Whats On My Mind !!

Fast Times !!

2011-10-02T15:52:00.000+05:30

Its that time of the year when I fast... Over the years it has almost become a routine.. but some how this time feels different. It felt tough in April, but this, this feels unnatural.. something just doesn't feel right...
Between last year, and now what changed..??
Life as I knew it back then, is what has changed...!!

There is no shri, vigi, chutki, chep arnd me to make this fun, easy..
Vo chivde ke packets, vo finger chips;
vo sabudana vade aur chutki ke haath ki aloo tikki...
Aaj bhi vo din chehre pe muskan le aate hai :)

Miss those days, miss the randomness, miss CP gang.. miss NITIE !!

Make us believe!!!

2010-11-01T16:09:00.002+05:30

Its been over a year and half since the team last looked like capable of winning the league, since when we gave United the fight till the last game, and fell short by just 2 points...
Since then a lot has changed at Anfield. One thing that hasn't and will never change are the fans. The fans who support the team through all the highs and the lows..!

Seeing the downfall the team has been through in last year and a half, and the hope that things are going change with these 2 consecutive wins, first time since April, I am reminded of a very nice article I had read 2 yrs back... Make Us Believe... A fan's plea to the Rafa and the team... to put on the kind of show that would make them believe that the team is capable of winning the coveted 19th title!

At this stage, the only thing I want from the team and Roy is to make us believe once again!! We may not win the league this season, forget that we might not even make it to the top 4 and make the cut for CL.. what we expect is the effort, the commitment, that drive that will make us believe once again, dream once again that LFC will be restored to its former glory, that Anfield will again have the European Nights pretty soon!

A fun night :D

2010-01-22T05:15:00.002+05:30

An impromptu dinner plan with friends, nice dinner at HN...followed by tp...then back to campus...some more hogging, then nescafe..hogging and talking...
The plan for a movie...instead playing cricket for close to 2 hrs, starting way past midnight... then after cricket, going on and actually watching the planned movie (Case 39)...
That basically summarises the last 8 hours... Nice fun night :D
Feels good :)
Impact roxx...vigs roxx...shri...chep roxx (more so if shelar($#$#%#$#) is bowling)

Hmmm

2010-01-22T05:09:00.001+05:30

I feel i feel a funny feel, a funny feel i feel. If u feel the feel i feel , i ll feel the feel u feel

Beauty of simple FM...

2009-11-18T02:54:00.002+05:30

FM...Financial Management...Finance...wtf??too much ho gaya ye to...point pe aate hai...
Other day while returning from home, alone with nothing better to do, I switched on the FM radio on my mobile to listen to some songs, and make the journey seem a little less boring...Listening to songs, switching between channels in search of some song tat i like or some new song that sounds melodious, seemed to make the time pass a little faster..
While searching for a good song, i happened to stop at the title track from the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (HDDCS), and it reminded me of an idiot who tortured the entire wing by playing the songs from HDDCS over n over again..the idiot who's hobbies is solving complex mathematical problems...
This made me realize how some songs remind u of certain ppl, due to the moments, the incidents or just the fun v had on a trip...be it HDDCS, or the swades title track, or Veeraniyan from Namaste London...or Dhan Te Nan...the idiots are just too awesome too keep thinking of :)
The point that I was trying to make was that how just listening to FM radio can remind of ppl who u consider close to ur heart... :P

An interesting day in the offing..even Exciting maybe

2009-10-25T11:20:00.000+05:30

The prospect of a wonderful day looms upon when someone unexpectedly wakes me way too early (for me...especially on a sunday morning, my last vela day, last day to lazily lie in bed for atleast the next 5 days). Now that I am awake, I was wondering what I shud do, lots of time to kill, I started thinking of wat to do with the rest of the day. Now normally I dont have to think abt this as well by the time I wake up, a good part of the day is already over, and things just happen to pan out. Today, wat abt today, still wondering, I start to anxiously wait for the return of some good friends, diwali sweets, lots of things to talk about, good amount of cribbing, maybe some mindless drifting around in campus or even outside...

