Me, Myself and my Blog.

Prannoy Roy cornering Pakistan's Foreign Minister

2008-11-28T23:47:00.003-05:00

The video shows a telephonic interview by NDTV Chief Prannoy Roy with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mohammed Qureshi, who my friend calls The king of Digression. Check out the video here to know why..

Social Networking: Desi Style

2008-11-08T18:52:00.007-05:00

Since the time I came to US in 2005, I have noticed that there are 2 types of Desis here (or 10 types for the binary inclined) you meet . Of course, there are different justifications for the 2 types.

- The 1st one is the "Desi" Desi v/s the "ABC" Desi for which I dont have to offer an explanation (there are exceptions, of course).
- The 2nd one which I categorized after doing my MS is the geeky type of Desi, who is only interested to know who is doing his/her thesis and their research interests while he/she worries about their own, v/s the more Social Desi who likes to party and not discuss next week's assignment questions during the party..
I will not discuss about the 1st two types as it is very general and everyone knows the difference.

- The 3rd and the one which encouraged me to write this post is the type most of us can experience after we start working full time (again, there are exceptions I know of). This happens when you are new to a place and like to meet new people there/establish some social network. If you haven't guessed already, there are the Desis who like to talk to you as they have the same objective as you (this no. is few) v/s Desis who like to talk to you and get your contact information to make you join Quixtar. (This has subsequently created a small group of a 3rd kind, those who stay away from you assuming you are from Quixtar)

Those who haven't heard about Quixtar (formerly Amway), here is a wiki link for it. My advice: just skim through it, dont get interested and start digging your own pit.

Anyway, after I graduated from my MS last year, I moved to Atlanta after getting a job in December. Since then, I've met about 15 desis who I bumped into mostly in Walmart/Malls etc... The 1st one I met was on the 1st day I moved in to my apartment and the most recent one, about 2 weeks back in a Mall. All these people had some things in similar.
They seem very interested to talk to you and try to connect with you somehow. For e.g. they will ask where are you from, and if you say that, they'll say something like, "Oh, you know my brother/ some other close relative is also from there" (3 people have said it), or "I studied there" and in 1 case, "I am also from there". That way, some connection is established.
They are all doing their own business in Logistics/Supply Chain or somehow connected to Logistics.
After some nice probing talk (they'll ask so much about you as if they are writing a book about you), they will all pull out their visiting cards and tell we have to meet sometime and also ask for your phone no.
The call comes a few days later. (In one case, it came 1 month later as the guy met me in a train on the way to the airport. He was heading to India!! And Faithfully he had kept my no. till then and called me 1st thing upon coming back). They call to tell that they have an excellent business opportunity where we can work from home apart from our regular job and would like to meet sometime to give a presentation about it. Me and Naveed attended one such presentation just for the fun of it, only to tell that fool at the end that we wont fall into the BS trap. Anyway, once you tell them you don't want to do Quixtar, that's about the last time you will be speaking to them. You are Blacklisted, and they are no longer interested in meeting you.

Infact, I saw this guy who was sending friend requests in Orkut with a message that he has a business opportunity for us. What I think of that guy? He is a loser among losers.

What really grinds my gears is that aren't there people whom you meet who are genuinely interested in only developing a new social network? So far, I have been courteous to all these people who have approached me with Quixtar intent. I speak to them well, exchange numbers, and give a polite "No" when they start the business opportunity shit. But I've had enough and will use alternate ways to handle these people next time onwards. One of my friends gave a good suggestion and it worked for him. When the person called, my friend started asking him if he is interested in Quixtar, that guy was taken aback, and told him he didn't know my friend was already a Quixtar member, and I'd be interested to have a look at his face at that time!

Anyways, many people would have seen this already but here are some links about Quixtar scams:
Youtube video: Part 1, Part 2
some facts and figures can be found here

The interesting thing is, for some reason, I haven't met any non-desi who's a Quixtar member, I'm sure there are thousands but I dont know their approach methods.. but one thing I know, if a Desi stranger approaches me and starts talking, I now get to hear only the sounds of an Alarm bell ringing in my head.. "Quixtar Alert!!! Quixtar Alert!!"

And our government does it yet again...

2008-10-05T20:30:00.002-04:00

Today, sitting in my home in Atlanta, I have a fear in my mind...a fear every Indian is having now.Will another bomb blast occur? how many more lives are lost? People are scared to get out on the streets, hang out in the malls, go to markets...and our "Intelligence" forces have been reduced to nothing more than buffoons. I'm praying for those affected by the blasts and hoping that no more blasts occur. But this post is not about terrorism. Rather, in between all these horrible acts happening in our country, our politicians seem to be more interested in getting more votes from backward classes as elections dates are looming near. How much more ridiculous can one get?

It's time for elections again in the Centre and some states, and the Government has made a "smart" move by increasing the income ceiling of the creamy layer of OBCs. Smart because it will help them get more votes, and nothing else. They don't really care about the common man anyway.

Imagine this. A family A with an annual income of 4.5 lakhs, that is Rs. 37,500 per month before taxes, which amounts to approx. Rs.30,000 after taxes considering 20% for that income bracket. Now, there are a lot of people in India whose annual income is much less than that. For a family B who has an annual income of 2 lakhs p.a, the take home salary per month is approx. 15,000, half of the salary of the former. Now, apart from getting twice the salary of B, A also gets more benefits because A belongs to the creamy layer of OBCs. (and this creamy layer is getting more fattening with new castes being added to that all the time). When giving reservation based upon caste itself is injustice, what do you say about giving reservations to people who are not economically backward. I mean, in case of A, the person can still lead a decent lifestyle with that salary if not a lavish one. My dad often says, our system is becoming so hopeless, that pretty soon, if there is a 100m Athletic race in India, an athlete from SC/ST category will start from the 50m point and someone from OBCs will start from the 75m point while the General category will be standing all the way back. It might sound funny, but I wont be surprised if they implement that.

I'm sure with the introduction on this new rule, more people will push their cases to include their caste among OBCs, while the General Category people will continue to miss every benefit. As someone who does not belong to any backward community, I am not asking for any benefit or special reservation for general category, but to consider "Merit" as the main factor for providing a reservation, and family income as next main factor. I only wish that some day in the future, the goverment abolishes caste-based reservation...but wait, for a country which is always fighting to go backward, how can the future be in sight?

Early retirement for our cricketers?

