Wednesday, December 06, 2006

7 Mya of (Human) Evolution.......


.....and look where we have reached!

Source: Picked up from livescience.com

Monday, November 27, 2006

Shut the fuck up!

Yes, this is to all those douche bags in the parliament who are asking for the head of the Indian cricket team's coach Greg Chappell. I don't freaking understand why the parliament has to discuss in length about India's recent performance on field when they have a fu&king job of dealing with the huge problems of the country.

After all it is just a freaking game!

I just cannot believe that they are making a big issue out of this!? For goodness sakes, there are shitty problems out there that the country has been facing for a long time now.....and u guys are elected for that exact freaking reason....to try to solve these problems. Please leave the matters of sports and other mundane stuff to those who are in charge of the stuff.

And oh.....a word of advice for the Indian news media....please cover news, that is your job. But please for the sake of the people don't create unnecessary controversies for the sake of ratings and popularity.

And Mr. Chappell, please reconsider the team composition. May be give Laxman another chance!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Two videos you should not miss

First, I came across this documentary about how the mainstream media functions more as a propaganda machine for the U.S. government rather than as an objective news source for the American People. I found the documentary to be a reminder of what i have forgotten about how most of the mainstream media works in the U.S. Please go over to youtube.com, through the links provided below, and watch this brilliant documentary.

Links : Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 .

Second, this video is of Mr. Richard Dawkins reading excerpts from his new book The God Delusion in Lynchburg, VA. The question and answering part of the video is what you need to focus. It is quite interesting and really brings up interesting facts about how some of the "universities" are coming up in America that claim to be authentic universities imparting good education but in reality have a totally different purpose or mission.

Link : RCF

Hope you guys like these videos and will wake up to the reality of biased media.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Dems. are back in action!

Wow....had a wonderful time the whole of y'sday watching the dems. pick-up seats both in the house and the senate. They have taken over the house with a sweep and are one seat away from taking the senate....GO DEMS GO.

Democrats have taken back America and gave it back to truly with whom it belongs.....the people.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Kinda like this quote.....

Came across this quote this morning (woke up really early today, 7 o'clock) on orkut,
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
This indeed is relevant to many things happening in the world today. Especially, over here in the States, where a large section of the public are still under the belief that the Iraq war has got something to with the 9/11 attacks. Relevant also now because of the upcoming general elections for the control of the Congress, people need to effectively use their franchise to bring some sense and direction to the country.

I've never heard this quote before and kinda got stuck at the back of the mind all day. I finally googled for it just a couple of minutes back and found out that it was from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, known as the father of Western philosophy.

People need his kind of philosophy more than ever now.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sunday blabber

Another Sunday, another lazy day for me. As usual went to bed pretty late......well went to bed at around 4:30 this morning........so woke up pretty late as usual. Need to change my schedule, getting really out of hand these days.......damn my thesis for that........the numerous sleepless nights i spent working on my thesis kinda became a habit for me right now. It messed up my whole daily routine. And damn the ICC Champions trophy going on in India right now.....all the matches start around 4 in the morning here........so just can't avoid hitting bed early in the morning.

What else? I have an exam the next Saturday, didn't prepare much for that. So not much to say about that!

And oh.....i have been messing a lot around with the layout of the blog ever since i changed over to the blogger beta. If you have been closely following my blog, you would have noticed a lot of changes to the layout of the blog.....from fonts to colors.....especially changed a lot of my settings of the column on the right. Do let me know what do you think of all the changes.

That is all there to this blabber.......take care of yourselves.

Friday, October 20, 2006

These people aren't delusional........

......they are just plain crazy.

Today, the chairman of the U.S's Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Peter Pace defended the leadership of his boss, Mr. Rumsfled, saying that it was inspired by the higher power.

According to a news article on Yahoo today, he was quoted as saying......
"He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country,"
No one would be alarmed normally if it was a quote attributed to some other Secretary of Defense, but these words are indeed quite significant because of the way the whole administration talked about the war on terror from the beginning. From day one onwards they used words in the biblical sense or terms, like it is a battle between the " good" and the "evil", it is a battle for civilization etc. The President himself is known to be a devout born again Christian and is known to use & take the name of God in his speeches most of the times. He was once alleged to have said this,

''God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq"

To just think that someone at such high and important positions as the President & the Secretary of Defense can talk about the important policy decisions they take are inspired by God or told by God himself is just unforgivable. And we have and are seeing today in the present world how the consequences of such religious fanaticism will unfold into catastrophic disasters like the 9/11 and Iraq war.

I see no difference between the two sides in this war on terror right now. The line is dangerously blurring between them.And when i say both sides, it is interesting to note that all the decisions are being made by a few number of people at the higher echelons of power and in total control, with their own public being either kept in the dark or made to rally behind their cause by the effective use of fear psychosis. Both sides are driven by the belief that what they are doing is right and approved by a higher being.

This reminds me of what Mr. Dawkins said in his BBC documentary the Root of all Evil, something similar to this, in the context of the conflict between the religions, ....
".....the war on terror is not between Evil and Good,as Mr. Bush puts it........it is the battle between two Evils...and who ever wins we loose..."
The sooner the people on the both sides realize this, the better it is for the peace in the world and ultimately for the survival of humanity on this planet.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Yay....this is sure a treasure trove for everyone.....

I just came across this at bbcnews.com and am i excited or what........
The complete works of one of history's greatest scientists, Charles Darwin, are being published online.

The project run by Cambridge University has digitised some 50,000 pages of text and 40,000 images of original publications - all of it searchable.

Surfers with MP3 players can even access downloadable audio files.

The resource is aimed at serious scholars, but can be used by anyone with an interest in Darwin and his theory on the evolution of life.

"The idea is to make these important works as accessible as possible; some people can only get at Darwin that way," said Dr John van Wyhe, the project's director.

So head over to BBCnews.com and read the article first and the head over to this website and bookmark it. It is really a honor for any one on this planet to just go through the work of a genius who came up with arguably the single most idea/theory/fact of all time. I myself am looking forward to go through his works one at a time soon. A big thank you to the University of Cambridge and also to the people involved with this .

