To the TTC, with love.

I was lucky enough to be part of the #TTC Customary Advisory Panel’s Communications Round-table that took place this week at the One King West Hotel. Hosted by Julie Tyios and alongside 15 or so very smart and passionate people, it truly was one of the most interesting yet insightful experiences during my 10-months-to-date stay in this beautiful city.

Now it’s no secret how much beef Torontonians have with Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - the public authority that operates buses, streetcars, subways and rapid transit lines in the city. For example, here’s a quick snapshot of a few tweets that came up with a search for the hashtag “#TTCFail”.

“So no #TTC subway. How freakin nice. We're now trapped in the city. #TTCFAIL #G20 Idiots.”

“Finally on a 54 west bus and after waiting only 37 minutes for one! Go #ttc go! #ttcfail”

“Pretty sure this is the same bus as yesterday & that is the same McDonalds garbage on the same seat as yesterday. Our tax $ at work #ttcfail”

As you can see, it definitely is one of Toronto’s most complex issues. We discussed personal experiences we’ve all had with the TTC; it’s most crucial problems and then brainstormed about ways to improve the state of the TTC. Problems associated with the TTC seemed to revolve around bus/streetcar delays due to driver slack, lack of communication concerning these route delays, impolite or even outright rude drivers, unclean interiors etc. Below is the summarized version of the ideas discussed:

1) Re-branding the TTC externally as well as from within: Most Torontians just hate the TTC, some without even proper reason. The problem is that people tend to only remember that one bad experience; any normal day that is unremarkable just fades into oblivion. Right now the TTC focuses on good functionality such as making sure you get from A to B in time (something they often fail to as we all know). However, we felt it was time the TTC made an effort to emotionally connect to the customer too, just like any well-loved brand or product does. What if they gave a free ride to every 100^th passenger that greeted the driver? Wouldn’t things become much nicer? Creating a change internally is very important too since it’s usually those employees that are not inspired enough to be working for the TTC that end up slacking off or being rude to passengers.

2) Innovative usage of Real Time Information to aid Transit users: It’s 2010 and well, even though those idiotic FIFA officials think otherwise by not using goal-line technology (I supported England if you’re thinking why the anguish!) , the TTC shouldn’t follow suit. Why not draw some inspiration from the YRT / VIVA buses? Each YRT bus-stop has a subway-like electronic display providing information on the next incoming bus that I feel makes a huge difference to transit passengers. People do not like being kept in the dark. Knowing a bus will be 10 minutes late is better than not knowing at all. Other great ideas that came up were the use of Twitter feeds for each route, so that users can just “follow” those specific routes they use daily to get real time updates on their smart-phones about delays or such.

3) Setting levels of expectation: This goes both ways again. TTC should be the Toronto’s Transit Corporation instead of the Toronto Transit Corporation. It’s yours and mine. Each of us should strive to make a difference. If you see McDonalds garbage on the seat next to yours, don’t just tweet about how gross that is, dispose it off as well please! Many observed that gone were the days when people used to offer their seats to the elderly…where is the love people? If you and I start acting as if we do care and aim to set things straight, people will follow, change will take place.

To be honest, after what’s been a long, long time, I offered my seat today to an elderly woman in my crowded 196B bus. And it felt nice. In the words of a legend that passed away just over an year ago,

"I'm starting with the Man in the Mirror,
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”

I believe we can. Please do feel free to add your comments and suggestions about your experiences with the TTC or on how the TTC can be improved. Here's hoping to a great ride forward!

True Story: A Thank-You Card to Thomas

Wow, it's been 3 months since I posted anything! As always, that isn't my fault - I blame my grueling 1st MBA term for robbing me of all my spare time! I'm serious - when you have watched just one movie (and that too at a Malayalee association movie night) in three months, you definitely know that something has changed. Especially for a person like me who's average movies/week ratio used to be between 2-3, just like a decent Debt/Equity ratio - err, sorry for the lapse, my brain still switches into totally-unrelated-jargon from time to time. The doctor says that's the due to the side-effects of business school, and that victims are usually scarred for life :P

Anyway, now that classes for the first term are over and I've got just two exams left (within 2 days - which makes me wonder again why I'm blogging now), I guess I just decided that I finally have some spare time to write random stuff.

My OB project this term involved doing an organizational-culture analysis about a Toronto-based company. One thing that we found to be really cool was that at every monthly employee lunch, each employee wrote a thank-you card to some other employee, thanking him/her specifically for a deed that didn't go unnoticed during the past month. Therefore, taking a leaf out of their page, I want to give a Thank-You card to Thomas, a random passenger I met on a bus to Mississauga around 2 weeks back.

It happened just over two weeks ago. Me and my roomie Naveen were on our way to a Mumbai-Mallu party at Payal Banquet Hall in Mississauga. We'd decided at around 7pm (rather stupidly) to make the journey ourselves all the way from our University Campus, instead of hitching a ride. I had a rough idea of how to get there via Google Maps, but we'd never traveled to that side of town before (which later made my cousin Anita retort - "I can't believe I'm related to you!!" :P). Anyway, two hours and two subway trains later, we were sitting in a bus that was going in the right direction, the only problem being that we didn't know where to get off and what to do next. It was already past 9.30pm. That was when this scruffy old man got into the bus...

I usually like sitting alone in public buses, so you can imagine my displeasure when this old man, wearing shoddy clothing, came straight up and sat next to me, even where there were empty seats nearby. He looked Indian and he seemed to be around 60 years old. After 2 mins, he asked me the time which I curtly told him. He then asked me where I was from. I said India, and his face changed at once. He seemed so happy to meet someone from his own country! He said his name was Thomas. He asked me what I was doing here to which I said I was here for studies and I'd just landed 3 months ago. He seemed very surprised to know that I was new to the place and told me to be careful traveling at night. He then went on to tell me how he'd come to this place around ten years ago and how he had struggled because didn't have a job for a long time. He told me to be happy about whatever job I got and just do my best without being ashamed about it. Here I was, sitting next to an old shoddy man, feeling very humbled, especially after frequently listening to people say "Oh! You're doing an MBA? You should treat me after getting your first six-figure paycheck!"

He went on to tell us how he'd been content with whatever he had all his life - he was not lying, you could see it in his face. His English was very poor and I had to listen carefully, but by now I felt for him and was listening intently. He told me about his son and daughter; how they'd got married but were now far away, he told me about his wife who passed away suddenly two years ago. I was lost in his story till I remembered that we had to get down somewhere. So I asked him where Payal Banquet Hall (PBH) was. He was very surprised that we didn't know where we were going and seemed genuinely concerned.

