Scaling the Wall

No, this is not a blog on "How to scale a Wall"! Scaling a wall is for that matter is a very old sport, this was one of the favorite sports of yours truly and his friends a long time ago in Bangalore! The wall, I am referring to here, is no ordinary one. I am referring of *The Wall*. No, not the Great Wall of China! I mean the Great Wall of India - Rahul Dravid!

Speculations are rife that Rahul Dravid will be announcing his retirement from test cricket tomorrow. Given that he has already retired from ODIs and T20s, this really means that we will no longer be seeing *The Wall* on National duty after tomorrow!! This blog isn't fan's paean to a celebrated hero! Better hands and pens have done that/will continue to do that in the next few days. What I cite here is my experiences of being an admirer of a very remarkable cricketer and person!

Coming back to the topic, What do I mean by scaling the wall? To scale *The Wall* in cricket? Well, that is a no-brainer! Better cricketers have tried that and failed. Failed miserably! And I am not even a professional cricketer. My only claim to fame in the world of cricket was to be the most economical bowler in a sub-regional cricket match where I represented my school team as a second change bowler (Achieving an economy rate of 4 something, when every other bowler had an economy rate above 7.0 is really an achievement!). And that performance did not really don't inspire anyone. My captain Ramprasad did not allow me to even have a bowl in the same tournament the next year(There Ram, I said it!!). I even had the notorious distinction of being the Chetan Sharma of the School Cricket team. I threw away a match against our junior team, but allowing the batsman to score a 4 in the last ball of the match (Damn you Manish Biswas!!!). So obviously, there was no chance of that!

What does one do, when one cannot beat someone, you join them! In the essence, you try to ape them! This is exactly what I did. I had always been a Sachin fan, ever since I started watching Cricket, that is until I saw Dravid! Rahul Dravid debuted for India in ODI in 1996/97 in a match against SL at Singapore. At that point of time, I hadn't even heard of him (No I did not see Dravid scoring 95 against England at Lords!). In fact, I was pretty angry with the team selection, because I was disappointed that Vikram Rathore had not been given a chance. Dravid didn't score much in that match (I think he scored 3 and was incorrectly given out when the ball had brushed his pads). The first time I *noticed* Dravid was in the Titan cup match when he and Azhar put on a decent partnership and helped in India beat Australia in the semi-finals. That inning was to become my sneak-peak to this wonderful journey of 16 years as a Rahul Dravid fan! Every street cricketer tries to ape their favorite cricketer in someway or the other. One tries to play with a very heavy bat, another tries the two-eyed stance (Many regretted that decision after the match-fixing scandal!) and there were others like me who tried aping the shots! First, it was the flick, which I had to change to the *exaggerated on-drive* of Rahul Dravid (Not that I was very successful, I ended up making a fool of myself quite often!). And as expected failed very miserably at that too! I was fortunate enough to meet him personally once! In 1998, just before the World Cup, Dravid was out of the ODI team and played a lot of club cricket in Chennai. Guru Nanak college hosted numerous club cricket games that season. In one game (Butchi Babu) tournament, we had both Dravid (for Vijay CC) and Raju (for some other team) playing at the GNC grounds. More than half of our class were at the ground bunking classes to watch him. That really was a wonderful experience, watching him bat at MY college, something that others can't witness! After the match, a lot of guys went to get his autograph. I ran too. Dravid was really polite and did not refuse anyone. He patiently signed for everyone one of them! One fellow even asked him his Chennai address, Dravid was polite and kind enough to entertain him as well. It was on that day, I saw the person behind the player! It was then that I decided that I shall at least try aping him as a person!

I won't delve into Dravid's career history, that is for everyone to see. But will highlight one strange connection that I had with him. Everytime time I was going through a very difficult stage/situation in my life, Dravid had a purple patch in his career! And every time the tide changed in my life, the form of Dravid dipped. This one time in Feb/Mar 2001, I had just cleared the SCJP with flying colors and it was probably the best phases of my life, while as expected Dravid wasn't doing well with the bat! The Australian juggernaut had steamrolled India in the first test and the Indian team had gotten themselves all-out with a very low score in Calcutta! Given that, I was going through a purple patch, I decided to stop watching the match and bunked college to go for a movie! My! How much did I regret that decision!! That was probably one of his best innings and I missed it! That was probably the only time when both Dravid and I were experiencing a purple patch at the same time! If only such situations co-existed more often! Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to watch his Headingley innings and the other gems of the 2002 tour of England and 2003 tour of Australia!

To cut a long story short, this unique relation between Dravid and me continued for long and I must admit I have failed miserably even at aping him as a person! After all even the GOD of cricket has said, *There can never be another Dravid*; Sachin meant the Dravid the player. He wouldn't be far-off had he said there will never be another Dravid (Dravid the person)! It is now that I realize that there are walls that none can scale and there are walls that none can mend! Dravid's retirement is not just a loss for Indian Cricket, it is a loss for every purist of the game! All said and done, I must say, I am privilidged to have lived in an era, where Cricketers were also role models! That is something the current generation certainly wont be able to witness!

Thank you Dravid for all those wonderful memories! You have never got the due you deserved! All those nay-sayers will understand your worth only when on a juicy pitch India lose a wicket early!!

What next for Dravid: Given the fact that he is immensely respected in England, Scotland and New zealand, don't be surprised if he ends up being a coach of the English, Scotland or New zealand!

PS: I wanted to write more, but then came across this wonderful tribute to Dravid by Sidvee. He captured everything that I wanted to say!

Open letter to Velachery MLA MK Ashok

Dear MK Ashok,

Firstly congratualations (belated) on your victory in the Velachery constituency in the assembly elections held early this year. The victory of your party in the elections gave hope to many in TN. Many of us were happy that we can finally witness good and responsible governance, which was clearly missing in the previous regime.

Although I am happy with many of the schemes that your Govt has introduced after coming to power, I will like to express my disappointment with something that has come to my notice off late. You might be aware that TN is struggling under severe power shortage for quite sometime now. In Chennai we have been subjected to daily power outages for 1 hr since May this year. Suburban areas witness nearly 3 hrs of power outages everyday . And recently I came across a news that said that this power outage is likely to continue till June 2012! You might also be aware that the recent strikes across Telengana is further affecting power supplies to TN. Under these circumstances, you will agree that it is criminal to waste electricity.

Our Honourable CM was very vocal (rightly so) about finding innovative solutions to TN's power woes as soon as she took charge of her office. She wanted to invest on Solar and other renewable means of energry to reduce the power problems of the state. Given these facts, I was flabbergasted yesterday to see the amount of electricity being wasted in Velachery! Your party workers had installed numerous tubelights and serial bulbs along with numerous hoardings of your leader on the Velachery bye-pass road. I believe your party workers wanted to welcome your leader to Velachery (or was she passing through the bye-pass road). I could count nearly 100 tube lights installed across the 1 KM stretch and these were glowing for nearly 12 hrs last night.

