Recession has hit us too …

For those who thought India was not going to be affected like other places w.r.t. the recession and those in my organization especially who thought so, were in for a rude awakening… Today morning we got a general mailer from the head of HR and Admin stating that the evening snacks that were fully subsidized (read as fully free) were no longer going to be … starting 1st December. Also the bus travel which was partly subsidized will also now be on cost basis … That would be at the most a 1% saving for them but then the scary part is what is going to follow!!! For sure something is going to happen. No one can remain totally unaffected by the happenings @ Wall Street and other places around the world. So in the corridors and the meeting rooms and the pantry and the parking lots, people are only discussing this topic.

Moreover, for an organization which boasts of no retrenching since its inception in 1988, can we be spared of any pink slips this time? Considering the fact that the pundits are hailing this as the worst ever recession to hit the globe yet!

So although we won’t be having those free ragda-samosa or the pineapple juice, all would only hope there aren’t any unscheduled “come and see me mails” or any more shocking general mailers.
Wish us all a bon appetite :)
~KK

The Visitor ………..!!!

Since I shifted to my new “kholi” or apartment (if I can call it that), I had a first visit of the rodent kind. It all started yesterday night around 1 am when I heard noises and knew that there was an intruder around but I shooed off the thought thinking it was not “inside”. Today morning after I returned home from the gym (yea yea yea I know .. it’s a recent phenomenon) and sat down with the paper, the rodent a.k.a. house rat or mouse or whatever made its appearance, scampering across the floor from point a to point b. As a startled and shocked onlooker, I was rooted to my spot. I don’t have a cot or a bed and my mattress is basically on the floor so I dint have any elevated place to jump on to also (well I ain’t a big fan of rats and mice). So my next few moments of existence were spent trying to figure out what to do.

Managed to come back to my senses and grabbed the broom though I had no intention (nor the guts) to kill it. Once I had moved the mattress onto the chair, I opened the window and the main door so that it has an escape route out of my kholi. Then I started tapping around the place where it was hiding and all it did was run across the room to hide below the cupboard which was next to the door. So that was now my intention, to lead it to the door … broom tapping restarted and after a couple of minutes, it ran n slid across the floor as if it was the most terrified being in that room (no two guesses as to who was…) and managed to dash out of my kholi! (“Phew!”) While I was left to recollect my senses and let the fact sink in that I had just had a visitor who probably was looking for some grub but had to be shooed away.
It’s been a while (last visit was at my bund garden apartment) but I hope there aint no more such visits. One thing that this visit has done is I would be entering my house for the next few days tapping away to glory and making silly noises to see if it’s around. :D
~KK

Ps: Visitors to my blog … please feel welcome to put in any comments on any of my posts … would love to hear from all.

Rolle Models!

I came across this article in NY Times about a Football Star who doubled up as a Scholar. Sounds out of sync, do I? Not this time. You can check it out for yourself.
Myron Rolle is a Florida State University Football player whose presence in the Seminoles team makes him a star. He also holds a degree in pre-med and a GPA of 3.75 and is vying for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship – only 32 people can get it. The article mentions how it is a proud moment for the university if he does get it and how it can be a great PR. Well sure… that it is going to be but it would be a bigger PR for all those African American children who look up to these Football and Baseball and Basketball stars in the United States of America - a must for a society which has seen literacy and education going down on a large scale and more youth taking to crime and drugs. As his name says, he is truly a Rol(l)e Model for all.
Having said this, I am inclined to look homewards and look at the P.T.Usha’s, Vishy Anands, Virendra Singhs and Abhinav Bindras of India who have achieved a lot in sports – some with a silver spoon at their disposal, some without but all of them having put in the hard work and perseverance in achieving what they have. We tend to look at sports-persons as larger than life figures and try to ape them be it in playing like them or drinking the same cola as they do (or at least they endorse). There are only cricketers who form the main pool of world renowned sports people in India with a few more interspersed in other sports like shooting, boxing, chess, etc. Maybe we need more sports stars so that there a lot more options for our coming generations (I speak as if am an oldie but I am surely getting there :D)

BTW India is now down to whopping some English A*** very elegantly in cricket.
~KK

..... Times ....

