Day 3 : Ciao Italy. It's official. My driving sucs :)

Today I drove to Milano, Italia or Milan, Italy (in English) to my friends Rajesh & Jennifer. My original plan was to get up early around 6am, get ready, checkout and start driving as it is a long 5 to 5.5 hours drive from Munich. But you know, it happens, I got up late and when I checked out it was 930am. When I entered my friends address in the navigation computer it told me I will reach Milan at about 230pm.

And so...it all began...me driving my BMW in the much talked about European highways or Autobahn.

Driving inside cities in Europe is not an easy thing that too with a stick shift. Not all intersections have clear signs and many streets don’t have the street name where they are supposed to be. In that sense, streets in US are damn good. Here all streets have name and intersections are clear and you can always pinpoint your location if you managed to get to an intersection. In Europe ...forget it.

But highways, it's a different story. I noticed that European highways are little bit better than the highways in US but not as good as some told me (at least the route I took).

My route to Milan from Munich was through Innsbruck, Austria. That is what I needed as I wanted to avoid Swiss because I had no visa to enter Swiss. After I entered Austria the landscape started to change. I was seeing part of the Alps mountain range. God it was beautiful. It was amazing scenic view. I took lots of pictures while driving. It was so exciting to drive through those roads.

Then after a while I entered Italy. I did not expect the roads in Northern Italy, to be scenic. But I was totally wrong. I cannot explain it in words. You will have to see and experience it for yourself. I will post some pictures of it.

In the highway in Northern Italy, every .5 mile you have a SOS phone with a short shoulder lane. In case of emergency one need not walk more than .5 mile to make an SOS phone call.

Then my gas tank was nearing empty and I decided to fill some gas. Gas stations in Italy are little bit different. At least the one where I went was. Everything was written in Italian and I did not understand any single word. So I got the help of a local. It seems that first you have to select how much gas you want to fill. Full tank, or increments of €5, or €20.Then you pick the required pump(Diesel or Gas) and fill and then you will have to go inside to pay. Now, as lots of cars run on diesel in Europe, it’s common you will see at least 2 pumps for diesel and only one for gas. Gas is called Benzene in Italy.

After filling Benzene, I continued my journey and when I finally reached Milan, after almost 6 hours drive I did not feel tired. The drive was so fascinating. As I was asked by BMW to keep my engine revs below 4000 rpm for the first 2000 miles, I did not try to cross 100 mile barrier.

My friend Rajesh came to receive me at the train station in Arcore near Milan, as my navigation did not have his address in its database. Before that, I did get lost a little bit trying to follow the instructions and paid the price for feeding a not so accurate destination. But anyway, the good thing is I got to reach the destination.

Then I relaxed a little bit in my friend’s home and freshened up and we decided to go out to the Duomo Square in Milan. I entered the office parking space address of my friend’s office into the navigation computer and started to drive to Milan.

Oh man, I will have to accept that my driving sucs. This was the toughest part. The roads inside Milan are narrow, and cars are parked on both sides and people drive real crazy there. This is like driving in India. Thank God, somehow I managed to reach the destination after stalling my car 3-4 times on my way.huh...so embarassing. Anyway, if you plan to drive inside Milan, please be little careful. Drivers don’t give right of way, they don’t let you the road for courtesy sake, and it was kind of rude. The signals were also bad. They were so near to the stopping point in intersections, that once you stop there you can’t see the signal properly. You will have to either stop a little bit before the stop sign or you will have to look down your windshield to see the signals. It is very bad design. The signals and local roads in US cities are the best.

Anyway, then we went to the Duomo Square. It was fully crowded. Lots of people hanging out there and shopping and having fun. The Duomo Cathedral itself was awesome. We did see the Christmas tree lightings and Swarovski had a Christmas tree decorated with full of crystals. It was amazing. Very pretty.

Then we decided to go to the Absolut Icebar Milano. This Ice bar was opened recently in Milan, and I came to know about in Sun TV, a South Indian Tamil satellite channel. Even many people in Milan did not know about this. It was a very cool place. Literally :)
Below zero, I think the temperature is maintained at -5 deg Celsius. We were given an Eskimo type jacket and gloves and they served drinks inside. The glass was made of ice. I have some pictures of it too. We stayed there for a while and Rajesh and I had vodka and Jennifer had some fruit juice.

Then we decided to call it a day and headed home. After reaching home we had a Christmas cake called Panettone. My friends told that this cake is made in Italy only during Christmas. It was very delicious. Then we chatted for a while about the good times we all had when we were working together in Coimbatore. It was 12 midnight. We decided it’s time to catch some ZZZzzzsss.

This means 'Exit' from highway

Not flying to moon. Just inside a tunnel.

Austria

Shoulder lane with SOS phone

Swarovski Christmas tree in the Galleria

Galleria and Christmas tree at Duomo Square


Duomo Cathedral


The famous Corso Buenos Aires street

My GPS Navigation System

Ice Bar

Absolut Icebar



Glass in Icebar

Day 2 : My BMW

Today morning I got up early and taxied to BMW Delivery Center at Kundenzentrum Freimann. I was the first at European Delivery today. A beautiful young lady who spoke pretty good English was taking care of my Delivery process. She got my passport and told me it will take about an hour for the paperwork to be completed. So I decided to go to the 'Bistro' in second floor and used BMW voucher to get some coffee.

I was going through the route that I have to take to Milan. Usually, the shortest route to Milan from Munich is through Switzerland. But as I did not have Swiss visa I had to work out an alternative(of course a longer one) through Innsbruck, Austria.

Then after about half an hour she came and told me that my car is ready. I was very excited. We went through the paperwork for 10 minutes and she led me to my car. My car was all ready and shining and was looking gorgeous. The next 30 minutes she explained me about the various functions and features of my car. Then she bid farewell to me and my car.

I was all alone with my new car. I called my parents and told them about the car. Then I entered my hotel address into the navigation computer and with the help of that and God's grace, I 'managed' to reach my hotel.

Driving in Germany is not as easy as in US. Manual transmission made it more challenging. Munich driving is like driving in India. Not every street has lanes and even the streets which have proper lanes did not escape the hussle-bussle driving of Germans. Many roads(lanes) have rails on them, so it's funny to see trains traveling in the roads in a lane and a car going right behind it. Maybe this is the true 'rail-road'. haha. Even though it looks chaos some how all is well organized. On a busy day driving in Munich is no different from driving in a busy Chennai road.

Then I checked out from my hotel because I had to checkin to another hotel. Entered the new hotel's address in the navigation computer and with it's help reached the new hotel. I checked in there. Called for a taxi and went to BMW Factory tour at Munich plant.

It was a 2 hour tour. It was pretty much same as any other car plant. Robots doing most of the automated repetitive task. It was fascinating to see all the huge robots working in sync. After the tour me and a girl from Spain(who was also with me during the plant tour) decided to check out the BMW Museum. A new museum is under construction now which I think will open in May 2006. The one we went was a small one. But it was ok. Then after an hour came home , had dinner and now typing this...


My BMW





Just 5 miles

BMW HQ - In the shape of 4 cylinders

Sand Leather Interior

BMW HQ

BMW Museum

Inside BMW Museum

BMW Hydrogen fuel car

In front of BMW HQ

Day 1 : Guten Tag from Munich

Marienplatz

Today I landed in Munich Airport. Took a taxi to Four points Hotel Sheraton. It was half an hour drive from airport to my hotel.

