"What's Cooking" ???... check out

After coming to US I don’t how much new things I have learnt or how much I have changed? One thing I have definitely learnt… that is cooking food and thing that has changed is... my interest towards cooking. I can proudly say now I am one of the good cook if not the best!! :)

My mom for long time kept saying that I should try and learn cooking... at least few basic things I should know. Even some of the family members used to suggest the same… but always I used ignore them with a uncanny smile... :) In Chennai with my roommates sometimes I used to cook few things like rice, egg burji, rasam… but never had interest to try something big and discover more...

But after coming to US things have changed a lot… I have become a good cook [that’s what my roommates say… becoz they are the one who eat my preparation!!] suddenly there seems to be a great interest to experiment with cooking. In the process I have learnt lot of menus and discovered new menus too.. :) !! From vegetarian stuff to non vegetarian I have tried everything. In some I have become a specialist as over last few months I have got the consistency in taste & style!!

Roommates say my wife to be is very lucky since I cook so very well :) [hope someone to be is reading!!]… Its not that I do every item from scratch… special thanks to all mixes and powder by MTR, MDH, Priya…so on which has made cooking of some items very simpler. However my secret to tasty food is my mom made sambar powder… which can be used for any spicy item which gives amazing taste to it.

So you want to taste the items which I cook? Then come to my place and check out “WHAT’S COOKING”??? [u don't need any medical insurance :) I assure u that...]

New Game! has just begun....

Weekends were getting as usual & boring... just watching movies... local roaming... eating & sleeping... i don't have to tell much... its universally common for all bachelors like us :). So I and my friend [sushruth] decided to do something different... we thought of playing some sports... so that it will be interesting... good time pass and also good for fitness. We went to Sport Authority [its a sports retail shop...] got badminton rackets and racquetball set [racquetball is same as Squash with little changes in rules].

In chucha's [sushruth] apartment there are is club which houses gym and racquetball court. As it was known to us earlier we just had to get the required things ... now we have started playing in weekends and sometimes in weekdays... Its a wonderful game... Just half an hour play gives us good workout. More than anything its fun to play.... The New Game! has just begun and i am loving it...

Chak De! HOCKEY

I watched Chak De! INDIA movie this weekend and its an excellent movie... me being a Hockey player and having played the game for over 8 years... I could relate myself to almost every scene in the movie[those training sessions... camps...coaches...] Let me remind everyone that Hockey is our National game [many may have forgotten...] and Cricket is just our national craze!! I don't blame cricket[even i am a crazy fan...] for the poor state of other games in India... its just that cricket has far reach... its more popular... has more media coverage and of course lots of money [:)]... but if you look at the administration run by BCCI its as bad or as good as any other sports associations in India.

Lets come to the movie... Many said movie belongs to SRK... yes its an unconventional role for him which he has performed excellently... after Swades its this movie where he has tried to be different from his usual image... Many said SRK doesn't have opposite lead actress for the first time... but i say this movie has 16 lead actresses [the 16 players...] even though many got just couple of lines in entire movie... for some this movie is about showing team spirit, resolve, women power.... yes these things are also there... for me this movie is all about Hockey.... and Hockey is the winner all the way...

In Bollywood most of the film makers tired to make sports movies based on the popularity.. of course first choice is Cricket... some tired like racing and boxing... but for first time some has dared to make a full time movie on Hockey... thanx to Yash Raj Films and Shimit Amin [director] for bringing this movie... as we celebrate 60 years of Independence this movie has given a new life to our national game... this movie may or may not become a super hit... but definitely Hockey will be super hit again... CHAK DE! HOCKEY

[pic source:http://www.yashrajfilms.com/]

Service Anniversary :)

Now i can put in my resume that i am a 2 year experienced IT professional... yeah! completed 2 years with my company on this July 25th. Last 2 years have been really wonderful... lots of fun... lots of learning [nanu estu kalithe...adu ondu '?']... and of course lots of travelling :)

It all began with campus interview on 13th August 2004... 25th July 2005 i joined the company and so far its been a very good bonding [officially the bond period is over.. ;)]... I have gained lot of new things both professionally and personally. I have gone places... Hyderabad to Bengalooru to Chennai to California... its been worth a journey. I guess i could have done better... but that's part of life... we need to keep growing... like most of techies i too have one common complaint... that is on salary... its very less... ha ha ha !!![anybody listening...rather reading]

The First Rain...

