Zonked

Where's the party tonight?

2006-09-09T16:26:00.000-04:00

Its been 2 months since I started working at Delhi i.e. 8 weekends

Elevate 3
Buzz 3
Chinese and Thai Cafe 4
Aqua 1
Agni 1
Blue Elephant 1
Mirage 1
Turquoise Cottage 1
Climax 1
Nasha 1
Shalom 1
Laidback Waters 1
One helluva house party 1
One mega shaadi 1

Seems like the first Saturday night when I'm home..

I like home..

I like slow sleepy songs..

I shall sleep..

I think its time to slow down..

.. for now.

Fixed

2006-08-29T13:26:00.000-04:00

For the past many many months - I've been fixated by this song.

Its not my favourite PJ song - that goes to Last kiss.

Not my second - that goes to Jeremy.

Or my third - that goes to Alive.

But I was still fixated by her...

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did
All five horizons revolved around her soul
As the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn
Ooh, and all I taught her was everything
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore
And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything?
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...
I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head
I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning
How quick the sun can, drop away
And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass
Of what was everything?
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything...
All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all that I'll be...yeah...

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky, but why
Why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine

But then, in the past few weeks - another song has taken over.

Now my favourite Coldplay song.

Over Clocks, Scientist, Yellow, Trouble, Shiver.

Ironically, the first time I heard this song was at a Coldplay concert in DC late 2005, when I spent most of the concert with a phonecall..

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
and the tears come streaming down your face
when you lose something you can't replace
when you love some one but it goes to waste
could it be worse?
High up above or down below
When you too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Shout out to all those who tried to fix me in the past many many months..

I'm back

:D

:(

2006-07-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

:(

Sucks...

Well played Azzuri...

Good show Germany - Very sad it had to end - but glad we got so far and had many an awesome moment in the WC finals.

2010 I'll be there at the stands! Hopefully - that is our year.

We won we won we won!!!

2006-07-01T03:24:00.000-04:00

What a game!

What a game!!!

I was fortunate enough to watch it at the IIT lecture theatre here at Bombay. There is NO better place to watch a game. Perhaps being present at the stadium comes close - but sheesh - the atmosphere was phenomenal!!

Not the best German play and we admittedly were the second best team for a large part of the game.

But maaan - did we have the nerve and the grit and the tenacity and the will to win. And of course the luck!

Never felt so much blood pump into my head whilst watching a football game. Minutes 49 to 80 were arguably the worst television sporting minutes of my life. But what a game! What a game!

They joy of victory was sweetened by the fact that we were just around 20-30 odd German supporters in a sea of around 300 fans. And boy did we savour the win!

Took a picture back in the hostel room after the game. In my 2002 Bayern Munich shirt with Ballack's 13. Guess I was too dazed to hold my German sash up straight :)

Thats Rajubhai with me - the person who convinced me to go to the lecture theatre to watch the game. I was planning to watch just the finals out there and the rest at pubs - but the LT is INCOMPARABLE! This quarterfinal felt nothing less than the final. I owe you bigtime dude!

Azzurri - you guys are next!

DEUTSCHLANDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

Mannschaft vs Albiceleste

2006-06-28T05:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I look at my last name and go - MAN - I wish it were shorter and simpler!

Everytime I call any helpline, I have to spell - N-A-R-A-Y-A-N-A-S-W-A-M for Monkey-Y

and then I came across this dude during the Argentina vs Netherlands game - a striker in the Dutch football team

Jan VENNEGOOR OF HESSELINK

Poor flo - first time I saw him I thought he was from some B league club in Netherlands called Hesselink. But I was wrong - that is part of his last name!!

Jan VENNEGOOR OF HESSELINK vs Karthik NARAYANASWAMY

I think I like my name better..

Talking about the World cup..

7 out of the 8 pre-quarterfinals had results I was not rooting for. The only one which went the right way - fortunately - was Germany thulping Sweden.

Sooooo hope that Germany go on to lift the cup this time. They are playing absolutely beautifully and its a pity that we face Argentina next. If we lose, hope Argentina lift the cup. If they cant make it - hope Portugal manage the magic. If not them - Ukraine. If not them - France. If not les bleus - Brazil. Not that I dont like Brazil - just that they have won enough. Plz let other junta win!

