Monday, June 30, 2008

EURO Stars!!

It was a joy to watch El Nino (Torres) scoring the winner for Spain which put an end to the itchy 44 year wait for Glory...first of all he's one of my favorite players & moreover he's from Liverpool...that made it even more special...

This shud give u the comprehensive analysis of the final...
http://riteshp.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebullient-energetic-espana.html

Fernando's my player of the tournament...many would disagree with this as he hasn't really scored the number of goals one wud want him to...but his tireless work rate......Constantly being marked by a minimum of 2 defenders all the time...Taking away the defenders with him, his deep runs & selflessness that gave David villa enough space to exploit & villa didnt disappoint.

Marcus senna has been a revelation...who always had that calming influence in midfield and ably partnered Xavi...The Brazilian born Spanish playmaker truly deserves a pat on his back...

Xavi...as usual simply consistent...maintained the spanish Tempo...

Next up is David Villa...scored a hatrick against Russia...had a real good understanding with torres on the pitch...Scored that inspirational winner against sweden...shud i say more?

Arshavin...its a sad situation really..he will have to live with the fact that Russia were beaten by a better team..nevertheless he's been the find of the tournament...May be the Barcelona transfer speculation got onto him and was not at the top of his game in SF against Spain.

Yuri Zhirkov...Another Russian...a Left Back...has got that delicate touch and capable of those mazy runs...am sure the clubs in top leagues are lookin out for him....

Fabulous Fabregas again...who didnt dissappoint when called upon...he was the SUPER SUB.

Andrea Iniesta...didnt have the best of starts but it was his nimble footwork that setup a few vital goals for spain...he is every striker's Dream.

Michael Ballack...Simply Inspirational...again...
Its the final jinx that still haunts him...remember 2002 world cup final in which Ballack missed out due to suspension & germany lost? and wat about the champions league last season with chelsea & EPL as well...He will surely want to go a step ahead of runners-up tag.

Dutch Played some brilliant Football & they convincingly beat Italy & France but it was sad to see the way they bowed out against a relentless Russian attack...The DARK HORSE failed again...but senijder has been immense...playing in the hole behind the striker...involved with some superb link up play...& a few classy goals as well...he will want to do better in South Africa.


The gigantic Palyuchenko from Russia...3 goals to his name...has a superb shot & nice first touch...he needs a few chances infront of goal to score one but when he does get it right...its marvellous!

Goal Keeper is the last resort for any defense & cassilas stepped up & lived upto the expectations...made some vital saves...pipped Buffon (Italian Goalie) in penalty shootout & catapulted spain into SF...& ably captained Spain to Euro Glory.

The last but not the least...Sergio Ramos...the flying right back has been immense...not only good offensively but defensively as well...cutting the wing supplies...& majorly responsible for keeping Arshavin quiet during the SF.

Euro 2008 has showcased football particularly well with all the teams adopting an open style of play...not a single boring match i must say...

& Spain's the worthy winner!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The story of Gobi so far!!

Yes its the story of very famous delicacy served in Mess of NITK's 5th block...The proper name being Gobi Manchurian...

The name 'gobi' reminisces glimpses from my school days...the story goes like this...

We had our lunch in the school dining hall (yes, its a residential school) and went to our class room after a break...One fellow started hiccuping...and then sir asked 'what did u have for lunch?'...Gobi was the special dish served on that day and he told 'its the Gobi effect sir'...and hence the dude was christened with a brand new name...'Gobi'

This is just the beginning...

I cant really find words to describe Gobi...i am referring only to the 5th block gobi...It proved to be so good that, in final year a bunch of us had this policy to eat out if gobi was being served...at least we had an excuse to eat out!

We used to refer to them as Gobi Bombs...

Well...i dont really know how i have to put this but...its kind of a cliche...Kind of sarcastic as well...its restricted to a bunch of gults who can comprehend this...rest..pls dont bother...

If someone annoyed you or irritated you..the reply wud be 'if u act more..i ll make u eat 2 cups of gobi' or say 'i ll drop a gobi bomb on u'...

i knw its silly but never mind!

As ansvad likes to put it...the 'mess'age is over...its a releif to be out of mess but it will always remind me of the innumerable cross table conferences and chit chats & the funny moments shared :(

I wud like to dedicate this post to Galagala, Pyscho & Venkat...who are into BPCL, IOCL & HPCL...let their companies keep fuelling my truck company for ever n ever...God bless them wherever they are and wherever they go...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Emergence of Russia!




