Maharashtra V Bihar

This entire Maharashtra-Bihar thing is now really going out of hand. On one hand you have the leaders from Bihar making stupid statements, on the other we have Uddav, who is now talking stuff, as if one Raj was not enough for the entire issue. And what happened on route 332 was a totally weird issue in itself. The kid said stuff like "I'll show you what Bihar is". Well damn well he has. But it's time to remind both the parties involved here that it is not yet the law of the jungle.

The Man Asian Literary Prize

This is for the wishful writers of today, there is an award out there that goes to unpublished work.
I am sorry to say though, that Amit Varma's book could make it to the 20 list but not to the top 5 shortlisted. Amit Varma writes the popular blog Indiauncut. I am a very big fan. The guy manages to get a fantastic perspective about things that come up in the news, and other general topics. Weird sometimes, but fantastic all the same.
To check out the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize, go to http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/2008/index.php

Please save me......this is really such a mess!!!

Weird things have happened to this world and at the present moment I can find none more weird than the "Blogging Plant".
Check it out at http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20081021/twl-blogging-plant-grows-big-in-japan-41f21e0.html

The Google G1 Android

After a long wait, the google phone is finally here. It's called the Google Android G1, in collaboration with T-Mobile. It's gonna land in the market on the 27th of October. To check it out, go to
www.google-phone.com/google-phone-gphone-features-and-specifications
I would certainly recommend watching the YouTube videos embedded in the above site to everyone, especially to gizmo freaks and cellphone crazy people.
As far as I am concerned, this is the thing for tomorrow, technology is surpassing levels at a maddening pace for sure!

Cooking again....

Today we decided to waddle into unknown territory.....we tried making shrimp, and believe it or not, the attempt was more than decent. in fact i would say that that curry was awesome with rice. so much so for the stress with cooking when i came here. its now more fun to get into it with the roomies and try out new stuff.
A famous quote from one of my favorite novels....Forrest Gump....yes it was originally a novel, and trust me much better than the movie.

Bubba Blue (Mykelti Williamson) Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich... That's, that's about it.

guruprasadjambaulika sent you a video: "Zaheer Khan - I love you"

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guruprasadjambaulika has shared a video with you on YouTube: Check out the level of stupidity that has actually halted a game with Sehwag at the crease. Zaheer Khan - I love you Zaheer Khan fan shows her love to him
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Cheers to India

I am glad to say that India have finally won the test match against Australia, and that too in what emphatic style....by 320 runs!!!! And the man of the match was MS Dhoni. I remember saying just a couple of days ago how it is Dhoni who has had such a huge role to play in getting India to where they are now.
All the same, congratulations to the whole team and to all the supporters of this awesome Indian Cricket Team.



At this point I would also like to say a word about this one young bowler who has added needed firepower to the Indian bowling attack. I am speaking of none other than Ishant Sharma. He had a big role to play in the successful Indian tour of Australia last year and also in this one, where India have showed some real promise so far. What is great is he has stopped a rampaging Ricky Ponting. For a guy who treated any damn bowler with contempt, he was stopped short in his tracks by Ishant, who not only got him out cheaply most of the times down under, but is also following it up here. I mean who would say that Ponting is actually someone's bunny!!!!!

Cheers to Sachin

I forgot to mention this early on, but I really want to extend my congratulations and respect to Sachin Tendulkar for becoming the highest run getter in Test Cricket. He surpassed Brian Lara the other day and has now surpassed the 12000 mark.
Critics and more importantly cynics have a negative image for Sachin. Far as I'm concerned, he is the greatest player in the world. People have this thing where they say he does not win any series in the finals for India. And his record does say that. Ponting, people say, is better. Lets not forget that cricket is a sport which is played as a team by 11 men. Ponting has a set of great 11. Sachin on the other hand rarely has had the support of the rest of the team through half his years in the sport. The remaining half was more like Real Madrid; a host of stars bunched together do not necessarily make the best team around. So I would put it differently when saying that Sachin has maybe not won any series for the country, but has damn well managed beyond the limits of a single man to cover the mistakes of 10 others in the team.

Music can save lives. courtesy BeeGees

I am a big time music lover, not the kind to sling a guitar and roam around all over the place but the kind who really enjoys keeping it on when I'm doing practically anything and everything, and so it is but natural for me to say that music has a big part in my life.
Well, I heard this interesting bit in class today from my Professor and looked it up then and there; music can save lives-literally!
As per a current event, CPR is performed more efficiently when done to the tune of the big BeeGees track Stayin' Alive. As per the AHA, the recommended rate of compressions in CPR is 100 and when done to the beat of the track is 103, which is really great. To check out the article in detail go to
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081016/music_nm/us_heart_beegees_1
And what an appropriate track too! STAYIN' ALIVE!!!!!

Eat, sleep, drink, LIVE cricket

Well, we are going down the same old IndiaVAus road once again. And fortunately India is winning this one, at least from the looks of it. And I am pretty sure that the world must be going crazy in Mumbai, my hometown. I am proud to say that had I been there, I too would have been going through the same motions. Its a totally different thing, cricket being more religion and less sport in India, at least in the parts that I have lived in!
I think with the track record we have shared with Australia in the last year or two it is now safe to say that the legacies of the ASHES and the great India-Pakistan cricketing rivalries are now on a downslide. I think the new buzz is INDIA V AUSTRALIA. And as far as I am concerned, even though all the new guys in the team have had a rold to play, its been one guy more than the others, our captain M S Dhoni.