What he did next was what blew me away. He first told us that we were still pretty far away and we had to catch another bus if we wanted to get there. He was supposed to get off at the next stop, but he was so anxious to make sure that we poor boys didn't get lost that he didn't get down. Instead, he decided to stay back with us in the bus till we had reached the last stop. He then got down with us and told us that we had to take the #6 bus if we wanted to reach PBH. Even though we pleaded with him that we would be fine, he was adamant that he would wait with us in the dark till the next bus came.

And so after some time, the next bus did come. He entered the bus with us and tried telling the bus driver that we were new here and that to make sure we got down at PBH. Now the driver was a native of this place and he'd obviously had a long day. He couldn't understand what this brown guy was mumbling about and told him to just shut up and get out or pay the ticket and stay in the bus. Thomas' face fell but he still tried to explain, with his limited vocabulary, that we didn't know where to get down and so the driver had to help us. The driver had enough then and started yelling at Thomas to get out cos he didn't make any sense. My heart broke and melted into many tiny small pieces. Here was a guy, who had no reason to be helping us and was getting into trouble just because he was trying to be a good human being. I tried telling Thomas it was okay and we would be fine, mainly because I couldn't stand the sad sight of him retreating out of the bus, yet refusing to go way because he kept trying to make the driver understand what he was saying. Finally though, the driver did get an idea that the Hall was near a church or something. The bus then took off, before I could shout out a 'Thank you!!' to Thomas.

We finally did reach our destination at almost 10.30pm, had a great time gorging ourselves at the Indian buffet, met our friend Neil and made some great new friends including Shiny, Julie, Darly, Simi, Praji, Sanish etc. Got to see my awesome Screwtape friends do their dance number too. We danced, made merry and finally got home past 1.30am when Neil dropped us off in his car.

Therefore I just wanted to say:

"Thank you, Thomas. Thank you for helping us that night, when you had absolutely no reason to. Thank you for striving to help us even when you were getting an earful of abuse. Humans like you are rare to find in today's world. When most people today only care about themselves and their sorry lives, you decided to make yourself an angel and help us out. I'm sorry about your wife and I hope you will be reunited with your daughter and grand-kids some day. Have a happy and blessed life."

Yours truly,
Stan."

Aloha from Springfield!

Hi there folks! I know this may come as a surprise - since I myself expected my next post would be from Toronto. However, it is not! This post comes to you from Springfield, Illinois...yeah, that's right - home of the Simpsons, or not.

How, When, Why, What? Easy, patience is key here. I mean, a lot of stuff has happened in the past 10 days or so since I landed, but I'll try to touch on everything. Me and my cuz sis Anita drove down here all the way from Toronto on Thursday evening. Yup, via the bordertown of Sarnia (which seemed almost as beautiful as C.S. Lewis' fantasy land of Narnia) - an approx drive of 12 hours. I was pretty skeptical about my chances of coming to the US on my business visa I'd got in 2006 when working in MindTree, but then I found out that I had a B1/B2 visa which could work as a tourist visa as well. Swell!! Well its weird that most Indian companies help get us these visas stamped instead of just B1s, but I'm glad whatever! Of course we spent almost an hour and a half at the border, since I had to get my i-94 done and all that. The officer was almost borderline racist in the way he told me to get my fingerprint scanned and then the photo, which he sneakily commented to be a "mugshot". Well, what can you say - "just shut up and get on with it?" No, so I just kept quiet. It was worth it later when we told him we had 9 bottles in the car trunk (from the duty free - for my cuz bro - cos it's super cheap)...he went "Are you serioussss"? Anyway, we finally landed up at my cousin's house at half past 2am in the morning in one piece and hit the sack.

It's been an eventful weekend alright - complete with barbeques and cocktails and all that. We had a mini road trip the day before when we went to St. Louis, Missouri. Fun outing - went to the zoo, then the gateway arch - which is so stunning I tell ya, and later hit the casinos past dusk. We're heading back tomorrow since I gotta get back soon. Launch Week starts Tuesday!! I know I sound excited but I really don't know what to expect. I skipped almost the entire orientation for International students (cos of the road trip) but the 3 hours I sat through was a drag so I ain't complaining.

Well, that's that I guess. Looking back, the past 10 days have been more of settling in and getting acclimatised...spent a couple of days with my uncle and aunt in Brampton (which I now know is where Russell Peters grew up). Shifted out to campus then with Naveen and shifted our stuff to the apartment. It's on the 15th floor of the apt building so not many complains there either! Especially with the view at night of the city lights and the CN tower. So far the weather's been holding up and has been pretty warm in fact but I guess that's just gonna remain for a week at the max. Univ campus is HUGE and I don't think I've covered even 30% of it yet. Lot's of settling in yet to do so I look forward to that once I get back. More notes about campus life then too. Oh, and York Univ's undergrad gals? Let's just say my analogy of the broken-down bus in the last post seems to have come true ;)

More later folks, have a good one!

A Change of Seasons

I remember a time
My frail, virgin mind
watched the crimson sunrise
Imagined what it might find
Life was filled with wonder
I felt the warm wind blow
I must explore the boundaries
Transcend the depth of winter's snow........

Yes, that pretty much sums up my thoughts right now. Change is inevitable for all, and I feel like I'm on life's rocky highway, just about to head into a hairpin curve, not knowing what lies ahead. It's funny really, this blog's been still and silent for quite some time now, almost an year to be precise. And then at this late hour of the day, almost two hours past midnight, something clicks and I wanna blog again. Wow.

Okay, apologies first and then a super quick recap of my life during the last 11 months or so. Let's see - finally bearing fruit to an idea put forth by my friend Naveen, I wrote the GMAT in October. Scored 710. Wrote the TOEFL in Novemeber. Got something decent again. Put application to ISB in December with just a few days of prep, being the innocent yet arrogant fool that I can be at times. Dinged! Put more applications in January. Get waitlisted at USC and UIUC. Bam! Get Admit at Schulich Biz School in February. That was it really, the hairpin curve was already visible on the distant and hazy horizon.