Assuming a single tube light consumes 60W of power, that would mean e(60W * 100 tubelights) * 12 hrs] = 72000 W of power was wasted just on tube lights. I haven't calculated the electricity consumption of the serial bulbs on the various cut-outs and hoardings that were also on display on the road. I don't know if your party workers paid TNEB for this electricity usage. Even if they did, don't you think we could have saved this power and put it to better use?

Mind you, I am not against party workers welcoming their leader, but shouldn't a party which promises better governance be more responsible with respect to their use of resources which are already scarce?

Given the spiralling costs, the increase in LPG prices and other petroleum products, many households are starting to become over reliant on Induction stoves and Ovens, the consumption of electricity has increased. And there are others who cannot afford Induction stoves and Ovens but they still do need the electricity.

As a member of the ruling party and as an MLA of the Velachery constituency you could have ensured that this wastage of power could have been avoided. If we as a state want to realise the dream of making TN the no 1 state in the country, we need to be more responsible and judicious in the way we use power/electricity.

Please can your ensure that such wastages are avoided in future.

Yours Sincerely

A concerned Velachery resident.

How long can one wait?

Its been an year almost, but I still haven't heard the thing that I am expect to hear. Day-in and day-out, I continue to slog and do everything right, but don't get to hear what I desperately want to hear. What is causing the delay? Why does everything seem stationary??

When will I get my chance? How does one overcome this impatience or desparation?

Is anyone listening? Will I hear it this next minute........Oooh God, Please help me!!

Can we choose our own pay hike?

As someone pointed on Twitter in early June, the UPA Govt did the unthinkable, or rather the Govt did what was the dream of every student, "to publish their own report card". If the ministers of the Govt set such standards, can the MPs be far behind? Around a week back, the MPs signed their own hefty (300%) pay hike!!! God how we wish we could decide our own pay hike, but then if we do have such a power would we really be as greedy as our MPs?


The Yadavs who weren't satisfied with what they looted in Bihar & UP wanted a hike in the salaries of MPs. The reason, they felt MPs were earning lesser than the bureaucrats. But who are to question that the average wealth of the MPs are Rs. 5.04 crores. What justifies the hike, when most of the MPs have just 60% attendance in the Loksabha? How come the attendance of the house was the highest when the MPs were discussing the MP salary hike, but the same enthusiasm was not shown by the MPs while discussing serious issues like price rise debate or the direct tax code (which by the way has been postponed to 2012!!).
If only democracy and the Govt functions as the corporate world does we could have expected the following:

• MPs would be elected on probation for 6 months after an election. Their pay structure must be 50% fixed pay and the remaining 50% would be variable. Out of this variable pay 50% would be paid out based on the performance of the MP, 25% based on the performance and responsibility of the MP's political party and the remaining 25% will be paid out based on the growth rate of India.
• The elected MPs objectives will be at the begining of the term based TOR (Terms Of Reference). These objectives have to be both qualitative and quantitative. With suitable weightage added to each objective.
• There will be a half yearly appraisal of the MP's performance where in the MP has to approach his/her constituency and get the feedback of the people who elected him/her.
• The MPs have to sit for an annual appraisal every financial year, where in he/she have to approach the consituency again for the feedback.
• Each MP will be appraised and given a particular performance rating of 1 to 5 (Where in 1-Consistently exceeds expectation;2-Exceeds expectations occassionaly;3-Sticks to the expectation;4-Falls short of expectation;5-Non performer).
• This rating will have to follow a bell curve i.e only 5% of MPs can be appraised as rating 1, 10% can be appraised at rating 2, 65% must be appraised at rating 3; 10% must be appraised at rating 4 and 5% will appraised at rating 5%.
• MPs with rating 1 will be eligible for 100% of their variable component; rating 2 will be eligible for 90% of their variable component; rating 3 eligible for 75%; rating 4 and 5 are not eligible for the variable component at all.
• MPs with rating 5 will need to have a Personal Constituency Development plan in place against which their performance will be monitored every month, if the MP falls short of expectation again; the MP will lose his post and by-election has to be conducted in that constituency.

I don't mean to say that the corporate appraisal method is ideal way to determine the pay hike, obviously there are loopholes in that process as well, but then it is definitely better than the way the MPs decide to sign their own hike. The "aam admi" gets the price rise, while the MPs are fested with pay hikes. But then the method I sighted occurs only in utopia, or rather utopian democracy. What we see in India today is Democrazy!!

Overcoming Reader's block

You might have heard of writer's block. Its a condition where in the write loses the ability to produce new work. There could be various reasons for this, the wikipedia link gives a very good brief on the condition.

However I am here talking about reader's block, which is something I've been suffering for quite sometime now. Which is a condition that I am sure many of you would have guessed correctly by now, is the inability to read any new work of fiction. I also do know the reason for it, my love for the Harry Potter series!! Yes guys, I am not joking! One the risks of reading the HP series is that you get so addicted to the books that you just cannot come out of it and think of reading anything new. I was introduced to the HP series very late (2004!), although I had heard of the series before I had not really got down to reading it, I was busy completing my collection of Frederick Forsyth novels. You wont believe that I took a liking to the HP story not by reading the original work of JK Rowling, but one really convincing fan fiction. I had received the ebook through mail (The Order of the Phoenix) and assumed it to be the real one and to be fair I really did enjoy the book. Thats when I decided to purchase  the first four books (assuming that I had already read the 5th) and completed reading the books in a matter of 2 weeks.

My brother was visiting us then and he had at that time just completed  reading the 5th book (which was surprising back then because my bro had never shown interest in reading novels, to be fair to him now all that has changed, he has read quite a few books now on a broad range of topics) and was discussing something on the storyline. Thats when I realized that I hadn't read the 5th part at all. I did manage to read it immediately afterwards and had promptly booked, collected and read the 6th & 7th books on the day of their release in India.

Its now 3 years since the release of the deathly hallows, but I still haven't completely recovered from the reader's block. I've tried various cures ranging from re-reading all my fav FF novels, all time fav "October Sky", tried out new authors like James Rollins (who is good btw), tried delving into sci-fi and cyberpunk genres but all of them have resulted in me coming back to square one!! I had to resort to re-reading the HP series another couple of times to satisfy my insatiable appetite for reading. I am now desperate. I need to get over this block. I hope that FF's new book thats due to release this Nov will help me get over this. But if anybody who has gone through similar feeling/condition have few suggestions/advice for me I will be very happy to hear them.

Doing a Phoenix

Been wanting to do this for sometime now and re-incarnate this blog which was long dead the second time. Suddenly decided to do this today. Found few brilliant new templates on blogger and thought of trying them out and lo...the blog has re-incarnated...but doesn't have any new content.... Need to think of something to blog now...

UK election results - A reflection of India in late 1990s

UK heading to coalition politics brought back vivid memories of the Election and Govt of India in late 90s. Guess all nations have to deal with coalition at some point of time. Maybe India can well give some lessons to UK now......

Twitter killed the (aspiring) Blogger

Not that I was a regular at blogging, nevertheless the death of the aspiration is certain. I'd have to do a phoenix to start blogging again!!!

The Joke that is INDIAN ENGLISH MEDIA

You would have come across all this news during RG's much publicised Bihar visit...

