Happy birthday Sachin!

One billion cricket-crazy people are celebrating the birthday of batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar today. Writing something which has not already been written about the little genius is almost impossible. The 30000 runs which encompass close to 100 centuries and many more milestones have been talked about and discussed in many articles written about him over a period of 20 years now. But what strikes me most about him is his amazing work ethic. For 20 years now, he has stood up and done the job assigned to him with utmost diligence and passion every single day. Be it a ordinary opposition like Bangladesh or a strong opposition like Australia, he always gives his best. All the success and fame he has achieved is a mere byproduct of his hunger and passion for cricket. (Ofcourse the fact that cricket is a religion in our country helps.) Perhaps that is the biggest lesson one can take from this living legend. "When you are in it, you gotta aim to win it!"

Happy birthday Sachin!

The mood these days :)

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Love Aaj kal

Love and Logic never go together! Imtiaz Ali wrote and directed a beautiful movie based on this fact(?). The way he has blended the so-called practical modern love story with the mad intinct like old love story is simply superb. A beautiful script! The break-up scene early in the movie, the honest interactions between Saif and Deepika throught it, Rishi Kapoor's dialogues on the madness component in love were all so beautifully written and directed. Kudos to dialogues like "Senti ho gayi main" and "Dekho main pile on nahi karna chahta".
Perhaps, the best album of 2009 when it comes to music and lyrics. In "Chor-Bazaari", it has given Bollywood the first break-up song in its long history. Other songs also go along with the script rather than allowing the audience to empty their bladders in the middle of the movie.
And when it comes to the movie climax. Whether being practical about long-term relationships is possible? Whether the happiness you get after fulfilling your most cherished dreams in life will be incomplete unless you have that special someone to share it with? This stuff will always be open for debate. But THE Hero has to get HIS Heroine at the end of movie right? Otherwise how will phrases like "When everything feels like the movies" be true!

Confessions of a Programmer!

Today afternoon, the whole world around me was focused on the longest solar eclipse of the century. Amidst this chaos, I was busy using Eclipse to unravel the mysteries of a small C++ project sitting in one small corner of this world.
And that's where my solace comes from. Although my life continues to be in a state of deadlock, I still love what I do to earn a living!

And there goes 2009!

PS : This collage does NOT include images from all my outings this year! :D :D

The Wall...

Two stories about two experiences on last weekend.
Story 1 :
Sitting on top of a 80 feet tall water tank, I was kinda feeling high! Why? coz I had a good week at work!! Recently I shifted to a new team in office. And I am really excited about working on state of the art technology. About solving a new problem rather than being a part of the Bingo Mad Angles advertisement. It feels great!

Story 2 :
Sitting at Coffee-Board(canteen) in IISC, Bangalore, I am staring at the wall. The wall which stands between the pure academic world and the materialistic real world. On this side of the wall, people are driven by the urge to create knowledge. On the other side, the driving force is money. The grass is green on this side. On the other side, it's astro turf. On this side, you are least worried about owning assets. On the other side, you own so many assets (home, car, etc) before you realize that the corresponding EMI's are going to end up owning your life. More importantly, the high that I mentioned in story 1 is an integral part of life on this side of the wall. On the other side, that high is rare.

So where do I stand? After being on the other side for more than 3 years, I have realized that I can't continue to be another brick in the wall. And since I can't jump the wall in near future, the least I wish to do is to climb the wall and enjoy the pleasures of both the worlds. Now you can say Amen! :-)

Arshavin, you are my hero!

A football match hangs in balance. Score is 1-1 thanks to an own goal by Liverpool in second half. Liverpool who could have easily netted 3 goals in the first half were still the favorites to win this match. On the other hand, Arsenal play was awful. The trademark free-flowing passing football was missing for the first 50 minutes of the match. And then their was the moment of brilliance by Andrey Arshavin. A good touch to control the pass, another touch to lose his defender followed by a pure top-class strike on the goal! Voila! Arsenal had the lead!



For a change, Arsenal managed to hold on to the lead for the remaining part of the match. Perhaps, they got lucky today. But then Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Wake up Sid!

Movies can be broadly classified into two categories based on how the Director treats the screenplay/script. A director may choose to modify screenplay to include extra action, songs or item numbers for the so called front-benchers. What they end up with is a movie with lot of bang moments for the so-called mass audience to applaud.
On the other hand, a Director can decide to respect the screenplay and go the Mozart way. He chooses to keep the melody of the screenplay intact. Focus is kept on the main aspects of movie-making like acting, music, costumes and cinematography. Such a movie may not strike chord with the mass audience. But for others who can appreciate it, it will be a movie close to their hearts. Wake up sid is one such perfect symphony. Brilliant acting by Ranbir and others, amazing song lyrics and amazing music. And Ranbir's T-shirts in the movie are AWESOME! Kudos to Ayan Mukherji, the debutant director of Wake up sid for a wonderful movie! And thanks to Karan johar for not adding the "Karan johar element" to this movie! :P

Conversation with e-mom!