Football is not really the term that comes to our mind while discussing russia...probably nuclear weapons, may be the US cold war, or the communism..but not football...surely...here's how i will prove you wrong...

Let me start off with the so called 'group of death' i.e. Group C which had holland, italy, france & romania...Itlay and france being the winners and runnersup of last edition of world cup...obviously one would have expected them to go through to the knockout stages with considerable ease...but it had to happen otherwise...

The situation with the dutch team has always been ironical...they are coined as 'Dark Horse'...for they have it in them to knock off any team on their day...The so talented members of the dutch team owe a lot to their domestic league coz it's been the best breeding ground for european talent...Dutch's famous for its football exports..

Okay now...inspite of having such a strong domestic setup...they have failed to deliver on the big stage for quite a while...So now they had that ample opportunity to prove the doubters wrong with the Grp of Death...

Dutch started off with a bang and oh yes! they played the beautiful game beautifully with the counter attacking style...they murdered italy with a 3-0 victory and decimated france with a 4-1 win...the second string dutch side managed a 2-1 win over romania to complete the clean sweep...and dutch looked dangerous!!

But alongside the dutch team...another team gradually made its way into the quarters...yes its russia...They took it in the first match with a 4-1 heavy defeat to spain...and every1 said that this wud be the end of journey...but they fought hard against greece to make it 1-0...

And then they managed 2-0 win over sweden...that too..they did it in style...aresnal style i shud say...link up and counter attacking play...This was bcoz an unknown european entity brought the pace and the cutting edge the russian team lacked...

Yes thats none other than Arshavin...when i heard the name for first time...i thought arshavin who? whos this guy? he was the one who turned the game around against sweden...amazing player...a total footballer i must say...

skill, pace, control, vision, passing what not...u name it..he has it...who can simply ghost past defenders...not the Ronaldo type of player and never does those whicky whacky stepovers and silly tricks...Totally neat stuff...

Well...Now russia were pitted against dutch in the quarters...and the dutch totally lost the plot right from the beginning...probably overconfidence did cost them dear...after lots of pressing russia sqeezed out a goal...they kept creating opportunities one after another but they paid for poor finishing...Ruud van equaliesed with 4 minutes to go...and the game was dragged into extra time...

Arshavin kept those feeds comin onto the striker's feet and finally after some brilliant wingplay they took the lead...2-1...Dutch gave it up and arshavin capped off his brilliant performance with a sumptuous finish...thru the legs of vander saar...

Most of the football pundits predicted that russia would be a cakewalk for Holland...how ironical? Russia not only managed to get out of jaws of defeat but they managed to beat the winner of Group of Death...oh yes! in style of course...

Russia now, is surely a force to reckon with in World football...Manager Mastermind Guus Hiddnink deserves all the praise that has come his way...

And hence the emergence of russia!!

PS : I hope Liverpool sign Arshavin :)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

To hell with these suck all reality shows!!


Now a days we get to see these sucked up reality shows where people pretend to be something that they arent and they call it a bloody reality show...The list is endless if i get started with...But i thought may be MTV Roadies was good but that too comes under 'suck all' shows...why cant these TV people come up with something creative...

All they do is simply copy cat a popular show from West (basically US) and present a Desi Version...Looking at the trend...

KBC, Big boss or watever, Indian Idol, Laughter challenge....

I must say all of the above shows did well in intially...KBC for example was a huge success and second season not bad either...But then people were sick of the overdose and owing to amitabh's deteriorating health it was scrapped...TRP ratings were pretty good then...but then after a few years shahrukh tried to step into big B's shoes, the craze escalated all of the sudden and in no time it simply had to hit the nadir...

Though Indian Idol is a concept borrowed from 'American Idol'...it did well initially nevertheless...but 'Indian Idol' is a thing of past now...at least from what i have seen...the craze's no longer there...Indian Idol's impact eventually led to a barrage of singing reality shows...which failed to sustain...

Oh yes! and Big Boss with Rakhi Sawant being the star attraction!!...i doubt it, but do we still have it?

May be its good for the public that these reality shows are short lived and new ones keep replacing them...

