Paisa Mein Paramathma Hai

 Guardian has this : 

Lord's and The Oval will play host to matches involving franchises from the Indian Premier League this season if the MCC and Surrey accept offers from the new tournament's organisers to stage games at their grounds. Games in the inaugural IPL season, which runs from April 18 to June 1, have already been allocated to venues in India but officials are keen to broaden the tournament's horizons and staging what would amount to exhibition matches in England would be a starting point. The MCC and Surrey declined to confirm the IPL's approach.  

About a month ago, EPL got its proposal of holding overseas matches ridiculed and then rejected.  Why? Amongst other reasons, the most significant one is the fact that EPL !=FA != FIFA. No puppetry. But can the same be said about ICC and BCCI? I suppose we all know the answer.

 Now the major other reason : EPL clubs have a strong local fan base, with, in some cases,  significant say in how the club is run. Loyalty, passion and the related shit. 

 The IPL is kind of making a master stroke, coming up with these overseas - neutral- venue - money laundering fixtures  much before the fans even support any team. But then again, its  not much of a master stroke. It is business as usual for cricket administrators (rant aimed at BCCI in particular), for when has the ticket-buying fan ever been of any concern to them. If he were part of their plans, then he wouldn't have to bear the barbaric torture that has been the norm for watching a match in the stadia. But then again, nothing changes. 

Cry Baby

I cry a lot. When I am cutting onions. Which is very rare. So I cry very rarely. 

 Coming to the point. Today, I learnt the best way to peel the undesirable cover of an onion. I used to peel the whole onion and cry. Cut the damn thing in half and it almost peels off  on its own.

Feel so stupid now, having done it the other way all this time.

First Minute Rush

I always have had a dislike towards those who tend to huddle up at the door on a train approaching a halt, way before it is to reach the halt.  Especially when it is a significant halt. This crowd may have its reasons. Old age, line for the auto, whatever. My problem with these people was that they blocked my way to the toilet. I have this thing with trains. I drink coffee only on trains (yes. that very watery brown colored liquid passed off as coffee) and I need to use the loo only when the train is approaching a station. So these people effectively block my way to attaining nirvana.

 

I see similar routines being followed on flights ( I do not have any on flights, not yet ). Once the flight taxis down to the gate, the rush begins. The captain hasn't yet turned off the seat-belts on sign, but the aisle is already filled with people fighting for space and their baggage. After a lot of hustling, staring, jostling and sometimes swearing, they all have their bags. And then, it happens. The wait for the cabin doors to open. 10-15 minutes of standing, with bodies mashed up against each other and luggage. I just love this part, because these guys are absolutely not used to the essence of bus / metro train travel. Their discomfort always makes me laugh. I feel that this is some kind of revenge taken by fate on my behalf. I happy. I very very happy.

Skiing For Dummies

 
If you do not know how to ski, then you have reached the right place. This article contains in the simplest of terms, the most comprehensive guide to skiing for a newbie.
1) If you do not know how to ski, then forget about it. This sport is not for you. You are either born with that talent or you are not. You cannot learn it. Don't even think about it. And yeah, this guide wont help you one  bit.
2) Now that you are not willing to listen to me, I can't help it. You've asked for it. Once you have decided to ski and drive down to the ski resort, do not realise after you have reached the resort, that you are not appropriately dressed. Basic Winter Clothing. Snow = Wet = Cold != Comfort. This is all the more important for novices like you since you shall spend more time rolling in the snow than skiing.
3) Once you reach the resort, there shall be a few people who will fleece you off a lot money and then  give you a pair of ski boots, skis and poles . Do not believe these guys. Run away. Go Home.
4) I don't like you anymore. How dare you reach till here? Ok. I wont curse you anymore. Once you are geared, you will go to the slopey snowy hilly thing. You will be joined by a team of self proclaimed experts, who will try to impart their inborn talent to you. But credit should be given to them; they really try their best.
5) But they teach you something. Something like, how to stop.  In their parlance, its called a wedge, that is , pushing your heels sideways with  your toes point towards each other. Don't even try this. It is the sole reason for you to spend more time in the snow than on the snow. But you will spend  more time in the snow than on the snow. Why? Because you don't listen to me.
6) If this does not make you give up this skiing experiment, nothing will. There is a phenomenon called 2 year olds. All 2 year olds in the vicinity of a ski resort. These kids are the kids I was talking about at start. Talent. Birth.Yeah, that very fact. These kids will make you realise that. They kick your ass at this skiing thingy. They will ski straight, turn , wedge, ski in reverse, on one leg, on no legs. You name it, they'll do it. And when you are lying with your face buried in the snow, they will come upto you and say " It's okay. Even I fell on my first time." And yeah , they dont know how to speak.
7) Quit, while you are ahead. I mean at the end of the slopey snowy hill. Because to come back to the top , you are to use the open tramway. This thing gets you back to the top of the hill. There are two  problems. One. You are dangling in the air with all that equipment on you with no support, no safety measures emplo
yed. Two. Are you mad? You wanna go through that hell all over again ?
 