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=rahul%20gandhi%20bihar%20visit&hl=en&ned=in&tab=nw

But what the SICKULAR media doesn't report (see below)!!

Here is something that was completely ignored by the Leftist Centre SICKULAR Indian English Media....


Bihar students force Rahul Gandhi to flee campus - Rahul Gandhi Slammed by Bihar Students in Gujarat Remarks
DARBHANGA — Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to Bihar widely dubbed as an exercise to test the waters, had to leave Darbhanga after students of Lalit Narayan Mithila University got agitated over his Gujarat remarks.
Apparently to woo Muslim students, the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi reportedly said, “India can change only if Gujarat changed first.”

The students created ruckus accusing the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family of doing politics in university campus. They asked him to abstain from making political utterances and that the campus was not a platform for such meetings.
Protesting students shouted, “There is Congress government in Maharashtra and you also have the government at Centre, but why do you keep your mouth shut when Biharis are beaten in Mumbai. Don’t ever come to Bihar to play your cheap and hypocritical politics.”

Gandhi had to apologize as Congress leaders present at the venue failed to calm down the angry students. He, finally, had to leave the campus as students refused to listen to him.

Earlier, he arrived in Bettiah in West Champaran district and drove to Bhitharwa Ashram from where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Satyagraha movement in 1917.
Gandhi, who is expected to address more youth meetings in the state to galvanize party workers ahead of the polls, said,”Congress will contest on its own in the Assembly elections.”
Later, he will visit Bodh Gaya in Gaya district to meet Dalit youth. In the evening, Gandhi will visit Patliputra to meet Congress leaders at the party headquarters Sadaquat Ashram.

He will interact with girl students at a college in the city.With the Youth Congress having launched a membership drive on January 12, Gandhi will interact with potential candidates at several places.
The Congress managed to win only two out of Bihar’s 40 parliamentary seats in last year’s general election.

(With inputs from Agencies)



Student -Hamreh professor saab bolrahe theh political baat nahi honi chaheye university meh, phir tum political baat kyu ker raha hai....Maharashtra meh congress sarkar hai..kya kerteh woh bihario keh leyeh....
Rahul gandhi.-"mehne galti seh gujrat boldeya sorry".watch this video..
------

Student: Our professor said there should be no political talk, then why are you talking about Gujarat. A student from Bihar was killed in Mumbai. There is a Congress government at the Centre and in Maharashtra, what are you doing for students from BIhar

Rahul Gandhi: It's my mistake, I said Gujarat instead of Bihar by mistake

Student: When will Bihar improve to the standards of Maharashtra and Mumbai

Rahul Gandhi: I will tell you when it will improve, Bihar's situation will change on the day you change it

----------
Well done bihari student. Hats off to you.
Gujarat has highest GDP growth rate and Rahul wants to change it?
so strange. Does he wants Gujarat to stop growing ?Why cant Congress rules state develop at the rate Gujarat is developing? Lokk wat happeing to mumbai in rule of congress ...I know Rahul is uneducated(fake certificate he maded from london university az by madars high court who challenge rahul university certficate),, but he can read some magazine,journal and news paper at least.

He is just frustated as The Congress managed to win only two out of Bihar’s 40 parliamentary seats in last year’s general election.
And Bihar under Nitish rule, has become 2nd fastest growing state after Gujrat under Modi. We should always acknowledge good leadership and progressive government. Rahul, I think before he make statement just read a little bit and try to understand development because now Indian will no longer vote for “reservation” . India will vote for development.
Note - No media will report this.Our Great pro congress Media
so watch the video here-
YouTube- Rahul gandhi - Says sorry to bihari students for making anti-gujarat political rant
YouTube- Rahul gandhi - Says sorry to bihari students for making anti-gujarat political rant




Read more: http://www.unp.co.in/f46/rahul-gandhi-slammed-by-bihar-students-on-gujarat-remarks-68939/#ixzz0iV93fS5U

An Indian cricket fan's memoirs

An Indian cricket fan's memoirs

Inspired by this very emotional and nostalgic article on Cricinfo today, I decided to try my hand at writing a similar account of my memories of Cricket and the Fab five.

Born 27 summers ago, The earliest memory of mine, watching a cricket match, was when my Chithappa took me to one of the India-West Indies test matches held at Chennai during 1983-84. I was just 2.5 years old then and my younger brother was around 6 months old, so I alone had the privilege of watching the match at the ground with my Chithappa, I think, I slept for most of the match. However, I can recollect two West Indies bowlers (Marshall and Holding?) bowling from either sides of the pavilion. I couldn't much about the game then, However I was very much excited about the new cap that I was given at the stadium and also the placard reading 4/6!! I was fond of these very much that I remember treasuring them for few days after the match.

In 1986 we moved on to a new house at Kasturba Nagar, Adayar and this is where I remember playing the first game of Cricket. I can't say it is a game really, because as in all Gully Cricket, the owner of the bat is the captain, umpire and match refree of the game!! Since I didn't have a bat, the only thing I remember doing was bowling under-arms to a boy from a the neighbourhood (as you would have rightly inferred, he owned the bat). I remember my dad watching me bowl underarms and reprimanded me for doing so. He said when you bowl under-arm, its not cricket. I don't recollect much of watching cricket at that time.

I have very vague memories of the 1987 World Cup. We were in Bangalore then and I remember my dad and Grandpa discussing India's fortunes in the matches and how every one in the house would get disappointed as soon as Srikanth got out. I hardly knew any of the cricketer's names then, Srikanth, Kapil and Gavaskar were the names that usually cropped up in their discussions, but majority of the discussion at home was on Srikanth. He being from Tamil Nadu and also being an Iyengar, quite a few people at my home liked him (apart from him stroke play of course!). By this time, I did have a bat as well as quite a number of playmates (including my younger brother, who was 4 years old then) to play cricket.

I seriously started following cricket since 1988 Sharjah cup. We were visiting my uncle at Kanchipuram then. My cousin, brother and I watched the first match of the Sharjah cup, India vs West Indies. West Indies was a formidable team back then and my cousin was saying that India would have a tough time lasting their entire quota of overs. This was the first match and one of the very few matches that I remember seeing Srikanth bat. I think he scored a century that day and managed to win that game with Hirwani taking few wickets at the end. My cousin was virtually jumping on his sofa when India won. Although India went on to lose that series due to consecutive defeats against both West Indies and Pakistan, my interest in Cricket had grown. It was definitely my favourite sport and probably the only sport that I understood completely then.

Fast forward another year, I was introduced to "Sachin Tendulkar" and I as many of my age then went crazy!!! He spoilt us, We were rooted to our televisions, refused to do our schoolwork when he played. Hell, we refused even to go to schools when there was a match!! I don't remember seeing any of India's matches in Sachin's debut series at Pakistan, however I do remember the many Sharjah Cups that India featured in.