Summer heat wave was getting worse... we had started feeling the rising temperatures... alerts were being sent across bcoz of this... it seems cali[CA] had bad rainy season previous year... so the power situation is getting worse... and there could be blackouts!! hmm [ellara mane dose toothe... US is no different..he he :)]

It had been more than 2 months here and I had only heard people talk about rains here... they say when it rains it pours... well i hadn't got a chance till this Wednesday... Finally saw the First rains in cali... it was a dull morning and cloudy... while on the way to office i and my friend talked about rain... as soon as we reached office it started raining... cool ... wonderful... took out my mobile cam and took a snap from my office... it wasn't a heavy downpour... it was normal... but it cooled off the rising temperatures... weather is now amazing.... i am remembering namma sooper song of the year.."ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯೇ..." :)

A ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ always makes a difference...

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಬರೀಬೇಕು ಅಂತ ತುಂಬಾ ದಿನ ದಿಂದ ಆಸೆ ಇತ್ತು... ಕೊನೆಗೂ ಈ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಮಾಡ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೀನಿ... [ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತಪ್ಪು ಗಳು ಇರುತೆ...please adjust]ಆದರೆ ನಾನು ಯಾವುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು ಅನ್‍ಕೊಡಿದ್ನೋ.... its too big ಅಂತ ಅನಿಸುತೆ..!! ಆದ್ರೂ ಜೀವನ ದಲ್ಲಿ experiment ಮಾಡ್ತಾ ಇರಬೇಕು ಅಲ್ವ??... for example ನಾನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಮುಂಚೆ [ಅಂದ್ರೆ USಗೆ ಬರುವ ಮುಂಚೆ]ಯಾವತ್ತು ಅಡಿಗೆ ಮಾಡಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಮಾಡಿರ್ಲ್ಲಿಲ... ಆದ್ರೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದ ಮೇಲೆ ದಿನ ನಂದೇ ನಳಪಾಕ... ಇಲ್ಲಿ ವರೆಗೆ ಸುಮಾರು 25 ತರ ಸಾವಿರುಚಿಗಳನ್ನ ಮಡ್ದೀದಿನಿ... ಎಲ್ಲ ಎಕ್ಸ್‌ಪೆರಿಮೆಂಟೇಶನ್ ನ ಎಫೆಕ್ಟ್... ಆದಿಕ್ಕೆ A ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ always make a difference... ಈ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ.. :)

Sporting Sense...

Long long ago... hmm not so long ago [lokal boyzz style..] I was one of craziest cricket fan... specially Team India. But after the world cup debacle and the stories which followed later from being a crazy fan ... I have now become a just another normal fan :)

Finally after all nonsense with coach selection[or election by BCCI !!], team selection..... some sporting sense has prevailed in Indian Cricket. They are back to winning ways. Though beating Bangladesh was not among the greatest victories but regrouping after the world cup was necessary and that tour provided the ideal platform. Now winning against South Africa in Ireland showed some glimpses true team spirit which appeared to be lost few months back ... though we fanz always expect lot more from them!![cricket onde sports namma desha dalli jana bidade follow madodu--so high expectations yavagalu ide iruthe...]

Yesterday the probables for twenty20 world cup were announced and the famous trio [Sach, Dada, Wall] names were missing bcoz they have opted out of this tournament... well how good tat decision is I don't know... what I know is that these three players have immensely contributed for Indian cricket over a decade no matter what people say or criticise about them... They are simply great!! Now all three are aged around 34 [ considered as old men in cricket].. so I guess its a right sporting sense where old stars make way for youngsters... die hard fanz please control!!!


Coming to tennis... this weekends action was amazing... it was gr8 to see Venus Williams winning the women's Wimbledon Championship. This victory is gr8 since she was seeded low and no one gave her a chance. But she showed lot of determination to do it... As usual in men's Roger Federer won the championship for fifth time in a row and Nadal is finally catching up to him but still long way to go... anyways hats of to Fedex... Fedex and wimbledon always makes good sense!! :)

Lets GO GREEN...

These days I have gone crazy towards photography... and I guess its common for any person to take photos of the new exciting places [at least i think so]... this photo was taken at Livermore in Hindu Temple... However this photo doesn't have a story like the last blog... its just a symbolism of what i am writing about ;)

I read article[I dont remeber which paper!!]which said if don't address Global warming issue seriously then by 2025 the Gateway of India, Marine Drive in Mumbai will be covered by water... means they will be part of Arabian sea. Well that's alarming since 2025 is just 17 years away... It wont be just Mumbai but the entire coastline across the world will lose about 2-5 kms to rising sea water... if this the prediction for 2025.. image what will happen by 2100 and further...