And then the Super Sunday soccer special...Liverpool vs Man Utd, a game to watch out for, a game having the potential to end Liverpool's title hopes or renew them with a new vigour, just like it had earlier this yr... Battle for supremacy...the key for Liverpool will as usual be the form and moe importantly the fitness of Gerrard and Torres..The two yet again hold the fortunes of the club and the hopes of millions of fans.. Cant wait for this one to start..Go Reds Go...Tame the devils again.. Renew the title hunt..I am, and forever will be an Eternal KOPtimist

Life's Good

2009-10-12T02:58:00.000+05:30

Not endorsing LG here, what I am trying to say Life right now is good... Even though i dont say it often, but NITIE rocks. Life here for me atleast is almost as gud as it can get, and I am saying this despite the fact tat I lost my cell in campus less than 10 days ago... I party, hang-out with friends, get placed in Vroom Vroom (summers), go on a wonderful trip to Shirdi and Trimbakeshwar with friends, have a blast... And then return...sleep like a baby for most part of the day, wake up on a lovely sunday morning, relax, go for shopping again with a gr8 friend, visit home, spend sum time with family, have ghar-ka-khaana, catch-up with sum friends, then return to campus by midnight, hang arnd with friends sum more, listen to music... "Can this life get any better?"...as I am listening to these lyrics and contemplating the same in my mind, I know how it cud get any better... And I know... If sum ppl wer still arnd, although distances may not be a barrier, but still...

And now my mood has changed, and m hungry...so time for this blog to end...

JUST me?

2009-09-17T19:36:00.000+05:30

I used to believe that I sleep in class because the professor is boring and doesnt make the subjects interesting. Over the past 2 days, I have realised that this is atleast not totally true.
Now what makes me say this is that I have been having my module ending exams since monday and the no of hrs i have been getting is reducing day by day...Dont get me wrong, its not the studies, its managing time for tp, Fedex-del Potro match (god 6 am in morning...5 sets...), 100 no 44, Champions league, CS, and various other ways i waste my time is just too much; now add to this the basic minimum studies that one has to do to get decent marks, or atleast pass is well almost impossible; so u gotta make sacrifice sumwher; and as usual its sleep that has to give way...
Coming back to the mod exams...I had an exam yday abt a subject called IHHT (less i say the better), and we used have double lecture on wednesday, which if I happen to attend, all I did was sleep, the lecture always seemed so unbearable. In a class of 13, its tuf but I cant help it. And we had a fin lecture on tuesday after lunch, which despite the gr8 mess food, I was still not able to conc in. Unbearable was an understatement.
Now for IHHT paper, I actually fell asleep during the exam. I thot ok, i didnt sleep well, so ok. Now today v had fin paper, and god, today to it was just too bad... I barely started the paper, glanced thru, decided the qn to attempt after a lot of thinking, and had just started when I started feeling sleepy, I tried to resist but then I fell asleep, after arnd 20 mins of sleeping, solving, trying hard to get my mind to do some thinking, I finally went out and washed my face with a generous amount of water ad returned to solving the paper, and again after 20-odd mins I was again sleepy, somehow wrote the paper...and to add to it the paper was bad, horrible, #$#$#^$!##%$#
So this made me realise, its not the prof, atleast not him completely, its the subject tats boring to the core...
And one more thing that I am happy abt is the fact that I am JUST, I dont only sleep wen its compulsion to attend the lecture, I sleep when I have to do well in the exam, I dont differentiate on whether its my need or not...
Justice, Fairness and Integrity... :P

Nostalgia...