Year 1991 - The elation of watching India steamroll themselves to the final and then dejection of seeing Aaqib Javed destroying India in the finals . Many of this generation do not understand or feel the pressure of India-Pakistan encounters, Even as a child you could feel it then, the streets were deserted during any India Pakistan match then and given that we never had a media that hyped such games then, you can certainly appreciate the importance of such matches. Winning against Pakistan then was treasured by all the Indian fans given that it didn't happen that frequently then. (I pity the state of Pakistan cricket now, its really unfortunate that we don't get to see the mother of all encounters these days....). I vividly remember that all India Pakistan matches were scheduled on a Friday and India were routinely on the losing side whenever this happened, this led to many weird discussions in class rooms.

(to be continued)................

Investment in Mutual Funds - A teaching from Karl Marx??

Marxism is a concept that all of us have learnt in school. As many would know, one of the most important ideals or principles of a marxists is that they are totally against materialism and capitalism. Communists Part of India (Marxists) better known as CPI(M) base their ideals and principles on Marxism. So you would expect them to be totally against anything that are against their ideals. But Surprise, Surprise...... The CPI (M) has invested a lot of its money on Mutual Funds in order to increase their returns!! Don't believe me, read this article for proof.


How can a party that is fundamentally against capitalism, invest money on something that is distinctly a symbol of capitalism (The Stock market)?? Either there is something fundamentally wrong with the world's understanding of Marxism or the CPI(M) are the sickest of hypocrites on Earth! During the Nuclear deal issue, many CPI leaders such as D. Raja, AB Bardhan, Sitaram Yechury were quoted in media that they cared a damn towards falls in Sensex! AB Bardhan specifically said "Baad me jaaye SENSEX!!". Why then invest on the same sensex?? The commies have yet again shown that they are masters of doublespeak and hypocrisy....Well so much for their ideals. Afterall, this party has always opposed to any policy that has later on gone on to be beneficial for the Nation.

Deja Vu!!!

Another Saturday, a bomb blast at Delhi, the following Monday another blog from me. Seems like routine now isn't it? Nothing has changed since the last strike by the cowards!!! (I've decided to call those responsible for such bomb blasts as COWARDS rather than Terrorists, Cowardliness is the apt word to describe these acts of insanity!), probably only one thing, there wasn't a mail from Indian Mujahideen this time. Probably because all unsecure Wi-Fi networks in Mumbai have been secured(?) and Tauqeer is afraid to send out an email and get caught.

Over the past two weeks Our PM has kept himself busy trying to secure the nuclear deal and addressing the UN on "terror" awareness and how to stand united against terror (Shouldn't he be first following these before preaching others??) . UPA chair person has been acting the Just and SE(I?)C(K?)ULAR person that she is by ordering Orissa and Karnataka Government to punish people attacking Churches (Where was she when the entire Congress party was man handling and killing Sikhs during the Anit Sikh riots??? - scars of which are still seen on many Sikhs of the UK). She obviously is least bothered about the killers of Swami Laxmanananda at Kandhamal (Of course he was killed by Naxalites Wasn't it Sonia??) or the publication of "Satyadarshini" by few Christian Missionaries in Karnataka containing derogatory text on various Hindu deitys. This link contains the scanned copy of the book (in Kannada) of these derogatory texts (This again is scandal by BJP, to incite the hatred of Bajrang Dal towards Christians. Isn't it Sonia?? )!! After the bomb blast she has issued statements that she would root out terrorism out of India (Why was terrorism allowed to grow into such big menace in first place?)

The Home minister has changed his attire twice everyday and kept himself very hygenic that he decided to even avoid the camera this time, lest the lighting etc might affect his complexion! The UPA is so confused now with the roles of each of their ministers that now the Home minister is taking advise from the Foreign minister for an in-house problem (Is dealing with Terrorism inside India related to India's Foreign policy???) Why is the External Affairs minister assuring the nation during a bomb blast, have the ministers too lost faith in Patil? From time to time all of the spokespersons (or should I said crap speakers?) of UPA issue contradictory statements on how to tackle terror, whether we need a stronger law? So good for calling themselves United Progressive Alliance. Can as well rename themselves as Ugly and Pathetic at Administration!!

Arjun Singh (I feel its beneath us to even address him as a minister!!) has been busy defending the terrorists involved in the Delhi Blast. You would think that the Union Human Resource Department minister's duty is to take care of the human resources (read lawful citizens) of our Country. But know Arjun Singh thinks otherwise, he feels its his duty to defend the terrorists! I guess, he actually works for Terrorist (read COWARDS) Resources Ministry. You ask why? because, the Jamia Mia University had decided earlier to name one of its buildings after Arjun Singh for his noble work towards the University. God knows how much of the tax payers money was swindled to help out the university and these Cowards! Its a pity that we are currently in this state of affairs. A Government which is supposed to protect the lawful citizens is using the tax payers money to protect the cowards!!!!

The pseudo secular Indian media (read CNN-IBN, NDTV, The Hindu etc..) were busy coming up with views on how the police have been unjust in the encounter. How people (read Hindus) have been victimising a community and a place (Azamgarh) for all terror attacks. They even went to the extent of questioning how come there are more terror strikes in India when police claim to have nabbed all the major people involved in the previous blast??? Does the media mean that the only terrorists involved are the Indian Mujahideen cowards who are currently in Jail?? Terrorism would never be wiped out as long as there more people are brainwashed in each of the Madrassas with distorted views on a religion. Islamic Terrorism can only be controled by teaching religious tolerance to all gullible youths who are being tutored in various madrassas. Media needs to play a more responsible role in the fight against terror. Doesn't any of the channels understand by reporting whatever they are at present, they are inciting further anger and division amongst an already fragile religious harmony. In Country's like US and UK after every terrorist attack, the media has played a very responsible role by reporting correct facts and never ever sympathising with the terrorists, but India alone can we see the media equating SIMI/ IM with Bajrang Dal. (Yes, Bajrang Dal is run by hooligans who don't have the correct way of expressing their dislike for conversion. I do not agree to their views, but then that doesn't equate them to SIMI or IM). The media has not even bothered to report the publications of Satyadarshini and the role of Christian Missionaries.

Javed Akhtar during the weekend edition with Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN wanted a ban on Bajrang Dal and all other Hindu organizations which supported or shared the views of Bajrang Dal. I am sure that nearly 90% of Hindu's are against forced conversions hence they share the views of Bajrang Dal. So lets ban Hinduism itself!! I wonder if he, Shabana Azmi, Teesta Setalvad, Arundhati Roy and other such social activists have ever been critical of the hooligans who manhandled (woman handled?) Taslima Nasreen. Manhandling of Taslima Nasreen isn't an incorrect act, because she was being derogatory against Muslims and that in this Secular Country is a crime. But Hindu and Hinduism bashing is past time for all Secular Politicians in our Country. The "Self Respect" group in Tamil Nadu does not believe in God, but Karunanidhi would take time from his busy schedule to attend Iftaars, but he would never ever share a stage with a Hindu priest (Sai Ram being an exception here, because then Karunanithi very badly needed the money)! This doesn't make him communal. He is just being helpful to the minority and taking care of them. But when a person from the majority community speaks up for the discriminations against his/her religion he gets branded as COMMUNAL!!!

It is time for some action, radical change. Its time for another Wednesday.....

