Iru thuruvangal... 2 different people...

As the name of my blog suggests- 2 sides to every coin, there is one coin- Tamil Cinema- that has 2 heads. Possibly the only coin to have two heads, but 2 very different heads.

The 2 men in the above image- need no introduction at all. They were both introduced by one of the greatest directors Tamil cinema has ever seen. Both the actors- way too different from each other.

Padmashri Kamal Haasan- known for his aesthetic acting. Pure acting- literally. Having acted in so many movies, he had learnt the in depths of almost every field of Tamil cinema. Aged over 50, but still is the indisputable king when it comes to conceptual acting. Each of his stories are so well designed and intricate. Some of his movies are strictly meant for the insanely intellectual public. Kamal Haasan, controversy and women are inseparable from one another. His personal life apart- Kamal Haasan's contribution to Tamil cinema has been invaluable, thanks to producing some stellar performances in almost any role that he has acted in. 

It has even been said that even Kamal doesn't know his true face. He has donned so many roles, each so very different from the other. One classic example is his movie- Apoorva Sagotharargal, in which he plays the role of both a 6 feet tall man and also a dwarf. The way Kamal Haasan works for each of his movies can never be matched by any other actor. His latest release- Unnaipol Oruvan, though a remake, does not follow the stereotype followed by some actors of remaking the movie down to the hilt. There were quite a few changes and loads of work involved with even that remake movie.

On the other hand- Superstar Rajinikanth. The indisputable baadshah of Tamil cinema. Known for his style and his unique mannerisms, he has won over the Tamil movie industry and has managed to build a palace in the hearts of many a Tamil movie buff. The frenzy and the fanaticism of his fans can never be matched by another actor's fans. Rajinikanth has a truly contrasting style compared to Kamal Haasan. While Kamal is pure acting, the superstar is pure style combined with his own unique style of acting. Some of his best roles include that of the don- Manik Baasha in the movie Baasha, Surya in the Maniratnam directed Thalapathy and also in the movie Mannan. 

Rajini's movies are typically known for the style content rather than for the acting part of it. His meteoric rise to the top of the Tamil movie industry was fuelled by a series of hits starting with the evergreen hit- Billa. Rajinikanth has stayed at the pinnacle of Tamil cinema ever since- thanks to his style and the fanatic fan support that he has. While Kamal has always kept a safe distance from politics, Rajini nearly stepped into the political scenario. Rajinikanth's fan base is located world wide, including Japan- where Muthu (the dancing maharaja) became a massive hit. The superstar has always attracted the younger generation who instantly fall in love with his style (to be honest- I was avoiding saying this, but I cant avoid it anymore- I'm a big big big superstar fan.) The superstar is also a Padma awardee- he won the Padma Bhushan award, for his services to the Indian film industry. Rajinikanth is also the only Tamil actor to feature in a Hollywood movie- namely bloodstone. Also he is the actor to feature in most caricatures and parodies. However, the superstar knows that he cannot be replaced by anyone. 

One thing to admire about the great man is his simplicity. He has been so successful in life, but he still dresses in a white kurtha-pyjama and at most times travels in a white ambassador car (maybe he s still the only one in chennai who has a white ambassador). He has never let his successes get to his head. The superstar is ardent devotee of baba, while Kamal is an atheist. So many differences, small and big, but both of them are such great actors. To be honest- I can be very proud that I have grown up watching these 2 great actors at their peaks.

Truly speaking these two actors can never be compared, but just take a look at their different styles. Despite all their differences, fanatic fan followings, all that, both of them are till date- very good friends, with a lot of respect for each other. Todays' actors have a lot to learn from them- professionally and personally. Hope god gives us all one more chance of watching them together on the same screen in a movie.

A year later... What have we learnt?

*** Please be warned that this post will contain a hell a lot of expletives. I apologise.***

What does the image below remind you of?

It reminds me that this motherfucker who had killed so many people and who was a part of a grand scheme of terrorizing an entire city is still alive.

What have we learnt a year later? How to show humanity to a fucking terrorist is it? That fucker and his gang of terrorists go on a killing spree in Mumbai on 26th November 2008 and what then? Mr. Ajmal Kasab is given a trial. What the hell for? For being the man who shot the Mahatma is it? To understand his bloody motives? Or is it just to show that he is a Paki? Or is it just to show that the Indian Government is taking some action in retaliation for the attacks? To spend 31 Crore Rupees on a worthless piece of shit?

Look at the number of lives lost. Look at the gory, monstrosity of the attack. The people responsible for national security- not our army, not our BSF, not our coast guards, etc- but our great netas. Hemant Karkare was killed due to some fucking asshole messing up with his bulletproof jacket (I really hope not only Maharashtra Police, but Police departments of all other states have learnt from his death).And poor Mrs. Karkare doesn't even get to know how he was killed or at the very least should receive his bulletproof jacket, which has now been discarded to oblivion. Sub-standard bulletproof jackets for cops while some bloody asshole in the middle sees a shit load of money from the deal. What is this- BLATANT CORRUPTION.

Apart from all that, think of all the poor NSGs who were killed or injured in the counter-attack. To die for the nation is a great honour, but even in those deaths, the politicians want to take the limelight as if they have done the ultimate sacrifice for the country, when they actually are sacrificing us for their own needs and benefits. Imagine the plight of Sandeep Unnikrishnan's parents. Spare a thought for them. And it takes a week for a political party to apologize for one poltician's stupid actions.

Why has this happened? We are all a part of this grand massive scheme. Would you believe it if at least 15% of the money for the attacks was funded by ourselves? Where from- Pirated DVDs, Tax evasions- by which police and all other departments are forced to use substandard products (doesn't make a difference really, 'cause whatever tax we pay is not used for our benefit), all that.

We have only learnt to take things more lightly. Forget things easily. This is why we feel the rage only when we see images of the attack being telecast on TV. Such a dastardly attack of terror and as usual, has not influenced our mentality in anyway. And why the hell are we holding Kasab still? So that there can be another hijacked plane and a fucking demand for his release? Look at the number of lives lost, number of people killed by him and his trigger happy group of fucking self blowing jihadis. And despite all this, we expect Pakistan to act on terrorists, when we can safely say that at least half of Pakistan (that's a fucking underestimate) is full of terrorists.

Shouts, rallies and memorial services for the victims won't do. There needs to be something more. More than that- A revolution. India has to change a lot. We need to change a lot. You and I need to change a lot. Had the fire which burnt atop the Taj Colaba been in our bellies, India would have changed a lot over the last 1 year.

To quote my previous posts- (my posts which were done during the attack)-  These terrorists seem to keep asking us this question over and over again- we can hit you anyway, anytime we want. What can you do?
Such an attack can happen again, and again and again, until and unless we are ruthless, courageous and good enough to do certain things that we never have.

WE HAVE LEARNT ONLY ONE THING- TO FORGET THINGS AND MOVE ON, WHATEVER HAPPENS.

If cricket's my religion...

That title says it all. If cricket's my religion, the man in the pic is my god. That s the motto of every Indian, every cricket fanatic all over the world. 

There are so many many sayings about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The most famous of them include quotes by other stars such as Matthew Hayden- “I've seen God. He bats at No.4 for India.”