And on another note, the new website of Mr. Richard Dawkins is proving to be a wonderful place to share and discuss ideas with people who think rationally and are for a better society and world. Please take time to go through this website too. You won't rue about the time spent there.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Postcard from Space (7)

Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA

Explanation: If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? The Opportunity Rover has captured just that.The distant red horizon is so flat and featureless that it appears similar to the horizon toward a calm blue ocean on Earth. Clouds on Mars can be composed of either carbon dioxide ice or water ice, and can move quickly, like clouds move on Earth.

What a wonderful shot! A priceless picture made possible by the ever expanding limits of science.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Well, this has been expected

According to news just breaking in on cricinfo.com,
Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have both been recalled to Pakistan and will miss the Champions Trophy after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs following an internal Pakistan Cricket Board drugs test. The news comes on the back of an autumn of turbulence for Pakistan cricket, taking in the Oval fiasco, the captaincy saga and the replacement of the head of the board and severely dents Pakistan's chances in the tournament, due to begin tomorrow with a match against Sri Lanka.
This was long due in cricket and had to happen one-day or the other. For too long have the international cricketers escaped the dope tests that have become mandatory in almost all the international sporting events. But with ICC trying hard to make cricket a global game, this wasn't too far away from becoming a regular feature in international cricket. In fact, ICC has done a trail run kinda sorts at the last World Cup in SA by testing players randomly and for the first time they made it official at this time's Champions Trophy.

And the funny thing is that, obviously not so for the millions of Pakistani supporters, the first victims of this whole process were top players from Pakistan! What a nightmare is this year turning to them after such a wonderful start to the season! And the wreck continues......i don't how they are gonna pull themselves out of this rut.

And i won't be surprised if some other players from the participating countries too fall victim of this, 'cause this has been a grey area for cricket for a long time now and many players in the past have escaped the dope test scrutiny.

This whole thing might be a bit painful for cricket lovers around the world, but I'm certain that this will help cricket in the long term.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

655,000+ and counting..........

According to an article in the Washington Post today,
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.

It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.
I just don't know what to say.

If you look at the figure it might look outright erroneous or highly exaggerated but if you look at the report and the way the survey was conducted a sad and devastating truth emerges. Please go through the entire article over here and also watch a clip from CNN that shows an interview with the President of the company that was involved in the survey.

Some of the facts u need to keep in mind: First,
The survey was done by Iraqi physicians and overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are being published online today by the British medical journal the Lancet.
Sample involved....

The survey was conducted between May 20 and July 10 by eight Iraqi physicians organized through Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. They visited 1,849 randomly selected households that had an average of seven members each. One person in each household was asked about deaths in the 14 months before the invasion and in the period after.

The interviewers asked for death certificates 87 percent of the time; when they did, more than 90 percent of households produced certificates.

Cost of the survey...
The survey cost about $50,000 and was paid for by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies.

I don't know how Mr. Bush and members of his administration sleep every night. How can anyone with basic moral values can sleep over something like this? Unless of course you live in a completely different world of your own facts and information. What pains me is that we are allowing this to happen knowing the extent of loss of life.

If these are not crimes........then i suppose every massacre or slaughter is moral in its own right.

Nataraja's problem.....



I really didn't know what to make of it when i came across this video, except for the fact that it is incredibly creative on the part of the team behind this and of course funny!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I'm mad.....

I'm really mad today. Two things really pissed me off today

One, being a veggie i try to get hold of veggie food whenever i go out to eat. Burger King is (was) one of the few joints tht offer veggie burgers and i really like it. Today as usual i went through the drive thru and ordered a BK Veggie expecting it to cost $ 2.21 as usual and to my shock they have increased it to $3.99 in a single week. That's fu&kin' crazy! How can u increase the price of an item by $1.78??????? Damn..........tht is it, I'm never gonna go for a BK Veggie again. It sucks!

Two, the dick head at FOX news Mr. Freak-O'Reilly is stepping up his usual BS and spin on events. Y'sday, i came across a clip on Iraq from his show wherein he ridiculously claimed that Iran is stepping up violence in Iraq so as to influence the November Polls. wtf!? Why the hell in the world would they want to influence the elections? Does it really matter for them if the democrats are in control? And he repeated this claim again last night and added that North Korea's nuclear test was also part of the plan to influence the coming elections! No wonder his ratings are spiraling down....

Mood: Extremely pissed off.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Breaking News: North Korea goes Nuclear

According to BBCnews,

North Korea says it has carried out its first ever test of a nuclear weapon, the state news agency has reported.

It said the underground test, done in defiance of international warnings, was a success and had not resulted in any leak of radiation.

A South Korean official said an explosion had been detected in the north-east of North Korea, measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale.


Hmmmm....this is interesting then. So we are in for some wonderful days ahead of us. Have to see what the response of Mr. "Monkey" Bush is goign to be....

"Freak" show!


Something should be done pretty soon about the way "fashion" shows operate. They cannot let the models become like this .........it's sick and crazy! These models set a very bad example to the teenagers.....and that is dangerous. These kinda shows or models who take part in them in lot of ways promote the serious problem of 'eating disorder' seen among young people.

A Spanish fashion show recently rejected models who were skinny and i think this should set a precedent for the other shows to follow. Anorexia shouldn't be promoted as something that is cool.

Photo: A model presents a creation for French fashion house Guy Laroche as part of their Spring/Summer 2007 ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris October 7, 2006. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE)

A first....

Well another lazy Sunday and I've logged into my PC this afternoon and came across this ( if the link doesn't work then chk the oct 8's Views section article abt Younis Khan) over at my blog's site meter. This brings up a few things....
  • Either people in the media back home do read blogs quite often or they just seem to have a good blogsearch engine.
  • It was really cool of Mumbai Mirror to give importance and place for the views of bloggers on their digital edition.We appreciate this as bloggers. I don't know whether they do this on their print edition....hope somebody in Mumbai clears this for me.
  • This is a first of sorts for my blog and I'm thrilled................. :)
  • And, finally something should be done abt the way Pakistani Cricket operates.
And on a different note, my job search is still going on and it kinda is a boring thing to do. Phew!
Hopefully this week might be the lucky week for me. Keeping my fingers crossed!