If you did not listen to any of the aforementioned words of wisdom, and actually went to a ski resort, fully dressed, pay and get the equipment, learn the lessons properly, fall a lot but still get it right after a lot of practice, laugh at yourself, take those  multiple trips over the precarious tramway, ski your heart out and really take a liking to the whole idea, then do not make this trip on the last day of ski season. I really mean it.

Mushti Quote - Networking

Networkinglo alumsni miss avvacchu kaani, ammailanu miss avvakoodadhu.

Mushti Quote - American Public

 
Raathri manam chali lo vanukuthu unte  jogging chesthaaru , madhyanam enda lo dhaduchukuntu unte appudu kooda jogging chestu untaaru. Ento ii janaalu.

Happy Ending

A lackluster series. An inconsequential match. An OK batting display followed by a gritty bowling effort. Last wicket partnership is posing a serious threat to a face saving victory. 2 overs to go . 14 runs to lose.

Your final match on Australian soil. Not much with the bat. You cool your heels and warm your fingers in the pocket, all through the 2nd innings. Just made an attempt at the stumps which if successful would have won you the game. Not. Everyone expects the captain to ask the other youngster to bowl. Not. Captain throws the ball to you. He talks to you as if you are a debutant, encouraging you , patting you on the back. 20 years of international cricket. But you know at some level that you needed that.

The genuine joy that I saw on Sanath Jayasuriya’s face , after he bowled that delivery, is something I shall never forget.

P.S.: If you get a chance, watch Murali’s final 4 overs. Pure Class.

Red & White Bravery Award

Grating your thumb while grating Fresh Frozen (already) Grated Coconut and mixing your red blood with the white grated coconut does not give you Red & White Bravery Award.

Take Everything From The Inside And Throw It All Away

Moral of Another Story: I will never know myself until I do this on my own And I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed I will never be anything till I break away from me I will break away, I’ll find myself today

Breakfast and Dinner

Youtubing has its own pleasures. I found this, that and this just now. So many school days started and ended with these. This was in pre-HINDIfication/ANIMEfication era of Cartoon Network. Nice times.

Six Feet Under

A humble request to all of you. Watch the following movies.

  1. Johnny Gaddar
  2. Manorama Six Feet Under
  3. Mithya

Most of the time, I am inclined to being Anti-Bollywood for the crap( read KJ-SRK ) they keep spewing at us . If these kind of movies start defining what is Bollywood, then I am willing to change my stance. Excellent.

Priorities

I work as an Office Assistant ( Yes. OA ) in the Cardiac Surgery Dept. at URMC. My job involves minimal amount of filing of patient charts. Since it is the first time for me, being in an office environment and experiencing active exposure to a new culture, it has been really amazing to witness the kind of banter that goes on. Took me quite sometime in realizing which of it are for fun and which are insults. Though the setup is not quite Scrubs/Grey’s Anatomy/-esque, still one gets to witness all that drama.

