Choir of Flames!

Hi Guys,

A guest post after a long time. This time it is a short story written by my friend Chirag Dagar.
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Every breath, every moment proclaims an unheard story; the story about the past minute, second and about the moments of impact.

The sun shone brightly in the early hours of the morning welcoming a new day, the winds subdued against the might of the sun in the long arduous days of May-June. For all, summers meant a time to rejuvenate, relax and enjoy; but for Charlie it was an opportunity, an open window to work instrumentally towards his goal of qualifying for the National Diving Championships. Fascinated by the beauty and elegance of a dive suspended mid-air, he started swimming from an early age to later on pursue his dream of performing Dives at major levels.

Diving encompassed the conclave of the mind and the body, the body pristinely executing the directions of the mind. It was about procreating each moment, those fractions of a second, that impulse, the stance, the grace, molding your body, articulating the body to that perfect posture.  It was only when Charlie commenced his journey on the path of relentless efforts, he realized the paramountcy of faith in oneself when odds stand against, savor the pain, yet stride perpetually on the path undertaken.

Having triumphed at the State level, Charlie was destined to make it big at the major championships.

And then came the day, the arena packed with assessors, supporters and a few chosen ones to compete for the elusive spot. The moment had arrived for which Charlie had gone through grind, trained his mind to get the picture of the perfect dive engraved in his mind, body and soul. Doubts, they stare at the face like the jagged daggers of the enemies, diminishing the trust in ones’ potential to deliver. Doubts existed for Charlie, his first step towards a breakthrough, so did hope. It was his time to shun the clouds of uncertainty and shine through to claim what was there for him.

On the blow of the whistle, Charlie synchronized the reverberations of the spring board to dance to the tunes of his body, and ascended to make this moment, a moment of impact, a moment of victory.

Contemplating back, he emphasized on the transition from doubts to the belief of conquering the fears, the illusions created by mind. He reflected on the smallest of the moments, the moments of work and the grind that brought answers to the doubts, dwelling into the unwavering faith to fulfill his destiny.

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Happy Reading!

P.S: The author's profile is https://www.facebook.com/chirag.dagar

Strategies in IPL Auctions!

Hi Guys,

It has been a long time since I started writing. The fact that this is my 200^th post is quite amazing. As the days have went by, the number of posts has decreased proportionately. There are two reasons behind this. One is that I have got busy in life and second one is I think quite seriously before writing each post. For the past few days I have been of the idea of writing an E-book. I have been doing some research on publishing e-book. Anyway, I am not a person who can write long. So, I am still in confused thoughts. Let’s see, how things go.

In this post, I’m going to write about the IPL auction that took place yesterday. Like the previous versions of IPL auctions, this edition too had many surprises. Each team followed a different strategy. Some players who are very young and unknown became very rich by the end of the day.

Thinking a little on why some teams just keep rising the bids, two things come into my mind. One maybe the Ego factor, where two rival teams fight for a single player. In that case, the past performance or talent of a player doesn’t come into play and the teams enter into Irrational Bidding. The other factor might be a trap. If one team is so desperate on getting a player and other teams come to know of it, they might keep increasing the stakes of the player and make the other team pay high for him. This way the spending capacity of the team goes down and the other teams can concentrate on their wish list.

Some teams have got too many big names in their squad. From the past records, the teams that is strong on paper struggles at the end. The main reason is that at the end of the day, the teams (or Captains) don’t know who to pick and who to leave. The second is the team spirit gets decreased and individual talents come into play. Some teams like Rajasthan Royals have stuck to a 21 member squad instead of acquiring more players and creating problem.

The latest auctions were better compared to the previous versions where only the names of the players went into consideration. This time, the teams have considered the availability of the players, their recent performance and also their past performance in IPL.

Yet another strategy adapted by many teams is that of getting ‘Mystery Players’. A player who has played fewer matches is under exposed and the other teams find it difficult to handle the player. It has been the case in the past too. A new batsman or a bowler comes in and the opposition doesn’t know about the player’s particular style. Once the mystery players’ styles are exposed, their value goes down. The traditional proverb ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ goes well with these players.

