Manu Sharma was convicted..... Some years back it would have been impossible to even imagine such a high profile guy to having not escaped the clutches of Law.. It was sheer public pressure which pushed the case to a justifiable end... Kudos to all the major campaigners for this effort...

SreeShant from Kerala.... Need I say more.... He said... over said all most all things anyone can do for him in the cricket ground.Kudos young friend for making all of us proud

And I am waiting for Guru.....Hey I was watching Jaaneman... It was cute movie... Absurd story.. Average performances....But one thing stood out and one thing made me like the movie so much, the Format in which it was taken....I am not able to define the format... you need to see it ot belive it....it is like one mega- broadway - musical.....I keep wondering how the writer would have written the screenplay...then the script........ interesting

Ganguly was one of the main contributors for India's first test win. This is what I like about this guy... Dtermination and grit.... Mental toughness.... He is probably one of the guys with just average talent aong the top players... but surely is one big example of what determination and grit can do to you.... of what the compulsive need to survive...exisit... Live....takes you to the top of the world....

Yesterday I had been to Ramnagram as a part of year ending celebration from office. It was a nice compact one day trip, mainly focusing on (as the organizers and instructors told us) our ability to push ourselves to the edge and if possible beyond it. One of the instructors told us in his opening remarks that Most of us are our best when we are thrown into the most difficult situations.

And yesterday was difficult definitely, If I was my best, I surely don’t know.

The first half of the day, we did rapling from a 90ft tall steep vertical rock hill. We were to use a rope which was clipped to a harness worn around our waist and release the rope slowly as we climbed down at 90 degrees to the rock. The initial couple of steps were scary, but as we got used to the descend, I slowly gained courage to look down and Man, it was an awesome sight and a great feeling to be hanging there up in the air. After a few more steps I imagined my self to be Tom Cruise in MI2 (Yeah a slightly over weight version though) and started looking side ways, down and virtually all ways to give the pose. But before I started savoring the feeling in, I had completed the descend.

The second half was a trek (it felt like number of miles although the organizers told us it is only few KM's) but the fun was climbing rocks, walls, descending and sliding through narrow openings. In some cases, there were much easier ways to move ahead… but we took the hard way ahead to strongly tell ourselves that there were much difficult tasks outside of our jobs…. How thoughtful….

Finally we reached the Summit…. Now Ramnagaram is the place where Sholay was shot ….. And the instructor showed us the place where Gabbar was sitting in the climax; Where Samba was sitting, where Basanti danced…….

The summit was the greatest of all; we had to climb a vertical rock hill using thin step carved out of the rock….. This was not for the weak hearted….

Over all a great day…. Though my body is still aching trying to be at my best yesterday.

Hey Ganguly is Back.. Hope he finds his form and gives us many more entertaining cricketing days ...

More thoughts to follow….

What is it with us Indians.....In the past few days so many convictions, so many altercations, Riots, rebellions.... apparently it seems to me that India thru the years has become an amalgamation many smaller countries, each with their own agenda's, ideologies, future and present. Probably the worst case of a federal setup.

Stats
- Kerala vs Tamil Nadu Mullaperiyar Dam
- Karnataka vs Kerala Border Dispute
- Karnatak vs Adhra Krishna river dispute
- Karnataka vs Maharashtra Border Dispute
- Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu Water dispute

Water Dispute tribunal's
-Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (In April, 1969)
-Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (In April, 1969)
- Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (In October, 1969)
- Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal (In April, 1986)
- Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (In June, 1990)

More reasons to worry

"100 Out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs have links to crime"

Joginder Singh former Director of CBI
The Pioneer
Nearly 33 per cent were found to be involved in heinous crimes. About 12 are charged with murder, 10 with attempted murder and 11 are acknowledged dons. It s true that most cases are old and minor in the perception of the accused. But they no longer take away the odium out of them. The world's largest democracy has nearly one-fifth of its law-makers who, at one time or the other, broke the law which they had sworn to uphold.

(Courtesy www.ourmp.com)

I think the state of our state assemblies is also not different.

Riot and rebellion at the drop of a hat. Examples from Mumbai, Nagpur, Malegoan, Mangalore etc

Where are we heading to…? I stay in Bangalore, apparently one of the most prosperous cities in India. Yeah life is different, but the bottom line is almost the same across all places.
As a Democracy are we headed the right direction. It is time to do a retrospection….

Hey I am back.

There was a gap in b/w , Blogs were banned for a while, then my previous company banned it for while. so changed my job....... just kidding.Anyways as a matter of fact I did change my job and now I am with informatica, which makes products that enable Data integration.

