the Champions League draw is made this Friday, we would know if we had got that chance.

Monday Musings!

I lived a Saarang!Yes! I was wandering all over the IITM campus on 2 of the 4 Saarang days.Participated in a couple of quizzes,potpourri,got myself a Saarang tee-,lazed around the brilliant campus,watched the finals of decibels,had fun watching informals,watched some DJ Rekha perform....and time flew!
Nothing much interesting happening in my life otherwise. I have again started to spend a lot of time reading fiction.Whenever i try to shift towards non-fiction,I stagnate and the process becomes dead slow though i seem to like it.Hence i have set my sights on autobiographies before i move on to more serious and real non-fiction thing.
I have been watching loads of movies too - Slumdog Millionaire, The curious case of Benjamin Button,Requiem for a dream,October sky,Madagascar 2,crank,Raging bull,etc etc.
Of these,I simply loved 'Requiem for a dream'.Pretty old movie..but it has the best screenplay i have ever seen.
And because of the Lankan LTTE crisis i have extra holidays.The list could just keep growing for all i know.

I find many of my friends asking me 'What are you doing?'.I don't know if they mean like at this point of time or in life.The latter part would probably be the most difficult question to answer at any point of time.
I think about my future half my time.And the other half is spent how my past could have been.In my future thinking..i wonder what I'll end up in life.The thoughts turn scary whenever i sit up with a book titled 'Guide to the GRE'.I ditch it,thinking it's a bit too early.In the past part of my thinking - I think about the dreams i had as a kid - Pilot,writer,Journalist,director,some dog life in racing industry,cricketer,etc etc.I had even dreamt of sitting at home doing nothing after managing to unearth an unlimited resource of money.It was probably the only dream i partly accomplished.And you know which part it is.The sad truth is that, most of the educated people of my generation in this part of the world were destined to be an engineer,or whatever crap basic UG degree.I envy those who rode against their destiny.
Anyone?

17/01/2009

It started as a perfect Saturday.A late beginning and the dawn of the end of a almost-week long holiday thanks to Tamilnadu's obsession with Pongal.It couldn't have been better as it was also the dawn of my recovery from a week old viral fever.As the day progressed lazily...i felt the need for fresh air.My parents too felt the same.I called up my friend who had already made up plans.We had initially planned to go to the Besant nagar beach and just spend some more lazy hours on the sand...nothing else.We started...5 of us.As we reached Kilpauk on our ride to the beach...there was some disagreement on our destination.'Bessi would be a bit too boring' was the common voice.So...a very strange decision followed.We shifted our destination to 'some' beach along the ECR!(East coast road).I know!A decision whose grass roots could never be found.We geared up for a supposedly exciting journey in search of fresh-air.Just to let you know...Venkat,the 'driver' and also the one with the car is usually a bit too over-confident and reckless with his driving.And therefore,almost always over speeding.We used to complain...but to deaf ears.Since he had a pretty good record with his recklessness...we stopped complaining and started getting used and also enjoyed his over-speeding at times.
Back to the journey.
It was progressing smoothly and we were chatting lots of stuff and having a good time.We stopped to refuel and bought batteries to refuel the cam and were clicking happily.Then,we went to a beach just next to 'VGP universal kingdom'.Not many people used to come to that particular spot...and so we got the fresh air we wanted...and yet didn't spend too much time there...as it was not out real destination.We were to go to a place even farther.I still don't know where exactly.(It could have been Mahabalipuram!)And so,we continued the drive and our talk.It was already past 6 pm.Then, we went past a bridge.I was trying to take a picture of the setting sun across the bridge even as the car was in motion.I couldn't get the snap right.And so,Venkat stopped the car towards the end of the bridge.(It was pretty pointless actually...the best scenery had already passed).That is when,we witnessed what is ECR slowly becoming famous for.A sports car.It was a Porsche cayman convertible apparently.It zoomed past us.Probably at around 150 kph and we were at rest.We were thrilled.And more so,Venkat.He accelerated.Over speed ed.Nothing in mind to overtake the Porsche with a Santro...but just to get a better glimpse of it.The rest of us complained..but to no avail.We were ordered to close the windows.Naveen,who was on the left back had done it already.Me,on the right back was doing it.At that exact micro second..a Toyota Innova came in between the Porsche and us.It came from no-where.(No one could notice a small left turn that existed by the road.The Innova had come from there.The left turn,apparently led to 'Fisherman's cove').We were in a fix on what to do.(I guess we had reached 80 kph and had 2 seconds to dash the Innova or brake and skid and still dash the Innova somehow).But we didn't do that...rather Venkat didn't do that.A wise move perhaps...considering all the past foolishness.He turned the steering to the left...but not entirely.We could have entirely turned left and entered the road to fisherman's cove and stopped.But we didn't do that.Venkat tried to get back on the road after somehow avoiding the Innova.On the left edge of the road lay the post bearing the electricity cables.The usual thing made of cement.And behind it a sort of a bush which seemed run all through the left side of the road from there.We went straight into the electricity pole and BANG!By that time,I believe all 5 of us had closed our eyes(including Venkat..yes!).So ,we were pretty much unaware what exactly happened after our dash but i can tell you the aftermath.(You can see the pole we toppled and also the cables lying on the car.)