I remember one of the write ups of Green Peace which said "Wake up, Its not too late - Save Earth"[words may not be same..but it was almost similar!!]. Exactly its not too late. Its just how we plan up things over next few years.... And now slowly people are getting serious about the Global warming issue. I can see in media that the global leaders are talking about this issue with some seriousness... that's a good news. I think everyone needs to stand up and do something. Well we have to live here and we cannot escape...

We can start with small things[like Google doing a Blackle]... its monsoon season so lets save rain water. Whenever it rains it doesn't have to pour!!... so saving little rain water now will help us in future... small things make big difference isn't it ??... do whatever small things possible to save mother earth... come lets go GREEN!!

Pic Of The Week!!

Weekends are getting as usual now… Saturday roaming… Sunday sleeping [SSS- Sunday Sleeping Syndrome :)]!! its now more than a month in CA… It was yet another Sunday evening and I was watching a movie... [After coming here I have watched many movies online… oh I just lost the count how many? My laptop has become my best friend… ;)] I stopped watching the movie and decided to go out… weather was just too good. So thought of walking along El Camino… on the way I realized not much cash in wallet… so ATM … but as I walked I found that the ATM is bit far than my imagination suggested…

So on the way got into bus… went to the place got the cash. Before starting I had made up my mind to have dinner at Udupi!! [Don’t be confused... there is a desi restaurant called Udupi Palace here in Sunnyvale]. I was walking back to Udupi... as I approached it I thought of taking a snap of this place [or palace rather!!] so I could show ppl back home. I opened my mobile camera… I don’t how it happened… how I got this angle… but ended up capturing this awesome pic [at least it’s awesome for me... ashte ashte!!]… For a moment I felt that I am a gr8 photographer…. I intended for something but ended with something else... u know that's how these gr8 photographers are :)... And guess what would be the time when I took this pic...it was 8.45pm in evening!! So much of daylight… hmm if India had so much of day light we would have done wonders with the amazing talent that we have… well some things are not under our control…

Had badam halwa & bisi bele bath at Udupi… it was gr8 & I enjoyed it… looking at this awesome pic I thought it must be called “pic of the week”…

The French Conqueror...

What does it take for Roger Federer to win the French Open? Answer is very simple… he has to beat Rafael Nadal. Yes that’s pretty simple isn’t it? Its second time in a row that the French open final was played between these two superstar. End result the same... Rafael Nadal does it again!

Nadal by winning the French open for the third time in a row has created an historic record. Nadal is the second man in 93 years to win three consecutive singles titles at the French Open after Bjorn Borg won four in a row from 1978 to 1981. Looks like Nadal is on course to do the same or may be even more.

Just Look at this amazing stats… Nadal is undefeated in his career at the French, having won all 21 matches he has played en route to his three championships. Nadal holds the longest winning streak among male players on a single surface (Clay). Till date he has won a record 81 consecutive clay court matches… wow!! No doubt that the Spaniard is the “Undisputed King of Clay Court”.

Nadal is the World No. 2 in Tennis rankings and has remained in that spot for 98 weeks now that’s bcoz the world’s no.1 player has just dominated everyone else. Even in French open Federer has a good record but only thing is he always finishes second!! I being a Federer fan I would have liked him to win French open … but it looks like he going the Pete Sampras…John McEnroe way who never won this title. However Federer still has a long career and i am sure he will do it one day.

Now let me twist the question which i asked before.... what does it take for Rafael Nadal to become World No.1? Again answer is simple…he has to beat Roger Federer on other courts too…ha ha :)!! The Wimbledon is coming up…and it promises to be a great battle… Right now its celebration time for French conqueror!!

The King of Mangoes is here...

One good thing Mr. Bush did during his last visit to India was to sign an agreement that allows import of Indian Mangoes to US and in return India would get Harley Davidson. I don't know how far the Harley Davidson's will be successful in India but the imported mangoes here in US are a super hit... people have gone cray buying them... specially the Desi's.

US had banned import of Indian mangoes 18 years back due the concerns of high pesticide levels used in India. Now that these mangoes are subjected low levels of radiation US has again began to import them from the world's largest mango producer-India.

"Alphonso's"(Alphanso's) is known has the "King of mangoes" has finally arrived here and believe me each one of these mangoes has been sold at price of $4!! Its been in such a demand that some one bought 4 boxes of Alphonso's by spending nearly $160. Specially in bay area where I stay, with lot of Desi's around the Indian supermarkets are flooded with demands... Not just Desi's but other American people are also liking it very much. The hot and humid climate of India makes Alphonso's very sweet, with vanilla-orange blossom flavors it really gives a great taste which is making people go crazy... The King is ruling the world!!

My Journey to US...

It took sometime coming...yup finally found little time to recollect things...