Shane Warne- “I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.”

Brian Lara “Sachin Tendulkar is a genius. I'm a mere mortal.”

Don Bradman once said to his wife "Come and take a look at this guy. He bats almost the way I did."

There are endless odes and tributes paid to the greatest batsman of all times. There used to be a point of time in Indian Cricket, when Sachin's wicket meant that India could be defeated. 

Imagine that man, performing at the highest level of cricket for such a long time. A journey that began way back in 1987, in Pakistan, facing Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, on debut. That journey has continued ever since. Sachin's career has spanned 20 years, 17000 ODI runs, over 12000 test runs and over 42 test hundreds and 45 ODI hundreds. Imagine. Those are mind boggling figures. There is no way that he'll retire without 50 hundreds in each format of the game, except for T20 of course.

What hasn't Sachin done for India. He's not been a 'keeper. That's it. He s won matches single handedly for the team. He s done that with the bat and the ball. He's even captained the side, but not with much success though. There haven't been too many cricketers who have endured heartbreaks as much as him. There have been so many situations when he had played so many wonderful knocks and India did not make it over the line. The most memorable and the freshest memory would be that of his stunning 175 against Australia. However, India fell short by 4 runs.

A few knocks that anyone would remember would be his back to back centuries against Australia at Sharjah. His brilliant 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan at Centurion, South Africa. That  blinding 155 vs Australia at Chennai in 1997. And that 136 against Pakistan at Chennai in 1999, though that was in a losing cause. That man has contributed a lot more to cricket than anyone else.

Injuries and lack of form have always been a part and parcel of any cricketer's career. And Sachin too has had his share of injuries- tennis elbow, ankle injuries, back problems, finger injuries. The game has taken its toll even on his body. But despite all that, he shrugs them all off and continues to play, continues to dazzle, continues to amaze.

He has had so many batting partners. One can even remember him batting with even a number eleven batsman, trying to save a test match. But at the mention of his batting partners, his best opening partner was Sourav Ganguly, with whom he had scripted a huge number of stunning partnerships. 

Every man has his own weakness, and apparently captaincy was not Sachin's forte. India did not do well under his captaincy, but his batting was as dazzling as always. India has not seen any cricketer perform time and again like Sachin Tendulkar. 

He has terrorised bowlers all over the world with his batting skills. There is no batsman in the world who has made bowling to him to seem as the most terrifying job on earth. Bowlers fear bowling to an in-form Sachin. A cricketer has to be born again to replace Sachin. 

If cricket's my religion, Sachin's my god.

 
P.S: Down below are some thoughts that my friends have shared about the Master Blaster. 


Sankari says- "I like Cricket only because of Sachin. The day he stops playing will be the day I stop watching cricket. "

Rohit says- " My fav sachinism moments : 1. The India Pakistan match at Chepauk.. I am blessed to have seen it live at the MAC stadium. Consider it to be the highpoint of my dumb -life.


2. The Century against England at Chennai which he dedicated to the ppl of Mumbai post 26/11. goes to show , the man still plays for the ppl of India , and not to get the eyeballs of Adidas and Pepsi , unlike a few blokes in the team.

3. The Sharjah sandstorm. I still remember watching it when I was a kid.. I was in my native town Nellore for the holidays , and the roof literally came down , watching it with a dozen equally passionate relatives.

4. The ball tampering scandal.. there waws so much outburst against the umpire who accused Sachin . "You mess with Sachin , you mess with India .

5. The World cup. India was doing poorly and back home cricketers houses were being stoned and effigies being burnt etc. many players appealed for the public to stop this. but went in vain. Sachin comes, holds a small press conference abt it. It all stops. Many ppl demand respect , he commands it."

Jayaram says- "That six off Andy Caddick's ball out of the stadium during the world cup in 2003."

Bhargava- "That dazzling 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan. Amazing. No one can ever forget that."

Venkatraman- "Sharjah- 143. Need I say more?" 

Ashok- 155 not out vs Australia at Chennai. cant forget it. I am very fortunate to see that innings live at chepauk. and more fortunate to have thrown back the ball back to the field after one of his sixes landed into our stand.

Sathyanarayanan- Sharjah, 104 against Zim at Benoni(must win match to go to Final - Ganguly, Azhar and Rahul Dravid went cheaply. We required 240 of 40 overs to qualify for finals. Sachin scored 104. Jadeja and Robin would complete the match). He was totally out of form coming into the match. He played some extra ordinary shots for a player who was out of form. 
155 vs Aus at Chennai(Test Match)
116 vs Pak at Chennai(Test match)
85 vs WI at Mumbai(Test Match)
116 vs Aus at Melbourne(Test match)
169 vs SA at Cape town(India were 67/5)
114 vs Eng at Edgbaston(India 66/5 with Manjrekar not able to bat)

Srinivas- 1.Sharjah "Desert Storm" twin Classics.
2.The 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup game at Centurion (That back foot cover drive off a bemused Akram is etched on my memory).

Krishnan- Sachins won't happen to the game everyday. He is a prisoner of his own (dare I say, Indian) Mind and had his ups and downs but his abilities were exceptional. In that short 22 yards strip, he carved out 100s of 1000s of runs, won millions of hearts (and of course made tons of money). At the same time, despite all his achievements, I won't exclude him from being questioned. But he's unlike anyone we've seen in world cricket and will leave a big stamp on the game- not just for being able to play cricket but also for being disciplined outside of it.

Siva- 1.  241* - Sydney'04 vs Aus - the one in which he stifled his natural instincts to play shots in the cover region because he was getting out in that region! 

2. 49 - Bangalore'08 vs Aus - considering how acrimonious the last series between the two teams had been & how we ended up getting "Bucknor-ed" first & then "Clarke-d" to lose that all important Sydney test match, we had to ensure that we didn't lose this first test, considering how the Aussies would never lose their grip once they wrest the momentum.i think we had to make about 290+ to win on the 5th day.the pitch was absolutely two-paced and going for a win was out of the equation.the great man showed such a remarkable sense of purpose in each and every defensive shot he played for close to two sessions he was at crease and ensured that drew that test.we went on to win that series! 

Venkatraman- His 5/32 at Kochi against Aus and his 3 wickets in the Kolkata test match known for Laxman's heroics are tributes to his crafty bowling and his thinking. People often don't praise him about his bowling. He is very crafty as a leggie and the ball with which he got warne in Kolkata was a stunner! The googly spun in so sharply that it hit Warne's pad before he could get his bat down! Warne must have surely commented in his mind, Oh you beauty!

penn- the girl, the lady, the woman...

Penn- No its not penn state or something like that. Penn- means girl/lady or woman in Thamizh. There have been so many love songs, so many songs praising the glory of a hero/heroine (at times). There have been very few songs praising women as a whole.

As kids, always- guys don't like girls. And as we grow older- we kind of think- ok fine, we have to live with them. Finally, at one particular stage- OMG! I love that girl,and I just can't live without her. It's just the way things happen. Every guy at some stage in his life falls in love with one woman or the other. For some of us guys- it would be a girl who is very close with us, for some others the only girl in their lives would be their mum and for a lot others the girl whom they marry.  Isn't it such a paradox- we grow up disliking each other and finally falling head over heels in love with each other?

