Heartbroken/Crestfallen!

It happened Friday Night while I was returning home from Airport. It was midnight and it probably had been the longest time I have been away.

While sitting in the back of the cab, driving through the night traffic of trucks, fellow cab riders, I saw few bikes zipping through the traffic.

And it made me realize that I don't think I am ever gonna be able to do that again...zip through Delhi traffic on a bike, moving in and out of cars like a snake, finding spaces between two vehicle where even air wasn't sure of passing through.

And I think I established long back that riding a bike through a western highway at speed of 120 kmph or around is suicidal in any case.

So is it adios to bikes?
I guess never say never.

Blogging on the GO...

I am trying to iron out posting to my blog on the go. I hope it works.

Tiger on the prowl

Just when you think you have seen the best a person can play, he gives a surprise. I guess thats what makes them the very best.
I was watching Tiger Woods play Arnold Palmer invitation and he got into the final day of 18 holes 5 shots behind the leader Sean O'Hair. As it is said about Roger Federer, having him opposite the net on a grand slam final is vastly different than having him across the net on ATP tourney, same goes for Tiger Woods. Playing with him on final day is just like meandering ahead of a tiger on prowl.
Like one commentator put it, He is the sun and you are the butter.
Tiger kept chiping into the lead, bringing it down to 3 then 2 and 1. Finally going into lead only to be tied going into the 18th.
Its a fairy book ending to AP invitation tourney and it has been like this for some years.
And just like a perfectly written happy ending movie script, Tiger has a great Tee-shot, Sean O'Hair has an okay one. O'Hair misses the birdie putt and takes a Par. And Tiger sinks a 15 footer putt for birdie for win.

Master shows Pretender...

Vijay Malaya has always appeared to have gone after Richard Branson in so many ways. Both are flamboyant brand ambassadors of their biz ventures. Both are known for their lavish parties. So it was a bit of a surprise when VM beat RB in race to F1. Though force Ind failed to win any point coming close a couple of times, VM became famous for his parties. But come season 2009, the master arrives. Yes RB has come to F1 with Brawn (he matches VM in giving strange name). And if first race is an indicator he is showing everyone who is the master and how it should be done. Guess the party circuit will be next...

Whodunnits with string attached...

I was recently watching the ABC's new show "Castle". Its one of the detective/police/crime series with a bit of humor. ABC was lacking a TV series in this genre of A guy and a girl doing Police work, guy being a little quirky/interesting/mysterious/mischievous and girl being the more serious/no-nonsense/uptight kind.
The shows that are falling into this genre are
1. Life (NBC)
2. Mentalist (CBS)
3. Castle (ABC)
4. Bones (Fox)
5. Lie to me (Fox)

Well those are pretty much the channels I watch, so don't know any other similar series that might be running.
Each of these shows have some common themes. The mystery isn't really that much of a mystery, its not CSI kind investigation. Its a kind of drama that has a new story every episode with a story thread being carried through. Though Bones is a bit different and castle is a new one.
Taking a look at Life, the thing that keeps the show interesting is not the weekly whodunnits but the eccentric character of Charlie Crews - a man enjoying his freedom and all the good things that he missed in prison like fresh fruits. The story thread that keeps the series interesting is who framed him and hows his wall developing.
Mentalist is closest to Life in a way for born again/reformed "psychic" and his way of working with the team of detectives. Again the common thread is the "Red John" the killer who killed his family and still eludes law and even dares it.
Much like in bones the digger and the shorter thread that was carried in the series. Of course the angle of will they won't they is the story thread (I guess).
Lie to me is a bit interesting as well especially because it has Tim Roth. For those who don't know him, I suggest watching Rob Roy.
Castle is still developing but it seems to be in a similar mode, having the boyish/rebellious charms of a writer and an uptight/secretive detective of opposite sex.

Indian music at Olympics

I was watching Beach volleyball finals for women and during point break I heard a familiar tune...and surprise surprise it was a song from the movie Bluffmaster - "Say Na Say Na".
Bolly going global!

Found the song...finally!

I was listening to a song by Bad English: "When I see you smile" on last.fm. I had a classic rock CD where I had heard this song.
The initial music reminded me of some Hindi movie song which has been "inspired" from this song. I did all the googling without any luck.
I think I have finally found the song...its Dil to Pagal hai song "Ek duje ke vaaste".

Listen to these two songs to see the similarities.

