Reflections

Blogging from Air

2009-07-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

As i am writing this blog i am totally excited as i am blogging this from air. Yep i am flying from Atlanta to Vegas and i am using the wi-Fi on Airtran airlines. The speed is really good. I mean i was able to use YouTube, check my office mail and Twitt. Only drawback was i need to pay $13 to use the service. If the airline would have provided Wi-Fi complimentary i would have preferred this airline, but every one wants to make money at every possible situvation. The Wi-Fi service starts to work when airline attains an alltitude of 10,000 feet, pretty cool ha!!!

Well thats all i can think at this time. Hopefully i make some money this time at Vegas. I have learnt few games in recent past. Hope to use those skills at Vegas.

Lalit Modi’s show - IPL

2009-04-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Being a cricket fan I was thrilled by the idea of IPL and with last year success to this tournament I was even more eagerly waiting for the second edition of IPL as it had more player addition this time. It’s only a pity that Pakistan players couldn’t make this edition. Pakistan players were great hit last year and I was eager to see how they perform this year as they had played fewer cricket in the past year.

Because general election was to held in April in India it was decided very lately that India couldn’t host the IPL. Only four weeks left for the tournament to begin it was shifted to South Africa. Kudos to Lalit Modi(chairman and commissioner of IPL), whose out of box thinking led to tournament being shifted to South Africa. It looked as if the tournament would be cancelled when Indian government declared that they could not provide enough security to organize the tournament. If the tournament had been cancelled the franchise would have encountered serious losses. But last minute changes ensured that IPL could move on smoothly.

Today after watching the first two games on this edition of IPL, we should thank the South African board for making arrangement to such a huge tournament in very less time.

Being the follower of Bangalore Royal Challengers I was very happy with the result of their first match. I am a big fan of Rahul and Kumble and was very happy to see them play well. Hope Bangalore wins this year’s edition.

Go Bangalore Go!!!!!!!!!!

Match Summary: RCB vs RR

Two years in US

2009-04-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

It’s been two years since I have landed in US. I was sent to US on a short 6-month assignment which lasted only for 3-months, but was immediately relocated on a long term assignment within the US. During this period met some wonderful people and boy oh boy I have tons of memories to cherish for rest of my life. Made some new friendships which are going strong and hopefully they will last forever.

Some memorable events in past 2 years are:

My first cup of coffee in Starbucks at Philadelphia airport (First thing that I did as soon as I landed in US)

Watching US open Men’s single finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The ELTP-242 reunion (sort of) in Vegas (Myself, Sumit and Ravi though Kiran missed out)

Visiting Google Campus in Mountain View

Skiing in Lake Tahoe

Road trip from Atlanta to Washington DC (Drove some 800 miles only a week after I started to learn driving)

And finally I wish to express my gratitude to few people who made my life in US a lot easier:

Amit Baid - Learnt a lot from you dude (What to eat in a restaurant, How much to tip, which cocktail are good, car driving, car insurance, vageera vageera…………. I guess I can write a book of it :) )

Amit and Sunita: For all the wonderful weekend getaway and weekend games.

Muthu Pandian: Dude thanks for talking to me on all available topics in the world.

All my Roomies and Ex-roomies for tolerating me!! (Iranna, Ranadheer, Venkat, Prashanth, Deba, Gopi, Guru, Hari, Sateesh, Prabhakar and Kunal)

Sunil Shivanand and Sumit kumar: For all the trips we did……. And I know Euro trip is still pending.

Siva and Vasu: For being great colleagues and supporting me at work.

Sheetal: For always remembering me to Visit India (Well I promise that this year I will plan to visit India :) )

Thoughtful Cricket Fan

2009-03-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Date: 27-Mar-09

2nd Test Ind vs NZ Day-2 session 3

India started their first innings after New Zealand declared at mammoth 619. Sehwag started batting at his usually style smashing bowlers to all round the corner. An Indian fans banner read “MAN is a FREAK” SEHWACK

Vettori came on in early and sehwag smashed fifth delivery of the over to a SIX and the next ball he went for another slog and was out caught behind. The same fans banner then read “MAN is a ~~FREAK~~ IDIOT” SEHWACK