2008-10-04T19:17:00.002-04:00

Its time for some cricketing action once again with the India-Australia series and I am looking forward to a good contest. What what really grinds my gears is the "Voluntary Retirement Scheme" for the 5 senior cricketers Kumble, Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman. Though this seems to be just hyped up because of the media, it looks the new BCCI committee has laid out this plan.
In my opinion, this is just bullshit. How can anyone decide when one's career ends? Well, in the case of rookies, many of time BCCI decides by totally ignoring them after few initial bad performances, but I dont blame them entirely as there are hundreds of people looking for a spot in the team and only performance matters. I feel the same thing should be done for the senior cricketers too. If you don't perform, we'll drop you approach is fine, but you can't decide when he has to retire. That too when 5 world class players are in question. Well, the BCCI denies it saying its all rubbish, but then how did the media make such a big issue out of it? Though its a known thing that a media makes a mountain out of a molehill, they atleast need a molehill first and I dont think Ganguly's omission for the Irani trophy is any basis for a VRS scheme! Like Bedi says, if ever such a thing happened, it is cricket terrorism!! Atleast for a test series, the presence of a few seniors is needed anyway.

I hope the players dont get distracted by these things and concentrate on their game and I hope we will witness an exciting series!

The story of Joe v/s Angry Parking lot lady

2008-04-26T10:26:00.004-04:00

Disclaimer: Joe's name is used only because he was driving the car at the time of the incident. A more apt title would have been story of all of us in the car v/s angry Parking lot lady but the former is more catchy. Sorry Joseph!

How does it feel to pay a lot of money in parking lots when you want to park only for a little while? It hurts right? and it makes us think twice about parking the car in that spot. Well, something similar happened to us a few weeks back.

So we all decided to go on a weekend road trip to Chicago from Knoxville, for my friend's brother's wedding reception. Everything went fine and on Sunday, we decided to explore the city before heading back to Knox. I had 2 things in mind, Sears tower fast elevator and Navy Pier. We couldn't go on the fast elevator but we managed to go fast past the Sears tower as we did not have much time, and the girls were impatient to go to Devon street to look for Salwars, Mehndi and the likes, and eat in some nice south Indian restaurant!!

Anyways, so we head to Navy pier and we were getting lost searching for that place, and even our GPS aunty was getting confused recalculating every time we miss a turn due to either road construction, or heavy traffic. When we finally reached the place, we decided we are gonna stay for no more than 30 mins, and what do we get there? A parking lot charging $24 for 30 mins (or maybe 1st hour) which was ridiculous! But we drove straight to the lady managing the parking lot and Joseph, who was driving, asked the lady if there is any free parking available nearby, and she gave that mean look and said No and pointed towards the parking lot, which we happily ignored and drove past the lot.
After making 1 full round, we were again near the entrance when we saw this place where a few cars were parked inside a gate which opened up, like in the checkposts. We followed a car which was going in and the moment it went in, we tried to rush inside but the gate came crashing down and our car just managed to not get hit by that! In between this adventure, we saw 2 guys taking pics, one of them was giving a pose and other was taking his pic kneeling down and camera facing straight! We ran away from that place before a possible gay porno session was about to start..

So 15 mins, and still no parking, we decided to park it somewhere near but outside the entrance, we did find one asking $16 but still it was too much. So we decided to take one more chance and went inside again, this time as we did not stop near the Parking lot lady but just went past her. Believe me, if I had a chance, I would have captured the look on her face as she saw us pass by! We made another circle but decided to turn and come back the same way we came in, but this time, there were no cars on the road, so we just parked the car there, quickly ran out and took a couple of pics, ran back into the car and headed out again. During this, a tour bus did pass us and I bet the driver was cursing us..anyways, for a 3rd and final time, we passed the parking lady, but this time with our heads held high! She gave us one quick glance and turned back...but I can never forget the look on her face!

We dint have that problem in Devon street and we managed to park the car in one of those small gully roads. For free, thats important! Overall, it was a $23 well saved with enough adventure as a bonus!

PS: Devon St rocks!
PPS: Very happy in my heart to drink sugarcane juice after a long time!
PPPS: Does PS mean Post Script or Please See? Somebody please see and answer!

If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist

2008-02-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

The above line was printed on a bottle of Old Spice Classic body wash which I happened to buy once. Now, the line kinda ticks me off. How can a soap manufacturing company challenge my very existence in this world?
Now after reading this, should I wake up the spirits of my taathas (grandpas) and ask them who was the one wearing Old Spice body wash in his youthful days in the pre independence era and line maarofying with my respective ammammas (grandmas), thus eventually leading to my existence? Come to think of it, what were the chances our ammammas even saw their husbands before the marriage day? zilch.. or atleast close to it. And in those days, how did it matter if the husband used Old spice or a pack of old spices to wash his body, it did not change anything and a cricket team was still born to them.
Coming to the next generation, I can probably ask my dad if he used Old Spice body wash before marriage, but since it mentioned only Grandfather (why, was Old Spice out of production during the 70's and 80's?), I will skip that.

But now that I exist, I can safely tell that when I get really old and have grandchildren and they come across this post by chance, they will be enlightened to know about their existence ... much before the storks came and dropped them off at their parents doorsteps, and even before their parents met up, their grandfather had once purchased a bottle of Old Spice Classic body wash and worn it...

Now, this is what I call planning..Part 2

2008-01-17T22:25:00.000-05:00

Recently saw this ad in the Classifieds section of our university. It goes something like this..

Item/Desc: Greenwood Cemetery - four plots for sale

The plots are valued at $1895 each, but will be sold as a group
of four for $7000. The sites are located in the middle of the
North Knoxville cemetery.

It took me a while to figure out what this guy is trying to sell..was he selling a house plot or a graveyard plot? Now, who will buy a house in the middle of a cemetery unless that person is a ghost..well, I think the idea of ghosts starting to invest in "real" estate seems a bit far fetched. So it must be humans buying graveyard plots.

The US is one place where man really needs to pay a heavy price for his own death, everything is insanely expensive from coffins to funerals to graveyard plots, so looking at it, investing in your own graveyard while you are still alive is not a very bad idea... What is funny though, is the discount offered for buying 4 plots together, so that a family can stay together even after their deaths..now that is what I call planning..

The chamber of Shaolin in Knoxville

2007-11-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

Ever seen those old Chinese KungFu movies centered around the Shaolin temple? If not, try seeing them sometime. If you have seen them, did you ever think whatever they are doing is all stupid and laugh your ass off as they fly in the air shouting chang, choon, chan, chin, hoo, haa, huck, f**k, $&%#,^&#@,.. (ok, i'll stop here, but I think you got the idea). Well, I used to think that way and thought they are the Chinese equivalents of our Indian "superstars" who defy the laws of physics like Rajini, Captain, Mithun and a host of others from all over India..But one show proved me wrong; the Shaolin Warriors show which was held in Knoxville on Nov 5th '07.

