more Blore..

For those of u who were blaming me of being anti madras bcos of my appreciation of Blore autos – NO! Am not.. more and more I feel madras is doing better than Blore as I have reported many times earlier –saying its disappointing like here..

any ways..suddenly there is a betterment here..and of all the vague possibilities u can think of, it comes from dumber-than-all-devegowda’s family!! Yeah..Kumarasamy is giving right sound bytes and its showing in blore..what looked like a sure lost city is now slowly waking up..u cud have guessed that when Narayanmurthy gave some good comments on him..(for sure infy got some freebies;-))
Forget all the nataks played by father and son combo, but some good effects here though..still nothing can be done to the traffic, pollution, sky rocketing real estates and rents..

Finally the stylish western -like Volvo buses have started running here..and I shall post a foto of that soon and keep thennavan informed!

Auto - mas Vs blore

I took an auto from JPnagar to MG Road..wait!! dont ask 'so what'?
its some 10kms..here @ Bangalore the minimum rates have been increased to Rs.12 from Rs.10/ recently.
Now the display on the auto's meter was 50, since his was an old meter this needs conversion to new rates..I in some vague thoughtful gesture (not that otherwise am a maths punter, just that when $$ has to flow out,iam careful;-))told him the new rate shud be 70 and paid him..by which time he went thru some doc in his hand and said it is 60..I told him it shud be 70 and he told me very surely its 60 and then I understood my goof up of taking 2 per km instead of 1 per km..
The point is, imagine what a pleasant surprise this is and compare it to the auto fellas in madras, the perennial fleecers! hmm..

note: add to this the better times of autowallas in Blore returning even Re1 and 20P!

dont...

am in blore now and its already hot like hell..
so imagine whats it going to be in may in madras? for that matter blore is no solace these days anyway..
so if u NRIs out there are from south and planning vacation, hold..
Dont plan the next few months.. its predicted to be solid 5-6 degrees more than usual..can u imagine what to expect in the coming days??
I have warned u..now dont come here and abuse us indians and our weather;-)

Stolen Wealth games..still..

yeah I am calling the common wealth games the stolen wealth games..The only thing I find common in these participating countries is that their wealth was stolen by the brits and here we all happily participate in a games that is the definition of misnomer! so much for the name and games..
but, still..I like the way India is performing there! for once we can see our name in the top 3..hey..it was in the 2 place 1st two day..i have the cut out from that days paper..do u?
come to think of it - we have ben let down (again) by hockey, the big names like rathore,anju,et al. but have managed a decent heap..
did u notice one thing? I find it strange that this Jung fella, if he were to be taken a separate state, he will feature in the top 10! may be 5th..with his indiv haul of 5 golds and 1 silver..and by the way shooting has 12 out of 16 golds..
all said and done feels good.. so this mention..

BTW what ever happened to that vajpayee's govt's idea of handing over to our defence/military to tick out some specific fields and train some people after proper identification and letting them handle the olympics gold thirst that we have been dying off for so many eons?? I for one liked that idea..reason enof to dump it, eh?

Update: just after I blogged this, Rathore wins a gold..

@ ur service II

so here I am..another weekend, another hill top..
yeah! am still on that mission of finding out good places some 1k+ metres above for your sakes;-)
so the last weekend was in yercaud..just about qualifies on the height factor..a small sleepy hill top town (town -if u can really call it so)..only good thing about this place is that this is absolutely untampered..no industrialisation or commercialisation..still no big deal on the clima..may be winters will be cold..yeah, its tongue in the cheek remark..for the evenings and nights were pleasant and the days were hot..come to think of it in real summer in a couple of months..man..send ur enemies there in May:-)
I last went to this place in 80s during our 2nd year of college ed and found it real boring the 1st day and the next 2 days went by in a whiff bcos we befriended some juniors (girls u may ask, yes i wud say and good looking u may ask, but i wud not divulge that, atleast not now) and so had some good memories of the place..
from then to now, in close to 2 decades, not much has changed..except probably the sterling property right on the 'ladies seat' - a high view point!
Even then there was hardly anything to do as not many places of visit like in ooty or kodai..
This time too, but since I went with a group of telecom punters of karnataka (old time sakes, i was forced to join them)- so we decided easily not to venture in the heat and so decided to chill out in the room with the boring test match to view..But if some one asks me how long can u continously laugh in a day.. I dunno is the answer..bcos I did not keep a tab on that, but virtually spent the whole day laughing hearing to each one's stories of customer interactions, dealer dealings, funny employees,(in)famous anecdotes and what not..hey, good fun that!!
so the moral:if u r pushed to yercaud, go with a group where u can be self sufficient for time pass..or even better skip it..may be u can watch paint drying back home..or winter olympics;-)

to lighten up..

Have been scribbling something or the other so often..and am sure some of u wud have been bored by one or the other..like some question me about regulars on cricket..
my question to such people: hey..have you not appeared in "board exams" like me when u were young?? the same rule is followed! Dont wait to check out what is wanted (or asked for) just scribble what u know/like/can;-)

So just thought once a while lemme lighten up things by writing some humorous incidents that happened around me..and so many times it will be tryong..tryooong...tryoong...yeah, flashback..