A few well deserved players have missed out the chance. It is always a Zero Sum game with the franchises having a fixed wallet. At the end of the day, it boils down to the players’ form during the IPL, the team spirit and attitude and the Captain’s cleverness.

The players’ performances have never been proportional to the money they get. It has always been the case and I believe that it will be the case this season too. So the bottom line is that a better method has to be generated in which a player’s performance is linked with his performance.

Happy Reading!!!

The Cricketer who is perfect, yet again!

Hi Guys,

I’m back in my comfort zone again. A post about Cricket. A cricketer who has been amazing in the recent days. But it’s not with his Cricketing skills, but his orating and writing skills. If you have been following Cricket recently, it is an easy guess. It is Rahul Dravid.

I haven’t seen live telecast of Cricket for many days (as I never got any chance). I heard from many of my friends that Rahul Dravid was doing a brilliant job in Commentary Box. He is so much into Cricket and he has the amazing ability of analyzing things and interpreting them beautifully.

The first time I knew Dravid was such a good Orator was in December 2011. Indian team was touring Australia and of course, no one knew it would be his last test series. Rahul Dravid was invited to deliver the Bradman Oration and he gave a spectacular speech covering all aspects of the game.

The way he had described things, the way he had researched things that happened in the past and how it impacted the game. He strongly said that Indian Cricket is not just power and money. It has much more than that. He went on to say how many cricketers have come from small towns and how they fought against the odds to become successful.

After setting up the base, he moved into the topic of what is troubling cricket these days. He spoke about the sparse crowds for many matches in India. He went on to say how poor audience would affect the big picture. He said, ‘We are performers and entertainers. We love the audience’ He said a wonderful point that Disrespecting the fans is nothing but disrespecting the game. He went on to speak about the three formats of the game. In short, it is the best Oration on Cricket I have ever heard.

After he finished his Cricketing career (quite abruptly), ESPN realized the potential and grabbed him. He has been doing wonderful things. He has created a completely new dimension.

The article he has written today about MS Dhoni is a spectacular piece of article. He has done a wonderful analysis and has concluded that India can’t find a better captain than MS Dhoni (in the current situation). He has said Dhoni needs to understand the team better and he has wonderfully compiled what has been actually happening. He has made it very clear that no one is in good form and if you do not want Dhoni as the captain, who else can be? Is there anyone eligible to fill the position? His arguments make absolute sense.

Indian fans are very sensitive. A win can take the Cricketers to height of pride and a loss can pull them to the range of Villians. It is high time we understand that our team is in a transition phase and you can’t do wonders in a single day. Of course, there are some problems. But we need to focus on the problems rather than creating new problems.

Coming back to Rahul Dravid, he has been doing a wonderful job. The Cricketing World needs people like him. The audience love it and of course, I am one among the audience. Looking much more from Rahul Dravid V2.0.

Happy Reading!!!

Is it right to demand for Spinning Pitches?

Hi Guys,

Back to Cricket after a long time. This time I am planning to write about the wayward demand made by MS Dhoni.

Dhoni wants the pitches to turn right from Day 1 and this has created a huge controversy. The logic made by Dhoni is that Home Conditions need to favor the home team. Also in Australia and England pitches seam right from the first ball. Before agreeing or disagreeing to Dhoni’s comments, we need to look into the logic.

Leaving apart the nature of the pitch, we know that a new Ball seams or swings and as the ball starts to wear it starts to Spin. It is true in most of the cases, except that the amount of seam and spin depends on the pitch. Dhoni’s comments is nearly something like Alaistar Cook saying that England pitches should support seam and bounce the same way irrespective of whether its first over or 80th over.

Also in Test matches are not touched until the end of fifth day and the pitch withers according to the nature’s wishes. So, as time goes on the pitch starts to spin more or seam more. This is one of the main reasons why chasing a score above 250 in fourth innings is tough. Asking for a turning pitch right on the first day will make things worse as the match goes on and the match gets over in three days. Dhoni’s logic of saying that there is no fun playing for five days goes against the history of 5 day matches.

Dhoni says that each country has its own Home Advantage and India doesn’t. Indians have always had their home advantage. The blazing sun along with batting and spinning pitches has made the opposition tired. Other teams have found it hard to win in India. Steve Waugh’s dream was to win a test series in India and it never happened. And home advantage does not belong to pitches only. It lies with the environment, surroundings, fans, etc.