For those who do not have any idea about Shaolin, you can go through this link.

The 2 hr show began on time sharply at 7.30 and started with some basic moves and stuff. As the show went on, we realized how good these monks are as they demonstrated various skills ranging from high level stuff like fighting with weapons to lower things like sweeping floor and having food!
We managed to capture some pics while they were performing some stunts. Here are some of them:

Here are some videos of their stunts..You will soon realize how amazing they are!!

To become a Shaolin Master, you must start practicing at a young age. In the group which performed, there were 2 young guys who, for all I know might be around 10 years old! But they were so good, you might have noticed them in the previous video. Here's another one involving one of those kids..

Apart from these stunts, there were also a few stunts which were very funny! Like, they have a crazy way of collecting food, why cant they just stand in line and collect them??
And sweeping the floor is now an art, thanks to them. I think they can kill all the cockroaches in our house if we invite them sometime!! Look at these videos and you'll see for yourselves..

Now, don't ever think that you can never be a Shaolin warrior..It is possible, but it would look funny in the beginning, like these people from the audience who were taught the basics of Shaolin KungFu...

The show ended on an amazing note with a superb stunt. Check it out!!

All in all, an outstanding performance!!
After seeing this show, one thing is for certain. We are not making fun of Chinese KungFu movies anymore!

Now, this is what I call planning..

2007-09-29T14:55:00.000-04:00

What would u do if there is a sudden alien attack on planet earth? You have nowhere to run and we will all be doomed!! well, most of us, except Tom Cruise and his family, because he will run to Colorado to his special "bunker"!
The best thing is, Tom even has an idea who is plotting to invade earth! The question is, does the evil ruler Xenu know that his plan has been found out?
I think the nightware called "War of the worlds" is still haunting him!

Transformers..my review

2007-07-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

When I saw the trailers of Transformers last month, I had decided that we are gonna watch this movie for sure! And then a few guys from our class went in the opening weekend and were praising this movie like anything. Then I found an online streaming link good quality print and we hooked it up to our projector and started watching, but my roommate was not interested in that idea and he wanted to watch it in the theater itself. And we also thought this movie is worth it. So we went to the theater last night to watch this movie. When we went inside, the entire hall was empty and we were the only guys. And this was at 10:20 PM for the 10:25 show. Was this a bad sign? we thought. At 10:25, few more people came but the entire hall had around 15 people...on a Thursday night..We were really confused at that..At around 1 AM, we got all our answers. Our heads were spinning, our ears were ringing, and we were all blaming each other for watching this piece of shit in the theater.

Yes. This movie sucks! For starters, this movie about the hugely popular in the 80's action figure toys, could have developed some better plot..It was popular then, but adding so much emotions to those robots make it look stupid now. And the movie is loud throughout, i dunno how we managed to sit through the entire movie.

Talking of emotions, some of those actions by the good robots may look funny to some, but I felt it was stupid, but that is just my opinion. The car peeing on the S-7 agent was funny though. The scene where they wait outside Sam's house could have been cut by 10 mins. It was long and boring, and I was utterly surprised when Sam's parents could not notice all the destruction to their lawn and those giant robots walking on it. How could they hide, I still dont know!

And what happened to the huge US army/air force troops? How come the same bunch of guys have to fight the transformers from Qatar to LA? Don't they deserve a break, that too at a time they were all set to go home?

The part where he tries to make a call to Pentagon routed through the Indian call-center was not needed. The director might have tried to make that funny, but a call to Pentagon traced through an Indian call center? And what was that crap about giving the best offer? Lots of explanations required for that scene.

The part about Rachel Taylor, the computer Analyst who tries to decipher the code is also funny. First, she stores the data on a Sandisk 2 GB SD card, takes it to her friend, who doesn't look like a hacker from any angle, and he just inserts it, types some random keys, and presto! They discover Sam Witwicky and Sector 7. And what software was that? I am interested... and how does he connect a computer to a radio? I initially thought he connects the microphone ports to the radio or something, but then he starts typing into the computer. If anybody understood that funda, kindly explain it to me.

There is an age-old movie formula where the bad guys have all the latest technology gadgets and the good guys just fight them and defeat them. Looks like this movie has adopted the same formula. Now, the Decepticons can transform themselves into so many different things from tape-recorders to cell phones to fighter jets, how come the Autobots just stick to transform between robots and trucks/cars and nothing else. They could have saved so much time if they could transform themselves to a jet and gone to the cube. And of course, all the car models have to be from GM.

Another thing which made the movie illogical is torturing scene of Bumblebee by the humans! Adding so much emotions was one thing, but how can you give it an electric shock and it starts wriggling like humans do? and then he has lost energy and is sporting a weary look before regaining his power to fight. Gimme a break!!

It did not make much sense to me as to why they carried the cube from Hoover dam to LA, destroying LA downtown in the process. The ending fight scene was good but very noisy. But the often repeated "It's you and me, Megatron" sounded very cliché.

On a whole, the movie can be a hit with the kids (and also elders who are only interested in sci-fi gadgets) but for people who look for logic, you wont find it anywhere in this film, even in minor things, like the heroine Mikaela who decides to walk 10 miles home just because her boyfriend does not allow her to drive the car! BTW, she is hot! Megan Fox is a fox for sure! And she is originally from Rockwood, TN which is an hour drive from my place! Tennessee girls are hot maaan!!

I will give this movie ** for its special effects and Megan. Stay away from it if you can!

Tension gone....

2007-07-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks had been one of the toughest times for me...I had to defend my project, lots of things were not working, had to work 20 hrs a week besides that..I was so busy I was not even doing my job searches! The last few days, I started praying that my committee will not fail me, and though everybody assured me that they dont do that generally, I was worried.

Yesterday was the big day. Gave my presentation, showed the results I got so far and told them I will be working on the remaining parts still..and they passed me without an problem! :)

So now, I am just 1 step away from MS graduation, and need to submit some work by Aug 10th so that my prof can grade me. But the tension is gone, finally!!

The great Indian trilogy..

2007-06-25T16:59:00.000-04:00

So even Bollywood has decided to make a trilogy..no, not like Dhoom 3 which has been announced by Aditya Chopra, which might deliver another truckload of crap when released, but a trilogy in the real sense, like LOTR. And the trilogy is about the Mahabharata! Check out this link about the movie..

Mani Ratnam is gonna be the director and the movie has a huge star cast, provided in this link (dunno how much accurate it is, but for now, it will hold)...good, but there are some things which make me wonder.

1) Look at the pic of SRK. Now, is this movie about Mahabharata which is set in Japan with a war amongst the Kauraba and Pandeba Samurai? Shifurukufu Kuhanu playing the role of Karanu? If u are wondering what the hell is this guy talking, these are the Japanese equivalent names. Anyway, the costume looks ridiculous for an Indian epic movie.

