Bad ads on Indian TV

Hero honda hunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZmQwu-aKgQ

I wonder if the same person directed all Hero Honda Hunk ads. In this ad, there is a club of wild bulls charging down the road.. and our hero waits downhill… the bulls see the ‘Hunk’ morph into a bull of extraordinary size and then leave the place… was this an ad for the bull or the bike??

Hunk 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfrIqRenZo

Everybody follows the hunk…

Three fully grown-up donkeys ride in an SUV… and one sweetie has a copy of the ‘Himalayan Monsters’ in her hand. They see damage all along the way and stop at the entrance of a tunnel…. And behind comes our hero …the guys in the SUV say “Reverse” … and hero says “Reverse is not an option” ..

Well, he was right in one sense…bikes don’t have reverse gear !!

Iball inverter

I have a strong feeling that the director must have felt horny when he was creating this ad. There is absolutely no connection at all between the product and the ad.

Wife says “Richard, are you ready?”

Husband says “No, I’m not”

And wife walks away dejected….

He shifts to an iball inverter… and he gets ready fast !!! …. Style ?? wot ?? and they are both together early in bed.

Karbonn jumbo mobile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cN51djr7d0

Hero walks into store and calls the owner “Chotte!”… customers are queued up as though they are being offered free rations…

They ask “Tumko yeh chotte dikhtha hai kya?”

Hero replies (translated) “in comparison to Karbonn mobile’s jumbo screen and jumbo battery size, everything else is small” and to signify this… there is a Toyota innova parking beneath the hero’s legs. Wonder if all Kabronn jumbo mobile buyers turn into mall sized giants.

JK lakshmi cement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2cqlw3pwFw

Amazing how one can call this an ad though… a lady in a swimsuit for a cement ad!!

A lady in red swimsuit walks up and in the background “Vishwas hai…isme kuch khaas hai”….

Now what are we supposed to understand?

JK lakshmi cement

I have a hunch that these guys hired the director of the ‘Hero Honda Hunk’ ad. Virender sehwag plays street cricket with kids and the whole town is watching… he plays with a tennis ball smashing it all over the neighborhood breaking window panes et al… all of a sudden grandpa comes up and says (translated) “he can break anything here, but not this wall” …

Volkswagen new jetta

http://www.volkswagen.co.in/en/volkswagen_world/Videos.html

Kid is born with wings … grows up .. saves lives .. and one day sees the Jetta. Under the exchange offer, he trades his wings and drives off with a Jetta…what a jerk!!

I saw the ad around 10 times and just failed to understand what they were trying to convey.

It's a niece...........

Yes...it is good news .... first girl child in our family :)

Congrats brother and sister-in-law :) Wonder why you decided to call her Veda !!!

The only problem I think would arise if she was made to sit in class in order of name

The media suck

By now, you must have got used to seeing the news flash "YSR dead in chopper crash" all over the web. Okay, it is a sad day in Andhra Pradesh with lots of mourners. I accept the fact that he was a good leader.

But, the media are at it yet again... Now, here are the facts that we need to know...

1. YSR was in a chopper on his way to some place..
2. Contact with the chopper was lost.
3. It is almost 11 hours since they lost contact and they still cant find where the chopper is.

Isn't this news enough for any layman? And won't you understand plain and clear if you were told about this once? But the media doesn't understand that we understand !!!

I knew that he was dead by this time and was waiting for some sort of confirmation. It is not that I am a sadist waiting for the CM to die...it was just too obvious..He couldn't have been hiding in some God-forsaken jungle without any sort of contact from the helicopter.

It is almost 7 o clock when I reach home. I knew about this news and visited ibnlive.com for some updates....nothing concrete so far...as they say in Tamil "Aracha maavaye araichu kittu irukkan". I start relaxing by playing some games on the computer...

My roomies arrive one by one...the first one is shell-shocked..someone had told him about the news (stale by now) and he rushed to switch on the TV...and there started the Mega-serial.
One by one they started changing news channels, from Gemini News to Eenadu TV to News 9 to TV9. They were not satisfied with what was being said in one channel and kept changing channels to see the Flash Updates being given.....