In Australia or England all the pitches don’t behave the same way. Perth is a heaven for Pace Bowlers. Sydney always supports Spinners to some extent. Melbourne and Adelaide are completely different. The same goes with other pitches too. Clarke doesn’t say that all pitches should behave like Perth or something like sort of that. Asking for similar conditions in all pitches of India is not a right sign.

With problems aplenty in the team, asking for supportive pitches (even after which we lost) won’t help. Grooming youngsters towards Test Cricket is the right sign. We always find someone to blame with. Similarly two good matches can take a player to extreme highs. A long term solution is more important than a short term one.

Hope to see Indian team performing well.

Happy Reading!!!

Roger Federer - Back in the Top!

Hi Guys,

It was an interesting Sunday evening. Being in a lecture hall, seeking for different channels on net to see the Wimbledon finals live and then finding out a foreign channel whose language was unidentifiable. Then we had the rain stoppage and a nice interaction with a professor at 10 pm and then finally watching the match with English commentary. Roger Federer was back in form and back in the top.

The first set was a very tight one till 4-4 and then Federer lost his serve game poorly and it allowed Murray to conquer the first set easily. The second set was just superb. I thought it was heading for the tie breaker when the scores were 5-6 and Murray was 30-0 in his last game. Federer made a wonderful comeback and the way he took the set from 30-30 to 50-30 was just amazing.

Rain spoiled the play in the third set and as it has been happening in this Wimbledon, the rain stoppage went advantageous to Federer who won both the third and fourth sets very easily.

So, Federer won his 17th Grandslam and has become the Number 1 player once again setting into his 285th week as the top ranked player, just short of his hero Pete Samprass. He is all set to create record in the next few weeks.

It was a magnanimous effort from Federer, particularly after suffering from the back pain in the early stages of the tournament. After that the last three matches were just fantastic. He crushed all the opponents. Nadal’s exit was also an important factor. Many may wonder what it is between Nadal’s exit in second round and Federer’s win. Might be if Nadal had stayed and if it was Federer vs Nadal in the finals, the game could have been different. Nadal always had the psychological edge over Federer.

Looking ahead, the season looks to be interesting. Rafael bowed out in the second round. It was a shock defeat, but then you can’t say he is in bad form. He just won his favourite French Open. Djokovic is not as good as he was in the previous season, but still he is in the top. Murray has been a wonderful player, but the sad thing is he hasn’t got any luck and buckles in the finals.

We need to wait ahead to see if Federer is really back in his great old form. Anyway it is great achievement to bounce back and claim the number one spot after quite a long time.

We have two interesting tournaments ahead. The Olympic Tennis which is again at Wimbledon and then the US open. Let’s see how the matches progress and who is really in form.

Happy Reading!!!

Tough times for Indian Cricket Fans!

Hi Guys,

It has been a hard time for ardent fans of Indian Cricket Team. If loss is paining, then the way the cricketing fraternity reacts to it is excruciating.

MS Dhoni has been the most celebrated captain of Indian Cricket team. He won us the T20 World Cup, ODI world cup and he took the team to new heights. But, now suddenly he is on a low and no one knows why. His attitude is low and strategies puzzling. He has always been a man of puzzling strategies, but they worked earlier and now they are backfiring. No one knows why he went on setting defensive field. He stills says that his bowlers bowled well and they didn’t have the cushion of big runs. By any means 4 wickets for 650 odd runs is not good bowling.

More awful, after the West Indies series Mr. Cool said that he wanted pitches that spin right from the first day, because spin is our biggest strength. Is he making a plan for India to lose all the overseas series ahead? What is more puzzling is that Ashwin took 22 wickets and Ojha took 21 wickets in that series (43 wickets in 3 matches). Does Dhoni want them to take all possible wickets?

