Brain(dead)child!

The Truly Deserving Winners Of World Cup 2007

2007-04-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

Can any other team do this just as well, if not better??? No other team has the consistency of winning as do the Aussies! The passion with which they play the game, you just know that they are playing to win! Its absolutely inspiring! Wish other teams (read India) showed the same passion towards the game as the Australian Team! Cricket would be even better to watch then!!! Currently, Australia is the only team that truly deserves to win a tournament as precious as The World Cup!

World Cup 2007 Group Stage Schedule

2007-03-13T03:22:00.000-07:00

Date	Group A	Result	Group B	Result	Group C	Result	Group D	Result
	[Starts 1900 IST]		[Starts 1900 IST]		[Starts 1900 IST]		[Starts 2000 IST]
13 Mar, Tue	-	-	-	-	-	-	WI v Pak	WI
14 Mar, Wed	Aus v Sco	Aus	-	-	Ken v Can	Ken	-	-
15 Mar, Thu	-	-	SL v Ber	SL	-	-	Zim v Ire	Tie
16 Mar, Fri	SA v Holl	SA	-	-	Eng v NZ	NZ	-	-
17 Mar, Sat	-	-	Ind v Bdesh	Bdesh	-	-	Pak v Ire	Ire
18 Mar, Sun	Aus v Holl	Aus	-	-	Eng v Can	Eng	-	-
19 Mar, Mon	-	-	Ind v Ber	Ind	-	-	WI v Zim	WI
20 Mar, Tue	SA v Sco	SA	-	-	NZ v Ken	NZ	-	-
21 Mar, Wed	-	-	SL v Bdesh	SL	-	-	Zim v Pak	Pak
22 Mar, Thu	Sco v Holl	Holl	-	-	NZ v Can	NZ	-	-
23 Mar, Fri	-	-	Ind v SL	SL	-	-	WI v Ire	WI
24 Mar, Sat	Aus v SA	Aus	-	-	Eng v Ken	Eng	-	-
25 Mar, Sun	-	-	Ber v Bdesh	Bdesh	-	-	-	-

World Cup 2007 Groups

2007-03-13T02:31:00.000-07:00

Group A :

Australia
South Africa
Scotland
Netherlands

Group B :

Sri Lanka
India
Bangladesh
Bermuda

Group C :

New Zealand
England
Kenya
Canada

Group D :

Pakistan
West Indies
Zimbabwe
Ireland

Indian Squad for World Cup 2007

2007-03-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

Rahul Dravid (Captain)
Sachin Tendulkar (Vice-Captain)
Sourav Ganguly
Yuvraj Singh
Virender Sehwag
Irfan Pathan
Robin Uthappa
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Dinesh Kartik
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Ajit Agarakar
Zaheer Khan
Munaf Patel
Sreesanth

Interesting Lyrics!

2006-11-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

"Hotel California - Eagles"

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice suprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'

Lage Raho...

2006-09-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

So I finally watched Lage Raho Munnabhai. I had been waiting for it ever since I saw its trailers. I had quite some expectations from Lage Raho, having liked Munnabhai MBBS. And after hearing good reviews from many of my friends, the expectations only increased. And thankfully, it stood up to the expectations.

I have seen many times that the sequels of hit movies, fail to stand up to the high expectations of the public, especially comedies which somehow fail to maintain the level of jokes e.g. the hugely successful Hera Pheri and its sequel Phir Hera Pheri (I personally thought it was nothing compared to the hilarious first part!) Considering how well the first part of Munnabhai had been made, somewhere I had the feeling that it might go the Phir Hera Pheri way. But it has safely sailed through that hurdle. The transition from ‘Dadagiri’ to ‘Gandhigiri’ has been handled quite well in the movie. I thought the characters of Munnabhai and Circuit have been very well defined. Not once do they conflict the ones from Munnabhai MBBS. The not-so-funny (or even emotional) scenes were depicted better in Lage Raho than in Munnabhai MBBS.

And now for the part I liked the most about the movie… the acting. Very good, and I mean VERY GOOD acting by EVERY SIGNLE PERSON in the movie! Sanjay Dutt is great, and has carried forward the Munnabhai character very well from the first part. Boman Irani is brilliant (as always). He’s unbelievably good at portraying different characters. Dr. Asthana from the first part and the builder, Lucky Singh in the second part… hard to believe that they have been portrayed by the same person! Vidya Balan was sweet and did her part well, except for her quite-irritating yelling ‘good moooooornnnnning Mumbai’! Apart from that she’s done well and looks good too. Jimmy Shergil did his tiny role nicely. I even liked Dia Mirza. She looks very cute and acts well too. I often wonder why the likes of Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor are preferred over Dia Mirza… she looks much better than these two. Definitely no artificial smiles (or even giggles if I may say so) like a certain Miss Rai. And even her acting is much much better than the oh-so-artificial Ash and oh-I-am-so-bubbly Kareena. Abhishek Bachchan was awesome!!! Though he had a verrrrrrrrry tiny appearance, he sure left a lasting impression. Or maybe it’s just because I am a loyal admirer of Mr. Bachchan Junior. But of course, the kind of clapping and whistling he managed to get from the crowd in theatre, the kind of excitement he generated among the public, even with his two-minute appearance, speaks for itself.