I also change my personal status. Now I am a married man (happily married- hopefully this will never change), a 3 years old struggle to get married to the girl I loved culminated in a happy ending on 18th Nov. If I were to become a romaticist, I would write that on that day heavens opened and it rained generously, albiet spoiling the wedding party a bit.

So what does life offer me in my new avatar, till date it has been revolving around work. Both of us are in the recruitment space , making life tiring and busy. So we go to office in the morning and come back home to cook/ eat dinner and sleep. Sometimes I feel work is eating too muc into my life. But then livelihood is an important aspect.

At times both of us dream of leaving all of this behind and going to some small villagei n the country side and becoming teachers, I can write and spend my time day dreaming. Suprisingly there are alot of people sharing the same sentiment.... but dreams mostly remain as dreams.

Lets see, I will make my dream a reality....

Ok this one is called ganja games…confused? it is a prank we played on one of our room mates.

We were all drunk that Friday evening. We had gone out to some pub and were returning home after picking up ghee rice from imperial or empire. (This one place is the only hope for late night partying folks like us in Bangalore. Open till 2 -3 am in the morning, a night out isn’t complete without the ghee rice and dal from there).

We were on Inner ring road, when we got this brilliant idea to make the night alive.

Then Raj asked casually “How about a round of ganja?”

I saw the twinkling in his eyes and got the point. I turned back and looked at Robin, with the same smirk that a hunter would have on his face. There our prey was sitting looking outside the window, totally drunk, not noticing our verbal exchanges.

Now Raj asked me a little more loudly

“Hey John, how about a round of ganja??”

This time it caught the ears of Robin and he gave as a stunned look. The look immediately changes to that of No this isn’t true sorts;

And I replied, even more casually.

“What an idea boss, lets rock it”

“But where do you think you would get it at this time of the day??” Raj asked

Now I am simultaneously weaving stories in my mind and taking stock of robin’s fast changing facial reactions. It ranged from shock, disbelief, anger, fear, and finally pathos.

“We will need to ask Kumar, stop near the empty field opposite Dell… we might be able to find him there”…I replied.

And Raj drove the car into the lane next to the empty field.

I asked robin to come along to collect the ganja from Kumar (god knows who). And he was probably least expecting it and plainly declined.

Then we started cajoling and coaxing him into this. But he kept refusing.

We were so amazed at how vulnerable someone can get and how easily he believed us.
Ra walked out into the lane, took the next turn, waited for sometime and came back.

“He has asked us to come to the end of the lane” Raj told pointing straight into the lane.

And we started the persuasion again. Robin was almost at tears and nearly believed that I and raj are drug addicts.

During this entire tussle, we saw a hoysala jeep approaching us from far. The next moment we jumped back into the car and sped away.

Through all these commotion, Robin has actually dropped our pack of dinner (ghee rice of course) somewhere there itself.

We slept hungry stomach that day.

Now the funniest part is just following;

The next day, We were planning to have dinner at home. Raj and robin and gone out to pick some beer.

As planned, I took a gold flake cigarette, took to all the tobacco and powdered it nicely. In fact we took the pain of mixing some jeera powder/ coffee powder... I don’t remember what … to increase authenticity.

Took some foil, wrapped it up nicely and kept it my room.

After we were sufficiently drunk, Raj asked me casually ….

“Do you have some stuff with you?? “

Robin till this moment and for a few after the statement was lost in the Pink Floyd music and beer, not giving much attention to our discussions.

But when I actually got up, apparently giving the impression that I am going to get the stuff, he turned towards us and gave a startling look.

I did not get to notice his facial expression this time as I went inside my room.

But when I emerged outside with the foil, I could see the range of emotions I mentioned earlier moving across his face.

The rest of the night I leave to your imagination.

And to this day he believes we are drug addicts.

John

I am back...

Recalling my Chennai experience from the last week...On Sunday, 28th Aug, I had traveled to Chennai. On my!

This one has made me love Bangalore many times over. With all the Traffic Jams, Regardless of the long waiting periods on the road...Pollution... Auto drivers... oh did I say Auto Drivers.... I should call the ones in Bangalore Saints...Any one who disagrees, please visit Chennai... Bangalore ....I love this place...

Ok... Now for the experience.....Let me start with the previous night...Sat 27th Aug...Two of my dad's friends had come to Bangalore....central Kerala Christians being Central Kerala Christians... the first and the last thing they wanted to see in Bangalore were its Pubs....(for a small comparison here... We get good stuff here. Unlimited Kingfisher... Bacardi.....and so unlike Chennai were if we need to have a decent night out with some stuff you have heard of... We need to visit some star place). So I take them to the one on Garuda Mall… the idea being they can do some shopping and then probably settle into one of those comfy cushions in SOS.