Our selectors and cricket board are another set of crazy people. India lost the Sydney test match and two hours later, the schedule for next IPL was ready. Is money the only thing they think about? A few days ago, Yahoo Cricket published an article on who will be the replacements for the famed Indian batsmen. They came out with some names and in the end concluded ‘Though these batsmen have piled up runs in the Ranji Seasons, we can say nothing about their talent again seam bowling as they play on flat dead pitches’

By this time, some of the former players have made suggestions that the senior players should retire and fresh blood should be induced. Sachin has been the best batsman in this series so far. Dravid had a fantastic year just now. Former players have said that Laxman should be axed and Kohli should be given another chance. They have said that giving chance for just two matches is not good. They should remember that it is a 4 match series and not a 40 match series. He has hit just 43 runs and also misbehaved in the field (whatever the reason maybe it was irresponsible behavior). He has also wasted chances in West Series. Laxman played well in last innings and maybe it is too early to discard him (considering the fact that Aussies are the opponents and Ponting proved himself after 34 innings!)

Aussies were blasted one month ago. It was said that their bowling was the weakest. Ponting, Hussey, Clarke, Haddin – everyone were criticized. But they bounced back and now they are being celebrated across the country.

Being a fanatic of Indian cricket team, I believe that something like that will happen. Last time Indians won at perth. Hopes are low now, but still anything can happen. The fourth innings at SCG was good. Hope the show continues.

Winning a match from now on will be superb. If it happens, lets see how these intelligent guys react.

Happy Reading!!!

Revival of Cricket's Craze!

Hi Guys,

I was quite busy for the past few days and it has been really difficult to think about a topic to write and I was also not able to read my follower’s blogs. It feels so good to be writing something again. Also, I am going to write about Cricket after a long time.

Last time, I cherished watching the match was the 2011 World Cup Final, when Dhoni sealed the Cup with a six. There was no time for celebration and within a week, the players were in IPL. It turned out to be very boring and people hated to see players in different teams. Gayle’s blitzkriegs lighted the tournament towards the end and the last few days were much better than the first few.

Then India went to West Indies and… Well, what happened there? I don’t remember exactly. Many of the key players were down with injuries and some were given rest and young Indian team managed to win the ODi series and test series.

Then came India’s worst ever performance in the last 10 years. A team, that was performing well in overseas failed miserably and didn’t even come close to the performance of the English. Except Rahul Dravid (and occasionally Sachin Tendulkar) no one else seemed comfortable. Contrastingly English Players were so comfortable against our bowling. Even their tail Enders batted well and Indians came back without winning a match.

Then England came back here for an ODI series. I think Champions League was conducted in between. I was expecting some tough competition, but English surrendered without fight. It was tough to believe that the same team thrashed India two months back. So, the hunter became the hunted.

So, slowly my cricketing interests were diminishing and then came the India vs West Indies series. I had no interest in the series. I thought India would be comfortable. But, life is full of surprises.

Indians were trailing by 95 runs in the first innings. I thought, it was tough and Indians may lose. But, then our spinners bundled out the West Indies batsmen and after a long time our top order clicked. Everyone contributed and India won.

Then, it was day before yesterday. I was seeing some video in Facebook, when my friend pinged, ‘Karthi, watching SA vs Aus match?’ I replied no and thought something interesting was going. I just then checked the score and OMG! Aussies were 21-7. I started to type a message to send to my friends and now they were 21-8. I started sending and now they were 21-9.

I had checked the scores in the starting of the day and Clarke was batting brilliantly. So, I was confused how Aussies were playing their second innings. Then, I came to know SA was all out for 96. 17 continuous batsmen (SA’s last 9 and Aussies first 8) were having single digit. It was heaven for bowlers and hell for batsmen (or, was it?)

I thought in the conditions, it was difficult for SA and Aussies had an upper hand. But, then I didn’t know Smith was always brilliant in fourth innings. He hit his fourth consecutive century in fourth innings and increased his fourth innings average to 85. The match was over by the third day. What a match!

Both the matches have some similarities. The team that batted first had a huge lead and then collapsed in the second innings (though the magnitude was different). Both team’s batsmen failed miserably in first innings and came back strong in the second innings. Two debutant bowlers (Aswin and Philander) collapsed the opposition batsmen in the second innings and both of them got Man of the Match awards (only third player in their respective countries to do so).

So, Cricket has again become an interesting game to watch!

Happy Reading!!!

IPL Jerseys!