All the websites – local and global, are having news about the problems companies are facing. Europe is down – officially announcing recession. Ireland and Germany started it out and the EU followed suit. America on the other hand has not yet announced officially that it is in recession but the state of affairs of the economy and the apathy of the people is very sad. More than 180,000 people would have lost their jobs by the end of this calendar year in the US alone; the number now stands at 152,000. So all these people would opt for unemployment benefits which amount to $650 approximately for a period of 39 months. It sounds scary when you come to think that India is not at all good when it comes to severance pay and unemployment benefits, in fact there are no unemployment benefits. So what should one do? There was a time in the late 90s when VRS was an in thing but now the companies don’t go for offering VRS to their employees as they discovered that it was not beneficial for them.
As I was typing the above write, I received 2 forwards talking about Citi Corps 52000 job cuts and HSBC cutting more jobs. The rut that has built up now with these news items is depressing to the core. Where are we going from here?
But hey … in all this chaos when you hear about people getting a job, it brings a smile to your face.  Lets us all know that this is not the end … this is a new beginning and we have only one way to go – up and by this I mean progress.
So hang in there all … don’t give up! And don’t stop trying …!
~KK

Surprise!

Last week was quite eventful & fruitful for me…. Got some long pending things done finally.. Like getting my bike insurance renewed and Saturday saw me finally getting down to servicing the bike after a lot of postponements :D
Also had to go to office for some work on Saturday so couldn’t go home to Pune. So when Saturday night arrived, I had this “keeda” to do something whacky. And thats when I decided that I will have Sundays lunch at home!

Had to get up early for that … 4.45 alarm made me get up and keep the water for heating but I went back to sleep. Luckily I had my backup alarm going off in25 minutes (I do know my habits) so got down to getting ready.
5.55 AM: all geared up – jacket, helmet & backpack (sadly couldn’t carry my camera as the rechargeable cells have become useless. Have to buy new ones) and was off from g’gaon. Decided to take the Airoli route which I had no idea about so once I reached the eastern express highway off Kanjur Marg; it was all dependant on the road signs and whatever little I could remember from google maps (yes! Google maps for India are working though it doesn’t give the route and all as in the US). To my surprise, the signs were always there and I safely joined the Sion-Panvel highway off CBD Belapur. Zooming down the road, at a constant 60-70 kmph, I reached Panvel at 6.55 AM.
After stretching my legs and downing a chai (no tea latte to go with it :D), I was off towards my next way point- Lonavala via NH4 and passing Khopoli and Khandala. As I crossed Panvel town and went down the NH-4, I was passed my 4 high end Suzuki, Yamaha &/or Honda bikes, zooming across the roads at 120 kmph at least. Mostly on the way to Amby Valley for the weekend ride. Also saw many college folks and other enthu bikers on their rides – Pulsars, Apache RTR, FZ-16s and what not. My discover seemed like a minnow – well it was one – but I didn’t care as long as I was doing fine.

8 AM: was at Lonavala after safely crossing the 12 KM ghat from Khopoli to Khandala. Had steaming hot idli-vada sambar @ RK’s and was again back on the road towards Pune. This stretch of the NH4 is really smooth and well done – not too many unexpected pot holes (thankfully) and since it is also a tolled road (though not as much as the expressway and best thing is no toll for bikes :P) they have managed to maintain it well. I was able to hit 85 KMPH on this stretch. While I was leaving Lonavala, mom called to ask if I was up. I told her that I was outside but nothing else …. (I don’t know why I like giving people such shocks …they call it shocks, for me it’s giving them a pleasant surprise; like arranging a surprise birthday party for your friend and getting the chance to shout “Surprise” when they enter and lights go on and then being able to see the mixture of joy, shock and a myriad of other reactions on their face; some people don’t like it always but even then it’s just that their anger is a wee bit more than their happiness; so that’s ok)

9.05 AM: I was turning from the NH4 on to the Dehu Road – Katraj bypass which goes 10 kms from my home. Another 20 KMS and I was knocking on my door at 9.25 AM, exactly 3 hrs and 30 minutes since I left goregaon. Mom was surprised but when she heard I came on the bike she was shocked. Got some gyan from her n my grandmom. Then it was dad’s turn when he saw me. “It’s risky!”. Very true but it was fun too and something I like doing. Much better than sitting at home and just reading paper all day anytime. Total distance travelled was 165 KMs.

