ud4u

Waiting List

2011-10-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

The long awaited vacation was supposed to start from 21st Oct. Two weeks at home with old friends and family. Everything seems to be shaping up fine. Except for the fact that my tickets were not confirmed. Even though i had booked it 75 days before the journey it was stuck at heart breaking 1WL. It did not move and the charts were prepared and there I was with holidays in my hand and still can't do anything but wait. I also had Tatkal tickets for 22nd morning/evening and also 23rd morning/evening. But none of them even came close to getting confirmed.
Finally sense prevailed and at 4am on 22nd Oct decided to book the flight tickets for Monday 24th as that was the cheapest ticket(9000) available. The 22nd 23 rd were more than 15K...!!!
Even while booking that ticket I had my heart in my mouth when the transaction looked to got failed as the amount was deducted but the ticket did not come to my account. Called customer care twice and finally got that elusive ticket to home
For the first time in my life now I am waiting for the Monday to come...!!!

Impossible is Nothing

2010-02-25T00:48:00.000-08:00

On 24th Feb I was supposed to be on train from Trichy To Howrah but thanks to some late thinking I got on board on 20th itself(and missed the 1st match completely)... When I saw the result of the 1st match that India won by 1 run I was blaming myself why did i change my schedule to miss such a close match... But after witnessing the history off Sachin's bat i could not have been happier...

When i woke up on 24th morning i saw my nephew cutting his birthday cake and i wanted the day to be memorable for him... God what a day it was...!!!

By the time i started the tv, Sachin was already on 15 off 10... When i saw him hitting a four in the covers i knew he was going to score big... But this big...!!!

Mamta Bennerjee was presenting the Railway Budget in Lok Sabha and no one cared to watch or remember it when the master was at work...

When Sachin hit a four off Kallis he had something to say to him... Tendulkar didnt utter a word... He hit the next ball over Kallis head for another four...

One PJ:
Why is Sachin not on Twitter..??
140 is not enough for him...:)

(P.S. - Bikku u should have come with us... am sorry 4 u, how could u not watch such an inning... )

Memories : The window

2009-06-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

Those were the days when I was in Ranchi and stayed at the famous(or infamous) "Badshah Lodge". Badshah Lodge is one one of the oldest and biggest student lodge in Ranchi. It was nothing lessthan a fort where everyone had to report by 7.00 pm. Those who failed to report were punished like prisoners. Sometimes when the warden's mood was good the late comers were made to stand outside for hours.

Under these circumstances I managed to stay there for two years without a single punishment like that. It is not that i always followed the rules and was one of the ideal students. But somehow i always managed to escape.

Badshah Lodge had four main blocks namely -- Main Building, White House, Madhuvan and the New Block. My room was in Main Building but most of my friends were in White House. One such room was White House - 3. This room was like our "Adda". We always gathered there despite it was very near to the office. We were very unsatisfied and angry because of the 7.00 pm rule. There was window in this room which was one of its kind in the entire hostel. It directly opened outside the premises of the lodge. I am not sure whose idea was it but it was nevertheless a brilliant one.

We planned to remove each rod in that window just like many Bollywood jail scenes. Since the wood on the sides were already rotten it did not take much effort to remove them. Then it became a new opening for us to the outside world. We hardly knew how Ranchi looked after 7 so this came as a greatest gift to us. There are many memories of this window and the one that comes first to my mind is the night match that we played. It was a six overs Tournament that was being organized at a nearby ground(Gudri Maidan) under lights. One of the funny rule in the tournament was a batsman was given out for hitting a SIX. Though we lost the match on the last ball of the inning it was memorable since it was the 1st time that we played a match under lights and this all became possible due to that window.

And There Were None

2009-06-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

"And There Were None" is another thriller by Agastha Christie...
A short novel about a series of masterclass murders based on the nursery rhyme of the ten little Indians who went on an island..
The rhyme goes like this...

Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier boys going in for law;
One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

All the murders resemble to the rhyme.. The novel is very fast paced except for the first few chapters. The end is spectaculraly unexpected.
The novel has also been published and filmed under the title Ten Little Indians. It is Christie's best-selling novel with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery and the seventh most popular book in all time.
Read more about the book here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_then_there_were_none

Unexpected, unpredicted, unprecedented, unbelievable...

2009-05-18T02:01:00.000-07:00

Unexpected, unpredicted, unprecedented, unbelievable... all these words were repeated millions of times on 16th May'09 when the results of the Lok sabha elections started to unfold.

Today in India there are more than two hundred 24x7 news channels and all these channels conducted their own Exit polls and there was not a single channel which did NOT predict a hung parliament. After the results they all remained silent about their failure to predict people choice.

I have made an observation about these exit polls. Before the EVMs were introduced in India the exit polls more or less correctly reflected the actual result. But since 2004 Parliament polls when the EVM was first used nation wide all the exit polls failed miserably and this time it was no different. There can be many reasons for this but i dont know why but i always get silly feeling about the EVMs.

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

2009-05-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

Recently i read this book "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life"
by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins.

This book is Lance Armstrong's story, how he conquered all the adveseries in life including cancer to win the Tour de France. After reading the book i have no doubt about why he is considered the best athelete ever.

The greatest thing i learned from the book was that "Every adversity brings even bigger opportunity".

Somewhere in the book Lance's mother says:
"If you are going to get anywhere, you're going to have to do it yourself, because no one is going to do it for you. If you can’t give 110 percent, you won't make it."

I would like to quote some sentences from the book.
'Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.'
If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell.
Winning is about heart, not just legs. It's got to be in the right place.
Without the illness I would never have been forced to re-evaluate my life and my career. I know if I had not had cancer, I would not have won the Tour de France.
The truth is, if you ask me to choose between winning the Tour de France and cancer, I would choose cancer. Odd as it sounds, I would rather have the title of cancer survivor than winner of the Tour, because of what it has done for me as a human being, a man, a husband, a son, and a father.

MESS AND PRIVATIZATION

2008-10-02T02:53:00.000-07:00

Today was another day of HIGH for the mess...!!

Few days back a new menu has been put up for us, the menu which is supposed to be a guidline for the minimum variety of food that has to be served to the students, is being followed so strictly that if the people who drew the menu forgot to mention even the smallest of thing like sugar in it the mess people are refusing to give it. This is exactly what happemed in mess today. They say its not mentioned in the menu so we will not give. Then why are you giving salt or even water which is not mentioned in the menu. The curd is so soury that it is almost impossible to take it without sugar.

By the way menu as a whole sucks, at lunch if they are providing salad they will not give any sidedish, we are supposed to eat chapati with “daal”. Dog rice is a common term that everyone refers to “Veg biryaani”. There are many more examples but i dont want people reading this to get bored.

This is my seventh year on the trot away from home and i had never felt so frustrated from mess food. Three years in Ranchi where i stayed at the Badshah Lodge, the mess there was so cheap that we had to pay just Rs.7 for each meal. The food there too was horrible but i have to accept that it was far better then what is served here. In Jamshedpur too, the food was cheaper and better then what we are eating here. Even the food that silly Sardar's mess gave was better, i am not exaggerating yaar it is all true.

If you think PRIVATISATION is the answer for all the govt miseries THINK AGAIN. Till last year we were eating in govt mess where the quality was better and we never had to worry for the quantity now in the name of privatisation we are eating what is even worse then what prisoners eat ....!!!