That being said - It would TOTALLY SUCK if England or Italy go on to win the cup - they dont even deserve to be in the quarterfinals.

Overhyped, bluddy useless bunch of players are the English. ( Apart from Gerrard who is the only player who is more heart than hype in the English squad )

And the Italians should have lost to the Aussies. Whining group of SOBs. Maybe this result was redemption for their bad luck in 2002 - but the poor Socceroos. 2010 Inshallah!

Also, decided that I have to go to S. Africa for the 2010 World Cup. So the shingles out there are

2006 - Move back to India - very convenient :D
2008 - Everest Base Camp
2010 - World Cup at South Africa
2012 - ????

Bye bye bye

2006-05-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, I am making it a bad habit of losing the loves of my life..

Admittedly, this was easier.

Sold my car a few days back. My first ever car. Busterina.

Kn and Busterina.

Not too fond of the lucky bastard who gets to ride it now. To rub salt into my wounds, the weather outside is absolutely gorgeous - what I would call perfect convertible weather.

Thats when it sunk in.

I'm going home! ( of course - buying the one way ticket to delhi also helped sink in the feeling)

Will be at Delhi 3 weeks from now. Will be dabbling in consulting - with the fledgling Bain office in Gudgaon - beshhht it is!

Looking forward to the next chapter in my life - :D - new job, new country, new car and maybe lotsa new other things..

Excited. Kicked. Scared.

Never thought I'd have the guts to get out of my nice little comfort zone out here in Richmond.

Very proud of myself.

Aage kya hoga - Ram Jaane :)

Till then, I'll just sulk and miss the loves of my life and feel lucky that I had a chance to be with them.

Isn't she pretty?

So they say..

2006-04-12T01:31:00.000-04:00

... Behind every successful man, there is a good woman.

So I add... Without that woman, success does not feel as good.

Got Milk?

2006-03-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

I've always been a milk person.

In the morning, evening or at night - I prefer milk.

Sometimes ovaltine, sometimes bournvita, sometimes cornflakes - with milk.

Not coffee, not tea but milk. Not that I've never had coffee or tea - just that given a choice - I want uncaffeinated lactose in the morning.

Maybe it was that "dhoodh dhoodh" song that made me so crazy about milk!

But today - it all changed.

I was attending a credit training session at work. Not too boring - but was just not able to stay awake and concentrate. The week had been a little tough till then and add to that - it was an early day. I'm a 9:30am to work person - not the 8am that had been happening in the week.

So around 9am I excused myself from the class, went out to the galley and made some coffee. I hated it. It was horrible. Too strong and not sweet enough. But I had it nonetheless. As I finished the cup, droopy eyelids and random day dreaming went away. I enjoyed the session a little more just because I was fighting the sleep fairy/angel/ogre anymore.

It also made me feel - how do i put it? - much more sophisticated! Just a random stupid feeling. BUT, the thought of jumpstarting every day with coffee made me feel more like the working adult I am. All the serious dudes on Wall street have coffee in the morning (at least seems like that in the movies). I've always heard of coffee breaks at work - never milk breaks. The head of my department at Capital One has a cup of Starbucks at every morning meeting. In fact - in all the morning meetings that I have managed to attend - almost everyone has steaming cup of coffee in front of them. I used to carry a bottle of strawberry milk.

That cup changed my opinion of this drink. I then liked coffee. I now like coffee. I've decided that I will now have it every morning henceforth. Maybe that will help me make my 9am meetings. Maybe that will also help me stay awake in the 9am meetings. Maybe I will be taken more seriously now! I'm just waiting to get hooked..

Rudy Kipling should have written..

If you can call yourself a coffee addict,
And need the caffeine before your day has begun;
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The Smoky Mountains

2006-03-10T00:48:00.000-05:00

Back to the USA.

2 weeks ago actually.

I was cleaning up my inbox and found this mail I had sent out late last year. It describes a trip to the Smoky mountains during the labour day weekend in 2005 and is illustrated too! Thought I should post it here so that I can keep looking at it time and again.

I'm all enthu for a trek this weekend. Will ask around. Hope it materializes

--

The trip:

Karthik Ramkumar (Kramu), Gaurav Kwatra ( Kwatra) , Gautam Tambay ( tambya, tambi, tambay etc) and I went to the Smoky mountains this Labour day weekend…

The trip with a little more detail:

Now this was a craaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyy trip.. I've never been more physically exhausted* in my life.. And I've never ever been so close to just plopping onto the ground and dying..