So I got to have lunch at home, got too see Harry Potter & Order of Pheonix and do small talk with mom & dad.  5 hours at home and time to leave. Did not want to do night time highway driving since it has been a long time. So I was off at 2.30 and it was decent till Panvel but then the traffic of Bombay came into picture and I took 2 hours to go from Kharghar to Goregaon. Ah well that’s the norm these days so nothing to complain.
Was home at 7.15 PM – a total of 330 KMs travelled. Yet to calculate the mileage I got but it should be decent I guess. The bike is doing pretty well.

It was a spur of the moment thing (Kal's gonna curse me ;)).
Hopefully should have a chance to go riding again very soon. :)

~KK

Hope floats ... !

The mind plays a thousand games ... raking up thoughts and ideas .. dreams and nightmares ... hopes and disappointments ... we have such a myraid of options to consider and dwell on .. why then do we look at things which are bad or which would have a negative effect on us ... is it because we tend to look at the worst and plan for it or is it because human being at his/her core is fear personified? Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of hurt and pain? Why do we not look at the good things we can achieve by our actions and build on it? Why should we let go of the hope that the morning would bring a sunshine so bright that it would show us the bright side of everything and the evening would be lit up by the moonlight albeit with its own luminosity. There would be nights when there would be no moon .. there would be cloudy days ... but these would only give in to a day filled with light. isnt that how life is? We should look at our life in the same way .... n'est ce pas?
Mais oui - But ofcourse as the stylish french would exclaim!
Someone once said "If I let go of the hope that I will prosper, I would not have been nourished in my mothers womb! The day hope dies, i would cease to see a planet full of the creations that come with it"
:)
Oh BTW ... India kiked a bunch of kangaroos at their own game, made em eat "apne desh ki mitti" and are now touted as future champions. Hope floats there too :D.
~KK

Scribbles while in mayhem - II

November comes with new developments globally. United States of America has new President Elect - An African American by decent - A Black in crude American lingo ... (I won’t go further down as it is uncouth). But fact is it a first for USA after all the talks of world power, world supremacy and what not. Barack Hussein Obama is the person who has managed to ride the anti-incumbency wave and the credit and world financial crisis and the Wall Street collapse and come into power. He has the same middle name as one of America's former enemies - Saddam Hussein and has a last name which sounds a lot like another enemy of theirs Osama. But he has done what no one before him could do - become the first black president of USA. Kudos to him!

For the past 2 weeks, America had shut their eyes to the problems ... preferring to debate on democrat or republican instead of rising interests, reduced holiday spending and job losses. But with the decision made in a land slide manner, now it is back to counting its losses - again and people in the thousands searching for jobs ... their stock markets crashing every day to new lows .. Losses rising to levels unheard of before... And this is affecting the whole world. Because America, after all is a world power! :)
Back home, Diwali is over, people are back to working knowing that there is Christmas and new year to look forward to. We are also picking up the pieces of the destruction going on because of the recession – which one can safely say is here. Vegetable prices are oscillating daily like a yo-yo.
Am I complaining a lot here? Guess the environment is like that.
Well amid all this chaos, life goes on!
~KK

Twin Towers ....

Twin Towers ... of INDIAN CRICKET!!!
It would not be untrue if they were called the towers of Indian cricket…. Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman. The veterans of many a famous Indian victories over the past 20 years …Pillars around whom the Indian team has evolved with its own fair share of ups and downs.
And with this India-Australia Test series, having reached its finale at Nagpur starting 6th November, India would be bidding farewell to 2 of those towers, pillars, legends! Anil “Jumbo” Kumble and Sourav “Dada” Ganguly, both announcing their retirements with Kumble having already played his last test @ Delhi which ended yesterday.
They have truly been great servants of Indian Cricket (as Gavaskar put it) and as a cricket fan, I have enjoyed seeing them play some great cricket. If I had to recount any memory of each of these two; Kumble taking the last wicket in the 1993 Hero Cup to defeat Windies with a class act of 6 for 12 or his 10 wicket haul against arch rivals Pakistan at the Kotla in 1999. Dada .. well his best moments were when he danced down the wicket to hit spinners for a six or his running around Lords, waving his shirt after India managed to pull off an astounding victory against England in the Natwest Trophy.
I specially admire Kumble for the person he is .. soft spoken and fully dedicated. “Shabaash Jumbo …. “ (as Mongia used to shout from behind the stumps :D)
Thank You Jumbo and Dada for the wonderful moments that you have given us cricket fans.
~KK

Alas for Red Sox ... and more !!