I got bored and asked them to switch to Ten Sports where the match b/w Sri Lanka and NZ was on....even before I could see a complete over, context switching had happened....

Here is what I saw on the news channel...
One channel had hired an air-expert (some goofball with flying experience) and they were essentially beating around the bush with him to kill time in the name of giving valuable news.

The government had said Sukhoi's were being deployed to aid rescue ops...
Another channel went one step further and made an animated clip of a helicopter going from left to right and a Sukhoi going from right to left. This clip was being shown while the anchor and the reporter were talking to each other...

That was yesterday evening.....

Today morning at 7 o clock, my friends are up early and watching the same news channels...and one of them, is apparently a bit heartbroken after seeing the news for so long...

The government should come out with a strong policy that enforces all broadcasters to refrain from showing the same news day in and day out. Remember, when current TN CM was arrested...SUN TV had managed to record the arrest in an amateur videocam and they played it all over their news channels for no less than 2 days, prompting the public to file a case in court for repeatedly telecasting the news and causing mental anxiety.

Can't the media understand? By wasting their airtime showing the same news over and over again doesn't make any difference. The government has already taken a strict stance on obscenity on television...if some sort of regulation is brought about for live events, the public can breathe a sigh of relief...

Interesting things that I have noticed in Bangalore

I have been in Bangalore from 2006 July. In my short stay here, I have observed and heard of some interesting things. While this may not be a comprehensive list, this is something the Bangalorean knows about and considers it part of his daily life...

1. Set Dosa: Available in any darshini (stand and eat hotel)... one gets three medium-size dosas and costs less than an ordinary dosa. It seriously fills your stomach... You don't have to eat anything else till your next eatathon session...
My observation about set dosas: Bachelor folk who don't like to spend money for dinner usually opt for this.

2. Bus travel: Bus passes (Day passes) are the favorite of the Bangalore people. Pay 32 rupees, get a pass, and you can board almost any bus except air-conditioned ones.

3. The conductor: One of the reasons for BMTC not getting their revenue is these guys. He is supposed to issue the ticket when you tender the money. But these guys take the money and just walk off. Only if you really insist on your ticket, you receive it...and that too with a scornful look.

4. Auto-drives: They never give you back change, especially if they know you are software-folk. One of my friends had such an experience....
He gave 50 rupees and the charge on the meter was 46..when my friend asked for the remaining 4 rupees, the driver said "You guys are earning so much..why do you ask for this petty amounts?"

5 Bus drivers: Who gave them the license to drive these buses?

6. Corner house: Death by Cholocate is a deadly favorite among die-hard ice-cream fans. Three large scoops of vanilla,equal quantity of chocolate sauce, peanuts and cashew...That's one helluva ice-cream underneath there..and crowds throng these joints on weekends...

7. Bus-stops: Many maniacs must have brainstormed about this to make such a stupid decision.
have you noticed some pattern about the location of the bus-stops? They are right next to the signal..and when the bus stops on the junction, where will the others go ?

8. Schools and B-Schools: Bangalore has a very high density of schools in every area. Going by the looks of the schools, I believe the fee would go into 6 digits at least. And there is a good number of B-schools in the same areas. The fee for these B-schools, thought not very high profile, would go into 7 digits. This is second-hand information...

9. Office design: Offices of IT companies generally dont take into account the ample daylight available and simply design their offices behind vitreous surfaces...if only someone could kick off a design suited to Indian conditions, they could set a benchmark for energy saving.

10. Reddy's and land-grabbing/squatting: While in Bangalore, never buy land from a person whose surname is Reddy. This is first hand information :)

stock markets

Wouldn't you love to make a quick buck that would fatten your purse any time of the month?
I am talking about the stock markets. Last year's stock market performance left a bad taste in the mouth for many investors...even stunning the most astute investors....with a bit of confidence returning to the markets, I thought I will post something that would at least help my friends fatten their purse....comes with a rider, though...terms and conditions do apply here !!!