Accelerating ahead. Got a schol in March and then confirmed my seat. May - ManUtd win the league, Bliss. May again - ManUtd get humiliated by Barca, Distress. Somewhere in between I have my last working day at MindTree. That's right - I resigned after 3 years and 8 months of working in Bangalore. Applied for a visa to go visit my bro in the UK - Dinged again! Apply for my student visa in June - get it within 3 weeks. Do a Delhi-Agra-Rajasthan trip in the first week of August. Say goodbye to friends and family in Bangalore and return back home last week finally. Hairpin curve seems alarmingly close now.

Home, home again....
I like to be here when I can...

Sadly there hasn't been any time for me to relax and warm my bones beside the fire. It's been a crazy week. Shopping, visiting cousins, listening to my dad screaming away telling me to pack, but not bothering to do so until the last minute - Old habits do die hard don't they? Naveen got back from Kuwait today morning. Sohan and Mintu flew down to say their byes. And finally now, I'm just 24 hours away from checking in at the airport tomorrow. Heading to Toronto via Abu Dhabi on Etihad (which I hope isn't as bad as some have warned me!) Please let it be okay...or if not, lemme atleast get a seat next to a pretty female. That should suffice.

This blog always comes alive on my away trips from home. Maybe cos I feel it's a means to connecting with the people back home, in the faint hope that some of them may read it (a heartfelt thanks to those that actually do :P), so I'm guessing that this new chapter of my life will lead me to updating this blog more often that not. Let's hope that it keeps going, so that I'll be able to let you all know what sights lie beyond that hairpin curve. Let's hope it a broken-down bus and some very stranded swimsuit models. That would not be a bad start.

Ciao! Next update, hopefully soon, from the other side of the Atlantic.

JARR

Wow, it's been exactly 3 months since my last post! Seriously, that long? Time has flown by indeed.

On the personal front, nothing's much changed. New project, new football season (wait, that's not personal!), same old job, pretty much the same pay scale too (even with the salary revisions we had last month). Oh yeah, we've got a new dog at home now - a labrador pup and he's a cutey! :) Also, my good friend Rajesh has started blogging, so please do visit his blog which is pretty interesting..I'd say it's a techie's view on the corporate-socio-political aspect of life. Seriously though, he speaks sense about a variety of sensible topics, much unlike me! :P

Anyways, I've been thinking about the saying, 'What goes around, comes around' today while listening to JT's song with the same title. Most people tend to perceive that line in a negative sense - It's almost like this - you do a bad deed and then karma comes around and kicks you in the arse. The row-seap analogy. Accurate enough, but not quite. It can also be used positively, you can actually help someone, and then you are rewarded for your good deed somewhere down the line.

However, what I wanted to say is that we never hear the line 'What comes around, goes around'. Why is that? At first, it seems to be exactly the same as the first one. Again, not quite. What is different about the two is this - Think of a circle with two points A and B. Imagine two people standing at these points. Now think of a bullet being fired along this circle (Yeah, I've watched 'Wanted', but it doesn't matter here! :P). In the first case, the person A fires the bullet, and then sometime in the future gets hit by it from behind. Here, the person A pulls the trigger - he is responsible for his actions. That is why we hear the first line often because it makes more sense, right? You are responsible for your own actions.

However, let's look at the second line - Here, you are the recipient of somebody else's action. In terms of our example, the person standing at A gets shot from behind. And then he reacts to it. Now what makes this line too very important is that we, as humans, will tend to behave in the future just as we've been dealt with in the past. So if someone does something extra-ordinarily nice to you, chances are that it's going to remain with you, and if your chance comes by one day, you'll try to behave in the exact same way to someone else too.

Let me provide a recent example from my own life. A few weeks ago, me and my friends were having a good time at Legends-of-Rock. The tracks being played that day were awesome and kept getting better as the night progressed. Then the distinctive techno tune of a new track started blaring from the speakers. I'd heard it before, and I only knew it cos I'd heard it being played as Team-Intro music for the Chicago Bulls and Manchester Shitty. I just couldn't get the name of the song though, so while I rapped my knuckles in desperation against my head, I kept telling Somu, "I know this song man, I know this!" You know what I mean right, it's like the at-the-tip-of-your-tongue-feeling (Or back-of-your-arse, as Sid would say), and it can drive you insane! Next thing I know, a huge, ripped, scalp-shaven guy (who'd been watching me from a nearby distance) comes by, puts his arm around me and says, "Let me put you out of your misery." Whoa, time-out, I almost freaked out cos it sounded like a one-liner from a Western flick just before you shoot a guy. Well, you know what, he did shoot a bullet, but of the kind I was talking about above :)

He said, "I've been watching you despair about not being able to guess the song. It's Alan Parson's Eye in the Sky." Phew! I was like, "Errr...Yes! Thankyou sir!" (Well now I know better, thanks to Wikipedia - the initial music is actually from the song 'Sirius' which then blends into 'Eye in the Sky', and Alan Parson should be known to all Floyd fans for working on the DSotM album). Just another random person, but it did stick in my mind. A week later, at Hard Rock, I was just on my way to the men's room when 'Layla' started rippling in through the speakers. After I was done, I got out and was making my way back to my seat when I noticed a firangi begging the bartender, "Dude, please tell me which song is this! I just can't get it!" The bartender surprsingly didn't know too and was like "Uhh..don't know, sir." I first thought I wouldn't bother but I then remembered the incident from the week before and I knew exactly what he was going through. So I went over to him and said, "Mate, it's Eric Clapton's Layla." You should have seen his face. He was overjoyed and flushed with emotion and said "Thanks man! Thanks! Damn!" Made me feel good no doubt but the firangi's thanks were not due to me, but to the guy who'd helped me at LOR.

Simple, 'What comes around, goes around'.

That's all, but I wanted to say something else too..oh yeah, JARR! It stands for Just Another Random Rant. But I hope it made some sense too :)

The mango thieves

Last week, my aunt checked their letter-box like she usually does every morning and found a neatly folded piece of paper. She opened it and found it was a letter, addressed to her and uncle. The first line went like this -

"Njan athmahatya cheyyan pova. Ningal kaaranam."

"I'm going to commit suicide, and it's because of you."

----------
Two weeks earlier
----------

My uncle and aunt stay just a few houses away from us. They have a lush mango tree outside their front porch, that leans out over the gate. This is the mango season, and both uncle and aunt had been waiting patiently for the mangoes to ripen. However, in the past few weeks they noticed that the good mangoes kept disappearing every morning. Not sure what was the reason, uncle decided to keep watch one late evening.