P.S.: Btw.......for those who haven't figured out what the initial link is all about, my blog is the fourth article featured on that page.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

A wreck called Pakistani cricket

Pakistan's cricket is in more than one way has always been, and still is, a direct reflection of the country's own chaotic history. Turbulent, chaotic, directionless, and a catastrophic disaster waiting to happen most of the times......... but nevertheless with glimpses of promise here and there.

The latest chaos just before an important cricketing event like the Champions trophy brings forward the deep rooted problems of the whole cricket setup of Pakistan. Player indiscipline and the big star egos have been long dogging its system. Moreover, regular takeovers from the consecutive governments have added to its ever increasing miseries. At one time i remember the cricket team having at least 6 or 7 players who were past captains and that too in a span of less than three or four years between them. But in spite of all this, I have always been amazed at the raw talent that the Pakistani cricket always produced, and that in a way made me to respect and admire their team despite of the fact that they being our arch sporting rivals.

As i sit down to write this post, another news breaks on cricinfo.com saying that Younis Khan was reinstated as the captain and their newly appointed assistant coach was sacked following the resignation of their board president! All this in a span of two days after the resignation of the newly appointed stand in captain....Younis Khan. Phew......

Maybe it's quite difficult to understand the complex politics of their board for an outsider like me. But, it is quite clear that the message they send to the rest of the world has always been that of utter chaos and disorder.

I hope that they will somehow find their strength and purpose as a team and deliver the results that their cricket fanatic countrymen would be expecting from them.

Friday, October 06, 2006

So true.......

Someone on one of my orkut communities led me to this link. It's an article written by Richard Dawkins in the British newspaper The Guardian about the U.S. & U.K's invasion of Iraq and why it is totally a misconceived operation. Man wasn't he right on back then......

Osama bin Laden, in his wildest dreams, could hardly have hoped for this. A mere 18 months after he boosted the US to a peak of worldwide sympathy unprecedented since Pearl Harbor, that international goodwill has been squandered to near zero. Bin Laden must be beside himself with glee. And the infidels are now walking right into the Iraq trap.

There was always a risk for Bin Laden that worldwide sympathy for the US might thwart his long-term aim of holy war against the Great Satan. He needn't have worried. With the Bush junta at the helm, a camel could have foreseen the outcome. And the beauty is that it doesn't matter what happens in the war.

Imagine how it looks from Bin Laden's warped point of view...

If the American victory is swift, Bush will have done our work for us, removing the hated Saddam and opening the way for a decent Islamist government. Even better, in 2004 Bush may actually win an election. Who can guess what that swaggering, strutting little pouter-pigeon will then get up to, and what resentments he will arouse, when he finally has something to swagger about? We shall have so many martyrs volunteering, we shall run out of targets. And a slow and bloody American victory would be better still.

The claim that this war is about weapons of mass destruction is either dishonest or betrays a lack of foresight verging on negligence. .....................


Continue to read on the rest of the article, it brilliantly & rightly puts in the flaws in the U.S. electoral system that made Bush the President in the first place.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Thursday, September 28, 2006

What is today's word?

Y'sday on the "The Colbert Report", Stephen Colbert forgot today's word. But he was able to finally remember the word with a little help from Bill Clinton and you you know what!? he was also able to blame Clinton for that.

:)


Find it out here........

Source: crooksandliars.com/Comedycentral

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Postcard from Space (6)

Well, it's been a while since i did this. So, here it is again.....another postcard from space. This time it is our own planet's pic. from a Saturn orbiting spacecraft Cassini. Earth is the pale blue dot in this image and is shown expanded in the image inset.



Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

And here is Jon's take.....

And y'sday night was Jon's turn to explore the Clinton vs FOX episode along with the ever funny Samantha Bee and as usual........he was funny and spot on.....

Watch it here!

".................Really!?.....Who the fu@k are you?..............."

Hilarious.

Source: crooksandliars.com/Comedycentral

Monday, September 25, 2006

Why can't the rest of the American media be like this?

As i said Dr. 'drax, here goes our Keitho!

".................Chris Wallace is a monkey posing as a newscaster..................."

AWEsome!

:D

People, please do start watching his show.

Source: crooksandliars.com / MSNBC

Liars, damn liars....

This afternoon on PBS's The Charlie Rose Show Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett was defending her country's involvement in the on going Iraq war by making the usual false arguments about how Saddam posed a threat to the world and all that kinda BS.

That is not what bothered me about this interview, after all what can we expect from them? We can't expect them to come out saying that....Yes, we screwed up the whole thing. We went in for the oil and got stuck in a shit hole of our own making, right!? What bothered me is that they keep thinking that by blatantly lying time and time again, they can alter history. That they can change how people will view this after some years or generations.

For example, take this statement she made during the course of the interview, ".........Every country in the world believed that Saddam had WMDs........"

What!?

No we didn't. Not even the IAEA believed this. If you take the statement of that Agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei's March 7, 2003 presentation to the U.N. Security Council on the progress of the inspection effort in Iraq, he had this to say.....

At this stage, the following can be stated:

One, there is no indication of resumed nuclear activities in those buildings that were identified through the use of satellite imagery as being reconstructed or newly erected since 1998, nor any indication of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any inspected sites.

Second, there is no indication that Iraq has attempted to import uranium since 1990.

Three, there is no indication that Iraq has attempted to import aluminum tubes for use in centrifuge enrichment. Moreover, even had Iraq pursued such a plan, it would have encountered practical difficulties in manufacturing centrifuge out of the aluminum tubes in question.

Fourth, although we are still reviewing issues related to magnets and magnet-production, there is no indication to date that Iraq imported magnets for use in centrifuge enrichment program.

As I stated above, the IAEA will naturally continue further to scrutinize and investigate all of the above issues.

After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapon program in Iraq.

We intend to continue our inspection activities, making use of all additional rights granted to us by Resolution 1441 and all additional tools that might be available to us, including reconnaissance platforms and all relevant technologies.

We also hope to continue to receive from states actionable information relevant to our mandate.

I should note that in the past three weeks, possibly as a result of ever-increasing pressure by the international community, Iraq has been forthcoming in its cooperation, particularly with regard to the conduct of private interviews and in making available evidence that could contribute to the resolution of matters of IAEA concern. I do hope that Iraq will continue to expand the scope and accelerate the pace of its cooperation.


