Cricket, Kabaddi & Technathon!

To start with cricket, India tour to West Indies is going on. The ODIs and T20s are over and its now time for the test series. Test series is said to be the toughest form of cricket, I have heard cricket commentators and experts say the same since childhood. Only recently when I was paying 'World Cricket Championship 2' game on my mobile, I realized why it is called the toughest form of cricket. It takes lot of patience while batting, and you really need to work hard and play with batmen psyche to get their price wicket!

 Coming back to India - West-indies Test series. India won the first test comprehensively. It was definitely a pleasure to watch too on my big screen TV in HD. India won by an innings and 92 runs, Virat Kohli the skipper continuing his wonderful form to lead with the bat with a double century! All the Indian bowlers did a good job in dismissing the host 2 times with a consistent disciplined performance. The second test match started today, West-indies are batting first after winning toss, 3 wickets out pretty soon!

  Moving on to Kabaddi, the 2 semi-finals were played yesterday in Hyderabad. This is the 4th season of the Pro Kabaddi league.The first semifinal match was between Pune and Patna.  Patna are the defending champions from last season, Pune had never reached the PKL finals. It was a very tight match, Pune were giving Patna a tough fight, especially their skipper Manjit Chiller was in great form tackling Patna raiders. Patna team won 4 super tackles, which eventually made the difference in their 37 - 33 win.

 The second semifinal was between Hyderabad and Jaipur, it was north vs south.Being in their own den, I thought Telugu titans would have the advantage. However, Jaipur team showed their class, dismantling the titans to storm into the finals, 34 -24 the eventually score in favor of Jaipur. The final should be a cracker between 2 champion teams. Jaipur had won the first edition of PKL, Patna are the defending champions winning the 3rd edition which happened last year.

 Finally lets talk Technathon. I took part in this Hackathon at my office. We had to select next gen technologies, We had taken up IoT. This was my second IoT hackathon and fourth hackathon overall. We also attended prep training on IBM Bluemix, there was also Microsoft Cognitive services training.We decided to use Bluemix, we also used a raspberry pi 3, a light detector. Team worked really hard, we were able to install raspberry OS, and connect light sensor and test it. However we faced problem registering the device on ibm internet of cloud things website. There was not much technical support and it was an unknown area for us.

 On the second day we got an ibm contact to help out, but it was too late by then. We were already tired and sleepy. We decided to go ahead with the demo with whatever was done. Not many teams had taken IoT theme, and none we know of were able to complete the solution.The demo went alright, not great nor as bad as we were fearing. There was not much weight to completion anyways in the score-sheet. Lets hope for best, we will get results next week. Like any hackathon, me and team got to learn a lot. It was a fun filled experience and we did enjoyed a lot.

A Murder, an Exit, Monsoon and Kabbadi!

  This has been kinda drought year for me with regards to posts count in this blog, I have been really busy with work and home. This is just the second post this year, and hopefully I will get back in the tune to write more.

 My last post was about cricket, the government and my work. With regards to the World T20, West Indies won it, and they were playing some really good fearless cricket, a team filled with hitters and all rounders, an ideal combination for T20 cricket, every player played their part, and despite their differences with their board, they managed to shine at the apex level.

 Back to my subject of the post, there is a lot to write today, and I am sure this is going to be one hell of a long post. To start with, this week an Infosys female employee was murdered in broad daylight at a Chennai railway station. Being from same profession, it is really saddening to see such a news, and even sad is, it happened in broad day light, at a public place, and no one did anything. There would have been some shares in social network after, but if someone or a bunch of people would have saved her, it would have been a much happier social network share. In general, there is fear among people not to get involved in such things, because of the bad image the police and the judiciary system has set, people avoid helping others with fear of getting strangled in police and court cases, even though their intentions are good. I believe in one thing, if you have not done anything wrong, then you should have nothing to fear, and you should be able to be a responsible citizen. Hopefully things will change with time.

Another reason why the people don't involve in such issues is because of corruption. Like the police and the judiciary, even the politicians are supposed to be public servants and should be obliged to help people. Many politicians are corrupt and greedy, uneducated and irresponsible, this leads to similar police and judiciary system. To correct this, I think education is important, and any politician in order to get a political ticket should have a graduate degree, by law.