Add two numbers without arithmatic operators

2008-09-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

/*
Below is one more way to add two numbers without the arithmetic operators.
This method makes use of the asterisk(*) field width specifier in the printf function and use the returned value from printf.
Here the printf statement is given with field width operator in format, and the two numbers are given as argument for field widths,
hence we are printing a total width of two given integer arguments.
The printf function returns the number of characters printed, and here the total number of characters printed will be sum of a and b.
The third and fifth arguments are zero length strings because it only needs to print the total width of two integers.
Note that this method only works for unsigned integers.
*/
unsigned add1(unsigned a, unsigned b){
return printf("%*s%*s", a, "", b,"");
}

THE MIDDLE FINGERED ASSASIN

2008-08-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yes i'm talking about Mendis, the man who destroyed the famous Indian batting line up like no one had ever done. Not even Mcgrath, Warne or Ambrose or even Donald at their peaks were able to torment the “fab four” for an entire series. Yes they have also troubled them but one or the other always rose to the occasion to resque. Not this time, there was no relief for them with Murali operating at the other end with equal precision.

“The middle fingered assasin” as he is better known these days made his debut in the series took 26 wickets a record and was rightly awarded the man of the series. He single-handedly turned the tide in Sri Lanka's favour. In the end he proved to be the difference between the sides. He never allowed the batsmen to feel at home this was evident from the way he broke the dangerous looking Laxman-Dravid partnership in the 3^rd test.

Even though India lost the series I am happy for one reason that after a long time a bowler has come who atleast for now looks that he will rule the next decade after a decade dominated by batters only. His carrom ball has given a new dimension to spin bowling. I hope he continues performing in the same way but i know all the batters all over the world might have already started to watch the recordings they would be equally eager to demolish him.

08:08:08

2008-08-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

what a date..???
The i-lab server is is playing spoilsport and showing its 9th aug but guys dont get confused its a date that comes only once in a millanium. The chinese consider 08.08:08 as a auspisious number so they decided to celebrate the opening ceremony of the first Olympic games in Asia today. I hope it turns out to be auspicious for me as well and also for India since i have my microsoft internship exams today and Ind-SL series decider is going to start as well.

BARAH KE THATH : ruby champs

2008-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

THE FAMOUS TWELVE of "BARAH KE THATH"

When they named it “barah ke thath“ initially i was little cynical about the name and i thought they could have thought of a better name.but now i can say it “thath se” that barah ke thath was a great idea. now it has become a history.

our journey to the final and then winning the ruby cup could not have been more dramatic. this was the first time that a second year team has won the most talked about and fiercly fought tournament of NIT TRICHY.

THE BATSMEN

THE WINNING MOMENT :

we needed 2 runs of the last 2 ball of the inning to win. shushant was on striker’s end. here comes Shishir with the penultimate ball of the match. the ball was outside the off stump, shushant misses it completely. NO RUN.

now we needed 2 of the last ball of the match to win and 1 to tie. we were all praying for atleast a single. here goes shishir with the last ball of the tournament which will decide the winner (or will it be a tie).
Again the ball is pitched outside off. Again Shushant misses it completley.(oh GOD now what..).

Then Lakra (who was the other batsman) shouted his famous two words “bhaag bhaag”. Manish (the wicket keeper) threw the ball to the bowlers end the bowler fumbles to catch and they complete the run. Then Lakra shouted again “bhaag bhaag”. they were running for the second run. all the fielders were confused and fumbling they complete the run and thus the famous trophy was grabbed from the clutches of defeat.

THE BOWLERS

No state quota in NITs...

2008-06-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey good news for the nittians... There will be no state quota in NITs from this year onwards.
Though 50 percent of the seats are reserved for the local students the other 50% will be through all india basis i.e through the all india rank only.
For more details check this link
http://ccb.nic.in/CCB2008/Newadmissioncriteria01.pdf

THREE BLUNDERS BY CHETAN BHAGAT

2008-06-09T03:37:00.000-07:00

In the novel, Govind did three mistakes in his life but the writer has done three blunders while writing it.

FIRST: In that epic match between IND-AUS at the eden Laxman didn't open the inning in the second inning as written in the novel. He came in to bat at number three.