Anyways. Take a moment to imagine all the various roles that a girl plays in her lifetime. 1st as a daughter to her parents. A good daughter who obeys all the instructions her parents give her, studies well, works hard, grows up to be a nice young lady. A lady who has to then get married to some guy and then live with him, make him happy for the rest of their lives together. A mother who has to groom her kids well and make sure they do what is good for them. All this.

Just imagine, that very same lady if she also works in a concern, she has to fulfill expectations there as well, which makes her task even harder. And believe me- Girls can be total workaholics. When there s something to be done- they'll finish and only then will they sleep. And after a long days' work, she comes home to take care of household work, kids, etc. Poof. Just to type this I feel so tired. Imagine all the ladies all over the world, particularly, in Indian households.

There s this line by கவிப்பேரரசர் வைரமுத்து "விண்ணவர்க்கும் மன்னவர்க்கும், விளையாட்ற்ற செல்வம் பென்". Truly. Todays' ladies define that statement. In terms of achievements of ladies, there are a few names that one can never forget. India's 1st woman Prime Minister- Indira Gandhi, Tamilnadu's 1st woman Chief Minister- Dr.Jayalalitha. Such prolific ladies. Well, even they have had their own darker sides, but still, their achievements in a predominantly male dominated society- very very commendable. And yes, there is another interpretation to that line that I had quoted above- remember the incident when a flight was hijacked, which was carrying the daughter of a minister. The bargain- release the terrorists that you have captured, we' ll let her and the other passengers go alive. Now you know how valuable a girl's life is? that too the daughter of a minister is far more valuable. Now, I believe she herself is into active politics, following her father's footsteps.

Respect the ladies guys. For you may never know when a girl you know might come up with something great and turn out to be someone great.

Friend, Dost, Nanban..

There are so many proverbs about friendship. "A friend in need is a friend in deed", "Tell me who your friends are, I will tell who you are." All that. Really. There are so many great examples of great friendships.

Some of the ones that people who watch movies (any language) regularly will know are- in Thalapathy- Superstar Rajinikanth and Malayalam Idol Mamooty. In Rang De Basanti- the group of friends who avenge the inglorification of Madhavan (Air Force officer Ajay Rathod who gets killed in flight crash). In Chennai 600028. There are so many examples.

All of us do have our own close friends, best friends, etc. Some of us may not talk regularly with some of our closest friends, but we do have that understanding. An understanding that, ok he's busy, but when he does call- i'm gonna ask what took you so long. Some of us may have friends who have been with us for a very long time, but still they may not be as close as people who have been with us just for a few months.

My best friends are 2 guys. 2 guys' whose opinions matter a lot to me. One of these 2 guys has been my classmate since my 4th standard till 12th standard. The other guy I knew him from my 8th standard, but we studied together only for 11th and 12th. And all 3 of us were together in the same class, same school in 11th and 12th. Inseparable really. All 3 of us would roam together, and at times, even study together. lol. It was pretty hard to digest at first that all three of us would be going to different colleges, but still, since we were really close with each other, we did not lose contacts.

Now, all three of us are in different parts of the world. Sad. I don't even know if either of them would read this post. Even sadder. But one thing I know is that I'll be in their memory forever. Happiest thing in life- someone remembers you.

There are some lines about friendship which I like a lot. Particularly this one from Chennai 600028, "Unnum sorru nooragum, ondruku ondru veragum, uppu illamal enna aagum, uppai poley natpai ezhthuvom." Then there is ultimate scene in Thalapathi, where Mamooty asks Thalaivar Rajini's as to why he didn't join up with his family, even after knowing that he has a family. To which Thalaivar replies "Enna nee en nanban." That- according to me is the best scene ever in Tamil cine history, which defines the true meaning of friendship.

Even Hindu mythology has its example of friendship. Mahabharata, in which Karna knows Duryodhana is a bad guy, but still sticks around with him for the only reason that Duryodhana is Karna's friend. The movie Thalapathi is loosely based on this great Hindu epic.

I have a lot of friends, who are now successful in different spheres and in different parts of the world. But to be honest and frank with everyone of my friends who might think they are not remembered- I'd just like to tell, I remember each and everyone of you guys. It's just that 2 guys who made a lot of difference to my life pipped the others to take the post. Sorry to all my other friends whom I couldn't mention here, but a huge thank you to each and everyone of you, because all of you have made some difference to my life and have given it some meaning.

Thamizha Thamizha..

"Nee thamizha?" apidinu enna pathu kaetavanga romba kammi. In fact, enakku therinju naalu paeru kaetu iruntha jaasthi. Enna pathu nee malayali ah apidinu kaetavanga than jaasthi.

Enna pathu yaarume enna thamizhanune sonnathu kidayathu. Apidiye thamizhan nu kandupidichalum, yaarume naan sonnalum naan brahmin nu othundathey kidaytahu.

Athukum oru nyayam undu. Yenna naan paesara thamizh apidi. Naan Chennailiye poranthu valanthanalayo theriyale, en bhashai apidiye chennai thamzh la than irukum. Athukaga- romba kevalamana thamizh ellam illa.

Ennoda intha postlaye pathinga (brahmana thamizhla- pathel) na athulaye en thamizh epidi irukumnu theriyum. Pothuva brahmin veedugal (aamgal) la ellam paathinga (paathel) na, kuzhanthaya valarkum bothey antha kuzhanthaiku evlouvuku evlo mudiyumo brahmin bhashaiya than solli tharuvanga (tharuva). Antha oru vishayam- ella jathi, inatharukkum pothuvanathu. Epidi oru singam thanathu kuttiku garjikka solli tharuvatho, athey pola than.

Ennai mathiri neraya paer iurkirargal. Naan mattum alla, ennodu padithavargal, vilayadivargal naraya paerukum athey oru pazhakkam than. Chennai thamizh. Athu ennamo theriyavillai- onru namathu kudumbathilaye vantha oru vishayama, illai valarpilaye vantha vishayama- intha bashai maatram?

Indiaviliruntha America, Australia ponra naadugalil vasikkum namathu naatargaluku ippothu thamizho allatha hindhiyo allathu avargalathu thai mozhiyo pathi paeruku maranthu vidugirathu. sirithu sirithaga avargalathu kuzhanthaigalum antha thaimozhiyai theriyamalaye valarnthum vidugirargal. Thidirendru oru naal Chennai varum bothu etho naangu vaarthaigalai kattrukondum varugirargal, vanthu irangiya udanaye antha bhashaiyai payan padutha muyarchikirargal,aanal athu namma oor auto otunargalal purinthu kolla mudiyavillai.

Kaaranam antha bashaiyai sariyaga katrukollavillai namathu veliooril vasikum inthiyargal. Apidithan namathu mozhiyum indru azhinthu kondey varugirathu makkaley. Nammathu mozhi endral, ovoru oorin sontha vasanayum senthey varum. Maduraiyin malli vasam, Thirunelveliyin halwa vasam, ellame. Makkale, thayavu seitha namathu mozhiyai maranthu vidatheergal. kattru kudungal- nam mozhi vaazhatum.

pinkurippu- 1. Inthu than naan thamizh la ezhuthina muthal post. Mannikavum- thamizh fontil illai.