Almost everybody here has a BMW. The taxi I took was a Mercedes Benz. Anyway, I was tired from the flight and I slept for 2 hours in my hotel.

Then in the evening I went to Marienplatz. It's a huge shopping place(like mall in USA) and lots of stalls with vendors selling all kinds of things from arts & crafts to snacks, and food and drinks. There was a huge crowd. It looked like a fair. It was very cold though. In fact freezing. The temperature was below 0 deg C.

Everything there was written in German. I had no idea what they were. So I decided to do a 'Rahul Dravid' for a while. Then I got a drink called 'Madruzzo Ameretto'. It's kind of alcohol. It was good thought to have it in the freezing cold. Usually when you buy drinks in Europe in such places I guess they give you the cup as a souvenir. It happened last time when I went to Salzburg too. Then I was just hanging out taking pictures and then I got my favorite 'Crepe with Nutella and Banane'. It's some what like our dosa with Nutella and sliced banana stuffing. It was delicious. Then I also had 'Bratwurst in der semmel'. It was good too.

After hanging out for a while it got really very cold and freezing, so I decided to get into some store and I went inside a DVD Magazine store 'Hugendubel' checking out all Hollywood DVDs (dubbed in German) and all the German magazines. Staying inside also helped me to get warm little bit.

All shops in Marienplatz close at 20.00 and all the outside stall vendors close at 20.30. It was time for me to call it a day and get back to my hotel. During my flight my neighbor was a young German and I was chatting with him for a while. He thought I was a Christian because I had beef in the flight and he has some Indian friends who are vegetarians and he told that whenever they go out to eat they have this problem hunting for vegetarian food and so he assumed all Indians except Christians don't eat meat.haha. very funny. He also mentioned that lot of Indians come to work in Munich for Infineon Technologies. Even in the airport at the baggage claim section I saw a huge billboard ad for Infineon Technologies. Today I saw only one Indian girl in Marienplatz. My taxi driver on my way back to hotel told me that recently lots of Indian restaurants had opened in town. Probably our guys are busy checking out those restaurants. I just finished my 'Paulner Original Munchner Alkoholfrei' from the minibar that's inside every room in this hotel. I'll signoff for now.

Want to save for college?

My uncle told me about this cool website. I think this will be very useful for people who have kids and want to save money for their college. This is a way to save money every time you use your credit card. For more information visit http://www.upromise.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft integrates MSN Messenger into hotmail

Microsoft integrated MSN Messenger into hotmail. If you login to your hotmail account, you will see a menu button to MSN Messenger. You can chat, through a popup window, to all your Messenger buddies. Hey, that's cool.

Bhopal

The world is remembering the 20th anniversary of the world's worst industrial accident - the toxic gas leak in Bhopal. I am sure you all know about that. Iam also sure you all know that the victims and activists sued/are suing DOW (which bought Union Carbide). But do you know that Dow was suing the Bhopal Victims?
Yes, you heard me right. Dow suing Bhopal Victims.

Taj is more beautiful than me: Aishwarya

"Taj is a beautiful piece of architecture, more beautiful than me. I've always regarded it with admiration as it embodies love." – Aishwarya Rai

http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/01taj.htm

aaahh...Remember...
“haira haira hairaba haira haira hairaba
50 kg taj mahal enakkey enakka”

Looks like someone literally started to associate themselves with Taj Mahal.

Ganguly fined 30% of match fee

India skipper Sourav Ganguly was fined 30 per cent of his match fee for breach of the ICC Code of Conduct on the fourth day of the second Test against South Africa in Kolkata on Wednesday.

http://us.rediff.com/cricket/2004/dec/01fined.htm

Dude, you better start saving your endorsement money. Coz your family ain’t going to survive on your match fee alone.

"I wanted to go on to make a big score and put the team into a really strong position."
"we would have liked to be about 100 ahead with a couple more wickets in hand"

-Rahul Dravid
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Eh...are you forgetting something. Dude, it was you who batted slowly and pulled the run rate down.

Election re-runs

Romanian opposition demands election re-run
The leader of Romania's opposition party called today for the results of the country's parliamentary and presidential elections to be declared fraudulent and for a re-run to be held.

Ukraine Challenger Willing to Rerun Election
Ukraine's liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko said on Wednesday he was prepared to rerun a disputed presidential election provided it was overseen by honest officials.

You see... this is why John Kerry ended his presidential campaign with more than $15 million in the bank. He thought that in case US goes for a rerun of 2004 elections, he would have a jump start ahead of Bush in Campaign money.

Democrats Question Kerry's Campaign Funds

Thanksgiving weekend was very relaxing. I went to the movie Alexander. It was an ok movie. Not excellent, not very bad. I felt it could have been made lot better. I liked one battle scene where Alexander's army and Persian army are confronting each other and some shots were taken from aerial. It was really awesome and I don't remember seeing anything like that in any other movie before. Then later I saw the Tamil movie Gajendra starring Vijaykanth. Then I saw Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs. That was a very funny movie. Mel Brooks made fun of movies like Star Wars and Star Trek. I enjoyed the movie.

The Government of India should stop harping that Kashmir is an integral part of India and Kashmir is that and is not that.. etc, etc. India should come out open with their ideas. Whatever is not acceptable to India, Kashmir and Pakistan should be kept aside, and move ahead with something that is acceptable to all.-Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, leader of the separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference

Not acceptable to India: no giving up on Kashmir
Not acceptable to Pakistan: no giving up on Kashmir
Not acceptable to Kashmir : no giving up on Kashmir

If they set aside these 'not acceptables' what the heck are they going to talk about and move ahead?

http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/29inter.htm

Extreme Makeup

Rajni before makeup and after makeup(chandramukhi) 
Thanks : http://www.chandramukhithefilm.com/


Roja before makeup and after makeup 

Thanksgiving...everyone is killing Turkey, my friend Mukesh and I decided to kill a goat :) we went to the movie 'National Treasure' today afternoon. Then we came home and cooked yakmi pilaf goat biryani. Then I saw the tamil move 'Giri'.

Today I tested my Sidekick II phone at work. As expected the signal was bad and lots of calls were missed. I can live without dialpad. I do not need to browse while talking. I can live without Javascript. Bluetooth is pretty much useless in phones which has good speaker-phone like Sidekick II. But the signal...well..that's the important thing for a cell phone. I will return this phone for now.

Kanchi seer booked in another case

Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati was on Tuesday booked in another case relating to an attack on a former official of the Kanchi Mutt, G Radhakrishnan, and two others in September 2002.
Additional Deputy Superintendent of Police S P Sakthivel served the arrest memo on the Shankaracharya at the Vellore Prison, where he is already in judicial custody after his arrest on November 11 in connection with the Sankararaman murder case.

Does anyone else have any cases still open and pending?
Bring it on; we have a guy on whom we can dump all those cases. Dump 2 cases and get 1 free.

http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/23kanchi1.htm

Was Kanchi Seer’s hastened arrest a diversion by the government?

Was the arrest a ploy to divert the public’s attention away from the ‘mystery of Veerappan’s killing’ controversy?

I’m not sure about that, but if that is the case, well they did a damn good job. You see…now nobody is talking about Veerappan’s killing and everyone seems to have forgotten that issue. God, I love politics :)

The partnership for the second wicket was worth 76 and Dravid's contribution was just 12. Sourav Ganguly, the next man in, and Dravid struggled to get the ball away in the next 30 minutes as India's run-rate rapidly dropped to 3.5. 59 runs were scored in the first eight overs of the session, while Sehwag was going berserk. 30 runs came in 21 overs since his dismissal.