SECOND: The novels starts in March 2000 and the earthquake came in January 2001 that means less than a year after they (the 3 friends) opened their sports shop, then how come Govind says he saved money for two years for his destroyed shop.

THIRD: The novel starts in early 2000 as already mentioned, the mobile revolution was yet to begin in India then how do the characters in the novel gossip through SMS.

Chetan Bhagat is one my favourite writer and i know the next time he writes he will surely do some more research.

THREE MISTAKES OF (not) MY LIFE

2008-06-07T04:50:00.000-07:00

In a country where one half of the population believes CRICKET as their RELIGION and the other half RELIGION as their BUSINESS, Chetan Bhagat has come up with a novel that talks about CRICKET, RELIGION & BUSINESS. Even one of the three is enough for a novel to guarantee success he has touched all of them in a single 250 page novel.

“THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE” has all the masala of a bollywood blockbuster – romance, friendship and highly dramatic climax but above all he has chosen CRICKET & RELIGION as the driving force in the novel. He has even touched the highly volatile subject of Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujrat and the political game behind all this. Chetan Bhagat is an IIM graduate so it is understandable why he added business as his third driver of the novel.

My favourite character in the novel is ALI. If a batsman can hit 4 sixes in 4 balls even to Fred Li (read Brett Lee) then why should we bother so much to make him able to play a longer inning in this age where twenty20 is the only form of the game people appreciate.

The Govind-Vidya romance has been dealt with great delicacy and the treatment of friendship of the three is even better.

MY DREAM IPL - 11

2008-06-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

THE OPENERS: Tendulkar and Jayasurya.

Just mentioning their names can bring shivers in any bowlers mind. They showed what they could have done if Tendulkar had been fit in the first half of the tournament. They complemnted each other throughout brilliantly. Jayasurya was blasting anything that was pitched in his half whereas Tendulkar was as usual the motivator, the savior and provided the team the much needed stability. His innings against Punjab was one of the best in the IPL while chasing.

MIDDLE-ORDER: Marsh, Rohit Sharma, Dhoni(wk).

Marsh was a revelation in the IPL. He never seemed to be in any trouble against anyone throughout.

Mumbai selectors missed the plot by allowing Sharma to be bought by the Deccans. His batting was as good as it can be. He was standing tall where his higher statured teammates were falling like a pack of cards.

Dhoni was instrumental in leading depeleted Chennai team to the finals.

ALL ROUNDERS: Bravo and Watson.

Both of them can get into any team either as a batsman or a bowler. They do it both. And Boy dont they simply rock !!!

BOWLERS: Pollock, Mcgrath, Pathan, Warne(c).

Pollock and Mcgrath another dream openers. Both with their immaculate accuracy would break into any dream – 11 and in any form of the game.

Pathan was economical and won a couple of close games for Punjab. His batting down the order would provide greater flexibility to the team.

What to say about Warne !! He is the BEST captain that Australia NEVER had.

Well this is MY dream IPL -11. If you think you can make a better dream team please do post your suggestions or team.

ITS KELAMBAKKAM not KALPAKAM

2008-05-31T02:52:00.000-07:00

If you are planning to visit someplace in Tamilnadu just be sure with the name of the place else you too can get into trouble just as i did.

Few days back i and deva had gone to chennai where Deva (my friend) had to consult a doctor. After meeting the doctor we had some time to spare so we thought of going to meet Vicky(my nephew) who is doing his B.Tech at a college near KELAMBAKKAM. I am not very good at remembering names, when Vicky first told me the name ( KELAMBAKKAM ) on the phone i had trouble in pronouncing it but i thought it is COOL and i can remember it. (That was a mistake that i will remember for sure.)