The Curious case of Band-Aid

2009-03-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever given complete attention to food while eating it? I mean 100% attentive on the food that you eat. Look at each bite of food carefully before eating it? Well i had to on last weekend. I was at my friend’s place and my friend’s wife had cooked mouth watering dishes. The dishes were dal tadka, tomato curry and shrimp curry. Chapathis and pappad were in abundant to support those dishes. All the dishes were well organized on the dining table and we were about to start the lunch, my friend’s wife made a statement that the band-aid that she was wearing on the right hand index finger is missing and she thinks that it might have come out during cooking. We looked at each dishes stirring them but were unable to find a band-aid in any of them. Then the next question came to mind was whether the band-aid has melted in the dish. Be what ever the case we had to eat the food as a lot of hard work was involved in the cooking and the food looked delicious and the other major reason was it was raining and were lazy enough not to go out for lunch. Then started the part of eating where we checked each bite of food for band-aid or something that looked similar. We took 45 minutes and finished the lunch but we were unable to find the band-aid in dishes. Till now we are unable to find the band-aid and it has been a curious case of a missing band-aid. It has been a week since this episode has happened and none of us had any stomach upset. So all is fine :)

One year back

2008-07-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what you were doing exactly one year back? Well I guess you need good memory power to accomplish this task :). This Saturday I was sitting all alone in room and nothing to do, just browsing the net and suddenly this thought came by as what I was doing a year back. The next moment I was checking my mailboxes. I started checking all my older mails. I exactly reached the mails I received one year back and started reading them. Oh man those mails bought some good old memories. Thanks to GMail which made Delete button a history and provided virtually unlimited storage space. I guess I haven’t deleted a mail from past 3 years :). It was really fun reading all the old mails and this in turn helped me pass some of my free time.

Rafa all the way

2008-07-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Wimbledon-2008
Men’s final – Sun, 6 July 08
Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal

One of the greatest match in the tennis history and I am thankful to god that I was able to watch this match. On this weekend I was holidaying in Las Vegas and I saw the whole match on the big screen TV in the sports betting section of the casino. Initially I thought I was the only person following tennis in the casino but to my surprise around 100-200 people were watching the match.

I was cheering Nadal all the way, and when he committed the double fault (5-2) in the fourth set tie breaker and eventually lost it, I thought Federer would win the match. But Nadal held his nerve and won the match. At last Nadal was able to break the jinx and win a grand slam on grass.

I have booked US open men’s single final ticket and hope that these two great legends meet in the final. If that happens then one of my dreams will come true. Watching live two great legends play will be a life time memorable event.

Spain won the Euro cup this year after 44 years gap and now Rafa winning on the grass court. I guess this year belongs to Spain.

Go Rafa Go……….

Casino Trips

2008-06-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

It has been 14 months since I have landed in US. Every month since then I had been for a trip. I guess I have visited more places in US than I did in India. It may be because of the insecurity I was feeling that I would not last long on my onsite assignment; I wanted to see as many places as possible in this visit. Out of the 14 trips I have done 9 of them are the Casino getaways. The casino getaways I did are:

Atlantic City (Twice)
Reno
Tampa
New Orleans (clubs too are awesome at this place)
Bay St.Louis
Lake Tahoe
Cherokee
Biloxi

And for the coming long weekend (July 4, 5 and 6) I have Las Vegas trip planned.

Its not that I have a gambling addiction, but as soon as I get to know the place has a casino I tend to favor that. The passion and the energy level in me doubles as soon as I enter the casino. I like the fun of playing in the casino. I always set a limit before I enter the casino and I stick to the limit( well only 2 times I have crossed the limit but otherwise I am OK)

Well I am practicing Poker now a days and I intend to play Poker World Series in days to come. Watch out for the next millionaire :)

And well if you are curious if I am winning or losing, hmmm I am in negative territory right now.
Well as of now I am very much looking forward for my Sin City trip….. Vegas baby Vegas.

I Like

2008-06-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

I like talking over silence.
I like tennis over cricket.
I like Mallika over Aishwarya.
I like whisky over Beer
I like Laalu over Gowda
I like beauty over brains
I like Newyork over Sanfransisco
I like Blackjack over Roulette
I like Mitsubishi over Toyota
I like desktop over laptop
I like Creative over Apple
I like IE over Mozilla
I like talking over SMS
I like Dravid over Sachin
I like Nadal over Federer
I like winter over Summer
I like thriller over romantic
I like Kannada over hindi
I like weird over common
I like spending over saving
I like sarcasm over nice

Speed

2008-04-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

467 miles in 301 minutes.