It was an unusual Thursday morning in Chennai. It started raining early morning. Rain in Chennai that too in summer... i thought something good & diffrent must be coming . It was day for my appraisal also!! so i felt i would get a good rating. when i walked into office my RM called me and asked my resume.. and said some onsite openings are coming so my name is pipeline. I thought its usual round of trailer show played by my RM. Appraisals began three team mates finished by lunch..we had huge discussion b4 lunch with everyone and even they said that they would be sent onsite pretty soon. So in lunch we left over guys discussed what would be our action plan for discussion. After lunch i walked in and my RM called and said i have to fly next week for California!! shocked.. surprised..hmm totally lost... appraisal after that was just a formality..everyone in team were also shocked at this news... it was an unexpected...

After that it was a total mess...had to vacate Chennai in a hurry... had to complete travel formalities... had to attend a training in Hebbal office, Bangalore...running here and there for lot of things, packing...so on... Finally day had come ... Could not meet any friends... informed them over phone, mail. My relatives came to our home that noon for lunch..so met almost everyone. Bon Voyage!! hmm tats what most of them wished me.

Reached Blore airport around 10.15pm... security and immigration clearance were pretty smooth. Had Lufthansa(Boeing 747) flight at 1.55am on 13th may. It was surprise that i met one of my practice leads in airport. He was on his way to London, but via Frankfurt. So we were on same flight. I also happened to see people like Nandan Nilekanni, Mahadavan Nair..so on... hmm that's kind of ppl u find on international flying. It was first time in my life i was flying out of my country and it was special.

Reached Frankfurt after 9 and half hours flying, reached there at 7.30am local time. Smoothly got though security at transit and had to wait till 10.30am for next flight to Detroit. But flight got delayed by 30min due to some system failure at north Atlantic. Finally boarded Airbus 330 Lufthansa around 11 am. It was another 9 hours flight. It was great experience to fly over Greenland, and the ice cover over mountains just looked amazing. Finally reached Detroit around 1.30 pm local time. Had the immigration and customs clearance. Got my baggage and again got it checked in for San Francisco in North West Airlines. Detroit airport is simply awesome. Had to walk around 2-3 km inside airport to reach my terminal A 70. My flight to SFO was at 7.35 pm. So had lot of time at Detroit airport..just roamed around. Had got 'Hoolige' from home so ate it there. It was awesome and gr8l!! :)

Finally reached SFO at 9.30 pm local time after flying five hours from Detroit in Airbus 250. Mr. Atwal, a sardarji...the cabby came to pick me at airport. From SFO airport... Marianis Inn hotel is about 35 miles around 30 min drive. So reached there around 10.30pm. Finally i was in Santa Clara,US. It took totally 34 hours journey in which 24 hours were flying time.. rest was which i spent in airport. In my entire life prior to this i had flight journey only thrice. But in this one journey alone i had to change three flights. Travelled around 11,000 miles all alone. It was fun travelling.. reached different places, different time zones, met different kinds of people... A journey worth remembering... my first international journey..it was indeed a special one.

For making my journey special all credit must go to my parents... i had just 5 days to pack up. but i never found time to pack as i was busy in training and completing other travel related things... i don't know when my parents packed all my stuff... they had made sure to put each and everything... from groceries to medicines to clothes... so a big thanks to everyone... right from my parents... relatives... friends... my company ppl for giving the opportunity... AND definitely GOD for everything......

Watched "Mungaaru Male" in US!!

hmm...finally i got to see the classic.. the sensational hit..the mega blockbuster movie "Mungaaru Male" in California,US. The movie got released in December'06 last week ...it became such a mega hit but i could never make it to this movie. Since i was in working Chennai... even when I was in Bangalore for 4-5 weekends between Jan and May.. due some reason or other i never got a chance see it !!.

Finally it happened on May 20, 1pm show... Venue:India Movie Center, San Jose, California, US. Watching this movie with other Kannadigas in US was gr8 and had fun. It was just by luck that i found that this movie is running here. I was going through some North California Kannada koota website(kknc.org) and saw that 'Mungaaru Male' has been released here on May 11th and is running successfully. wow!! tat was a gr8 piece of news for me and i just decided to watch the movie in weekend.

I don't have to say much about the movie... everyone knows its awesome. But still i have to say about the picturisation of malnadu i.e madikeri, sakleshpura, jog.. its simply amazing... gr8 dialogues..its a simple story but effective.. had good fun watching it. It was special watching a Kannada movie in foreign country. I read that Mungaaru Male part 2 is coming up...Hope more and more "Mungaaru Male" happens in Kannada industry... let the song go on.."ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯೇ ಏನು ನಿನ್ನ "

--

Rak

Even stars have feet of clay...