The car ended up on the left side...away from the road and facing the bush.
When i opened my eyes..i first saw smoke coming from the front of the car.I thought Vignesh and Venkat who were on the front were lying dead.Not completely realising what had happened..i checked whether i had finished closing the window(!!).It was hazy(thanks to the smoke) that i couldn't differentiate the window from the air outside.(I hadn't closed the window btw).I happened to be the first to get out of the car..and soon everyone followed.(No..they weren't dead :P).We assessed the damage.
The electricity pole instead of stopping the car from progressing had fallen.Entirely.It connected the cables to another pole across the road.So the cables had fallen right across the entire length of the road.Hence,a traffic jam was on the cards.The cables were also connected to poles adjacent to the ones that had fallen and therefore there were copper cables right on top of the car(the front).Thankfully,the power had tripped the moment we hit the pole and before it fell on the car.(When our eyes were closed).Yet,wise-ass Naveen was quick to warn us not to touch the metal body of the car.The villagers were helpful in quickly taking the cables away from the road and preventing any traffic problems.After this,the Electricity Board guy came a bit too quickly.It appeared as if he was expecting such a thing.He gave us some assuring words and some scary words such as 'You guys are too lucky to get out of the car alive'.Probably.Venkat soon called his uncle to the spot.By that time a Policeman had come and was asking how it happened and stuff.I guess he was checking if we were drunk.An ambulance arrived for no reason.It was an ambulance with no drinking water.Some drunk villagers were complaining from i-don't-know-where that there was a power black out.We are very sorry for them.The Porsche zoomed past us again!This time on the opposite side of the road.I wonder if he noticed us.Venkat's uncle arrived soon enough and was very helpful in driving off the police without any case being booked.(You-know-how!).He also insisted that we guys go back home and he'll take care about the rest.(The rest included pulling the car back home...and settling accounts with the Electricity Board).The damage to the car was later assessed.It turns out to be pretty-very bad.We went back home and stayed shut and awed and sorry and sad and angry and foolish and happy.

None of us carried even the slightest injury.Yet we were so close to death itself.

The year that will be

2008 began its journey promising change.And it did deliver change.It was perhaps the most volatile year i have seen in my 18 years.
India and Pakistan seemed to be on very good terms...and it looked like it would end like 'and they lived peacefully ever after'...but then 26/11 had to come.
Commodity prices reached skywards fuelling inflation.It certainly never looked like the inflation would end up in the 8% category given the rate of growth.
2008 has been a big blow to India's progress.The GDP growth has come down from 9% to possibly 5.5%.
The glass was half empty.But the glass was also half full.
Oil prices were hovering above $120 for most of the year only to crash down to $40 now.This combined with fall in inflation could be the trigger to restart India's powerful consumption boom.
Perhaps,the biggest event in 2008 was the victory of a Barack Hussain Obama in the US presidential race.The United states has bravely elected a man whose main message is one of hope and change.
"Rosa Parks sat so King could walk.King walked so Obama could run.Obama ran so we all could fly" - Anonymous SMS.

Also not to forget,2008 gave us some very good movies and more bad ones.

For India though,Sports has been the biggest victor.With the best ever Olympics performance and the golden run of the cricket team and many other notable achievements...2008 has been a huge year for Indian sports.

2009 is also promising change,as does every year.But since the general elections are coming up...the change is for real this time.Seeing the debacles in Nandigram and Singur...the Left's seat share may decline and this should give the Congress more freedom to do business,if UPA wins.It could be a year of huge change if Rahul Gandhi would step up to the throne.That would definately bring hope and change...and it would be as dramatic as Obama's emergence.
On the terror front,I don't think in a huge country such as ours any security measures could stop the terrorists if they are up to it.So,all we can do is hope that we are done with it.
The major talking points have been the climate change,job cuts,housing prices,recession,terrorism.2008 has had its up's and down's and more down's.This year has the capability to put the past behind it and bring change,for good.
We may have already the witnessed the worst and pray or we may just be witnessing the lull before a storm.

Hope.