MOHALI 2011, FAKR HAI!!!

 The biggest by any means of the cricket world cup 2011. 2nd semifinal between India and Pakistan. It still seems like a dream and I am waiting for someone to wake me up.

 The most talked about point at the start of the match was Dhoni's decision of playing Nehra instead of R. Ashwin. Nobody agreed with it and to worsen it, the pitch had ample turn to offer to the spinners. India won the toss and choose to bat.

 There is no denying the fact that Sachin Tendulkar is the numero uno of cricket, however there are many other players who have made countless contributions and won us matches...and are still happy under the shadow of God. Virender Sehwag, he may not have a great batting record, but the runs he makes and the way he makes them is a big confidence booster for the team. Just a Sehwag 30 odd can give India a blistering start, and Mohali was no different.

 The opening 10 overs were all hammer and tongs...from India to Pakistan! A total of 300 plus seemed inevitable, however the rookie Wahab Riaz who was given a go over Shoaib Akhtar had different plans in mind. He had the day of his life in bowling. Not many bowlers dream of dismissing five Indian batsman in a world cup semifinal including the likes of Sehwag, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. Especially the first ball duck to Yuvraj Singh, was the turning point. India tattering at 6 for 205 in 41 overs. The score of 300 was beyond and there was apprehension, not only in the dressing room but in the hearts of 1.2 billion Indians.

 Batting powerplay has been a vital shortcoming for team India in this world cup. India have lost wickets like a pack of cards on a number of occasions. This time however, India were already six down and a repitition of the past would have been aberrant. Suresh Raina, who had played his first match in the Quarter Finals, had a crucial 5th wicket partnership with Yuvraj Singh which helped India defeat the 4 time champions Australia. This time too, Raina played an invaluable knock of 36 with the tail and made sure that India bat the full fifty overs and make a respectable 260. Also Sachin Tendulkar made invaluable contribution in the middle overs of 86 runs.

 Pakistan has been more than potent as far as bowling goes in this world cup with their captain leading the way with 21 wickets in 7 matches before the semis. India made sure that he did not get any wicket this time around. Pakistan batting, well there has not been a single century from any of their players in this world cup. Dhoni's sublime captaincy with attacking field positions and innovative bowling changes have been lauded by one and all. Semifinal was a masterful bowling performance by all the Indian bowlers, a perfect team effort. Only 5 bowlers used and all bagging 2 wickets each.

 Misbah ul haq....ROFL...poor fellow. He was the one who screwd up Pakistan in the first T20 finals in 2007 which India won and this semifinals, he did it again! He was the centre of mockery of one and all on facebook. He was a tad unlucky too...with wickets falling like heap at the other hand, he had to assure his survival. However he delayed the batting powerplay and the required onslaught, which resulted in their defeat. Again the captaincy and calmness of Dhoni was indeed legendary!

 After the match I decided to go for CAD M with my roommate. Halfway we realized there was not enough petrol to reach Aundh, which was indeed a blessing in disguise as Pune had come down on the streets in celebrations. Not only Pune, whole of India had gone crazy, it was the happiest and most triumpant day for all. There were bikers everywhere shouting and cheering, boys and girls sitting on the window of the cars, drums, crackers and delight. It seemed like a dream and the feeling is still not going...some incident and memories are lifelong and defines a generation. This World Cup semifinal against Pakistan will never be forgotten by anyone!

 Finals in 2 days time @ Mumbai @ Sachin's home ground....Srilanka must be already feeling the tremors of the assault they are going to face, not only from the players but also from the crowds! Jai Hind!

The new DRS & KERS technology @ F1, 2011!

 For those who follow it religiously are aware that since past 3 years, there has been a horde of changes in Formula One racing. I still remember how surprised I was when last year I just saw a race after long time and the rare spoilers were drastically very short in length. Also the qualifying process changes a lot every season, no different for tyre rules and refuelling!

 Come 2011, the gimick is, there are 5 previous champions battling it out this time, something that has not happened in the previous 20 odd years. The big five being Sabastian Vettel(2010), Jenson Button(2009), Lewis Hamilton(2008), Fernando Alonso(2005,2006), Micheal Schumacher (7 times!). Vettel seemed in sublime form in the first round of 2011 at Australian GP!

 Getting back to the technology changes of 2011. The two main addition are the DRS(Drag Reduction System) and KERS(Kinetic Energy Recovery System). The concept of KERS is very simple, as the name suggests, it does the same thing.The way it does it is very very complex.The mechanical KERS system utilises flywheel technology developed by Flybrid Systems to recover and store a moving vehicle’s kinetic energy which is otherwise wasted when the vehicle is decelerated.This is the link where you will find the technical information about it! For the just concluded race at Australia, Red Bull drivers including the winner Sabastian Vettel, did not use the KERS technology!

 The second one called DRS was used by everyone. It was even visible on the speedometer of a racing car which is shown during the race on the TV screen. To get into the details, DRS is implemented by using an adjustable rear wing. How it works is as the car approaches the corners, the rear wing is brought down slightly, which helps in increasing traction and for straights it is brought up, which helps in better acceleration, as simple as that! This is a fantastic link explaining DRS with a 9 minute video from Red Bull racing team, demonstrating the same!

 I am a F1 fanatic and I would like to state that, although these changes seem basic and miniscule, it involves lots and lots of research and millions of dollars worth of investment. Also getting a F1 license is not that simple, neither is F1 racing. F1 pilots(yes, they are called pilots and not drivers!) are subjected to forces of upto 3Gs and loose upto 5 kgs of weight after every race. F1 racing is very very demanding and requires a lot of talent and hard work!