The greatest show on earth has just completed and what show it was for 30 days..Full of excitement, drama, controversy and so on... World cup of any game in such an event which makes every one follow the game.. Even people who don't know what the game is all about start following it.. That's the spirit of any sports!!

If I am correct I remember the moments of world cup final 1994 played at USA when Italian player Roberto Baggio missed the penalty and Brazil won..From then I have watched almost all world cup matches on television. The 2006 world cup I hardly missed any moment I watched almost every game till end be it extra time or penalities.. and was truly exciting to sit with friends and watch this lovely game.

When 2006 world cup kicked off I like rest of the world was expecting Brazil to win it..after two weeks it looked like Brazil were not upto it but still was supporting them, challenging friends that they will make it...but not even in my dreams I thought of France making it finals!! Though I gave a outside chance for Italy to make it and they not only did it but won also. To be frank I was expecting Argentina, Germany,England & Brazil to be in last 4..But something else happened.

I never supported France team but I always admired one guy..The great Zidane who became a super hero after 1998 world cup and since then I have followed his game wherever he plays. But it was time for him to say good bye in this Finals but it was an shocking and ugly end which none of us expected. I myself being a hockey player seen at many instance opponent players and supporters try to pull u down, irritate u..but for a sportsman he should never lose his temper. Thats what sportsmanship is all about. But all are humans when things are not going your way and some external things are said or external factors are disturbing your mind... Zidane kind of things happen. And no matter what big star u are..u may be considered as a demi god..but if don't find ur feet on firm place till it matters..u may find yourself on dirt. perhaps the great star could not hold on his mind firmly when it mattered the most.

Chennai & Change ..

I had been to Chennai in 1997 for a week long school tour and now i am back in 2006 to make my life here... And till now I have been listening to all bad/horrifying stories about Chennai... which had made me to believe that words 'Chennai' and 'Change' are deadly opposite to each other.

It was really heart breaking when I heard that I had go to Chennai as part of my work and after coming here it took me nearly 30-40 days to realize that I have to be part of this city to make my life. Until then Chennai for me was just the home where I stay, office and the bus stand/railway station to go to Mysore/Bangalore...!!. But once I realized that I have to stay here for few months or more to make my life I started exploring Chennai and found that words 'Chennai' and 'change' were quite relative to each other.

Before coming I had heard all these things about Chennai... the people are rude, they don’t care for other state people, they cheat, people are movie crazy, actors & politicians are like demi gods for them, only Tamil & Tamil everywhere, temperature is hot, hotter & hottest... so on and on. And what I have experienced so far is all these allegations are true only to a certain extent and the rest are false.

May be few years back these allegations were completely true but certainly now Chennai has changed. If you look at people they may look they are harsh... rude... but unless you poke nose into their business they won’t matter. The people who we have interacted so far like shop keepers, auto drivers, servants & others have been pretty okay. Yes auto people demand exorbitant rates but we can negotiate, there I saw the major change that is these people trying to talk in bits & pieces of English, Hindi... and trying to explain with sign languages. Of course there are few fanatics who believe in only Tamil but they can be neglected as they don’t matter in our daily affairs.

The next thing that they are movie crazy is absolutely true. We went to multiplex- Sathyam cinemas for night 10.30 show and what really amazed me is all 8 screens were almost running full house. The change I noticed was there was 2 Hindi, 2 English, a Telugu film being played with other 3 being Tamil. So it is not just Tamil. I was told that in Chennai you don’t find good looking people...hmm... but what I saw in Spencer’s shopping mall, Sathyam multiplex, beaches of Besant Nagar, Trivanmiyur, ECR is totally different which made few of us say " Chennai is not that bad...", it may not be a ocean like Bangalore but still here u find rivers & lakes often… Ha… ha...!!

The other major noticeable change is majority of Billboards, sign boards, hoardings are all in English. Well finally Chennai has woken up Globalization, which means more of diversity is seen now which is a welcome change.

Yes there few things which still suck like hot, hotter, hottest weather which is a major problem but nothing can be done about it, the transportation system with old and over crowded buses, slow moving traffic which makes traveling a night mare, though there are local trains which are not very convenient and now Metro is proposed. The major drawback is Chennai doest have a metro nightlife which usually people from other cities find hard to cope up. There are hangouts but not really a metro culture. Well people also need to change their attitude in a big way… at this point of time all I can say is “Chennai is changing” so are the people !!

INDIA 100 Days....

India has seen all big things happen in last 100 days... The biggest being that I have spent 100 days now in Chennai.. ha ha ha !!... So jokes apart lets get into actual issue.