Well I could not update last week but the news is that RS did not make it ... they had a tremendous comeback to catch up with TB Rays (sounds diseased :D) to tie it 3-3 but lost the last game to allow Tampa Bay Rays to go into the world series. Well if it is of any consolation, TB Rays lost to the Phillies in the World Series finals. So bottom line was that there was no Boston .. no LA .. in the MLB finals (that would have been some match-up for me as a supporter 
This past 2 weeks have been very happening … I officially got work … Bombay a.k.a. Mumbai went to the dumps with riots following arrest of a local political honcho. It was a pity to see public transport and property damaged and burnt .. with the perpetrators not realizing that it was public tax money being wasted. I failed to understand how any of the actions that took place helped the people of Maharashtra … Politics has this dirty way of ridiculing the common man, time and again by showing its ugly a** & face frequently.
Diwali was calm n tumultuous (in the right sense) for me, at home with family. Managed to gorge in a lot of sweets and gain some weight :D … and then back to the grind …
And then, yesterday, some more blasts, in Assam this time … an earthquake in Pakistan … so many deaths … as if god is orchestrating a population reduction agenda… gets one thinking where the world is heading and what would be there for our generation and the future generations to come.
And the biggie is the recession slowly descending over the world … US being the worst hit and the rest of the world following suit … the US dream and the H1B bubble seems to be a very bad idea now all of a sudden. I hope people think 10 times before taking any rash steps … cause the worries that it can bring will affect everyone connected to them … it is sometimes a good thing to listen to others in addition to yourself and take any advice positively … n’est ce pas? (Is it not in French)
Hope things change for the better soon world over. (Do I sound like AB Sr. here hehehehehe)
~KK

One more for the RS??? Lets See ...

Its October 2008 ... 19th day to be precise ... the year has gone by and a lot of changes have occured ... I have moved on to a new job ... a new city ... well come to think abt it ... i now work in a bigger company ... which is in a bigger city .... and a high salary (I cant call it big :D) ...
So yeah .. .things have changed .. but then again seems like nothing has ...
Oh! ... one more big thing .. we have a BIG recession which is hitting people globally in places where it hurts a lot ... !!! lost jobs .. rising prices ... growing stress .... so that kind of explains my statement earlier that seem like nothing has changed ... :-)
People still discuss cricket and politics while travellling to work ... it now is T20 instead of test cricket .. but the bat n ball are the same ... Last year around this time I was in the US and there was this talk of will the Red Sox be able to win the World Series .. well they did .. and guess what this year also they are in with a chance ... 3-3 in the ALCS against Tampa Bay Rays ... tomorrow morning is the game 7 ... lets see if they can win and go on ahead like last year ... hmmm that brings a lot of memories with it ...

Ah well .. I am just a blabbering and clattering away on my dads laptop ... oh so badly miss having one of my own ... probably that shd be the next thing i buy .. and soon .. else m gonna go crazy ... coz my new work place doesnt allow me to chat or surf the net or see videos on utube or any of those timepass stuff that we could manage to sneak in .. between our work @ PTG ...

well I have said a number of times and thought even more that i will make this clattering a regular part of my daily schedule .. but have failed to do so ... till now .. (sounds like some new year resolution ... but nope ... just that it gives me a nice feeling typing my thoughts ... :-] )
Hope to do it this time .. !!! lets see :P

will update later this week on how things work out for the Red Sox ... Go RED SOX !!!

Ciao,
KK

Sarkar Raj ...A Big(B) Blunder?

I remember 3 years back I had typed a review for Sarkar which was an atempt to renew the Godfather magiv on the hindi cinema scene .. The same director has come out with a sequel to it ... named Sarkar Raj .. much on the same lines as Godfather II. And I watched it yesterday .. It was no-where near the hollywood sequel.
If it has to be a described in short, Sarkar Raj was an attempt at bringing together the Bachhan family together on the silver screen. How else can one explain why Anita (played by Ash) who is a London based businesswoman takes interest in family history of Shankar Nagre (AB-Jr) who is a powerful Mumbai don icon's son and why Shankar and Subhash Nagre (AB-Sr) discuss business in front of Anita - which they avoid doing in front of their reel life families too. I mean come on ... the watching public is no fool.