Since we deal with a whole lot of patients, we do get some really cranky ones. Here are two such instances.

Case 1 :

About a month ago, there was this call. It was a female, speaking with a heavy Italian accent. She was rambling in a manner none of us could really understand what she intended to say. She was speaking for a male patient, who had previously consulted the surgeon based on his cardiologist’s advice. She spoke for close to half an hour. At the fag end of the conversation, all that we understood, is that she was not his wife, but they were living together for the past 2 months. He was too proud to take help from his brothers and hence is staying alone. Thats it. Half an hour. That is all the information we got from her. Not because of the accent, because we had someone who undid the accent part. And then finally came the real reason. That male, had had a stroke then and she was calling for help and this was after 30 minutes of family non sense. I thought everyone knew about 911. What became of the case later on, I do not know, but at that moment I was appalled at the sheer stupidity of that female. A life is at stake and this is what you do?

Case 2 :

For the past week or so , most of the department were conversing about an in-patient who was being referred to as The Crazy Guy. I did not know why and I felt that they were being insensitive in calling him that. Today, coming to know of the entire story, I feel they are totally justified in doing so. Here was a guy, with blown up arteries & dilated valves, who was consistently refusing surgery. After finally agreeing to the same, he was put on schedule for surgery today. But in the wee hours, he threw a fit again, made the surgeon come down to the hospital and got the surgery canceled. 3 hours past his schedule surgery time, he had a stroke.

His reason for getting the surgery canceled : I like to go to the beach a lot. If I get this surgery done, then I don’t think girls would find me attractive with the scar on me.

Some specimens these are.

Moral of Another Story

I woke up early today. Took a long, refreshing bath. Shaved. Ironed my formals. Polished my shoes. Edited my resume. Suited up ( ;) ). Put on K’s long coat. Looked at self in the mirror and said to self " Looking Good". Went to the lab. Took prints of the resume ( I have never ever been able to open this lab by myself and take prints by myself. Not once. Until today ). Went to the Job Fair. May Room was empty. Today’s date is not 20th Feb 2008.

Moral of Another Story : Look At Calendar Daily.

Perspective

Sports. Relationships. Material Pleasures.

All these and many more, take a back seat, when it is a matter of life or in some matters, death.

Perspective.

The Terror Of The Red Scooty

I believe that all of us have superstitious beliefs, some religious, but most , due to instinct and repetition. Say for an examination, we would like to maintain some kind of routine. I for one, when at Hyd on an exam day, used to go to the terrace and have a look around. The most common superstition, in my opinion , is the black cat crossing your way. I have no idea about the origins of that, but there was something similar to that, which had a significant impact on my schoolmates lives.

Right across Adarsh Apartments, lived a Red TVS Scooty. I am not able to exactly recollect the name of the owner of that vehicle, but was referred to as Moin Khan and had a sibling who was called ( by us ) Polar Bear. Polar Bear looked like Polar Bear and Moin Khan acted like Moin Khan. Polar Bear looked like Polar Bear because Polar Bear probably ate Moin Khan’s share of food as well , or so we thought.

Coming back to the Red Scooty. It was always referred to as The Red Scooty. Never as Scooty nor as Moin Khan’s Scooty. Always The Red Scooty. It was very rarely sighted probably once in 4-5 months. The irregularity can be attributed to the different paths taken by The Red Scooty and us. But whenever it was sighted, we shuddered. That was because we had reason enough to believe that whenever we saw it , something bad was in store. The following three chronologically placed events, are a few of the many instances which substantiated our belief.

Circa 2000 - Victim1

Victim1 was on his way to(from???) his tuition on his cycle with his younger brother. He got hit by a scooter coming from the opposite direction ( ??? ) , while riding on the left most part (presumably the safest ) of the road. One hand fractured. The brother escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Last week of Jan 2003 - Victim2

Victim2 was on his way to a friends place to play the latest version of FIFA, which the other had just downloaded. He was riding a 2 day old Honda Activa, which got instantly destroyed in the multiple vehicle accident that followed. Victim2 had minor injuries. Vehicle and Victim2’s road confidence were irreparably damaged. Vehicle was finally restored at humongous costs. Victim2 still has visions of falling off of a vehicle and has them only while driving.