The only skepticism he expressed was regarding the uncertainties related with Iraq's past record on cooperation for weapons inspection program. But he also added that the Iraqis have been cooperating well with the agency.

It's high time that the Bush and Blair Administrations should stop lying to the world about their historic screwup in Iraq.

Subtle

That is what editorial cartoons are all about.

Source: Bill Day, Comics, Yahoo.

A new name

A new name for my blog.

A new beginning.

Out of the theistic insanity that dogs the world today, the atheistic views have strengthened in me and a sense of inner sanity has started to take hold inside me. Thus, the title.

I hoped one of you might suggest an appropriate title for this blog, not many responses in this direction up till now......so i went ahead with my own. :-)

And also, Mr. Richard Dawkins has set up a charity to promote & contribute to more of atheistic thinking around the world. Here is the web site. It's a treasure-trove for rationale and scientific minds around the world. Do check it out.


Sunday, September 24, 2006

Ass Kicking.....Clinton style

It was a big FUCK YOU to FOX and its neocon. correspondents on it from Bill Clinton. On FOX news Sunday today he was interviewed by Chris Wallace and man did he get some ass kicking from Mr. Clinton or not.

Watch this for the interview.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Blogger beta is really good

Been a month since i switched over to the blogger beta and I'm really impressed by the new tools it has.

Customized my template today and I'll tell you what, it's amazingly simple to maintain the whole structure of your blog. Try it, i recommend it. But don't forget to save your old template first, in case you mess up the style and structure.

Following up on yesterday's post, Ben Sargent is an amazing political cartoonist. Check this out. Wow....it's been really a while since i followed any political cartoons. But this man has surely re-ignited my curiosity in them.

Wonderful.


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Brilliant, spot on and damn funny.

Man....how did i miss this all these years.

Source: Ben Sargent, Comics, Yahoo.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Fortune sucks....

Having a lot of 'free' time these days, has made me to do more of the useless stuff that i generally do on the weekends.......everyday.

I have been spending a lot of time these days mostly doing stuff that would do no good, one of these is spending an hour daily on the social community network 'orkut'. Well if any of you are still untouched by this annoyingly addictive place on the Internet.....please stay away. It's really hard to stay away from, especially if you have a lot of time on hand and a high speed Internet connection.

Okay....now back to the theme of this post. One of the reasons i look forward to log in daily on to the orkut is due to a single line- Today's Fortune. Though i have stopped believing in this kinda stuff a long long time back, my curiosity kinda made me to look forward to reading what it had for me everyday. Damn my curiosity. And in a way....it has been telling me quite rosy and positive fortunes.....of course they never turn out to be true for obvious reasons.....most of the times that is.

But you folks know what it showed me today........
You are next in line for promotion in your firm
I'm still applying for jobs and it says I'm the next in line for promotion. Damn.....fortune really sucks.

Phew.....done. Just wanted to post something...... :)

Monday, September 11, 2006

5 years after.....

....people haven't still realised the real danger of religious fanaticism....it continues to grow unabated on the both sides of the fence.

Live and let live.

Peace.

The following song has never been more relevant than now......

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

-- John Lennon

Sunday, September 10, 2006

MADtv Real ********* Talk: Thanksgiving

This isn't for people who don't like shit. So beware....

Another blabering...

Hmmm...it's been a long time since i had anything to post over here. I'm kinda messed up right now......haven't been doing much with my life after graduation. Should have searched more aggressively for jobs....but didn't for like 20 days now. Need to start working on this more.

That is it, not much going on. A couple of friends of mine met with a terrible accident involving cars, they are recuperating from serious injuries. Really was worried abt them initially....now it looks like they are going to make it. I'm really hoping and wishing for their recovery.Please do the same, if you guys could do that.

What else? I've been watching this incredible docu. series by Jonathan Miller, that was shown on the BBC last year, on the history of disbelief. Really awesome. Do catch it, if you can.......over here. It's a three part series. Do watch it.

While I'm writing this post, I'm also listening to BBC world service online. And their weekly program on religion is on and this gentleman, who is a Kenyan evangelical Bishop, comes on air arguing that a exhibit showing the evolutionary findings in Kenya should not be allowed cause it promotes a "theory" that contradicts Christianity. WTF??? This is becoming crazy....now we aren't allowed to exhibit scientific findings as facts cause they go against some religious crap? Come on......guys we need to take this more seriously, else the day may not be far away when science itself might be considered blasphemous.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Steve Irwin is dead.

Went for a walk in the University, came bck and saw this on BBC. This is really terrible and what a sad way to die. I just am short of words to describe my feelings right now.

Really sad day. I really luved this guy and his programs on animal planet were really unique.

My deep condolences to Terry Irwin and family.

:-(

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Keitho blasts Rummy

Please do watch this piece of journalism.

I think it's high time that the rest of the main stream media start asking this pathetic administration some tough questions. They should be held accountable for what is happening now in Iraq and the rest of the world.

Source: crooksandliars.com

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Sunday, August 27, 2006

Leaving the Egg behind.

I was a vegetarian by birth. In a way everyone is a vegetarian by birth right!?

No......wait.

What if your mom is a non-vegetarian? Then you by virtue of getting the energy from her.....inside the womb.....will also be a non-vegetarian. Twisted logic aye......

Anyways coming back to me, when i was 5 0r 6 (I'm not sure) following the advice of my doctor uncle, i was converted into an egg-etarian by my parents. To be frank, my body was somehow not a big fan of egg and egg based products....even into my late teens. I used to end up with high fever & heavy phlegm if i had too much of egg, in whatever form it might be. But over the last half decade, egg became a regular part of my diet. Especially luved the Chinese egg fried rice.

But, all of a sudden.....roughly a week back i decided to drop egg from my diet. I don't know why! It's like all of a sudden my mind ordered me to become a vegetarian again. May be this has to do something with my decision or may be my strengthening atheistic thinking these days might be the reason. I'm not sure. But i believe both may have their own parts leading to my decision.

But, I'm sure of this though, i have left the egg behind.