A typical weekday evening. Time : 7 PM. I get a phone call! Now that's not typical! It's from my mom.
Me : Hello. What happened?
Mom : Nothing. I am going to a wedding. So I called you up now as I will be busy later.
Me : OK
Mom : You know some Mr. X uncle. It's his son's marriage.
Me : Hmm
Mom : He found the bride through internet (matrimony sites i guess). She is not from our community...
Me : Hmmmm..(in a completely uninterested tone)
Mom : Aren't you on internet most of the time. Why don't you search for a girl for yourself?
Me : (Stunned and Silent for some 5+ seconds)
Mom : Are you busy?
Me : YES! I will call you later! Bye!!

And there my darling mom turns into an e-mom! Phew!!

Free Your mind!

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination!

London dreams, Our nightmare!:(

Who needs enemies, when your friends treat you for a movie like London dreams? :P

Imagine a do-or-die scenario audition for a music band. The band is about to perform. And the new member of the band (FYI: she has joined 10 minutes back) asks a senior member about what is she supposed to do? The answer is "Just go with the flow!". Well, this scene happens half an hour into the movie. But it happened in reality whenever London dreams went to the production floor.

The producers hired a director, some movie stars, music director etc. And told them to just go with the flow. The result is London dreams. The script writer decided to sleep for the whole production cycle leaving the movie stars making up their own dialogues. The music seems to be the work of some Raja-rani band in Bhatinda. Although there are 13 songs in the movie, I doubt the movie director cared to involve the choreographer for a single second. And where was the costume designer? Poor Asin wore the Ghajini look and the same black dress for 80% of the movie. And Salman wore half-sleeve sweaters and shirts in band concert!! No wonder the best part of the movie was Intermission :P

So for the movie fanatics who still want to watch this movie, I will say All the best! Now please don't get me started on bashing that movie!

Sunday is a Fun day!

saw a hindi movie in the morning All the best..really bad movie..don't watch it..but things turned better.

starts with a Lunch treat at Umerkot, Koramangala thanks to a school friend. Had a good time..Great food too - Fish, Chicken, Lamb and certainly the least, some veg :P

came back home. watched another hindi movie Aagey se right. Another bad movie. But KK Menon rocked!

went to Chandni chowk for roommates' birthday treat in evening. Good place. Good food - Prawns, Chicken and Mutton :)

Back to home. Now watching Love Aaj kal..Awesome movie!

Bottom line : Two new restaurants explored. And it is Ash's birthday! Happy birthday Aishwarya!!

Why Arsenal Why!

And they did it again! They were cruising to a win with a 2-0 lead because of a good first half performance. And they managed to squander it away with poor defense in the second half and the final score was 2-2. A draw which feels like a defeat. A draw which is a defeat. And it's not because we play bad. It's because we have become used to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We start strong, but we finish terribly. It's high time that Arsene Wenger's young guns mature and win games like this. Or that cupboard will lack silverware for another year. It has been 4 years now.An Arsenal fan will wait, but games like this will make the wait indefinite :-(.

PS : This is a post match reaction to today's Arsenal vs Westham united football match :-(

Being human!

Why is it so difficult to share sorrow?

Why have not those famous philosophers written about how to share grief? The civics class tells you that man is a social animal. But why don't they teach you about how to converse with someone in grief. Why does the only thing that comes to my mind are the words "I am so sorry for your loss". But when it comes to joy, you have abundance of greeting card captions! Why do poems like Solitude make sense?

After centuries of existence, we have been able to define the rules and regulations for being social. But have we figured out how to be human?

The art of serving..

Yesterday, a colleague of mine gave a demo on the work done mostly by me. And the demo was just superb! More importantly, it has made me realize that although the preparation part is necessary, it's not sufficient. The way the dish is served is equally important.

Poor me :(

Two roads diverged in the woods,
I chose the one less traveled.
I moved forward thinking that I had good company,
Only to realize I was left all alone! :(

But it rained...

I quote from the movie "Annie Hall":

"There is this old joke...this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs."

Do I need the eggs?

That special someone :-)

You have heard it in stories. You have heard it in songs. You have seen it in movies. These songs, movies and stories have always been the talk of the town. Yet, it seldom looked real. But the idea of your soulmate always resulted in butterflies in your stomach. Someone whose hello will make the day special. Someone who will always be there for you. Someone whose words will give you the courage to follow your dreams amidst all odds. Someone who understands you. Someone whose smile means the whole world to you. Someone who makes you complete.

On my 27th birthday, a friend asked me, "If you had one wish, what will it be?". And I wished for .....

Kaminey!

Not a great movie! But it has an awesome title song. Gulzaar saab did it again!! Once again, he has penned down a beautiful song. Each stanza covers a different myriad of emotions. Amazing singing by Vishal Bhardwaaj! Here are the lyrics.