Hi Guys,

A few days back IPL 4 started and after a superb world cup, it is definitely hard for the IPL to make an impact. For most of the matches, the stadiums were only half filled. High ticket prices are also a reason. The jerseys are most of the teams are irritating and so I will write about the jerseys.

Delhi Dare Devils

Their earlier Black-Red was good; Dark Blue-Red was nice. This time, they have lost most of their players and with newer players, they have got new sponsors. Their jersey is shocking, with Dark Blue color and white curves all over the jersey. It is as if the jersey is covered with nets. The team sponsor has got a major portion. The jersey seems as bad as their new team.

Kochi Tuskers Kerela

This is one of the most comic jerseys of the IPL. I think Kochi’s idea might be to scare their opponents by using their jersey. Full of orange and shades of Violet. Whoever designed this jersey must have got a very creative brain. 

Sahara Pune Warriors

Not a bad jersey, but something is missing. It is more like the jersey is copied from the Kiwis. The sponsor’s logo does not suit the jersey. There are places when the logo is too bright compared to the jersey. The jersey is dull and lacks energy.

Other Teams

Their Black-Gold jersey (they wore in IPL-1) was one of the best jerseys of IPL. It is sad they changed it to Dark Blue-Gold. 

Of the other teams, RCB looks good, thought they were superb without the blue stripes.

CSK looks as usual, blazing in their yellow jersey with lion roaring.

Mumbai Indians also look as good as ever with the blue jersey. So does Rajasthan Royals and Punjab.

Deccan Chargers also haven’t changed their jersey, though they could have done something to create an energetic look.

Bleeding Blue

It is also interesting to note that, 5 teams are wearing different shades of blue. Many teams changed from black to blue. I think, sentimentally blue is considered to be a lucky color. Not only in cricket, but in most of the sports, the jerseys will be blue in color.

Popup Ads

Seeing the jerseys, there are lot of sponsor logos all over. They are like Pop up advertisements. Logos are present above thigh, over the chest, on the back, above the sidearm, in the helmet. My doubt is, how to leading brands expect people to see such a small logo.

Happy Reading!!!

My Favorite Sport Car!

This is a guest post, written by my friend Vimal. He has got a lot of interest in automobiles and so he has written an article about his favorite sport car.
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Hi friends,

I first thank my friend Karthick, for giving me a chance for this guest appearance.

In this post, I am going to write about my favorite sport car Lamborghini Murciélago. Lamborghini Murciélago is a two seated, high performance sports car. Murciélago gets its name from a historic Spanish bull, which fought in the 19^th century. The car was produced in the beginning of 21^st century and it has lot of variants.  

 

Interestingly, I first came to know about this car from a computer video game called Need for Speed- Most Wanted. It is produced by the famous car manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. The Company is Italy based and is commonly referred as Lamborghini. The current owner is Audi AG, which itself is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, the German Automobile giant.

 So why did I choose this particular car especially? 

Imagine travelling in a car at 60mph in just 2.8 seconds and then reaching 100mph in next 4 seconds. It is considered to be the most stylish and glamorous car. So there is no doubt that everyone will be seeing you, if you ride this car. This is the reason I love this car. 

The car is not much renowned in India. A survey says that most billionaires in China buy this car, but only a fewer number of billionaires in India buy this car. The notable fact is that India has more number of billionaires than China. However if an Indian buys this car, he can’t ride it due to poor road infrastructure. I think the condition will improve after the introduction of world class highways.

 

Automobili Lamborghini has closed the production of this car and has planned to introduce a new car in the middle of 2011. 

The car is very expensive (About 3 to 4 crores INR). I haven’t seen this car in real life, but I have seen it many movies and games. Hope to see one soon!!! Who wouldn’t love to ride this car?

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Vimal can be reached at vimal0078@gmail.com

Indians at the Asian Games!

Hi Guys,

After a bright performance in Commonwealth games, Indians have so far disappointed in the Asian Games. Not even one month has passed by, but our performance has been so poor. There have been some really spectacular performances too. Let me analyse who has disappointed and who has created new hopes.