2. Naan jaathi veriyan alla. Thamizhan than.

3. Namathu Indiavil vera pradesangalil vasikkum namathu thamizhargalin kuzhanthaigalukey seriyaga thamizh therivathillai.

Not everyone gets everything...

I'm not good at this philosophy thingy, but something just prompted me to write this post. I'm sure all of us have experienced this feeling and also have said it ourselves that I haven't got this, I haven't got that.

Well, something that I strongly believe in (which has also been quoted by Thalaivar Rajinikanth in some of his movies) "What god has given you- noone can take it away from you and what he has not given you, noone can give it to you." And also "Everything that happens, happens for good."

Well, the above philosophy "Everything that happens, happens for good" has been interpreted in a different way (or is it my perspective- I don't know) in the movie- Dasavatharam. There is this climax scene, where the Tsunami occurs, as the villain is about to unleash a deadly virus, which can be killed only by NaCl (Sodium Chloride- common salt, which the bush portrayed in the movie doesn't know) and the richest source of it is the ocean as anyone might know. In that final scene, one of the characters (the movie has 10 characters- all done by the legendary Kamal Haasan), argues saying that god could have saved the world not by unleashing such a tsunami but by not giving scientists such brains to produce deadly viruses or by preventing bush from pumping in huge amounts of money for bio weapons research. Strictly, looking at the perspective of each event in the movie- I could only say that tsunami took comparatively lesser lives than what would have happened had the virus been unleashed.

Anyways, I think that s too complex an example, some people may not understand. Simpler one- day to day life- You are starting to college/ office or whatever. Due to some reason you are delayed and somehow you miss your usual bus. And you, by nature start cursing that you missed the bus and take some other mode of transportation to reach your office. Finally when you reach office you learn from someone that there was a huge traffic jam on the route that the bus normally takes and everyone in that bus have not yet reached their destination. Then, you give a huge sigh of relief.

Another simple one. There was this movie which had just released and the hype surrounding the movie was such that it would be the movie of the year. So, all of my friends decided to bunk classes and go, while I, due to some reason couldn't bunk that day. When I got back home, I called one of my friends to ask about the movie. My friend said-"Thank god you didn't come. It was that bad."

Well, some people do get somethings for a reason too. We all get some problems in everyday life, these problems- strengthen us from within. Once we surpass that problem, it gives us the confidence that we can do anything after that. Some people get things very easily. And once again to quote one of Superstar Rajnikanth's dialogues "What man gets without working hard for it- will not last and what man gets for working hard- lasts till the time he dies." Such is the truth of the philosophy that you can actually see it staring right at you. Open your wallet and you see Gandhi staring at you, my friends, how did he end up on the Rupee note? Well, he worked hard for India's independence and got his face printed on the national currency. Thats when somethings last even after you are dead.

Now take the case of a rich guy, who has tons and tons of money. He would have to live in constant fear of being robbed, being cheated. He eyes everyone with suspicion, including his wife and kids. Now- he was given wealth and of course the talent to maintain and expand his wealth. he was not given peace of mind. Similarly, think of the guy who hasn't too much money with him- he has no fear of being robbed or cheated. He lives happily with what he has. But at the same time he would certainly have his own problems.

I have seen certain live examples myself- some guys who are so damn intelligent and good looking as well, but due to some reason- they don't have those close friends who would support them. They obviously would have friends who would have used them for homeworks, assignments, etc. At the same time guys with the dumbest of brains have all the friends in the world. There were a few guys whom I know well, they studied extremely well, but just due to lack of communication skills (this is the case of so many students studying in good colleges), they did not get placed, but something good has happened for them as well. Such is life that noone gets everything. Everyone misses out on something.

Not everyone gets everything. Not everyone gets everything.

Real life inspirations

When someone asks me whom do you look to for an inspiration- that man's name comes out of my mouth so spontaneously. The greatest test captain India has ever had- Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. Imagine the guts that man had. He went to the brink of his career ending in a manner that would hardly befit his glorious career. He made a comeback from that point, went on to prove his critics wrong. Played a belligerent innings against South Africa on his comeback, when the entire Indian team including Rahul Dravid was reeling under the bowling attack from South Africa. This man stood up and said- I will not go down so easily and he proved his critics wrong- time and again during the last few months that he played for India. That man is an inspiration for anyone, anyone who knows cricket would know him for all his efforts. Especially that of irritating Steve Waugh on his quest to conquer the "final frontier" and his efforts of building the present Indian Cricket team, his efforts as a player in the team were innumerable, his partnerships with the god of Indian cricket- Sachin Tendulkar, all that.Of course- his fighting 144 against Australia in Brisbane will remind everyone what sort of a cricketer he was. Winning was all that mattered for the former captain, losing was not an option. India played to win under his captaincy. The team never looked for anything less than a win in any situation. Saurav Ganguly did not go down without a fight. He fought till the very last ball he faced and the very last ball he bowled and fielded. His acts of sterling leadership and all his majestic innings will never be forgotten by anyone who has watched cricket and loved the sport.

Another man who inspired me in just one single act of heroism was Anil Kumble, another former captain but a legend in his own right. The moment of inspiration was when he came out to bowl against the West Indies, after his jaw was broken. He had his head bandaged and proceeded to bowl and even managed to pick a few wickets. How can anyone who mention Anil Kumble's name, fail to mention his greatest achievement ever- 10 wickets in an innings against arch rivals Pakistan. That's what every INDIAN fan will be proud of when they say Kumble's name.

Sachin Tendulkar has always been an inspiration. But one moment that will remain etched in every Indian's memory was when he had back spasms while playing against Pakistan in Chennai and he went on to take India close to victory, but could not achieve that. That particular innings will stand out, more so, because, even though India lost that match- the Chennai crowd payed due respects to the winning team by giving them a standing ovation. However, that stellar- 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan at Centurion, where Sachin and Sehwag tore Pakistan apart to give India a fantastic win over their arch rivals will take the crown.

When it comes to the Indian cricket team as a whole- the Natwest Trophy final of 2002 against England is the one that will remain on top. Purely due to the reason that it was a complete team effort, with youngsters, putting their hand up to be counted. However, the sweetest memory of a team being inspired is South Africa- inspired by Gibbs and Smith beat Australia, who had earlier posted the world's highest total in a one day match by scoring 434 in 50 overs. Australia celebrated too soon and ended up having to lose to South Africa who ravaged the Australian bowling attack.

One other team that has inspired me- Liverpool F.C. (even though- I'm not a Liverpool fan). Led by Steven Gerrard, Liverpool took on A.C.Milan in the Champions League final in 2005. By half time- Milan had got 3 goals on board. Scoreline- Milan 3 - 0 Liverpool. At 90 minutes, Milan 3-3 Liverpool. Those 3 goals scored by Liverpool was within a space of 5 min, ladies and gentlemen. The game dragged on to penalties, where Liverpool beat Milan to win the Champions League. Being 3-0 down at half time and coming back to win it is no mean feat by all means.