We enter SOS and the music hit us on our face…My guests freaked out….The next 1 hour was ordeal for them. And for me trying to explain and make Metal look like slightly loud and high pitched variation of Hindustani …LOL…. Funda, I do not have a choice... Need to save the night.

Then I took them to Mojos on residency road ….they played softer music... But still was loud. This was the first time I realized how loud the music can be in a Pub…Usually when I am out with pals we are almost drunk even before we reach the pub, probably the reason why this loud seemed quite to be soft…

OK.. I am drifting off topic… the end result of the night was that I was significantly drunk…and end up sleeping at 1am. That is ok if you get to sleep till at least 9:00 am the following day. But I had to get up at 5 in the morning and push my still drunk brain and sleepy body to almost run to Cant to catch the Lalbagh. Only one thing stops us from going to Chennai…. Train tickets…

When we reached Cant…the queue for open ticket is already reached outside the station building. We can wait…but one problem there is just 2 minutes for the train to reach. And God walks up in the form of a coolie and offers us tickets to Chennai…but for a little profit…Rs 10
On each ticket…hmmm not a bad deal….we grab the tickets and run towards the platform.

When the train came… we were incidentally standing near the AC Chair Car… and I see god standing with a black coat on…I request him to convert our 2nd sitting tickets to AC.. And he obliges but again for a small profit…Rs 20 per ticket…Hmm improvement…

Anyways we reach Chennai comfortably and walk out of the station all ready to enjoy the day ahead... or we thought so.

Man, how can any place be this hot, humid…I kept joking to my fellow travelers that our bodies have actually turned to salt manufacturing machine… How sick….

In fact, we had come here to attend a close friend’s engagement ceremony…Which is in a place called Nanganallur... Somewhere near Mount.

So we catch a Suburban train and go to Mount and find a hotel to relax. We are dressed formally and I am wearing a Formal Kurtha-Pyjama. When we reached the mandap (after some bargain, verbal Kungfu etc with the auto driver) , for my sheer astonishment I find even the would be groom in a normal Shirt and trouser….I just wanted to run away. We somehow managed to get out and run back to the coziness of our AC room.
One thing I have noticed in Chennai is that if you are not a Tamilian and cannot speak Tamil then you are gonna get royally screwed by the Auto fellows. And if you are not used to the climate, then you don’t even want to stand and bargain the hot sun….the attitude is … please take me to the nearest AC room... Ill pay whatever…

I have bath the second time in the day and come out of the bath room only to realize that the salt manufacturing machine has started work again. I start to hate this machine. Man it sticks, it stinks and you are most of the time wet. What a pathetic state to be in.

So towards the close of the day, we think of catching up with another friend and decide to meet him at Spencer plaza, my fellow traveler had a long lasting dream of coming to Chennai (I think that person has already decided never to come here again) and wanted to see Spencer’s.

We are on the road again. Scared of the bargain with Auto fellows we decide to walk a bit. We walk towards Le Meridian. After a while, we realize the folly of deciding to walk in this climatic conditions and finally giver into the temptation of stopping a passing auto.

Bargain time, Guys. We get into a verbal brawl, trying to give him some gyan of mathematics, time and distance, time and work…. Nothing works… our bodies start pushing us into a deal we very clearly know is stupid and finally we give in.

We get to Spencers from near le meridian for Rs 120. (Oh…Please don’t look like that; I am already ashamed of my spendthrift nature).

We meet Aaron near Spencers. He like the good old pals that I have, suggests that Spencers is a more kids place to hang out and takes us to Radha Park.

We are turned away from a Pub there because we were wearing sandals, Nike Sandals. Can you believe it, How much more presumptuous can we get. In a city that converts any average human being to a continuous source of sweat; a place where the most comfy clothes would be Short pants, cotton t-shirts and a decent pair of sandals, we are turned away for being logical and probably more apt; Blind followers of a long forgotten tradition of snobbish buffoonery.

Anyways we find another pub in the same place; not exactly a pub according to Bangalore standard – more like an Andhra restaurant for serving alcohol. May be this was meant for the lesser mortals like us who do not know the dressing tradition of Chennai.

What ever be the situation, we men are born to drink; the end result is that I am drunk again. And this time I have hardly anytime left for rushing to Koyembedu for boarding my bus. Unlike in the morning, this time I have been well prepared in advance with the berths reserved in a Volvo Ac Sleeper.