30 runs in 21 overs! Dude, Just to get your 'Big Knock' don't knock the team down.

"I have been practicing hard in the nets. Hopefully once I get a start I can play a long innings. A big one is due now."

That's one hell of a start.

Tonight I went and bought the T Mobile phone Sidekick II. Some of my friends bought T Mobile phones few months back. None of them were satisfied with the service. By service I mean signal reception. One common thing was all of them had the same model. So I thought a different phone may get better signal. So I went and bought the Sidekick II. It just took 20 minutes for the whole process. It's pretty amazing how fast things can be done now a days. OK, now coming to the signal problem...Guess what...I did not get a friggin signal at the T Mobile store. Can you believe that?
I came home and called the new phone with my old cell phone. One call went through out of 10 calls. Later in the night I called my friend Mukesh and was able to get through and asked him to call back and surprisingly got the call. Tomorrow I will take it to work and see if I get a good signal reception there. Also I will have to ask my parents to call from India and see how it works. Saying all this, I still love this phone. This is a cool phone, sexy looking, and the speaker phone quality is damn good. I could speak from like 7-8 feet away and still the other person could hear me clearly and I could hear the other person clearly. So the few cons of the phone are:
1. Signal not consistently strong
2. Can't dial using dialpad without flipping open the phone
3. No Bluetooth
4. Can't browse the web while talking
5. No Javascript support

Toxicology tests outlined in Yasser Arafat's medical records did not find any known poisons, the late Palestinian leader's nephew said today, adding that the records gave no clear cause of death. The medical dossier has 558 pages, plus X-rays, he said, adding that he had not had time to read it all yet.

Considering the fact that Yasser Arafat 'died' several times, no wonder the medical dossier has 558 pages. You see...everytime he came back alive and died again, they had to add a new chapter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1357064,00.html

Karunanidhi sees vengeance in Seer's arrest

In surprising comments that indicate a turnaround, DMK President M Karunanidhi, today said "vengeance" could be seen in Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in the arrest of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendera Saraswathi, and "doubts" have arisen over many issues.
Asked if his statement welcoming the arrest then and expressing doubts now about the arrest of the Sankaracharya was not contradictory, Karunanidhi said "I gave my views soon after the arrest. But on the basis of details subsequently available doubts have arisen."

May be he should just keep his mouth shut, till the investigations are complete and not issue premature statements.

The Hindu Story

Hey, this is cool

Tonight I went to the movie SpongeBob SquarePants. Actually I wanted to go for that movie but when I went to the theater I got confused if I should go for that or 'National Treasure'. I ended up buying tickets for 'National Treasure'. Then I was like 'Gosh, what was I thinking, why did I change my mind?'. Then when I passed the entrance I thought, 'Hey I can go into SpongeBob SquarePants' and I did. I think once you get tickets here, it really doesn't matter which movie you go (as long as it's not a full house, I think you are safe). I don't think you can do such a thing in India. I thought the system here was pretty cool. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie SpongeBob even though some critics think otherwise. My home is little bit mess now, I better go and clean some of it.

Last night I went to T Mobile showroom in Short Pump mall. My cell phone lease is over with Sprint and I was particularly interested in Sidekick II from T Mobile(manufactured by Danger and Sharp,Japan). It's a hot selling cool gadget phone. It costs about $600 without any rebates. The only problem that I see with this phone is that to dial a number using keypad, you will have to flip open the screen. I'm not sure how easy that will be to dial a number while driving that too in a manual transmission, if you know what I mean ;-). Another beautiful young lady next to me concurred.
Other problem, which is not such a big deal for me as of now, is that it doesn't have Bluetooth. Anyway, I think I will buy that phone tomorrow and evaluate. There is a trial period of 14 days.

A big knock is due, says Dravid

Rahul Dravid sounded a warning to the South Africans on Thursday when he said his poor run of scores was over and a big knock was due from him.

Ooohh. That sounds scary. The South Africans are now going to crap their pants.

He also said that:

"I have been practicing hard in the nets. Hopefully once I get a start I can play a long innings. A big one is due now."

eh...so...has he not been practicing hard in the nets for the Australian series?
Well...anyway...let’s hope he “gets a start” so that he can play a long innings. You see...he is different from the other batsmen, who all play long innings without getting a start :-)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/htcricket/14_1111171.htm

Kashmir response dismays Pakistan

Pakistan says it is disappointed with India's response to its proposals to solve the dispute over Kashmir.
During a visit to Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, Manmohan Singh said: "I have made it clear to President Musharraf that any redrawing of the international border is not acceptable to us."
Responding to the Indian premier's statement, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri asked Delhi to avoid making "controversial statements".
"The fact is that Jammu and Kashmir is a dispute which Pakistan and India have to resolve through dialogue and negotiations," he told Pakistan's state-run APP news agency.
Speaking to AFP, Gen Musharraf said the signals coming out of Delhi were not encouraging.
"Certainly the vibes should be much better than this... there ought to be a desire to move forwards towards peace," he said.

Yeah...here we are. Again. Back to square one. Right where we started. The talks between India and Pakistan is like going in circles. It ends right where it started.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4024879.stm

Call centre employees gets into a major fight at a pub over a girl

Rati Bawa, who works with a Delhi-based advertising agency, says "The first time I went to Gurgaon to party was at The Deck, Odyssey (a nightclub in Sahara Mall).
"At about three in the morning two guys started hitting each other in the middle of the dance floor," she recalls.
"There was this huge outburst, apparently over a girl.
There was another instance when two girls almost tore each other's clothes off - this time fighting over a guy.

It’s still lot better than here in America, where guys fight over a guy and girls fight over a girl.
Yeah…How about that :-)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/926976.cms

FCC's Powell disappointed in 'MNF'
The nation's chief media regulator expressed disappointment Wednesday over the steamy locker room opening to ABC's "Monday Night Football" broadcast.
The opening, which has generated complaints to ABC and the FCC, featured actress Nicollette Sheridan in the locker room, supposedly dressed only in a white towel. She drops the towel and jumps into the arms of Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens. Sheridan was shown only from behind and above the waist after dropping the towel.

You are not alone Mr. Powell. We all are disappointed. We deserved more.

EPA WILL USE POOR KIDS AS GUINEA PIGS IN NEW STUDY ON PESTICIDES
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Bush appointees, is seeking input on a new proposed study in which infants in participating low income families will be monitored for health impacts as they undergo exposure to known toxic chemicals over the course of two years.
For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation.

$970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation???
"EPA, How about adding a coffin too to that list. I think that will be more useful."

http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm

Today morning when I started my car, the battery died. First I thought it was just a low battery needing a jump start. I called Dixita and with the help of her tried to jump start my car. But it failed. Then Pat took his car and we came to work in his car. I was concerned that the alternator had to be replaced as they cost few hundred dollars. Later in the evening after I came home I called AAA. The guy came after 30 minutes and I asked him to try jump starting one more time. And this time when he tried it worked. I was so glad that I didn't have to spend money. The water in the battery was completely drained and we filled it with water. I hope tomorrow morning when I start my car there is no problem.