Yes that’s the distance I covered when I drove from Orlando to Atlanta. Had been to Orlando this weekend with Shiva and it was a totally awesome trip. Visited Disney land on Saturday and Universal studio on Sunday. Had to return back the same day as had to go to office on Monday. We had rented a Jeep for the trip and I have to tell you that its one of the best Vehicle that I have ever drove. Infact it is the first vehicle with 4 wheel drive that I have ever driven. Even the milage of the vehicle is good as a full tank was sufficient for the entire drive.

The Chef in Me

2008-02-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

After a month long planning and lot of discussions, finally my thoughts were put into execution and CHAPATHIs were made for the first time in my house on Jan-28, 08.

Every day at the dinner table me and my roommates used to discuss how bad the frozen parothas were and how costly they were. We use to come to a conclusion that we making chapathis ourselves will be a good idea. Though we use to come to a conclusion but its implementation was a difficult job. Making chapathis firstly require us to prepare the dough, then the Rolling of the dough and finally the cooking. Making the dough according to us was an ok job. But Rolling of it was the most difficult job that we thought. In every discussion we used to come long way till this point and then conclude that frozen parothas even though costly and not that good but were suitable for lazy guys like us.

But on Jan-27 I finally decided to give a shot, went to Indian grocery shop and bought wheat flour. For my luck there was no 1-2KG wheat flour bag so I ended up buying 5KG bag. As I entered the room my roommates were surprised to see wheat bag and they burst into laugh saying that I will be wasting a huge lot of flour.

That evening after gathering a lot of courage went and prepared the dough. For my luck it came properly. The rolling was also good. Even though the chapathis were not round I was able to depict various country maps in them. The taste of chapathis was really good and I got a lot of kudos from my roomies. Now from that day onwards every night we make chapathis. Wow my first planned project is a success…………..

This is me Now. A year back I didn’t know what happens in a kitchen. Never ever lighted a gas stove. My mom is an awesome cook and never allowed me to enter kitchen and while I was in Bangalore we had a cook who used to make good food. But after coming to US I had to cook and initial two months were really hell. But thanks to my roomies I learned the art of cooking. And also thanks to them who tasted my worst cooking and kept on encouraging me. Atlast the Chef in me has started to grow :)

Champions at the receiving end

2008-02-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

What a month January has been for sporting activities. Australian open tennis and India tour of Australia cricket. Both the events were feast to watch.

To start with let’s begin with Australian open tennis. I have been a tennis fan since I was a kid. After coming to US the enthusiasm has increased as now I have even started to play the game. I am a diehard fan of Agassi and Nadal.

This year Australian open was quiet important for Nadal as he had to prove his point on hard court. It was also important for Federer as he was defending the championship and was playing to win the championship three times in a row. But both these great players lost in Semifinals. Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The last time when Federer lost in straight sets was way back in 2002. Nadal lost to Tsonga in straight sets.
What this year Aus open proved is that even Masters of the game are vulnerable. If pressure is applied at the right time they too make mistakes. Its always the masters of the game are the one who are in pressure as they are considered to be the favorites. The underdogs are the one who have nothing to lose. Djokovic played superb tennis for which even Federer has to bow.

The next big event of the month was India tour of Australia. The two best test team in the world. It’s always difficult to defeat Australians in their home. And after losing the first test Indian team looked vulnerable. But Indians came back fighting hard in Sydney, but unfortunately they lost that test too. Going for the third test Australians were playing to set a world record of 17 consecutive wins. But Indians fought hard and defeated the Australians in third test at Perth where only few thought that Indian could survive. One should really appreciate the way the Indians have played as they were down under and were also involved in lot of controversies.

The young bowlers did the trick for Indians. Australian middle order batting line up was never in pressure in the past 3 years as their openers would give them a solid start. But in third test the openers failed which tested the middle order. For Australians Attack was the best weapon, but in third test the attack from batsmen back fired them as they lost quick wickets for bad shots. Even here too the Masters were at receiving end. Indians proved that if you play good sensible game you can defeat the toughest opponent too.