Second thing which hogged a lot of social media lime-light was Britain exit from EU. Indians have very less impact of this at individual level currently, still every one is riding this bus on social media. Well not that I ignored it, I did enjoy some of the creative tweets which people wrote. I do not want to comment much on this except, I hope they stabilize and prosper, I wish the same for everyone in this world. A world filled with happiness, health and devoid of corruption, poverty and crime, would be hard to realize but a wonderful thing to wish and pray for!

Thirdly monsoon, I am living in Pune since past 4 years now, and this year there has been a lot of problem with regards to water, not only in Pune, but in Maharashtra. People dying due to heat and everyone relying on water tankers is a very sad state to witness. After long and anxious wait, monsoon is here, and experts have predicted a normal monsoon, which is a respite indeed. Hope is that the water would be used effectively. If not now, hopefully in less then a decade Maharashtra and whole of India would be drought free!!

Finally Kabaddi, today the fourth season of Pro Kabaddi league has started, something I enjoy watching. it is a very fast game which involves physical fitness and mental alertness. Thanks to this league, it has gained a lot of popularity now. It is a sport invented by us, and although it is not our national game, even as a nation we are very good at it.

Finally here's wishing everyone good health, happiness and success! 

Post after long time

It has been six months almost since I last posted an entry in this blog. Lot of things happened, and lot of wonderful things actually. I got married and life has been great, really having wonderful time! Also it would be one year complete in Cognizant next week, so much happens so fast in life.

Lot of T20 cricket happening these days, first it was the first T20 edition of Asia Cup which India won, now the T20 World Cup is underway in India. India lost yesterday to New Zealand in the first match, but I am sure Dhoni and team will come back strong and should reach last 4, based on the team and the form we have. After this there would be the IPL.

Lot of good things happening in India currently. The Modi government is doing a lot of good work and making our wonderful country better and better. The union budget was announced couple weeks back, lot of emphasis has been given to farmers, also coupled with a good monsoon forecast, consider this to be a very good year for India. Hopefully farmer suicides will come down. Also noticeable thing is China economy is not good, and India has overtaken China now.

This is another one of the blogs in the middle of the night. I have blogged a lot in night, mostly it was about crazy jugaads and philosophical thoughts, this is a normal blog and I am sure I will be back with those creative writings and doings as well.

Well nothing else for now, I hope India really does well in the world cup as well as in growth and development, Jai Hind!

Cricket, Tennis and Kabaddi!

To start with cricket, major news is India Supreme court banning owners of IPL franchises RR and CSK. A major setback for the BCCI, it’s high time it cleans up all the politics. In other proceedings, Bangladesh beat India to win in an ODI series first time. They already white washed Pakistan before us. Surprisingly, they even beat South Africa after India. This team is on a roll now!!

After Bangladesh, India toured Zimbabwe. All senior players like Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit Sharma rested. Rahane lead the side with new faces. Thankfully team did well; white washing opponents 3-0 in ODIs and also leveling T20 series 1-1. Losing to Zimbabwe would have been a big debacle!! The Ashes are going on in England. Australia trying to win there after 14 years. They lost the first test, but won the second one comprehensively!

Kabaddi season 2 is going on now. I remember season one was a big hit; I watched quite a lot of matches whenever I went to Mumbai. I didn’t have TV in Pune then, now I would be able to watch whenever I can! Wonderful sport with lot of speed and presence of mind, am sure this season would be a hit too!!

Wimbeldon 2015 got over this month. Djoker won it, and it was his 4^thWimbeldon title if I recollect right. Beat FedEx in finals. Federer was in wonderful form, and favorite, I couldn’t watch the match, but was hoping for a Federer win. Djoker won in 4 sets, and is just getting stronger and stronger. It seems Federer may retire in a couple of years now, he had a great career. He took over from Sampras, remember beating him in Wimbeldon long time ago, and there was literally an era of Federer, before Nadal and Djokovic appeared!!