2009-08-22T03:29:00.000+05:30

For some days I was feeling the urge to watch Lord of the rings again, but I wasnt able to watch it, either due to time crunch or something or the other to do... Finally on this friday night I at 3 in the night, I decided the time has come...As the movie started, I was feeling happy, but then as the initial dialogues got over, it dawned on me that this is the first time that I am watching LOTR without a VNITian, and I started missing my friends, the g-wing...Remembering all those marathon LOTR sessions in bkg's room, with my speakers...and the other intended sessions...Then i felt like calling avd and abusing him for the most recent intended session which dint happen...
As one after another my favourite scenes came on, the one where the kids eagerly chase after gandalf, then the expressions on those cute kids faces when bilbo is narrating a story, gandalf sternly talking some sense into bilbo, gandalf explaining the markings on the ring "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them all, one ring to bring them all, and the darkness bind them", Strider's entry, Council of Elrond...and then I took some1s advice and decided to turn off my mind and sleep...
And now I am going to resume the Fellowship, but without thinking abt anything, just enjoy an awesome movie.

Perfect way to start the day...!!!

2009-08-20T20:47:00.000+05:30

There are some things that make u look forward to waking up in the morning and then there r some things that suddenly make ur day, an unexpected pleasant news that suddenly brightens up the morning, makes u feel a high thats unmatchable.
When I woke up today, the morning of 20th August, I was looking forward to the return of a good friend, something that had me in a happy mood, despite how hectic the last few days had turned out to be. As I woke up and looked towards my lappy screen, I saw a gtalk ping conveying the return, leaving me with a contented feeling, and then slowly I saw an IM abt Citeh defeating Barca... Shocked by this, I quickly opened espnstar to confirm, and the first news I saw there made me sit up. The news was "Fergie humble after defeat", and on reading on I came to know that Burnley had defeated Man Utd, and this certainly made my day. And then I read abt Pool thrashing Stoke, and the morning cudnt have gotten any better. The pure ecstacy of reading abt Utd losing, and in consequence dropping 3 points, something that left them with same no of points as us, and the prospect of getting back at the ManUtd fans, left me with a happiness in my heart and a big grin on my face that even the idea of attending lectures cudnt wipe off.
This certainly is the perfect start to the day, maybe someday I would have a better way to start the day, but for now, dont think any thing can beat this. :P

If you're not interested, we r not interested...

2009-08-08T09:03:00.000+05:30

This was said to us by one of our seniors while assigning us work related to an event that we organize...Since then the guy and the quote has become the butt of a lot of jokes...Basically, it was the manner and the tone in which he had said it...With a pronounced chin outwards, and a disinterested tone, trying to be serious and scold us, "Guys, if ur not interested, we r not interested"...It had driven me to instant fits of laughter, and I had to control myself a lot to maintain a straight face...

Now the reason I am writing abt this right now is tat I have to go for an event tat is organised by PGDITM students in NITIE, an event i absolutely have no interest in attending, but have to attend it cos we would need their support for the event tat we wud organise a fortnight later...
So off i go...ciao...

Schumi the savior returns...