PS: As I was publishing this blog, there was news of another two blasts at Gujarat and Maharastra. We've got to do something before these cowards wipe us out. It doesn't matter what it takes to bring justice...because "The Nation is always bigger than the Individual" as pointed by APJ Abdul Kalam.

Kapil Sibal and his mindless rantings.....

Karan Thapar has every now then brought out how pathetic our politicians really are...The latest among his list is Kapil Sibal. The following is the text of Devli's Advocate interview with Kapil Sibal. Where the minister claims that the UPA govt has been more successful in combating terror than any of the previous governments!!! The aam aadmi might be wondering how can a minister claim such blatant lies in front of the media, when every citizen of India knows the truth. Guess what the minister had as a proof of his claim.

Quote

"Quite frankly, if you look at facts and numbers, the record of the UPA Government“"in terms of terror“"has been much better than the previous governments. There were more civilian deaths in the previous government: between 1999 and 2003 there were over 4,000 deaths - Kapil Sibal"

Unquote

I now wonder, how could such an a$£$£%le even become a minister. As per Kapil's statement, as long as the number of people to have died during the UPA's rule is considerably lower than the number of people to die during the previous Government, their performance in the battle against terror is great. Its a real shame, is this a Cricket Match??? are we keeping scores on the number of people to have died to measure the performance of the Govt??? This is ridiculous!!!!

The minister is least bothered about the number of innocent people being killed, how could he possibily think of giveing such a reason. Its a serious insult to the people who have lost their lives to such cowardly acts by the Cowards!!!! And politicians like Kapil Sibal are making use of the number people to have died to claim their position as a minister. Kapil Sibal should have felt apologetic and someone within the UPA must have owned up responsibility.

To all families who have lost a kith of kin in any of the terrorists attacks over the past years, I can assure you that there are many nationalists like me in our Country whose heart reaches out to you. We nationalists apologise to you for the these mindless rantings by our SICKULAR Govt. UPA ministers have long lost any credibility in representing the aam aadmi or for that matter any citizen of India. God save our Motherland from the cowards (aka terrorists) and these SICK politicians!!!

Operation BAD ?? or Management BAD !!!

Saturday was the 3rd time in 2 months that the Indian Mujahideen has managed to bomb another of India's cities and god knows how many times have in the past 4 years. Everytime a these A£$%$%^ strike, the Union minister goes on air saying that everything is being done to nab the culprits and justice will be done. But apart from Gujarat police nabbing few terrorists last month nothing has occurred and none of the others culprits have been brought to justice.

While the government is still contemplating on punishing the terrorists already tried for the 2001 parliamentary attack, scores of new terrorists are being recruited everyday. I read an article the other day on some website which says Nagori (The SIMI head who is at present in Indore jail) wanted 2 new recruits for every person from SIMI who is nabbed by the police. Nagori was also instrumental in formation of the Shaheen force, which another front of the SIMI recruitment division consisting of women (mostly elderely) who brainwash young minds and convince them to take up terrorism.

There was another report that suggested that India is only behind Afghanistan and Iraq in the number of civilians killed in terrorists incidents. With all such incidents, we as citizens would think that the government would become more responsible and proactive in preventing terrorist attacks. Its clearly seen that the existing laws against terrorism is a clear joke and we do require something more stringent and strong that would discourage these would-be terrorists in becoming one. All countries have very strict terrorists laws and these laws are occassionally misused everywhere, but that does not stop them repealing the law and bring in a "joke". The pseudo-secular media is very instantaneous in pointing out that POTA had been misused, but what is the solution then. How long are we gonna take to realize that the existing law is not enough. The UPA says that POTA is extreme, the pseudo-secular media supports it, but clearly the number of terrorists incidents show that the existing law is not enough. How many more people need to die for the Govt to come to an agreement that the current law is just not quite enough. DAMMIT! no need of POTA, but something far more stricter than the existing law.

The UPA has for long now been suffering from Stockholm syndrome, their ministers have gone to the extent of visiting the terrorists and providing them consolation, but these people rarely care about the innocent people who are losing the lives regularly during these acts of cowardice by the terrorists!!! Its a real shame that today we are in a situation that terrorists have the audacity to mail all tv channels ahead of the blasts making a complete mock our security and intelligence. Lets face it there has been a complete intelligence failure during all of these blasts and the investigations by the police department has been totally pathetic and lets not even talk about the Govt!!! I've heard that hospitals in Delhi are having a torried time taking care of the security measures for the visiting ministers that they have started to ignore the patients who require the actual attention.

Time and again we have seen the (dis) functioning of these elected representatives, the rule makers and protecters, why should we citizens suffer for the mis-management of the administration. I believe its time we citizens take up the responsibility of National Security. If one tech savvy terrorist has managed to cause so much havoc, just imagine how much can we patriotic and tech savvy/educated/responsible citizens can be helpful towards national security. I think its time for Citizen Intelligence Movement of India (CIMI) because we have lost trust in the UPA govt and our Intelligence agencies require a lot of help from us citizens. CIMI must be an umbrella organization of all responsible citizens of India, who want to fight this menace of terrorism. Being responsible citizens, all of us have an important duty towards our Country and that's in helping towards national security. All of us can keep constant vigilance and be on the look out for various would-be terrorists and suspsicious behaviour on the Internet or in our neighbourhood. Any such behaviour must be immediately brought to the attention of the Police. You've would have heard of Friends of Police organization that available in numerous cities, this new organization can work in coordination with such groups. There is no substitute for People/Citizen power. If all of us take up an oath to weed out terrorism from India, we surely can. It is the responsibility of every citizen of India, we cant trust the politicians to this for us. its upto us now to weed out these cowards!!!

We have numerous NGO like Fifth Pillar etc which are very helpful in fighting corruption, why can't we have such an NGO to gather Intelligence and fight terror. I am sure, there would be numerous citizens like me who would want to help out our Country in this regard. This is a thought I've had for a long time, I know its too early and might sound stupid to a few, but this is just the begining of a long journey that we all responsible citizens have towards achieving a terrorists or a terrorism free India!! and I am sure if we do get some where with such a plan, CIMI along with the help of other Indian Intelligence agencies and the police department can fight and defeat SIMI, Indian Mujahideen and all such terrorists outfits.

PS:

As you would have already known by now, that all of the mails sent by Indian Mujahideen were done through unsecured Wi-Fi connections. Wi-Fi is relatively new technology in India and there aren't many people who actually take up the security of Wi-Fi connection as a serious business. Even in developed countries like the UK and US, you would find numeorus Wi-Fi un-secure networks. There are numerous sites that provide information on how to secure your Wi-Fi connection. Rediff has recently come up with an article on how to achieve this, you can read about it here. Although the details provided here are not completely foolproof, its a good starting point. All wirless networks must be regularly monitored to ensure there are no misuse for the same.

For people who think that what can an ordinary citizen do when our very own Intelligence agencies are not being successful. I would like to point you people Simon Wiesenthal, the world famous Holocaust survivor, who main aim/mission in life was to bring all Nazi war criminals to justice and he single handedly collected enough information on all Nazi war criminals who had escaped/disappeared after Germany's surrender. Its said that Simon Wiesenthal's data was used by Mossad (although they don't openly admit it) to capture various Nazi war criminals.