And sure enough, once the sun went down and it started to get dark, he noticed three young boys, not more than ten years of age sneaking up to the front madhil (courtyard wall). Two of them helped the other onto the mango tree, and then one more climbed up too. So while one of the boys kept watch, the other two furiously scoured the tree for the best mangoes and kept throwing it down to the kid keeping watch, who would then out them in the polythene bag that he had.

Now my uncle is a smart person. He didn't just rush out to scare them and drive them off. Instead he waited till one of the boys had traversed one branch of the tree that wasn't that close to the front wall, but much nearer to the house itself. Then he rushed out and "jumped" the kid. The boy just froze and was too scared to do anything stupid like trying to climb back out, cos chances were that he would just fall and break a limb. But his partners-in-crime were fast. The other boy (who looked like the gang-leader) was out of the tree in a flash and over the wall. He grabbed his sidekick (the one dutifully carrying the mango sack) and they were both off like the wind. You don't get much loyalty these days from anyone, even fellow thieves!

My uncle then told the boy to get down, or he would get into more trouble, so the boy who was already scared out of his wits did so. Now my uncle can really get angry, or even better, he can really "act" angry and make you feel his wrath if he wanted to. So he caught the boy and made him sit down in the front porch. He then told him that he was going to call the police, and that they would come in their nice little jeep and take him away and put him in jail. The boy went pale and started crying loudly. He said that today was his first time and that it was his friend who put him up to it. After some time, aunty came out hearing all the noise and tried comforting the boy by saying they wouldn't do anything and that it was alright. But the boy was almost out of breath now, crying like there was no tomorrow. Finally uncle let him go and he ran away into the night still sobbing.

-------------
Cut back to the present
-------------

My aunt had totally forgotten about the incident, and so had no idea what this letter was about, but she would understand as she kept reading. It went like this (in broken malayalam) -

"Njan athmahatya cheyyan pova. Ningal kaaranam. Aa divasam ningal enne cheyyatha thethinu chumma pidichillay? Enittu policinu kodukam enne paranjile? Ningalu enthina enne ippalum pidikan nokkunathu? Athu konde njan athmahatya cheyyan pova. Njan chumma parevalla, sherikkum. Njan orru pravasham oru kai nokhiyatha, pakse athu paali poyi. Athoonde njan pinnem shremikum, ningal policinay vilichal. Allengil njan adutha pravasham aa vazhi verumbol ningal enikku orru manga therenam.

Ennu snehapoorvam,
Ningalude manga katta paiyyante kootukaran."

Let me translate it for those who don't understand the language.

"I'm going to commit suicide, and it's because of you. That day you both caught me for a crime I did not commit, and you were about to call the police and put me in jail. Why are you simply trying to catch me now also? Therefore I'm going to end my life. Don't think that I won't try it. I had tried it once before but the attempt failed. So I will surely try again if you call the police. If you don't want me to suicide, you should give me a mango the next time I come that way.

Yours lovingly,
The friend of the boy who stole your mangoes."


If that doesn't make you smile and feel at least a bit sorry for the kid, nothing will :)

Kings of Europe!

Yeah, I know..I'm ten days late to rant n boast about this, but I at least have an excuse that I've been celebrating the win all these days. ManUtd beat Chelski 6-5 on penalties, in a gripping match that had me nerve-wrangled at the end of it. Very emotional too, may I add.

Penalty-shootouts are easily the most twisted and sick way to decide the winner in a football match, but it's the most entertaining too. And this final's shootout ranks right up there in the my list of the most-heart-attack-inducive shootouts ever. Ever. Call me a coward, but I just couldn't bear to watch it straight, and so, like a 10-year old kid, I covered my face with both hands and watched every kick through a tiny slit between my fingers. Screaming all the time. John Terry's slip and miss was followed by one of the most pure moments of euphoria in my life. Then Van der Sar saving Anelka's kick, and the realization that we were European Champions for the 3rd time...my, it's just a little too hard to put into words. It's all a blur now, and I can only remember jumping up and down as if I were on a trampoline, doing a rockstar knee-skid towards the television, hugging Shyam and Sohan, things like that. The exact same feelings every ManUtd fan was going through around the world.

I had put up a poll on this blog - whether ManUtd would do the double or not, in the faintest hope that the dream would come true this year. Now it's seems almost unreal that we've done it. We had our moments of luck in the final, but we were undoubtedly deserving champions of England and Europe! I'm so proud of my team! :)

Champions!

I returned from the US on the 11th, the last day of the league season. It had been a long journey back (24+ hours, three flights) and boy, was I tired. But within me, a mix of excitement and tension was building to it's climax. This was the D-day, the day when hopes would be dashed or dreams fulfilled. The day that would earn bragging rights for another year or a post-season of despair. The last day of the Barclay's Premier League, with both ManUtd and Chelsea equal on points at the top.

A win would see us retaining the title for a second year running, a draw/loss (along with a Chelsea win) would see them pip us to it at the finish line. After a season of exciting and brilliant football, the latter would be just too horrible to comprehend. By the time the match started at 7.30pm, I was a nervous wreck and it was only going to get worse. For around 20 mins in the 2nd half, both teams were leading 1-0 and a goal either way would seal the title's fate. In the end however, it was a time of pure ecstasy with us winning 2-0 against Wigan, and Chelsea drawing 1-1 with Bolton. These moments are what makes being a fan so special.

This season has been different for two reasons. First, in my seven years of following the league, this is the first time the title race has gone all the way till the final day. Second, this is the first season where I've watched more than 50% of the matches online (due to being out of the country and not having access to cable TV for 4+ months). This win means it's our 17th league title now, and we need just one more to equal Liverpool's record of most league wins. It's been one the best seasons ever and it's not over yet! That's right, there is still the small tiny minuscule matter of the Champions League final on May 21st.

Win there also and this season would be the biggest ever since 1999.

BlackStratBlues

It's not often that I put up a post on music, though it runs through my blood. However, some things just beg for whole-hearted appreciation, there's no denying that. This post is solely dedicated to one such endeavor.

A couple of weeks before, I was asked to take a look at the site blackstratblues. It's a website put up by a bloke named Warren Mendonsa, whom many of you having interest in music/bands based out of India might have already heard of. He's the guitarist of the band 'Zero' and though I've never heard them play, I just can't wait to see them play live as soon as I get back from DC.