A story line capable of creating an excellent movie and startcast capable of giving stellar performances was wasted by RGV ... It instead turned out to be a movie with some forced political objectives apparantly and sadly, a slow-mo fizzle.

RGV has done better stuff. Whats wrong now? Probably this was payback time for him.. paying back to the Bachhans :-p

Advise: Watch at your own risk.

Resurrection

Been a long time since I have been dormant on this front .. So many things have happened .. so many new places visited .. so many new people, I have met ... a few accomplishments on the professional front too .. Pity I did not take the time and effort to keep this endeavour going... but now its time for resurrection !!! :-)

The Comeback …

It’s been such a loooooooooooooooooooong time since I scribbled here.. Don’t know why… Just didn’t get around to typing stuff in a while… Life has had a few turns in this period. Work was always good in Nagpur, considering I am in the IT industry and Nagpur ain’t no Silicon Road, forget valley! But the very thought that work would give me a chance to fly from Nagpur to USofA after just a year in office… that I had not thought. But that it did … A chance to visit the country which I had made a few efforts to raid before. That I got the visa came as a pleasant surprise to people at work (spelled HR) but it was easier than a cake walk… After some rushed stopovers @ Home a.k.a Pune, I flew away… albeit for a short time which I realized was 3 months after I met the immigration people at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). M kool with that.

Bangkok and Hong Kong were nice stopovers on way to LA. Being the first trip outside of my country – India – it felt great seeing cities which have never stopped amazing Indians with their advanced infrastructure and progressive achievements especially in comparison with India. And I could see why!

Enter American airspace @ 9 PM Pacific Standard Time and the shimmering lights visible just across the pacific ocean coast was awesome. Home to Hollywood, Lakers, Dodgers and one of the biggest cities in US, Los Angeles Rocked. I have always seen the dome shaped structure which denotes LAX in movies and TV serials… and that was a pretty sight to catch from a Boeing 747-400.

Now, its been 6 weeks since I landed here and my ideas about America has gained substance. Seeing the people and the way of life here, I understand the truth that is America. Maybe not the sole one but nevertheless. I will pen my thoughts in the days to come. So keep watching.

Ps. Today is 15th August and though I never make the effort to go for the flag hoisting at office, I sure do miss that sitting here in an alien country. God Bless India - Jai Hind!!!

My Travelogues....

Ahoy Mates....

Needed some place exclusively for jottin down my sashays...

hence this new blog... My Travelogues

Hope yaal enjoy reading it as much as I njoi travelling and writing about it....

Happy Travelling....

Visit of The Apes

Oh ya.... The apes did give us a visit ..Early in the morning at 7.30 ... on a weekday...

1st sighting:

Well to imagine that one cud see a monkey in the bang middle of a city like Nagpur is something that i wudnt have believed until it actually happened... & Thankfully my mate Ashish had his digicam handy with some useful zoom lenses that helped us catch this rogue in a chip ...

Well this new flat that we moved to recently has an amazing, small terrace with a Jaamun tree overhanging... & This Jamun tree was what attracted the 2 black faced monkeys commonly called Langur...

We were at first wary of going too close lest it attacked so we preferred to watch n shoot it from inside our house... A long tail n a black face .. the monkey was living upto its name, innocently plucking Jamuns (black berry) from the tree and eating it while keeping a watchful eye on us...

Well we managed to sneak closer to it, gaining courage with every snap we took and at one point Ash was at the edge of the terrace with the primate at a distance of 5 meters ..

At one time, he was in a playful mood... lying down on da tree branch, staring at us n da camera... Dats da one below...






hmm... here are some more of da pics






















We were delayed to for work dat day but the experience was amazing... Just having nature so close to ur daily life is a nice thing... :-)

Cheers..
~KK

Go To The Mattresses … (With Sarkar)

That’s what Clemenza says in Mario Puzo’s Original classic “The Godfather” … am stressing on Original bcoz there are many adaptations and inspirations that have been made into movies …. & One among those many is Sarkar …. Ahem…

When u see Sarkar, the first thing that comes up on screen is a note by Ramu(a.k.a Ram Gopal Varma) saying it is inspired from Godfather… Inspiration is fine but then he forgot to mention how he changed that inspiration into a bad one by having a pathetic screenplay and failing to cash in on the thrill that is abundant in the original…

AB sr. and AB jr have turned out classical performances, where Bade Miyan is gr8 as Sarkar… His talent comes out in all the scenes. Bunty has also done a good job. Hats off to them both… But otherwise the movie as a whole is insipid and lacking the tang.