Fortunately, there is gonna be an Indian GP this year at Delhi, first time F1 race in India. It is gonna be on 28-30th October and is subject to circut approval. If it does happen, it will indeed bring a lot of exposure for the sport in India. 

When India tamed the OZ, WC 2011!

 There was a time in Indian cricket before Dhoni when India used to enter every tournament with very high expectations from the crowd and ultimately resulting in disappointment and with majority of success due to Sachin Tendulkar!

Now, that time seem long long gone, Dhoni has indeed revolutionized the Indian cricket. If you thought that winning the inaugural T20 was a matter of chance, you would have definitely changed your mind now! India was ranked one in test cricket throughout in 2010, rank two in ODIs and undefeated at home! This is the new team India under the able, cool and highly potent as well as lethal captainship of MS Dhoni!

World Cup 2011, India v/s Australia, 2nd Quarter Finals. India one of the domineering favorites in the tournament. Australia, 4 time champs, but fresh from their first world cup loss in ages against Pak. Motera, Ahmedabad witnessed history on 24th, March, 2011.

OZ won the toss and choose to bat. India opening bowling with R. Ashwin. As per Sunil Gavaskar, he is gonna win the world cup for India. Such comment from such a man, means a lot and this guy Ashwin has great temperament, control and displays tremendous maturity! Australia made 260 in first innings, which could have been easily 275-300, had it not been for the best Indian fielding effort ever and fantastic bowling changes from MS!

Half time, the game is on! Enter Sachin Tendulkar, looking for revenge of the 2003 world cup final loss! However this Indian batting line up is much different than the 2003. These are bunch of talented fearless young guns who play with aggression, play with attitude and play like champions! This is the new bleed blue Indian side! Majority of the batsman chipped in the run chase and Yuvi was the man who saw it through!

Also it was no ordinary match for me! After the amazing experience of watching a movie in a thousand plus multiplex capacity at Infosys, Mysore full of youngsters, it was time something would be even more enthralling. Over 150 employees at Infosys, Pune at a small lobby, shouting at the top of their voice, cheering the Indian team to march on! The atmosphere was simple electrifying and an experience that I would never forget! With India taking on Pak next in the semis, you can only imagine....HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!!!!!!!!

Untitled – Part 1: The Invention of the Time Trek

The year is 2152. The planet Earth is suffering from inhospitable conditions. The beautiful blue planet which once supported life, is now hot and dry. Humans have migrated to various other planets. What once used to be cities and countries on a single planet are now multiple planets and universe in a galaxy. Humans using the technology of anti matter plasma have been able to conquer the depths of space, found allies in Vulcans and have domineered majestically over the Milky Way galaxy.

Time travel has become a typical phenomenon, why not when travelling at light speed is a must to conquer the extremities of the universe. They call it Time Trek! Humankind now has the knowledge and technology to mutate their DNA and practically stop the aging process of the body. Also using the stem cell augmentation, the muscle tissues and sensory organs have become mighty powerful. The prototype human-vulcan is being considered, a hybrid definitive concoction of the two DNAs. Let’s go back to how everything started.

Hundreds of years ago when earth was still hospitable, there was a person called Mr. K. He was exceptionally bright and incredibly prevailing. By profession he was an expert in space information and technology. Founder of KSRC (K Space Research Center), he was administering infrastructure maintenance of the spaceships and also head of the research team.

Once he was on bench as there was recession and there was not much work to do. He used to get up at 10:00AM GMT (Galactic Mean Time). Catch the 12:30 bus to office. Life was good, until the day he found himself in front of him.

One day after getting up at 10AM, he went down to the nearby shop to have cutting chai, vadapav and bread pattice for breakfast. He did not take his mobile or his watch as it was just 11AM and thought he cannot be late for the 12:30 bus. He had his breakfast and unaware about the time, he started to leave for home. The bus stop to KSRC was just next to the tea shop and he saw some other employees already waiting for the bus there.

How could this be possible? The time could no way have been later than 11:30 and the bus was supposed to come at 12:30. Something was wrong! The possibility of K having done time travel came to his mind. He was suspicious as well as excited.

While walking back home, he thought if he had actually done time travel. He pondered if he was in a parallel universe! There should have been another K standing at the bus stop, but that was not so. He reached his block and called for the space elevator. The elevator was going up from the 400th floor, it stopped on floor 740 and then was coming down. It was the same floor where K lived. When the elevator reached down and the door opened…was the moment two parallel universes collided….Time Trek was born!

END OF PART 1

Link to Untitled Part 2: http://cartikvyas.blogspot.in/2011/05/untitled-part-2-logic-is-undeniablewhen.html

You know you are on bench when...

When you have a 10AM alarm in you cell phone...
When you have 5 minutes to polish your shoes and you do it everyday...
When you catch 12:30PM bus to office...
When you have tried all kinds of food in the FCs...
When your GK is at an all time high coz of reading newspapers everyday...
When you have time to think of some kool status for FB...
When you reach level 50 in Cityville, 3 million dollars in Poker and then get bored of it and leave it....
When you take snaps wherever you go...
When you tease your friends who are in project...
When you know the names of all players of Ireland cricket team...
When you think about writing this post while coming to office and thinking about what all to write for 1 hour!