England on verge of creating History

England is just four wickets away from retaining the Ashes. Ponting would have the dubious distinction of leading the Australian team in a losing cause for the third time in Ashes.
Defeat brings out the real character in a person. Ponting's on field behavoiour with the Umpires was absolutely disgusting and uncalled for. But given his past records it wasn't unexpected all together.
In the mean while at Durban, India is relatively safe and can look forward to save or even win this match. Thanks again to VVS Laxman, the disaster management specialist !.
If India go on to win this one and esnure that they do not lose the last one it would be fanstastic way to start 2011

Mouth Watering Contest

This week we have two mouth watering contests in Test Cricket. India- South Africa and Australia - England.
India is in surrender mode and have made up their mind to lose the opening test unless we get to see some fantastic come back in second innings. If past records are any indication then we should not expect miracles and South Africa would wrap up the proceedings in under four days.
Australia made a good come back by bowling England cheaply and getting a lead of 81 runs. It is not that lop sided at this point and either of the teams can go and win this match.

Prithvi in the fray

Printhviraj Chauhan isn't clean but at least he is educated and so we should be happy that we have leader who is well educated. A BTech from BITS Pilani and and MS from US makes me happy that we have a person who at least knows what is to be done. Now it is just matter of time before he delivers what is expected of him.

India comes a cropper

The Asiad began on a very silent note. Indians as expected did not perform on the opening day nor did they pose any real threat to the Chinese band wagon.

We were just out of the euphoria of bagging handful of medals against unknown names but the Asiad would serve a timely notice to those who were expecting some medals at Olympics.

Hockey is second best when it comes to popularity with Indian sports fans. Today at the Major Dhyanchand stadium India beat Pakistan 7-4. What a margin man, it was great to get to know that we beat our arch rival albeit in our own den to storm in the Semis. Now the big question can we forget the 2-5 trashing given by the Aussies in the opening round ?

I am just waiting for that to happen. Another moment of joy was Sachin passing 14,000 runs in test matches.... land mark after land mark conquered with no competition. The closet rival was Ponting who seems to be a tad bit out of touch. Will he get at least a close second ? I doubt if he can.

Navratri

Navratris began yesterday and with it the Private Clinics have geared up to cater to the increased number of abortions. Also Dandiya Mandals have set up Condom Vending Machines. The Mumbai District Aids Control Society said they did it last year as well.

What a pity, what a distortion of religion. The entire nine nights were supposed to be for offering your prayers to the Goddess. But sadly we have made this a mega entertainment show.

Unofficial data says that abortions are up by 10% in the two months after Navratri. Is this what was expected as an outcome of these pious nine days ?

Commonwealth Express

I was happy to view the opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games 2010. Let us hope India wins and wins in a big way. This would surely help in erasing Kalmadis Jokes !!

Empty theaters and malls

I recently saw two movies Well done Abba and Tum Milo to Sahi. I was attracted by to their lead roles, namely Boman Irani and Nana Patekar respectively. The actors were brilliant in their performances but the rest were pedestrian. Coupled with a poor story line the films failed to elicit any interest. The only thing which I remembered after the movie was that we stood up for the National Anthem. That was the only good thing which I came across the three hours which I spent at the multiplex.

One factor which surprised me and my wife beyond means was the empty multiplexes in which we watched the movies. There were no more than 25 people for the both the shows. Well Done Abba was watched on a Sunday Evening and Tum Milo to Sahi watched on Friday. ( First Day , last show). I was surprised as this was never the case even for the worst of movies which I had watched in Mumbai, New Delhi and Lucknow. We may safely blame the ongoing IPL matches which provide virtually free of cost entertainment. We may selectively overlook high priced tickets at the multiplexes and the poor story lines. Even the shopping malls wore a deserted look and all the empty shopping malls were in stark contrast to the malls which I saw in Lucknow and Mumbai.

Another thing which surprised and irritated me was the cost of eatables which were sold at the counters inside the theaters. I am not talking about the the exorbitant cost of samosa or pop corn which is sold, but I am talking about the items which are sold on MRP. The MRP is intself twice the MRP which is normally seen on products which are sold at any place outside theaters. Further, it is written in fine print, "FOR SALE THROUGH SELECT CHANNEL ONLY" This form of white collared loot was new to me. A Bottle of drinking water is priced at Rs. 30/- against the normal price of Rs. 15/- and so on for all the products. Basically all the products were priced in similar manner and it was very surprising. I am sincerely thinking of knocking the doors of cosnumer forums for such differential pricing of MRP at the multiplex.

Moving From Himachal

All the team members at Parbati gave very warm send off with lot of words of encouragement from everybody. Especially our Project Manager, Mr. S K Upadhyay was very appreciative of my works and said that in his 27 years of service had not seen such huge documentation and efficient paper work. Mr. V K Sharma said that all my level;s are always high, including my anger levels! He also gave an elderly advice of controlling my anger levels.

This was of course my second send off after the one which given on 27th night by Pankaj and Bhunia. It was a usual party with three of us sitting together and having a great time with OLD MONK (Our one and only one favourite). I had a great lunch on 27th February with my colleague and best partner in sharing whimsical thoughts, Mritunjoy Hazra. This lunch erased all the memories of the horrible experience of having food in the staff mess. The food was prepared by one of our cooks, Arjun who did a fantastic job in satisfying my taste buds.

I started my journey from Himachal Pradesh to Gujarat on 27th February 2010 with a very heavy heart. It was a difficult day to say good bye to all my colleagues and well wishers who were with me at Parbati Project. The journey was very long and I had Mr. Pankaj our Accounts Executive with me. It was very heartening to have him else the journey would have been a lonely one. The burden of heavy luggage was minuscule when compared with the burden of leaving a place and company which gave me a very enriching experience and most important, my life partner. I was lucky to have got married while working at this place, with Shraddha.

After reaching Delhi on 28th February, I decided to stay in L&T's old bachelor accommodation i.e. C -24 Retreat Apartment, my address for close to 18 months. A stay which I thoroughly enjoyed. I stayed there just to ensure that I get a chance to refresh my old memories and take them with me on my onward journey to Ahmedabad. I was welcomed by one old colleague Mr. Pramod Sharma who with all his idiocities was a funny character. (Today itself I came to know that he has now been transferred to Mumbai. That is probably because of his drunken behaviour on site on 28th evening)

In Delhi, I met my boss, Mr. K R Singh who extended a very warm welcome at his home. On his way to home I went through EDM. The same place where I used to hang out at every possible opportunity with friends like Prasenjit(who is now in Kolkata) and Narendar(who is now in Dubai). K R Singh is indeed a very simple man and so is his family who welcomed me graciously and gave very valuable tips to start working at a new place.

I also paid a courtesy visit at Nishant Hari's place who stays on the fifth floor, just above my old "adda" C 24. Just a had a formal talk with him , said hello to his two sons (twins) and his wife. Had tea with him and said good bye.

I reached New Delhi station and then started my journey in Cabin A of the First AC with one Dr. Solomon ( i am not sure of his name) who was from Assam and on his way for some training programme. I met my old supervisor Shashi Dubey at the Railway Station who had come over here to say good bye and meet me. I do not understand the chemistry between us, but he seems to follow me , call me where ever I am and is always present to wish me good luck. The journey was very uncomfortable and I could not sleep for the whole night. I lodged a complaint with the Railways as well for this bumpy ride. I am still waiting for the outcome. I reached Ahmedabad on 01st March 2010 at the scheduled time of 10:00 hours