Few years back I remember reading one of the weekly magazines where Bal Thackrey the Shiv Sena supremo had predicted that India will face civil war in few years to come and I think what I have witnessed in India for last 100 days is a build up to it. India was struck with heat wave this summer as well as protest wave across the country for various reasons.

When I was about to leave Bangalore to Chennai I saw Muslims protesting against the Danish Cartoonist for publishing cartoons of Prophet. After that was we had the great Narmada Bachao Andolan protest lead by Medha patkar and celebrity like Amir Khan became a national sensation when he raised his concerns on this issue. In Bangalore we saw two day rampage by fans on death of super star Dr.Rajkumar. Then we had the vadodara riots. We had the great reservation movement by youth with majority against it and few pro. Then it was turn Christians who came out to protest against movie Da Vinci Code and there was this conversion controversy involving pope. The latest protest being against movie fanaa by BJP yuva morcha wing of Gujarath... And finally political parties are getting ready for to protest against fuel price hike. So protest have become daily routine for people...Everybody wants to protest for nothing.

Dont think I want to become a historian by listing all these protests in order. What I am trying to say all these events have taken place in last 100 days. Everybody in this country is frustrated some with their family, some with government policies, some with some silly reason and every body wants relief so everybody is finding a way out to express their displeasure.

Today the mainstream religion is divided into castes, sub castes...So on. Again categorised into upper and lower (who the hell did it ???) castes. So there is no unity and we have other religions who are up in arms and are waiting to fight for small issues. The government run by dirty politicians for sake of vote and power are playing cheap politics and are diving the country bringing up all kind of policies. So all these thing are slowly fuelling up civil war. Now we are seeing this unrest happen in few parts , soon it will spread and will take place in a bigger way.

How can we stop civil war ?? First and foremost thing we need is Uniform Civil Code. The politicians must put the country ahead instead of their power and cheap politics. We are in 59th year of Independence and we youth are doing the same mistakes like our ancestors. We are an young country with 65% of population who are below 35 years age... Yet we elect 65 years and above old politicians to parliament & assembly. We youth should start a movement to remove caste system from our society. Caste and religion should be purely personal issue and they should no way become basis for education, jobs, business and others.

In a big country like India there will be disagreement on every issue and protest are means of expressing displeasure...But protest should not become a routine. Its a powerful weapon of democracy which should be used correctly else will lead to death of democracy in form of civil war which nobody wants.

Watch the English movie "Crash" its a movie on the post 9/11 situation in US about racial discrimination. Blacks hate whites & viceversa.. they still help each other. Every chracter in that movie is frustrated in one way or the other. Yet life goes on despite all problems. Same can be applied to current situation in India

Young and Vibrant !!

The new kids are on the block and they are eager to perform... yes i am talking about the young faces in the Indian cricket team. few years back we had a similar situation where few youngsters had made a diffrence like the yuvraj, kaif, shewag, Zaheer, Nehara, harbhajan... today they have become vetrans of the game though still young at age. Some have lasted and some have failed to sail the distance...

After 2004 pakistan tour india started to lose ODI's regularly there was huge cry to change the composition of the side but some how it went on till the much hyped ganguly controversy. After that there was a huge transition making way for pool of youngsters. The young faces who wanted to make a mark and eager to play for the nation got the chance and today we have many stars in making..

Raina, Dhoni, Venugopal, Pathan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, Powar.. and few others are making big news in last five- six months and India has lost only 4 matches so far of the 19 played with this combination. So we have potential stars in making.. lets not hype/critisize these cricketers for whatever good or bad they do.. they should be given a fair oppurtunity to prove themselves...

I know at present the old Warrior Sachin is injured, Shewag & kaif are out of form, Sauvrav, Laxman, Kumble are out of team, Nehara, Balaji, Zaheer are having problem with fitness and form. Just imagine if those out of form guys can find form, injured guys become fit and perform, then Team India will be a force to reckon with youngsters and experienced players. Definitely a huge bonus for world cup 2007. Men in blue will reach new heights... Thanx to Young and Vibrant INDIA...

Modified on 07' jun 2006

India have lost the ODI series in Westindies 4-1...the score line looks very bad. We had people talking all kinds of things. But I still belive this Indian team has something special in it. If u closely look at the series India lost 3 matches very closely like losing by 1 run.. windies won with just 1 ball to spare... and again lost by 19 runs.. it shows that it could have been 4-1 in India's favour. All they need is lettle bit of fine tuning. Way they came back in Antigua test after being outplayed for first 7 session of test match was really a heartning fact..allthough they could not push for a victory. I still think this YOUNG BRIGADE is special !!