IPL Knockouts & the Mumbaikar spirit

IPL has reached knockout stages now. Chennai, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Bangalore have made it to the last 4. Mumbai has done so against all odds. They had a very bad start to the season, and were placed at the bottom 2 of the table. There came a time when they were ruled out of the tournament, and they had to win last 7 or so matches and still have some luck to go with it to make it to top 4.

What eventually happened was they ended up at number two in the table, a tremendous achievement. Being a proud Mumbaikar, that is something I can easily relate it. My own life has been a bit like that, many times when no one was considering me, I came out shining. I have blogged about such examples before. Also, the saying that ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going’ implies to MI in this IPL season and to me too.

This has been the most competitive of all the 8 seasons. Top 4 were not decided till last day of group stages. Every team gave good performances, and fought hard in every match. Another highlight has been that the fielding standards are just getting better a better, this IPL we saw some outstanding and jaw dropping catches being taken, simply superb!

One more trend I noticed was captains winning the toss and electing to bowl first in majority of the matches, and also ending up wining majority of those matches. They have the confidence of chasing any total, 180 is easily gettable now compared to 5 years back, when it was a winning total for sure.

So the question is: who will win the most coveted crown in Twenty 20 cricket? It would sound boring if Chennai wins it; all the 4 teams are very strong. Bangalore have most match winners compared to all, Rajasthan is in excellent form, and of course Mumbai has the Mumbaikar spirit, I cannot predict who will win, but it is gonna be one hell of a fight!!!

Ye Hain India Ka Tyohaar!!

So the world cup got over with Australia winning it comprehensively. Barely a week later IPL starts. This is the 8^th edition of IPL. This one is a bit special for me and I am enjoying it too. Having lived without a TV for over 3 years, it’s like a novelty indeed!

Today is third day and third match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals. First two matches were good. KKR beating Mumbai Indians at home comfortably, and Chennai winning a last ball thriller against Delhi Daredevils, and that too by just one run. Delhi have been very miserable in last two seasons, wining only 5 matches  total, hopefully they would do better this time.

Today’s match is between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. It is Punjab’s thundering batting vs Rajasthan’s potent and plentiful bowling attack. Rajasthan were struggling with the bat, James Faulkner salvaging them with a useful knock at the end. Currently the score is 121 for 5 for Punjab chasing 163 odd; ball seems to be in Royal’s court as of now!!

What else, new job is going well. My onboarding will happen in project coming Monday, things will get busy hence. Today was a fun day in office, we played game in office. A lot of people participated there were 4 teams, with 5 members in each team. Aim was to throw maximum balls in a bin from a distance. Eventually our team won, had fun and got chocolates as prize! Team name was MAVERICKS, guess who suggested it!!

Big news of today was Snapdeal.com buying freecharge startup with $400 million. The founder of freecharge is just 35 years old, has a B.A. in Philosophy and is a MBA dropout. He is from a business family, but if you think his concept was very novel, very useful, and instant hit. Definitely deservers it and he said in an interview today in TOI, he is still going to continue and keep improving and expanding freecharge website.

Life is Good

Today is 3rd April, 2015. It’s around 10 days since I started my new job. Currently I am in the initial training phase. I am into a new domain now, that of investment banking. I will get to learn a lot and am looking forward to it.

I also moved my residence. I was staying in Magarpatta City, which is 2 hours’ drive from my new office. So I have moved closer now in Balewadi, this is just 20 mins drive from office. Here houses are more spacious then Magarpatta City and real estate is also more affordable. I am currently staying in a wonderful 2BHK flat on 3rd floor. The name of society is Mount Corsica, the area around is still developing; and similar towers are coming up. There is not much nearby, but with time, area will develop too.

Currently I have not yet started working in shifts due to training. I have a pretty nice schedule made up. I get up around 8 or so. Listen to songs on TV, my favorite channel is E24, they show songs of 90s and early 2000’s, feel good for the ear, much better than Honey Singh kinda headaches. Moring I prefer soft music, while doing work out, honey singh stuff is welcome.

