the Hamster wins

Hamster, thats what we call him, is finally the World Formula1 Champion in the most dramatic fashion tonight. It was heartbreaking for Felipe Massa and millions of ferrari fans who for a moment thought he had won the championship when Hamilton was finishing 6th. But Timi Glock’s car breaking down just before the finish line….. Can it be more dramatic? I dunno what happened to Glock, but for me Glock won it for Hamilton. But thats racing where anything can happen and change everything in a second. Hats of to massa who did everything he could and the way he signalled the crowd by thumping his fist to his chest shows signs of a true racer! Ah, now can I be more dramatic?

Who says Formula1 is boring and nothing but the engine roaring for 2 hours. Take season 2007 where Kimi was crowned the champion in a similar fashion and this year Hamster winning it by just 1 point.

PS: Hamilton says “Thank you Glock!”

If I had a Glock 22 in my hand right now, I would have made sure that Glock would not be in the starting 22 next season.

Time to sleep, cya! Congrats Hamster…. dun worry Kimi is gonna hunt u down next yr.

The Dadagiri comes to an end

It all started in 1992 in Brisbane when a young man tried to make a mark in international arena. He failed then, but the will and determination in him kept him in the hunt. Four years later, he reigned supreme at Lords with a flurry of strokes on the off side of the cricket field. Enter Saurav Ganguly.

And it’s all going to end in 2008 at Nagpur when he dones the whites and a blue cap for one last time and moves his feet to hit the ball on the off side or dance down the track to the You-don’t-know-who Australian spinner and hit him out of the park. That is Saurav Ganguly a.k.a Dada for you.

The most vulnerable of the so called FAB FOUR(Or I should say Fab Five) in Indian cricket has decided to quit. There always has been a sword  hanging over his head. Media speculating his exit, entering the bad books of a selector and a spat with the coach – he has taken it all.

I was reading an article recently in which the writer says,

“We met the Great One in 1989, when he introduced himself to us with high notes hit by bat and vocal chord. Tendulkar may have two children, but for my generation he is always favourite son. Then the rest came. In 1990, The Precise One, a scholarly warrior who unveiled his spinning craft with devotion; in 1992, The Defiant One, a steely, stylish man of amusing, aristocratic belligerence; in 1996, The Intense One, cricket’s student who batted like a monk upholding a vow of discipline; and finally The Elegant One, who was a Japanese haiku master in a previous life”

(The full article can be read at http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/372146.html)

But the media has always poked their noses by having discussions/interviews/polls on whether these players should retire and give chance to the likes of Rohit Sharmas and Rainas. I don’t know whether the Fab four has run out of steam, but media seems to rest only when they RIP. And finally they have succeeded. Its ganguly to go first and I am sure the list would continue and end with the “Great One”. There is a fear in me – how would India perform without them. But I am sure by the passage of time a new face will rise from this country and provide us the same pleasure we had during the era of Fabulous Four.

These players have made their presence felt, but it is their absence that will be felt more.

I was here, I am here now

October 19th, 2007 – my previous post here. 15days short of an year of lack of action here. 3 martinis is what it took for me to remember that there existed a blog at this url and it took me a while to go through my mails to find out the password and finally I am here.

I have been in Bangalore for about 3 months and my stay here hasn’t been as expected. Down with fever twice and an accident sums it up.

New work place is cool. My new team sounds very enthusiastic – not about work but world economy, stock market and etc. Some are so deep into the Indian market that they better call themselves traders first and software engineers next. Their day at work starts with a call – “haan, ye le le…. na na woh mat le, girega ab”. Aur kitna girega – jo gira hai woh upar to ayega na… thats what I have been hoping. I guess I should take a cue from my “new team”.

Workwise – No comments!

I guess thats enough for the year…. . Too much can be harmful sometimes. So lets see how things shape up here.

Rain Rain Go to Brazil!

Yeah thats what I want and will pray tomorrow. You guyz must be wondering why I want it to rain in Brazil. It is the final race of the Formula 1 2007 Season and what a cracking season we have had till now.

Lets quickly go through the standings. Since 1987, this is the first time that the Drivers Chanpionship will be decided in the final race and anyone of the three – Lewis Hamilton (107 points), Fernando Alonso (103) and Kimi Raikkonen (100) can win.