:-)
Condemning the arrest of Hindu pontiff Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, various Muslim clerics on Monday came out in his support, demanding his immediate release and dropping of all charges against him.
In their statement, Muslim leaders said putting a "senior religious leader" of this stature with other criminals in jail was "highly deplorable".
They referred to reports that he was not being provided his traditional food.
"His age (70) factor has not been taken into account. Such treatment is not even given to hardened criminals. The Shankaracharya is a global leader," the statement said.

Yeah…I think they are just taking a ‘preemptive strike’ and making sure that they are not subjected to the same treatment in future.

When I heard the news that ICC banned Sourav Ganguly from playing 2 tests, I felt sad. BCCI is the most powerful board in ICC, but still they somehow fail to lobby and dominate their positions in ICC. Same happens in Washington. But, that's another big story. The interesting fact is even our arch rivals, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan, came in support of Sourav Ganguly. But some of my colleagues (fellow Indians) were rejoicing the moment. It's kinda sick in my opinion. I saw the match and I know the ground conditions exactly. It was very tough to bowl and field under such conditions. At one point when a Pakistani batsman hit a straight drive, and as the ball was racing towards boundary I could see water splashing on both sides, resembling a car speeding through half a feet of water. The fielders and bowlers had to clean their shoes every now and then because of the mud sticking to their shoe sole. It all takes time. It's funny when a player makes any mistake they are penalized by the ICC, but when an umpire makes a mistake...well...we all know what happens.

Jackie Chan in Indian Ad

Hey...today while I was watching Lion Dates Top 10 movies in Sun TV an Ad came featuring my favorite star Jackie Chan. The Ad was for Bajaj's new bike 'Discover'. It was a very good Ad. In the class of a Hollywood movie or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and it was shot entirely in China. The Ad was scripted by Ogilvy & Mather senior creative director Abhijit Avasthi and directed by Corcoise Films director Prasoon Pandey.
You can view the TV commercial at http://www.bajajdiscover.com. I'm sure you will love the Ad, and the background score is awesome and the tempo of the music changes beautifully according to the situation.
Indian Marketing Ads have always been very good. But now bringing in International stars and celebrities like Aussie cricketers(Bret Lee for Timex) and Jackie Chan, wow...companies are not hesitating to spend millions on Ads. This Jackie Chan Ad is the costliest Ad ever made by Bajaj. I think the reach and returns on Ads on Indian population is really good. Well..There is one good side-effect of over-population :-)

Last night Mukesh and I went to temple for Diwali. It was not very crowded as Diwali pooja and celebration was over the previous day. Then we rented the DVD 'Solaris' starring George Clooney and I cooked Idlis and Dosas and had it for dinner. Mukesh decided to stay at my place to watch the India - Pakistan cricket match. So we decided to check out the movie Solaris. The movie ran for about 1.5 hrs. The story was ... well...after 1.5 hrs neither Mukesh nor I understood the story. If someone has seen the movie and know the story please tell me about it. Yeah...How about that.

Today I was thinking about the growing population in India. Unlike China, India does not have huge land area and if we are really looking at the next 50 years and trying to compete with China in the international arena, how tough is it going to be for India with such growing population. Then I started to look at the population density of India and other countries. India is ranked 20th highest in population density. Singapore, South Korea, Netherlands, Belgium and Japan are few big guys ahead us(for now). I think it's time India start to seriously implement some population control measures. Otherwise, down the road, 50 years from now, we may be in trouble, unless Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal all unite with India and form the old Akhand Maha Bharat.

List of countries by population density

You can run, but you can't hide

"Militants abduct a first cousin of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and two of his family members in Baghdad, reportedly threatening to kill them unless the Falluja siege is lifted."

What are the militants going to do after US forces leave Falluja? They sure can't hide anywhere.
"There are no buildings left anywhere in Falluja. Wake up you militants. You can't hide in Falluja."

Remember..."You can run, but you can't hide"

I know what it means now.

Win or loss does not matter

Inzamam said winning or losing would not matter much in the commemorative one-day international against India on Thursday as the emphasis should be on goodwill.
"Celebration will not take away focus from cricket but the important thing is to build relations. So win or loss does not matter on this occasion," the genial batsman said.

So...why are we even playing....eh...Let's just party and build relations !

Tonight I saw the movie 'The Day After'. It's an old movie. The story happens during the heights of cold war. Soviets and Americans launch nuclear missiles on each other. The story is on the American side. Kansas City to be precise. The movie tries to show what happens after the nuclear attack. It was a very touching movie. I hope this never happens in real life. Now I have started to see another movie 'How the west was won'. I played with my PS2 for a while. I did pretty good in Nightfire. At least that's what I thought.

The weekend is coming to a grinding halt. I didn't do much this weekend. Just stayed at home and relaxed. Friday evening Mukesh and I went to the movie 'Incredibles'. The name of the movie says it all. It was incredible. The movie was very funny and entertaining. The show was full and equal number of kids and grownups were there, and all of us seemed to enjoy the movie. I also saw another movie in DVD 'Dances with Wolves' starring Kevin Costner. It was a classic movie. On Saturday I went and bought a Sony PlayStation 2 video game console and 2 games. I finished setting it up and played few games. If an experienced gamer had watched me playing he would have committed suicide. I played so badly. But then, it's been a long time I played and I hope I will learn fast.

Steelers or Eagles

Every year my friend Jeff and I have a bet on who will win the Super Bowl. Last year I picked New England Patriots and Jeff picked Philadelphia Eagles. Of course, you must have known that Patriots won the Super Bowl. So I won the bet and according to our betting terms Jeff had to treat me to lunch at a restaurant of my choice. We went to Curry House, an Indian restaurant, at West End of Richmond.
This year Iam betting on Pittsburg Steelers and Jeff, a die hard fan of Eagles, is betting on Eagles again.

I watched most part of the fourth and final day of the fourth and final test between India and Australia. Man...What a game. I noticed few interesting things in this match. One of them is the way Sachin Tendulkar played. He was very aggressive, on the offense and was full of confidence. This is the real Sachin that made him so famous. This is the guy that we all know. I personally believe this is the way he should play; his natural game. I cannot buy his excuses like he is matured, old, he cannot play like that, he has to stay and maintain his wicket...blah...blah.
One more thing I noticed is the reason he got out. I don't know how many noticed, but I would say VVS Laxman was the reason for Sachin to get out. I've been watching cricket for more than 2 decades. I have observed one very clear thing. When a batsman is on the roll, hitting well and the other batsman, doesn't rotate the strike to give more chances to the aggressive guy, he gets really frustrated. And after a while when he gets the strike back, he tends to play shots which usually he won't play, even in aggressive form. And usually he gets out. The same phenomenon happened today. Sachin was hitting Nathan Hauritz for 6's and 4's. But VVS Laxman, after that over, did not rotate the strike he occupied the batting crease for a while denying Sachin more strikes. Then after some time Sachin came and played a sweep shot and got a top edge and was caught. I hate players who don't rotate strike.
Coming back to the issue of VVS Laxman, I still stand by what I said earlier. Even though he scored some runs, he MUST be dropped from the team. He is not consistent. He should not be in the team. I'm glad Murali Kartik received Man of the Match. I think he deserved it. One more thing I would like to appreciate is the fact that both Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting was invited to receive the Border-Gavaskar Series trophy. Gilly did a fantastic job.
I couldn't believe Ricky Ponting was talking like a cry-baby. He was blaming the pitch for their defeat. I think every country have their own strengths and weakness. Let's face the truth. Indian's don't bat well in fast, bouncy pitches, and the Aussies can't play well in pitches which turn a lot. I think Ricky Ponting should have gracefully embraced the defeat, and accepted the fact that India outplayed them. But instead, he went on to blame the pitch. That was pathetic. So after all Aussies are not invincible. They can't play in a wicket like this whereas India can.