Circa 2004 - Victim3

Victim3 was walking along the beautiful paths of Osmania University after class to reach his bus-stop. A motor-bike rider , trying to show off some stunts, missed a trick and hit Victim3. The bike-rider got seriously injured , but Victim3 was fighting for his life with almost a severed head, for quite some time at NIMS. After multiple rehabilitation programs, Victim3 has now regained mobility, with limited movement of the head.

All these vehicular accidents and many more accidents involving my schoolmates, must have had their own reasons to happen, the way they happened. But they all had a common denominator. The Red Scooty. Victim1 saw it just before his accident. Victim2 saw it while coming out of his house. Victim3 met Moin Khan and The Red Scooty, moments before having that life-threatening experience.

And that was the basis for our fear of The Red Scooty.

Time passed on. We continued to avoid The Red Scooty, were successful in our endeavours and avoided further accidents. And then as they say,the old gave way to the new. The engineers at TVS came up with a new vehicle model, which their marketing personnel decided to call , Scooty Pep. So out went our nemesis and in came a blue Scooty Pep. Its arrival ended our run of misfortune. You saw it , you shuddered and yet nothing happened. Everything was at peace. This change of fortune, further strengthened our belief, that it was not Moin Khan’s presence to be blamed , but it was the Eye of The Red Scooty that haunted us.

P.S.: I got reminded of this phenomenon following Bail’s testimonial on Orkut where he refers to the other reason of coming to my home. Their interest was with someone in Adarsh Apartments, but I got reminded of the above mentioned saga.

Happy Birthday Thalimpu Reddy

This blogs intends to wish Thalimpu Reddy, a Very Happy Birthday.

He underwent this and later he gifted himself one of the most costliest gifts, an ISD call so that ALL ( pun intended, he wanted only one, we all know that don’t we :P ) our friends could wish him.

I know it has been a tough time for him, missing someone so much over the last 2-3 days, due to the momentous occasions that COULD have BEEn, but don’t worry ra, all will BEE well in the end.

Pandaga Sesko :)

Childhood Sayings

Keep your sorry in the mori, go in a lorry and drown in the mori.

Vacation - NYC & Central Florida

Had lots to write, wrote it even, but removed the post. Why? Those are memories better articulated through pictures than words.

NYC - Was a real vacation. Totally cut off from the rest of the world and was with, effectively a stranger. I hope people get to experience such a vacation pretty often.

Florida - Haphazard Planning + Even worse execution + Best pals around = Greatest time of your life with life threatening consequences.

Gym Bhai Gym Bhai

Fatass and Pandu went to Muscle Power Gym. They went there to watch ITV and I believe went to sit on the cycle. Long time ago. I never joined them. Why, I do not know.

I joined the URMC gym yesterday and bought appropriate shoes for the same. Today, after screwing up earlier in the day, I decided to continue to stick to THE SCHEDULE. I went there, a little skeptic, a little bashful, but went there all the same. I had not undergone the customary orientation due to some clash in schedule. To use any equipment, one had to sign up. I put in my name for the cycle ( I had to follow my seniors on this. Plus, it was beside the TV so that made the decision for me ). Since I had some time, I entered the squash court. My prior experience of squash has been of me trying it and then switching to Racquetball. I went in, alone, into the court with the necessities. Hit the ball once or twice and then it happened. I twisted my ankle and fell. And there ended my Gym story. I am hardly able to walk.

Moral of Another Story : Go to gym and then do gymming. Don’t do overaction.