And then of course there were the bears.. The big black bears who could smell any food and reach you.. And so anyplace that smelt weird was potentially due to bear poo.. Any rustling of the trees around was potentially due to bears playing hide and seek.. And any funny weird sound was potentially a bear making a funny weird sound...

Sometimes I think - would I do it again? The answer - I surreeeeeeeeeee will!! I will curse and cuss and pant and fume all over again.. But I'll still do it coz in hindsight - I absolutely loved the journey… :)))))

The trip in 100 words:

Afternoon 1 : Drive to tennessee
Evening 1 : Still drive to tennesee
Night 1 : Sleep in tents
Morning 2 : Wake up and pack tents and backpacks, Lunch at Gatlinburg - town near our campsite
Afternoon 2 : Start trek, Reach rainbow falls
Evening 2 : Continue walking, Reach shelter at Mount Leconte - highest point in the Smokies
Night 2 : Cook food and sleep at shelter
Morning 3 : Wake up, go to cliff top, have breakfast at cliff top
Afternoon 3 : Go down to the Alum cave bluffs and get back to shelter, then trek downhill
Evening 3 : Reach Grotto falls, continue trek
Night 3 : Reach car, have mini dinner on road, big dinner at Gatlinburg, drive back home
Morning 4 : Reach home, spend the whole day like a 114 year old man with acute rheumatoid arthritis..

The trip in pictures:

I've got over 200 pics here which encapsulate the Smoky trip.. And these have been selected and titled from over 350.. So pardon the # of pics but I did make an honest attempt to abridge the photo log :P… Also the titles of the photos should help understand what was happening… and slide show will help.. Especially if you plan on going through all 210.. Btw - if you actually manage to do that - please do let me know.. I owe you coffee sometime!

And with no further ado - I proudly present after over 16 hours of driving (including my first ever speeding ticket), 22 miles of walking, 25kg backpack carrying, 50 hrs of bear surviving and 6000 feet of altitude(ing)...

*Towards the end of each day.. My feet began to fight with one another. Everytime I reached a big rock my left foot used to cuss at my right foot and ask the right foot to take the difficult step upwards .. But my right foot just stood there and cussed back.. My first experience with internal mutiny..

Yeh jo des hai tera..

2006-02-14T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'm in India!

Actually, I've been here for 2 weeks now.

If you did not know that I was planning a trip to mera des, that is good - coz it was meant to be hush hush.

If you knew I was going, thanks. Thanks for keeping it a secret. At least from my sister. Coz it was fun surprising her on her birthday. WAS AWESOME :)

Aur kya - I need to post about my ideal perfect flawless soul-mate as per a tag going around. Will do that after I get back to Richmond. Why waste precious vacation time ( I just got a week left ) blogging? :D

Also I need/want/have to post a review of Aksar since the poor movie has been overshadowed by Rang de Basanti. Yes - I saw Aksar featuring the acting mistalent of Dino Morea and the nasal talent of Himesh Reshammiya and the kissing talent of Emraan Hashmi (which is more hyped that his obvious acting mistalent) and the crowd pulling talent of Udita Goswami (at least she got my 150 bucks). Went for the movie thinking that the director Anant Mahadevan, who was my neighbour in Wadala 10 years ago, would create the year's sleeper hit (alll puns now intended). I still dont know why the movie is called Aksar. Actually, that is all there is to review! Read this if still interested!

Rang de Basanti reviews are all over the place and wont waste time reviewing it. But for the record - I absolutely loved the movie. I think it easily ranks in my all time top 5 Hindi movies. After Anand, this the only Hindi flick I can recollect that has made me laugh my guts out in the first half, and choke in the second. Saw it twice - the same reaction.

Ok, vacation time being wasted. Later!

Love actually

2006-01-15T02:11:00.000-05:00

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport.

General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

- from the start of the movie "Love actually"

Funny movie. Very mushy. But a very very nice way to start the movie off!

New Year...

2006-01-13T01:13:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!

Its funny how the gym gets filled up in the first week of January and then gets back to a trickle by the last week...

