It's been more than 3 years since I wrote something here! I guess even now, I am just writing since I was wanting to test something on some online space, and what better than my blog!  Let's see if my 'blackberry' lifestyle has impacted my writing skills. 

Like I read somewhere once - 'Only one thing is true and all else are lies - that time flies'. I still remember updating this blog when I was doing my job-search in grad school. It was a very interesting phase - a very testing phase too, but I enjoyed it and took it as a challenge. Grad school was one of my favorite phases of life so far. I think that's when I started to dream. I used to day-dream about anything under the sun - be it what I would do as a 1-day CM of Tamil Nadu (like Mudhalvan), directing a Tamil movie (for some weird reason, I always thought of a romantic sci-fi movie!), playing basketball and making it to the NBA(that was a stretch, I agree). But basically, what that made me was an optimist, and some one who looked forward to the future.

Fast-Forward 3 years, I hardly have time to do existing work, leave alone dream. Work is hectic but I enjoy it. I took a day-off once, thinking I would relax at home, and boy, did I go crazy that day! Perhaps the best thing right now, apart from some good friends that I have, is New York. Even though my time in graduate school was fun, I still felt that something was missing. If you are used to living in a high-energy Indian city with lots of people and stuff happening all the time, you might feel lost in parts of this country. But not here. New York, and parts of New Jersey too, have that same spirit that I used to love about Chennai. Crowded places, people walking at night, 24 hour Starbucks (sorry, no Nair tea kadai's that I have seen so far!), lots of things to do. Basically a lot of activity. Oh, it also helps that it is on the coast. Someone asked me why that was important to me. Sometimes, somethings are like that. I mean, being rational all the time is not something I can handle ;) 

There are some things are still the same - Bush is still President! On a personal level, it seems interesting. I don't see myself debating on big issues (like Kashmir, WTO agreements - gasp!) with friends all that much these days; I prefer to just have some general vetti-koothu with them. Ofcourse, the debates still continue but it's over-shadowed by general tamizh fun ( i don't know how else to phrase that!). I see traces of how I was (in terms of being frank and opinionated) in my sister these days. I just think as you get busy, you prioritize things accordingly, and don't feel the urge to do things that you used to. I don't google for Sourav Ganguly and Kamal Haasan as I used to! (Thank God for finally getting the self-control to let go). I saw my friend the other day; he seems to google for Roger Federer frequently. I chuckled.

Pradeep and Aravind have been 2 good friends I have made in this time. It's been wonderful, the times we have spent so far - Friday night bowling, the brilliant Baba-Hut Biryani's, trips to Boston and Chicago, general Vetti Vambu, oor-suthal in my car almost every weekend...Muthu, for all his tips on girls, what they like and all that stuff, beating him all the time in Rumy and watching him slump with his Mac on the sofa dejected after losing yet another game! My current roomies are also awesome - I haven't had too many North Indian friends before; now all three are. Sheesh, I speak in Hindi these days! Work is great, in part because of the people I work with..can't say enough...some really smart and friendly people.

Somehow, my addiction with American sports has been a constant, these 3 years, though this year, I have been limiting myself to Football. Seriously, Saturday, Sunday ,Monday and sometimes Thursday nights. I don't get to watch a whole lot, but when I do, I just don't do much else. I can't relate to cricket these days..I grew up rooting for Ganguly, and seeing him struggle to be in the team these days, I think I am getting to be apathetic. It doesn't help that Lara and Akram don't play now either. 

I think I have spent too much time away from home. Independent as I have become, I appreciate the essence of a family these days. My sister, although we are tight, tells me we haven't spent enough time together. It's true, I guess, but we still talk so much and laugh for crazy things, so I guess that's a constant. Good lord, she's an asst. manger now..I have enough material to rag her for a while! When we were both home, one of our Athai's used to keep her distance when me and my sis were together ;) Good times! Fish-boy, gossiping abt my friends, her friends, Naai-paiyyan (she could get really 'cheri' sometimes :p)

I was reading some of my posts from before - funny! Reading that Gillette article in the 'Onion' felt like yesterday (ok, perhaps not :p ..just stay with me as i try to get my creative writing juices flowing, will ya??) I still want to write that post about Anbe-Sivam sometime..want to create a new list of my favorite tamil movies, cricketers etc. Will do sometime. 

Perhaps this post has ended up to be too much of a personal exercise. It's just that you don't get too many chances to look at something you wrote 3 years back, and try to see what has gone on. It would be like if you were to watch your marriage video 5 yrs hence, kids-in-tow. 