Apart from all these examples, one man- Mr. Narayanamurthy, Infosys chief. His brains- well, honestly- I dont have them, but someday, with experience- I might get some maybe 0.00000001% of his brains. Well, his success story, he started with a vision and not much of capital. Apart from that, Mr. Narayanamurthy didn't have a business background to begin with.

Look where Infosys is now. One thing which he and his core team, which included Mr.Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, which built the company must have had was- HARDWORK, which doesn't come easily. Now that s something to draw inspiration from.

However, one guy whom I look to as a personal inspiration is one of my best friends (who never reads my blogs). He hardly used to be the academic sort of a person. He was more of the hanging out type, who just made the cut in our 12th standard. He went on to do extremely well at college, way beyond all our expectations. When he joined college, his college's director (or whatever they call him) told "how you make your entry in this college is not important, how you make your exit is important." And my friend went on to prove it to us. Today he is one of the most respectable guys that graduated from his college.

Remember these people, they are really the ones from whom anyone and everyone can draw inspiration from. Each one of us would certainly have our own people to draw inspiration from and will certainly differ from one another.

Back where I come from

I don't know if any of my American friends read this blog, but if you are reading.. just carry on..

Well, back where I come from, I find my streets crowded with people, cars and my roads are always buzzing with activity, whatever be the time of the day. Here in Buffalo- its a surprise to see ten people walking on the road at any point of time. I always find it very odd not to find too many people on the roads, because my eyes are used to it and also used to looking for known faces where ever I go.

To buy a chocolate, I needn't walk a kilometer down a so called main road. All I need to do is pop down the stairs, buy it and get back home. Cars don't stop by for pedestrians and people keep bumping into each other. Signals do change and people don't forget to break rules.

At the fag end of each month, cops stand at almost every road, waiting for unsuspecting prey to cross their path and at the end of the day, they are the rajas. Back home, I didn't think twice about spending on anything, now things are such that, the thought of spending doesn't occur that often. Back home- I agree- I didn't walk much, but here, the number eleven bus's my main mode of transport.

I hardly used to see a cop having a gun on his person, but here, there's not a single cop who doesn't have a gun. Back home, proper queues are rarely ever seen, while there's a queue for everything here.

Back home- I could watch TV, here I don't have a TV. I used to watch a movie at Satyam, almost every weekend or atleast twice a month- here, I watch a movie that I ve watched a thousand times over.

Pani puri and Bhel puri used to be an item, which I could eat at will, now- merely seeing those items at the India store, brings back memories of having those stuff at chat stalls all over the city. I used to ask dad to change the old zen for a new car, now merely seeing my old zen, would certainly make me feel happy.

I used to sympathise with many of my friends who used to stay away from home, as they miss their mother's cooking. Now I have some of my friends who sympathise with me for that. Back home, staying awake till 1 am in the night would mean that I would still mean that I wake up by 8 am in the morning, but here, I wake up only by around 12 pm.

I had everything at my disposal at home, here I have nothing at my disposal. It s a cycle of life mates, whenever you have something, you don't realise its value and when you are away from it, you realise it's value many fold. When I asked one of my friends if he had ever been tipped by a customer at the food court where he works, he sorely recollects, never having tipped any waiter at any hotel that he went to, and now he hardly gets any tips.

But really, whenever I see something written in Tamil or Hindi, really- I get so excited, because, it's not everyday that I get to see something like that here. However, living in a maximum Indian area of Buffalo, I'm happy that I atleast get to speak in Tamil and Hindi rather than ending having to learn chinese and learning to catch the American accent, which does take sometime to understand.

Its been 2 months since I landed up here, but I'm still to actually realise that I'm away from my dear old Chennai.

But one thing that I have carried from home till here is Faith and Hope, which will certainly take me through tough times.

P.S: Mum, I know you'll read this, don't worry. I'm all fine here, jus wanted to let ppl know how things are here.

Buffalo....

Finally, landed up in this dumb place called buffalo (aka ERUMAI). Its a very small town, literally the size of Nungambakkam, T.Nagar and West Mambalam put together. That's d size of it.

Anyways, down to business- its been a over a month since I landed up here. It s nt really my kind of a place. Very small, very quiet. Not much ofactivity round here- except the univ though.

The univ- SUNY buffalo, fondlyknown as UB- well- its a nice cool place.

A huge campus- known as the north campus (That s where all my classes are). Lots of activity only in this part of buffalo, really. and one thing I noticed here was that I got to see a lot of Indian and Chinese faces rather than a lot of American faces. Anyways.

After getting all that used to just going downstairs to buy anything I need, walking more than half a kilometer to get even a chocolate seems.. ugh.. really. And after having lived on 2 of possibly the most busiest roads in Chennai, staying in a very quiet street in a very sleepy town doesnt appeal a lot to me. I do miss Chennai really, despite all the negatives that it may have, Chennai is home.

Hmmm.. food- yes- mum, if you are reading this, I miss that vathakozhambu a lot, though we made an attempt to make it, it doesn't come out that well. Im just yearning for some proper Indian food(at a very cheap rate). Anyways, we do have good food(by our standards of cooking though- which is by no means- abysmal)- Thank god. Ofcourse- Pizza's good and cheap by all means, so we do have pizza on a regular basis.

Transport- Guys- I'm sure whoever knows me only reads this blog, so Im sure you still remember how I look. I'm still the same size.lol. We have quite a distance to walk everyday, and that gives us enough to burn whatever we eat. We walk from home to the south campus, which is near home, catch the shuttle to north campus. For every place other than north campus- there s the bus (namma ooru ptc- athey than) and trains (to go to the main city- never been there yet). The buses are never crowded- cos everyone has atleast 1 car here. I guess the trains should look similiar to the ones shown in the movies here.

Entertainment- best entertainment- sleep. Well there s the downtown buffalo that one can go to for timepass, lots of shopping can be done at walmart, boulevard mall, etc. and there s a mokka theater called amherst here, that hardly anyone goes to. Most people at Buffalo tend to stay at home and relax rather than roam around. Damn- I miss Satyam, Pondy Bazar, etc.

Cimate- This place is really freaky with the climate. It was warm and sunny this morning( uncharectaristically) and its started raining when I started for classes. There's this line about Buffalo-"Don't like the weather? Come back in 5 minutes."

Biggest attraction- Obviously- Need I say anything at all. Common Knowledge. Niagara. Well, Buffalo's economy thrives on 2 things- UB and Niagara.

My opinion about Buffalo- Sucks, that too after coming from a big city like Chennai. But UB rocks absolutely.

A tour to the heartland of terror - FINALLY...

I was really excited only on this day. Finally, we were to return to some sort of proper civilization. The train at Jammu was scheduled only for 7 45pm. We had some repacking to do, considering all the stuff that the ladies bought. Poof.

We were taken out for a local sightseeing- which of course, means some more temples. It was peak heat, when we moved out for it. There was this temple, which was about a half hour's drive from the hotel and we landed up there in all that heat.

Just after we finished with that temple and got back to the car, the normally extremely temple fanatic uncles of mine, declared that they couldn't manage any more roaming in this heat. Believe me- Katra was nearly 40+ degrees hot. So we returned to our hotel, had lunch and got a bit of a nap, till about 3 pm. Then the repacking and all continued till about 4 pm, when we finally loaded the luggages in the 2 qualises that had come.