Potter vs Usher

2005-11-26T23:48:00.000-05:00

Was studying for the CFA at Barnes and Nobles today. ( Yes - actually finally got down to it. )

Group of five 14-15 year olds sit next to me and..

Guy 1 : Lets watch Harry Potter. I heard its got cool special effects
Guy 2 : Harry Potter sucks. It is just a stupid kids book made into a movie.
Gal 1 : Lets go watch that Usher movie.
Guy 3 : You mean "In the mix?"
Gal 2 : Yea, I heard its got 5 sex scenes!
Guy 1 : Awesome! Lets go!

:))

Anyways, hoping to at least honourably flunk in the CFA on Dec 3rd. Come to think of it - honourably flunking sounds much cooler than barely passing!

Addendum : So I did flunk - and I hope it was honourably :)

Thanksgiving and me!

2005-11-24T23:43:00.000-05:00

So its Thanksgiving today - and I thought - what am I thankful for? I realized that there must be at least 24 things that I have made my 24 years much much much better. And so I proceeded to list them. In no particular order

--

1. My job - For making it so much fun to work. For not making Mondays dreary. For trying to put the human aspect ahead of the money. For showing me the money!

2. Priya Pickle - for making any city in the world taste like home

3. My car - For not killing me when I drive fast. For not bursting the wrong tyres that would send me spinning to my grave. For crashing only once and taking care of me then too. For looking as good as it is!

4. The gift of the three Ps. Patience - so that I can wait, listen, smile, help and not waste hours in anger. Perseverence - so that I never ever give up. Perspective - so that I can step into another persons shoes and understand him/her much better.

5. Fantasy sports for making my days so much more fun. Allen Iverson for carrying my NBA fantasy team on his shoulders.

6. The Gayathri Mantra - for keeping me sane in times of insanity

7. Bayern Munich - for trying to put a smile on my face. The Indian cricket team - for trying to put a smile on a billion faces. Hope they win the Champions league and the world cup respectively!

8. Shoulder slings - for taking care of my shoulder each time it dislocates!

9. My health - For all the good things. The nice non-falling hair on the head. The non cavitied teeth. The seeing eye, hearing ear, feeling touch, talking mouth, smelling nose. Also cute dental assistants and eye doctors who make potentially painful visits much more fun! A shoulder not dislocated for 10 months.

10. Norah Jones, Coldplay, RHCP, Green Day, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Vasantha Aunty, AR Rehman, RD Burman, Kala Aunty - for the Music. ( + Audioslave which I forgot. Thanks Golu for the reminder!)

11. The microwave - for helping me unfreeze frozen food and preventing me from starving to death

12. Trichur and Wadala - For Ammamma and Paati. Please put in a good word for me with Big Bro upstairs! Love you both.

13. The X Box - for Halo 2 which makes evenings at work ultra fun!

14. T-mobile, Comcast, Reliance India call - for helping me connect to India, for connecting me to my friends and for never letting me feel alone!

15. My friends. For the love. For the criticism. For the praise. For the bumps. For the support. For the life. For the Friday nights. For the tolerance. For the dinners. For the advice. For GONK. For the empathy. Special thanks to all the girlfriends and roommates: ex, current and future! Ultra thankful for the current ones

16. IIT - for giving me the best four years I could ever wish for! For giving me a name to fall back on. For reminding me that there are a gazillion people gazillion times smarter than me in a gazillion ways!

17. Bangalore, Bombay, Boston - for being the BEST cities in the world. For being the only cities I can think of settling down in! ( Maaayybee Sanfran too!)

18. Wachovia - for the rumours of a takeover and sending Capital One's stock up!

19. Kamala Athai - for being the woman she is! For always being there for me.

20. My bed - for being sooooo comfy to sleep in.

21. Guruvayoor, Kollur, Sabarimalai - for the peace and the warmth.

22. SIWS - for letting me and my sister study there when the Gulf war happened. For educating Appa, his siblings and Paati along the way.

23. My sister. For being such a pain in the butt. For loving me inspite of me being a mutual pain in the butt. For the rakhis. For the complaints. For the brutal honesty. For trying to be the mirror. For introducing me to her friends :P

24. Appa and Maa. For indirectly or directly giving me or getting me closer to each of the 23 things listed above. Nothing without you. Love you both!

this was fun :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

CFA

2005-11-13T01:23:00.000-05:00

Saturday night.

