Time series analysis of the day: I had bunked school to watch the 1992 final, have been watching the other finals also since (except for most of the second innings of 1999). So I would end up watching this final also completely and so I did.
Turning point of the day: Gilchrist dropped on 31 by Fernando off his own bowling. It was a tough chance, but with this the match also went away from SL. What happened after this is history now. Some of the cleanest hitting I have ever seen.(Astle's rape of England while scoring the fastest test double hundred was probably just a wee bit more cleaner)
Empirical statement of the day: It just was Australia's day. The half chances for SL just did not stick or go to hand. There were quite a few edges that went past the diving Sangakkara and a couple past Jayawardane at slip. The one bad out decision was against Jayawardene. And it rained at just the right time too. Even God was with the Aussies.
Hype justifier of the day: Malinga. His first match against Aus and while all the others around him were getting belted, he returned pretty decent figures.
New personal favourite: Sangakkara. Lara's retirement now makes him the most elegant left-hander around in world cricket. His first 4, a square drive was just amazing. And he also showed that he was a good sportsman by indicating that he had not taken a catch immediately.
QED of the day: Kallis doesn't think while batting. Yesterday, Sangakkara stepped down the track and hit McGrath for six. The next ball, he stayed in his crease and hit the low full toss down to cover for 4. Contrast with what Kallis did in the semi.
Australian close match maker: Shane Watson. The weak link of the Aussie bowling. Whenever he is on, the other team always seems to have a chance. Thanks for helping sustain interest.
The incorrigibles: ICC and the umpires. No common sense at all.
Overcoming my ego statement of the day: The Aussies deserved to win.
Saving grace of the day 1: It was one of the nicer and more likeable guys of Aussie cricket, Gilchrist, who was responsible for the win. Its because of guys like him that it still rains where the Aussies play.
Saving Grace of the day 2: This is the last match Sony will be telecasting for a while.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Trip to Melkote
Ever since I got my Thunderbird, Melkote has been on my radar. And yesterday also happened to be Ramanujacharya's 990th birth anniversary. What better day to visit the place than on the Thirunakshatram (star birthday) of the man who was responsible for its eminence among the Iyengars.
The day, I guess, is celebrated almost similarly everywhere, Thirumanjanam (also known as Abhishekam to the non-Iyengars) for Ramanuja during the day. Then quite a few hymns are chanted and at the end prasadam is distributed. Probably due to the presence of a Sanskrit University in Melkote, the chanting of the Sanskrit shlokas is really impressive, while the quality and volume did show a marked decline when the Tamizh prabandhams are recited. Also on this day, disbursal of thirumann-srichurnam (the white and red parts of "namam") and a piece of cloth (symbolic of the religious thread I guess as most people ended up tying it to their poonals) happens. A symbolic representation of what Ramanuja's greatest achievement, the propagation and spread of Sri Vaishnavism.
Prasadam was Venn Pongal and Chakra Pongal, both with lots of kobbare(dried coconut) proving that it is indeed Karnataka. Much before this in the morning itself, there was curd rice also, the prasadam for Thirunarayana, the presiding deity of Melkote.
The entire ceremonies lasted till around 4 and after that I could go to any of the nearby mutts for free grub. As it was raining heavily, I ended up at the Yathiraja Mutt, the nearest Mutt, right opposite the temple. Simple, but pretty strong grub, with Puliyogare (the Karnataka style with kobbare and jaggery) and some Thirukkannamadhu (the Iyengar word for payasam) as specials for the day.
I left home at 7:15 in the morning and reached Melkote via Maddur and Mandya on the Mysore road by 10, a distance of 150kms in less than 3 hours. Even after Mandya where a diversion from the Mysore road has to be taken, the road was pretty good. The weather was even better, the sun came out only after I reached Melkote.
The Thirumanjanam was just starting as I entered. After darshan of the main Lord and Goddess, I sat down with the crowd and the entire day was spent there itself. As a result, I could not visit the Narasimha Temple on the hill. A decent enough reason for another trip there soon.
I was planning to leave by 4 latest in order to get back before its dark, but due to the rains, I got delayed and left Melkote only at 5:35. I was back home by 8:30. In the process, I also realised that its faster to take the Market Flyover out of and into the city than the Outer Ring Road.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
IIT Coaching
I started in class 10. Now, ten years down the line, it starts at class V itself.
Soon we will start having creches and nurseries for IIT aspirants. Poor kids.
Soon we will start having creches and nurseries for IIT aspirants. Poor kids.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Lean period
The last couple of weeks has almost brought my blog to a standstill. Its because of a couple of things, a lack of enthu to write and more importantly the absence of activity, apart from a quiz and a few movies.