And now for the BEST part of the movie. Circuit A.K.A. Arshad Warsi. He was THE BEST among all other actors and he sure deserves a whole lot of praise. Often when an actor receives huge praise for a certain character portrayed by him, he tends to overdo it in the sequel (even the very well-known and great actor, Paresh Rawal could not resist the temptation of overdoing Baburao Apte in Phir Hera Pheri!), and I was expecting something like that from Arshad Warsi too. But not once, did he overdo the circuit image. His comedy-timing is awesome. His dialogues like “leakage” and the one about predicting for the Indian Cricket Team are simply hilarious. And they do sound so spontaneous. Without taking any credit away from Sanjay Dutt, I would like to add that I often failed to notice Munnabhai when he was sharing the screen with Circuit. Apart from the comedy, Arshad Warsi showed that he can do well in emotional scenes as well. I liked him a loooottttt in the scenes where Munnabhai slaps him and later when he apologizes to him. Arshad Warsi sure came out a winner. I could go on and on and on about him. But I guess I have already written enough.

But all in all Lage Raho was a great experience especially after having watched an awful Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna only a few weeks back. I sure won’t mind watching Lage Raho once more.

Quotes

2006-08-31T23:46:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of quotes, especially the witty ones. Collecting good quotes from the web is one of my hobbies, as geeky as it may sound. But I have a huge collection of quotes. Some of my favourites are;

Living on earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the sun!
Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go!
Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people!
Cigarette: a fire at one end, a fool at the other & a bit of tobacco in between!
Political TV commercials prove one thing: some candidates can tell all their good points & qualifications in just 30 seconds!
Everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise!
A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket & rejoices that the system works!
Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid back!
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best!
Some make things happen; some watch what happens; some wonder what happened!
People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that benjamin franklin said it first!
A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets people's attention!
To err is human. To blame someone else for your errors is even more human!
Theft from a single author is plagiarism. Theft from three or more is research.
One way to make your old car look better is to look up the price of a new model!
The one who says it can't be done shouldn't interrupt the one doing it!
Conscious is being aware of something; conscience is wishing you weren't!
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and, whatever you hit, call it the target!
Math is like love; a simple idea, but it can get complicated.
Logic is an organized way of going wrong with confidence!
Death and taxes are inevitable; at least death doesn't get worse every year.
If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
If you fall in river there is a boat, if you fall in well there is rope, but if you fall in love there is no hope.
Regular naps prevent old age... Especially if you take them while driving.
I believe we should all pay our tax with a smile. I tried - but they wanted cash.
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

University

2006-08-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

Thinking of taking an admission in the University for some Correspondence Course??? Think again!!! Or think of some alternatives… and if you can’t, well… Good Luck!! Because you’ll surely need it in plenty!
I had gone to the university today to take admission for the M.Com Part I correspondence course. And it was terrible. And yet I would like to add, that I was one of the few lucky ones.
I reached the university around 12:45, and after standing in the line for 45 minutes, we came to know that all the photocopies needed to be attested. We didn’t know where to get attestation in the university. We decided to ask two people who work there, and luckily for us, they turned out to be extremely helpful. They guided us to the office of one of the Gazette Officers (or something to that effect) who gave us attestation within minutes, understanding that we were supposed to be queuing for the admission. We thought the difficult part was over. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. After standing in the line for half an hour, we were transferred to a huge hall, where all the students seeking admission for M.Com Part I and II were separated into around 10 lines. And if you think, we sailed through the rest of the admission process within minutes, well…. we didn’t!
It was 2:15 or so in the afternoon and the line was hardly moving forward. We were queuing for the verification of the Photocopies of mark sheets et al with the originals. So understandably, it was taking quite some time. But we had no energy to stand there for hours. But unfortunately we had no choice.
After long waiting, we were informed that the original of the Ration Card was also required along with the copies and my friend didn’t have that. We were about to leave the hall thinking of coming again the next day! But my friend decided to seek help from one of the persons sitting on the counters. And again fortunately for us, he willingly helped us. We were back in the queue.
4‘O clock and the people sitting on the counter announced they were closing the counters, asking people to come again the next day. There was an uproar among the people, and understandably so! Looking at the people’s outrage, the university staff decided to stay put.
We had been standing in the queue for 4 hours when we finally reached the verification counter. The verification, stamping etc was over. We were supposed to go to another room to submit the Demand Draft along with the admission forms. And suddenly, somebody declared that the staff collecting the DDs and forms had closed the room and headed home. We didn’t have the energy to even imagine coming back again the next day and standing in the queue for another 5 hours. Luckily, the man we had talked to earlier, asked some people to open the room again and collect the forms of all those who were through with the Verification stage. It was complied with, and we were finally out of the university, with our I-Cards in hand, by 6:45!!!
A long day indeed!