Turned down party.

Turned down movie.

Wanted to study for the CFA

That happens 3 weeks from now.

End up blog hopping for 4 hours.

Think I'll study now.

Maybe sleep.

Sleep it is.

Deja vu

2005-10-14T18:52:00.000-04:00

A little over two months ago I was stuck in Cochin trying to get back home to Bombay. That was when the Big Big Bombay rains happened. Somehow got to Bombay 4 days late. And then I was stuck trying to get from Bombay to Bangalore because of more horrible rains. And then got to Bangalore a day late..

5 days of 2 week vacation in the Airport!

Now I'm stuck at the Richmond airport trying to get to Boston because of big bad rains in New England.

Its been a bad bad rainy flying experience this year... and there are millions of people worse affected - hoping the next year is better for us all!

The greatest comeback

2005-10-12T01:17:00.000-04:00

The Softball playoffs.

Small Business Bashers vs The Evil Empire.

Small Business Bashers : People who thought they were good. A third of the team - one Costa rican, one Albanian and two Indians including me had never played softball before.

The Evil Empire : We had been clobbered 0 - 30 in our league game against the same team. I think it was greater than 30 but we just stopped counting.

It was a 4 inning playoff with Evil Empire going first.

In the 4 inning playoff, we were down 1 - 13 in the middle of the 2nd inning. Heading down to defeat again. In fact in the second inning, this dude from the opposite team smashed a homerun out of the park. I had never seen a home run hit before in that park coz it was a pretty big park. That dude was real good!

May I add here that we had never played and won a game. We were 2W - 3L after the regular season and both our wins were forfeits.

Our second inning was good. We scored 9 runs to bring the score to 10 - 13. That was more runs than we had scored in our previous 5 games and 20 innings combined. So I think I should say - our second inning was AWESOME!!

The third inning we managed to shut them out. We were on a roll now! In our third inning we went back to our awesome old ways. We were shut out. The score still reading 10-13.

The fourth inning, the Evil empire score 4 runs. The score now is 10-17. We need 8 to win.

So obviously we had to win, else this would not be a comeback would it? So we somehow managed to win it. 18-17. We were down to our last man and he managed to hit the ball and the dude in the opposition missed the catch and the person on 2nd base managed to run home and we scored and we won. I dont know how. The Gods decided that the underdog has to have his day. But that is now no longer the point of this post. Coz something else just grabbed my attention by the balls..

Now as I was typing this entry I saw this show on Discovery.

It is called Beyond Boundaries and about... Let me lift this from the website

--

Imagine the ultimate adventure: an expedition to conquer impenetrable jungles, crocodile infested rivers and a live volcano. Now, imagine doing it in a wheelchair. In a four-episode series spanning the wilds of Nicaragua, Beyond Boundaries puts viewers on the jungle floor with a diverse group of 11 physically challenged amateur adventurers attempting to cross the country on their own power.

Ade and Sophie are in wheelchairs; Daryl has spina bifida; Amar is blind; and Charlie is deaf. Toby and Warren both had their right arms removed. Karl and Glenn are below-the-knee amputees. Lorraine lost most of her right leg when she was 21. Jane's legs were amputated when she was a year old. Individually, they would never be able to traverse such unforgiving terrain; however, if they work together, they might have a chance.

Beyond Boundaries explores the depths of the human condition, revealing how far people will push their limits and work together as a team to prove that they are able to conquer the unimaginable.

--

Freaking CRAZY man. Ultra humbling. I saw the first episode and felt like a WHOAAAAAAA!! All my "ultra difficult hikes" were like sleeping and snoring compared to what these guys are trying to achieve. I dont know if the people will make it and how things will pan out. And since I'm talking about comebacks - this is easily the greatest comeback I've known yet!

Btw - We got totally whipped in the next softball game 2-30+ and were booted out of the playoffs :D

Baseball - a true underdog story

2005-10-06T00:39:00.000-04:00

So the Baseball World Series is on and I have no idea how I got hooked to this sport.

I remember going to a Richmond Braves game a year ago and getting so bored that I left after 3 innings. Its freaking boring. The ball moves so fast you can't see it. People swing wildly and miss most of the time. In fact if you can hit the ball one in three times - someone should start showing you the money!

