First of all an apology for not writing anything for such a long period; as my colleague says-"Business Requirements." I found some free time today and am back to what I enjoy most-blogging. Lots of things have been happening.....

1-India versus Pakistan in the Twenty:20 World Cup in Johannesburg, Dravid resigning his captaincy, Yuvraj's flurry of sixes, Dhoni's charm, will Team India fulfill the dream of the billion cricket fans. Hope to see a cracker of a match. Lets pray for the best.

2-The Ramar Setu or Adam's Bridge controversy is being raked by every politician in the country, and all parties are (if I may use the term) milking the bridge to their own advantage. Karunanidhi continues to play with the emotions of the people and calls Lord Rama and the bridge a myth, then he says Lord Rama is a drunkard. Enter B.J.P., R.S.S., and L.K. Advani-demands for apology, more bad blood and more free air time on news channels. Then a bus is torched in Bengaluru, two innocent people die, Karunanidhi's daughter's house is pelted with stones and a crude petrol bomb. Please note the attack was so meticulously planned that conveniently no one was present in the house at the time of the attack. Then a fatwa is issued by someone called Vedanti; Karuna's blind and loyal supporters go about destroying B.J.P. office-property as the police remain mute spectators.

Why does not the bloody old man retire? I respect him for his contribution to cinema and literature as a poet/writer, but why stoop so low to garner votes from the SC/ST vote bank. God alone knows what is going to happen to this country.....

God save us.

3-Rajni's "Sivaji" completes 100 days, amid news that cases have been filed against the producers and the director for stealing the story's idea from a manuscript that was sent to the director. The complainant says he sent the manuscript by registered post, and he received it a couple of days with "Refused" written on it, on opening the envelope he was shocked to see blank pages. The mystery deepens, let us see what happens.

4-Finally a good movie from Bollywood, even though it is a remake of Roman Polanski's noir classic "Chinatown," we have "Manorama Six Feet Under" starring Abhay Deol, Gul Panag, Sarika, Vinay Pathak and others. A slow paced mystery of a different kind, watch this.

5-The Left is all hammer and tongs against the Congress for signing the 123 Agreement with the United States, will the U.P.A. fall from power? Will there be mid-term elections? Let us see what happens.

6-Jayalalitha is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons her bungalow and estate in Kodaikanal are about to be seized by the government.

Folks got to go home and sleep, pray that India wins.

Chak de India:)

Hum Honge Kaamyaaab....We Shalll Overcome......

The stage was set for the clash of the failures of the World Cup, India and Pakistan, both teams with young blood infused in them upto the challenge. India batted first and had no answeres to Asif's devastating spell, he took four wickets. Aided by a knock of 50 by Robin Uthappa and 20 runs by Irfan Pathan, India reached 141/9.

The Pakistani chase...

It was supposed to be an easy target, but like a Hitchcock movie with twist after twist, the match threw one surprise after the other. At one stage Pakistan were 55/4, and then Misbah-ul-Haq played a brilliant innings scoring 53 runs. Shahid Afridi was out for an ambitious shot and India thought they had the match in their bag; but it was not to be. Arafat hit some boundaries to bring it down to 29 runs of the last two overs.

Agarkar the villain.....

For the hundredth time I felt like taking my cricket bat and bashing Agarkar's head like breaking an egg to make an omlette. I do not know why the selectors insist on persisting with Sir Aggy!@#$. He has been the reason number one for India's failure in the ODI-series against England; drop him, give Yusuf Pathan, or some other bowler a chance.

The last over......

Twelve of six, and Sreesanth with the ball in hand, a boundary, a single, some doubles, 1 run of two balls. The fifth ball of the over was a dot ball. 1 one of 1, memories of Chetan Sharma being whacked to permanent obscurity by Javed Miandad with a huge six is still fresh in memory. The tension is gripping, you can cut the air with a knife, silence and more silence, what is going to happen..... Phut. The power goes off !@#$%%^&

Power is back, and I regain my sanity.....

The replays show a jubilant Indian side, well what happened a run-out Misbah-ul-Haq run out for 53.

Bowl out....

The scores were tied, and to decide the nail-biter a bowl out; five players from each side had to bowl at the stumps attempting to break the stumps. Sehwag, Uthappa, and Harbhajan hit the mark, while Asif, Gul, and Afridi failed.

The jinx continues......

What a finish India once again stand undefeated against Pakistan in the World Cup.

A great victory for Mahinder Singh Dhoni and Team India, let us seee what happens.

By the way Sehwag is still failing with the bat.

Drop Agarkar or God help us.

Come on India ........

The Hospital Adventure

I decided to prepone my visit to the ophthalmologist as my eyes were hurting a lot on Wednesday morning. I finished my shift at 6:30 in the morning and went to Agarwal Eye Hospital. I was pleased with the ambiance and the first thing that I noticed where two giant LCD TVs, one was telecasting an eye-surgery and the other was beaming NDTV.

I was asked to fill in a form and pay Rs. 300 as consultation fees. Then I was asked to wait, I dared not look at the eye-surgery being shown on TV as it created a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach and I decided to concentrate on the pretty lady on NDTV. By 8:15 I was called and I was subjected to some tests in front of a machine. Some notes were made and there were some sighs of "Ooh Oh.." by the trainee doctors. I was not amused, I was asked to wait and then called into another room, where I met the senior doctor Mr. Agarwal, he was a genial man and reminded me of Peter Sellers in "The Pink Panther."