Frost and Chill

Well, I hate to say it but the Rays made it to the world series by beating the Red Sox in the finals of the ALCS. I'm pretty sure that everyone will agree that they were the better side through the series, the younger side. The Red Sox played one game into a historic victory but the rest was just pretty ordinary. Besides I'm happy for the rays since they had played in the finals of any major tournament for the first time in history, so but natural that they have gone on to the world series for the first time ever. Now I think I'm gonna be supporting them against the Phillies.
Attending class this morning was a pain since I forgot all my cold protection in the hurry of making it to the bus in time. Well, the first thing I noticed was a layer of frost on the grass just beyind my patio. Yes, frost. I had heard about it but seen it for the first time. Not snow, frost.
Even last night my friend had showed me a layer of ice on the cars parked in the lot. Somehow when most people are getting troubled by all this, I think I'm quite enjoying it. Give me this cold any day over Bombay, s heat. Think I was meant to be in such weather. It was -3 deg C last night!!!!

MONOPOLY

For the first time in ages, I tried my luck at monopoly today. And believe it or not it was great fun. Only this time around, there was no board, it was a nice PC game. 3 of my roommates joined me at it.
The last time I played monopoly, we did not stick to any of the rules. It was just 4 guys and a fifth playing as a "banker". People could trade, they could make rent let-offs, the bank was doing things at random. Seemed fun in the beginning, but then it all ended up in quarrels. Made me realize that it is sometimes the best option to stick to the rules. When you stick to a common set of rules, and there are no concessions for anyone and each one exists on equal grounds, there is no scope for any unrest. Otherwise if you put it in the real perspective (and that does sound like the ground reality, at least in India), it's not human civilization we are talking about, but the law of the jungle.
And the Red Sox did win today. So now the series stands tied at 3 a piece. All down to the wire. But I think even The Tampa Bay Rays must be feeling the frustration of their "so close yet so far" kinda outcome already.

Cooking

I think what I'm speaking of here is something that most guys in India have no idea about. Why,till I got to the states I had no clue myself! But come to think of it, you really should consider yourself disabled if you are in that position, for its only a basic skill to know how to feed yourself.
Here I should really thank my rooommate Teella, who happens to be a senior and has been doing it for a long time now. Without his "training session", life would have been really difficult. I think I can safely say now that I am decent at this job of cooking. Not that I am someone who you want as your guy for a special occassion, but then "Functionality over flair".

What a year!

I was just thinking to myself about how this year has gone by. And to speak the truth, it's been really great to me. I got through my internship in Mumbai, I prepared for my GRE, took it in September, scored quite decently, applied for my Masters in the States, got admits from a whole lot of universities, and here I am in UMass, Amherst.
Along the way, I toured a hell of a lot. Enjoyed on a lot of good road trips in India, travelled to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in Dec '07. Then came another awesome trip to China in Feb '08.
Along the way I partied a lot as well, with a whole lot of friends.
It's been equally crazy since I left for the states on the 26th of July. I visited my cousin in Seattle. I was with his family for a good 20 days. I visited my friend Akshay in Minneapolis, had a great amount of fun there too.
Since I reached Amherst, my friend Aditya visited me once for a long weekend and we embarked on a great Boston trip and met a whole lot of friends there as well.
Its now gotten really hectic with the coursework, assignments, cooking, cleaning, stuff that I would have probably not ventured into at all in India. But whats there in life without some serious change. And change is what I got here!
I guess people would be thinking to themselves, what hasthis guy done apart from freaking out in the whole of the last year! And I quite agree with you! But then that's why its time to work now, I guess. But it's Guru we are talking about here and when it comes to me, the freaking out will always be a part of the picture.
"In life, you make your choices and you don't look back". NO REGRETS!

Baseball

First things first. Its been over a year since I was here. Different year, different country. I now reside at a place called Amherst in Massachusetts, USA. So much has happened in a year, so much to tell. Well, you can't do it all in a day. I laughed so loud when I saw my previous post which said stuff about a "sting operation" on Vicky. That was tripping funny, the entire episode.
Along with the education and insane weather, Mass has opened me to a totally new distraction. BASEBALL.
I could never figure out the concept behind baseball, thought it is a "cheap second" to cricket. And I would still stand by that to a certain extent. But sport will always be sport, especially with the Basketball preseason on and not the playoffs, and I need my share of sport. Now I get it too. In fact I never thought I'll be saying it but I'm actually loving it. Especially with the sort of comeback The Boston Red Sox are making in the ALCS finals. I mean who would have thought in the last game where they were trailing the Rays by 7 in the 7th innings and came back to win it in the 9th. The second greatest comeback ever. And looking at their track record, I don't think a single soul must be doubting that the Red Sox are gonna win this series. Well, they are trailing 3-2 now in the finals. But then if they win this one, it boils down to the one final match.
As far as I am concerned, I'm just happy that I have reason for hero-worship and team loyalty again. As I write this the Red Sox hit a homerun and take a 3-2 lead in the 6th game. Go REDSOX!!!!!!