Bored of travelling almost every weekend, I decided to get back to my old ways and just laze around this weekend. Cooked some not great food on Tam New Year, that I thrusted down my friend Venky's throat too and thanks to the infinite ads during any break, I was able to watch three movies, Kokki, Vasool Raja and Chithiram Pesudadi simultaneously without missing out much of any of the three movies.
I also saw Mozhi and the Last King of Scotland in theatres over the course of the week. Both good movies, but not must watches though.
Sunday saw a cricket quiz with Arun, where we exceeded expectations and finished third. It seemed a good quiz, conducted by Siddharth Vaidyanathan of cricinfo. Quizzes are a bit like grapes, if I do well they seem really good and Floyd if I do badly.
In the absence of too many good matches, the Cricket World Cup has been meandering slowly towards the semis. Hopefully England will beat RSA today and thus make atleast one more match meaningful.
Five unrelated paragraphs and I don't know what more to write.
Bored of travelling almost every weekend, I decided to get back to my old ways and just laze around this weekend. Cooked some not great food on Tam New Year, that I thrusted down my friend Venky's throat too and thanks to the infinite ads during any break, I was able to watch three movies, Kokki, Vasool Raja and Chithiram Pesudadi simultaneously without missing out much of any of the three movies.
I also saw Mozhi and the Last King of Scotland in theatres over the course of the week. Both good movies, but not must watches though.
Sunday saw a cricket quiz with Arun, where we exceeded expectations and finished third. It seemed a good quiz, conducted by Siddharth Vaidyanathan of cricinfo. Quizzes are a bit like grapes, if I do well they seem really good and Floyd if I do badly.
In the absence of too many good matches, the Cricket World Cup has been meandering slowly towards the semis. Hopefully England will beat RSA today and thus make atleast one more match meaningful.
Five unrelated paragraphs and I don't know what more to write.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Bad News Day
Yesterday was one such day, personally.
I was woken up with a call from my sis informing me that my mom's uncle had passed away. Absolutely no major reaction from me as the mama thatha was 80 years old and had fulfilled his obligations in life.
In the afternoon, I got to know that a friend's dad passed away. Called him up immediately, and he seemed pretty normal. Only I did not know what to say to him. Was very awkward. Hung up after telling him to let me know incase he needed some help. Was a slightly depressing afternoon at work yesterday due to this news.
Today morning I get an sms from the friend asking me what happened to the Champions League football matches yesterday, a sign that I think shows that he is coping up ok with the loss.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Literary Crushes
After a hectic week, suddenly all the pressure has gone, till today evening atleast. As a result, my attention has shifted to this tag by Naren to name my crushes among literary characters. Without much ado, let me start off.
1) Irene Adler - Holmes himself refers to her as "The Woman", no greater praise required.
2) Nandhini from Ponniyin Selvan - I think one of the few fictional characters in the book. The most beautiful person in the book, starts off as a villi-type character but then there seems to be enough justification for what she is doing, in the end all I felt was only sympathy for her. Very brave despite all that she had to encounter. Also helped that she grew up like an Iyengar.
3) A housewife from Mahabharata - This is from one of those many shorter stories that keep cropping up throughout the epic. This story is there in Rajaji's version. Don't remember her name, but her claim to fame is the dialogue "Did you think I was also a stork?" to one ascetic who thinks he is a stud and would have just burnt a stork to ashes with his eyes as it was disturbing him during his tapas. When the ascetic goes begging for food, this house wife is busy with household duties and so gets delayed in serving the ascetic. As a result the ascetic tries to repeat the stork magic with her. Nothing happens and the housewife replies with that line. The ascetic is impressed and then gets gyan from her and later from a butcher referred to by the housewife.
4) Tracy Whitney - This is a crush list, so how can Sidney Sheldon not be around. Tracy is the heroine of Sidney Sheldon's best book in my opinion "If Tomorrow Comes". Strong female, ofcourse beautiful, suffered initially in life, but then gets pretty crafty and ingenious.
5)Dors Venabili - from Prelude to the Foundation. Stud female who accompanies and protects the father of Psychohistory, Hari Seldon. Probably the only properly etched out female character in the entire Foundation series. Agreed she is later shown to be a robot, but by that time, I had already started liking Dors, just like Hari had also done.
6) Melanie Wilkes - From Gone With the Wind. The most good natured person I have come across in the course of my readings. She even manages to change some of the attitudes of the selfish and self-centred Scarlett.
Thats all I can think of for now. I have left out comics as there the ability of the illustrator also plays a major part in my liking or disliking a character.
1) Irene Adler - Holmes himself refers to her as "The Woman", no greater praise required.