2) Salman Khan is playing the role of Krishna!! WTF!! (banging my head against the wall!). When he himself doesn't wear any clothes, what will he provide to Rani Mukherjee while Nagarjuna is pulling her saree?

3) Jackie Shroff, Vikram (from Anniyan), Aamir Khan, Madhavan and Mohan lal are the 5 Pandavas. Every one is acceptable except Mohan lal. He is playing the role of Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandavas!! Even if this is wrong info, whoever thought of putting him for that role?

4) Madhuri Dixit is Kunti.... sad...she plays the role of Jackie's & Mohan lal's mother!!

5) some good matches..Amitabh for Bheeshma, Kamal Hassan for Duryodhana, Kabir Bedi for Vidur.

6) some better matches...Naveen Nischol for Dhritrashtra.

7) and the best match is: Karan Johar for Shikhandi!! He is tailormade for that role! he just has to be himself!! :D

well, this movie is even listed in imdb, so we have to wait and see when this will be released. If some of these mismatched stars are really acting in the movie, even the writer of Mahabharata, Lord Ganesha, can't save it!

Can it get worse than this?

2007-06-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

I have made some stupid decisions in life...I realize that the decision is stupid because after I make that, things which were supposed to have happened before, happens. Last Friday was one such example...
2 weeks before last Friday, I lost my college ID card. Searched all around the house, and everywhere in my bag but could not find it. I had just started going back to the gym and before I could get more inspiration to work out, I lost the card. No card = No gym, and that way, 2 weeks tagged along. In between, I asked everyone, made another search in the house (searching for something in my house is no simple feat btw, there are layers and layers of trash to be rummaged through) but with no luck. And getting a replacement card costs $30. (WTF!!!)
Then I hit upon an idea and asked a friend of mine who had just quit our university but had already paid the summer gym fees to mail me his card. The assistants in the gym don't really care though a different face flashes on their screen when I swipe the card. He said fine and mailed me the card. But then, I could not use the card to pay my summer fees. I thought I'll pay it online before realizing that there is a $20 something charge for online transactions. Then I began to wonder what to do, and then made the stupid decision. I thought, rather than pay $20 and use someone else's ID for the gym, I'll pay $30 and get my own ID. And I did that on Friday morning.

All seemed well till evening when we decided to play tennis..I went to pick up the rackets from the room when I saw that extra racket. And I realized that it belongs to our apartment office where we can rent it for free. I had already started cursing myself when I went to return that racket, and they gave me my lost ID card!!! :(
If only I had waited for another weekend, this would not have happened. To rub salt to the wounds, I found out that paying the fees online carries a 2.5% charge and not a $20 charge. it used to come to around $20 because my fees used to be around $800 during Fall and Spring sem. For summer, the fees was $130, so if I had paid the fees online, the charge would be around $3! I feel like kickin' my own balls now...and I don't need assistance, if somebody is interested..

Only +ve I can think of: Now I have a shiny, new ID card only 2 months before graduation (if it can be some consolation)

Can it get any worse than this?

Now, this is what I call directions!!

2007-05-04T18:11:00.000-04:00

If you are in the US or Europe, you would have definitely used Google Maps sometime to get driving directions. Has anybody tried giving driving directions to European cities? We tried it that day, and had amazing results!
One ex. Try giving directions from New York to London. It gives you some road direction till Atlantic Ave. in Boston, and from there, you have to swim 3462 Miles! The best part, even for swimming, you need to follow your directions properly as there are some turns to be taken. Not following it might take you to Bermuda Triangle also if you get lost, so be careful! After that long swim, you will reach Le Havre in France, and from there, go through the Chunnel (no swimming here) to reach England and subsequently to London. Check out the image below if you wont believe me.

Now comes the funny part. I do not know if there is some facility in Boston to facilitate the swimmers from US to Europe, but wherever you are in the US, if you need to go to Europe, you need to go via Boston. I tried San Jose to Paris, and that journey takes 1 month, as you need to first make a cross-country trip to Boston and then swim 3462 miles again.
Again, Le Havre is the ending destination always. If you need to swim to Portugal, you cant swim directly, you have to go to Le Havre and then drive down from there!
Try playing around with some of the European cities and have fun!

One condition, you can swim to Europe, but not to Africa, not even to Cuba! This is what happens if you give power to users to create their own maps...

Anybody game for a road/sea trip to Europe?

Finally, an end to a sorry spectacle...

2007-04-29T23:26:00.000-04:00

I guess you know what I am talking about..the World Cup. Its been 2 months of sad tale, an utter flop show series, topped (or shall I say, bottomed) appropriately by the Final game.

I can't believe a referee and the umpires standing for a World Cup final were not really aware of the rules! Add to that, a horrible presentation ceremony, though Tony Cozier wasn't all that bad, he still forgot to mention Rudy Koertzen and Billy for the 3rd & 4th umpire's medals while Rudy was waiting to collect it and the camera focused on him! He however made up for that by announcing their names after Aussies took their medals. A horrible speech by Percy Sonn, where he did not even mention a word about Bob Woolmer was also very bad.

Apart from these, throughout the WC, there were hardly any interesting games and most of the teams lacked spirit. Even though India and Pakistan crashed early, I felt they were a bit unlucky as there were other teams like England & WI who were also as bad, maybe worse. Just that their 1st round was easier and so they got a chance to get raped multiple times at a higher level.

And there was nothing really special about the Proteas & Kiwis either. They had a few good games, against the bad teams, but they played like high school kids when they faced Australia and Sri Lanka. Compare the Aus-SA semifinal in 99 with this one, and you'll realize the levels that have been dropped by SA. And dunno what went wrong with NZ! Only Australia and SL played like true cricketers in this world cup, and SL was a bit unlucky to lose the finals. First, a reduced game for a final, then Gilly, and finally confused umpires made sure SL lost.

Another important thing which made this a poor show was the rule to not allow Musical Instruments to the ground, and of course, high ticket pricing. But no music, come on, this is West Indies! and calypso music on the grounds is like a tradition! No wonder people preferred to stay at home rather than come to the stadium. The organizers say that this is a profitable World Cup, but you can judge for yourself.

At the end of it all, even this WC had its good moments, when Gibbs hit 6 sixes, Malinga took 4 wickets in a row, and there were some high quality innings from De Villiers, Hayden, Gilli, Mahela etc...

It was good to see some good cricket from the Irish. The ICC made them a ODI team, but I hope their fate is not the same like Kenya, another ODI team, but playing real ODI games only once in 4 years, in the WC. My advice to ICC, if you give ODI status to a team, make them play games regularly and improve the cricketing infrastructure in that country. But will the ICC ever listen? No wonder cricket is a fading game...