Well, this site is for his first (and hopefully not last) solo album called 'Nights in Shining Karma'. It consists of eight tracks (all instrumental) and each one is unique. The album starts of with the track 'Incense', that sounds so pure and gripping. You feel the track just crying out - 'You're listening to something special. Don't tune out, there's more magic yet to come.' The next track is 'Soar the sky' which is again beautiful and keeps you hooked on.

Then come the masterpieces. The next two tracks are my personal favorites - 'Anuva's sky' and 'Blues for Gary'. All I can say is - Just go listen to it! Anuva's sky is obviously written for a loved one, and the feel you get from the song is just brilliant. It just throws you into this realm of positive energy and hope. Blues for Gary is Gilmorish jazz (if I can use that word) and is another beautiful creation. Honestly, I've run out of superlatives so I'm gonna stop. The last song in the album is 'Bombay Rain' which is powerful and delivers a punch throughout.

The best part about this whole thing is that the album is available for free download on the site. I ain't joking - I've been listening to this album atleast once everyday for the last two weeks, it's almost like a ritual now! Don't wait for another second, just go to the site and listen to the album (it plays automatically) or download it (192kbps) and enjoy!

My first random celebrity sighting!

Most people have never had the thrill of randomly sighting a celebrity. It's just too rare an experience, unless you live in Hollywood which ofcourse multiplies your chances by a factor of seven. (Again, a very random number chosen by me.) When I say random, I guess "by chance" would be the more meaningful term. That wouldn't include going for a cricket match and seeing Sachin. Or going to a film award show and seeing Shah Rukh. That would mean you see someone like Brad Pitt in a bar, or maybe Sharapova at the Gucci store. Something along those lines. Wishful thinking I know..but forgive me, I was just trying to drive the definition home! :)

Oh by the way, Shrek met Fardeen Khan at Mumbai aiport a few months ago. He was smoking away and some guy asked him for a light. He turned around and it was Fardeen! heh. Anyway, I finally had my chance yesterday, and the most weird thing about it would be the fact that I didn't even know he was a celebrity, let alone recognize him! Let me elaborate further. This is how the events unfolded...

Me, Shrek and Nick were in Chinatown yesterday at 4am, cos we were hungry after a night of partying. In fact, Chinatown is where most club-goers head to for dinner, since they're open at odd hours and are in close vicinity to downtown DC too. We'd just reached there and the place was jam-packed with a very tipsy crowd. So we were patiently waiting for a table along with two other Chinese guys who were around our age. Suddenly, one of the guys were like, "Hey, doesn't that guy look like A.D.?" and his friend was like "Yeah, dude..no kidding". I looked in the direction he was pointing, and I saw a pretty well-built afro-american guy with his friend. At the mention of the word "A.D.", he looked up and glanced over at our side, and turned suddenly back to his food.

You should have seen the look on the Chinese dude's face. There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's MasterCard. You got it, priceless. He was like, "Oh..Oh..dudeeee..IT IS A.D.!!" And his friend too went wide-mouthed, and was like "Oh myyy Godddd". The Chinese guy almost started jumping with excitement non-stop..up and down..up and down. At this point I could not take it any longer, so I asked him, "Hey dude, who the hell is A.D.?" Again the look? Priceless. He looked at for me dumbstruck for two secs as if I were from a different planet. Then he went, "Dudeeeee!!! You don't know who A.D. is???? He..he...he's like the greatest footballer currently!!!!"

Alright, intermission. Let me give you some insight about our footballer in context. The guy was Adrian Peterson, running-back of the NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings. He just burst onto the scene last year, and won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the year award. He also won the MVP award for the Pro-Bowl game (something similar to an All-Stars NBA game). Now, that is pretty impressive. Alas, I only got all this info googling about him after I got home yesterday night, so at that time, he didn't make any impression on me.

Okay, back to the Chinese restaurant now. We finally got our table (4-5 tables away from A.D.) and the two Chinese guys got the table next to ours, and by this time, around 4-5 more of their friends had arrived too, along with their girlfriends. All of them were going gaga and stealing glances at him. The girls tried to coax the guys to go take a picture with him, but they were just too shy. Finally one of the girls had enough, and decided to go over to him. She went and said something and then he stood up and had his picture taken with her. All hell broke loose after that. Her friends rushed over too...and soon almost every single gal and guy in that place wanted to shake his hand, have their picture taken with him etc. I have to admit, he was very patient and amiable as well. After around 10 minutes, he decided to leave though and had his dinner boxed. Our next-table Chinese friends came back to their seats and couldn't stop gushing over him. "Duude...wowww...check out this pic!" and all that. We had an excellent time watching these events unfold, while polishing off our dinner of Singapore noodles, Kung-pow chicken and spicy fried squid.

In hindsight, I think it was a good idea heading to Chinatown for dinner.

The cost value? Great.
The entertainment value? Priceless :)

PS: Nick took some pics from where we were sitting, so when I get them, I'll post those later as an update.

770 Miles. In Three Days.

That's right! One helloffaa Road Trip is what you get.

I'm pretty sleepy already so I'll be sadly making this post short. We (Shrek + me) rented a car and drove all the way up north to Pittsburgh this weekend. We had friends who are currently at the Carnegie Mellon University, so accomodation was no problemo. I've never been to CMU before so just visiting the place was an experience itself. It easily gives you a feeling of standing on sacred ground. And the place looks steeped in heritage and history. Simply brilliant. Oh, and the Pittsburgh University's Cathedral of Learning is just like Minas Tirith! Sweet.

Next up was a visit to the Andy Warhol museum. Ron Mueck sculptures were so scary and yet beautiful at the same time. Nice Experience. Saturday evening was the big event. The Bon Jovi concert at the Mellon Arena. Daughtry opened for them and man, I really like them now! The stage and the whole setup was brilliant. My first indoor concert. Bon Jovi rocked the house that night and we couldn't help jumping of our seats for his biggest hits. Richie Sambora take a bow!

On Sunday we drove further north to Cleveland, Ohio. To the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Brilliant experience again. Located at the shore of Lake Erie, now frozen due to the winter, and just next to the Browns stadium, the Cleveland NFL team's home, the sight was almost unreal. The Rock n Roll hall of fame had some great exibits, especially the latest one on the Doors. The Pink Floyd props just made my day. Seeing all the artifacts they had in the place just blows you away. Real-life outfits and belongings of artists ranging from Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix to MJ and Madonna. The museum has a great store too, and I ended up blowing quite a bit of cash here.