Poor performances

The poor performance started on the very first day itself. The strongest medal hope was our Shooting contingent. They have been on the high for the past few years. Gagan Narang was one of the biggest hopes as he had won 4 gold medals in the CWG. Abhinav Bindra, India’s only gold medallist was also a big hope. Gagan was able to manage a silver in 10m air pistol whereas Abhinav didn’t even qualify for the finals (he could have claimed for a wrong judgement, but he didn’t for team’s cause). They managed to win silver in team’s event. After that our shooting contingent delivered very poorly. No one won gold. There were a very few silver and bronze medals. Frustrated, our national shooting coach, Sunny Thomas has announced his retirement after the Asian Games. He has been our national coach for the past 17 years. I can’t believe that these people were very superb just a month ago. How could a whole bunch of shooters lose form?

My next biggest expectation was Badminton. I was hoping that Saina Nehwal would win at least silver, if not gold (I knew gold was difficult as our Asian players are very strong in Badminton). But it was such a shock when I heard that she lost in the quarter finals to a world number 12th player. The way she lost was worse 8-21, 21-8, 21-19. She was in tears after the match. Don’t know what happened.

Saina Nehwal dejected after losing the match

Not just these, there has been much poor performances on all sides. Let’s get into the positives.

Incredible Performances

The two gold medallists Pankaj Advani (billiards) and Bajrang Lal (rowing) were brilliant in their respective games. Both of them have won before in top level games and they didn’t fail like our shooters. Instead they rose to the occasion and proved us what they were capable off. Hats off to them!

Bajrang Lal after winning the gold

The next astonishment was Ashish Kumar, winning India’s first ever bronze medal in Gymnastics. Indians were never capable of doing gymnastic actions and we never considered even our name in the gymnastic arena. But this 19 year old Ashish Kumar from Allahabad proved otherwise. After winning a silver and bronze in CWG, he has won this bronze in Asian games amidst stiff competition from Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.

Another scintillating performance came from the pool, when Virdhawal Khade won the bronze medal in 50m Butterfly event. It was also a rare medal. Similar to gymnastics, swimming has also been very poor in India. But this 19 year old Maharasthra boy has been India’s hope for some time now. He holds nearly all national records in swimming. After winning the medal, in the press conference he surprised everyone by saying he is better than the other 2 medal winning swimmers as he is younger. The next he was only able to be 13th in the 100m Freestyle event. He must learn to speak carefully further.

Virdhawal Khade after winning the bronze medal

Indians have also been able to perform well in rowing team event. Apart from Bajrang Lal our Indian team members have performed well to win some medals. I read a terrible thing in newspaper today. For rowing, our rowing committee (or some equivalent governing body) has imported 8 boats from Italy. Our customs officials have not allowed it inside saying some idiotic reasons. So our rowing team has been rowing with old boats (boats they used in 2002 Asian Games) and boats that our military has lend them. With a government like this, we can’t do much. Despite all these problems our rowers rock in the games.

Our Indians have also been performing well in many other games like Wushu. They are doing well in Tennis and Boxing. I hope we will get medals in them too. If our cricket board had sent a second class team to the games, we would have surely got 2 gold as all other teams are also engaged.

Let’s see how things go in the next few days. At least hope that India will break into the top 10 teams.

Happy Reading!!!

Things that crossed my way!

Hi Guys,

It’s really great out here with three days gap down the line. Thanks to the poojas and the political parties who have converted a local public meeting into a big word war and in the fear that problems may arise during their meeting on Monday, our college (or the local body) has declared us holiday.

I was thinking of what to write about in my blog. A lot of things came into my mind. I have decided to pen down a few things.

A fanatic of Sachin

On seeing the subtitle, you may wonder who that fanatic is. Well, it’s me. Right from the days I started watching cricket, I’m a big fan of him. I don’t know how I started to follow him, but I remember some of his innings. Actually still now, I don’t like someone the way I like Sachin. Maybe I’m a fan of some celebrities, but am not sort of fanatic. I have passionately followed him. I still remember some of his innings, his two centuries in Sharjah against Australia (I was so young then). Another innings was his double century against Australia in Sydney some 7 years ago. He didn’t hit well in the first three matches, although India managed to do well. But Hayden was still warning the Aussies about Sachin. He was saying Sachin would bounce back any time. In the fourth test, Sachin hit a scintillating knock. It was a double century.