I tried to pull an 'Autograph' Cheran,

So I can show this to my Peran ;)

I wish Big Papi never hit that home-run!

I am back, baby! (seri, ok, right, adangarom!)

arbit bits

Although my first reaction to the call by the unions to create one for the IT sector was just another grimace (given that the CPI and the like do from time and time, its become routine), I then thought that maybe a union among the companies (biggies and medium scale ones) might be an idea to reduce the attrition rate. But if I had a company, I would not be part of such a thing.

A lot of news seems to be coming out regarding the moral policing in Chennai and subsequent media bashing. Bashing the media does not serve any purpose, since they also enjoy the personal space/freedom of expression that you are fighting for. It is the capitalist or rather just the rule of nature. The probability of you checking out a news article that seems interesting rather than logical is higher. But in any case, I hope aMMa puts these marauding 'tamil-protectionists' in place.

Cricket again seems uninteresting. I think the administrators need to do something regarding getting more countries involved in the sport. Only a third of the stadium for the recent world xi and aussies game was full. When I saw that image, I did not want to read further about the game. I felt embarrassed.

Jacques Kallis has been one of most overrated of sportsmen. Some people, though average, seem to possess a charm that makes people think highly of them. To have him in a team before Inzy or even Nathan Astle is just wrong. They just wanted to have a couple of SA guys in the team I guess.

I read, what arguably has been the finest book I have read. 'The Alchemist' quite packs a punch. It inspires you without sounding like a motivational lecture at any time. And as the boy says Muktab ! I was impressed by the line 'All things are one'. Now that is the example of a seemingly simple yet powerful line. I saw a framed painting a few days back that said 'I am better than you'. I could only grimace.

I watched this movie 'Crash'. A very fine movie. I watched 'Sarkar'. A decent movie. Ramu does have a style, much like Mani and Selvaraghavan. Other directors do have styles but these are the ones that appeal to me. I wish to direct a tamil movie some day. I want to prepare TamilNadu for sci-fi genre movies. Heh!

Another big game tomorrow coming up. It might be a long day for the Vols. I sincerely some1 from the SEC wins the Rose Bowl this year. USC struggled to win against ASU. We will know how good it is when they play Notre Dame. Alabama seems to be giving surprise. But the big question is will the Vols defense contain the Bull Dogs. I have no idea.

I hope Narain gets a chance next year in some team, although it seems difficult given his relative performances. But the recruiting bosses in F-1 have a keener eye for detail that the junta might be missing out on. Hence, I still hope he's not out of the reckoning. I feel he's good material.

I watched 'Mouna Raagam' after a long time 2 weeks back. It was a superlative movie, no doubt.

I went to the Indian restaurant today. I go there, like once every week. I ate heavily. As my stomach was beginning to feel full, I was reading this story.

Ok, So I think I have read enough about the GC-SG issue.

Now, I was a dada fan - an ardent one at that. But GC seems to be making sense to me quite a bit.

Now lets see. I think it will be tough if not impossible for both of them to work together. Hence, either 1 or both have to go.

If dada goes, heavy pressure on GC to perform (victories) and hence vindicate his stand. Not easy.

If GC goes, definite pressure on dada.

If both go, extra-ultra-heavy-pressure on team india, but which could in 2 years, give Zimbabwe a serious run for their money.

So, lets see. Choosing between GC and SG is the final option.

Now before that, it seems team is divided, with supposedly all non-performers with dada..Ha ! If dada returns, bhajji mite stake claim for vice-captaincy for all u know! O my!

Anyways, GC seems to be pretty tough guy who seems to be knowing what he's upto and from his recent interviews, I appreciate his way/approach.

Dada on the other hand is on life-support in playing/tactical matters now.

But Dada does have experience in team-building. He built or atleast helped build a pretty neat team for the 2003 world cup and it did reasonably well. Once he does not have mess-makers in the team (who might be actually talented though!), he definitely works on his tactics/instincts and does succeed, more often than not.

But dada must've surely lost some respect/swagger/confidence after such media exposure of his limitations. And it might take sometime to recover his cool. Maybe even 5 months. Helpfully, WC is a lot more further than that.

On the other hand, if retained, the pressure of performance might not be that high on GC, as compared to SG.

We need some1 tough, some1 like GC or SG in the indian team. People like Vaughan wouldnt work for an Indian team. I am saying this because if both were to be dumped, I dont know if we have a captain who can be tough.

That dada is mentally strong is known. But whether he'll still have that confidence in his ability is questionable.