Ramu has changed the story to suit the Indian audience… Put couple of bimbettes who are grossly misused… With the same story, he could have done a much better job so that the thrill is maintained as was seen in the original. For eg. In the scene where AB jr. & his assistant are caught by the villains and are going to be killed, he could have directed the movie in a way so that the fear wud hv been visible in AB. Jr’s eyes.. But it wasn’t upto the mark…

The reason why I am disappointed is that I have read and seen the original Godfather many times over. So there is bound to be an automatic comparision when a similar scene is shown here and when there is disappointment then obviously this wud be my reaction. I’m sure those who saw both the versions wud have been disappointed with Ramu’s stuff. But again a whole lot of people have never seen or even heard of the original. So Sarkar is and will do great…

Alas! For what it could have been…

Shifting Pain !!! :p

Oh no no no.. dis aint any post about a chronic pain ... But about the pain that is part n parcel of shifting houses... :D

I shifted yesterday from our company guest house which was a haven as it was free to a rented place ... which is another haven but a paid one ;-) But yes it is a kewl place... & best of all its fully furnished at no extra cost for us ... as its my boss's house .... :)

Our shifting (Our meanin my roomie Ash & myself) pain was not as much connected with the amount of luggage as it was with the time at which we had to do it... Since it had to be done b4 9.30 am (thats when we hv to b at office... No rahu kalam probs here ..) we had to get up at 7 am ... that was followed by the hurried stuffing of dirty clothes & other dumpable things intp the bags ... This was a torture for me somewhat since I hadslept at 2.30 am (wat was I doing ,.. dont ask) so it really screwed up my sleep clock which had lost 2 & half hours from its daily schedule...

But once we had dumped all our luggage at the new flat we were visibly relieved... ready to hit the offices, back to the daily chores of cuking up documents & convincing fellow mates to do some constructive work while self indulging in doing... nothing !!! :)

This flat where m now based is a small, cozy place with 2 rooms et a kitchen & a balcony & a small terrace for ourselves... Best is that both da balcony & the terrace have dence trees overhanging.. which brings in the nature rite in to our place... & personally.. I love it when I hear squirrels n birds chirping.. cuckoos & wood pigeaons .. Gives an illusion of being in the wild even though we r rite in the middle of the city... .

Well .. the weekend's here & I hope to njoi some nice F1 racing and movie watching whilst settling in to our new sanctuary !!!

~Karthik "KK"

Paheli.... Different or Full of C*** !! ?? !!

Happened to catch Paheli 1st day, last show on friday... & believe me it's a mix n match of some amazin technical aspects of film-making coupled with some very illogical cr***y happenings ... A very slow movie to start off with most of the 1st half getting u into a go-to-sleep mode :D
Later on in the 2nd half, we do have some kinda pace which is useless if u have already fallen off to sleep :D

Ok..Points to appreciate in the movie... Some amazin camera work by Ravi Chandran.. who has been there & done that... with count-less hit movies in Bollywood as well as down south... So accolades to him... & Amol Palekar has done a fine job with SRK... The King Khan at his best playin out a role.. (this may be largely bcoz he's producing the movie - Red Chillies Entertainment.. Where were the chillies :O )

Rani Mukherjee... wat to say of her..she is back to her normal ways post Black.. (4get B&B...dat was even cr***ier... )

The most indigestible part... the heroine gets herself impregnated by a Ghost... gosh... how unromantic.. & this friendly ghost unlike the others (Casper, Black Beard's ... ) can be tickled by humans ... woah baby.... Out for a toss goes Mr. Bhoot's reputation .. lol ..

And one more highlight of the movie is the camel race... Hey Amol.. Y o Y did u have to put this in the movie .. ???

Big B comes on for just 5 mins but he is classic... & also good to see Juhi , Sharvari (from bindhast-marathi), Dilip Prabhavalkar... All popular in the Theatre & Marathi movie circuit...