We returned back today morning, tired from all the travel and lack of sleep. Yeah, and a lot of wrong exits too :) Here's some pics from the trip!



















@CMU: Rise to the Top














Just the frozen Lake Erie and me.















Downtown Pittsburgh.















I love this pic - the Cleveland Browns stadium is in the background.















The men, the machine, and the map :)













The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio.


PS: Three of the above pics have been taken by my teammate, Shrenik, who's one of the most amazing photographers I've seen (ahem, ahem..I'm doing major advertising here Skrek!). To see more of his pics, goto his flickr photoblog.

Live-In Jeans. Literally.

Warning: This post was written well past midnight, while waiting for my laundry to finish up. So please excuse the pissed-off nature of this post...I just couldn't help it given my helpless situation.

Well, I guess the title should say it all. If not, let me explain a lil more.

I'm back in the US of A for again. I'll be here for the next two months, so it's the not the shortest trip. Arrived here three days ago via Emirates (and hence via Dubai, which for me was a big thing, cos it was 14 yrs since I last lay foot in that place). Anyway, everything was fine until then, the flight, the transit...no complaints. We arrived at JFK (this time I have a team-mate travelling along with me) at 7am, got our luggage out and re-checked them in again for our next flight to DC. Arrived at the Reagan airport at around 2pm in the afternoon.

That's when everything started going downhill.

We waited at the baggage claim area patiently..all the people in our flight got their bags and left, one by one. My team-mate Shrenik got one of his bags (luckily the bigger one), but that's all. I didn't get both of mine. We then went to the airlines office and spoke to them. They took down our baggage codes and filed complaints. Then they very sweetly told us that there was nothing to worry about and we would get our bags by the next flight from JFK, which was that evening. They took down out hotel address and promised it would be delivered before nightfall.

That was 2.45pm, Monday.

Right now, it's 12.27am on a Thursday.

It's been three freakin days!

Well, almost three days till we got 2 bags. We had no updates of any of them till yesterday, but yes, we got two bags today night at 10pm. One of mine and one of Shrenik's. Unfortunately, but not very surprisingly, the way my luck has been recently, it was my SMALLER bag. The bag that had my sandals...around 3-4 used clothes..and some maggi and stuff. That's it. Everything else is in my other bigger bag! (sob, even my ext. HDD). To make things worse, the dharwad peda box I'd packed in had broken and all the pedas were lying crushed in between with my clothes. :(

The attempts to contact the airlines and enquire about my bag have been at the least, frustrating even bordering on sadistical humour. Bad enough that its a 1-800 number and you have to first answer a mechanical voice which sounds like a retarted robot. Then after all the pain and giving your reference number and other details, they route you to a helpline where finally get to speak to a human. That's when you start wishing you could instead have continued speaking to the robot. I ain't joking..they speak to you as if they were only supposed to read off 10 given lines. If they don't know the answer to your question, they just repeat any one of the 10 lines randomly. Today the guy asked me to give him my Indian address. I was like.."whhaa..what do you want to do? Deliver it back to India!?" But I didn't tell him that, I just gritted my teeth and told him. Aaaahhh...it almost makes you wanna bang the phone down and start laughing at the same time.

Anyway, enough said. Truth is I still don't have a single update as to where my other bag is right now. I can only hope and wait that I get it, better late than never.

Alright, that's that..I''m off to the laundry to get my clean clothes..and I'm actually feeling excited. Why? I've been wearing the same pair of jeans non-stop for the last four days, ever since I got out of home.

06.02.1958 3:04PM

One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Seven great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Seven men will never play again who met destruction there,
The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester

Matt Busby’s boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade,
The pilot of the aircraft and the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they tried to take her up and twice turned back again.

The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,
There was ice upon the wings and the aircraft never rose,
It ran upon the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And seven of the team were killed when the battered aircraft burned.

Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England’s side.
And Ireland’s Billy Whelan and England’s Geoff Bent died,
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,
Before the blazing wreckage went ploughing through the snow.

The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,
Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,
and one of them was Big Swifty, we never will forget,
the greatest English ‘keeper who ever graced a net.

They said that Duncan Edwards had an injury to his brain,
They said that Jackie Blanchflower would never play again,
Matt Busby he was lying there, the father of the team
Six months or more did pass before he saw another game

Oh, England’s finest football team its record truly great,
its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.
Seven men will never play again, who met destruction there,
the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester

-The Flowers of Manchester


Thanks to RR cos if it wasn't for checking out redRants I would have forgotten to pay my own respects to the Busby Babes. Here's hoping to a great year for us Reds. Let's hope that we can win the Champions League or perhaps even win the Treble this year - that would be such a brilliant tribute to these great men.

Turn the Page

But your thoughts will soon be wandering the way they always do,
When you're riding sixteen hours and there's nothing much to do,
And you don't feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was through.........

Here I am...on the road again...

My sentiments exactly. Here I am - in Dulles, the Gate B31 lounge, waiting for my flight to Newark..and not surprisingly, it's delayed! But somehow I'm not the least bit concerned, even though my flight to Bombay from Newark takes off at 8.20pm, which means it's gonna be very tight. Think I'm getting used to this ;) Everything's gone smooth so far, perhaps the only bump in the ride being the baggage check-in, where I found to my dismay that my bag was overloaded and was 3 pounds above 50, which is the max limit. Damn those chocolates! :P So they asked me to move stuff to the other bag..and I opened my overweight bag, took my time analyzing what to do...and moved only a sweater, my sandals, and my bro's camera-package. Checked the weight again..and voila! Exactly 50 pounds! I think the lady at the counter gave me a "Do you work in some warehouse weighing boxes all day?" look before proceeding to complete my check-in. LoL.

Had a good farewell lunch at Bugaboos today which included like ten people, the usual gang and Jay, Josh, Isha too. We all kept eating and speaking which meant I had to say a quick goodbye and run off in the end in order to catch my taxi, which thankfully waited for half an hour. Nice cab driver, I didn't mind giving him a few extra dollars as part of the tip. (All company reimbursed though :P)

Well, let me gather my thoughts back...kinda hard to believe one year has passed by..so quickly, I don't even know how. It's been a pretty quiet year actually...composed of the usual stuff. Hmm wait, I made a lot of new friends this year - good thing..I put on some weight this year - good thing again! I wish I could write a post like how I did last year, about the highs and lows of the entire year...but I guess there isn't much to write home about. Oh, what the hell, I'll try anyway...