It's 3.25 am. Iam flipping channels and watching the presidential elections results. No cricket match because of rain.Oh no, match is starting at last. Looks like India is batting first. Ohio is going to be like what Florida was last time. I thought of going to bed as no more election news is likely to come till dawn. But now cricket starts, huh, no sleep again. Let me see how the new guy Gautam Gambhir plays. He is opening with Sehwag. I heard Sachin Tendulkar will be opening the bowling. Interesting.

Kerry wins now?

Alright...here we are. It just gets interesting. Isn't it?
Washington Redskins have lost the game to Greenbay Packers 14-28. So according to the Washington Redskins Rule President Bush should lose the elections and Kerry should win.
But, hold on. Two things happened this year.
First, Red Sox, broke the jinx of losing against Yankees and they won the series. Second, New England Patriots' 21 winning streak, the longest in NFL history, was ended today by the Pittsburg Steelers. So, this seems to be a season where records and jinx are broken. So will the Washington Red Skins rule jinx be broken this year and will Bush get re-elected to the White House?
It just gets interesting. Isn't it?

Young blood replacing young blood ?

It's over. A record held for more than 3 decades by India was smashed last week. I'm glad to know that BCCI is bringing in new players like Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav, paceman Shib Shankar Paul and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. I'm all for it. We need some young blood. BUT,huh...we need young blood to replace the old, not other young. I felt so bad that Akash Chopra, Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Parthiv Patel were dropped and VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble are still in the team. With bat, Parthiv Patel performed better than the 3 of them. Akash Chopra, Yuvraj Singh and Ajit Agarkar performed in par with these 3 seniors. So why are they still in the team? I'm not asking to sack these 3 seniors. But they definitely need to be dropped for few matches so that they can get their acts together, learn the basics and gain some confidence. I just can't understand the selectors. They always seem to take decisions with just the next 1 or 2 matches in the mind and not think about the future, say the next 3 years or 4 years.

Remember, sometime back I told that I laid foundation for something...well...now it's official. Iam glad that it's happening.

"I have a plan".
"Hope is on the way".

-John Kerry, October, 2004

Is he talking about Indian cricket team?

The jet thunder over Richmond yesterday afternoon was comedian Carrot Top in an F-16 fighter jet. Carrot Top, who was performing last night in Richmond, took an afternoon "familiarization flight" with a Virginia Air National Guard pilot, said 1st Lt. Mark Widener, a Guard spokesman.
The noise startled a number of Richmonders as the jet passed swiftly over the city about 2:15 p.m.

Richmond Timesdispatch

Was he insane?

What a day!

Today afternoon at around 2.00 p.m. I heard the sound of a plane very close to our building. It sounded as if the plane was heading towards our building. I work at 20th floor. Almost all my friends in the floor got kinda jittery and started to look at the window. But we couldn't see anything. One of my friend told he saw a B-2 bomber flying just on top of our building. Another friend told that he saw a fighter plane, more like an F-16. Then at the same time the alarm went on for building evacuation. Even thought it was a routine evacuation drill, and we were announced about this drill a week before, the timing made it really look like a real evacuation.whew... what a day!

Few days back I had sent an email to ICC (International Cricket Council) proposing some changes. Today I got a reply from them. Hope they implement my suggestions.
I copied the email below.

From : Enquirys Email
Sent : Tuesday, October 26, 2004 3:15:39 PM
To : "Vimal"
Subject : RE: ICC Feedback: (Proposed changes to Cricket to make it more interesting)


Thank you for your email and your ideas, the ICC always appreciates
receiving new ideas from committed cricket fans.

Kind regards

ICC Corporate Affairs

-----Original Message-----
From: CricInfo system account
[mailto:cricinfo@web1010.london.uk.cricket.net] On Behalf Of Vimal
Sent: 10 October 2004 18:09
To: icc-site-reply@cricinfo.com
Subject: ICC Feedback: (Proposed changes to Cricket to make it more
interesting)

Name: Vimal
Email address: vimal_n@hotmail.com
Subject: Proposed changes to Cricket to make it more interesting

Comments:
I propose 3 changes, which is sure to make the game of cricket more
interesting.

(1) Challenge : The teams should be allowed 2 challenges. When the
umpire gives a decision, which the team/coach feels is an incorrect
decision, they should be allowed to challenge the decision. And third
umpire should come into the picture.

(2) Distribute Field Restriction : One day matches has the field
restriction for the first 15 overs. I believe making the field
restriction more flexible, just say, make it 3 session of 5 overs each,
and the fielding team captain can choose when to apply each of the 3
sessions. This will definitely make the game more interesting by having
an additional strategy to think about.

(3) Timeout or Communication : The coach, should be able to communicate
with the team by timeouts, say 2 for each team, or should be able to be
in touch with the captain by wireless.

These 3 changes will definitely change the game for better and make it
more interesting.

Thanks
vimal

Today morning my friend Rahul met with a minor accident. Boy was he lucky? Yes he was. Look at this.
1. It was a minor accident
2. No one was hurt
3. The car he hit had 2 young beautiful ladies
4. The first cop who arrived at the scene was a young beautiful lady officer
5. The second cop who arrived at the scene was a young beautiful lady officer
6. The cop did not give him any ticket for the accident
7. The cop did not give him any ticket for not having the state inspection sticker

Will India level the series?

Alright. Here we are. Third test between India and Australia. Will India level the series? Will the Aussies go ahead 2-0?

Wicket : Initial reports say the wicket still has considerable amount of grass on it. Is that a good news for India?
I can only think of two things.
1. India played very well against the Aussies in Australia, in bouncy wickets. India did not play well in both the test matches here in India in spinner-friendly wickets. Did Sourav and the team think that may be they should try a wicket which looks like an Aussie wicket and see if they play well?
2. Is Sourav going to ask the groundsmen to shave off the remaining grass the night before the match and make it more spinner-friendly?

Openers : Even though Sourav says that he prefers experienced batsmen opening, I have a feeling that he may go ahead and ask Parthiv to open with Sehwag.

Whoever wins the toss will elect to bat first and put up a huge score and try to bowl the opponent twice.

விமலின் முதல் தமிழ் வார்த்தைகள்- இனய தளத்தில்

விமல் எழுதும் முதல் தமிழ் வார்த்தைகள். இது ஒரு சோதனை வாக்கியம்.
வாழ்க தமிழ்!
வளர்க தமிழர்கள்!

Saturday I took my friend Dixita, to Lotus Temple Ashram. I've been here zillion times, but even then every time I go here, I feel new and fresh and calm and energetic. What made this trip more interesting was the fact that the drive, in addition to being in country roads, was so beautiful with fall colors.

India TEAM

TEAM(Team for Educational Activities in Motherland) helps the society better by providing basic amenities to poor elementary schools, especially in rural India. Please let me know if you would like to be a part of it.

http://www.indiateam.org/

Thanks
vimal

Team America - World police

Last night I went to the new satire ' Team America - World police'. It was hilarious. Some of the scenes in the movie is little bit 'awkward' and the lyrics funny but definitely not printable. But overall it's a fun movie to watch.

Washington Redskins decide who becomes president?

THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS RULE. This one has an impressive winning streak--for 72 years, the victory or defeat of the Washington Redskins in their last game before the election has predicted whether the incumbent party holds the White House. If the Redskins lose or tie, the incumbent party loses the election. If the Redskins win, so does the incumbent party. By any measure the accuracy of the Redskin rule is notable. It has correlated with presidential electoral outcomes in 18 of the past 18 elections back to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. The probability of a Redskin victory or defeat correctly forecasting the presidential election 18 elections in a row has been calculated to be about one in 260 million. The Redskins’ last game before the election is with the Packers on October 31.

Mysteries in Veerappan's killing

The police say, Veerappan and his aides were traveling in the ambulance van, and as soon as they got that intelligence they chased and compelled them to surrender. But as Veerappan and his aides started firing back, the Special Task Force (STF) was forced to retaliate. But according to some locals and local newspapers, there seems to be some confusing elements in this story.

First, the police says the STF chased Veerappan’s van in a lorry, and when Veerappan started firing at them, they retaliated. But no bullet is said to have penetrated the front of the van. Instead, the front of the van, without a bullet mark, from windshield to the top has crashed severely.

Further, if a vehicle is shot from outside the bullet hole should be protruding inside the vehicle. But in the van in which Veerappan came, most of the bullet holes are protruding outside. That means, those bullet holes were the result of shooting from inside. If Veerappan and his aides were firing at the STF, they should have fired through the glass window and not through door and rest of the parts (Unless Veerappan and his aides had decided to fire-at-will without aiming).

While we are debating if the bullets originated from inside the van or outside, the people who were inside such a bullet ridden van should be carrying many bullet wounds. But that’s not the case. Veerappan’s forehead alone has 2 bullets. Reports say it looked like he was shot from a point-blank range. The lorry which was said to be under fire, has just 3 bullet holes in it’s diesel tank. The STF searched for all the bullets under torch light and retrieved all of them. As a result, the type of bullets used also remains a mystery.

The van, in which Veerappan came, was covered. Reporters were allowed to take pictures of the van only from outside. The screen inside the van was pulled to cover the inside.

Some unconfirmed reports say that Veerappan may have been caught at least 3 days before this event. As he had diabetes and poor eye sight, he was unable to even walk and the police is said to have used this opportunity to take him to hospital. In the hospital he is said to have talked about many ‘truths’, which would have created a political turmoil if revealed to the public, and in order to prevent that he was killed and this fake encounter was setup. There is also a talk that this encounter was arranged in order to divert the attention of public from Jayalakshmi case which has been a big headache for the police department recently.

Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi has told reporters that her husband would never have surrendered to the police and he must have committed suicide by shooting himself. There is also a speculation that in the van, surrounded by STF, Veerappan may have asked his aide to shoot him so he may not be caught by police alive.

The police was very adamant to burn Veerappan’s body, but the locals opposed it and in the end the police had to bury him. When the police was asked if the DNA test was done to confirm Veerappan’s identity, they said it was not done and was not necessary as the fingerprints matched.

Was Veerappan really killed during the encounter?
Did Veerappan's van have a head-on collision with a lorry coming from the opposite direction? Was he killed in that accident? Is that why the front of the van was crashed without any bullet mark?
Did Veerappan commit suicide by shooting himself in the van?
Did Veerappan ask his aide to shoot him inside the van, surrounded by STF?
Did the police catch him days before and killed him and set this fake encounter?

Last week when I was cleaning my apartment I found this book on Nostradamus, which I had bought earlier. Today morning I was flipping over the pages and came across this particular Quatrain(C2Q2)

"The blue leader will inflict upon the white leader as much evil as France has done them good. Death from the great antenna hanging from the branch. When (he is) seized, the king will ask how many of his men have been captured"

The particular phrase which caught my attention was "Death from the great antenna hanging from the branch"(A death is broadcast on TV? ).

Are they talking about the Iraq beheadings shown in TV ?
Did not the French behead people with Guillotine?

Immediately I scrambled the Internet to see other translations of this quatrain. This is what I got.

"The blue head will inflict upon the white head as much evil as France has done them good: Dead at the sail-yard the great one hung on the branch, when seized by his own the King will say how much."
Is the word sail-yard actually a 'tower or aerial or antenna'?

I created a record :-)

'Kungumam' tamil magazine is advertising today in Sun TV that their latest issue sold more than 1 million copies and it's a record. Man... I thought I was the only addition to their subscription this week. Well...let's say that I became their subscriber and brought good luck to them :-)

Popular votes

Today while driving back from work, my friend Pat and I were discussing the electoral college vote in US, and how the president is elected. We were thinking whether it is really a democratic way of electing a president because the president is elected by proportionate vote and not people's vote directly. Then I realized that even in India, we do not elect the prime minister directly. Yes, even we do not have popular vote. We vote and elect members for parliament and whichever party or coalition has majority of parliament members, gets to decide on the prime minister and run the administration. Of course, the president of India is elected by electoral college by both houses of the parliament, but then, our President’s post is more of a ceremonial post. Then I asked Pat which countries have popular vote, and elects its chief or head directly. He said Finland is one. Then later I came home and did some research on the Internet and found few countries which elects its chief or head by popular vote. These are some of the countries : Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Mexico, Finland, France, Russia. Interesting!

How is the President elected in US?

Some of my friends from India were not aware of how exactly elections in US work. It's different from how it works in India. So here I try to explain the process in simple terms.

Everybody votes, and whoever gets the most votes becomes president, right? Nope. That method, called the Popular Vote is not used to elect the President of United States. Instead an indirect system called the Electoral College is used to elect the president. This isn't really a national election -- it's a whole bunch of separate state elections.
Each state gets a certain number of electors (Electoral Votes); one for each senator (which means two, because there are always two senators) and one for each representative (which depends on the state's population as determined by the census). So in almost all cases, whichever candidate wins a given state wins all of that state's electoral votes, and it takes a majority of the electoral votes to win the overall election.
For example, Florida has 27 electoral votes. Just say Bush wins 15 of those 27 votes, then he wins the state and all the 27 electoral votes goes to Bush. Got it?
There are total 538 electoral votes. A candidate must receive 270 of the 538 votes to win the election. So, while winning the popular vote may not ensure a candidate's victory, a candidate must gain popular support of a particular state to win the votes in that state.
Some states like Utah, Wyoming, Idaho mostly votes for the Republicans. But some states like Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin etc are called swing states (also referred to as battleground states). Swing states are ones in which recent presidential elections have been decided by a narrow margin -- in some cases, less than one percent. That's why you see the candidates, Bush and Kerry, campaigning in these states often. The goal of any candidate is to put together the right combination of states that will give him or her 270 electoral votes. Hope I didn’t confuse more :-)

hmm, It's 1.00 am here.I don't know why, but I couldn't sleep. This is the first time I remember getting up like this at this time. I was just flipping over the channels...comedy central(Jon Stewart's Daily Show) is making fun of Bush and Kerry...MSNBC is talking about Bill O'Reilly...Sun TV is flashing the news that Veerappan has been killed while Prabhu and Kushboo are busy dancing for a song...followed by the song from the movie 'Puthu puthu arthangal'. Ilayaraaja is great, he is a genius, even now his songs are so melodious, love to listen to them...I've noticed that AR Rehman's songs are hot when the movie is just released, but after like 50 days, they don't seem to sound so good...whereas Ilayaraaga's songs even now are so good.Anyway, it's a new song now and my favorite Reema Sen is dancing for the song 'Dai Kaiya vechukitu summa iruda' from the movie 'Giri' ...Aaaha...here we go...Veerappan is in CNN Home Page "Police kill India's 'Robin Hood'" ...Oho it's 2.00 am ...what am I doing at this time of the night blogging...let me go catch some Zzzzzzzzs.