Now here's what you need to do if you need to trade in the stock market
1. Open a Demat Account and a Trading account preferably with the same company...you are more than welcome to open multiple demat accounts...make sure you have your PAN card, some passport-sized photographs, address proof and a pen with a big refill to sign on 50 pages..

2. Once your account is opened, your company will send you a welcome kit and a delivery booklet (ignore this for the time being)

3. Oops I forgot...If you have an account with one of the banks that the trading company is associated with, then things are easier...else you need to open a new account with a particular bank and that needs to be linked with your trading account..

4. You are now ready to trade...

The first few trading sessions will be the usual first-times-i-shit-in-my-pants-experience. First timers generally buy stocks only in multiples of ones or tens.. once they see the amount being debited from their account on buying any stock, they would lose sleep if the price goes below their buy price.

Stock picking is not such a big deal..this is strictly my opinion
You need to look at 3 criteria before choosing any stock...

• Is it a leader in the segment in which it is doing business?
• Do they have sufficient money with them to weather the storm?
• Do they have a good order book?
  

This requires some research from your side....everything you need to know about the company will be present on your brokerage firm's website or on the stock exchange website. Watch NDTV-Profit or CNBC-TV18 when you find time. Initially, the news might sound a bt gibberish...but you'll get used to it soon.. Before you actually set foot to buy stocks, you can play around on rediff money or moneycontrol's tools.


more in part 2.........

News makers....

Things that have happened in the 6 months that I went into blog hibernation mode...
These are the events that need special mention...

• IPL being called Indian Political League and finally being shifted to South Africa
• The Satyam fiasco....Ramalinga Raju being named "Conman in white clothes"
• Indian stock markets rising 22% in a single day, with only 1.5 minutes of trading being done...
• Congress have returned to power...surprising, rather, stunning everyone
• LTTE supremo has been killed...will Karunanidhi talk about Tamils now and fast for a quarter day?
  

Why am i writing news like the editors on Headlines Today?????

whats cooking...

As usual, I have been in hibernation mode after one post. Innumerable events have occurred in this space....like the Mumbai blasts, (tempting to write....can't avoid this one) Equity Markets crash, India thrash Aussies and the big one yesterday..Sachin playing yet another champion innings and S(ane)nidhi has started a new blog !!

The attack on Mumbai has left people scarred and angry. After all, how can 10 terrorists enter the city so easily and cause so much damage?, is the question people desperately need an answer for.

If I were the Prime Minister of India, here is what I would have done

If the Mumbai attackers could so easily have access to the interiors at the Taj, so can the Indian Government locate the training camps in Pakistan. I would ask all combat forces to be ready.
I would summon my Air Force first and launch an aerial attack on the training camps alone.
If missiles are being launched from the other side, launch counter-strikes to combat them. The USA would obviously love this and would be more than willing to join us.

Call up my Pakistani PM and say "Enough is enough, you ar*****es. I am sick of waiting for you guys to take action...Eat this".

Having lost 3 wars previously, they still don't have the brains to differentiate defeat and victory and would still love to wage war. At this point though, they would plead for surrender. Take over Pakistan and soon start rummaging for the most wanted terrorists. Search all gullies and by-lanes all over Pakistan. If they are found alive, shoot them and their followers right away.

Feel like watching Bruce Willis in Die Hard battle it out with the villains or Vijaykanth single-handedly killing all terrorists from Kanyakumari to Kashmir??

Next, move to Kashmir and shoot the seperatists. Who are these arse***es to sit inside India and ask for Kashmir to be handed over to Pakistan?

Next target, PoK.... what the hell is this?? Pakistan occupied Kashmir, it seems...but doesn't Kashmir belong to India?? Kill the remaining arseholes hiding here.

The world is now cleansed of 99.9 % terrorists....

Is this too much to fathom? India can at least drop a nuclear bomb over Pakistan...that would do...