We reach the bus stand around 10:20 PM, 10 minutes… time enough before the departure. We exchange good wishes and bid good bye to our host. By this time I already have collected the boarding passes. And we board the bus…. I am shocked to see someone else sleeping on our berth. Ridiculous… these guys do not have any brains… I am ready to pick up a brawl once again, when the conductors of the bus start scolding us…

To my utter dismay… I realize that the ticket is meant for the following day’s travel…. How intelligent of me to be well prepared for something I do not need. I do not have a choice, the hunter is ready to become the prey and I start requesting for some berth that is empty.

I should say, the bus guys were very helpful. They asked us to take the last berth on the bus. Only one berth buy sufficiently wide for two to sleep. Good economics for them…1 berth for the payment of two. For me, an act of extreme kindness. Thanks god. Thank KPN.

After some acts of high jumps, Long jumps and somersaults all while sleeping, we have finally reached madivala.

We get down and as usual auto drivers cover us like a bunch of bees; we tell one of them the place we need to go and tell him that we will give him double the meter since it is 4:30 in the morning. He readily obliges. Oh, Auto drivers in Bangalore. I love you guys. Gentlemen with a very superior demeanor.

The climate is cool and soothing; the machine has stopped functioning. Skin has become smooth again. Guys, I am back to my normal senses.

I am finally back. Back home.

Thank God for bangalore.

Dannie John

Hey new theorem.. stupid bundle bakhwaas theorem..... (SBB Theorem)

Theorem: Generalised method for finding the average time any person takes for walking 1 km using his/her trouser length & shoe size

Logic: At the instant when a person keeps is fist leg and lifts the back leg, the front leg is at 90 degrees to the ground. hence using pythagoras theorem H = length of the back leg (TL,trouser length in Cm's)+ SS, Shoe size, O = TL,trouser length in CM's. Find A, the average step length.

Having found A, which is approximately the average length of the step a person takes, one can calulate the time the person takes to complete the step = T.

Average Step length,S in meters = (Sqrt (sqr (TL+SS) – Sqr(TL)) )/100
Time taken for S =T
Time taken for 1 KM in Minutes= ((1000*T/(S* 60)
Time Taken for N Km's = N(1000*T)/(S* 60)

Example:

My Trouser Length = 43 inches = 110.94
My Shoe Size = 9 inches = 22.5

H= TL + SS
H=133.44

O= 110.94

A = SQRT (SQR(133.44)- SQR(110.94))
A = SQRT (17806.23-12307.68)
A= 74.15221

A or S in Metres =0.7415221

TIme taken to complete S = 1.2 Seconds

Time I take for 1 KM = (1000*0.9) /(0.7415221*60)
Time I take for 1 KM =20.22862 minutes



How was that................................NONSENSE................

Hey i completed 26 years on planet earth.....

many ways to look at it;

- i have lost 26 precious years and have only around 25 left
- I have lived to see the 27th year --- at least been fit for so much

Never know which one to adopt... which ever way.....we can make it inspiring.....

cya

was matching Italy Australia match yesterday.... I thought this is was on of the best football matches i had seen... The sole reason being the way the underdogs gave a run for the biggies money... But this was also one game that sadenned me a lot.... because all matches would be remembered for their bottomline and that is the score line.... regardless of what happens in the 90 minutes... it is either 1-0 or 1-1 or 0-1 probably numbers changing but the logic remaining the same. And so this match would remebered as Italy defeating australia to go to the Quarters.

I have been on the thinking mode ever since; that sometimes or more aptly more often the same is valid in life too.... there is a bottm line to every one's life. sometimes it is the riches... Mittal probably a good example... sometimes it is philanthophy ...... mother theresa ....sometimes loses/downs in life...... azhar/ cronje etc..... And no matter what you do in between... you are rembered for the scoreline/ bottomline of your life..........

A winner can be a loser..... a loser a winner.... and some one very bad can become great....vice versa.. luck.. providence call what you want... the fact remains the same...

How sad?..isnt it??

But how do we tackle this.. .can we loose through out and make a sudden u-turn and emerge a winner in the end. or would we win through out and loose in the nth hour.... scary thought...

my thinking cap goes on again....

Some Photographic exploits in Manali

Me and my dad 8500 ft. this was the most enjoyed fortnight in my whole life. Backpacking thru rural north India with dad and mom.

This one here is me and dad after a brief exploration into the chakratha market side another 500ft above. Back after buying dam fish.

Hey me in chakrata......

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaah

My marriage looks a more likely event now. 3 years of running around trees (in love idiot) and convincing our conservative families that relationships can be build just on the bond of love has borne fruit now…..

At the same time I am suffering from a phobia of the new , a pang of sadness , I am going to loose my bachelor status……..

I cannot confidently ogle now… need to play chupa rustum… hi hi hi…..just kidding yaar…. My darling is the best I could ever ask for…..

Dan