And the latest Panchvi pass is again a western concept...i havent followed it closely though...so no right to comment! But it seems so that 10ka DUM is doin better than both panchvi pass and Hrithik's new 'jashn manaale' shown on NDTV Imagine...

IPL extravaganza has been a whiff of fresh air in the midst of these reality shows and saas bahu serials...It so happens that these elderly people are glued to these serials and childern inevitably watch them coz not every house can afford multiple TVs u know...and the effects can be disastrous!!

Gone are the days when we had shows like 'Meri Awaz Suno'!

I am eagerly waiting for good old English Premier League and Champions League for they never dampen ur excitement...and a zillion times better than any reality show we have...all i want to say is 'sports' are a safe bet anyday...which will never bore us...! I will be grateful for the fact that we had Roland Garros, IPL and now Euro 2008, Formula-1 and Wimbeldon...they rescued me from the predicament of a boring vacation !!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Broadband Agony!



With the broadband wave sweeping across India...My town had its turn and and i got a connection for my home...For i had suffered enough with the antiquated 52kbps dial up connection...

I applied for it on a Monday and got it on Wednesday...well...such swift service...i have heard about people in cities waiting for months together to get this one...so staying in suburban area does help sometimes :)

My plan was 500c+ (2Mbps)...i had to shell out 600 per month for this one...it included 2.5 GB normal download limit and unlimited download from 2 to 8 AM...

An outdoor BSNL engineer had setup the connection and he gave me a link where i could check the download limit and all...though the site sucked...i managed get a glimpse of usage once in a while..things were looking good and i did something that i shud have done long before buying the connection...

I checked out a few reviews...most of them had a pejorative verdict...Few people even claimed that their bill ran into thousands per month...They even went on to mention that they were charged for the free time as well...absolutely ridiculous!!

I stretched the offer to its limit and raked up 2504 MB (out 0f 2.5 GB) to be precise...and when i got the bill...it was a pleasant surprise...the exact thing was mentioned in the bill and i didnt pay a penny more...

BSNL has its plus points...its the cheapest broadband in India till date (as far as i know)...Speeds are awesome...consistent download speed of 150-200kbps...wat more can we ask for? The only demerit can be the customer service...

So one needs to carefully check out the terms and conditions before buying the product...maybe sounds cliched but as they say patience pays and hurry makes worry!!

Monday, June 9, 2008

I pity u Mr.FedEx....


I guess this might be end of French dream for Federer...It ll surely take a miracle to beat the current king of clay...

Since i was totally jobless sitting at home...i followed Rolland Garros (french open) a bit closely this time around..

Federer is still the world number 1 but in today's final he didnt really show what he's made of...consistency...There were a few sparks here and there with the drop shots and all that but the number of unforced errors summed up his game...Nadal's cross court shots were out of this world...haven't seen someone hit em like that...To be beaten in 3 straight sets is a shame...6-0 in the third set said it all

Nadal's clay domination is here to stay and more French titles are awaiting him...

I am no tennis expert but from what i have seen, Nadal tries to dictate the pace of the game...and his movement across the baseline is terrific...its like he was born on clay...I saw Federer slipping away a few times in the semifinal game...clay is simply not his terrain...

Talking about the other gender...Lucky ivanovic...She must totally thank Justine Henin for the early retirement...I wanted Safina to win after watching her comeback games against Elena & Maria...But ivanovic prevailed...

Well...with Djokovic having the recent aus open, nadal with the french...the race for wimbeldon is wide open...i dont see any particular favourite...

Totally looking forward to wimbeldon....

The BAJA Xperience...


I have always wanted to share my BAJA Experience...and the time has come...
It was one hell of a roller coaster ride...

Hatsoff to Susheel chand and Sarogi Bhai for their perseverance...much of the credit should go to them as they gave it all...They were at IITM participating in an RC car event and susheel's friend informed him about an event called SAE BAJA...its popularly known as mini BAJA across Europe and America...its a multi national event where nearly 100 to 150 teams participate....

SAE BAJA is an event where College students have to design and fabricate an all terrain vehicle all by themselves...the design and manufacturing should conform to the rules provided by the organizers...we were given a hundred pages pdf!!

SAE India wanted to bring this concept here and so it conducted the first ever SAE INDIA BAJA event...The deadline was over when susheel came to know abt this event...Each team had to pay up 10k for registration and susheel shrewdly convinced the director and managed to get the fund...we pushed the deal through and registered for the event...50 teams had registered and 25 wud qualify for the main event...And yes we did qualify....