Some more tests and I was handed a note and asked to meet another doctor. This time two women examined my eyes and then they put some sticker on my eyebrows and some liquid to dilate my pupils. The sticker hurt my eyes a lot and I had to endure the pain for ten minutes. Then the sticker was removed and a really strange thirty minutes followed with my eyes being tested by a plethora of instruments. Then I read some alphabets on a chart, with a series of different lenses being put on my eyes.

I realized that I was reading m as the number 2. Then I was given a prescription for spectacles and asked to go to the optician. There I was shown a variety of frames and lenses and I chose a stylish Aviator frame. The final bill for the glasses alone Rs 3050/-. Then some drops were put in my eyes and my eyes stung like hell and the procedure was repeated thrice in an hour. Finally I got up and my eyes felt really funny and I could not find out the time from my watch. The drops were supposed to do that and I would not be able to read anything at a short distance for a day.

I was prescribed some drops and an ointment, and they cost me Rs 375/-.

At the end after spending almost Rs 4,000 and a receipt to collect spectacles the next day, I left for home.

Guys you know the people call me Gandhi, with my semi bald look and the glasses, well that's a consolation.

Cheers folks.

The Giant Killers....

I am writing this with shell shocked joy. I do not know why, but there is some manic thrill in watching the Aussies lose, maybe because India lost to the Aussie team in 2002 WC finals, maybe it s because of their racism and high-handedness, but whatever be the reason I love the look of defeat on Ponting's face. No hard feelings mate, I like Bret Lee's aggresssion, Hussey's level headed approach, and Symmonds' clever technique, but blokes you were defeated by a team that all news channels referred to as the "bunch of schoolboys." I am waiting for the expression on the stupid smiling faces of the IBN and NDTV reporters, who all through the day made me feel as if the Zimbabwe team was a bunch of dummies.

Australia managed to score just 138 runs of their alloted 20 overs and Zimbabwe reached the target, helped by a superb knock of 60 runs by Brendan Taylor and 27 by Maskadaskza.

Let us see what happens now. Suddenly India looks extremely vulnerable and today's match against Scotland might have a twist in the tale. Veeru Dada almost totally bald now, will be raring to go at the Scottish attack. Meanwhile Newzealand annihilated Kenya and Pakistan had a good victory against Scotland.

More updates will follow at the end of each day's matches.

I am so happy man......:)

Life Goes On....

It is about 3:20 in the morning, surprisingly I am not feeling sleepy, no work today, finished reading some online short story collections. This is my second month in the night shift. Work is good, though it gets monotonous at times. Looking at the way the company has grown, I feel privileged at having gotten a chance to work in this organization.

Night shift is tiring, and is taking a toll on my eyes. Right eye is perenially red like Vijaykanth in a fight scene, and I am feeling a bit uncomfortable while reading stuff on the computer screen. Need to go to a doctor and get my eyes tested.

So the show must go on, and we need to earn our daily bread, and we need to perform our duties.

So folks cheer up, some more posts around the corner, bye take care.

The Series Stays Alive..

It was a make or break match for India, and with some good knocks by the top order and the rain gods showering their generosity India defeated England by 38 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis Method.

England won the toss and put India to bat, as the moisture in the air was beneficial to the pace-attack. The usual slow start continued as Sachin and Saurav decided to go into test-match batting mode. It was the calm before the storm, and Sachin slammed four boundaries in one over bowled by the hapless Lewis. Sachin, Saurav, Yuvraj, and Gambhir, all went on to score fifties. The final score was 324/6.

England started solidly and the Indian misfielding horror continued as catches were dropped, balls were allowed to reach the boundary rope, and run-out chances were muddled. Collingwood played an excellent knock, and I feel if the rain had not started India would have lost the match.

The next match is extremely important as India needs to square the series.

Lets hope for the best.

A Mockery of the Law

Sanjay Dutt is convicted and sentenced to six years in jail for unlawful possession of an AK-56 rifle.

Salman Khan is sentenced to five years imprisonment for killing a chinkara deer.

Both of them are out on bail.

Picture this the culprits behind the Nithari killings where more than fifty children were gruesomely molested and killed, are still under interrogation and the case continues.

Cases of money laundering, and the fodder scam exist against our Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Many more ministers have cases pending against them.

The Bofors case that rocked the nation, is still in progress.

Shibu Soren of Jharkhand has umpteen cases against him, was imprisoned, but now the court says he is a free man, as the C.B. I. had botched up the case.

I am not a judge, and have no right to judge the actions of these famous and infamous people, but the law of the land has made the common man a fool, and it is a failure of the judiciary, in not providing efficient justice.

God save my country and its people.

So close yet so far...

Misery continues in the Indian cricket team, as England defeated India by two wickets in the 48th over with a heroic eighth wicket partnership of 99 runs between Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara. Earlier India managed to stutter and scored a paltry 212 with Sachin scoring 55 runs and Yuvraj scoring 71 runs.

Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni, Karthik, all of them failed.

Then the Indian bowlers did a good job and had England on the backfoot at 114/7, but Bopara and Broad had other plans and ensured that England had the last laugh.

India face an uphill task ahead of them and need to win the next three matches, to win the series.(HIGHLY UNLIKELY)

Let us see what happens.