Is there any limit ??

The Famous MTV VJ Cyrus Brocha says there are two MMS famous right now in India… One is the actual MMS- Multimedia Messaging Service and other MMS is – ManMohan Singh our PM. So I am talking about the recent MMS controversy!! U must be asking which one… bcoz today it has become a daily routine to have MMS cases in India. Some use it for publicity stunt... some for fun and some for whatever reasons... well I am not going to discuss all MMS controversies that are taking place, I wanted to talk about the today’s Fashion world and I brought the MMS issue here bcoz of Lakme Fashion Week which concluded last Saturday and had MMS controversy attached to it.

Last week we had this hot news making headlines about the Wardrobe Malfunctions during the ramps in the Fashion week. What actually happened is during one of shows the dress fell off exposing the upper part of the model and in one more ramp the back part of the skirt tore off exposing the shapely posterior of the model… Huu!! Both were hot news and all the media cameras covering the shows including the people having the mobiles started circulating the pictures in form MMS and whatever way... And all the media had made huge issue out of and the fashion world raising an outcry against the media and people for sending MMS. The fashion world calls it an accident and they say these things are common in fashion world and people should not make as issue of these things.

My topic says “Is there any limit” or should I say ‘where is the limit’ for today’s fashionables and fashion world. Today everything is gauged according to trend and fashion. If some ppl start to do something it becomes a new trend and if something new is on the block then people say it’s the new fashion. Well…well… with increase of media presence both print and broadcast ‘fashion’ has become a huge buzz word these days. Today every paper has some article or news dedicated to fashion world… they call page 3 and what not. Every Magazine and news channels have made it a point to bring out every time something related to fashion. They think its one of the ways to increase readership or the TRP’s by showing the sleaze around related to fashion world and celebrities. And what kinds of designs are these that fashion gurus are bring out. U give them 3 piece of handkerchief they make design out of and put on models saying this the latest trend. Oh!!!... Look at the fashion channels or segments related to it on TV these days it will be full of sleaze and the clothes they say designs cannot be worn in public. They bring out all kind of nonsense and still say its one of the best designs. Now who are they trying to target?? Just the celebrities, models and few other people who are crazy. If so what is scope of growth for them. They say fashion industry is big but if they design clothes which are not wearable how will they survive…

I know today fashion Industry is a huge business and even the general public is changing according to the latest trends in fashion. It may be the wish of designer to come up with whatever he wants and models may walk on ramp wearing it. But there must be a limit, a wardrobe malfunction may be an accident or can be intentional but the kinds of designs coming out are not acceptable to majority of people. Models may wear it and even something goes wrong like what happened they can still forget thinking its part of their profession and walk away with money for doing it. But what happened if they same costume malfunctions when u r wearing it in a gathering or in some place??... u just think of standing naked or half naked in middle of town..!!! After all real life is different from ramp walk. Even the models don’t wear such things in public what they wear on ramp. Now in country like India we have this act against obscenity in public… so Maharashtra govt has ordered an inquiry into the issue what happened last week to find out was it an accident or intentional show off!!! Whatever it may be I think somewhere there should a limit which no one should cross.

IT Boom or Boomerang !!

Today there is economic boom, infrastructure boom, telecom boom, entertainment boom, automobile boom… that boom... this boom and so on. I think all these things are inter related and the major reason is the growth in the IT sector in last couple of years... it’s the boom… the IT boom. In just last 2 years over 5 lakhs jobs have been added in IT sector contributing to the growth in all sectors.

Today I am writing this blog sitting in this office in Chennai’s IT corridor. Nobody in Chennai five years back would have imagined that there will be such a boom in the city. So the growth in IT sector today has made directly or indirectly other sectors to grow and in tern the economy has gone up. For example lets consider infrastructure, as the IT sector is growing and expanding manpower the number of IT parks are coming up in very fast pace. For the people the apartments, shopping malls, multiplexes are also coming up. So there is lot of jobs getting created as well as growth is taking place in Infrastructure sector. The governments both state and central are being compelled to provide good roads and infrastructure to meet the requirement. Today the number of express ways, flyovers, airports, metro train projects is being taken up to meet up the requirements.

Let’s consider other sector like telecom and entertainment. Today there is huge competition in telecom sector. Most of the service providers are coming with new… new plans… do u think there trying to target rural people? No! Obviously they are targeting the urbanites and mostly the IT people. So is the case of upcoming multiplexes and FM stations.