Inspite of all this, I will still follow the next series and hope that India play well in the Twenty20 championship in September atleast (which I seriously doubt). And the organizers have ensured revenue by pitting India and Pakistan in the same group along with the Scots with 2 teams advancing. So lets see what happens then!!

Sachin relief fund

2007-04-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

Sachin Tendulkar is a very happy man now. He has now got a strong source for his pension income. He may not even have to perform ads, let alone play cricket! Check out the link!

http://tinyurl.com/2rm5xs

Behind every successful man, there is a woman, they say..now there is a new thing, behind every retired successful man, there is a eunuch! ;)

New jobs for our Indian cricketers

2007-03-26T12:51:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine forwarded the below pics as possible professions for our "mighty" cricketers now that they are jobless after an early exit from the World Cup. Nice job, whoever did that!

Now, this pic got me real puzzled and I was wondering what is a coconut seller doing among cricketers before realizing that this is Robin Uthappa!! This profession suits him almost perfectly! Maybe the perfect job for him is to make Onion Uthappas in roadside dosa stalls!

Ah! The Prince of Kolkata! May I suggest you something? Keep a timer and record how many times you can snip with those scissors in a min and compare it with the no. of times you bat your eyelids in a min!

I don't think he is fit for even this! But who knows what Sehwag ki maa taught him? atleast cook properly if you can't bat well!

Chai Chai!! "Ten" Rs. only!!
The official tea vendor for 2011 World Cup!

After "Jam Jam Jammy", everybody chant "Swam Swam Swami"

In my honest opinion, you are better off being a cricketer. You played well in the WC and the run out was not your fault.

Starting from Left: Dhoni and Babloo the monkey which taught cricketing skills to Dhoni. Now seriously considering trading places with him to restore sanity!

Dunno who came up with this idea!
Agarkar himself looks like a fish!
Checking who is fatter, him or the fish! :)

Zaheer bhai! Sambhalke! these flowers are for sale! Not for Isha!

Chicken Tandoori? What happened? Meerabai may be not out, but are you out?

I would have loved to see a new profession for bhaji as well but I did not get that in the forward. According to me, his ideal job is clean the trash thrown on the beaches, and he can be aptly called "Bhaji on the beach"!

More suggestions for the above/other Indian players are most welcome! There are high probabilities they may lose these jobs as well after some time..

Spring broke..

2007-03-22T18:48:00.000-04:00

That's the state after spring break, and that's what precisely happened to me! But not before having a week of fun and party! and Florida is the best place for that!
AGAIN??? u ask? Yeah! It's been a hattrick for me! Since coming to US in the summer of 05, went to the sunshine state in Dec'05, then in Sep'06, and now Mar'07, and I would enjoy going to that state many more times!

This time, we were a group of 5 with a 6th one joining us during the weekend. We started from Knoxville on Sunday afternoon and first went to Brunswick in Georgia where we had another friend working. Brunswick is a neat little town with a few islands. Sunday night, after reaching Brunswick, we went to a Mexican restaurant, where I had the best Mexican food I've ever had.

Mon:
we went to Jekyll Island, had fun playing baseball, mini golf, and spent some time on the beach. Planned to go to a casino on a cruise but I screwed it up by misplacing my wallet and wasting time searching for it. Eventually found it in the main office on the island, but by then, our cruise had already left. We decided to make up for it by going to Jacksonville which was an hour drive.

Tue:
Originally planned to drive down to Tampa but ended up going in the opposite direction. No, we did not lose our way, but decided to hit Daytona as we had to drive to Orlando that evening. And Daytona beach is the place to be during spring break! Had a nice time at the beach. Wanted to go parasailing but couldn't do it due to lack of time.... and money...came back to Orlando, went to Paddy's house and headed to dinner in Woodlands. That brings back some pleasant memories of having eaten there in our previous trip. My stomach was struggling, however, and was packed like a Mumbai local train in peak hour, something like this:

But, like how the train moves still, even I kept moving. This time it was a Mysore Royal Thali for me and I did not miss it! And by the time I was done with my filter coffee in the end, my state was somewhat like last time. Came back home and hit the bed early that night.

Wed:
Plan was to leave to Miami by 8 AM. but IST creeped in between EST and we left 2 hrs late. Reached Miami at around 2 PM after paying tolls at some thousand locations on Florida's turnpike highway. The irritating thing in that is, at many places, toll is $ 1.25. Hunting for those quarters every time is a pain. Anyways, checked in to the hotel, and left for the beach. Decided to go on a speed boat cruise as it was evening and the beach was empty, and that was a thrill ride! The boat had a 1000 bhp engine and was cruising at 60 mph on the water and it was amazing! After the ride, we thought of checking out the nightlife near S.beach. Drove for around 1 hr trying to find a parking spot before finding one. Walked along Ocean Dr. (the road right after the beach running parallel to it) which is just amazing with all the crowd and the clubs and restaurants and the cars! Found 2 Ferrari's, 2 Lamborghini's, and other top cars, and some vintage classics as well, all parked on the street! Miami is one rich city!! Checked out one club/restaurant called Mango's tropical caf e, and the Salsa there was mindblowing! I am not talking about the famous Mexican side dish made of tomatoes, but the dance form. Stayed there for a while, thought we'll check out other clubs, but after a while, came back to Mango's as that was undoubtedly the best! When we reached our hotel that night, we decided to wake up early next day as we planned to go to Key West.

Thu:
Had set my alarm for 6 AM and woke up at 6! Never in my life will I do that if I have to go my class! But this was different. Was ready in 10 mins and started to wake up others, but none of them were ready to wake up as yet! Checked my mails, had my bath, was beginning to get totally jobless, when I hit upon an idea and switched on the TV with high volume. That woke the others and everyone started getting ready. By the time we checked out and left, it was around 9 AM. IST and Desis always go together, whether they are in India or Antarctica. According to me, a desi trip is never complete without those initial delays! Anyways, we finally set out towards Key West but before that, thought of checking out the 1st key, Key Largo, which is famous for snorkeling activities. We stopped at the visitor center and they told us that all keys are pretty much the same and there is nothing much extra in Key West, and also its a place for old people. Drat! Key West canceled! Lets have fun in Key largo and head back, atleast it saves us a 100 miles, we decided. We however had some bad news when they told us that the sea is very rough and snorkeling is not advised unless you are an expert swimmer and has done snorkeling before. So we decided to go on a cruise instead on a glass bottom boat. They gave us sea-sickness tablets and asked us to take one before leaving, but I shrugged it off. As we set off in the cruise, I was sipping a classic margarita and standing in the front of the boat as it was rocking back and forth, enjoying the breeze. As we neared the coral reefs, the boat rocked harder as water was not deep.And then I realized why they gave us those tablets and hoped that I can go back in time by an hour and take those tablets! While they were explaining those different corals, I was making half-boiled eggs in the men's room! Came back, took one tablet and slept for the rest of the journey..
Headed back to Miami after the cruise and decided to go back and relax at the beach. More bad news was to follow and we were cursing that person at the visitor center as we heard that Key West had one of the best spring break parties! :(
But we still had fun in Miami and we headed back to Orlando that night and reached Orlando at around 3. All of us were totally exhausted and within minutes of reaching Paddy's place, the noise levels increased due to all those snores from everyone.