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Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Incoherent

incoherent (adj.)
  1. Lacking cohesion, connection, or harmony; not coherent: incoherent fragments of a story.
  2. Unable to think or express one's thoughts in a clear or orderly manner: incoherent with grief.
Two examples that showcase this.......volunteering for us is non other than the current President of the U.S.A......... Mr. Bush.

Here and also here.

The later is comedic to say the least.

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Monday, August 21, 2006

A legend passes away.

Ustad Bismillah Khan: A legend in his own right.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Addendums

Well it has been a while since i updated my blogroll, so here i go again. Today I'm adding two more bloggers whose posts i have been reading for a while.

1) Shuuro -- reading his blogs for a while now. He is into the NGO thing pretty seriously. And i do hope that u guys are going to find it interesting, as i did,....the stuff he and his colleagues are doing bck in Hyderabad.

2) Vikram -- tries his best to make some sense to us of his world.

Interesting folks these two are.

( I hope they don't mind.)

:)

Friday, August 18, 2006

My blogs....

OK...let me tell this straight away. When i first started blogging, way back in September-October 2004, i wasn't sure of what this is all about. I wasn't even sure (or to be frank aware) of the difference between a blog and a post. I just knew tht one cld maintain online diaries and write whatever sane or insane things he cld make or think of. Tht's how i started blogging.....my first blog(s) being on rediff.com.

Actually, i started out with two separate blogs.......one being " My Blogs" and the other one titled as "Kaleidoscope". I hardly posted anything on those blogs......at the maximum three to five. Then came the 'turning' point.....the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections.....being a natural democrat from the beginning (don't ask me why?.......i wanted Gore to badly win the 2000 elections) and seeing how Mr. Bush was screwing up the whole world, i wanted Kerry to win the elections. Alas, it was not to be. I was really upset that close to 49-50 % of people in this country still deemed it fit to give this monkey a second term. This resulted in my first blog on over here........ "Result-2004". And nearly two years down the lane and after 116 blogs, here i'm ....still blogging and finishing up my 117th.

Thanks for reading and leaving u re opinions over here. I really appreciate that.

And....now to the main reason behind all this blah blah......I'm thinking of changing the title of my blog. I've resisted changing this up till now 'cause i was too....how to say....orthodox to change it as i was kinda got used to it. Call me old fashioned....this is how I'm.

Anyways, wht do you guys think? Shld i change the title....or keep it as it is......? Suggestions are always welcome.

Done.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Blogger's new beta version

Blogger has launched a new beta version. Not many changes right away, but i think they are going to introduce them one by one before it goes out into a full version.

Try it out. Looks cool. I'm still going through the whole thing and might take sometime to learn abt the new features.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

A heavy dose of patriotism on August 15th.



Hope the land continues to prosper for the greater gud of the world.

Peace.

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Done.

Submitted my thesis to the school y'sday.

Phew....one major load has been lifted. Now i have to start searching for a job. The search begins.....errr in a couple of days.

Oh...and the graduation ceremony went well. Relished every bit of it.

:)

I'm pretty excited right now and hopefully will land up with a gud job soon. I'm not supposed to start on it at least by second week of October.

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Saturday, August 12, 2006

What a wierd opening score for a hollywood movie?



Rahman da best....... :)

Desi dudes got a shock of their life over here when they went to watch this movie.

:)

Saturday, August 05, 2006

An update

I have applied for "in absentia" graduation. This means that I'm going to get ten more days from today to submit my thesis to my school over here.

Making some sort of progress.....everything is going fine. Hopefully everything to be done by the 14th of this month. The gud part is that I can take my graduation walk for this semester and can start on my job search soon. I'll jst receive my degree coming December...but I'm as gud as any graduate student coming out this semester. So no problemos for now. :)

So wht else? Been a while since I posted a serious post. Will surely write some as soon as I'm done with this stuff.

Well the world is bck to its stable state of chaos......once again ha! Israel is bombing the hell out of Lebanon.....Hezbollah is retaliating....America is turning a blind eye to the whole situation. The rest of the world is standing to the side....staring helplessly at the crisis in the middle east.

American mainstream media (MSM) is going crazy over the "end of the world" and "rapture" bullshit....... here we go again...these fucking 24 hr media outlets never change.

By the way.....the heat over here at TX is damn hot this year........and it is raining like hell bck home in Hyderabad. Global Warming.......?

Who cares?

Not Bush and his GOP cronies. Hope some changes occur in the coming elections.

Hope.


Huh!?

Wht the hell was this all abt.....where did i start and where did i end?

Damn....need to complete this thesis thing soon.....

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Test poll

Jst came across this site today.

So i'm trying this website........u re feed bck helps.

:)

And oh.....don't forget to vote.

Did u like Shyamalan's "lady in the Water"?
Luved it!
Liked it!
Was O.K.
Poor
Sucked
Web Polls by Vizu


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Saturday, July 22, 2006

WOW.....Mr. Shyamalan has done it again....

LADY IN THE WATER

Jst came bck from watching the last show..........YAY a first for me with Night's movies.

Got to say this.......if u go in with an open mind....u'll luv this movie. If u can't do tht, then this movie isn't for u. In fact, u won't be able to relish any of his movies.

I luved this movie. Everything i was expecting of was there in it. But, it's really a different and a weird movie from his last four...........and is also quite funny in parts.

Actually, i want to write everything abt it right here.....but i don't want to spoil it for u.......not that there are any 'twists' in this . It's better if u watch it without knowing anything specific abt the plot.....tht way u wld certainly enjoy and appreciate it more.

Don't read any previews or watch any of those clips, tht will take some fun out of it.

Mr. Shyamalan's greatness lies in the fact tht, u will always come out of the theater feeling gud abt yourself and everything around you. It is no different with this movie too.

I'm waiting for his next........tht's for sure.

:)

P.S. :
I really forgot abt it earlier......screw u critics....for saying tht Shyamalan's part is self-indulgent. Not at all.....i found it quite likeable.

Friday, July 21, 2006

In a quandary...

Well, let me come to the gud part first.......I successfully defended my thesis......YAY!

But, here is the catch.....i'm not really satisfied with my results......and am thinking really abt doing the data analysis part all over again. The price i have to pay........may be a loss of two to three months.....which really isn't a big deal if u look at the bigger picture. So i'm still going crazy over this part.....will keep u updated.