These spineless bas****s have the guts to ask for proof!! How silly is it of them to ask for proof?? Don't they ever watch TV or read an Indian newspaper? Do they think Indians lie day in and day out?? The proof is right there in the open and they say they haven't received any news from the Indian counterparts.

On a practical note though, dialogue seriously seldom makes any progress with Pakistan. We have seen it in 1993, 2001 and in 2005. I seriously admire the stance that Pranab Mukherjee has taken with respect to this attack. He is, IMHO, one of the best Ministers in a long long time. Check out his interview with Karan Thapar, in the Devil's Advocate.

My opinion on the recent happenings in Goa

• Fiona Mackeown is an irresponsible mother. Despite knowing that Goa is a country house of horny idiots, she allows her daughter to party on late into the night.
• Surprise surprise, she blames all and sundry instead of herself for letting her daughter down.
• I am still surprised that many countries haven’t blacklisted Goa as a no-no for tourists
• What is the fatal attraction in Goa for many tourists despite reports of molestation? (I haven’t been to Goa, but have heard friends’ opinions)
• Goa is a good place if you are a bunch of male friends and would like to party hard and get piss drunk.
• As usual, the Chief Minister has come into the spotlight
• And as usual, everyone wants CBI to handle the case.
• One witness comes out of hiding to reveal the incidents on that fateful night. I wonder how many others are hiding because of the indifferent attitude of Goa Police.
• This one is for Tourists: See ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ before you leave your country and remember to keep your daughters within eyesight.

Today just happened to be my day !!

Cricket is my passion...talk about cricket when i am asleep, and I wake up.... (what a really bad sentence !!). On the field, I go by the nickname Venkatesh Prasad...although he could bowl a bit, he was miserable at batting...Gary Kirsten and Sanath Jayasuriya used to whip his ass everytime...

SPANDAN '08 cricket finals were to be held today afternoon. We were up against a pretty good team, our seniors. Our team had a good balance of batsmen and bowlers, but the only problem was that we were lacking in batting practice. In the previous matches too, batsmen found their rhythm only after they were in for an over or two...

Our seniors won the toss and decided to bat first...they found the going a bit tough with Rakesh keeping the length tight and irritating the batsmen with his immaculate line. Santhosh (Anna) came in first change and troubled the batsmen again. There weren't many boundary hits by the end of the innings, and they ended up with 71 in 12 overs....

During the break, we were discussing about keeping things simple, as we needed just 6 runs per over. But as usual, when you plan to detail, all planning goes awry.....

Santosh VKRN and Bokkal (a la Venkatapathy Raju in stature....but a superb batsman though) opened the innings. Santosh had saved us in the previous matches with match winning efforts..and naturally we were expecting something special today....

But it was total disaster by the end of the first over...we were 2 for 2. The second and third overs saw the dismissals of Rakesh, Anna and Guru. The score read 11 / 5 in 4 overs. I went in next with one guy behind me to come.....I was nervous facing the first few balls as the seniors were all fired up with the loss of early wickets....

Srinidhi was at the other end screaming at me "Stay there and I 'll score the runs..".
After i took 2 singles, my legs started aching a bit, so I asked Guru to be my runner. My favorite bowler then arrived on the scene... Nagesh was his name and he bowled gentle medium pace...
I waited 3 balls and swished my bat across the line on the 4th... it went high and landed outside the rope.... 5th ball again a six to Long-On... After hitting that shot, I felt that there was something different... it was either with the bat or me...

My friends sitting on the other side of the rope had gone silent for some time, but started to celebrate these shots... The only mistake our seniors did was to concede one full toss per over while trying to maintain speed. Guru was giving me advice full time...
Some of his quotes
"You have already hit 6 per over da..we are above the required rate"
"Dont get tense da...we are above the required rate"
"Dont swing the bat da...we are above the required rate"

I was actually enjoying my batting and listening to Guru was fun :)

I rode my luck though....and somehow managed to keep the required rate down....in the middle of all this commotion, I managed to take singles off the last ball and frustrated Srinidhi.
It was finally down to 5 off the last 3 overs....and the bowler bowled tried to bowl a yorker...but ended up as a high full toss....