Fri:
I had enough of beaches by now. Luckily, most of them felt that way. So we all headed to Blizzard Beach. Crazy, you think? No, Blizzard beach is not a beach, but is a water theme park in Orlando. Its main attraction, the Summit Plummet, an amazing water slide which has a 120 feet drop, almost vertical, at a speed of 60 mph!! Check out this video to get a feel of that!!
Apart from that, it has many more attractions and is a good way to spend on a hot summer day!

Sat:
Our trip is almost coming to an end. But we decided to have a little adventure before that and so we headed out to Universal's Islands of Adventure. I have been there before, but that was in the night and I couldn't go to many rides. This time I made sure I will. One of the rides I had missed last time was the Hulk Coaster, and this time we took the front row. Had some delay there, as one of the guys had puked in the 1st seat and we started getting worried as we thought that we will have to sit in those seats, but luckily, there was an extra coaster, so the worries transferred to the people behind our group! The hulk is an amazing coaster, where you are accelerated from 0 - 40 mph in 2 secs during ascent, which is the best part unlike other coasters, and in next 2 secs, u are staring down 120 feet above the ground in the 1st of its several 360 degree loops! Check out this video and don't miss it if you visit this place.
Warning: Not for the chicken-hearted.

Sun:
Time to head back home. Had an awesome time in Florida and now its back to routine work. But this time, the drive back home was a big pain in the ass. End of spring break, Sunday, traffic is at its peak, and we got caught in 3 accidents before even reaching Atlanta and traffic was moving at a snail's pace. My friend who was in another car and was lucky to escape one of those jams and was way ahead of us gave us an alternate route through a bypass to prevent Atlanta traffic. But, to catch that road, we had to travel another 11 miles at approx 11 mph along with the traffic. So, Einsteins that we are, we decided to take another bypass route which will join on to the bypass that our friend mentioned before touching Interstate I-75 again. And there were many more Einsteins like us, and all of us were stranded on a 2 lane State highway. As we were inching along, we saw Lawrenceville Highway which is known for its desi restaurants. So we decided to have dinner at Udupi restaurant as it was 8.00 PM already. So another 45 mins was wasted trying to find the restaurant, but atleast we ended up having excellent Mysore dosas, vada sambar and filter coffee and we hit the road again by 9.45. (Why do they say, hit the road? we don't come landing on the road like a plane!!) By 12, we were 30 miles from Knoxville when there was another accident! Damn! This time, its not slow moving traffic, we were stranded at the same location for atleast 45 mins! And there was chaos all around, as people started driving on the grass inspite of all the cops around. Many people came out their cars and went for walks/jogs etc..., on the highway!! think about it! By the time we reached Knoxville, it was 2.00 AM, went to the parking lot where my friend had parked his car to see that his car's rear window was broken and someone had tried to steal the MP3 player but could not remove it from the car. More chaos, and some phone calls later, the insurance company had assured to pay the charges. Finally reached home at 2.45 after one of my longest return journeys ever!

and in this way friend, my spring breaks are now officially over, as I have decided to get out of school ASAP, and most likely, its gonna be this summer!

A Kind reminder: I already mentioned about my state after spring break, so donations are accepted, only cash or check. I am too broke to spend money on a card swiping machine, you see...

RIP Bob Woolmer

2007-03-20T22:58:00.000-04:00

You will always be remembered as one of the best coaches cricket has ever produced...

Chemical Weapon of Mass Destruction

2007-02-23T17:29:00.000-05:00

A smelly "fart bomb" had postal staff and firefighters holding their breath today when it burst at a postal sorting centre on Auckland's North Shore.

Supposedly, this was a giveaway in an internet magazine like those sample shampoo sachets!! When other postal items were placed on top of the magazines being posted out the sachet bomb burst and released its contents shortly after daybreak!! (:D ROTFLMAO!!!)

Even the fire service was called and the centre evacuated and roads in the area were closed!! This one can surely classify as a chemical weapon of mass destruction!! ;)

More details about that can be found here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10425038
(Alternate link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/3969550a4560.html)

If you've seen the movie, Jackass 2, *ing Johnny Knoxville (If u haven't seen it and if u are a guy, watch it, if not, better stay away, this is my warning to girls! don't curse me later), there is one scene where a fat guy farts through a pipe!! (no more details, too gross). That's one crazy thing, but Jackass is a crazy movie, but this one is too much! Who will fart into a sachet and put that in an internet magazine as a giveaway??? Imagine what will they be promoting it as? "Try the new fart in town, Fartene!! After smelling this, any other fart will be like perfume to the nose!!" :)

After this, I guess the guy responsible will be having the last laugh...

A trip back home...

2007-01-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

After desperately waiting for a trip back home, here I am, sitting in my office after finishing that trip last month..it was not a small trip, but not big either..it was for 5 weeks, and I had decided to make maximum use of those 5 weeks!

I wanted to give a surprise to my parents, so I decided to go 4 days in advance of the date I told them I would be coming. Luckily, my friend Adi said he's free and can pick me up from the airport, so that issue was solved. Landed in Bangalore, generously paid Rs.200 + 1 USD like an idiot to the porter for pushing my trolley some 50 meters, gave a call to mom using roaming service telling her that I'll call back in an hour and made sure she'll be at home. Went home and gave her a call from outside and asked her to come out. I wanted to go in myself but did not want to give too much shock! Mom was baffled as to why I am asking her to come out and thought maybe there is some celestial event sighting in Bangalore!! :) She came out and started looking towards the sky, and I asked her to look down!! :D Even my sis was present and both were pleasantly surprised, but we did not inform dad yet who was in office. When he came home in the evening, it was another shock! In between, I slept liked I've never slept before due to the jet lag and the long flight journey via Atlanta - Chicago - London - Colombo - Bangalore!