Kendriya Vidyalaya - The next target of UPA

I was about to blog about my second day trip to Cotswold, but then this news article on the web caught my eye and I was instantly enraged!!! How low can the UPA stoop?? This is pathetic!!! Ever since that a$$&$£$%^ of a guy Arjun Singh became the HRD minister he has been wrecking havoc to an esteemed institution called Kendriya Vidyalaya my almamater, and so would it be for numerous others throughout India and the World.

Talking about all his illogical and disgraceful decisions would require more than a blog and lots of time. I could as well write a novel about it. But this time its quite outrageous. I am sure everyother Kendriya Vidyalayaite like me would have been proud of our Logo, Song, Motto and every other thing attached to this institution. Why the hell are these politicians hell bent on tarnishing and changing this unique culture of ours???

So what if the logo contains a Lotus, does this make any of students or staff of these schools a BJP spokes person??? Lotus is our nation flower Goddamitt!!! Why dont you change that as well and change it to some flower that is unique only in Italy!!! I am sure you would stoop to any level to please your masters at 10 Janpath!!! Ever since the UPA government has come to power they have divided and continued to divide people based on religion, caste etc etc... They even replaced that Indian Map that appeared on numerous Rs 2 coins with something that looks like a Cross!!!! Before 2009 I believe they would have changed whatever had anything to do with India and we might no longer feel proud to call ourselves Indian.


It pains a lot to see even educated people recognizing themselves first with their state/area rather than being called an Indian. Thanks to the UPA we are all divided and the adage "Unit in diversity" no longer is applicable to India. UPA and the INC have been encouraging divisive forces to breed in our nation. They are encouraging parties and groups like MNS (Raj Thackeray), JMM (Shibu Soren), Naxalites, JKLF, PDP, Hurriyat...etc. In my opinion any party which does not consider itself to be National but rather identifies itself to a state or an area must be banned and thats the only way we can achieve nationalism in our country today. But how can we expect to achieve this when the Government thats ruling us is changing everything that we identify to be unique to India and Indian culture. Whats next on your list Mr. Arjun Singh?? Changing the Ashok Chakra of the Indian Flag because the Wheel would remoind everyone of Janata Dal???????

I leave you all with this favourite song of mine to ponder on what we have done to this wonderful nation of ours by electing such an awful and disgracefule Government and what must be our responsibility in ensuring that we dont lose something that dear to all of us.

Trip to Cotswold (Day 1)


Its been nearly month we've been in UK and had already missed out on two Indian holidays. So when we came to know that August 25th is a bank holiday in UK, we decided visit some good place for the long weekend (In UK 25th of May and 25th of August are two national holidays even though there are no festivals associated with these days). During a casual conversation with our colleagues here, one of them suggested to visit "The Cotswold" instead of any other major tourists attractions in UK as they would be too crowded and expensive during the August bank holiday weekend.(Edinburgh, Scotland celebrates a famous carnival during the month of August, hence almost all major cities in Scotland are crowded in the month of August, Cardiff again is a major tourist attraction during this month as this was the start of the Summer vacation in UK).

We hadn't heard anything about Cotswold(This place was never mentioned in any of the conversation with our colleagues during a our last visit to the UK). So we really didn't know what to expect of the place and what to plan. On some analysis that my wife did on the Internet, we came to know that Cotswold is a range of hills in West-Central England. This area has been designated by UK Government as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". The place is also unique for a kind of oolitic limestone known as Cotswold stone which is quarried in many places in the Cotswold hills. This stone is used to build most of the houses around the Cotswold area. They have a unique "honey" or "golden" colour. Almost all buildings in Oxford, Cheltenham etc have houses built with stones of this colour.

After many days of confusing over the places to visit within Cotswold and the place to stay, we finally came to the conclusion of staying at Cheltenham which was easily the centre for all places to visit within The Cotswold. Not having prior driving experience on English roads forced us to travel by train(Although one of our colleagues forewarned us, that we might find it difficult seeing places without our own car). Being an Indian and having drived around in India for more than a year, We've always feared that our Indian instincts would take over when we drive in UK as well. Just for the note, 99% of the drivers in UK are very disciplined, they give preference to pedestrians, so if you are standing on the edge of the road in order to cross it, they would stop their car and allow to you to pass through (unlike in India, where you would be sweared at using un-parlimentary words!!). At all turns and round-abouts, the approaching vehicles are given preference before they turn (The generic rule is first to give way!), in India, there would have been a race to see who turns first by ensuring to block the other. Use of horn ins UK is considered to be derogatory (Don't even think about this in India!!!). People hardly use horns even at various traffic jams. All of them follow lane discipline and very rarely can you see anyone overtaking the other on a narrow road.

We had booked our accommodation at Holiday Express Inn at Cheltenham, which was reasonably priced and had good facilities. We had to take a train from Slough to Cheltenham Spa (One way ticket costs £34 per ticket, while a return ticket costs £35 pounds :-) with a validity of 1 month for the return journey). On checking the Nationalrail website (In UK there are numerous private railway companies that operate services on various routes), we came to know that a through train to Cheltenham Spa from Slough (which is about 10 miles from Loudwater) was at 8:07 am. We were targeting to catch this train on Saturday morning so that we have sufficient time for sight seeing on Saturday itself. The approximate journey time is 2:16 minutes. My wife had plans to prepare Chappathis for the journey(being pure vegetarians, we weren't convinced of finding any pure veg restaurants at Cheltenham), we decided to carry the bread toaster as well so that we can prepare our own food in case we didn't find any at Cheltenham. After an early start and some hiccups on the way, we finally did manage to board the 8:07 train, we had to changeover at Reading station to reach Cheltenham Spa. We checked hotel reservation to confirm our accommodation and enquired if we can handover our luggage under their custody (Since the check-in time was 3 pm) prior to check-in time. The hotel guys said that shouldn't be a problem. We reached Cheltenham at around 10:45 am and took a cab to the hotel( cost us £5). And surprisingly, we were allowed to check-in ahead of time at no extra cost (Since the hotel was not fully occupied). We then had our lunch of bread toasts that my wife had prepared that morning and decided to start off with sight seeing.