As we (i and Deva) started our journey the name by then had been distorted by us from KELAMBAKKAM to KELABAKKAM to KALBAKAM and we finally hold onto KALPAKAM. We asked a traffic policeman which bus will take us to KALPAKAM he gladly said 37D. We waited at the bus stop for more than half an hour buses came but none of them was 37D. When a 37D came the conductor told it is not going to KALPAKAM. We were frustrated like hell its mid MAY in chennai, the heat and humidity combination was new for me but surely it was not pleasant.

Thankfully few people waiting there told us that we can get bus for KALPAKAM from the other side of the road and in the opposite direction. We finally got the bus after another 15 minutes of waiting. The bus fair was around Rs.30. When we were paying the fair i got an uneasy feeling that we were getting in some sort of trouble. KALPAKAM can't be that far. I had no balance to call so i messaged to Vicky that we have got the bus to KALPAKAM and asked him on which bus stop we should get down. He thankfully called and said that he was staying near KELAMBAKKAM and not KALPAKAM. It will take atleast 2 hours to go to KALPAKAM and another 1 hour from there to MAHABALIPURAM and from there another bus for KELAMBAKKAM . We were already too frustrated by the heat now this ??? We had no idea what to do, i thought of asking someone on the bus how to go to KELAMBAKKAM from the next stop but i was too hesitant to speak. Finally Deva took the initiative and told the gentleman sitting next to him our situation that how we were going to KELAMBAKKAM and got onto a bus to KALPAKAM. That man proved to be like a GOD for us. HE was so helpful that He not only explained to us how we could go to our destination but made us to write every single detail so that we do not get into trouble again. On the next stop He got down with us and He ran to the next bus standing there and explained to the conductor where he should drop us so that we can get a bus KELAMBAKKAM. We thanked HIM and bid HIM goodbye and got on that bus.

When we finally reached KELAMBAKKAM it was 5 in the evening we had started at 1.

U ME AUR HUM

2008-05-31T02:24:00.000-07:00

U ME AUR HUM marks the birth of a powerhouse of talent. Watch U ME AUR HUM for various reasons, but most importantly, watch it for a new director who respects your 2.30 hours and the hard-earned bucks that you invest on watching his movie.

After a long time, finally a movie that has dialogues that people will love to rerun scenes to remember the beautiful and crispy dialogues written by Ashwin Dhir. The following extract is one of many such well crafted examples

Ajay says :

“ actually, problem kabhi insaan se bada nahi hota,insaan hi use bada banate hain;

You know something,

Dil ko dhadkana dhadkane khud hi seekha deti hain

Par un dhadkano ko jinda rakhna padta hai.

Yahi shikhna tha Ajay aur piya ko,yahi sikhna hai hum sab ko.

Hum pyar karte hain apne liye kyunki hame koi achha lagta hai,

Lekin nibhta tab hai jab jaan le ki hume jo achchha lagta hai use kya achha lagta hai.

Dono gam se gujrein ya gujre khushi se; jahaan se bhi gujrein, gujrein apni khushi se.

Kahin padha tha…”

Kajol : “par kisi ne to likha hoga....”

10 WORDS

2008-04-20T02:30:00.000-07:00

Well this is my first blog so i thought it would be nice to talk about the man who has influenced me in more than one way. I had written this paragraph in july’07 during the 1st cycle test.
It was the ENGLISH paper, we were given 10 words to be used in a short paragraph.
Sachin tendulkar, the name itself has become synonymous to records. For almost two decades now the indian batting has revolved around him. In his journey to eternity he has produced innumerable unforgettable innings which has satisfied a nation which does not boast of a great sporting legacy. He was introduced in the international arena at a tender age of 16. Not only on the field but off the field too he has been a true role model. Tendulkar has always chosen to be silent and let his actions speak for him. Many players of the past and present come to consult with the little master. He was instrumental in bringing the team together during the match fixing fiasco. He played the mediating role perfectly during that crisis. He always knew his direction. Though his journey is far from over we all know his name will remain as long as cricket lives. Finally lets wish “the little big man of indian cricket” good luck for his future.