Oh, By the way, a special mention to the traffic..the first time I came from the airport, I was scared to shit looking at buses and autos and cars coming from all directions! Throughout my stay, believe it or not, while driving my bike, I was checking the rearview mirror regularly, stopping for pedestrians, and even stopped at a stop sign once or twice, before realizing the (extra) noise pollution it can create for the next 5-10 secs, and moved on. And once, me and my cousins decided to go to 'Kabul Express' 9.40 PM show at 8.45 PM. Called up another cousin who was near Inox theater to go buy the tickets. As she had a car, we decided to go by taxi, and called a city taxi service. By the time, he came to pick us up, it was 9.15 PM and we had to pick another guy, we picked him and left at around 9.25 types, pretty confident that there is no way in the world, we can reach on time. And we stay in Nagarabavi, 15 kms from Inox. The taxi driver was confident he can take us on time, and he did, almost, but not before creating a situation where 3 people in the car almost had heart attacks! Me, and my cousin and his wife who had come from Dubai. We reached at 9.45 PM and by the time, we went 4 floors and went inside, we had just missed the opening credits! and the movie was not bad, actually.

Bangalore (or Bengalooru, as some people want to call) hasn't actually changed that much, except for the traffic, which has increased 4-fold, and addition of 1 or 2 flyovers. And the BTM lyt flyover was completed (finally!!! I had never dreamt to seeing it complete in this lifetime), the airport road was partial, anand rao circle is complete and has something which is both good and bad, its closeness to Race Course. For those who havent travelled on that flyover, it gives a wonderful & close view of the race course, thats the good part. The bad part is that, it gives such a good view that people park their vehicles on the flyover to stop and watch the race!! I had heard of this before, I could not witness such an event, but I did witness something similar when I was driving on Mysore Rd. flyover. Around 20 bikes, including a police vehicle (wtf) had been parked on the flyover and everybody is watching below, and guess what it was, some stupid sports competition on Parade grounds, and a running race is going on!! If this can bring such a crowd, imagine replacing people with horses! Something needs to be done seriously!!

Coming back to my trip, I actually waited for 4 days before eating outside the 1st time! Wanted to get adjusted back to Indian conditions. My arch rival, cold with running nose, decided to pay me a visit pretty soon and did not want to let go of me throughout the trip. Thankfully, I did not bring him along to US. My journey to good actually started 1st day itself with wonderful rasam made by mom and many other home made dishes later. And boy, I enjoyed the chaats so much that sometimes, that used to be my dinner! And I did make some 8-10 visits to Indraprastha restaurant for its heavenly vada-sambar and dosas!! I could not afford to miss the pubs and paid visits to Styx, P.Haze, Mojo's and B11. Tried out Andhra style as well. And of course, a dhaba, where I used to have lunch 3 times a week during college times! Overall, it was a pretty satisfactory outing for me in terms of food, but my belly did not sound so happy. For it, it was like working during UAT (User Acceptance Test) phase of software cycle. I was accepting everything and it had to slog to keep me healthy without breaking down!!

I made an honest effort to meet as many friends and relatives as I could. Met most of the close relatives. My school buddies were all there, and 3 of us were making the trip to India at the same time, so it was a time for get-togethers and parties and bringing up lots of childhood memories! Also, had a good time with my cousins, one day we went to Wonder-la, Bangalore's new theme park, and believe me, it rocks! Met some of my college buddies , Infy team (I couldn't go inside Infy, but it looks too good with those new modern buildings) and few other friends. My good fortune: Deep Purple came down to perform in Bangalore, and I made it to the event this time after missing them last time and it rocked!! My bad fortune: Iron Maiden is performing in Bangalore on Mar 17th and I am in US. When they performed in US, they did not come anywhere near Knoxville. Anyways, there were some friends whom I really wanted to meet, but unfortunately, could not. If you are one of those, sorry! I hope u undertand my situation.

This trip couldn't have been complete without a visit to RVCE, where I studied BE. Luckily, I had company and my classmate from BE, Bandy, now (Bandy during college x 4) in body mass, decided to come. We spent a whole day in college and every moment was nostalgic, right from, eating samosa from the little shop near the parking lot, to the IT department, the canteen, sports complex, hostels, basketball court, and of course, Dreamland and its famous CP and KP parathas! However, it was exam day and most of the profs had left after exam duty, was just able to meet our HOD and few attenders, but the new building for our department is way better than what we had. Best part of the visit, a new "Center for Gandhian studies" in college, Gandhigiri RVCE main bhi shuru ho gaya mamoo!!

Most of the above activities were done in December, and New Year passed by, and for a change, i stayed back at home this time during New Year's, was too tired after roaming around in the morning. 1st week of Jan was spent running around for visa and tickets for the family trip to Singapore and Malaysia. We went there for a week in the 2nd week of Jan. It was a fun trip, and Malaysia is an awesome place!! Went to Genting and Kuala Lumpur, couldn't go to some of the other places as it was not included in the package. Genting is a nice cool hill station with an outdoor and indoor theme park. Worth a visit, best ride is the Flying Coaster where you need to stand in the coaster!! And it does rotate 360 degrees a few times!
Kuala Lumpur, in contrast, is a big, well planned city, and Petronas Towers is one of its best attractions! One amazing tower, it looks beautiful in the morning and even more beautiful in the night! Here are some pics...

Spent 3 days in Malaysia and 4 days in Singapore. Unfortunately, Singapore was raining most of the time, still we did not let down our spirits and visited the Jurong zoo and bird park with $1 raincoats and umbrellas! and it was a good experience! And the zoo is fantastic!! And this animal below was the most amazing! Of course, you'd have seen it in NatGeo. The Hamadryas Baboon and its big red arse!! Yuck!!

Also went to Sentosa Island for a day, and luckily, it did not rain that day..nice place, with an amazing musical fountain and laser show in the end!

Ended the Singapore tour with a city tour and a final visit to the Merlion (I see this statue everywhere in Singapore! This is the main one)

Reached back India on the 14th after a nice trip and it suddenly dawned upon me that I have only 1 week left! And I still hadn't met many friends that time. The week was spent meeting friends for lunch and dinner, pubbing, and DVD purchasing in the mecca for DVD purchases, National market! and in this way, Sunday came. Sunday was a house arrest for me as mom forced me to stay home one day atleast, and we hadn't even started packing! Started packing only in the evening, and went on till 12.30 AM as my luggage was 7 kgs overweight, and most of it was foodstuff!! Somehow brought it to weight limit.