We first enquired the reception of the Hotel, if they can provide us with details on which are the easily accessible locations on a Saturday and to which places do we have buses on Sunday. But the blasted fellows couldn't provide us any information. He was googling from his desk and providing us information that we had already gathered on the Internet. That fool didn't even know where "Bourton-on-the-water" (one of a local attractions near Cheltenham) was. Had it been India, the guys at the reception would have provided a detailed history and geography on the local attractions!!! Frustrated we asked him to provide us directions to the Tourist Information Centre, which he thankfully did. We then tracked down the tourist information centre and queried the staff there on what would be the best to places to visit. The staff there were quiet helpful and they provided us with various pamphlets on the places to visit and even marked out few of them for us to visit, citing the days on which there is public transport to those places. By this time, it was nearly 2 pm and our next bus to the attraction "Bourton-on-the-water" was only 2:30 pm. Bourton-on-the-water, Stow-on-the-wold and Moreton-in-marsh are three classic Victorian villages (Villages by English standard!) which have numerous picturesque views. There is a bus that operates from Cheltenham which caters to all three of these villages, the frequency of this service is 1 bus every 2 hours on a weekday, there is considerably reduced service on weekends. Although these villages are a good 10 miles away from Cheltenham, they charge only £1.80 per ticket to reach Bourton, £1.90 to reach Stow and £2 to reach Moreton. There are no return tickets available on these buses ie you have to buy one-way tickets because the fares are anyway considerably lower, however these buses are not in anyway upto English standard, They seem more like their Indian counterparts, so you got to be ready for a bumpy ride on an English road :). The journey time to reach Moreton-in-marsh was nearly 1 hr, since that would reduce the time we had at our disposal for sight seeing, we decided to alight at Bourton-on-the-water and see around, which turned out to be a good decision. Bourton-on-the-water is a small village along the banks of the so called river Windrush (pictured). I call it "the so called river" because its hardly as wide as the sewage line that you cross to reach Sasi Nagar at Velachery (The velachery lake would seem like a huge sea, when compared to this river!!!). God knows what these Britishers would call one of the Indian rivers, The English rivers are tiny when compared to even the smallest of the Indian rivers!!

The entire village is located just adjacent to this and the place looks beautiful. Looks more a kind of set from some old English play. This place is used a picnic spot and is frequented by numerous people during the summer. We could see a lot of Indians too here. All of them were squatting along the banks of the river on their travel easy chairs or on the ground, with their children and pets playing on the water (The river is hardly deep, with the water reaching only till your ankles at most of the areas). Children and dogs all of them were fooling around in the water. Boys were running around, while the girls were playing with their plastic boats. There were others who were training their canine companions to retrieve sticks and balls thrown in to the water. There was also a reasonable duck population on the water, which fed on whatever was thrown in to the water by these picnickers. Here again we visited the tourist information centre to get an idea of the places to see before our last bus back to Cheltenham (at 5:15 pm). The lady there marked out the places for us. the places to visit there were

• The model village
• The Birdland
• The Auto Musuem
• The Maze
• The Perfurmery

Due to shortage of time, we restricted ourselves to three of the above places. We first visited the model village, all the while I kept wondering, why the hell does one require a model village of a village that already looks one!! The irony of this is, that within the model village, the have a model of the model village itself (So basically it goes in to an indefinite loop........). Although the model of the model village did not look too convincing. But to the credit of the craftsmen, the model village was desgined good ("Not-too-bad" would be the term if I have to sound English). They charged as nearly £3.50 for a ticket to view the model village.



The next place on the list the Birdland centre. This place boasted of a collection of a number of unique and rare birds and it also had a family of Penguins (Yes I mean it!). Apparently there are quiet a few zoos around the world which breed penguins, although this list is not complete, it still means that you dont have to go to the South pole in order to see a penguin. This got us excited and it was really nice to see these wonderful creatures. They looked pretty clean but smelled awfully bad. I guess all the pain they took in keeping themselves clean made their surroundings stink :). Jokes apart, the Birdland centre had two species of Penguins and apart from these it did have quiet unique collections of rare birds. We found numerous huge Owls as well (reminded me a lot of Harry potter's Hedgewick).



After the Birdland, we visited the maze. This basically was constructed similar to the maze shown in the final task of "Harry Potter and Goblet of fire". We were asked to look for 14 clues across a maze constructed from wooden fences thickly populated with dense creepers and using these clues we are to find out the location of a dragon fly. Getting around the maze was a real challenge, we lost our way on numerous occassions and had to tread back. We managed to locate 12 of the 14 clues available, but by the time we reached the position where we had to act upon these clues, there was a group already there who managed to track down the dragon fly. With this maze also done, we had very little time to look at the other places. So we rushed back to the bus stop lest we miss the bus. On the way back, we treated ourselves to ice creams and took a few snaps of the environment around us.




We managed to reach the bus stop before the last bus arrived, we boarded the bus and headed towards Cheltenham. We reached Cheltenham around 6 pm and then went in search of any Indian Vegetarian restaurants. As expected we couldn't find any, so we diverted our attention to look for cookies, bread, apple and tomato ketchup from Tesco. These would keep us alive the next day in case the breakfast at the Hotel was not good.


In London all shops close by 7 pm, you can hardly find anything other than large supermarkets and pubs are open beyond 7 pm. We thought of shopping but this scenario was far worse at Cheltenham, this being a small city everything shutdown by 6 pm. We were planning to rent a car for the next two days thanks to the experience with the public transport, but we were in for a big disappointment, all car rental shops were closed and they remained closed for the entire weekend. Little did we know what was in store for us the remaining two days!! Anyway having faced the disappointment and with not anything else to do, we headed back to the Hotel and watched TV for sometime. The SKY network at the Hotel was able to pick one Tamil radio channel as well. We ate the chappathis that my wife had prepared that morning for dinner and went to bed early so as the start of with our second days journey of exploring the Cotswold...

to be continued....

We are the Champions!!!

This is a photograph that would be cherished by all victory starved Indian cricket fans around the world!! After all being an Indian Cricket fan is never easy. You need to get used to the agony, the tension, the pain after the defeat time and again against both good and lowly opponents.

But this time it was a complete different story altogether, Every Indian who watched the heart stopping final of the World Twenty 20 would have something to tell about to their grand children!!!

Agony of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows!!!

Are you wondering that this is another of those numerous reviews for the final book in the potter series. Well NO, I cant review it, because I haven't read it yet. The reason - I have been cheated by the website Indiaplaza.in...read on for another tragic tale in my life :(((

I had placed an order to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book on Indiaplaza.in website on 20th of July. The website had been advertizing quite a bit about delivering the book on time (21st July 2007 itself) if I the customer was a resident of a metropolitan city (Chennai of course being one of them).
I promptly got a mail from then confirming my order number (order # 200720070361) and the consignment number (U20218488) for the delivery being delivered by DTDC and also promising me that the book would be delivered to me by 3:00 PM on 21st of July 2007. Never once did I realize then, that what was to start now was complete agony probably more than the agony of the deaths to be read about in the final book of Harry Potter. I waited till 5 PM for the book and when it didn't come, I tried calling both DTDC and Indiaplaza.in Customer Care (which was perennially busy!!!!). I sent across numerous mails to both of them without any response. My initial mail from Indiaplaza confirming my order contained a contact person from DTDC whom I need to contact incase there was a delay. I tried reaching him (Chandrasekhar - email id: chandrasekhar@dtdc.com and Ph : 9381200918), but did not get response from him either.
At around 7 PM on 21st July I found that Indiaplaza.in was advertising that it has successfully delivered 15000 books across the country on time and it kept me wondering how that was possible when numerous other customers like me had complained on the internet on websites such as www.mouthshut.com and www.complaintsboard.com about their books not being delivered. I mailed again to both DTDC and Indiaplaza but all my mails and calls seem to be falling to deaf ears!! I got another jolt when I found that DTDC had disabled the mail id of chandrasekhar, now I was completely helpless, I called up my local DTDC (Velachery) office and the representative there said that he couldn't locate my consignment number.
On 24th July I finally managed to contact a customer care representative of Indiaplaza and gave him a piece of my mind and he promised to deliver the book the same day, if not by 25th July itself. When they didn't deliver on 25th I called them again and sent across numerous mails insisting that I would go to consumer court in case they do not keep their promise. I promptly got a reply telling me that my concern will be resolved in 2 working days. Its the 1st of August 2007 today and I am still sending them mails and calling them up (None of the customer service guys pick my call) I still haven't got a response to any of the mails I have sent after that. I am totally helpless and angered at the same time. I would want to take severe action against a fraud company such as Indiaplaza.in which makes numerous promises but hasn't till-date kept even one of them!!!!!
I hope that they would manage to deliver my book before J.K Rowling decides to write and release the 8th part of Harry Potter!!! :(