2) Nandhini from Ponniyin Selvan - I think one of the few fictional characters in the book. The most beautiful person in the book, starts off as a villi-type character but then there seems to be enough justification for what she is doing, in the end all I felt was only sympathy for her. Very brave despite all that she had to encounter. Also helped that she grew up like an Iyengar.
3) A housewife from Mahabharata - This is from one of those many shorter stories that keep cropping up throughout the epic. This story is there in Rajaji's version. Don't remember her name, but her claim to fame is the dialogue "Did you think I was also a stork?" to one ascetic who thinks he is a stud and would have just burnt a stork to ashes with his eyes as it was disturbing him during his tapas. When the ascetic goes begging for food, this house wife is busy with household duties and so gets delayed in serving the ascetic. As a result the ascetic tries to repeat the stork magic with her. Nothing happens and the housewife replies with that line. The ascetic is impressed and then gets gyan from her and later from a butcher referred to by the housewife.
4) Tracy Whitney - This is a crush list, so how can Sidney Sheldon not be around. Tracy is the heroine of Sidney Sheldon's best book in my opinion "If Tomorrow Comes". Strong female, ofcourse beautiful, suffered initially in life, but then gets pretty crafty and ingenious.
5)Dors Venabili - from Prelude to the Foundation. Stud female who accompanies and protects the father of Psychohistory, Hari Seldon. Probably the only properly etched out female character in the entire Foundation series. Agreed she is later shown to be a robot, but by that time, I had already started liking Dors, just like Hari had also done.
6) Melanie Wilkes - From Gone With the Wind. The most good natured person I have come across in the course of my readings. She even manages to change some of the attitudes of the selfish and self-centred Scarlett.
Thats all I can think of for now. I have left out comics as there the ability of the illustrator also plays a major part in my liking or disliking a character.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
At office, on a Sunday afternoon
There is a deadline tomorrow evening and as a result at a time when I would ideally be sleeping, I am instead in office. (not exactly slogging my ass off either). When my manager showed hajaar enthu and asked me to call him up anytime of the day or night incase I had any troubles, it sort of affected my conscience and I just could not take the entire three day weekend off.
Not that I had major plans for today. Even in my original plan for this weekend, Sunday was envisaged for doing nothing. I just came back after lunch with Josh and Nari and a trip to Crossword to buy some books. Given the heat outside, the office with AC seems to be the place to be in, apart from sleep ofcourse.
My weekend got over yesterday night when I came back from Srirangam. It was a sudden trip, the result of an illness to one of my dad's aunts. I left on Thursday night by a Karnataka Sarige bus, the worst type of bus run by KSRTC. The seats don't go back, and the only way to sleep was by leaning on the seat in front. At the last minute, this was the only direct bus option that was available to me. And I still did sleep for some 4 hours or so continuously from Dharmapuri to Namakkal.
Being non-festival time, only darshan of the Gods in the temple happened. But being a 3 day weekend, it was hajaar crowded. But the darshan did happen thanks to a few 6000 bucks tickets borrowed. The God from a nearby Divya Desam, Thiruvellarai, had also camped in the Kollidam river (the northern branch of the Kaveri, the result of which the island Srirangam is formed). It was a nice walk wading through ankle deep to knee deep water in places. The presence of many stalls around and the sand did give a beach kind of feel too.
Came back yesternight by car, saved from the heat by the AC. There is four laning of the road work happening all along the route from Krishnagiri to Namakkal, but not much has happened since my last trip to Srirangam in December.
Not that I had major plans for today. Even in my original plan for this weekend, Sunday was envisaged for doing nothing. I just came back after lunch with Josh and Nari and a trip to Crossword to buy some books. Given the heat outside, the office with AC seems to be the place to be in, apart from sleep ofcourse.
My weekend got over yesterday night when I came back from Srirangam. It was a sudden trip, the result of an illness to one of my dad's aunts. I left on Thursday night by a Karnataka Sarige bus, the worst type of bus run by KSRTC. The seats don't go back, and the only way to sleep was by leaning on the seat in front. At the last minute, this was the only direct bus option that was available to me. And I still did sleep for some 4 hours or so continuously from Dharmapuri to Namakkal.
Being non-festival time, only darshan of the Gods in the temple happened. But being a 3 day weekend, it was hajaar crowded. But the darshan did happen thanks to a few 6000 bucks tickets borrowed. The God from a nearby Divya Desam, Thiruvellarai, had also camped in the Kollidam river (the northern branch of the Kaveri, the result of which the island Srirangam is formed). It was a nice walk wading through ankle deep to knee deep water in places. The presence of many stalls around and the sand did give a beach kind of feel too.
Came back yesternight by car, saved from the heat by the AC. There is four laning of the road work happening all along the route from Krishnagiri to Namakkal, but not much has happened since my last trip to Srirangam in December.
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