2009-08-06T18:12:00.000+05:30

I have been a Ferrari fan ever since I started watching F1 way back in 2003, the same year I started following Football, EPL to be more specific, maybe Red is just my colour, Ferrari and Liverpool...
Love for F1 (and Ferrari) was more to do with love for Schumi... Back then Schumi needed to win 3 out of last 4 races and he still might not win the title, with Montoya being his closest competitor. Schumi goes on to win 3 in a row, dedicating the race win for the 2nd one to his mother, who passed away before the race. Schumi needed 1 point from the last race to ensure he won Driver's Championship over Raikonen, and guess wat the SOG came 8th and got the 1 point he needed...
Since then I was a die-hard Schumi fan...For his last 2 yrs, Schumi was not able to win the championship in a ferrari that was struggling to match the pace of the renault of Fernando Alonso. Still in his last season, in the latter half Schumi started giving Alonso a run for his money and was in with a chance to win the title, till in the penultimate race, the ever reliable Ferrari engine gave way and Schumi watched as Alonso went past him to clinch the race win, and with it the championship, as Schumi was required to win the last race, and hope Alonso didnt finish. That was in Sept 2006, and for me F1 was no longer the same...no more hearing the words echo from the television screen "The Flying Ferrari of Micheal Schumacher"...F1 just wasnt the same...
Sure I still followed F1 and still supported, but Massa and Raikonnen werent Schumi...and u missed that presence in the pit lane...
Sure I would cheer for Kimi or Massa winning, infact would pray for them to win, but it was no more tat a race could make or break my day...
I was happy when Kimi won the championship, and really heart-broken when Massa lost the title at the last turn... Finally felt that somehow, F1 could still be exciting, and I would still be keen to follow it...
But somehow this year has been disappointing, with Ferrari struggling, McLaren struggling, the diffuser-row, Hamilton's liar-gate scandal and ever stupid Mosley, all resulting in the season being more or less boring, i was not missing watching F1, as it is it was difficult to make time for it...
Until a friend called me asking whether I watched the qualifiers for Hungarian GP, that I got to know abt Massa's horrific accident and was praying for him to get well...soon news abt his being ok started to come out...alongwith the rumours of Schumi replacing Massa behind the steering of F60...
It was after these rumours that I was really hoping for Schumi's return, looking for something to make F1 exciting again...
Voila... Schumi confirmed that he will help out Ferrari in its hour of need...a news that made my day, and has left me counting days for Valencia GP... Schumi had stopped competing but couldnt stop loving the sport, by continuing testing, becoming Ferrari advisor, even trying his hand at moto racing, to purge that desire to race again.
And his announcement to return to F1 has certainly raised a lot of questions, how well would he be able to fare in the F60 for the 1st time, will he be competitive in a struggling ferrari, will he beat Kimi, Hamilton, Alonso, or even Button, Vettel, Webber...Can he score points, and will he considering coming out of the retirement permanently..will he stay on for 2010?

Schumi's return addresses the immediate problem faced by F1, where a race just 1 yr old is not able to sell tickets...And thus Schumi's second-coming can be called as the return of the savior of F1...

And above all I would get to hear the words "Flying Ferrari of Micheal Schumacher" again...cant wait for it...For me the most exciting day in sports entertainment...

Nothing else matters...

2009-08-06T02:54:00.000+05:30

Ever since I had got an MDI convert and made up my mind to quit Infy to pursue management studies, I was wondering how my last days in Infy would be. As the days started to pass and one by one my friends started leaving Infy for MBA, my friends who were privy to info that I am leaving Infy started asking when can they expect a formal mail about my last day from me, whether I have intimated it to PM and HR... I didnt know the reason why I hadnt spoken to either of those, part of the reason was that I didnt want to sit at home for good part of two months, but a more important reason that I realised gradually was that a part of me didnt want this to end, the part of me that had fallen in love with Infy without me realising it.
I had always heard that one can leave Infy only before 2 yrs of being with the company, else you fall in love with it, in love with the procedures, way of working, the people, the FCs, the DC as whole, and Infy as a whole. Even though I wasnt even close to completing 2 yrs, but I did fall in love with Infy.
I had never thought that I would be sad when the day would come for me to leave Infy. I had considered quitting Infy while I was posted in Trivandrum, but for some reason I continued working in Trivandrum and slogged for CAT. Infact at that time leaving Infy was the biggest motivating factor for me to put efforts for CAT.
Coming back to my last few days in Infy...
I was wondering how my last day would be...would my teammates throw me a farewell party, or whether my friends from Phase 1 and 2 would make time for a last lunch together, would they have time for leisurely roaming in the campus for one last time...and wat not...