As soon as I had hit it, I started running for my life screaming....all my friends got up and ran towards me, removed my shoes and spectacles and hugged me dearly....and finally threw me into the pond !!! :)

It was their way of appreciating my knock...Thanks a lot guys...
Apologies Srinidhi, for hogging up the strike :)
Thank you, team mates for a wonderful day....I will always think about this day if I have some disappointing days....

And before I was thrown into the pond, someone said I was a bit heavy... for my height (6'2") I am just 68 kg, a bit less than the specified BMI (Body Mass Index)

2 – Point someone??

Well, a post after a looooonnng time…
I had heard about this book (Five Point Someone) before…my friends had told me that the story was about life at IIT, but somehow these sorts of books never fascinated me…books, to me needed to have some fiction, or masala, as in Tamil/ Telugu movies…

I had got this gift-voucher (lucky me….) for 600 bucks from Shoppers Stop and it had been lying on my table for a month. When you get gift vouchers, you don’t bother about the price tag…just go around the store and read the reviews at the back of the book….
Anyways, here’s what I got...

• Five Point Someone
• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (price tag was good….no other reason)
• Chicken Soup for the soul
  

I started reading the book sometime in the evening and finished it just after dinner…and as my friends had said, it was totally un-put-downable…This story has some similarity to the situation at IIITB, be it grades, or during interview times…but, the faculty’s daughter as a girlfriend part doesn’t exactly fit in here…

Are grades everything in life? What exactly do you want after two years? Any answers to these questions???

There may be some who know exactly what they are here for….but for the other something percent of the population in the 2- point CGPA (like me)….do grades really matter?

Life to me at iiit-b since July 2006….this is just my opinion…

Tests day in and day out in sem 1…do projects and assignments as well, but finally it boils down to what you had written in those 3 hours in the exam hall…and this was a major factor going into grade calculation…But weren’t projects supposed to drive home the practical aspect part?

When you are starving and left with something you hate, you would rather eat it and survive….Here, TA’s are brought on to make you hate something for so long, that would force you to do something about it….frequent tests leave a bitter taste to a person with limited programming skills…eventually hating the programming language itself…

Do grades really matter? As an eligibility criteria, yes, to some extent.
It all boils down to what you say during those 20 minutes you sit for the interview. It is during this time that you wonder about your startling or dismal academic performances. If one is smart and can communicate well, that would just about do fine. After all, the employer knows that the person has the ability to think, if not out of the box…that is why they have come to hire

Trip to ‘Kalavarahalli’ Betta

13^th July, 2007 2:30 am

The previous night we decided that we‘d go to this place... Santhosh (Anna) had been there and he told us about his experience…and since there were no classes on Friday, we rented a cab and were ready to leave….

Our gang consisted to 11 boys and 2 girls…

Santhosh (anna), me, Nikhil, Bala, Krishna (Narayana), Gowthaman (gooth), Sagar, Pranav, Vijay, Vikranth (Ramanolla),Vivek, Seema and Bhaswati

This place is around 90 km from Electronics City….and is pretty well known by its other name ‘Paappagni Mata’ temple. This is also called ‘A place in the clouds’. As per Anna’s instructions, we had got some snacks and some bottles of water. Since this place was inside a village, we wouldn’t get any eatables. We were on our way by 3 am. We reached the place at around 4:45 am. Everyone was excited and a bit nervous as well about the trip. Most of us hadn’t made a trekking trip before this. Since it was a bit dark when we arrived, Anna asked if we wanted to start right away or wait until there was some light….we were in such an ‘enthu’ that we decided to start walking…We starting walking to the footsteps of the hill…and we couldn’t even see what we were stepping on…a few meters ahead, there was slush mixed with mud and that made it slippery to walk…but then, we continued on way slow and steady…and then there it was…the huge mountain….it was some 5000 feet high and we were there to climb it…

I was just stunned…. I thought we were going to walk across some portion of plains for most of our trek…I couldn’t walk out here! I had to go along with the gang….and so the trek started…. Initially some rocks were interspersed with sand on the way and it was easy to walk….after some distance, there was wet sand as well…and it started to skid…

I was wearing tennis shoes and they just didn’t have any semblance of grip. I sought the help of Nikhil (had previous trekking experiences) going in front of me. He asked me to hold his hand whenever I felt like slipping or skidding. Even while climbing a flight of stairs, I am a clumsy oaf…and need I explain my clumsiness while climbing a mountain??