Record breaking heat

DFW (Dallas Fort worth)-Metroplex area has been having a record summer. The temperature is constantly hovering around (generally above) 100 F (round about 40 C).
Its been one of the driest summer so far as well with rainfall just shade of 1.5".

I am from Delhi and I can relate to such long hot and dry spells, but this year even Delhi has been faring much better compared to North Texas. It did not get that high during summers and monsoon have hit Delhi and brought some relief.

Hoping for some relief to North Tx as well.

U.S of A

After a great rendezvous in Europe, I am now in United States of America. Its been great 3 years in Europe. Made many new friends, learned a lot about different cultures and countries.
U.S has been a different experience so far. It really makes you realize its vastness. As I have heard so oft from different people..."Initial 2-3 months are the toughest in U.S, if you can survive them, you will have a great time there".

1 month has gone by...basic settling issues, things seem to be falling in place now.

Been a long time since I last blogged (similar story like my last few blogs I guess. hopefully will have new things to write about)...

Indian sport this week

Nothing much to cheer about if you are an Indian sports fan...
In Malayasian tri series...Rain is playing spoilsport. Though it was nice to see master is back to his masterwork.
Though I still feel, Tendliya has lost his motivation to play. I don't blame him. He has achieved everything he set out for, more than most (if not not everyone) who ever played the sport.
Why do I say this when he scores a century in the very first proper innings after a 6 month layoff?

Thats the precise reason. There was a question mark on his performance after a layoff (and before it)...he finds a challenge and he destroys it as he has done many times before. But now what...its tough to set challenge for him...
I hope there is some stupid bowler (and team management) who challenges him in the tournaments to come...then we will see the Tendulkar we all want to see...

India @ Field Hockey World cup
They were hoping for a podium finish..they may from the bottom...Its been a pathetic performance to say the least. And guess what effect it will have on the person who is responsible for the dire state of Indian Hockey..KPS Gill..NONE.
And thats the problem, its the politico-bureaucratic state of our sports thats eating into it like termite.
I hope someone wakes up to set the change rolling.

Kudos to Paes for winning the US Open doubles while Martina goes out in style of champions. Roger Federer proved too strong for Andy Roddick while Maria found answers to Justin Henin Hardine.

Moto GP : Valentino moves closer

Madhouse, it was at Australian GP. Melandri won it and Rossi was Third...But Nicky Hayden was fifth..hence a 5 point gap between the two...
What it means for the bigger prize..a gap of 21 points remain with 3 to go...
I am rooting for Rossi...wats ur take

Schummi does it again as does Valentino!!

Repeat of the earlier post.
But this time Schummi does it in Monza, Italy and Valentino in Malaysia.

I have to say the MotoGP was much more exciting with lead changing hands between Rossi and Capriossi many times. Rossi awaited the last few turns to take back the lead and win.

While Schummi did it between his first pit stop and Kimi (who pitted earlier and for 1 second less time after leading schummi by a 1.44 sec)...

What these wins does to this season?
With Alonso retiring, Schummi is within 2 points of his lead...boy will it be close.
And Rossi also is bridging the gap with Niki Hayden.

So keep watching these sports in fast lane.

And yet another blast...

I will keep to my theme, sports and blasts.
Well there were another one , this time in Malegaon. Blasts in small town (after injuring Mumbai)...why would terrorists do that ?
Its a town that doesn't make the world sit up and listen (perhaps thats why?) but but but...
What if it leads to something bigger, something the terrorists would want.

Just to reiterate my point, just see what Indian administration is afraid of as a result of blast...nope not another blast, its the communal violence.
And what if there is one then I am sure as in past, it will have enough sparks to reach the bigger cities/towns like Mumbai/Ahmedabad.
And thats what terrorists want.

I am so sorry to say, all terrorist need to do is kill people of one religion (whether hindus or muslims), and then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their seeds.

I hope we Indians are smarter this time.

Its interesting time in sports ...(3)

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days(contd):

7) Greece defeated star-studded lineup of USA in Basket Ball
Well well well...NBA stars lost out to Greece. Underlining the fact its players and not stars who matters.

8) No Nadal-Federer final in US Open
I am a bit saddened by it. Nadal and Federer have been treating viewers to the best tennis. Their match in Rome masters was the best I have seen in long time.
Its good to see Andy Roddick back in form and blasting his way. But I doubt if anyone has the arsenal to dislodge Federer unless he self destruct.