Veerappan killed

Just heard that Sandalwood smuggler Veerappan has been killed. Waiting to hear more on this...

Rain rain go away

GREAT!!!
It's raining now in Chennai. 70% of the ground is under cover and it's still raining. Don't know when it will stop, when(if) the ground will be ready. Maybe I should ask my sister or mom to give me a wakeup call when(if) the match starts in Chennai. This test is so interestingly poised, and I wish there is a win-lose result.
It's good to see almost 70% of the ground covered, as opposed to having only the pitch and it's surrounding covered. Also I see a Super Sopper. Hope all this helps to get the match going asap when the rain stops.

Will India do it?

One more day. 90 overs. 210 runs for a win. 10 wickets in hand. Will India do it?
Well. They better do it, as I have been watching the match sincerely for 3 consecutive nights without sleeping. I don't know how many cricket crazy guys have ordered the pay per view in dish and watching, but I am. If India loses again, then the players should start paying viewers to watch the matches. Iam sure they make lots of money in endorsements. Anyway, Viru Sehwag looks to be in form. If 2 other guys play well, that should do it. Let's see who all we have. Viru, Yuvraj, Saurav, Rahul, Laxman, Kaif are the 'specialist' batsmen. Yuvraj, Laxman and Parthiv are being closely watched by the selectors. If they fail to perform tonight, then Iam not sure if they will be selected for the next test match.

Magazines from India

Whenever I see the ad of 'Kungumam' tamil magazine in Sun TV, I used to wonder if I will get a chance to read that magazine, as some of their articles are interesting(at least that's how they advertise). I searched for an online version, but unlike 'Kumudam' or 'Vikatan' , they aren't online. Then I googled for a while and found a website to subscribe all magazines for delivery in US. Surprisingly, the website was coimbatore based.
http://mall.coimbatore.com
I've ordered from here earlier and I was very satisfied, so I confidently went ahead and subscribed couple of mags.

Coimbatore has largest textile, jewellery outlet in India

Kalyan Jewellers of the Kalyan group based in Kerala, famed for its jewellery and textile outlets, made it's entry into Tamil Nadu today by a grand opening of it's textile and jewellery outlet in Coimbatore. With 75,000 sq ft carpet area the outlet is the largest in India(that's something to be proud of, as Iam from coimbatore) and has spacious parking area with accommodation for 100 cars. But, the same Kalyan group is planning to open an outlet in Chennai in the near future. I believe that will be even bigger than the one in Coimbatore. At least coimbatore will hold the record for a while :-)

Presidential election issues

Today, when I was having lunch with my friends, we had a heated discussion on the presidential candidates and on their policies. When it came to the discussion of Social Security, I was more in favor of Bush and some of my friends were in favor of Kerry. I was doing some research on Internet and came up with the following resources which might help to understand the issues more clearly.

Washingtonpost
Money Magazine

Final Presidential Debate

I saw the last debate between Bush and Kerry last night, even though I wasn't feeling well. I got cold. Anyway, after having some sweet corn chicken soup (which I made for first time, and it came out OK) and my favorite Vicks NyQuil (this thing works fast on me, I felt lot better after 10 minutes) I sat and watched the full debate. In my opinion, Kerry was a better debater, in that he spoke well, clear and crisp. But I felt it was very polished and not so natural. Whereas Bush, looked to be speaking from his heart, and connected with the people well. Many polls recently put Kerry ahead of Bush. In my opinion, if Kerry wins, it will mainly be because of anti-incumbency factor.

Today in History: October 13

The cornerstone of the White House was laid on October 13, 1792 by George Washington. In 2004, on the same day, today, I laid the cornerstone for 'something' which will be revealed later.

Mani Ratnam directs Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar has agreed to appear in Mani Ratnam’s documentary for a social organization called Shakthi Foundation on physically challenged kids. The shooting commenced at Chennai Nungambakkam Tennis court yesterday. Apparently, another cricketer, Anil Kumble who has been actively involved with Shakthi Foundation had requested Sachin to appear in this documentary.

Presidential Debate: Season Finale

The latest polls from CNN/USA Today/GALLUP shows Kerry (49%) having lead over Bush (48%). Let’s see what happens tonight. The final debate, in Grand Canyon State, is going to be mainly on domestic issues like homeland security, education, economy, environment and health care(including stem cell research). I don't think Kerry will bring the name of ‘Superman’ Christopher Reeves in the debate tonight. Economists say both candidates' plans falls short in combating the problems that are impeding job growth: skyrocketing budget and trade deficits, and soaring costs for health care, oil and gas.

The Supreme One

Last night I saw the movie 'A Beautiful Mind' for the second time. Masterpiece, is the one word I have to describe the movie and Dr. John Nash. Dr. Nash looks everything in nature as a pattern, and tries to find an algorithm to describe the pattern. I, for one, believe in it 100%. There is nothing called coincidence or luck in this world. Everything has a pattern and happens for a reason. It’s funny, when I was in school I thought about the following which I thought was incredible. (Don’t ask me what my friends thought about me when I shared this with them). Imagine, at the micro level, an atom consisting of a nucleus and electrons rotating around it in an orbit. At the macro level, a solar system consisting of a sun and planets rotating around it in an orbit. Go further up, imagine a galaxy, say a spiral galaxy, where all the suns and stars and solar systems rotating around the galactic center. Maybe some day in future we might find that all the galaxies rotate around, just say, Universal Center. I was just wondering, if this whole universe was a big Personality (may be the Supreme God), and our solar system was just an atom of a cell in His body.

October Surprise

Second debate is over. There is a wide-ranging opinion on who won the debate, many of them leaning towards Kerry. I was just little surprised when Bush told that he too is not in favor of draft. I believe that a year or two in service will only help an individual to shape himself mentally and physically, to face the challenges of the world. Anyway, with the results of the second debate also leaning towards Kerry, many feel that unless there is some ‘October Surprise’, Kerry may have an upper hand and is favored to win the elections. The ‘Surprise’ of catching Osama Bin Laden just before the elections has been rumored so much, that it’s no more a surprise, and worse it might put the thought in the voter’s mind that it might be a staged event. How about this for a ‘Surprise’? What if, suddenly the US Army finds evidence of WMD in Iraq, just before the elections?

Should injured Sachin play in 2nd test

Sachin Tendulkar wants to play the second test against the Aussies in Chennai even though he has not fully recovered from his injury. He himself says he is 50-50 fit but still would like to play. Though it is a highly debatable thing, whether to play an injured batsman which by the way will never happen in a team like Australia, considering the performance of the top order batsman in both the innings of the first test it may not be such a bad idea to try Sachin. After all he is the guy who, in the middle of 1999 World Cup in England, was forced to return home due to the death of his father in Bombay, came back to score a century against Kenya. Can't question his commitment and passion towards cricket.

My Proposal

So, as expected, India lost the first test against Australia.

Sehwag, who clearly had an inside edge, was given lbw my Mr Bowden.
Sehwag, clearly showed his disappointment by brushing shoulders with the umpire, and now he has to pay 65% of his match fee as penalty for his 'mis-behavior'. This reminds me again, of some changes that has to be brought into cricket.