The Sleep Button

2008-01-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered GODS ultimate creation….. The creation of human being…. Where every single part works very correctly, works even more accurately than the now a days modern precision devices. Well the only thing which i guess God has forgotten to put in human being is a Sleep button.
You use your laptop/ desktop the whole day and when the job gets done or you have finished ur work u just shutdown the computer. The same logic could have been applied with us with a sleep button. Finished a day of tiring work, return home wrap up all the essential stuff and press your sleep button and go to sleep say for 8 hours.
Sleep is one essential thing which we deserve every night. Try thinking of waking up continuously for 48 hours and then imagine the things to come for next 6 hours. We will not know what we are doing. Eventually we will not be in our conscious mind.
Imagine you are going to give a seminar to your new team tomorrow morning. You are all exited about it. Want to give that perfect first impression. Done all the hard work of preparing the seminar. You goto bed but still thinking all about the seminar in the back of ur mind and not getting the sleep. You know that if u don’t sleep you wont have that energy the coming morning but still the excitement is killing ur sleep. At this moment if we had a sleep button how good would that be?Well may be this is my fantasy of saying God is not 100% perfect, but maybe he had some other ideas. He wanted to conquer our fear or excitement and come good on our own rather than he helping us at all the time. May be lots of thing to ponder about?????

The idea courtesy goes to my roommate Guru who was cribbing of not getting sleep and wishing he had a sleep button as the shutdown button in the comp.

Good Cricket Spoilt by poor umpiring

2008-01-05T23:58:00.000-08:00

Ind vs Aus - 2 test
SCG - 2 - jan to 6-Jan

What a test Match!!!!!!! Aus vs Ind 5 days of cricket and until last minute winner was not decided...... and in the end Aus emerge winner only due to poor umpiring. Day-5 when India need to play the tiring 72 overs on the fifth day pitch stsrted poorly by losing Jaffer on first over. By tea india had lost 2 more wickets. Aussie needed 7 wickets in the last session. After tea the problem started for India. Dravid was given out when it was clear that the ball has deflected from pad. It was very clear because the bat was behind the pad and bat was not at all visible for umpire, then how can he give out........... then the controversial decision of Sourav. From the replay it was clear that ball has touched the ground. Even sourav didn't walk. Why did the not umpire take the help of technology?????

This test has been a nightmare for umpire and more likely for Indians for losing a winning battle.......

India Rising

2007-11-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Just came across this video in youtube about india:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0XehNQ2OMfE&rel=1

WOW........ thats what i can say after watching the clip.

The person whoever quoted "India's economy is growing when the Government is sleeping" is absolutely true. Imagine where india will be if the government performs as it should be.
We have the potential to be the strongest nation. But are we electing the right person to govern us?
Well every parents want their children to be a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer but none want them to become a politician. So we have to change this basic thinking in order to give the country a good ruler.

Fantasy

2007-11-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

What if the rules of death doesn’t hold good for a day? What if Yamadharmaraya goes on leave for a day?
Do what ever you want and still you would not die that day……

If such day occurs these are the 5 things I would like to do:

1. Jump from the terrace of a skyscraper. I want to feel the sense of free falling.
2. Drive the car at around 160 MPH and hit a solid stationary object. Would like to experience the jerk that would be felt.
3. Would like to get hit by AK 56 riffle.
4. Would like to taste the cyanide.
5. Would like to catch hold of a high voltage electric line. Would love to allow the current to pass through me.

Well watching Family Guy on TBS TV channel on Monday night gave rise to this idea.

Just imagine and come up with your 5 things that u would like to do.

Am i changed ?????

2007-11-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

It was 5 P.M. Friday evening. I got up from my chair ready to leave. Happy that weekend was coming. No need to think of office stuff for next 2 days. Wished my colleagues bye and left my floor. I was at ground floor in no time thanks to high speed elevator. The floor was almost vacant as most of them left early for the weekend. In US weekend starts from Thursday evening itself. All start to talk about the weekend plans from Thursday evening itself and Friday all day they dream about the coming 2 days. As I walked towards the exit I remembered that I haven’t wished the security personnel good bye. I walked towards his desk. He was busy reading a novel. I wished him bye. He wished me back too. I was out of office and walking towards my bus stop. On the way I just remembered how I used to treat the security employees in my Bangalore office. I never used to wish them. Whenever they asked me to display the ID card I used to groan at them. Am I changed after coming to US, or is it I have become more respectful after coming here. I really don’t know. But one thing for sure once I return to India I will be more humble towards every one respecting the dignity of labor.