Speaking of workout I have joined gym again. The name is Oxyfit. I had joined Abs from April 2012 for a year. Had a break for a while, used to do workout at home, even now I used to do at home. Was checking out my office campus and found this gym, I checked it out, it was pretty neat, lot of equipment’s and they are all new as well. I asked for the fees they said they have a 50% discount for couple of days I got the discount thankfully, got a great deal of 10k for 1 year membership, will utilize it well.  Yesterday was first day and I burnt 600 calories… #FeelingProud

What else, I am having the time of my life with my fiancé, the more I know her, the luckier I feel, and more thankful to God too. Little Sparshu is also doing great, had a nice first year birthday celebration party. Going to day care now and doing well.

World Cup just got over last weekend, Australia won it for a record 5^th time. They beat India in the semis add New Zealand in the finals. India did well in the World Cup to reach till semis, had an unbeaten run till then, against all the initial expectations it was a commendable effort indeed. Australia was just too strong on the day, we tried our best, but the better team won. Another important happening is Sania Nehwal is now World Number one in badminton, that is a remarkable feet indeed. Badminton is played in a lot number of countries compared to cricket, badminton is also not that popular in India, and to achieve this feat is simply outstanding…Kudos Sania!!

India white wash the Lankans 5-0

 To start with I am blogging about cricket after long time. I did not get much time recently to watch or follow sports, I do not have a TV at home since almost 3 years anyways, that is intentionally to make sure I do not sit in front of it all day. However, I do go to malls or friends place sometimes to catch any important sports events.

 India just white washed the Lankans 5-0 at home in the ODI series. What happened prior to it was West Indies cut down their tour to India and left midway due to some issues with their cricket board. The Lanakans were called in, and as always they did not disappoint. New records were created, and all the Indian batsman struck golden form, just in time for the tour of Australia and the world cup henceforth.

Dhoni did not play this series, he was rested, Kohli led the team, and he lead the team in style. Not only did he himself continued his good form, but the whole team played woderfully well. All the batsmen chipped in, the highlight of the series undoubtedly was Rohit Sharma's record breaking 264 run innings, he beat Sri Lanka by 13 runs in that match. 

 The bowlers all did their part. India look to have found good combination with regards to bowling when they go down under. Also Kohli has matured to be a good captain, chances are Dhoni may retire after the world cup down under, India is covered in that department I belive. My only concern is the batting down under, there is not a definite that the batsmen will perform as well away as they do at home, let's keep our fingers crossed!!

Another India Pakistan Thriller!

 To start with, I would have been much happier had India won this one. We came sooo close; the good old Afridi was the difference again. India out of Asia Cup 2014! :(

 So my day started early today at 6:30AM. Pretty early I would say, especially after doing late shift in office and sleeping around 01:30AM. Had to catch the 0750 Deccan Queen train to Mumbai. I was kinda already late when I left my apartment, getting an auto in the morning was also a problem. Somehow, I reached station 5 mins early, and boarded the train on time...a relief to have not missed the train.

 Reached Mumbai, went to uncle’s place. Had wonderful and lots of good delicious home food, 3 farsan and jalebi along with the wonderful lunch was too good. Meanwhile Pakistan won the toss and chooses to bowl. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli left early, however Rohit Sharma was in terrific form, and was making batting look very easy. He made a free flowing 50 for India before getting caught, mistiming on a short delivery. Rayadu also played well for his fifty in the middle order. Jadeja finished off well for India with a good knock of 50 too. India managing 245 for 8 in 50 overs.

 245 was not a winning total but a fighting total. India had got in Amit Mishra for this match, making it 5 specialist bowlers. Amit Mishra bowled wonderfully well ended with figures of 2 for 28 in 10 overs. Match was very tight, went till the last over, it was anyone’s game. Pakistan had an upper hand for most part, but then 3 quick wickets in final overs made it very interesting.

 Pakistan 9 down, around 10 to win in last over. Afridi still there and what does he do? 2 sixes back to back to seal it off for Pakistan. What followed on facebook was a round of abuses, some for Afridi and some for R. Ashwin, who was the unfortunate bowler on the receiving end in the last over. Man of the match was Mohammad Hafeez for his knock of 75 and his 2 for 38 in 9 overs. Jadeja did well with the bat, but was disappointing with the bowl, he was bowling too quick and not giving enough flight like Mishra.