>>Favourite Authors <<

Reading has been my favourite pastime since time immemorial, having been introduced to the books by Enid Blyton by my dad during Class IV holidays. I have read a number of books by various authors and here are few of my favourite authors and characters.

Enid Blyton - Like many others, I have grown up reading her books. Secret Seven, Famous Five, Five-Find Outer's I have read them all. Her books have a certain charm that hasnt been matched by any other infant/young adult author until recently. Having spent nearly 8 years of my childhood at KV MEG staff quarters, I was able to correlate and get involved in many of her stories. KV MEG back then was a jungle with a lot of abandoned buildings then and was very similar to the abandoned buildings and etc described in her books. Only after visiting Beaconsfield, UK (Enid Blyton's residence) did I really feel the real effect of her books. Beaconsfield is exactly how she describes it in her books (although she doesnt call it Beaconsfield) and its a must visit place for all her fans. My favourite character among her books has been "Fattie" from the Five Find Outer's series. Enid Blyton books are a must read for all teenagers!!

Robert Arthur - After reading Enid Blyton I was introduced to the Three Investigators series by a friend of mine and I really loved it. Unlike Enid Blyton's novels, the three investigators series had more fundoo stuff involved. "Jupe" was my favourite character and it was really wonderful read about their adventures, their gadgets, their tunnel etc.. "The Three Investigators" is a must read again for all teenagers interested in mystery fiction. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are another set of mystery novels available for teenagers, but its the casefiles series among these books that are good, the mystery stories are at times a bit lethargic!!

J K Rowling - Who wouldn't have heard of this author?? She is the first person to become US-dollar billionaire by writing books alone!!! I guess everyone in this world would have heard of Harry potter and more than 2/3rd of the population would be a read/watched a Harry Potter book/movie!!! At first I didnt know what was the big deal about this book. I was told that it was a fantasy story and I didnt like fantasy stories much so was very reluctant to pick this book up initially and then one day I came across an online version of one of its books and I read it, I became too engrossed in it and started to like it very much after reading nearly the entire book I realised that it was a fake Harry Potter book written by a fan!! So in this way, it was a fanfiction that lead me to the real author and kindled my interest in the Harry Potter Series. The very next day I went in search of the real book and bought all the four books at the same time and read them all together on the trot!! Man I couldn't describe the feeling, its was something beyond great!! JK Rowling has revived the habit of reading among children and adult alike (she did get some help from Dan Brown with the adults) at a time when the whole world had moved completely towards the idiot box!!! My favourite character in the Harry Potter Series has to be Albus Dumbledore.

Frederick Forsyth - Words wont do justice in describing this author. He is level (probably even two) above the rest of the authors in his genre. You've got to read one of his books to actually understand what I am saying.

Onsite Blues...

It all started when I in the midst of an interesting arguement with my wife regarding how a piece of code should be coded in one of the extract programs, I completely involved in the argument that I didnt realize for sometime that my phone was ringing and its was my manager calling up. I rushed and picked up the phone and guess what I heard..."Hi Partha, you and priya are travelling to UK in few weeks, Get in touch with the travel desk and get your visa stamped!! [click]". Ramesh (My manager) has always been direct in all conversations and I kinda liked it, but even I could not believe that he would be so direct and upto the point in such a thing. It took a moment(probably more) for me to digest and realize what I just heard.....Oh My God..We are travelling to UK!! I am travelling to the UK!!! My first onsite assignment and whats more great, I have been official chosen to travel onsite along with my wife!!!! Not everyone gets such a chance...but never did I realize that the next few weeks were going to be one of the most amusing and tiring weeks of my life!!!!!

Onsite is supposed to be every Indian Software whizkid's dream!!!! Believe me anybody who says that he/she is not interested in a software assignment is a bloody liar!!! I have been in this industry for 5 years now and before that I was aspiring to get into this field for 3 years and all these years, I would have thought about an onsite oppurtuinity atleast once a day!!! I have been laughed at, teased, mocked by a lot of people citing this reason (I have never been to onsite eventhough I have 4+ experience). My wait was long, people of my batch kept travelling but I never lost hope, I have known people who have waited longer than me...I knew that I would get my chance someday for sure........
But not even once did I imagine that my oppurtuinity would jump in at this moment when I least expected it!! Now you might be wondering WTF?? This guy says he has thought about an onsite oppurtuinity atleast once a day, but now he says he got one when he least expected it... Hmm yes its true let me explain, After I joined my current company around Feb this month, it was informed that everyone of our team members would be travelling to UK in the coming months for an onsite assignment, but since we were new and werent yet confirmed, our chance would come eventually but not immediately. A colleague of ours was supposed to travel acouple of months back and all arrangements were complete, but the plan was changed exactly the day before she started!!!! This resulted in the shift of my paradigm :))...

What I describe now are the incidents that took place after I received the call from my manager!!

First both of called up our parents and brother/sister to inform the news(It isnt good still - coz we are not sure if it would happen!!) all of them were ofcourse happy but were very cautious and asked us to be cautious too.

Secondly we spoke to the travel desk regarding the visa processing stuff and initiated that process.

Then came the important part, planning the travel and this what made us crazy. We realised that we had lots and lots of things to do...citing a few, Shift our house, buy winter clothing(its winter in the UK and its nasty cold!!!), buy travel bags and few dresses....etc etc the list was endless....

After planning we were down to implementing few of them,w e bough winter clothing and shifted our house too, but suddenly we started to hear rumours that ours too would be another cancelled onsite assignment and to make matters worse my manager wasnt willing to give me the exact date of travel!!!! Imagine what would have happened then... :))

Having invested quite a few amount in shifting the house and winter clothing we were left in doubt whether we had taken the correct decision of buying/planning things for the travel before the confirmation of the date. This period of stalemate continued for few more days and then finally we received the date of travel and finished all the necessary processes. We got a visas on the expected date without any hassles and finally we received our tickets too!! So we were all set for travelling, but if u think that was the end of all tensions and we had a very smooth flight, then you are more than wrong!!!!! Whatever happened next would take an entire separate blog, so I would describe those events separately tomorrow........until then c ya all guys!!! :)