Now Anant and susheel went about building the team...Anant came to my room and explained it to me and i just readily agreed without slightest hesitation...Finally the team was ready...we were a team of 14 (8 final yrs, 4 3rd years and 2 second yrs)...Now the harder part was about to begin..the actual work!!

Amit and Aiyaz agreed to do the finance management...And from day one they had their hands full...stacks of bills being couriered to their rooms everyday!!

We went about with designing first...At first we decided to assign a particular sector of design to a team of 2 or 3...like CAD, transmission, Chassis (rollcage) etc...that didnt work and it was decided to give the design burden to sudheel, rupak and mallya with kushal(2) asisting mallya in CAD...Rupak is another main player i wud like to mention...Kind of person who gets work done no mater what...

Another aspect of this event is u have to look for sponsors...Amit was entrusted with this and he went across Mangalore looking for a local sponsor but in vain...every1 was willing to sponsor to a tune of few thousands...the project involves lakhs of rupees!! we are not building a toy car here :D

After a month or so the design was done...The basic objective was to not to try any new stuff and keep it as simple as we can...We still didnt have a sponsor...We were pooling up money from our pockets...And finally The breakthrough...Bosch agreed to sponsor our college and RV college as well...2 months for the kickoff now...We started off with fabricating straightaway...

Lombardini and Mahindra provided the teams with Engine and Gear box respectively...We had to fix a few bugs in the gearbox...Then engine became a major headache and time killer, in spite of trying every method in the book, we missed the basic thing, the small spark plug...we had to get a new one and Lombardini had its only plant in aurangabad...Anant agreed to go and he was back with proper instructions and a new spark plug....the engine came to life!

After fabrication we started the assembly...we encountered some problems with brakes...the caliper holder was brushing against the rim and we fixed it with the crudest of methods :P Aggu and Aiyaz bhai did it...A great man told us that the suspensions wud never work and better late than never..we realized and modified the suspensions...After the whole assembly was done...we crosschecked the rule book and i was entrusted with the electrical part and i did my job somehow...the car was decorated with side panels where the logos wud sit...After sorting out a few teething problems we were all set for a test run...the kill switches that we used cost us merely 50 bucks...but the ones as mentioned in the rule book are worth nearly 2k...!!! Every team member had a ride and showed off the car in the campus..it was fun!

We had a vote out for driver's slot...not the MTV roadies way...
to qualify one needs to have a license...half job done their..we came down to 3...pratik, amit and susheel...pratik being a 2nd year wud get opportunities in the coming year (a great driver he is)...so Amit and susheel got the green signal...susheel didnt have a license yet...but he convinced us that he wud get one bfr the event...we had a test run in the dried up lake near NITK (KREC) school...and it was a perfect spot...All the 3 drivers tried and we were convinced that we had built an all terrain vehicle :D

Alas..the brakes started fading away and the reason was a leak...we fixed it temporarily with mseal...we used so much mseal that even the gear changing knob was made of mseal :P and yes i aint kidding here...another crude method...the team was aptly titled 'JUNKYARD MANIACS'!!

Adi and Jha got a new set of tools..The team was split into 2 batches..one wud take care of vehicle and another wud take care of spares...all was set...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Cant really get better than this....







here's the better part...

The team reached Pitampur (Indore) on 19th dec 2007, i was away for getting a new pair of rims and the vehicle was partially assembled when i reached the site...we had dissembled the vehicle in order to avoid damage..The assembly was done by next day's noon...the brakes problem still haunted us...thankfully an onsite mahindra technician was there....he told us that it was just a matter of tightening spring screws :) ...that was for drum brakes...we had to pass a brake test for eligibility...drum brakes worked fine...but one of the front ones acted weird...it was sorted out by adding some packing material... (susheel's genius did it)

The accommodation provided there deserves a mention...tents were provided and green carpets were laid down everywhere and 2 bathrooms and washbasins were setup, fans as well...it was neat...only annoying thing was the erratic water supply...The site was located near pitampur and we had to solve the labyrinth of roads to reach that place...i wud advise the baja committee to place a few more sign boards and everything will be perfect then...