Now the reason for me praying for rain is simple. I am a Kimi fan and want him to win. For that he has to win the race (which I am sure he will), he must hope LH/FA either crash out or score very less points. But going by how the MP4-22 has performed, I would pray for Hamilton and Alonso to crash out. Actually wet conditions make it even more interesting and are a real test for every driver. There is quite a high chance for a driver to crash. There is another way for them to crash. That is Felipe Massa ramming Hamilton and making the way clear for Kimi. Pressure would play a huge part in the race and force drivers to make mistakes. But no worries, after all Kimi is the Iceman.

Go Kimi, Go!

Nervy 90s

Nervy Nineties… that’s what David Lloyd says in a very typical British accent. I did feel the same. Not in a game of cricket, but on my bike.

This was about a week back when I was driving back home on my bike. Had to stop at a traffic signal (No breaking of traffic rules again, I am ideal citizen). A black Pulsar came to a halt by my side. I took a look at the driver. But what caught my attention was the pillion rider. She was quite a hottie. I guess the driver saw me checking her out.

So he asked me “Dude, wats the max speed”

Me: “I have been in the 90s”.

He: “Oh! Ok”

He gave me look as to say “Only 90″. I am no Rossi and my bike is not a R1. Give me a R1, I will hit 100 . My bike starts shaking in the 70s bcoz of some falls here and there . Btw, I am fine now.

(The Girl smiles )

The TVS Apache ad (One of the best ads I have recently) flashed before my eyes and I quickly recollected the Newton’s laws of motion.

The force was being applied on the other bike, but I felt it too . So i said to myself “Let me try a 100 now”.

Signal turned green and both of us accelerated. I got the better start and was ahead of him and then was neck to neck till the 70s. That’s when he got ahead of me, but I was focussed on my speedo. It read 90. Come onnnn… Now it read 95. Lil bit more! I wanted the 100 badly (my first century – First century is always special). The needle on the speedo just appeared to touch the 100 mark (Just few short of a hundred).

But, I saw the traffic signal and had to slow down. Ahhh, I failed my physics teacher who taught me Newton’s laws.

This time the guy gave a look that said “That was fast”.

(The Girl smiles again )

Bring him back

Yes, I want him back. But who is he?

After the World Cup Victory, one would have expected the cricketer inside everyone to wake up and cheer for Team India. But not me. Thanks to Doordarshan, I no longer have interest to watch a match. I am an ardent cricket lover and I watch most of the matches, be it a game of longer version or even if India is not playing (Yes, i do watch test matches whenever I get a chance). But recently during the India- Australia series, i have realized that I have lost all the interest to watch a ODI match. Maybe that’s the reason why i decided not to go to the next ODI in Hyderabad. OMG! Its India vs Australia – cannot get bigger than this. But where is the cricket fan inside me. Google, please search it and give him back to me quickly so that I can stil make up my mind to go to the match.

Now lets do some root cause analysis… Got it. It is the presentation of the match in DD and the dull commentary( especially in Hindi). I don’t even know the names of the commentators, who seem to have a fixed set of lines on a piece of paper and they just read those lines no matter what happens. During the match yesterday, some of my friends were discussing why the commentary in DD was so bad. One reason has to be the lack of former cricketers, who know the game, in the presentation team. When we look at the ESPNSTAR team, they have the Chappells, the Bhogles and the Shastris and many more. They have 101 ways to describe a defensive shot, but the commentators on DD hardly find a second way to describe a sixer shot(only they can ruin excitement of the Yuvraj’s sixes ). DD needs some one like Sidhu (He knows infinite ways). Another reason is the quality of picture that DD relays. It appears like I am watching a 19th century art movie.

Can’t do much about it but simply wait till this series and the next series with Pakistan. Then it would be India in Australia which means ESPNSTAR would be back and i hope to find the cricket fan in me. I know I will.

Whatta Tragedy !

What is common to South Africa and World Cup Cricket ….. Most of you might have guessed it by now.

21 years after they were suspended from International Cricket, South Africa made a comeback with a series in India. Their team had many Wessels and lots of Rice in them and showed that they were still a team to beat. With that team, they had the potential to become the world champions.
Hold On! …World Cup and South Africa <<<<<<< Rewind.

Yes, it all started in the 92′ semifinals and still SA has never got a World Cup in their bags.

During 92, SA would have wished DuckWorth and Lewis had come up with their theories a lil bit earlier. No, they had to crash out for a simple reason – It was a World Cup.