 Ne ways, winning and losing is part of the game, and part of life. India already has a, not so strong bowling attack as I said in my last post too. If batting does not click, the chances to win becomes very less. India out of Asia cup, too bad...I had high hopes. Ne ways good news is I am getting my brand new Nexus 5 tomorrow, so looking forward to that!!

The Times of Cricket

Long time since I wrote about Cricket. A lot is happening, although I am not getting a chance to watch everything live, I do keep track of the scores.

One thing worth mentioning is the rise of Mitchell Johnson of Australia. He single handedly beat England in the Ashes. He was simply unplayable. A white wash was the result, and the urn came back to Australia after 7 years. It was also a kind of resurgence of the Australian Test side, which was pretty low after the retirement of all the big guns.

Currently, Australia is on a Tour to South Africa. South Africa has the best bowling attack in the world. The likes of Steyn and Morkel are really intimidating. The supporting bowlers also do a pretty good job. They have the variety as well, left arm, right arm, fast, swing, spin, a complete attack. Batting is not bad either, even after Kallis got retired, Amla, De Villers, Grame Smith still make the batting line up look good. Not for nothing is South Africa the number one test side since a while now.

So, I did mention Kallis got retired. A great player, and the number one all-rounder in world cricket. He was a big asset to the South African team. His last series was against India. Not only did Kallis had great talent and skills, but also wonderful temperament. He had a very cool head on his shoulders. Not only South Africa, but also the cricket world as a whole will miss Kallis.

India is not doing very well currently. We were not able to win a single game in South Africa, got big time drubbing in New Zealand.Currently the Asia cup is going on. Dhoni is injured and Virat Kohli is the captain. He is in ominous form since the past one year, and has scored heaps of runs.But there are not many players to support him; he is the only consistent match winner in the team. Other youngsters like Rahane, Raidu, Rohit Sharma, Dhawan click rarely. Bowling is a big problem, and it has always been. But still, compared to other teams in the Asia cup, India is one of the favorites for me. Other one being Sri Lanka. Pakistan change their squad every six months, except Shahid Afridi, and they are highly unpredictable.

100 posts..5 years..

 I started blogging in 2008. My first post was on my mom's birthday that year. Also it was, when I just finished my graduation in Computer Engineering. I really love writing, I have passion for it, also I believe it is a very good way to look back at time, and relive some wonderful and special moments in life.

 I remember my first ever job at First Source, I was waiting for my joining date at Infosys, and wanted to do something productive. It was a wonderful experience. I worked for one month, just attended training for our client British Telecom. Project name was Talk Talk. Then came the moment, 20 days in my first job, I got joining date of Infosys. I spent very short time at First Source, but it was my first job. I had a lot of fun, and I also learnt a lot.

 So 10th November 2008 was my joining date at Infosys. I can see this was one of the most crucial period of my career. Working for such a big company, I was nervous and excited. I was definitely overwhelmed when I saw their Mysore campus. I am really proud to be associated with Infosys. I posted a couple of experience, one after one month at Infosys and one after six months. I feel great reading about the wonderful time I had there. Also there is the Transformation post on how I started spending lavishly on branded products, and the One year completion post. I was in MQ training during that time in hyderabad.

 I moved to Bangalore for my first production project. It was for MQ Support, client was Northwestern Mutual. I remember the post of Christmas 2009 in Bangalore, I really looked different then. I really had nice time in Bangalore with lots of parties and outings. 13th feb 2010 taught me a few things too. My time in Bangalore was wonderful. I learnt a lot in my first project, also I had lots and lots of fun.

 Then I had health problems, I had to undergo back surgery. I was on leave for more than a month. Once I resumed office, I joined Pune campus of Infosys. Another chapter in Infosys history, after Mysore, Hyderabad and Bangalore. I worked in the Hinjewadi phase 2 campus of Infosys. It was for microsoft project. I really liked the food there, lots of options. I specifically remember the super size paratha we used to get in the BPO cafeteria. I stayed in Pune for couple of months, and then I was back to hyderabad on short term transfer.