I finally told my PA about my plan to leave Infy for higher studies, who told my PM...My PM asked me to file an e-sep on 4th June with 5th as my separation date. All my plans about my last day came crashing as I realised that I didnt even have time to see the entire campus one last time as there were loads of clearances to be completed. The last two days in Infy for me turned to really hectic, especially the last day, signing off various clearances, mailing friends to inform them of my last day in Infy, recieving hate mail from some who felt offended that I didnt inform them earlier, having grand lunch with some friends, and for the last time eating gelato in Infy, clicking random snaps...After finally signing off all the clearances, and returning my Id i went to collect my interim relieving letter, only to findout after waiting for nearly an hour that it wont be generated today, and that they would be sending it to my address instead...
So finally I decided to roam around in the DC without my Id, visiting the cricket ground one last time, observing the fountain last time, having snacks in FC1 for the last time...All that had become such an important part of my life that this was when I finally realised why I was procrastinating informing about my decision to leave Infy, I had become accustommed to life as an Infoscion, working in awesome DC, with friends there all the time, just a ping away...It was when I was no more an Infoscion, did I realise how much I loved being one...
As I left from the main gate, I even talked a lot with the security while they were checking my bag... Even after coming out of the DC, I spent good 5 mins simply looking at it, wondering how different the new life would be, how would it feel when I wake up the next day and dont have to get ready to go to the office, no more running to swipe in, no more swipe-outs, no more single swipes... No more HR mails to crib about over coffee...
Finally I had the delicious mango juice from outside phase 2 main gate, for the last time, not even minding the ciggarette smoke for a change, for it didnt matter, nothing mattered above the fact that a chapter of my life was coming to a close, forever to be spoken of just a '19 month work-ex with Infosys', though it will always be more than just a work-ex...

Devils Tamed...Again...!!!

2009-03-22T20:05:00.000+05:30

Less than a week after the bashing at home by the Reds, the devils were tamed again, this time by Fulham at Craven cottage.
After the embarassing defeat, all ManU fails were saying that they needed this defeat as a wake-up call, and they would respond in style, pundits going as far as saying, they wudnt want to be Fulham right now.

At kick-off, Man U were looking shaky and Fulham came out all guns blazing, and manner in which Man U was playing, was making Fulham seem like Barcelona.
The pressure put by Fulham finally resulted in an error from Scholes who deliberately handled the ball in the box, and left the ref with no choice but to send him off, and award a penalty to Fulham, which skipper Danny Murphy took gladly put past VDS to put his side in front.
What followed this was the Devils looking so rattled that they were trying desperately to touch the ball with their feet and gain possession and Fulham creating a lot of chances, but failing to finish, had they been slightly better at finishing, the score at HT could easily have been 3-0 or 4-0, possibly even more. Fulham were absolutely dominating the league leaders. Man U somehow manage to avoid conceding again in 1st half, and went in trailing 1-0 at HT.

Whatever SAF said to his team seemed to be working as Man U came out in 2nd half as the side that we know them to be, and Rooney replacing the off-colour Berbatov. Man U were looking sharp and creating a lot of chances and forcing Fulham into some frantic defending. Fulham were just doing enough to hang out, with Schwarzer standing out with some terrific saves, truly terrific goal-keeping. With time starting to run-out, Fulham started to push forward as well. Finally Gera scored an absolutely superb goal in the 87th minute, adding to ManU frustrations, which showed and were highlighted when Rooney stupidly got himself red-carded for aggressively throwing the ball away.

Rooney's sending off capped off an forgetful evening for the devils, an threw open the race for title, and with Chelsea failing to capitalise on Man U dropping 3 points, all eyes are now on the Reds to capitalise and pick-up full three points against Aston Villa.

An Incredible week comes to end...

2009-03-18T00:53:00.000+05:30

08-14 March...

10 March night (or 11 early morning)
A week in which Liverpool demolished Real Madrid 4-0 to once again enter the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Gerrard scoring 2, El-Nino scoring the opening goal. Iker Casillas saved Real from a lot of humiliation by making some amazing saves. We showed everyone why we are ranked the number one team in Europe in last 5 yrs.
The manner in which Liverpool played made my staying awake till past 5 am worth it. No ZEE sports, so had to wait for the delayed telecast on Ten.

13 march... Time to 'C' wat dreams are made of....
Was really shattered by IIM-C gdpi panel. Y MBA?????
They showed me that watever i had thought abt this lingering question was absolute crap, crap which didnt last 10 minutes in front of them. And ofcourse there's my unbeliavably bad acads.
Despite our college's effort to make the marksheet difficult to comprehend, the panel was able to make some sense of it and pick up the pieces of whatever semblance of my confidence was still remaining. All in all it turned out to be an affair that sooner I put behind me the better as Indore was up on monday.