1996 – SA had won most of its league matches and was set to beat an embarrassed West Indian side humiliated by Kenya few days back. But someone by the name Brian Charles Lara had different ideas and he chose the situation to come to party and yet another World Cup exit for the South Africans.

1999 – With a ‘never say die’ Lance Klusener in the team, they were set to beat the Aussies in the semi final but a pumped-up Warney bamboozled the SA batsmen with his leggies, googlies, flippers, zooters, floaters…. the list is long It all came down to the catch dropped by Gibbs (one of the finest fielders after Rhodes) and Steve Waugh had the last laugh.

2003 – It got to be this one atleast. Playing the Worldcup at home, SA was again tagged as one of the favourites to win. Chasing against Sri Lanka, they took out their calculators (which they had just bought during the lunch break from a vendor across the street next to the stadium). Oops, the calculations went all wrong and Klusener along with Boucher defended so as to equal the score, which had flashed on their calculators. They had tied the match but not won it. Tragedy for South Africa once again.
Moral – Never buy calculators and other electronic goods on the roadside.

2007 World Cup didn’t have any surprises for SA as the mighty Australians outplayed them. But wait!!! SA and World Cup – tragedy go hand in hand. And it did, but in the shorter version of ODIs. Sitting on the top of the table and needing to score a paltry 126 to qualify for the semis, they faltered yet again. And this time it was India’s chance to rekindle the World Cup bitter memories for South Africa.

South Africa & World Cup…..The commong point is Tragedy!

Yesterdays match was one of the best performances by India in this tournament. Young guns once again proved what young legs could do. Rohit Sharma was good and showed the temperament needed to handle pressure situations. A lad to watch in future… Hope he lives up to our expectations.

 

Tennis @ Late Night

Sorry, a delayed post as my earlier post got deleted

Suddenly I wake up in the middle of the night and look at the time. Its 2. God, let me sleep. I think of god and guess who comes into my mind. Who else can it be. It has to be Federer. Yeah, its US Open 2007 Finals now and he is playing Djokovic, tennis’ latest sensation and my personal favourite these days. I like this guy’s attitude even in the most tense moments of the game. In the previous game, David Ferrer was no match against a fatigued Djokiovic. But now it is not Ferrer, but Federer.

I wont describe the match here as none of the players were at their best apart from Fedex showing glimpses of talent in the last set. I wanted Djokovic to win to make the game of tennis more interesting. Otherwise people get bored to see Fedex win everything ( Except the French Open. Surely he will win it one day).

Now coming to Djokovic, this is what he did after his quarter final victory. QUite funny! He was once asked to imitate Federer, but he refused to do so as he thought Federer was one of most perfect player he had ever seen.

During the US Open finals, guess who was cheering for the young Serbian ?… Maria Sharapova….

I Know My Dooty!

After a long day’s work at office and by that I mean serious work, i decided to call it a day. On my way back home, i stopped at a traffic signal. I thought ” No Signal Jumping again!”. I was once fined for doing the same, but today i decided to wait for the Green Signal – raring to go as if I were Kimi Raikkonen driving a Ferrari.

But someone had to do what I hadn’t. Murphy’s laws states “Anything than can go wrong will go wrong”. And it did. It led to chaos as every vehicle was trying to get past the other. All of a sudden i saw a traffic policeman walk past me with a cup of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He stood by my side and looked around. I waited for a minute thinking that he would do something. But he didn’t. I politely said to him “Sir, can you please do something”. Then came a reply which i had not expected from a policeman. “Hey, I know my duty and know what to do”. And he stood there, sipping his tea. Then i thought – “Oh that may be his duty” and did my duty – sped away. What else could I do.

Traffic problem is increasing day by day in most of the cities. Sad to say, Hyderabd traffic sense (along with its bad roads) is pathetic. Every guy thinks that he is the only one on the road. In our words, they think ‘apne baap ka raaj hai’. Earlier, i thought that bikers are the main culprits. But today, I have a different opinion. Pedastrians are to be blamed too. They walk as if they are having a stroll in their garden. Some are busy talking on their mobile phones. People cross roads looking in the opposite direction forgetting that they need to cross this half first and then the other one. I can understand if some old person doing that. But a middle aged person doing that is bad. Apart from them, there are the busses, which may beat a 80 year old man.And lastly we have auto drivers, who take a right even if there is a wall right next to them. The List goes on ……

I will end this here and may continue tomorrow. Hope i get something to write on my way back home or maybe i can say Hi to the policeman, who does his “Dooty”.