22nd was the day for dynamic events...brake test, hill climbing, acceleration (speed) and maneuverability test...we thought we wud do well in hill climbing and acceleration as we had the second lightest vehicle at 260kgs...but we got it utterly wrong...it all came down to proper gear shifting and our shifter was not smooth...susheel was the driver for for brake and speed tests...Amit was given a chance with hill climbing and we didnt do well there either clocking 8 or 9th place...we had an awesome steering system which had a low turning radius and managed to get second in maneuverability test...team was delighted and got ravenous for prizes!!! :P

Susheel's health deteriorated a bit and Amit took over...Next up was the main event the endurance test...16 laps of nearly 4 km each...Position at the start grid was based on the speed test...so we started at 14th...in the meanwhile a spares team was ready with the tools at the Pitstop...

Here we go now...on ur mark get set go!!
Amit was coolness personified as he started off well...a few cars were left behind who had some starting trouble...as they say well begun is half done...Amit expertly overtook a few cars and came up to 7th place in first lap...Then there was that moment of inspiration as he overtook 2 more cars like i have never seen before...no not even formula1...by the end of 2nd lap we were at third position...

Amit tried to keep it calm and patiently drove at consistent speed and it paid off..we reached 2nd position at around 5th lap or so...The race leader was far ahead of us and we were kind of happy with second finish...then suddenly at 9th lap...the PEC (pune engg college) took a pitstop...that was a shocker...!!!!

Yes we were numero uno...But the pune guy was catching up fast...and that shud be attributed to both the driver and the innovative chain drive system they used...it worked perfectly...that fat guy looked like lazy but was totally up to the task! The race was nowhere close to formula in terms of tech or speed but was more than upto the mark with enthu, passion and team spirit...Thr was lots of fist pumping goin on...The team members acted as cheerleaders encouraging the driver...

And then this happened...it was one of those saddest possible situations to be in...i didnt feel that sad even when i didnt clear IIT screening! PEC guy bumped into our car while amit was taking a turn, impact shock had its toll on the vehicle & the steering wheel came off and the car just went straight and amit had to halt...the spares team ran off and fixed it with some makeshift screws...it was done and car was back in action...but we had lost the first place :(

We thought of complaining the incident to the stewards later...We just waited and waited and there was no signal watsoever from amit for a pitstop...the plan was to have a no-stop strategy and it worked fine apart from the wheel wobbling which gave a scare!

It was all over and we stood second...Amit was not happy inspite of 2nd place finish and we went to the race stewards...they explained very politely that mistakes do happen and many of the teams would have been disqualified for violating the rules...
yeah we used a few components which were not upto the standards...most of the teams did do this...so the stewards were lenient as they didnt want to disrupt the first time event...

Amit broke into tears for not clinching the top podium place and the big boy cried :) well..to be honest the PEC guy deserved wat he got and if not for the pit stop, first place was out of question...all were totally exited and pumped eagerly awaiting the prize ceremony...Narain kartikeyan was the guest of honour...cudnt beleive it...

The event director started off with an ecstatic speech...and then several speeches followed and Narain gave a short n crisp speech urging the young engineers to build on these kind of platforms and then the better part..prizes...we had to wait a while for our turn...as we didnt do particularly well in the innovation section or good looks of the car...

But we managed runnersup in overall standings, maneuverability and endurance test...The prize money was huge ...to the tune of lakhs..dont want to mention the actual amount here :P...Then the big photosession happened where everyone was at their actor's best for the poses with trophies and the cheque replica...Everyone was just on top of the world...That was one of my rare cloud9 moments...

Lots of yippee and hurray happened...we just packed and dispatched the vehicle back in a lorry as we were richer by certain lakhs :D

To be frank we didnt really expect to win anything...we had a target of top ten or top fifteen finish...we just didnt want to let our college down...But it had to be story of underdogs who came out on top...

Better late than never..i wanted to perpetuate these memories and hence the blog!

Here's the team :amit, rupak, pratik, aggu (kushal (1)), aiyaz bhai. kushal, pandey, mallya, ansvad, adi, jojo and jha

And without the support and guidance of our faculty advisors, who generously helped us in spite of their tight schedule,it wud have never been a reality. Alumni association helped us with a starter fund, and i wud like to make a special mention of non teaching staff who were kind & helped us in everyway they could...and last but not at all least..my college NITK and my mech department.