9) Paes flying Indian flag high as Sania sees reality of staying on top
Leander is in finals...yuppie. This guy gives us something to cheer about always when Indian sports is in doldrums. I hope he wins.

10) And the big one Andre Agassi retires after creating flutters in his final tournament..ADIOS
And its goodbye to Andre Agassi, the most revered tennis player of all time. He had a fan following that supersedes all his rivals put together.
The colorful personality that he has been and the resilence that he shown when he came back from 100 + ranking to win US Open witing one year in 1996 speaks volumes.
Tennis world will be poorer...Adios Agassi

11) Martina Novaratilova bids her final adieu to Tennis..I hope in style
And another retirement thats also bring an end to the greatest legend of all time...Martina Navaratilova. I can't believe she was my favourite in 80s..its been long time.
She finally hangs her boot at a young age of 50. And guess what she is in finals...again. I hope she wins and ends in style that a champion like her deserves.

Its interesting time in sports...(2)

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days(contd):

Formula 1 is again carrying most of the excitement:
4) Schummi is within 12 points of Alonso and people are awaiting his retirement announcement.
Schumacher has made a fight out of a seemingly smooth sailing of Renault. Ferrari from being second best car has definitely become the best car on the tracks with many podium finishes for both the drivers.
They have also gained from erratic performance from McLaren and its drivers. As they prepare for Monza tomorrow, Ferrari bosses would be very happy: reason their current driver is 2nd on the grid and their future driver (supposedly) is on pole.
Everybody is speculating that this season would be Schummi's last. Let me come clear, I am not a fan of his. He is not the one who brings out a fan following for you. He is cold, calculative and competitive (well he is the one who had his season annuled for deliberately causing his nearest rival to crash ).
But this guy holds every record of reckoning in F1 and he wants to finish off in style. But I still see no reason for him to retire if he can compete like he is doing. Don't want another Borg out of him.
But Ferrari is not letting things hold them up and that brings me to the next piece...

5) Ferrari to announce its next year lineup (Kimi Raikonnen moves on to hunt for elusive Champions title).
Ferrari would be announcing their next year line up at the end of the Monza GP. As much as people await if Schummi can lessen the gap with Alonso, they are also interested to know, if Kimi moves to Ferrari next year.
Kimi tried to kill speculation by claiming that he is yet to decide and for him its importatant what committment the team will offer.
Lets face it, McLaren have failed to do justice to a driver of his caliber. Last 2-3 season they have turned up cars that have been unreliable or not quite good enough. And apparently Kimi doesn't want to be the best driver who never won a title.
Its almost sure that he joins Ferrrari as Renault has announce another finn to be their 2nd driver.
Though Kimi can still remain with McLaren but with Alonso coming to McLaren, that seems unrealistic. Its like having Senna and Prost in the same team. It happened before and it was ugly.

6) Renault has a fin(n) added to it
Continuing with F1, Renault announced its line up and added Heikki Kovalainen to its fold. Lets see if he is as exciting like my last 2 favorites Mika and Kimi.

Interesting time in Sports

Its quite interesting time in sports in general these days:
1) Field Hockey WC is on
Not much excitement about it here in Swiss (actually none at all). I hope its different in India.
But least said about Indian team performance the better. A set back with Sandeep Singh getting shot (Speedy recovery for him is wished).
Loss to Germany (last min) and England (after leading) is not to be excused. In Hockey India has made a habbit of losing in last few minutes. It happened against Pakistan, I remember not long ago and not just once.
Korea is playing Hockey like they play...FAST. Though they were losing regularly in past few months to other Asian giants, but they seem to be better prepared.
Who will win it: My guess still from the 3 usual suspects : Australia, Germany, Holland

2) France managed to beat Italy 3-1 (without the Zidane & Materazzi spice)
This was an interesting scoreline. I saw only Italy score...and then I looked at the scoreline...Interesting.
Seems France is on rebuilding already.

3) Pak is under scanner for ball tampering (wats new). As is Darel Hair for discrimination (Wats new again!!!)
Well people should be thinking whats the news in this. Its not the first (or second or third or..) time that Pakistan has been accused of ball tampering and it will not be the first time that it will be true as well.
Though Hair's connection to Subcontinent is legendary stuff. All the 3 teams (well B'desh can be excused) have at some point or other been on his Ire side...