A message from Bkg about Naruto manga being out, and being unbeliavably amazing, gave me something to look forward to. Read the manga immediately on reaching home, and that really helped me put the disappointment of the morning behind me, because Yondaime is back!!!
What followed this was an refreshing discussion with Bkg on the manga, followed by DOTA.

14 march... CLASH of the TITANS.
The day of the battle between Premiere League giants at the Theater of Dreams, Manchester United vs Liverpool.
Reds going up against the Devils. An encounter where Liverpool's title bid could come to an end, where Man U could put it absolutely beyond Liverpool.
Having beaten ManU at home earlier in the season, Liverpool had its task cut out. The build up to the match was showing ominous signs for Liverpool with the playmaker Alonso ruled out with an injury picked up during the training, Arbeloa who was supposed to start as Right Back was ruled out 10 mins before start of the match and Hyypia starting in his place.

Both teams started well, but Liverpool was the first one to blink, when Reina accidentally brought down Park Ji Sung inside the box, to concede a penalty, which C. Ronaldo lined up for and successfully beat Reina to put Man U in the lead after 23 mins.
1-0 to United! The Man Utd supporters leapt around in joy, while we shook our heads in disbelief.

Hope was still there for Gerrard or El-Nino to lift the team with sheer brilliance. And voila, just 5 minutes later, Torres, scored a peach of a goal, capitalising on an a mistake by Vidic, making it 1-1.

Another moment of brilliance towards half-time from our talismanic captain Gerrard this time, a brilliant run, breaking into the Man U box, and Evra brought down Stevie G, to give Liverpool the penalty. Gerrard just doesn't miss from this sort of distance, and shotthe ball past Van der Saar, eho guessed right, but was still unable to block the strike.2-1 to the visitors, a well-earned lead at Half-Time.

A dressing down from SAF, meant the home side started the 2nd half with a bit of purpose, but the Liverpool defence is notoriously famous for its ability to defend a lead.

Vidic's nightmare continued as he ended up bringing Gerrard down, just outside the box to give a dangerous free kick to Liverpool, and was promptly sent off by the referee.

Fabio Aurelio, the left-footed free-kick specialist curled a ball into the corner, with the United players looking on in disbelief and Van der Saar helpless. 3-1 to Liverpool, with barely 15 minutes left!

The game appeared to being in the bag. United, hoping to nick some goals, pushed players forward, and this allowed Liverpool to exploit the open spaces at the back, and late in the game, almost towards the end, the substitute, Dossena scored, with a sublime lob over VDS. 4-1 to Liverpool!

And thus the match ended in an embarassing defeat for Man U and great win for us at the Theater of Dreams, which turned into Theater of Nightmares for the Home team. The Reds completed a rare double over the Devils.

Rooney's contributions were more off the field than on it, maybe he should have let his game do the talking, instead of making ‘I hate Liverpool’ statements.

Another record that was shattered was Ronaldo's record of all his goals at OT resulting in a victory for the Home team.

YNWA!!!

How to be Eco-friendly: A Conscious Choice

2009-03-08T16:03:00.001+05:30

Each and every one of us has a part to play in our bid to save precious energy sources and saving the environment. Saving no matter however small contributes, and eventually can make a difference. Cutting down on just the power consumed by the electronic applications which we use everyday can be a significant contribution. Simple savings like turning off fan and lights when not in use can help. A computer, for example, consumes a lot of power, most of which is consumed by the monitor.

Here are some steps to reduce the power consumed by a PC:

1. Turn off monitor if ur going to be away from screen for close to 5 mins.

2. Use blackle as ur default search. Blackle is a google-powered search engine. It saves energy as less power is consumed for black display as compared to a whie screen. To learn more about Blackle, click here

3. Set the default background color for ur browser as Black, and text as white (default is otherway round). This default color is only used for pages which do not have a background color specified.
For firefox, go to Tools -> Options -> Content -> Colors
For IE 7, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Colors. Untick 'Use Windows Colors' and now select background as black.

Specially for people working in IT sector:
4. Turn off the computer before leaving for the day (as far as possible)
5. Print documents/email only when really required.
6. Use both sides of the paper for printing.

Comments, inputs suggestions welome.