Now the baton has been passed on to the next batch...I am sure we seniors will have a ride and make our convocation even better!!!


Thursday, June 5, 2008

If u are looking to backup all your photos...and if the size of each photo is in MBs...then here's the answer...

The winner is Free Image Converter

and here's the link: http://www.freeimageconverter.com/downloads.aspx

Excellent software...just 1 mb size and batch processing is possible...

i was able to compress the photos from nearly 5 GB to 350 MB..isnt that awesome??

Try it out and give me the reviews....

i would recommend picasa as the best site for sharing ur photos...whether its download or upload...its totally convenient...

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Tata sky...the bad and good about it...





I didnt want to have a boring summer vacation...and the local cable didnt provide any english news channel, no movie channel (both hindi+english) and no sports channels apart from neo cricket...neo cricket sucks in a big way...whenever i go that channel i see this 'dial C for cricket'....that too repeated telecast...i had two options now...dish tv and tata sky...i went ahead with the brand tata....

Its been a month since i got the new tatasky...isko lagadaala tho life jingalala...
And there are a few aspects which are in no way 'jingalala'

I have no qualms over the audio and video quality but the customer service...i wanted to change the package and i called up...selected the option of 'speak to a customer associate'...they kept playing some ad and it went on for ever...But i found out that changing the package through net is lolipop..its convenient...But not every1 has access to internet!!

Now the way in which the packages are designed...i had subscribed for the south value pack and initially it had espn star, tensports and star cricket...but now the sports channels have been removed & they came up with a new package called sports platinum consisting of espn star and some other package for tensports....

The packages are very cleverly manipulated that inevitably we end up buying the costliest pakcage...

The plus points are the interactive features...and yes every button on the remote works...for example star sports, cartoon network can be viewed in 2 languages...i still remember an important EPL game in hindi commentary...watching cricket with hindi commentary is absolutely fine...but epl...naaa...

with all the above factors considered i would still give a thumbsup to tatasky and i would recommend it...

if u have some patience...wait for the reliance bomb 'the BIG TV'...yes they are planning to enter the DTH (direct to home) market and we know how things changed with reliance mobile...the stores often ran out of stock!! I am sure the new dth will be competetively priced and then we can see the rates stumbling down!!

Being Political!



Finally...
My beloved state karnataka has a new government..and yes its no coalition this time and i am so happy about it...karntaka didnt deserve this...and yes i am sure that BJP will do a fair job with it this time around after being denied power by JD(s).

And this is a true story from my native town...I want to keep it anonymous for obvious reasons...

I dont know where the system came from but suddenly my town was meant to be headed by a
reserved category guy. Its a rule implemented bu election commision so that all sections of society get to represent the province. Its a kind of rotation policy among towns. Last year's MLA would have surely won it again but only for his general status. He belonged to congress. But since he was denied a ticket this time around. He contested as an independent from a neighboring town and managed to defeat the candidate who supposedly should have had a landslide victory.

But the unexpected had to happen and the independent won.

Total number of legislative assembly seats are 224. So 112 is the number for a simple majority. BJP got 110 seats all by itself and it had to lure independents to join them. To be on the safe side they needed at least 3.

So the independent from my town was invited and he was given an irresistible offer. An offer of cabinet minister's post. And yes he's a cabinet minister now...wat a tale of vicissitude.

He did a pretty gud job with my town in the previous term and i am sure he will do well.

And yes the next annoying thing is the shutdown of HAL Airport. One has to travel for nearly 3 hrs in peak traffic to reach that place. So painful. better to take a train than endure such pain. So the new govt has the golden opportunity of building a fast track highway or a special train service. I am sure bangys will appreciate this!!

Now the crude oil prices oh my god...i am naive wrt this but i feel oil thirsty USA is the major catalyst behind this....why cant the government implement the price hike in a phased manner instead of making a big thing out of it...look at the inflation...it has hit 10% now... :



Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Hmmm...Interesting....



The CNN-IBN (which is supposedly the #1 english news channel in india), in collaboration with the Deccan Herald conducted an exit poll in karnataka and the results were:

Congress will get 86 seats, while the BJP will end up with 79 seats. Congress being the forerunner.

Of course NDTV did conduct an exit poll and the results stood like this:

NDTV poll gave an advantage to BJP. NDTV exit poll predicted that BJP would get 95-115 seats. That means, it has a chance of getting a simple majority (112 seats).