I guess the best parts of the year came back to back for me..first the Roger Waters concert in February..without doubt the highlight of my year. The trip to Mumbai with Naveen, spending time with Shahil and Swan, and then the concert itself. Brilliant. The Iron Maiden concert in March is next, had a lot of fun and was a good reuinion of sorts with all my buddies too. What next? Ah yes, ManUtd winning the league! Had been waiting on that one....and it was sweeeet.

Lows of the year? Well, not many...I guess the worst would be the fact that my dog Timothy passed away in August..that was painful...he was 12 years old. My CAT paper was another downer too, but that was sorta expected with the kind of prep I put in and the type of exam itself.

Well, I can't wait for the new year...my bro's getting married in Jan, my sis is expecting in Feb..lotsa stuff happening. My team's playing very well..can't wait for the CL to start again in Feb and can't wait for LOST to start again on Jan 31st! Wow..how shallow am I eh? :P Well, I wanna play tennis with my new racquet too as soon as I can...but might have to wait on that for a bit, cos the month of January looks very busy.

Well, I think I'll be off to the DutyFree sections now...cos I've nothing better to do..

A Very Happy New Year to everyone! God Bless!

-----------------------
//Posted using Dulles' 6$ a session WiFi connection. My first time at an airport, and it ain't bad at all..should do this more often.

The Amish!

Well, let me get this news out of the way first.

It's regarding my all-time favorite driver, the one, the only, Michael Schumacher, and I just read it on an article titled 'Schumacher turns taxi driver' on a F1 site. Well, it seems the Schumacher family was on holiday in southern Germany, got delayed and were in danger of missing their flight back home. So what does our man do? He hails down a taxi and then takes the wheel himself, since he really wanted to make it to the airport in time. Talk about confidence in your own abilities man! Awesome. "It was crazy having Schumi driving, with me in the passenger seat'" were the words of the stunned but lucky taxi driver. End result - they did make it on time, and what's more, Schumi paid the driver a 100 Euro tip on top of the 60Euro fare. Talk about someone doing your job and then paying you for it also! Haha, wonderful I say...

Alright, getting back to current affairs..ahem, I mean, my own current affairs. Well, it's been pretty much the same routine for the past three weeks, so I've nothing much to say actually. It's been 'The Office' marathon this time. I finished two seasons last week, and I'm on course to finish season-3 this weekend. Not bad at all. Steve Carell, take a bow!

This weekend is Grand Slam Sunday, and I can't wait for the big two matches - Arse vs. Chelski, and the dippers vs. my beloved team. I found a link last week that does free online streaming of every football match played in every league. It's crazy! And I can't believe I never tried it out the past 3 times I've been here. Shame on me!

Today me and Charles went to the Amish market. Was quite the trip alright, the official name of the place was the Lancaster County Dutch Market. Well, thanks to Charles, who's been my source for almost every new info I get these days, I learned that the Amish are a denomination of Swiss-Germans based mainly around Pennsylvania, who immigrated to this land in the 1640s. They live a very simple life, are avert to technology, meaning they don't even use cars or phones...and dress up in very traditional attire. It was like walking into the village set of a late 19th century based movie! Their main sources of income are based on farming, cultivation and in this case, a restaurant of sorts. The food is unique too, but very simple and we were there for the breakfast platter, which is basically a combination of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fries - the works. Oh, these people are also called the Pennsylvania Dutch, but have no connection to the real Dutch. You see, they're actually from Germany, or 'Deutsch', and hence Dutch :) Voila! These Americans like to keep things simple you see! :)

So after that we went to the Univ of Maryland, College Park. Just to play some tennis! In the freezing cold, it was crazy. I bet people were looking at us that way. It was so cold I had to play with gloves, and couldn't feel my face after a few minutes. Anyway, I had a better day at the game, with Charles giving me some useful pointers. I spent some time watching a girls' soccer game, appreciating them...umm, I mean...the way the cold didn't seem to affect them! :P We went to the Recreation Center after that, which is a huge indoors facility having a huge swimming pool, gyms, racquetball, squash and TT courts...just amazing I tell ya. I envy the kids studying at this place. We played a bit of racquetball and headed back to Rockville after that.

There's a huge storm headed this way, so I'm just sitting indoors with the heater on, watching TV and blogging away. Will be heating up some food later after a shower. The life of a single man in a single-bed hotel room. :)

..and then it snowed

Pictures from a fun filled day of playing in the snow...my first official snowy day! It was just awesome I tell ya...and the scenery was just breathtaking..will be posting more to my flickr pblog later!















The meltdown
















Just outside office
















Thy name shall be written in snow...
















brrrrr...
















Starbucks!
















Iced tea? :)

Tennis, Guinness, my goodness!

Holla everyone, I just passed my first weekend of being alone here, and boy, was it fun! (Last weekend didn't qualify since I'd been to NJ). Me, Shrini and Charles had been to Bugaboos (my fav steakhouse) on Friday night and after I'd come home I finished off the last few episodes of Friends season 10, something I'd been stuck on, for believe it or not, 2+ years!

Got up pretty late, around 11am, and that's when Shrini called. Seemed Charles wanted to play some tennis and he'd come over and pick me up. We went over and had lunch at Cici's pizza. Funny place, actually meant for kids but they have a pizza + salad + desert buffet for just 6$! That's a steal I tell ya...and mmmm..the salad bar always just rocks just cos of this.