I propose 3 changes, which is sure to make the game of cricket more interesting.

(1) Challenge : The teams should be allowed 2 challenges. When the umpire gives a decision, which the team/coach feels is an incorrect decision, they should be allowed to challenge the decision. And third umpire should come into the picture.
(2) Distribute Field Restriction : One day matches has the field restriction for the first 15 overs. I believe making the field restriction more flexible, just say, make it 3 session of 5 overs each, and the fielding team captain can choose when to apply each of the 3 sessions. This will definitely make the game more interesting by having an additional strategy to think about.
(3) Timeout or Communication : The coach, should be able to communicate with the team by timeouts, say 2 for each team, or should be able to be in touch with the captain by wireless.

These 3 changes will definitely change the game for better and make it more interesting.

Presidential Debate : Reloaded

Today, George Bush and John Kerry meet again.

During a speech in Nashville, Bush's script called for him to say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." But the words that came out of his mouth were, ""Fool me once, shame . . . shame on . . . you," followed by a long pause, then, "Fool me—can't get fooled again!"

Making final plans for a first presidential debate devoted largely to Iraq, John Kerry said Wednesday, "We should not have gone to war knowing the information that we know today."

Vice Presidential debate

At the Vice Presidential debate, I expected a straight forward answer for 3 important questions.

(1) What is the exit strategy for Iraq?
(2) What is the plan to increase domestic jobs?
(3) What is the plan to cut US Deficit?

Honestly, I did not get a comprehensive answer to any of the 3 questions.
If someone did, please brief me, I will try to understand.

In my opinion, as of today, neither Bush nor Kerry has a comprehensive exit strategy for Iraq.
It is a big mess in Iraq. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
Who has a better plan to fix the mess and exit gracefully?

Rather than talking about that, both Bush/Cheney and Kerry/Edwards were just accusing each other, pointing fingers.

If you have watched war movies you would have noticed one thing.
In battle scenes, when a company is under heavy enemy fire, or caught in an ambush, because of a mistake by a lieutenant, and when his captain or major, joins them amidst the chaos, he neither asks who was responsible for the mess nor sits there blaming and pointing fingers. He just thinks and works out a strategy to get the hell out of there.

I see the situation in Iraq as the same, in a macro level.
The priority now is to fix the mess and get the hell out of there.
You can blame, point fingers, fight, investigate, or do whatever later, when you are out of there.

But neither Bush/Cheney nor Kerry/Edwards thinks like that.

The next debate between Bush and Kerry is supposed to address questions (2) and (3) in-depth.
Let us wait and see if that happens.

Elin Nordegren

Elin Nordegren(swedish model) weds Tiger Woods in Barbados on Tuesday in front of 120 guests. To guard against intrusion, Woods spent a reported $1.5 million to book all 112 rooms at the luxurious Sandy Lane complex for nine nights. Still, he saved some cash when Oprah provided all the guests with free rental cars.

Elin Nordegren 
Something says me, Elin is going to be in the news often, in future.

Warne does it again

I woke up at 5.00 am today morning.
When I get up early morning, it means only one thing.
There is cricket on TV :-)

This is the frst test match between India and Australia, at Bangalore.
I saw the score in Internet, India was batting, I called dish network at 5.00 am and ordered India Vs Australia pay per view. It cost me $140.00.

As Iam typing this post, Shane warne did it again.
He bowled a super leg spin, deceiving VVS Laxman, and took his off stump off.
It pitched around leg stump and turned and took the off stump.
How often does he do that? Very often, trust me. That too in the last few overs of the day.

India is chasing Aussies 474 first innings score.
India is 140/6 now.
Still needs 135 to avoid follow on.

Before the match began, the forecast for Bangalore was, heavy thunderstorm for 3-4 days. Then I wished it should not rain and play spoil sport. Now, I wish we get some and rain, and help India. India is really missing Sachin Tendulkar.

Help save Aparajita

Aparajita Bhatia, 32, suffers from a rare blood disorder with factor X deficiency and active hepatitis C infection.
Her continued treatment over the last 14 years has depleted her family's modest financial means.

Her current treatment at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences involves regular blood transfusion at a cost of Rs 50,000 per month for at least a year.

What has compounded matters is that her father has had to take premature retirement since he is suffering from terminal stage IV cancer.

Aparajita needs financial assistance and appeals for help on humanitarian grounds.

Cheques payable to 'The Director, AIIMS' may be sent directly to her at D-5A, Single Storey, Vijay Nagar, Delhi 110009.

Source Rediff Help save Aparajita

Shark Tale

I saw the movie Shark Tale which opened this weekend.
Very funny movie. Will Smith and Robert DeNiro were awesome.
Just came to know that Shark Tale opened this weekend as the highest October box office draw in history.

Mount St. Helens volcano webcam

Heard about Mount St. Helens volcano?
It's expected to erupt today.
Live webcam Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam

Post-debate polls.Kerry leads by 2 percent

Post-debate polls are out.
Kerry-Edwards leads Bush-Cheney.
It's now 47 percent for Kerry and 45 percent for Bush.

October 2 Gandhi Jayanthi

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -Mahatma Gandhi.

Tips for skin care from CHANEL

Got this information from one of my friend.

Cleansers
CHANEL Précision Système Hydration Le Lait Nourishing Cleansing Milk, 5.0 fl. oz. $35.00

Toners
CHANEL ACTIVATEUR JEUNESSE Time Fighting Revitalizing Lotion $32.50

Intensives
CHANEL Éclat Originel Radiance Revealing Serum, 1.0 oz. $65.00
CHANEL Performance Anti-Taches Dark Spot Corrector, 1.0 fl. oz. $75.00

Essential Moisturisers
CHANEL ULTRA CORRECTION CREAM Anti-Wrinkle Restructuring Cream SPF 10, 1.7 oz. $70.00

Moisturisers for night
CHANEL ULTRA CORRECTION NUIT Anti-Wrinkle Restructuring Night Cream, 1.7 oz. $80.00

Sol for special needs
CHANEL CONTRÔLE IMPERFECTIONS Blemish Control, .5 oz. $30.00

Eye and Lip
CHANEL Ultra Correction Eye, .5 oz. $55.00

IAF sets up first foreign base

One of my friend, Vasukh, just forwarded me a link.
Looks like Indian Air Force has set up first foreign base at Farkhor, about 10 km outside Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/870253.cms

Aussie tour of India

The 15-man squad for the first two Tests of the four-Test series against Australia beginning next Wednesday, has been announced.

There was much speculation about Sachin Tendulkar's ( averages 63.33 in seven Tests against the Aussies when playing at home ) place in the squad because of of a tennis elbow. But he is IN :-)

The first Test begins in Bangalore on October 6, 2004.

The Squad : Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, V V S Laxman, Aakash Chopra, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Murali Karthik, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan

After the first debate

Day one after the first debate.
After thinking about the debate over a night, I now feel that the debate was "soft"
There was no "knock-out" punch.

I thought the issues were not covered in-depth.

Some of my friends also echo the same.

I learned something new from FOX News today morning. It seems that the ladies cannot wear white dress after labor day. While First Lady Mrs. Laura Bush was wearing half-white, Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry was wearing white. Mrs. Bush looked surprised seeing Mrs. Kerry on stage.

Transcript: First Presidential Debate

This is very interesting website. Open Debates : George Farah