:)

Now the annoying part. I'm really annoyed tht most of the so called movie 'critics ' are panning Shyamalan's new movie....... Lady In The Water......even before it's release!

Well, the real problem is tht most people don't get his movies.......everytime they expect a 'twist'. But his movies aren't abt the 'twists'......they are more than that. The twists are jst like an icing over a cake.

His movies are all abt the wonderful art of storytelling, which very few directors, through out the history of movie making, really had. He is one of those gifted and talented directors, who everytime brings an original story to the screen. His direction is immaculate. His choice of cast outstanding........and always has the wonderful James Newton Howard composing the background.

Anyways, planning to watch the movie 'morrow.

Hopefully, will write abt it........if i have enough time to do tht..... :)

And one more thing.....if u want to enjoy the real beauty of cinema , go and watch this movie. I bet.....u won't regret it.

Update: Came across this a little while bck on ign.com ...... cool link. Enjoy the virtual tour. :)

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Phew.......

I have submitted my first thesis draft to my committee today. Phew......at least done with a major part of my work load on road to my graduation. Never thought that thesis writing would be this hard.

The past three to two months have been real hectic for me. I've never worked these many hours for anything in my life.

Still a lot left to do for me.......on my thesis front. Need to complete my work on the appendices by Monday....and have a mock presentation too on that day to prepare for.

So here i go again....

Saturday, July 08, 2006

A picture.

A victim of war.


A Shia Iraqi woman, her face smeared with blood, hears that her son has died in fighting in Baghdad.

(Source: AFP/BBC)

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Here we go again!

Once again, politics had the upper hand in the matters of institutional governance in India.

Dr. Venugopal lost his job cause he dared to say to the government that it is fucking up the whole system by its caste politics. 48 years of association with a institute was severed just like that cause he stood up for a genuine cause.

Bravo GOI.......Bravo.

People of your kind remind me and reassure me time and again that my decision to come out of the country for my career is a wise decision.

Thank u .


Tuesday, July 04, 2006

"The Naked Truth"

"This Video Takes Us On A Deep Journey Of Exploration Into The Origin Of Most Of The Religions We Know Of Today. This Video Is A Factual Historical Breakdown."

A thousand thanks to the author who uploaded this onto the google video.

This presentation is a treasure throve.....that u could reap benifits from for years to come....if u grasp the "TRUTH".

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Fast approaching...

Into July now.

Only 18 days left for my defense and everything is going as planned right now.......so jst working and working.........and working right now......

:)

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Aussie way....



Hope the BCCI brings out something like this.....jst to keep the spirit goin!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Everything's spinning.

Tht's wht my situation is right now. With the graduation date approaching fast, I'm finding less and less time to sleep or eat....let alone blog.Phew! Never thought that thesis wld be this hard. About 65% of the work has been completed and jst need to carry out some more data analysis and finish the chapters. Defense is set for the 19th.

So tht is it to my present phase.....nothing much.

Ohh....and the a-hole Bush has now started to slam papers tht publish 'news'. Wht the hell does he think by saying tht they compromise national security by revealing the 'shady' ways of his administration.

Wht kinda dumb person you have to be to say tht the terrorists gain by reading these stories?

Really you have to be one dumb fuc@in terrorist to not realize that security agencies keep track of their financial transactions.This is wht tht happens when u elect morons to be leaders!

Stop thinkin' with u re arse Mr. President.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

We lost.

It is as simple as that.

4-2

Somehow after game 2 of the finals, the mavs seemed to have lost the edge. They weren't able to put in the three pointers as well as Miami did. The defense was average and only one of the frontline players came good on any single game, after the second.

Anyways its over for this season. Happy to say tht the mavericks have been a real improving side every season, since i came over here. The players have been good and we got a very good coach in Avery Johnson. Hopefully we'll go tht extra inch to claim the title the nxt year. No big disappointments this season.....they tried their best.

Afterall it's just a game.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

2 - 1

Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein
NBAE/Getty Images
Well they got the better of us y'sday.......but tht's ok. We are gonna finish it up in the next two....
We were jst a bit sloppy with our free throws and also the overall game......we are gonna fight bck.
:-l

Monday, June 12, 2006

2 - 0

Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant
NBAE/Getty Images

Mavs buried Heat y'sday night!

:)

2 more to go and.......we are gonna be the champions......

Go MaVs......Go!!!!

Friday, June 09, 2006

1 - 0

(Photo: David Sherman, NBAE/Getty Images)
The final score line for the first game!

We are on a roll.......

One down and three to go............and the title is ours......... : )

P.S. : Not getting much time these days to post anything substantial. Kinda bsy with my thesis.
So there isn't goin to be much from my side for sometime to come.......

And ohh.....terminated the shoutbox experiment. Was fun while it lasted.....changed there policy and introduced pop-ups.....bad marketing.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

RAmen!

Came across this story a couple of hours back......man tht would have been really painful....... :)

And oh.......for those of u who believe in the existence of the almighty, look out...... cause today is 06.06.06!

Heed the omen! 'Cause some one is lurking in the shadows. :)

As for me, damn.........my omens for the next two months are scary!
Tons of stuff to work on before my graduation ( G-DAY).................. :`(

Monday, June 05, 2006

GO MaVs..............GO!!!!



We are the kings of the West!
We are comin' for u MIAMI........

Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein
NBAE/Getty Images.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

We made it.

No country in the world wants to be at the top of this list, but we made it!

5.7 million known cases of infection in 2005.
Overtaking South South Africa, now we stand at the top of the (un)glory peak. Rejoice !

So much for the talk of a stronger India in the 21st century ha!?

The 'land of Kamasutra' ,where ironically the topic of sex is still a taboo, has now became the land of HIV AIDS. And the most puzzling part is no one really talks about this in India, still !?

So the question now is why did the awareness campaign launched almost a decade back failed to take off? We need to realize that AIDS is such kinda pandemic that its toll cannot be reversed in short term and thus we need to have at least a 10 yr plan.

Let us hope the government wakes up and does something about this . A full pitched and intense awareness campaign from the side of the federal and state governments needs to be launched with more concentration on the rural side of the country. And it would also really help if we as Indians start talking about sex and the issues related to it more openly.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Who are they kidding?