The angle of ascent started increasing gradually….initially it was flat and slowly the angle increased to around 70 degrees. I don’t have very good stamina and normally start panting in about 10m of a 100m race…the same case here also, and we hadn’t even crossed the quarter mark. I drank some water and continued on my way…

As we went higher, the trek started getting dangerous. One wrong step on the left side, and we just had to go sliding down. There were some monkeys on our gang as well….monkeys, as in, they would climb just about anything that resembled a rock. The monkeys were Narayana and gooth. Halfway through the trek, all the snacks had vanished…the other half of the gang (me included) was going at a quicker pace, and the other gang had the bags and was moving slower. It was a hungry pack of wolves that would just about gobble anything they got….we were hungry as well and waited for the bags to arrive…only to see empty covers inside….

We drank some more water and continued on our way….as we climbed higher, the air started getting colder. But we had the cheekiness to even remove our vest and brave the chilly air. Fog had clogged up most of our visibility and limited it to just 3 feet. We nicknamed the fog ‘nothing’. Questions like ‘why did we come here all the way?’…’to see nothing’ and exclamations like ‘nothing is beautiful’ came up on the way….

The fog covered up most of the mountain, and we had to find our way through some gaps that would lead us to a place even higher up. Some places even had rocky walls indicating that were was some sort of a fort built previously. At one point, the flag of ‘Karnataka’ was hoisted on a pole. We went past the flag till the edge of the mountain. There was also a ‘Ganesha’ temple at that height. The entrance was pretty small and we could only have a look from the outside. Behind the temple was a huge wall extending for a good 500 meters. Beyond that, was the point of no return! We had a good time near the edge posing with different aesthetics…

At about 10 am, we decided it was time to come down. There were some goose bumps as to how we were going to reach base camp…me being a slippery customer was even more worried. I got some words of advice from gooth and Nikhil and managed to continue my downhill trek without much worry. We reached base camp at around 11 o clock. The trek was equivalent to performing around 5000 squats on a single day at the gym. We were all weary trekkers by now and once inside the van, there was the uniform sound of silence!!!

The 36K joke

A post after such a long gap.....lets start off with a joke...

Bala is my classmate here @ iiitb. One day, one of his friends had called him to tell him about his job. Here is the conversation as it was over the phone...
Bala: Machan, eppadi da irukka
Friend: Fine da. enakku vela kedaichidichu da
Bala: otha, sollave illa...enga da...details sollu
Friend: adhu oru T.Nagar based MNC da
Bala: appadi enna da company adhu ?
Friend: edho machi....oru vazhi a settled...
Bala: seri machi...evvalo salary ?
Friend: 36k da...
Bala: otha....36k a ? eppo da treat ? salary koncham high a iruntha treat laam thara maatengale ...
Friend: machan, adhu 36k per annum da....

The Wedding - Days 1 and 2 - On the train

The time is around 5 in the morning...and everyone in the house have got up and are ready to have a bath. Around 7 o clock, a huge cab arrives to drop us off at the Central railway station and also pick up relatives on the way. By the time we pack our luggages into the cab, we are short of space and had to cramp ourselves for room. There is even more luggage to load, but somehow we manage to reach Central....the train is at 9:30, and we think of hiring a porter...and he asks 400 bucks for pushing the luggage all the way to our coach.

The train starts and we all take out the cameras and start clicking away...


The first round of cards come out...and all the old guns (my dad, Chithappa, Periappa, Ravindran uncle and Guru mama) start with Ramee....

