Aai !!!

Again an emotionally touching article that was lying around on my hard disk for many months.... If you understand Marathi, this one will strike a chord somewhere deep inside the heart ... (again, click on the below image for a much bigger and readable version)

Quotes of the Week !!!

Since I am too lazy to blog daily, I've decided to put 5 quotes every week.

Let me start with my fav 2 and then 3.

1. 'Winners dont do different things, they do things differently' - Shiv Khera

2. 'Tough times dont last, but Tough people do' - Robert Schuller

3. 'Every adversity carries with itself the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit' - Napoleon Hill

4. 'Success depends on readiness for opportunity; opportunity may come by accident but readiness never does' - Rayburn

5. 'Nothing worthwhile was every accomplished without the will to start, the enthusiasm to continue, and the persistence to finish' - Waite Philips

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Check back again for next week's quotes !!!

Zindagi !

At the very outset let me make it clear that the following verse is not mine. I got it as an email forward but its something I relate very closely to. Just click on it for a bigger readable version. Here goes -

Bowl it one last time Glenn !!!

I must apologize since this is not a new blog. Actually I used to blog on Yahoo 360 for quite some time however somehow the 360 concept never appealed to me. And since Google is almost taking over our life (GMail, GTalk, GoogleCalendar, Orkut, Blogger, ...) it is natural that I blog on Blogger. Somehow I find this Blogger website more easier to blog than a 360 or a Live Spaces. Ok, enough of yada yada yada....

Here is the Ctrl+C and Cntrl+V (copy and paste for non-geeks) of my old blog from 360. This was posted during the 2007 world cup and although its been a year, I am happy I put it before the 2011 world cup gets underway....

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Trying to stream a world-cup semifinal between Australia and South Africa was a tough task. However, considering the quality of giants squaring up in the arena, it was worth the effort....or so I thought.This was a less than rousing affair. The trouble with Australian professionalism is that it has become such a cliché that even watching it at its calibrated best can be numbing. Glory be flaws.

Yet, with a little filter of nostalgia even these hours of unremitting lopsided excellence are able to take on some warmth. To watch the chuntering maestro Glenn McGrath at work was to see an entire era of wicket-to-wicket back-of-length menace flash before the eyes, the eternal hypnotic torture of it. We will get to see it once more on Saturday. Once more only.

Few cricketers have been at once so level as McGrath and yet able to find another one. In an over, in a spell, in a day, in a series, in a season, he seems always to be operating at his peak. Still he is continually rising to occasions. Remember his ball to Sachin at the '99 World Cup? The one to Lara?

Admittedly Ashwell Prince played the stroke of a paralysed man and Jacques Kallis' foolishness brought the best out of a fine yorker. The touch of the master was in the Mark Boucher dismissal. It was the classic McGrath incision, Halal if you will. Off stump and just outside, a bit of wobble and bounce, caught first slip. Equally McGrathian was the impact: big semi-final, opening spell, six overs, 3 for 14, South Africa 27 for 5. The man is two months after 37. He looks it too. Australians were asking for him to be put to pasture before the World Cup. There you go.

With the departure of McGrath, shortly after Warne and shortly before Gilchrist, an epoch in cricket would be completed. Expertly, precisely and more humorously than given credit for, the job has been done. McGrath leaves Australian cricket in a better shape than he found it and whether Australia will make the most out of it - well, only time will tell ...

Men of Honor

Just lazing around on a Friday evening with not much to do (kya karein, leg still not fully recovered) and wanted to see a good old movie. Didnt want to see a new one (or rather an unseen one) since too bored to follow the plot. Also exhausted all my stock of movies as well as tv shows such as friends, everybody loves raymond, etc. Hence, was trying to recollect a movie which I've seen (hence know the plot) but not seen so many times that I know it line by line (a la Andaaz Apna Apna). I suddenly recollected on movie which I had seen 3 yrs ago.

I remember when I was in NY after my MS, me and my roommates used to go to the public library and rent a ton of movies (the library allowed upto 10 movies over a week). Although dont remember all, some of the good ones we saw included - behind enemy lines, pink panther, james bond (almost all), jurassic park, ben hur, and of course - Men of Honor.

For some reason, I loved this movie. Since its a very popular movie, I wont post its review (google it if you want to know the review). However, I just recollect two memorable quotes from this movie that are motivating every time I read them. Here goes -

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Billy Sunday: Think you deserve to be here, don't ya? Fraternizing among navy men? Think you're as good as they are? How 'bout me, cookie? You better than me?

Carl Brashear: You're damn right I am!

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Carl Brashear: Forgive me sir, but to me, the Navy isn't a business. It's an organization of people who represent the finest aspects of our nation. We have many traditions. In my career, I have encountered most of them. Some are good, some not so good. I would, however not be here today were it not for our greatest tradition of all.

Captain Hanks: And what would that be, Chief Brashear?

Carl Brashear: Honor, sir
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Have a nice weekend !!!

Earth Hour: Hype or Necessity?

So tomorrow is Earth Hour. An hour in which some 20 odd famous cities of the world will shut down power for one hour to warn people about global warming. Was browsing through a number of news sites and saw diverse reactions from people. A number of reputed news agencies (although they were once reputed, now are nothing short of being tabloids) such as times of india, rediff, etc. have followed a typical blind man's approach and criticized about India's absence in this initiative.

When I read some of the biased articles I was amused though not surprised. After all most of these editors sit in air-conditioned offices, drive air-conditioned cars and again sleep soundly up in their air-conditioned houses. Maybe they are not aware of the buzz-word 'load shedding'. Many and I mean many cities in India have been subjected to load shedding in peak summer heat. No power for 5-10 hours a day in cities where temperatures soar above 35 degrees almost daily, where farmers are forced to shut down their activities since their farming equipments require power (which is not provided), and where students are expected to give exams in dingy classrooms with no lights or fan due to power cuts? Aren't these Indians doing their bit for global warming?

Besides if these tabloids are so concerned about global warming, let me ask this - why does Times of India spend so much power on lighting for the no-good filmfare awards? Couldnt they shut the crap out of the mouths of saif and shahrukh, wind up their show in 30 minutes and save power for more than 3 hours instead of wasting it on hideous crap?

So my simple answer to the question posed by these news sites as to why India didnt participate is - "The world may just follow earth hour, however thousands of families in India follow an earth day"