Another hiatus Another promise

Back after another hiatus and with another promise to myself to be regular blogger...
Will I or won't I , time will tell.

Schummi does it again as does Valentino!!

So another grand prix over and another set of results.
Michael Schumacher another one (Magny Cours) as does Valentino Rossi (German moto GP).
Leadership wise Alonso still comfortably perched on top while Rossi is making the in roads to the top spot.
I have been a bit disappointed by Mclaren this year. Last year, they were the fastest around though unreliable. But this year they are definitely the third best car after Renault and Ferrari.

Next year promises to be interesting due to the Musical chair of lead drivers.
Kimi moves to Ferrari (my most fav driver moves to my least liked team).
Alonso to Mc Laren (Mc Laren has been my favorite team due to Senna and Mika followed by Kimi)
Montoya moves out. Schummi still races on.
I hope Karthikeyan gets another look in. People frown saying that he was last of the lots last year. But to me he was one of the 22 drivers among a huge number of aspirants. And that he did it from India where rupee gets beaten 45 to 1, speaks volumes.

Another Blasts

I wrote a blog sometime back about our non chalance attitude towards blasts and loss of Indian lives.
Many governments have changed hands, we have had countless PM but unfortunately with these coallition governments none have had spine to tackle terrorism. It has more become an election point than a point of action.
And to add to that we have parties like SP which just cares about vote bank politics and without any facts give statements. Like giving clean chit to SIMI even when the investigations have just begun. Also its leader gave a statement like giving money to Pakistan for Kargil war. That was slap on the face of so many young martyrs of Indian Military.

And what we do about this new terrorist attack. We do nothing. We forget and carry on with our lives. We discuss it in cocktail parties and perhaps write a few blogs.
Its called our resilence and we are credited for carrying on with our lives. Our parliament passes a resolution that it was an act of terror (come to think of it, if we have enough stupid MPs, it might not even have been called an act of terror).

PM will now push for Zero Tollerance....haha ha.. After 2 decades of terrrorism, we finally have woken up to the fact that we need to have zero tollerance. Till now it was ok to have some lives expended...WHY?
Because Indian life is cheap! and thats the bottomline.
Cheers to that!

Fuussball Magique

So the world cup fever is reaching its Zenith. Quite a different WC as compared to 2002, with 6 of the QF teams having already won WC previously. This is in stark contrast to 2002 when only 3 of the final 8 were previous winners.
And it seems some of these past champions are only riding on luck rather than good football to reach to QF and beyond.
But then Germany did reach the final in 2002 in an almost slumber like manner. But as it is said, when Germans play well they win else they reach the finals...And this time they are playing quite well and they are not overdoing. Calm, composed, compact and possibly the most well organized team in this world cup. So they are to my mind favorites to win against the Team I root for Sparkling Argentina.
Argentina has for sure been the entertainer of the WC having boring teams like England, Italy and Ukraine (France was in the list till their last encounter). But their strength is also their drawback ..full of youthful exhuberence (most being the team mates who were in the team that won World Youth Football C'ship coached by Jose Peckerman)has added a spark to the WC yet their lack of experience will show when they take on Germany and if at all progress further.

For Brazil vs France - My pick is surely Brazil..France is back from Dead but its like the last breath activity...they will be put to rest admist the Samba beats...
My WC disappointment has been Ronaldinho..though brilliant in midfield and as playmaker, he can do himself good by scoring in last few matches...

England vs Portugal - The world including England is perplexed on how they mananged to reach so far...they are playing sleepy football..defensive almost to the point of keeping the ball in Goalie's hand..
Portugal have played rough football. They are an interesting opposite of slumber football of england. They have played as a WC game needs to be played when you don't have enough talent - With lots of urgency (perhaps their iberian neighbour Spain could learn something from this side). They can spring a surprise, though England might just again scrape through..

Italy vs Ukraine- The most boring of the matches on cards in QF. Italy has always been the ultra defensive team..prepared to go in Penalty shoot outs...Ukraine has picked the traits from them...but still Italy as always is a compact unit which do some scoring sometime..so they seem the winners from here..

At this stage..Brazil are still the favorites and they haven't peaked as yet. All thanks to bundle of talent in this country. All 11 frontline players can be replaced by equaly good 11 players...

So will Latinos strike rich in European heartland..only Once it has happened..1958 Sweden WC..team that did it ...BRAZIL.