I hate Monday mornings (who doesn't?). Monday, 22nd Jan, I hated the most. It was time to head back to US. And my flight was in the morning through Colombo and I had a 12 hr stay in Colombo. We were provided free accommodation and food. And boy, they gave us a 5 star beach resort! Amazing service! Went roaming around the city in the morning, and was gasping looking at the prices! someone said SL is cheap, I wanna find that guy and ask him what he found cheap! One Plain Dosa - Rs.55 (approx. INR 23), not so bad, but masala dosa - Rs.195!! Meals - Rs.350! No, this was not in a 5 star hotel, we spent for lunch as our hotel was far and lunch was free only there. Had free dinner in the hotel containing mostly American and European style food with a wide assortment of pastries. Then I went to make a call home and spoke for 4.5 mins. Guess how much the bill came to? SL Rs.890!! to India!! WTF!! SL Rs190 per min! I spend 7 cents per min from US to India! Crazy!!

Anyways, left the hotel that night to the airport, had no problems in any of the flights . When the last flight landed in Atlanta, I was so tired that the lady next to me asked me if I am alive! From the airport, took the MARTA service and went to the bus station to catch the Knoxville bus and reached Knoxville at 4.30 AM on 24th. Did not sleep much (went to sleep at 6.30 and woke up at 8 AM) and dressed to go to college! By 3.30 PM, was dozing off in my cubicle, when my boss woke me up and asked me to go home and take some rest! Came home at 5, slept at 5.30 PM and woke up at 9.30 AM the next morning, and my body was adjusted back to US time.

Now, Still, some of the snacks are left, and my heavy workload is driving my homesickness away. Still, dunno when my next trip will be, but I am waiting for that day again to come soon!!!

and miles to go before I sleep...

2006-12-08T23:11:00.001-05:00

...and most probably, I will sleep all along my journey..the journey i've been waiting for the past 1 year, a trip back home to namma bengalooru!! My exams got over and I'm in party mood! and I can't wait to set foot in India and go home to my family!! and pani puri, masala puri, gobi manchurian, beNNe dose, set dose, filter coffee etc... etc... here I come!!! :P

Random pics taken from the cell phone..

2006-11-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics taken from my cell phone (the camera had to be used sometime...). Lemme start on a "high" note..

"Mega"Rita

This seems like a standard picture..watz special? That drink..yeah, the glass may seem huge, and it was huge!! That contained 32 oz of Margarita (almost 1 liter) and was aptly called Megarita. I started with this drink and before I could finish it, even my dinner was over!!
Courtesy: Ruby Tuesday

The Other Door (Pic quality is a little bad..kindly adjust)

for the weak eyed, it reads:

This Door Sticks half the time.
Go ahead and use the other one
(We wont tell)

But be careful:
Dont hit unsuspecting people on the other side

This notice was stuck on the sticking door found near my workplace where there are 2 huge doors, one for people coming from on side, second for those going to the other side, so that people don't bang the door on someone's face coming from the opposite side. And yes, it does stick half the time. But this notice sounded pretty funny to me, especially the 'We wont tell' part! I appreciate the effort made in preparing the notice, but they could have just got that door fixed! Even the maintenance people walk past that everyday...it happens not only in India..

Papaya Can

Found this in the local Indian Store. Its a can of papaya in syrup and the brand name is

"Cock on the Mountain Top"

Papayas anyone??
(Googling on the name will give u better pics)

Color Color Color Color

2006-10-31T23:21:00.000-05:00

yeah, lots of them..from the trees..Went to Smokies last weekend to capture some fall colors pics and also go on a 5 mile hike. Needless to say, it was wonderful! Here are some pics of that..
http://picasaweb.google.com/yv.vikas/SmokiesSnaps

Our Diwali Event

2006-10-27T11:53:00.000-04:00

Had our Diwali event last week on Sunday, Oct 22nd... This time, me being the President of the Indian Students Association in my university meant much more work and running about for Diwali. Luckily, we have a good committee team and lots of volunteers from the new students batch with lots of enthu in them.. Dunno how many sleepless nights we have had before the event. Practice for all the programs started at a slow pace, and then built up in the last week. My head has gone bonkers after continuously listening to the fashion show song which was mixed and matched by me. BTW, I have taken part in a fashion show 4 times after coming to UT. I think thats one career option which I can take up if I am jobless after my MS!
Anyways, so while all the practice was going on, we also had to distribute fliers everywhere for advertising the event. The local newspaper contacted me and my roommate for an interview and published it before the event. The Funny part, I am called as "Yv" throughout, they thought thats my last name! I Bet even the Chinese cant pronounce that properly! Here's a link to that article.

So things were getting busier by the day. We had our final rehearsals at the auditorium on Friday. Most events looked good, there was also a Desi rap performance which rocked! Our Fashion show still needed some work to be done, both in the formations and in my music. Yet another night-out listening & mixing that song...

Saturday, the day before the event - we kinda relaxed during the day, there was a home football game which UT won by a close margin against Alabama. Their performance is much better this time than last year and is in the Top 10 now. Anyway, after the game, went back to our rehearsals and I also had to work on a video about India. After much brooding over the song selection, chose a fusion piece by Talvin Singh and started collecting the slides for my video. Never knew Windows Moviemaker is such a good tool!! Sat for the video till 5 in the morning, went to sleep for a while and got back up by 7. Added a few final touches to the video, showered & dressed up, and got ready to leave home by 10 AM.

D-Day: (Diwali-Day) We were in the Audi by 10.15 AM and moved some of the drinks and food supplies like plates, cups etc.. to the lunch area. We were waiting for the decorations group to arrive, and they could come only by 11.30 AM. They started work immediately at the auditorium. The food also came that time, and by the time we set up everything, there was already a queue of people for the food! By 12.15, started issuing tickets and boy, there was a pretty big crowd for the food!! More than 220 people ate the food while most committee members had to remain hungry as the food got over in time (in between, even the plates got over and there some panic for a short while before new plates came), around 1.45 PM. By then, the stage was set up, the lights, sound team was ready, the hosts were ready, and I hadn't prepared my speech yet! Thx to Arpit who suggested a few sentences, I put them together.

The show started pretty much on time, only 10 mins late which is pretty good by Indian standards! Started with the Diya ceremony which went very well, followed by National Anthems, and then my turn to speak! Blabbered a few sentences quickly and got off stage, have to check the video to see how stupid I looked...anyways, after that, there was a talk by the chief guest, and then the cultural events started. Things went pretty smooth after that, and before we realized, it was almost 4 PM and the last program was left, the Fashion show. Before that, my video was presented and some people liked it. So, not a wasted effort. Fashion show also went pretty well and by 4.15 PM, the event was over. The feedback for the event has been good and everyone liked it! A big burden off the shoulders and a job well done by each and every person. I enjoyed every moment of this Diwali preparation! Now, Its back to studies and exams! and the trip to India I am waiting for so desperately!!