Maybe it is the softball league I decided to join. On the field, everyone was amused that I did not use a glove - till I tried to catch a fast throw and my hand went purple. I have learnt to use a glove since. I am as bad a fielder - but at least my hand is happy.

On the other hand, I will say that I am a good hitter. It is a piece of cake since in softball the ball is reasonably slow and there is not much variation. All my years of cricket and the blind swinging have obviously helped. Its like facing underarm spin bowling - only that the ball does not spin. Its awesome. I feel like Afridi, Sehwag, Dhoni and Gilchrist all rolled into one. I do keep getting caught out - but at least I get to hit the ball far far far away.

Anyways, I am watching the Angels play the Yankees. The score is 2-2 and although I've just started following the game - I already know that I hate the Yankees. Why? Coz they are the perennial overdog. Why the love for the underdog? I present Raju's very insightful words..

--

The Logic Behind The Madness - A Philosophical Analysis

Montu had asked me a couple of years back, having supported an underdog and having ended on the losing side - "Why on earth do you support underdogs?". I misunderstood his question, assuming it to be a rhetorical swipe at my miseries. My answer was to no-one's satisfaction. Have been meaning to tell him this for a long time now and maybe this does more justice, also maybe to another greater question that seems to be tossed around by people not on this list - "What's the big deal about sports?".

Stefan Zweig, an Austrian writer once wrote:

"Only that which points the human spirit beyond its own limitations into what is universally human gives the individual strength superior to his own. Only in superhuman demands which can hardly be fulfilled do human beings and peoples feel their true and sacred measure."

I have always believed that the human spirit is capable of much more than what is normally attributed to it. Things get so lost in talking about "abilities" and that "you can only push yourself so much", that we forget that you have far greater potential and strength in your mind and spirit. What would life be without moments when your spirit overcomes great adversities and odds? Words like persevere, struggle, strive will no longer be needed!

I guess I have been lucky enough to have witnessed some such amazing moments - Sari single-handedly putting in 3 pointers with seconds to spare for (I don't remember) how many times to take an Inter IIT basketball match to (I don't remember how many) extra times, Topi running off a guy (who apparently ran 2 crossies a day) by 100+ metres, a team of nothing-to-be-afraid-of athletes beating an Inter IIT-returned-otherwise-unbeatable team on the last race of the competition.

Miracles, according to me, are nothing but stories of spirit and mind coming to the rescue of the human body. Such stories need not always be on a sports field - they might happen in everyday life! But probably sports manifests such stories more often than any human activity! That's why I am so PASSIONATE about sports! And I support underdogs because it allows me to believe in the fact that human spirit can and will triumph over substance and because I believe that doing so will somehow "miraculously" enable the underdogs to believe so themselves.

That's MY logic behind MY madness! :-)

--

The above snippet was from an email Raju sent after Liverpool the underdog came back from 0-3 down and beat AC Milan the favourites in the Champions league final at Istanbul in May this year - in my opinion - the 2nd GREATEST comeback ever.

The GREATEST comback ever - in my next post.

The Angels just scored thrice :) The score is now 5-2 and it is the last inning. Barring a Yankee comeback - we should be good. Yankee homer!! Damn 5-3. 1st man out. 2nd man out. Just one more. 3rd man out. Game over. Angels win.

The spirit of the underdog prevails again :)

Relationships and the clock

2005-10-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

Met this person today. She was whom you might call my highschool sweetheart. We had not been in touch for eons.

Talked for a bit, played catch up, she cribbed to me about the loads of work she had to do, I listened, we decided that she was an item piece, she sent pics, I saw pics, she said bye, I said bye too.

It must have been 5 minutes after our 10 minute conversation when I realized that even though we had not talked in donkey years - it felt as though we had been in touch all this while.

I've always been told that some of your close friends always stay close - no matter how far you are or how long its been since you last talked. I guess that was true with certain people in my life too.

Thought of all my friends and family who fell into that category.

What a freaking blessed life I live! :)

Eureka

2005-10-02T00:17:00.000-04:00

One reason I started blogging was to find a purpose; to answer "Why should I blog?"

I think I have found it...

This is for Kn 30 years from now. Maybe that dude will read this blog one fine day and say - What the bleep was I thinking then??

So my dear 50+ Kn - here's to you man!