We all have another pack of cards and start our game of Ass...all this time, Guru mama's sense of humor keeps us in good spirits....We have a good lunch with idli and curd rice with pickle.

Around 5 o clock, we reach Vijayawada and there is still a gruelling 24 hours on the train. We all latch on to our bunkers by 9 o clock and sleep until around 12 o clock.....when a flock of people enter the train and sit all along the corridors....One girl even sits on my leg when I'm in deep sleep...I wake up and I don't get any sleep after that !!! It is freezing cold early in the morning and tea and coffee vendors are carrying cans up and down the corridor...

One coffee vendor sits down opposite to Guru mama and starts talking with him in Hindi....Mama doesn't know a word in Hindi, but just smiles and shakes his head at whatever the guy tells....suddenly , my brother asks him "Whom do you think you are speaking with ? That person doesn't know a bit of Hindi...". The coffee guy is red in the face and we all laugh out....Then the guy says "Maine socha ki usko Hindi aatha hai"...(aatha in Tamil means 'Mother')
Then guru mama says "even my aatha doesn't know Hindi"....and we all laugh until our stomach pains...

The day passes on just like the previous day with cards and books....we reach Vadodara by 5:30 pm on the 26th. Rachna' s brother-in-law and father along with their close friends have come to the station to receive us....

to continue. . . .

A miserable week

Things have not been going too well in my life this week....
Last Saturday, our gang decided to eat out...So , we went to an Andhra style restaurant providing unlimited meals.....We had a good time there..

And while we were returning, I lost my mobile in a crowded bus. The anti climax of this being , I had told my friends to be careful about their belongings....But still, I feel lucky because my purse was not picked.
That was Saturday...

Sunday evening, I was playing volleyball with my friends, and I was standing first up to smash the ball. Some friends on the other side lobbed the ball high up and wanting to smash it so hard, I lost sight of it and it crushed the last finger on my right hand....Now it looks like my thumb!!!

Yesterday, I was playing cricket and in my eagerness to field, put my left foot in a ditch and my ankle got twisted....And now , I'm sitting in bed waiting for the next disaster to strike me.....Yemaraj, wassup with you ?? Why me ??

Another test match down the drain!!!!

India has done it again….proved that they are all a bunch of senile men on day 5 of a test match.

I was lucky enough not to see the match because of the CAS prevailing in Chennai. Watching all the news channels on TV, the replay of Sehwag getting out in various fashions just irritates me….I wonder how the bowlers can get him out by bowling to the same spot again and again…Doesn’t a batsman need to have at least some common sense ? Agreed, he has a weakness against the sharp incoming ball, but then it was on this tour 4 years back, he made a test century on debut. More than Irfan Pathan, it was this guy who should have been sent back to play some Ranji cricket.


Some of the reasons for India failing miserably in the second innings

1. Rahul Dravid falls cheaply: Rahul Dravid got a rough decision on both innings of this test. If only he had scored some runs, that would have given some spine for the team.
2. Sachin Tendulkar fails when people expect him to do the most: Another cause of joy for supporters who wish to see the ‘Endulkar’ in ‘Tendulkar’. Just wait and watch, the world cup is just around the corner, and whom do all these people think has delivered in the 4 world cups he ‘s played so far ??
3. Openers fail: A very grave cause for concern. India has scored brilliantly when the openers have weathered the new ball. The middle and lower order can then bat with some assurance and confidence. It is exactly in these situations that a person like Sachin, Sourav or VVS can thrive on. After all, what is an opener for? Definitely, not to see one over of the new ball and return to the pavilion.
4. Bouncy pitches or aggressive bowling by the opposition: The top order just gets blown away by the aggressiveness shown by the opposition. If one wicket falls, they come harder at us and that is something the Indian cricketers need to work upon.


In most of the cases, Bangalore 2005, Mumbai 2006, Karachi 2006, today the lower order has shown more solidarity in batting than the illustrious top – order counterparts. Kumble and the bowlers give it their all when batting....the same application is not being shown by the top order...It is high time that these players start putting a price tag on their wicket.