It wasn't long before we reached Jammu and had some tea there. By around 6 pm, we finished shopping and started to the railway station. The train was at 7 45pm. We reached the station by around 6 30 pm.

It was a tough time managing and carrying all those bags and heavy suitcases, which had only increased in number since we landed in Kashmir. We came to Kashmir with 10 pieces of baggage with us, now we were leaving with 19 pieces, which included 3 cricket bats and a baseball bat.
No ramps at the entrance to the railway station. Tough work, but we managed it. Then, our baggages went thru a scanner at the entrance and collecting them and consolidating those baggages took a good part of over 20 minutes.

At last, at around 7 15pm we reached the platform and found out where our compartment would be. A few minutes later, we loaded the stuff in and settled in our seats. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the train moved. Atlast- We were going to Delhi.

A tour to the heartland of terror - Day 7 &8- The journey to Katra and Vaishno Devi.

One thing that I was happy about is that, it won't be long before we would reach Delhi. It was just a couple more days away. A couple more days, until I can use my phone again. :(

So. We started at around 8 30 am from the hotel in Srinagar. There weren't many stops in between. Just one stop at around 2 pm for lunch. Mum and my eldest aunt fell sick. Mum due to lack of sleep and my aunt due to some nausea. And that lunch stop was heavily debated by my uncles, as to when we should stop. I was very thankful for that lunch stop, as I was hungry myself.

We had lunch at a dhaba, where we were served with rajma-chawal and rotis. After about 20 minutes, we were on our way again. I do remember trailing a lot of army vehicles, after which I guess I dozed off.

It was around 5 30 pm when I woke up to find our qualis crossing through a major army district, Chandanwadi. An hour later, we end up in front of a hotel in Katra. It was still bright even at that part of the day and was very warm, unlike what we had experienced till then in Kashmir.

Through some contacts, a darshan for Vaishno Devi had been arranged for the next morning and we had even obtained helicopter tickets.

Now- certain things about Vaishno Devi temple.

1. Popularised by the owner of the T-Series cassettes company, Late. Mr. Gulshan Kumar, this temple has grown to become a very popular Hindu pilgrimage destination.

2. This temple has access only by 3 means of transport-
(a) By helicopter, which takes you to a helipad located at about 4 km from the temple. After which you either have to walk or take a pony, which costs a reasonable amount.

(b) By pony

(c) By walk.

Taking either of b or c, you will have a pathway which is about 14km long and it is very steep. It takes about 8 hours for you to climb, provided you dont stop for too long. My cousins and their parents decided to walk and just only managed it.

3. And it is believed that when you pray at this temple, your prayers are always answered and no one returns disappointed.

Alright, we had dinner at a hotel near to where we stayed and went off to doze for the night. Nice room really and for the first time in all of the last 4 days, I got a mattress of my own. Nice sleep for the first time in the last 4 days too. And yes, I really did miss someone. The someone was always on my thoughts though.

Yawn. Wake up at around 8 am. We were supposed to start by 9, which later became 9 30 and then finally 10 30. I was pissed by that time. Finally, we proceeded to the heli-pad. One more hour's wait. It was 11 35 am when we got into the helicopter and 11 39 when we got off at the other end. Just 4 minutes.

It took us a good part of over 3 hours to have the darshan and return to the heli-pad again. We were at the helipad by around 2 30 and by 3, back at the hotel, while my cousins and uncle and aunt were climbing up, to stay for the night.

Then, shopping after 6 pm. As usual, the ladies... And I was so very tempted by the sight of a nice kashmir willow. That was for my cousin, not me. I had this nice opportunity to interact with a Katra based bat maker. My god. All those pieces of willow, come from Kashmir. They cost about 3k here in Chennai, while it's less than half of it there.

Hit the sack, a little while after 10 pm. The last few hours in Kashmir. :)

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day 6- Srinagar return

I wake up drenched in sweat. Not a nightmare- it's cos of the bed heater. It takes me about 15- 20 minutes to get ready and head for breakfast at around 8 am. The rest of the group's ready and munching away on aloo parathas and toast. As usual, I force the food down my throat and escape before the group finishes.

The bumpy ride to Srinagar begins in the next few minutes and doesn't end until about 3 hours later. We are then brought to a hotel, whose entrance gives the feeling of an Army base(of course, there was an army base next door) There were sandbags and guns arranged near the main gate of the hotel. ;) I certainly missed the boat house :( .

Lunch, then off we went sight seeing. First point was a Shankaracharya temple, which overlooked the Dal lake. Nice temple and very well maintained. Was I happy to spot a BSF (Border Security Force) personnel with a Tamil name. Had a little chat with him and moved on.

Then, we went on to visit 3 gardens. One of them being the cheshmashai, which is located right near the Governor's residence. Then, after about half an hour there, we went on to the shalimar gardens and another garden, whose name I don't remember.

At around 7 30 pm, we were dropped off at the main street to go shopping. As usual, you know the ladies... need I say more? Finally, we returned to the hotel at around 9 30. Way past my dinner time. I was extremely hungry, but my mood was just a shade better than what it was at Pahalgam. I managed to stuff a couple of naans and finally went off to doze a little after 10 pm.

PS: There was some problem in Jalandhar, through which the train from Jammu to Delhi had to pass. We were concerned about it as a train had already been burnt. We were hoping that the problem would be settled soon.

We start to Katra early tomorrow morning. Why Katra? That s where the Vaishno Devi temple is.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day 5- Gulmarg

Up, Up. Rise and Shine. It was just about 7 45 am when I opened my eyes to see everyone running around holding clothes in their hands, while me and my cousin (Badri, he s doing his masters in tennessee.) were still asleep.

Soon enough, even I got going. I still felt so tired. I just didn't want to wake up, but somehow I pushed my self and got ready. I had to literally drag myself down to the restaurant to catch a bit of aloo parathas for breakfast. After the bomb 2 nights ago, food was a luxury to me. With a heavy load of luggage, which included a couple of cricket bats and a baseball bat, we set out to Gulmarg on that rickety bus again.

Gulmarg- the valley of flowers, was about 8 hrs drive from Pahalgam. I slept through most of the way. I didn't stir till we were about half hour from the resort. Even then my thoughts wandered back to Chennai. Gulmarg's another cold place. The main attraction for tourists there happens to be the cable car or the gondola as it is also known.

We reached the gondola station at around 2 30, just a few minutes after another lunch, which I had to push down my throat. Then we boarded the gondola and the slow long ride to the top took a good part of fifteen minutes.

If you had seen the movie Roja, you would have seen the song- Puthu Vellai Mazhai( I dunno what it's called in Hindi) you would know what it really is to see so much of ice. None of us were really excited by that sight, but yes, it would make your heart leap up a bit, then your brain says, as if you've never seen so much of ice.

4 o clock- closing time at the gondolas . We made our way down back to the resort and settled in our rooms. Wow. I've never felt heat under my butt till then. We had a bed heater in our room, which felt so good for weary butts. With a Venkatesh movie, which looked like a half boiled remake of Om Shanti Om, to boot, we all settled in our bed and waited for the movie to finish.