Album Review : Penn Masala - Pehchaan

(  The lyrics for Main Tanha and Pehchaan can be found here. )

I did the unthinkable last week. I bought an album. Yes. I spent money to buy music. The only other time I remember being involved in the process of buying  music was when a 4 year old cribbed for Apoorva Sahodarargal cassette for Pudhu Maappillaikku song. I have heard Penn Masala before, even performed two of their songs ( No Injuries To Anyone ). But totally forgot about them over the past year or so. But then pointless browsing at times leads you to something  good and once such recent expedition has led to this. For those who have not heard about them, they are an a capella group based in University of Pennsylvania, who specialize in fusion mixes of Eastern  Melody and Western Pop. Here is my chaar aana on their album, Pehchaan. 

A very good start to the album, blending both the songs very well and is one that  shall strike the right chord even with newbies to this genre. The transition back from Only You to Oonche Oonche Parvat is the best note in this track. The humming during Aisa Koi Saathi Ho part brings out the best of the vocals.  Tempo of Only You has been raised to meet Neeley Neeley's pace.
Definitely the best track of the album for me.  The way the notes move higher in the Every Breath part is just out of this world.Wohhohoo <-- listen out for this piece. It is representative of the kind of energy in the entire album.  The final 15 seconds of this song is why i like this song so much.
I hate this song. Ok. I hated this song. Every single bit of it. It was on all the radio stations when KANK was to be released. After listening to it a few times, I decided I will near listen to it. All that changed after listening to this version. The chorus, in the background, brings out the best in the song. Moments where they are humming a totally tangential note to what  the vocalists singing are amazing.
Vocalists should take the credit for this one. The original song has been most reproduced with a lot of care. Continuing with the Used to Love You bit all throughout the Kangna part was a nice choice.
I love the album version of this song. Haven't heard a lot (less than 50 times ) of the film version. The powerful beat boxing start, which slowly gives way to the  "Dhin Dhin" loop and then the aalaap is just out of this world. The performance continues with the same energy with the "Janana Janana" bit and some awesome silences in the background. The only problem I had was with the end. The aalaap could have been a chorus or atleast higher decibel level, to go out on a high note. In Atif's version, his voice was overempasized. I am assuming these guys stuck with the music bit from the original album version.
This is the reason I bought this album. Heard this once on their website and made that impulse debut purchase on iTunes. I am very glad I did. Such a clean arrangement. The way the humming slows down and then picks up pace is awesome.  The lyrics at the end are why I like this track : Kya Patha Ki Kaun Hoon Main, Shaayad Mujhmein Aag Kahiin... Jagaao Usey. 
Once again the start, coupled with the prominence given to the piano track when compared to the original,is what struck me in this track. The Adnan-esque vocals are not as repulsive as they sound when rendered by the man himself. 
Main Tanha - Own Comp 

 

Another one for the vocalists. The I Am Alone and Main Tanha lines are the best. After listening to it a lot of times, I could see influences from Lukka Chuppi in the interludes, but that was in the BG part.

The originals vary in tempo with the latter being faster, but a compromise has been reached in this track. I was happy to see Dosti's lead in the last 20 seconds, a bit that I really love. If only they had even Small Town Girl's lead.
A soothing rendition of one of my favorite songs. Vocals go back , giving prominence to the BG track. The Hindi lyrics and the use of  Cheb Khaled's bit later in the song was nice to hear.
I hadn't heard the Paheli's version before this but had heard the Telugu tune. Having heard all the three, this track does more than justice to its predecessors. The transition to Aaj Jaane ki Zidda Na Karo was a pleasant surprise. Feels like you are listening to a nice Bhajan.
The second track I heard and ever since been humming the tune. The timing of Alaipayuthey was great, but the vocals for that just did not sound right. But the rest of the song more than overcomes that bit. Definitely in the top 5 of the album for me.
After listening to the songs a few times, I tended to forget that the songs are  a capella and started treating them as normal ones.I felt that this a very good indicator of how much I liked it ( and hence how good the album is ;) ) From a few other reviews, I learnt that this one was much better than the previous album.
P.S. : The own compositions can be heard on their website radio in their entireity and other track samples are also put up there.