According to ibnlive, after the late Saturday night meeting with the striking medicos .....

Mukherjee told a delegation of medical students that the government will implement the OBC quota in a phased manner and this will not lead to any reduction in the number of seats for the general category.

Wht the hell are they thinking? This is really insane.

Are they going to introduce more number of seats exclusively for the OBC students ? Do they mean this by saying that we are going to do justice for every community?

Holy fu@k! These people are really crazy. They are creating one problem after another just to secure their "vote banks".

Where the hell are they going to get the funds from? Already, major professional institutes in the country are suffering heavily due to lack of funds to sustain the present setup. How the hell are they going to deal with this extra influx then?Come on you pinheads at the center, wakeup first.....then you guys are going to realize that you are making one blunder after another. There are bigger and gigantic problems that the country is facing and you guys busy are (re)dividing the country now on caste as if the other divisive factors already present weren't enough.

Think different. Fund the students who are facing severe economical problems that constrain there education.........Don't Just Give A Free Ride to everyone. On this everyone agrees 100 percent.

Don't promote demerit at the cost of merit.....not at the cost of the future of an individual.....and not at the cost of the future of the nation.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Spread the word!

Came across some really interesting links on this anti-quota issue.....

Please spread the word. Tell your friends to join in the protests in their city/town/village or wherever it might be.

Came across these links over here.

Please do your share. The future of the nation depends on this.

And for a complete coverage of wht's happening, i suggest to you guys Ibnlive.com. It is the only mainstream media outlet in India that is giving due importance to this grave issue. Shame on the rest of the media outlets especially the other 24hr news channels.

Photo: Nidhi Aggarwal/reader ibnlive

Friday, May 19, 2006

Wht the hell are andhraites doing?

Wht's happening andhraites????
Why are we being so passive in our response to this policy and wht's with the tame response from the papers?

Come on.....the whole country is standing up......the anti-quota fire is spreading ........ and we are still sh#tin' in our pants or what? Even Chennai is up and running! (Wonder wht took them so long?!)

Image credit: REDIFF.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Free fall Thursday!

Well finally our markets too joined in the global free fall, recording the largest fall ever in their history.

Photo credit: IBNLIVE

P.S.: On a different note, India jst scraped through the first ODI of its series against WI. They shld somehow find a place for Laxman! I'm still a bit worried abt our middle order.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Update on my "screwed up" exam!

Well my grades are out today.....and to my relief i scored an A in tht exam . Apparently i did screw up my final, i scored only 75% of the total marks. But what saved me are actually two things........
  1. Though it was a comprehensive, the final's share in the total percentage of marks for the grade was just 19%.
  2. And i nailed my course project scoring around 97% of the total marks.

:)

But everything said and done despite of an A this sem,my cumulative GPA remained the same hovering around (3.56 / 4 ).

:-0)

Quota system: My experience

As a kid all that bothered me in my school days were things like...
  • Do I have to submit a home work the next day?
  • Are there any exams coming up next month?
  • When is mom going to cook the special sweet dish tht she promised me last time?
  • When is the next cricket match? or say
  • How many days till the next holidays?

Small things for a grown up, but for a school going kid like me it was life that i ever knew anything about.

Though I was very much interested in the current events back then, I wasn't bothered about the intricacies of politics let alone the crap pile of caste politics. Those things were non-existent to my young and naive mind.

It was not until my penultimate years of my school life tht I was exposed to the murky & unfair side of reservation policy in India. All i knew abt the quota system until then was that it was a brilliant conceptual work from the man who wrote our mildly flawed but nevertheless a fantastic constitution. A quota policy with a noble aim,in which i believe, but at the same time believe in its obsoleteness in today's India.

My first exposure to this 'bad' side of the whole reservation policy was in the early weeks of my 9th grade. My cousin had jst passed the engineering entrance and secured a rank well below 17 or 18 hundred out of the 80 to 100 thousand odd engineering students. That was and still is a damn gud rank to get in my state. All he wanted then was to study either computer science or electronics at the Osmania University (in HYD) . But that was not to be. Being an OC student, though he had the merit to crack the exam all he could get was a free seat in civil engineering stream at the same university. This hurt him a lot for some time from tht point, he felt that all his hard work went down the drain simply because of a really stupid legislation. It's an another story tht through his shear merit and some luck tht he was able to slide into a different stream of engineering in his second year( the luck part was tht some one dropped out of tht particular stream after the first year and also tht wasn't a reserved seat).

This one is a simple case, which exposes the flaws and unfairness of the quota system. Years of hardwork and diligence could be blown away simply because of a flawed policy. In this case, my cousin was lucky and able to recover from a career changing and life shattering experience. Tht too because of his shear merit aided by some luck and not because of anything else. Just think about the students in other streams like medical or accounting where the competition is 20 times higher than in the engineering stream. I know people who weren't able to make it to a higher education degree, inspite of securing a top rank, because there were only a handful seats in the open category............destroying years of hardwork. This policy is simply unfair because it shatters hopes, dreams and aspirations of not only the students involved but also their families. Just think about the repercussions of such a life shattering experience that the individual would have for the rest of his life. It would be really hard for the individual to recover from such an experience and to establish an identity for himself in life .

Especially, in a country where education is the only ticket for the middle class to lead a decent and honorable life.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Mandal II: Hope rekindles!

When this new proposal by Mr. Arjun Singh to introduce a 27% quota to OBCs in professional colleges came up at first, students took there time to come out against it. I mean literally.....it took some time for the student communities to come onto the street against this, though there was genuine shock and anger all around initially.

Frankly, i wasn't surprised yet all by this initial reaction from the student community. I thought that this generation of students like me have grown accepting this quota system as part of the "being an OC student in India" parcel. Well i now know that i'm wrong, i was thinking more from an engineering student view point from A.P. In andhra,where though this quota issue is a big hurdle for all the OC students in the engineering community, people got used to the painful fact tht even if u are a merit candidate you would probably end up in a second rate college. And this kinda is also aided by the fact that u have so many engineering seats over there now in andhra that almost everyone ends up with a seat in one college or the other.

So i assumed the same with every state in India and frankly with every education stream also( geee......how immature of me to do so). Also personally, i have given up the hope on the system in India a long time back.