Ok, I still have not made a decision on whom to side with. Still, I believe the odds of a compromise are rather slim.

It would be quite silly to keep harping on the fact that Alonso's victory this year was in no small part thanks to McLaren's u-know-what!

Reliability is definitely an important factor in the whole set-up and Renault hv managed to do that better as the McLarens have managed to do the same on speed.

Good steady driving Alonso..Congrats!

But absolutely no chance of defending the crown man!

Next year, watch out for Juan Pablo..He's going to take the attack to Kimi, you and Button.
BAR is a team to watch out for, next yr. I dont know about Ferrari because I dont know about Bridgestone.

Among other teams/drivers, Toyota with Trulli would be also be contenders next year. They are fast enough during qualifying but run out of steam in the race. That they will work on and they will be on par with BAR and Renault.

Title contenders for 2006 (in order) : JPM, Kimi, Button, Alonso. ( Dark Horse - Schumi (!))
And hey, one last word..dont count Fisi out..McLaren's ill-luck was distributed..Renault's was lumped onto him!

And boy, finally Narain can breathe a bit easier..Tiago dint finish.Finally!

F-1 needs more quality competition..There's no difference between Bangladesh/Zim'bve in cricket and Minardi/Jordan in F-1, except in the latter the drivers go on to better teams later.
But its still effectively 6-7 teams.

And I am still wondering about the logic of using 1 tyre uniformly for all teams..Might actually not be a bad idea but not easy to slam/support.

Finally what F-1 needs is a race track in India. I dont care if you lay it in the border between Assam and Sikkim or the banks of the Cauvery. Just get it started man.

BTW, do they share a border ..I doubt it.

Full day researching the headline story..dada vs. GC.

Read on a few blogs..What nerve GC has got to use Sourav to get in as coach and then back-stab him!

Count me out of such groups ! For godsakes!

Dada is bringing out the blogger in me (!)

Raj Singh Durgapur says (via Outlook)
"Chappell is a genius. Sourav is much below Chappell in stature," Dungarpur told newspersons here"

Dude, this is a serious insult to my intelligence that I have to keep hearing statements as primitive as this from a guy who's supposedly in the upper echelons of powers-that-be concerning indian cricket.

I know durgapur isnt the best of buddies with dalmiya and consequently with sourav. But this is pure nerve,to make such a sweeping statement. I can almost assure you this guy has no idea why he called GC a genius..

I smell a conspiracy theory.

I know this is becoming like a 'desis for dada' kinda blog!

Dada should've considered steve waugh's advice/warning that GC mite not be a good choice as coach and that moody was a better one.

Maybe steve knew that given dada's nature,it will be tough for him to adjust with another tough, aggressive guy like GC. Heck, dada even struggled to impose himself on Murali karthik, who was dada Jr. at the time. So GC is another ball game altogether.

When SRT comes into the team and seems like a sucker for form, lets see if GC does the same. We'd get to know if this GC's no-nonsense approach is for real.

I am thinking dada will not be sacked.

Just as I expected, the indian media goes gaga over greg chappel's dont-care-about-reputation-but-current-form' logic and villifies saurav.

Well, given the pseudo-intellectual rantings that have always been there to see from the media, this is not surprising that they think they have a logical and public accepting argument.

But isn't this all presumptous..Like Ravi Shasthri says, we need to know the context in which the coach made these remarks..Absolutely correct.

Its a good idea to crack the whip, no matter what the reputation, like Greg thinks. But to change the system all of a sudden is not a great idea..Meanwhile, my dada could definitely have averted some of this happenings but if he did make a calculated move (!), i got it. But the greatness of dada went down a notch.

Indian cricket must be thankful to Rahul Dravid in all this. He's truly worthy of respect. A more ego-driven/me-first vice-captain and I dunno where this team would be now.

It is a shame that we need to introduce reservation for more women representation in the indian parliament.

But nonetheless I would tend to think of it as necessary.

Sometimes this is where my each-man-for-himself (little dependence on social welfare a.k.a captialist) beliefs are at confict with social ideals. There are sections of people who cannot compete with other sections of people, unless they are given a positive offset. Sometimes, government can do wonders..But they must know when to stop interfering in other things.

Now why am i thinking of others progress anyway..Oh well, maybe iam just a pseudo-capitalist !

There are people you can mess around with. But then there are others you dont want to mess with.. Like Saurav da.

Hope the indian board does not come up with some seemingly interesting decision like making kaif captain..Maybe, he could be made Vice-captain, but thats that.

Go dada !