Nyways.. if ur a Die hard SRK or Rani Mukherjee fan..then yes do go to see the mooovie... else dont spend time solvin this paheli... u'd be better off solvin a Mid-Day crossword instead .. ;-D (No offence King Khan... mayb ur Red Chillies need more spice the next time .. :D )

THE SERENDIPITOUS VICTORY…

I am sure Schumi also doesn't disagree with this coz the truth is that he tasted victory when he least expected it & in the most bizarre manner possible. And if I could speak for the millions of Tifosi (Da official word for Ferrari fans) even they hadn’t expected Schumi to lead the race from start to finish… then again, Michael Schumacher has always been, arguably, the luckiest soul in Formula 1 racing for the past 5-6 years. And that was shown yesterday… again!!!

Michelin, the culprit at the bottom of it all, somehow managed to make a blunder in their tyre settings and ended up having a tyre, which was deemed “dangerous to race”. The only hitch was that 7 teams out of 10, i.e. 14 cars out of 20 were using their tyres. Talk about monopoly eh! Michelin, after Ralf Schumacher’s accident on Friday, found out about this glitch on Saturday. They could have reported it immediately to the FIA(International Automobile Federation) officials. Instead, they waited until Sunday morning for reports to come in, 3 hours before the race was about to start, to bring this out in the open. According to them, the tyres were not safe under race conditions and race distance at the high speed turn 13 on the Indy circuit, which the cars traversed at 200-mph. Their solution was, to slow down the cars on that turn…
And that was easier said than done… FIA & race officials responded with a curt “Sorry, No way Hosé”!

Since all options were rejected, the Michelin drivers just took the customary warmup lap & returned to the pits to their respective dens... What a sight that was... ! A black day for F1 racing, especially in the US where they are , naaah, I shd say, They were trying to get a share of the large motosport following... But alas .. Its hit red flag now...

All said & DOne... M a Ferrari & Schumi fan.. so m happy atleast he is within striking distance of Alonso, da leader in the points table right now... Hope for some upward revival for La Team Scuderia !!!

And also much more to cheer about as an Indian, for Narain Karthikeyan - The fastest Indian in the world .. :D HE earned hi first points of the season, points which he wudn't have got if all the players had been in the fray... points which are precious few for a weaker Team Jordan...

& this also might have cheered the dissappointed Indians who spent hundreds of dollars in going to Indianapolis to watch the deafening roars of 20 mean machines fighting each other....

Lots more to look forward to in the forthcoming races.. so hope to post some more positive writes as a Tifosi .... !!!

Cheerio ~ * ! * ~

We Dont Need No Education !!!

We don't need no education …
We don’t need no thought control …

Pink Floyd

Must be dream lines for every student who’s studying for his exams… They are, at least for me. Exams have always been a harrowing experience for me… Smooth at the end when I get my results but rocky when am giving them… touchwood!

But today, I find myself at such a juncture in life that I don’t feel too good… wondering why??? Its because I am done with all the exams, well at least I am done with all formal education that one can hope to get… Bachelors in Engineering, Masters in Business Administration, spiced up in between, with a Diploma in Computing…it ain’t that much if you compare it to some of the qualification collectors out there but more than enough for me.

I just finished with my MBA from Pune University – PUMBA, as it is famously known… The last exam schedule marked the end of a period in my life, which was one ride that I loved going on… School was fun, Junior College was a picnic, BE was more fun and MBA was all of the above… Something that I would cherish all my life…

It wasn’t always smooth since it had its share of troughs and crests. The petty arguments with dad, the tenshun of placements, the souring of relationships and the flowering of others… Fact is that the negatives were outdone by the positives: the bonds shared with friends, the joy of seeing old school friends getting married, the total time pass done at the various canteens laced around the PU campus, the discussions at OC(Open Canteen) over various topics right from politics to business strategies to movies to teachers to da fave of them all – Gurls !!! ya ya ya… Discussions about the opposite sex took new meanings and attained new heights when they were discussed in the OC’s and IC’s (Open Canteen & International Canteen in Pune University campus) lol…

Well now that phase of life has passed by leaving behind memories to be cherished and it is time to move up the ladder to some serious stuff… so that those classroom learning’s could be put to test - only to find them fail in the actual real world scenarios and thus learn the practical aspects ;-)

Agreed Education is over but the learning will not end here… as the cliché goes!!!

Best wishes & here’s to “Waaaaaakh all the way to the top”, Cheers!!! ;-)