Thermal Cold

2005-10-01T05:10:00.000-04:00

Heard Coldplay at DC today.

Thought they were real real real goood. Chris Martin is ultra talented!

We dont get such good music back home!

and then I read this article

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Forget Michael, will India learn to rock?
September 30, 2005
Sumit Bhattacharya

Michael goes to Bed, declares Alec Smart in a tabloid headline about the Danish rock band visiting a Mumbai lounge bar. India is finally rocking, is the general feeling, with everybody from Eric Clapton to Megadeth rumoured to be India-bound soon.

Please give me a break. Somebody.

I have nothing against the mush factory's, or greats', discovery of India, but it makes my blood boil to see the marketing and media juggernaut put its weight behind anything that comes from the West, no matter how dated or clichéd it might be.

And that when we have killed some great rock music from India by our ignorance.

Like Lou Majaw, the grand old man from Shillong whose life reads better than any bestseller. He fronted a band, Great Society, that was as good as any the West has ever produced.

When he sang his Sea of sorrow, you could feel the pain of a man who had even worked as a labourer in Calcutta to survive.

I've known hunger since I was ten
Loneliness is my good friend
I've learnt to laugh when I feel sad
When I see good times turnin' bad

And when he asked you to Paint a picture, you heard, mesmerised.

Tell a man to paint a picture
To paint in sorrow, paint in pain
I will look through the eyes
Of a world driven insane

To this day, the 50-plus Majaw organises a Bob Dylan festival in Shillong every year during the Tambourine Man's birthday. But he seldom sings his own songs, songs that will give you gooseflesh with their sheer starkness. Songs like Shadow of the sun, songs like Little man.

Then there was High from Calcutta. With singer-songwriter Dilip Balakrishnan and bass man Lew Hilt at the helm, till Dilip passed away. For those of you who haven't heard Monkey's song, with its out-of-the-world chorus of Sing, sing, sing for a bottle of wine, you have missed some great music

Stuck in past, I am, you think? Think again, my friend. Lew Hilt now plays in a band called HFT (High F**king Time) in Delhi. The trio – with Hilt on bass, Arjun Sen on guitar and Adhiraj Mustafi on drums – plays some sublime instrumental rock music.

Then there's 40-plus Amyt Dutta, guitar god, who just teaches students in his Calcutta house on Wednesdays and Sundays. Though he plays in a band called Skinny Alley, the mastery and emotional appeal of his guitar sound goes beyond the band's mostly alternative songs. Catch Skinny Alley live – where they shed their strictly-songs skin -- to know what I mean.

Regional bias, you accuse me of? Go catch Thermal And A Quarter (The name derived from three Mallus and a quarter Mallu who make up the band) in Bangalore with their funk-driven Phish-esque sound.

And come back to Calcutta to watch Orient Express, a ten-piece, authentic Latin rock band with five percussion players playing Latin instruments the way they should be played.

Don't miss Cassini's Division, a punk rock band with stunningly original songs, while you are there.

I am just talking about rock bands and musicians I know about. There are many I haven't heard and don't know about.

In Bob Dylan's words, 'I could forever talk to you, but soon my words would turn into a meaningless ring, 'cause deep in my heart I know there's no help I can bring.'

No record company will touch an Indian rock band -- that sings in English -- with a barge pole. They will push for sick remixes instead, and suffer plummeting sales.

No one will organise enough concerts so that musicians like Ranjit Barot, Dhruv Ghanekar, Sanjay Divecha can free themselves from studio and sessions prisons.

You will just want Pink Floyd covers from an Indian band that manages to stage a show.

And you will still go watch any old trash that comes from the West.

And we, the media, will trip over each other to catch you gushing about it.

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I heard Thermal and a Quarter play at Palace grounds when they opened for Deep Purple. I think I liked their music then but remember being disappointed that they did not play any covers .

So - to check if this article writer made any sense, I went to the Thermal and a Quarter website - http://www.thermalandaquarter.com - downloaded their music ( its all free ) and am now listening to it as I type.

They are reaal reaal reaaal goood! Bruce Lee Mani is freakingly talented!

I guess we do get good music back home too!

Whoa!

2005-09-28T03:52:00.000-04:00

I did not know it was so easy to create a blog!!

Sweeet!

Now I shall start the publishing...