After that, we were off to the hardcourts for some tennis. The best part of my trip so far! Shrini and Charles have had some prior experience playing tennis before, but for me it would be just my second time, the last one being almost five years ago! I first tried taking off my Woodland shoes since I didn't wanna sprain my ankle running with it a.k.a WonderKid (hee hee). But it was sooo freakin cold, it felt like running on ice so I had to put it back on. Charles gave me one of his racquets to play with and I slowly tried to get a feel of the ball. Needless to say, I was pretty hopeless in the beginning and could not get anything right, so Charles started giving me tips on how to time my shot, serve etc. He then told me something else - the racquet I was using was a Babolat PureDrive, the official racquet of Andy Roddick! It's the same company that makes racquets for Nadal too, though that's the AeroPro Drive model. It was only then that I knew I was holding a 150$+ expensive racquet! I knew I had to up my game that very second, I just couldn't insult my beloved A-Rod or Rafa! :) Almost instantaneously, I started to get more shots right..it was so damn weird! My hands were aching after just an hour cos this was the first real physical exercise I've had in months. I still sucked compared to other two guys but I now have a very strong resolve to get myself a racquet and start practicing as soon as I get back to Bangalore. Man! What a beautiful game! We played for like two hours in almost freezing temperatures (it was three degrees outside!) and by the end of it I was totally exhausted but had a huge beam on my face :)

I spent the night at Shrini's place after we'd went out and got some Guinness and SamAdams (both my favs). We watched 'Catch me if you can' (the third time for me) and Shrini made some rice and chicken masala for dinner. Today morning was more of the same. Shrini had missed all the T20 WorldCup fun so we hooked up to stage6 and watched the hour-long highlights of the Indo Pak final. More Guinness. Took a small nap and then watched 'A Mighty Heart'. Pretty good I must say especially cos of Jolie and Irfan Khan. Had dinner at Tara Thai after that and came back to the hotel.

Next week I'll probably be off to NJ again, but it kinda feels sad cos I just wanna play Tennis as soon as I can! :)

Yankee land again

Well, I guess the title says it all. I've come back to Rockville again :) this time it's only till end of the year, which feels kinda nice, cos I've come alone and stayin alone sucks! My trip didn't start off too well, with both the Indian flights getting delayed. This resulted in me missing my connecting flight to DC from Newark, with my baggage going prior. Anways, that was how bad it got luckily and I managed to reach in one piece.

This weekend was Thanksgiving, which was a nice break of 4 days. I took the greyhound to New Jersey to stay with my cousins who're at Elizabeth. A good time to get some sleep under my belt and to get out of my jetlag. We went to Staten Island,NY the next day for dinner's at the in-laws. Did some shopping on Black Friday at Jersey Gardens, a pretty decent outlet mall in the area. NJ has no tax on apparel too thus making it a pretty decent place to do some shopping! Spent the rest of my time chilling out at the house, since it was pretty chilly for my liking outside. Watched the EPL highlights on FSC (Fox Soccer Channel) which felt sooooooo good...felt like being back at home! Saw the Giants lose to the Vikings in the NFL after that, and rushed off to catch the greyhound back home. Reached pretty late, past 1am. Pretty scary to be all by yourself on a cold night in strange places I say.

That's all for now. More later.

Chak De ishtyle

Is it a co-incidence or is it not? I'd like to think not.

How is it that barely a month after the release of 'Chak De India', a film about national fervour and pride (albeit via the not-frequently-visited path of Indian sport), there has been three major achievements for Indian sport in real life?

The first was on August 29th - when India defeated Syria 1-0 to win the ONGC Nehru Cup. Football. The second - on Sept 9th, when India trounced Korea 7-2 to win the Asia Cup. Hockey. The third and the latest, (and the only way you'd not have heard of it is if you've been living 20 feet underground for the past two weeks) when India defeated Pakistan by 5 runs to win the inaugral T20 World Cup. Cricket.

Three different sports, and three very impressive results. Please note that I do not say 'equally impressive', but just 'impressive'. That's cos I believe the last one was the best and toughest out of the lot. Hockey fans and players and managers can make a hue-n-cry but for all I care, nothing beats winning a World-Cup.

Now, just for fun's sake, suppose we were to draw comparisons between this chak-de trilogy and the movie itself. In both cases, the protagonists and the real-life victors weren't expected to win anything. They were at-the-most expected to perform decently well, and not put us to shame. But they proved us wrong. Very, very wrong. They just didn't win, they did it in style too. Take for example, in hockey - India trouncing the Lankans 20-0 in a group match, winning the final 7-2 etc. In cricket - Yuvraj's 6 sixes off Broad, RP Singh's wickets etc. In football - we won the final 1-0!! (Ahem..yeah, that's big too - after losing 0-6 to Japan and others in the recent future :P)

Next, the drama involved. In the movie, the women from India defeat Australia in a penalty shootout, coming back from 2 goals down to win 3-2. After watching the movie (although the final was based on an actual match), you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was just a little too dramatic, that these things don't usually happen in real life and all that. Think again. Even the most ardent asportheist (definition: a person who does not believe in reel becoming real, especially in matters of sport) would have eaten his words, the moment Sreesanth a.k.a our very own Gopumon (yes, mallu pride, a little bit, I do have..ermmm) pouched Misbah's attempted lob. You could not have written a better script, even if you wanted to. Latest reports state that most hospitals in Kerala had two major emergency situations almost exactly 12min apart - one after the 18th over and one when the match ended. Some even switched off their TVs in the last over in the post-op heart-surgery wards, in the fear that their treatment and credibility would take a huge hit. Ofcourse, all the doctors were bunched together in front of a 14" box in the snack room at around the same time too, but that's a different story.

Now for the 3rd (and almost eerie) similarity. In the movie, the Indian lasses first played Australia in the group stage and then had to meet them again in the finals. Agreed? Now get this - on each of the three occasions, India had their toughest match of the tournament against a team, say X, and had to later meet the same team X in the finals. Football - India played Syria during the group stage and lost 2-3. Hockey - India first met Korea in the group and scraped by 3-2 then. Cricket - The Indians only won via a bowl-out against Pakistan, in a match that looked a lost cause many a time. Amazing right?

Now back to my first question. Co-incidence? I think not. Call this farfetched - but we Indians are not known to be mentally supreme in sports and something has changed the players attitude and thinking recently. It might be 'Chak De' spirit and confidence instilled post watching the movie, might be the fact that the tune is now played at every game, giving these players the backing that they have a huge base of supporters rooting for them. Ofcurse, it might not be related to any of these, just that we've started playing better :) Whatever it is, hats off to these guys for making us proud and giving us a lot of things to smile about. Personally, I can't wait for the Ind-Oz cricket match in Bangalore this Saturday where we're gonna give the 'World Champions' (didn't expect to be using this term anywhere in the near future after the F50 debacle in March) a wild reception. Yeah, we've got tickets - we're gonna be there baby!

Umm..not that I'm a MCP or anything, but one striking disimilarity between the movie and these recent incidents, is that in real life - It's ALL MEN, not the women! hah :) Uh-oh..do I see a stampede of females with hockey sticks rushing to strike me down? Gotta go, cya!