Incredible India

2006-07-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Ever since I went to Munnar, this one thought about the tourism industry of India has been lingering in my mind. India is blessed with a diverse topography. Be it deserts, or snow-clad mountains. Be it beautiful beaches, or dark forests. Be it heritage sites or pilgrimage sites. You name it and India has it. Equally diverse is the fine cuisine of India, which has started receiving considerable amount of attention from foreign countries, in the recent past. Every state in the country has a variety of food specialties to offer, which are completely different from each other and yet equally delicious. Why is it then, that other Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia are preferred over India by foreign tourists? Why is the tourism industry of India not as developed as these countries? Why do even Indians, willing to spend fortunes on tours, prefer to spend their money in other countries?

One of the major drawbacks could be the Marketing. In this day and age, marketing plays a vital role in any industry, be it manu-facturing or a service industry. We often hear of bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai, promoting the tourism of a particular region, like Kerala. We often see advertisements, advising people to “Go Goa”… But how often do we see advertisements inviting people to India as a whole? Very rarely. India has a lot to offer as a “whole package” tourist destination. For a developing economy like ours, an industry like tourism can be very important from the point of view of Foreign Exchange, and whatever revenue is earned through this industry will only be helpful.
Another thing, that can be the reason for putting off tourists, is the poor maintenance of tourist spots, all over the country. To add to this, the roads in most parts of the country, even in the Financial Capital of India – Mumbai, are in a lousy state. And the situation isn’t too different in other states either. The traffics in most cities are poorly organized. In quite a few cities, it makes you wonder whether such a thing as Traffic Rules or Signals exists at all.
India boasts of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal. But how well is it maintained, especially the area surrounding it? The “Heaven on Earth” Kashmir… another ultimate tourist spot. But recently, the terrorist activities have started taking a toll on the tourism in Kashmir, which depends on this industry to a great extent.
A little improvements here and there, especially in the basic requirements of tourism, like roads & infrastructure, could go a long way. After all, no one can resist this country blessed with diverse environmental glory, which believes in “Atithi Devo Bhava”!!!

Munnar Magic

2006-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Around 2 months back, I had the chance to go to Munnar (a gorgeous little place in Kerala) and it was truly love at first sight! It was, hands down, the most beautiful place I have ever been to!Munnar is set at an altitude of 5000 to 8000 feet above sea level in the Idukki district of Kerala. Its temperature usually varies between 0° C to 25° C. Munnar is located about 162 KMs from Madurai and 248 KMs from Coimbatore. I reached Munnar from Bangalore. It took us around 11-12 hours in a bus. The journey didn’t start off on the best of the notes as there was a huge mix-up about our bus tickets. We had to spend 2 boring hours half waiting for the bus and half worrying whether we will be able to go to Munnar at all! Finally the bus came and the ticket mix-up was cleared. I got in the bus, very happy, only to find it was simply impossible to fall asleep (in the night journey) in my broken-down seat which completely refused to recline back. In the morning around 8, we reached a place called Palani in Tamilnadu, where we were transferred to a very uncomfortable bus, in which we were supposed to travel for 3-4 hours through ghats.
Everybody was completely exhausted. But as we started going higher up the altitude, the beautiful scenery outside absolutely compensated for that.By the time we reached Munnar, none of us even remembered that we were feeling very tired at some point of time. Everything around was breath-takingly beautiful. Munnar is primarily full of tea plant-ations… everywhere you look, you’ll find mountains covered in lush-green tea plantations, and hovering over it is stunning mist! Till the afternoon the climate was pleasant. But in the evening, there was a fine drizzle, which made the weather pretty cold. (It was a very happy moment for me since it hardly ever goes below 12° C in Mumbai) We were lucky enough to be there in the very 3-4 April days when it rains. We were in Munnar for 3 days, but it definitely wasn’t enough. Well I guess you’d prefer it if I shut up and let you enjoy the beautiful pictures, so I’ll do just that!
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These two photos were taken at an interval of less than a minute, one after the other! Yet notice the difference in the mist that gathered in no time.

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Eravikulam National Park, Munnar; which is the only park in southern region to house Wild Goats (Nilgirithars, as they are called over there - seen in the picture).

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Boy... this place definitely isn't enough to capture the Munnar Magic!