Kellogg....here I ..er, my brother comes..

The first time I’d heard about Kellogg was in college when my friend told me about ivy -league universities. Like everyone, I thought it was the corn-flakes company….

They even came to our college for some tie – up and my friend went all around college shouting “Executives from the corn-flakes company have come to our college for management talk..........muwahahaha”.

Three years on, I’m at home sleeping, enjoying and whiling away my 1 month vacation from IIITB. My brother suddenly calls and tells me he‘s got admission to Kellogg for the MMM program. It normally takes some time for me to come to my senses after I wake up, but on that morning, it felt really great to hear the news......He‘s waiting for the next big occasion in life, his marriage is on Jan 28....Here’s wishing all the best on behalf of me and all my friends for his MMM program and his life after marriage!!!!!!

The day just started !!!

It is 12 midnight.....some guys are seen running from a distance and suddenly, they all turn up close....and catch hold of you and whack you on you back like we are sworn enemies....not one guy or two, but a whole crowd eyes that spot on your back !!!

And the whacking never stops....until you scream you way out of that stronghold

What day is this, by the way??? of course, it's the birthday....it comes once a year...and you wonder why it comes....because, this is the day the whole crowd's been waiting for....and once all the whacks are done, they all hug you.....and you wonder where all the enemity has gone.....

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed this birthday....this was the first occasion I got bums...although it was a painful affair, my friends made it an occasion to remember...

Thanks 'Kadala' Prasad, AB, ' Genius' Joseph, 'Java' Santhosh, 'Bengal Maapillai' Vivek, the other Santhosh, Ajay, 'Feelings' Bala, 'Goobey' Srinidhi et al...

I hope I can start walking normally in a few days time....

Almost at the end of 1st Semester

Picture taken during the 2-day Open House here at IIITB. The Open House is an event to showcase to the industry, the ongoing projects at the institute.

From left, 'Kadala' Prasad, 'Genius' Joseph, 'Bengal Maapilai' Vivek, 'Dreamer' AB and me...can't see the image properly, is it??....get your eyes tested !!!

actually, the nut who took this shot shook the camera during the shoot....

Suppandi's mails...

Here are some excerpts from our on campus Suppandi...

Suitable reward will be given for anyone who claims to have decoded what this guy is tryin to say..

1. sorry if i am wrong or seems to be rude but its your 4th or 5th mistake...
(thanks for counting the number of mistakes...)

2. Test will be at 9 30 PM yesterday(sunday) (but didn't yesterday end one day before?)

3. Always remember.......whatever you know today,we were not in our days ------So be confident and perform. (this has been referred to NSA for cryptographic analysis)

4. We have got information that you are going to get your laptops on 18th(we are sorry for that). (why is he sorry for this??)

What An idiot!!

Communication class first up...I went to class thinking I'd never sleep this hour, but it took all of five minutes for my eyes to shut down...I spent the rest of the hour rocking back and forth on my chair trying to chase away the sleep..and the sleep managed to win by 99 - 1 margin....

and then came the biggest blunder of the day...someone in class told Prof. Prasanna that lots of assignments were due, but in fact, not many were due for the day...just that a dumb document called SRS was due...so Prof. ended classes for the day...and we all walked off merrily to take a print out...We came to know later that Prof had consulted the TA's and asked them the reason....and the TA's promptly told them that no assignments were due...this really hurt Prof....

There's an idiot by name S***** in the second year...no, don't worry, his name is not Sucker...he is this childish, boy-from-village type...

He goes to the registrar and gives an eye-witness narration when in fact this guy was sleeping in his room at the time of the incident...and sends us a mail cc'ing to the registrar....

Most of the time, when he sends an email, the whole class is confused as to what he is trying to say....English pundits come up with various interpretations....one can even do a Ph.D on his emails and certainly be assured of a Nobel prize!!

Want to know more about this Suppaandi and his trysts with our batch??
watch this space for more adventures....