One more sector in upswing today is automobile sector. Today we find all kind of two wheelers to all kinds of luxury cars and what not. Again thanks to the high salary and easy loans at lower interest rates. Today on a average nearly 800 vehicles are added everyday in city like Bangalore and about 600 everyday in Chennai.

IT boom today as I said has increased the employment in the country. A Big software services companies today are providing life for 60000, 50000, 35000, 25000… people and the dependent families. There are many such companies today. The jobs have not been created in just IT sector but in all related sectors. In infrastructure sector huge… huge jobs have come up, so in telecom, entertainment, media and others. Today those who have built homes in big cities are making good money. All because of the demand that is getting created due to the job boom.

Just think for a while what would have happened if there was no such growth in the IT sector? All the other sectors which are witnessing growth would have been hit. If there was no boom all these things would have been slowed down and this would have hit the economy of the country. Today in campus selections alone 80% of students are getting placed across the country. With nearly 10% of people walking out with more than one offer in hand, if there was no boom only top collages would have had campus selection and in that only about 30-40% of students would have got offers. And the rest would have to struggle it out to get the jobs. In that case the boom in all sectors would have come down as the demand for infrastructure, entertainment, telecom and automobile would not be as much.

The Boomerang Factor

IT boom… Dhoom… dhamal… dhamaka.. whatever!! But it has created huge problem at other end. The boom has boomeranged which most of us not able to make out, as it’s the human nature to see always the good and the rosy picture.

Why I say it boomeranged because lets consider cost of living… in a city like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai… the cost of living has gone up like anything. For a common man or middle class family person it’s becoming very difficult to lead the life. The house advances and rent have shot up, people are demanding more money for small work. The small hotels are disappearing and big… big… plazas, shopping complexes have come up. The local textile shops have been replaced by Adidas, Reebok… showrooms. Do u think a common man can cope up with these kind of changes??

Let me tell a personal experience which happened after me coming to Chennai. The house in which I stay is taken for rent and we are 5 people of same company staying together. We 5 people are sharing all the household expenses. Our house in ground floor and there is one family who stay in first floor for rent. The house maid was working in that place before we came, now we hired her for cleaning purpose and she demanded 600 rupees per month, we agreed as we were sharing it was not a big amount, but the maid started demanding same from that family which dependent on one persons earning.. So we created problem for them.

This one case and similarly there are many cases where common man is suffering because of this boom. Higher salary and people sharing means they can afford to pay any amount but at the other side a normal man, or family where one person is earning are getting affected.

Automobile boom has got traffic jams, parking problems, polluttion and so on.

So Boom is good for economy but unless we do something to maintain balance between the higher earning people and normal earning people this kind of problem will continue. Today we are seeing robbery, harassement on software engineers and other workin people. There is notion among common people that we people are earning in lakhs every month and they try to resort to offence to get something out of us.

so as i said its necessary that we maintain a balance, else when the boom goes doom we will have face the boomerang effect.. and lets hope the boom stays for many more years to come

The Beauty and the Beast

yeah!! its a prefect story for wat i call "The Beauty and the Beast" . I am not talking about any hollywood or bollywood story..but its about cricket.That too about ongoing India-Pakistan series. Here the Beauty and the Beast both have been the "pitches" on which the matches are being played.

The Pitch at Lahore and Faisalabad have been a beauty for batsmen and it has acted like beast for bowlers. In Lahore as many as 6 centuries were scored with induvidual scores from batsmen reading like 254,199,173,128*,103,103*..with over 1000 runs scored and jus about 8 wickets were lost and that too 2 of them were runouts!!. With rain and badlight takin away major part of the match it turned out to be a runfeast for batsmen and a nightmare for bowlers...

At Faisalabad it was no diffrent. Again it was a flat pitch and as many as 5 centuries were scored. With induvidual scored like 194,144,152,129,103,90,90,88 and so on.. so agian a nightmare for bowlers anyways nearly 28 wickets fell in the match.. But it was a bad advertisement for test cricket as it was a mere draw in end..with almost intrest lost on the 4th day itself..

Now in Karachi its a totally diffrent pitch and it has become a beauty for bowlers and beast for batsmen..First over of the match produced an hatrick and as many as 14 wickets went down on day 1 for 319 runs in total.. and day2 till now 8 wickets lost for about 300 runs...So definately we have a result on this pitch and we have somebody for sure winning the series unless somebody plays some miracle to take this match to a draw.

So series till last 2 days was a totally dull and boring.. and now there is some life and interest and with batsmen fighting on a bowlers beauty.. we are lheading for an intresting end. Anyways the boards and authories must ensure that they make sporting pitches which act as beauty and beast to both batsmen and bowler ..An even contest is always good when we have an over hyped series like India-Pakistan..