And every1 knows the actual results.

So which channel is politically inclined....decide for yourself....!!!!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Serious Discussion!? A flashback


Venue: Room no 87 5th block

Time: Arbit day in 8th semester

What happens when a chemical engineer, a few mech engineers and a comps guy sit together and have a GD on Future, Career etc etc... There was no result whatsoever...howmuchever we tried to arrive at some solution we miserably failed.

Several options were considered...
1) To work for a few yrs and do an MBA
2)To do an MBA right after BTech
3)To Do an MS with or without work experience
4)MS+PhD (out of our bounds i guess)
5)MS + GMAT (i know this is too much..sorry!) But this was another option

and finally...

6) just to shut up and stick with the job!!!

We went to such a ludicrous extent when we considered this:
What if we do an MS and end up without a job...wats the use of MS?? We would be the ultimate bakras, losing out on the campus placement as well. It cant be more pessimistic than this.

and 6th one turned out to be the most feasible solution for all of us....!!

But still there is a little ray of hope that we will get a masters' degree someday....

First ever Indian Cricket League...




                    Publishing this blog moments after Rajasthan Royals lifted the first ever Indian premier League Trophy. It was the story of underdogs who came out on top. No matter how erratic warne is off the pitch, he is just impeccable on the pitch. The nail biting finish was a fitting end to the tournament. But i still cant comprehend if ipl's a success or failure. The kind of impact it has had i huge in terms of crowd turnout, money outflow etc but the main thing are the local people really passionate about the clubs they support? Millions of people around the world are diehard fans of barca, real, manu, liverpool (me as well :D), juve.... and of course they are not local. IPL can be termed a success once it generates this kind of passion. and i dont see it happening :(

                  RC Bangalore were really dissappointing..inspite of having a heavily spending owner..they managed to build a test playing tem. But was good to see dravid playing well in the end. Hope we can see some resurgence next year.

      One tournament comes to an end and another one looms large...yes its the EURO 2k8 to kick off on june 9th if i am right. I am forced to shift my loyalties from england to spain as england did crash out of the tourney. Pathetic i must say. There is a striking similarity btw indian cricket and england's football. Both have failed to win a major tournamnet in recent years (i exclude the t20 cup :) ). Hoping to see torres scoring some goals.

Well...sports apart....

        Still unable to digest the fact that college is over. it cant get sadder than this. and shit...i have to start workin a month's time. I dont think i am ready for that. Only time will tell. In the meanwhile trying to relax and gobble as much as i can..for i ll be missing home food for a few years to come :-(

Nikrap, Venki, Galagala, Pongs, Ragumama, Indra, Bubby, damu, Pavan, Babu....
Gults wing rocked!!!

Miss u all :(

Friday, February 22, 2008

Football!

         well, this is my first ever blog & i dont really know how to start off. just giving it a try. let me start off with my latest addiciton FIFA, its not the organisation i am talking about, it's the EA sports pc game. i just went into the topper's room once & saw a few guys playin the game. so i just thought why dont i give it a try. copied it onto harddisk and started playin n guess what, i even bunked classes so that i could play.

         Then started watching football on TV, started liking it and had to ditch cricket (my first love). But then T20 has given cricket a new dimension and i am happy about that.

            It was on may 13th 2006 that i saw a football game with thorough interest. it was the FA cup final Liverpool vs Westham. At that point of time i was not really a fan or supporting any club. Liverpool had the most miserable of starts with an own goal from Mr. Carra & went further down with miserable goal keeping. But then it had to be Gerrard who had to inspire the team. A pin point cross found Cisse and he converted it with a nice volley. Gerrard then capitalised on some confusion in the box and slammed one into the left top corner.

              But then i thought may be both the sides would just sit tight and defend. Some Mr. Konchesky scored a freak goal, it was supposed to be a cross actually. 90 minutes were over. 3 minutes of injury time was added on. Then it was Mr. Liverpool who had to come up with the goods. That poor fellow had cramps, struggling to run, forget taking a shot. and beleive it or not, out of nowhere Gerrard belted one from 30+ yards out & it went in like a rocket. Liverpool went on to win the game on penalties and i knew which team i was gonna support for the rest of ma life.

LIVERPOOL!!

YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE!!