 I had lot of night shift in hyderabad. So lot of time to write philosophical stuff, mixed with astrophysics. I stayed in the guest house in hyderabad. 28th November 2010 was again a memorable day. I got a new mobile, Samsung Wave 723, it is still working great for me! Another post coming from night shift in hyderabad, which I am proud of: The Rational Philosophical Thinking.

 Then came 2011. A very memorable year for my life. The year when I went to USA for the first time. A year when I quit Infosys. A year when Indian won the cricket world cup.  Also 2011, was the time when I started working on my sci-fi novel. The Untitled Series.  Also 2011, was when I completed 10 years of vyaskartik2001. I started my grad studies at Purdue School of science. I could not adjust to the live by yourself lifestyle in US, I also could not manage job along with studies. Food and weather were also a problem. All these factors resulted in bad health and coming back to India.

 I started searching for a job. After 2 months, I finally got a job as a contractor in Amdocs. Amdocs is a lot different than Infosys. Here, employee care is given more importance as compared to Infosys. The work culture is great. Lot of fun events throughout the year. I am also lucky to be in a good team with good management. I will finish 2 years in Amdocs soon. Time has certainly passed quickly. I have lots and lots of memorable moments at Amdocs, one of them being meeting Anna Hazare. I have not written any post about life at Amdocs, like I have done for Infosys, but I do have lots of photo albums on facebook of the wonderful time I have had here.

 Also I have blogged a lot about cricket in this blog. Like every Indian I am an avid fan of cricket. I have also blogged a lot about technology, something you would expect from a Computer Engineer. Today is 29th Dec, 2013. Everyone has plans for the 31st. I don't know what I would be doing, but today I felt wonderful recalling the past 5 years of my life. Hope 2014 is a wonderful year for everyone!

^^ Nehru, Tendulkar and Dhyan Chand ^^

 In my last post, I talked about Tendulkar going to retire from Test matches, and effectively from all forms of cricket. I remember that day, I got up early, after doing late shift the day before, and went to the gym. Not to work out, but to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat for one last time. I was feeling very sad, and there was a pain in my heart, as I was watching him bat, I knew this would be the last time I am doing it live. For someone born in the 80s, who grew up watching him, it has become a part of our life, and now we don't have it.

 India did manage to defeat West Indies by an innings again in the second test match, wrapping up a 2-nil white wash. Sachin made 74 in his last innings, Rohit Sharma made another hundred, now he has 2 in his first 2. Sachin also gave one of the most emotional speeches on his farewell test match, only reading through it made me emotional. The government declared a Bharat Ratna for him. He certainly does deserve it, however there is a twist, read on...

 So what I did is, lets check the list of people who have got Bharat Ratna till now. So, as expected there is a wiki page for it.Here it is.  So till now 43 people have received Bharat Ratna.  All of them are great men and women in their own right. But then I see the name of Nehru, Indhira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and I think, well they are politicians. This award is for performance of highest order, and it is given by the government. So should politicians be given this? I think it is not fair, any government would always glorify and publicize its ministers, especially if the government is a corrupt one like congress. Politicians should NOT be given this award, its a mockery and insult of it.

 So lets see what has Nehru done, what has he done of highest order that he got this award? To start with, after Independence Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was most popular to become the Prime Minister. He was the one who united India, and was one of the founding fathers of our great country. But Gadhiji favored Nehru, as Nehru had international education and Gandhiji thought it would help India in international affairs. Sardar Patel backed off, and Nehru became first prime minister of India. However the international barrister committed lot of serious blunders, because of which we are still suffering. 

 First mistake is freeing Sheikh Abdullah from Kashmir Jail.  Second mistake is declining the US offer of a permanent seat at the UNSC in 1953. Third is calling UN ceasefire when Indian troops were going to win back the whole of Kashmir including the present PoK. Fourth is Indo-Chino war of 1962, his foreign policy failed. He could have taken help from America, but he didn't. Fifth mistake is not allowing rehabilitation of millions of Hindus from Kashmir valley, and East and West Pakistan.  Due to this, millions of Hindus were killed, raped or converted to Islam. And yes...after all that Nehru got the Bharat Ratna, and that too before Sardar Patel!