Just a little after 7, me and my eldest cousin went off for a long walk. i didn't know we were going for a long walk, so I was jus wearing my sandals. It became mighty cold by the time we returned at 8 30. Dinner at 8 45 and off to doze by 9 30.

PS: the bed heater and the room heater provided so much warmth that we woke up sweating. Do not miss this place if you are going for a honeymoon. ;)

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day4- Pahalgam

Bleary eyed and not in quite the right frame of mind, I struggled to come to terms with daybreak and finally did so. Post breakfast, we embarked on an hour's drive to a path that led to the famous Amarnath temple. That point was supposed to be the start to the holy Amarnath yatra.

Another icy place. God knows I became sick of ice then and there. My cousins took to the ice, a little reluctantly, due to their dad's insistence. Off they went trekking, I even thought, at this rate, they'll probably touch some peak and won't get back. After about a half hour or so, they came down, happy to land their feet on solid ground.

A few minutes after they came down, we were herded back to the Sumos and off we went to a place called Aru valley (apparently called the Switzerland of India. ) Wonder if Switzerland is really that cold. Brrr.. frozen hands when we reached the end of the pony ride. I was really happy to find a tea stall. And it would be a crime, not to mention a Kashmiri speciality called kawah. It s basically a decoction of tea, in which you add things like broken pieces of badam and cashew and some fine grounded ginger and masala. A very nice drink for the really cold weather, keeps you really warm.

Dinner- once again the same menu, no big change, except for the soup and the sweet dish. Gulab Jamun. As usual, you could here my grandmother and her cousin groaning for south Indian food. I finished my dinner quickly, to catch the IPL match in the lobby. I am very thankful to BSNL, for that was the only provider whose signal was picked in all of Kashmir. And I am very thankful to my dear dad for letting me use his phone. God knows what the bill'll come up to.

One nice comedy that I noticed during this trip was that my grandmother (who's a little hard of hearing- like Prof. Cuthbert Calculus, of Tintin comics.) She and her cousin would give different interpretations for anything that they talk about. I even thought of it like, 2 schoolkids, who when they see a cloud say- hey that s an elephant. no, stupid, that's a cow. That way.

One more night- half asleep. Thankfully, there was a room heater this time. It was really cold on that night. Before sleeping, I had the luxury of stretching out in front of the heater in my parent's room. My thoughts before falling asleep, quite late into the night- Wonder when the hell 'll I return to Chennai? Now I knew how Steve Harmison must feel on every tour that he goes on.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day3- Pahalgam

Yes, yes, day3. Off we go to another beautiful and cold place called Pahalgam. The long, arduous bus ride starts at 9 30 in the morning and doesn't end till about 2 pm. But, before we started, we bid adieu to our dear caretaker, Hussain bhai.

Long, long, bumpy ride. Trust me, you wouldn't want to follow an army convoy. You may think that I'm unpatriotic, but really, by the time you go past an army vehicle, you'll feel very relieved. Kashmir has no dearth for green painted Army vehicles carrying personnel, rations, arms and ammunition.

Poof, finally we land up at the resort in Pahalgam. Everyone's extremely hungry, me included too. So all of us dig in and dig in deep. So, wat's for lunch? Soup (some crap soup), fried rice, gobi manchurian, paneer butter masala, naan, roti, some sweet dish (my eldest cousin really loved that dish). burp.

Post lunch, some local sight seeing at Pahalgam. Usual stuff, roaming around here and there, some small gardens from where we could see the ice clad hills. And yes, the mighty jhelum flowing past these gardens.

Then, at around past 8, we returned to our resort. Dinner. Yet again, almost the same menu. My grandmother and her cousin who had come with us, got fed up of rotis and naans and sabzis, now they started demanding for curd rice. Understandable. I was feeling a little homesick myself. How much I yearned that night to watch the ipl match back at home, in my living room, screaming as loud and swearing for every missed chance and dropped catch, and yes of course, for my mobile to ring aloud with messages and calls from my loved ones.

Finally, there's nothing great to do here in this place, hit the sack at around 10 pm. Hit the sack only, but no sleep that night, due to my cousins, with whom I was put up for the night. Hell of a night really.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day2

Then the next morning, we were all up and ready by 8 30. Yawn. The tour operator told us to be ready by 9 so that we can proceed to a really snow filled place called sonmarg. Finally, a rickety rackety bus arrives at 9 15. At one point of time, I thought the bus might fall off if I touch it. However, we managed to get a move on pretty soon.

A couple of hours (or was it? I dozed off during the ride.) later, I woke up to find the bus stopped in front of a hotel. We had lunch at this hotel. Post lunch, we had 3 hours to go up to sonmarg. I mean the 3 hours was meant for enjoying the place and returning back. Te only proper mode of transport to the snow was on a pony.

I pity a couple of those ponies really. There were 2 particular ponies, which carried my extra heavy cousin and one of my uncles. Finally, after a 45 minute, bumpy and bouncy ride on the ponies, we reached the icy place.

Honestly, it was great fun, being on the ice. Not that I've never been on the ice, I' ve been on the ice twice before this. Once at Rohtang pass near Shimla and the other occasion being at Nathula pass near Darjeeling. We had a nice time, sleighing (now I know how Santa Claus must feel), throwing ice on each other.

When we started on our way back down from the ice, again on the ponies, it started raining. Not being used to such weather, most of our hands started freezing up. noy, was I happy to get back to the bus, where it was certainly warmer than what it was outside.

Poof, tiring experience though. Imagine, we had less than 2 hours on the ice. Imagine the guys who conquered everest. Imagine- one man who tried to climb everest without using oxygen- George Mallory. I must admit, I missed Jeffrey Archer during this tour, now I longed to find out what happened to George Mallory and Co.

Another couple of hours later, we were back in the Chinar, enjoying a nice hot dinner prepared by Hussain bhai.

P.S: forgot to tell, evereywhere you go in Kashmir, you can hope to be following atleast 50 army vehicles and atleast another 50 vehicles trailing you.

A tour to the heartland of terror

It all started on that fine day, May 21st. We boarded the flight from Chennai to New Delhi. A few hours later, bang- no, no.. no gunshots, don't worry. We landed in Delhi and then in the next 1 hour, we had to rush to catch the connecting flight to Srinagar. Pitiful, the flight duration from Delhi to Srinagar wasn't even as long as the transit time.

Finally, we landed in Srinagar. Before landing, I must say, it truly was a breathtaking view of the valley. No wonder, both countries are vying for that piece of land. Once I landed, all that I could see was army fatigues all over the place. Till that point of time, I didn't know that there were so many army personnel in Kashmir.

A short while later, I found out something that shocked me. The army had blocked out all prepaid signals. Ugh.. Oh no, I cant communicate things to people back home. However, there was some respite, since dad's phone would work as it is post-paid. Then finally we reached our boat house, Chinar. A very beautiful boat house. There was Hussain bhai, the caretaker, who took good care of us for the next 2 days of our stay in the boathouse.

I asked the caretaker "Are there any terrorist attacks happening here?". "No. nothing of that sort really. Srinagar's a very peaceful place." "Is the army presence always this much?"
"Yes. " "Despite of such heavy army presence, how do terrorists manage to attack?" I asked. He couldn't answer that. I'm sure no Kashmiri can answer that question.