Another innings, I remember is the quick fire 98 against Pakistan in 2003 World cup. Pakistan had hit 272 and my brother was saying India would never win. But Sachin tormented the Pakistan bowlers like anything and India won the match. The way he roared back after the tennis elbow injury was unforgettable. When everyone said, his time was over, he answered to the critics, as usual with his bat. This year, his performance has been fantastic. This season has many unforgettable innings including the 175 against Aussies in a losing ODI, when India hit 347 in reply to their 350. His 200* against SA is the first ever double century in ODI. He continues to impress in tests too. He has a continuous streak of centuries, including the last match winning innings.

I hope his dream of getting a World Cup comes true next year. I think I might have scribbled a lot of things above. I was quite excited and don’t even remember what I wrote (anyway I’m not going to check).

The Three Mistakes of my Life

Recently I read the book ‘The Three Mistakes of my Life’ written by Chetan Bhagat. It’s yet another fantastic novel, portraying the story of a young man named Govind Patel. The novel deals with friendship, cricket, religion, business and love. Just can’t believe how things can change the way a person live. The novel deals with how their lives are changed by the Gujarat Earthquake, the famous Kolkata test in which India won despite the follow on, the twin tower crash and finally the Godhra incident. I don’t really like life stories to the extent I like fiction and thrillers, but this man has been writing superbly. I liked 3 of his 4 novels including this one.

Commonwealth Games

Before starting of Commonwealth games nothing was looking good, but after the games everything is looking good. The way the games were conducted was good. India winning 101 medals and getting second place was even great. Saw a few matches now and then in TV. Particularly, saw the women’s 4*400 relay team. Indians had never achieved greatly in athletics, but they ran the race as if it meant life to them and we had gold. It was one of the best running I have ever seen. Many other stars also performed well. One disappointment was Vijendar Singh missing gold. I expected him to win the gold, but he missed it. Gagan Narang continued from where he left in Melbourne CWG. India losing to Australia 8-0 in Hockey was embarrassing, but it is the first medal of our Hockey team in CWG and it’s great. It’s good to see our Government giving some prize money to the medal winners. It was a fantastic 10 days from October 3 to 14. IT has completely made India proud.

Sad Demise

Last week, one of my college mates passed away, due to bike accident. I don’t know the exact story. It seems that he and his friend were riding to our college in the morning and when he overtook a minibus, another city bus has come in the opposite path they were crushed in the middle. They didn’t suffer severe body injuries, but it was their head which was injured. The rider was uninjured and he took his friend to the hospital and was waiting outside. Suddenly he fainted down and was announced dead. His inside of the head was injured and he has died due to blood clotting. The other boy is still in critical condition and a operation needs to be done in his spinal cord.

Another point is that the demised boy used to be a very safe and sensible rider. He never took risks and still then he died, because of other’s mistakes. If he had put a helmet, he would have escaped. We only realise value of small things, only after we are hit!

Be careful and ride safely!

That’s it for now. See you soon.

Happy Reading!!!

F1 and India!

Hi guys,

This week, Indian fans of F1 racing received great news. Formula 1’s governing body released next year’s racing schedule and India got a race to hold. It will be proud for us to have an Indian Grand Prix. It will be the 18th race of the season. It will be held in Noida, 32 kms away from Delhi. In this post I will be writing about India’s relationships with F1.

Before beginning the history and the current status, I must express to my blogging friend, Abhishek’s post on ‘Formula 1 is coming to India’ which induced me to write this one.

Indian Drivers in F1

The first Indian driver to participate in a F1 race was Narain Karthikeyan. He debuted for the Jordan team in 2005. He got his first points in the US Grand Prix when only three teams participated and all other teams pulled out due to problems with tyre. He finished fourth and that were the only points he got in F1. Then in 2006 and 2007 he was the test driver for Williams F1 team. Now he is associated with NASCAR race and there too he i the first Indian to qualify. No doubt he is the World’s Fastest Indian.

After Narain, Karun Chandok made his debut this year with Hispania F1 racing team. Both he and the team are inexperienced and they are facing huge problems. Let’s hope that all gets well soon.