But today, the hope rekindled in me again...............and surely would have in many like me overseas or in India. The student community in India, i believe, seem to have had enough of this reservation bullshit. There is now a talk in the student community of rethinking the whole reservation policy in India. I'm for it and i hope steam picks up on this real quick. We need to bring this government down on its knees on this issue and should really look to kill the "vote bank politics" demon once for all.

There is going to be a ghoonda style response from the government side and i think we are prepared for that. Time has really come to show this politicians wht there place is on this issue. These bastards at the center need to know wht the rest of the student community thinks.

Let us show them loud and clear that Mandal 2 isn't going to die like Mandal 1.

P.S. : IBNlive has a gud news story data base on this issue. Chk it out here.

**************
The views expressed here are out of anguish and not of hatred towards other communities......so pls don't take this as a vendetta against anyone else, except for the politicians.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Screwing up an exam......Retake.....immemorial!

I don't know wht it is with me and screwing up an exam every academic year!?

This kinda has been a far too familiar situation with me since......well let's say....immemorial......atleast to me. Just when i feel that i wld nail all the exams in that particular academic year, i always manage to screw up an exam......almost everytime.

And i did it this time too! Screwed up the only final that i had this sem...........damn......sh%t.......sucks/fuck........ ( my fav. "flavors" line...... :)...... ) .

And the worst part is that i was stuck for one whole hour on the first problem itself........i failed to realize tht i messed up some basic conversions ( my dad wld have kicked my arse for this....if i was in India..... :) .....)

It's not tht i have failed in any of them till now......i haven't........and neither am i going to fail in this . But it kinda leaves u a bit disappointed and down till sometime after the exams.

Ok.....i'm pretty messed up right now......i'll leave this ....here. Have a grt weekend everyone.

:)

Monday, May 08, 2006

Final week of the sem ahead &......blah blah.....

Felt like posting something today. So here goes a bit of gibberish.....

Well my penultimate sem is coming to an end this week. I have an exam this Thursday and then the big deadline....well actually it's not a big one....... :) ...jst have to submit my first chapter of thesis on the 19th. Almost done with tht......jst giving finishing touches to it. Hope to submit it a bit early and make the required corrections before starting on the rest of the chapters.

Planning to graduate by this july/august. Hoping for the best.

Update:
I've submitted the first chapter this morning i.e. may 9th!

Yahooooooo!

Pardon me for my lame celebratory rhetoric......I'm always like this! ;)

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Pramod Mahajan passes away


(1949 - 2006)

A real sad day to everyone who have come to admire this "back-room boy turned the face of the BJP" over the years. After 11 days of battle against serious bullet injuries inflicted by his own brother (wht an irony!), Mr. Mahajan passed away this evening.

This is becoming a far too familiar situation in Indian politics over the last few years where a couple of bright hopes for the next generation leadership of the country have lost their lives due to tragic events (Mr. Scindia, from a plane crash and Mr.Pilot, due to a car crash).

May his soul rest in peace! m:(

Update:
As i write this update @ 3:10 am in the morning here in Texas, Mr. Mahajan's funeral pyre is being consumed by the flames. It is a very sad day for everyone in the BJP and to those who have seen the growth of it as a national party.

A brilliant tribute by Rajdeep Sardesai during the final moments of the funeral.

Farewell Mr. Mahajan. India will miss you.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Hakuna Matata!



Well......kinda bsy with some stuff!

So not havin' much time to write any new posts.........until then........hakuna matata!

:)

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

If you come today....It's too early.....



OMG!!!!! This is really funny!

When Dr. 'drax forwarded this link to me.......i laughed the sh*t out of myself....damn funny!

Really epitomizes the crazy 70's of South Indian movies.....had lots of this kinda stuff in those times.
With their heavy wigs, lipstick, fake moustaches, weird & out of place 70's fashion and not to mention some of their bulging bellys...........heroes like ntr,anr, mgr & raj kumar ruled the roost then.....!

Kinda makes one wonder how the hell they became such hits then.

Anyways....n joy!

tick tick tick.....a tick tick tick....a tick tick tick...

DOORLING!!!!

ROFL.......

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Guess the place.......Can u?


Ok guys.......is it only me or do u see anything wrong in this picture.

I mean not the "Spot the errors" kinda thing.......but what this picture speaks off!

Can anybody try guessing the location where this picture was taken at and what the gentleman is doing over here?

I'm looking forward to hearing from y'al.

Update: Ok......i'd like to make one thing clear.....once again.....this is not a photo contest where u r asked to find the errors in a particular picture. And here is a clue abt the location......it was/is being touted as the one representing a new India. Now i want u all to analyse.........read my post carefully again...........and then come up with u're thoughts.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Missing the big picture!?

When the selectors announced the ODI team for the upcoming WI tour, I was really disappointed that Laxman failed to make the cut...........once again.It is disappointing to see such a valuable talent being wasted time and again while players of lesser talent and class are being promoted & pampered despite their continued lousy failures.

My cause for worry is that, despite the recent heroics of the Indian team, our middle order is still of a great worry. They don't look as powerful on the field as they seem to be on paper. There seem to be one too many collapses of the top order.........though contained by a brilliant lower order revival most of the times. I mean it's ok against a lesser team ......but the same situation at the World cup and that too against a stronger opposition like Australia/SA/ENG., would really prove costly.

A player like Laxman in the middle order would provide the required stability with his able judgment of the game and any kinda bowling attack. Along with Dravid, he could steer the team through rough patches in a game and thus making it easy for the rest of the order to go out attacking. For some strange reasons, the team think tank at present seems completely oblivious to the clear weak link in our team and continue to ignore a player like Laxman.

It's one thing to promote young blood, but it shouldn't be at the cost of ignoring the larger interests of the team.

I hope they would realize this soon, before it is too late.

P.S. : Here is the combination that i think the team should stick with upto the world cup....

Playin' XI:
Veru, Sachin, Laxman, Dravid, Yuvraj, Raina, Dhoni, Pathan, Bhajji, Sreesanth, Munaf

Reserves:
Kaif ,Venugopal Rao, RP Singh, Kumble, Powar & Agarkar.