Then came the romantic shikara ride. Pitiful, 3 couples (read- my mum and dad, 2 aunts and their husbands) over 50+ enjoying themselves amidst 3 guys who are 20+ years old. Oh, how we wished we had the company of our someone special.

The dal lake is a shopping complex in itself. Boats carrying merchandise everywhere. And there was this boat house where all the ladies settled down to buy sarees. We went in at around 6 pm and it was still light at 8 pm. 2 hours by all means is very very quick work by the ladies. Hats off.

Finally, we came back to the Chinar, to have dinner and doze. That was day 1 in Kashmir.

(pic- a shot of the dal lake from the Chinar)

Some things can never change...

Elections are fast approaching in India and political parties have already started doing the usual thamashas for the elections. The sort of gimmicks that they pull.. omg...

Some of these include premier ministers claiming that elections are far more important than some major sports events. Well, honestly, both are useless, except that sports events promise entertainment and do give people that, while election promises are more often than not (god, please forgive me, I know I am lying here. People who are reading this know the truth) blank promises.

It's at this point of time during a politician's career, does he/she choose to visit their constituencies, that have faced with nothing but neglect, since the day that the politician was elected. Stupid common people as we are, we tend to believe some stupid promise that a politician gives us.
"Gharibi hatao" meaning "we will remove poverty" was launched during the pre-historic age ( it seems that long), and till date, we do find people begging on the streets. "India Shining?" with electricity failing in many parts of the country? And whatever happened to promises of proper infrastructural facilities?

There was this election a couple of years back, I remember. It was a local election. There were some shameless workers of a political party, some of whom I know personally, casting votes. Casting votes- not in the way that simple common men like you and me do. They are special souls who are entitled to cast as less as 50 votes in a single election. What say now?
That was paper ballots people, it won't be long before poltical parties go technical. Maybe they'll even tamper EVMs to register only a single party's vote.

And anyways people, please do vote ( I dunno how many people read my blog, but those of you who do read this blog, please do vote.) Don't sit at home claiming that "all those standing for my constituency are not good enough". Do that and your vote is taken away by some vote monging, unscrupulous party worker for his/her own party, without you even going to the voting booth.
If you feel that your constituency has no good candidate, you can still walk up to the election officer (unless he's an inside man of some party) and tell the officer that you want to post a negative vote. By doing this, an election can be re-held in your constituency, with fresh candidates standing. So people, PLEASE DO VOTE.

Falling terrorist standards???!!!!!

Sorry that this post comes after quite a few days after that dastardly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team that was touring terroristan.. oops, sorry, typo- Pakistan.

Well, looking back at the attack, there were newspapers in India which screamed these headlines,

Hindu: “Terrorists attack Sri Lankan Cricket team in Lahore”

ToI: “Neighborhood Just Got Scarier”

Indian Express: “Terror Hits Lanka Team; Wounds Pakistan & Cricket”

Deccan Herald: “Six Sri Lankan Cricketers hurt in Lahore terror attack”

However, newspapers across the border wrote:

Pakistan Express: “Falling standards in Terrorists Training???”

Lahore 03 March 2009: In the worst ever performance by their home grown and trained terrorists, all the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team members left Pakistan shore alive. Govt officials expressed concerns about this as it would tarnish the image of Pakistan as a breeding ground of terrorism and their credibility to produce world class terrorists has taken a beating. Govt asked the PSU (Public Sector Units) terrorists groups to improve the training standards and urged the terrorists to take their training and careers seriously.

Prime Minister later during dinner with the participating terrorists chided them mildly that they cannot waste tax payers/US federal Aid money like this. He was particularly harsh on the terrorist who threw under the bus (carrying cricketers), the grenade which did not detonate. Prime Minister worried that this did not do any good to his plans of changing Pakistan National game from Cricket (which anyway is having its natural death) to Hand Grenade Throwing. He felt that this was the best bet for Pakistan’s aspiration for an Olympic Gold Medal. He urged erstwhile Pakistan cricket bowlers – Shoaib Akhtar and others, who are famous for throwing instead of bowling, to take up coaching terrorists on grenade throwing as their cricket careers are finished now….

Pakistan Times: “Chinese imports are no longer reliable??”

Pakistan Government ordered a high level delegation consisting of all ammunition experts under the leadership of A Q Khan (father of the Nuclear Plans), to study the unexploded grenade for the reasons why it did not perform expected duties. The hand grenade clearly had visible ‘Made in China’ logo on it, which embarrassed Chinese Government. Chinese Premier issued a public apology to Pakistan People for failing to live up to their expectations and vowed to strengthen their R&D and manufacturing facilities to re-instill the confidence in consumers.

Pakistan Prime Minister in a later press release mentioned that he would re-consider renewing Chinese contract for annual supply of ammunition, which is due for renewal in April. Unless China proves that they have taken stringent measures to ensure that the reliability of their ammunition is certified by their government, Pakistan would consider approaching other sources for their annual staple supply of ammunition…

Dawn: “Visiting Sri Lankan cricketers return to their country, Alive”

There was all round disappointment reported across Pakistan that all the members of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team returned alive, denting the image of Pakistan as most the happening country in the world (for wrong reasons). People staged protests on streets and demanded government for the “falling return on Investment of ammunition.” They are also worried that this would set a bad precedence and foreigners may choose to visit Pakistan without any fears.

The betting racket reportedly lost a billion Pakistan Rupees as everyone expected all the visiting team members to be killed. This also had tax collection implications for government.

Government later issued a public apology to people and assured them that they would take sufficient measures to ensure that they are accountable for every Pakistan rupee being spent on training terrorists. They also urged more youngsters to take to guns as this would make the career as terrorists much more competitive and Pakistan can continue producing abundant supply of world class terrorists.

When the initial news of attack was shown live on their national news channels, all the people came to street and started bursting crackers. Their joy was short lived when the attack stopped in 25 minutes and they took the crackers back to their homes so that they can use it for next opportunity, which anyway should not be too far away.

Some of those Pakistanis who still have a job and left for offices in the morning and hence missed the ‘Live action’ on TVs, rued their luck for having to work while majority of their brethren enjoy these live actions on TV idling at homes. The working class in Pakistan demanded that henceforth they be informed before hand about terrorists attacks so that they can stay back home and enjoy the live action on TV. Government assured them that they will publish “Annual Terrorism Calendar” and align their public holidays with this calendar.

All in all there was mixed opinions on the futile terrorist attack as it did not give them the required mileage in international community….

This attack could never have been carried out without the help of an inside hand. Maybe- Younis Khan and Co? They appeared to be pissed with Samaraveera's ominous form.

Well, Pakistan claimed that they had provided world class security to the touring Lankans, but they escaped death only by a whisker. However, a few days later, there were videos of the fleeing terrorists that was released. Looks like Pakistan is only full of gun toting terrorists and empty promises that Pakistan makes about curbing terror.

Anyways, lets just hope that terrorist standards fall so much that those bloody bastards shoot themselves for missing a target at point blank range while training. Should every terrorist adopt such a method, there will be enough to dig graves for the dead.

P.S: Wondering what that photo is? That s the new uniform issued by the ICC for teams touring Pakistan.