Force India F1

The first sugary thing India got was the participation of Narain Karthikeyan in F1. Then a much sweeter surprise arrived. Vijay Mallya bought Spyker F1 Company for € 88 million and renamed as Force India F1 in October 2007. There were no points in first season and second season was also going on poorly. I thought it would be difficult for the team to survive. It was then Giancarlo Fischella finished second and created history. Then Adrian Sutil too finished fourth in the consecutive race.

Force India Drivers

This year, Force India is doing great. Both of its drivers Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi are finishing consistently in the point grabbing group. Currently Force India team is in 6th place with 58 points and Adrian Sutil is in 9th place for driver’s standings with 45 points in his bag. I hope that the team will do better in the upcoming races and seasons.

F1 in India

It has been long discussed to bring F1 into India. Many state governments raised plans to built F1 tracks. Then we had many constraints such as lack of big airports, quality hotels, huge investment, etc.

This was when Jaypee group came into the scene. Initially they requested for government funding and the government declined (read the article I wrote last year-F1-A Sports or Not? ). But this is what a private sector can do. They have allocated money themselves and have started doing the work. Now Formula 1 governing body has allocated October 30, 2011 for Indian Grand Prix.

Proposed track for Delhi Grand Prix

Though it is subject to change depending on track completion, I have hope that Jaypee group will pull off things and finish it up. They have promised to finish it by next April- May and they will do it as it has to do nothing with our Government. Also the recently opened Terminal in Delhi Airport also adds as an advantage. The current track is planned at 32 kms away from Delhi.

It would be great to see Force Indian Drivers finish in the podium in Indian Grand Prix. We need to wait for another year to see the Grand Prix in India, provided all arrangements go smoothly.

Happy Reading!!!

The First Week of Summer!

Hi Guys,

I think my last post was a fortnight back. I thought of penning down a lot of things last Sunday, but I was out of time. I went to the movie ‘Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya’ in the morning and then I was engaged writing assignments the whole day.

Also the title of this post is ‘The First week of summer’. Last week was very hot and humid here, marking that the summer had begun. Let’s hope the summer is quite mild this year, though the chances are less due to Global Warming.

Sporting Actions

The 12th Hockey world cup is going on in Delhi from Feb 28. Though India is in very poor form these days, a lot was expected from them as it is our home ground. Our players played up to the expectations in the 1st match against Pakistan, beating them 4-1. Then in the 2nd match, Australia outplayed us 5-2. Against Spain, India played better, but they failed to convert the passes and penalty corners to goals. In the end again a 5-2 defeat. Today India played England. India dominated the scene, but as usual failed to score goals even in the last minute and lost 3-2 to give up the semi final hopes. At least they must win South Africa and fight for the 5th place.

It was great to see Sachin hit a double century in the Gwalior ODI against South Africa. I have been his fan from the days I started watching cricket. There are a lot of sporting events ahead this month. The much expected IPL III begins on March 12. There have been a lot of controversies around this event. To me, any of the 8 teams have a chance to win this event. I have been a great fan of F1 races, particularly Michael Schumacher. It’s great that he is back on track this year at the age of 41. But it is quite different to see him with the McLaren Team instead of the famous Ferrari. Let’s see how he drives in the Bahrain GP on March 14.

Events in the College

College is going on nice these days, despite the huge amount of politics happening. We had better performances in the interdepartmental culturals. We got 2nd place in the events like Skit, Vocal Solo (Siva Kumar) and theme dance. We also got the 3rd place in Western dance. There were lot of politics in the events that led to conflict and repetition of events like Folk and western dances. Finally the points were calculated based on the number of students and hence we missed the 1st place by a whisker.

The interdepartmental sports are also nearing the end. We were leading a few days before, but sadly we let it slip our hands. We can’t do a lot on that, mainly because having no girls in our department we can’t rely on the events conducted for girls. We expect compensation points based on the points we scored, but we are denied and hence Sports Shield has also become a dream. But our performance was far better than last year, both in cultural and sports.

The mood in the college is upbeat after the last semester results. Much has improved than the previous semester. Our college secured the University’s 2nd place in the overall pass percentage, missing the 1st by a mere 0.68%. Last time the difference was more than 20%.

I will keep updating about my activities.

Happy reading!!!