 With the recent Bharat Ratna given to Tendulkar, there are debates about why one was not given to Dhyan Chand.? Well frankly, I had no idea who he was. He was one of the greatest hockey players of all time. It was during his time, that India won three gold medals at the Olympics. Yes those were the times when India dominated the sport of hockey. He played during a time, when there was not much media coverage, no social media whatsoever. He was a great goal scoring machine. He was called as a magician with the hockey stick. Winning a gold medal in Olympics is still considered as a miracle for India, and if someone does that, he is awarded millions. Dhyan Chand won three of those for our country, but still his last days were not very happy. He was short of money and was badly ignored by the nation. He developed liver cancer and was sent to AIIMS New Delhi in general ward. He died on 3rd December 1979.

 The more you read about Dhyan Chand, the more you get fascinated, and wish you had a chance to see him in action. Scoring 20 or more goals for a team, and scoring 10 goals for an individual in just a single game, simply shows the dominance of a team, and the magical skills of an individual. Yes those were the golden era of the Indian hockey team, the era of Dhyan Chand. He certainly deserves a Bharat Ratna too...

3 Movies and Sachin Tendulkar

 To start with, last blog post was written when I was in the midst of watching TBBT, so it was highly influenced by that. Apology if anyone found it weird or rude or confusing...Well back to sanity, I saw 3 movies in the last 10 days. Good thing about having a job, you can watch almost all the movies, something which was a constraint in the college days. I saw these 3 movies recently: Krrish 3, Thor 2 and Captain Phillips.

 To start with Krrish 3,it's a good movie, I really liked the action and the special affects. Direction is also good. Songs are something which could have been better. However, still it crossed the 200 Crores gross. That's a good achievement. One more reason, why I like this movie in particular is, it is about an Indian super-hero. I am in to super heroes since long time, Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk...and now Krrish 3, it gives me a feeling of pride, that our superhero is right up there with all of them!

 One more reason to support the above argument is, I saw Thor 2 after Krrish 3. I did not find Thor 2 few times better than Krrish 3. Thor 2 was in 3D, but still did not outshine Krrish 3. However, I would like to add that Thor 2 is a good movie too. There are not many 3D effects, but still it has a story, it has lots of interesting concepts like the '7 Realms' and the 'convergence'. The dark matter 'ether', is also there in the movie, so to sum it up, someone like me who has interest in astrophysics and the origin of universe kinda stuff along with liking for superheroes, this movie is a treat!!

 I saw the third movie today. Captain Phillips. It's about a US cargo ship being hijacked by Somalian pirates, and how the US Navy saves the Captain of the cargo ship from the pirates. Tom Hanks, plays the role of the Captain, and he is simply amazing. Surely a contender for best actor at the Oscars. Also the movie shows the might of US Navy. I especially love the scene when the snipers bring down the pirates in the lifeboat. The dialogue is "Stop the tow..Execute". Defining moment in the movie for me. However, I think cargo ships should have some security, as they carry tonnes of valuable cargo and go through hostile waters. This is a true story, and I thought, having even a dozen armed guards or a dozen US Navy people would have helped a lot in this case, or for any case where pirates try to hijack a cargo ship.

 Finally Sachin Tendulkar! I have posts for Dhoni, Dada and Dravid in my blog. But still no post of the great master blaster, the God of Cricket. He is going to play his last test match , 200th one, against West Indies on 14th November, 2013. He has retired from all other forms of cricket. I still have the pictures, which I used to cut from the newspaper, when I was in the school in the 90s(There was not much internet then). I have a file of Sachin's photos!

I think no blog or no comment can do justice to the greatness of this legend. Still I would try to write something interesting soon. However, I did notice one thing today, there is a show on Star Sports called 'Sachin Sachin', and there, everyone discuss the greatness of the man. Rahul Dravid, was also there. He being a great legend himself, it show great humiliy and humbleness in coming to that show. He was always overshadowed by Sachin, but still he was always happy to play under that shadow, and is still happy to talk about him. #Respect