* There used to be one hefty guy in our circle who did have a bike during the college days..and as he was going near high court(paris area) and took that turn in to the main road, he was stopped by the police. This guy commandingly asks the police whats the matter in chaste tamil..
he: enna matter? (whats up?)
cop: Do you have the papers? what u r zooming past?
he: naan yaaru theriyumila?? (do u know who Iam??)
cop: yaaru? (who?)
he: naan yaaru theriyumila?? (do u know who Iam??)- this time a bit louder..
the cop is a bit stunned..so cooly asks him who he is..
he: naan yaaru theriyumila?? (do u know who Iam??)- this time a bit more louder..the cop is really zapped and says "poithola"..meaning 'go, get lost'..and he moves a bit..
meanwhile one puny guy, an early 'catch' of the cop around was waiting all along while this fatso was udharuttufying (yapping)..and that puny chap screams to our fatso - "sir, enakkum konjam sollunga.." and believe me..our fatso really beat all our imagination..
He just looked back and saw the cop and told "naan yaaru theriyumila" and to which the cop to our surprise begged to him: " sir..athuthaan ungala uttuten ila..ponga sir..(i have left u know, pl leave) and with another
naan yaaru theriyumila?? (do u know who Iam??) our chap 'released' the puny guy too..all this without really revealing 'who he was';-)

** Once few guys were trying out small rides on a new bike b(r)ought by a famous friend (-this (r)is bcos we never knew which was true)..the place we were trying was typically an approach road in to a main road and to reach back the same spot one had to take an illegal 'U' turn..as a second guy tried, a cop suddenly surfaces and stops him and asks him to follow..we were just a few yards and did not know how to react..and this owner of the bike marches cooly to the cop and says "give me my bike" and starts pushing it away and the cop asks "what are u doing? dont u know this fella took an illegal U turn".. to which this guys gives back a stunning reply -"ivan thaana thirpuinan..avana kooptitu poonga..ennoda bikea enkitta udunga" ( its he who took the wrong turn, take him, leave my bike..)

*** once during TIES(Tamilnadu Inter engg sports- oof what a name for a sports event) our band wagon of guys land in to the ground with all new striking attires (new jerseys, new but duplicate adidas boots, et al - courtesy, our college union leader who was a master in throwing googlies to the management and getting things) and just show off from some 30 mins before the start of our football match. So we were the talk of the whole area with many college guys coming and enviously enquiring about our attires and how we made our college mngmnt pay and more anxious questions..and the match starts..the first match is against RECT..whoops..they whack the sh*t out of us ..in a matter 20 minutes they sorugify 6 goals..and by this time our famed goalie cries " machi naan varala..if any of u shout at me Iam leaving right now." then we convinced him to stay put till the half time and by then our famous, above said leader, bargains a walkover- for the opponent that is and relieves us of more embarrassment..hey will that bloody goalie raise his hands now in the comments space?

cricbits..

What a match it was, the AUS-SA one! Though I was unlucky not to watch it live, I caught up with the highlights..man the whole match needs to be retelecasted for a highlights..It took some 23xx ODIs to touch 400+ and ofcourse oz were the ones to accomplish that as expected and in style..but SA really did an incredible thing by chasing that mountain with 1 ball to spare..man! What an innings!! This shall be THE match of the ODI history..but watch out for this guy Hussey..he is going to be the man of 07 world cup..unbelievable hitting..if Dhoni can continue his dream run he can be a far second to him in 07 WC..

Elsewhere I was hoping Lara wud smash a 100 and help WI win..hmm…these guys are really playing pathetic..from 148 for no loss to lose like this on an easy chase..(when)will they turn arnd?

And India won..so what?? We shud have thrashed the poms 3-0..but that’s lost now...am happy that sehwag hit some quick ones else we wud have typically made a ‘match’ of it! Hey, what happened to tendul? It’s an area of worry, esp with the gangs issue hanging on the head of team management! One thing that wud go unnoticed now since we won is the good old habit of letting the tail wag..like here harmison really put a good 9th wkt stand..may be giving ideas of a oz-proteas like incredible turn arounds..but they lived to their form!

@ ur service..

So here’s the report of my trip that I had to undertake for ur sakes;-)

Kodai has not changed much in the many years, atleast it seemed so, as I am visiting this beautiful hill resort after many years..The town itself has been infested with more concrete but has not gone the Ooty way really and the bane of roads and electricity still the same as witnessed years back (if not worse!)..

So on my first day I did not bother to even take out my camera as it was spent in the town and every frame wud have had 50% concrete, so no point. But surprisingly many places were still the same and infact many things are prohibited (like even cleansing the lake) with stringent measures to conserve Kodai naturally is on full swing.. But don’t be surprised if u r hitting Kodai after so many years on hearing places names like – Gunaa caves or Raam rocks etc..these are nomenclatures derived after the tamil movies shot at resp. locations and hence more popular these days..forget the fact that these were very much in existence before those movies in the names like devils kitchen, dolphin nose etc:-)

But to really see the dense forests, layers of greenery u shud move out of the town..a good place wud be Berijam..this is a place under the forest department’s auspices and is well maintained..mind u, one needs to apply (remember-Dear sir, sub: reg: et al?) in the local forest conservator’s office before 10a.m. Do carry a paper, pen else u are stranded as no help will come ur way..and then with this permission proceed to berijam which is some 30kms away..a beautiful drive, nice place with a neat lake and totally well preserved by the forest dept. No littering, no plastics, no smoking..a lot of “no’s” but u wud not crib for u get to see the good results..
Next day was a bumper! Hit on a terrific driver with extraordinary contacts and knowledge of the place..he took us to some exotic locations and promised more on my next trip..he took us thru one of the best walks I have had on rough mountain side with breathtaking views n numerous falls..we saw the periyakulam village right under our nose and theni, vaigai dam etc in the far..also saw this village called ‘vellaikavi’ which was in news in the recent past for getting (for first time ever)electricity and the single phone connection it boasts off! Great walk and sooper view..killed lotsa calories..interestingly somewhere on the way to this dolphin nose cliff saw a village packed with many goras..it seems Israelites come by hundreds and stay with the locals in their huts/houses and eat with them & go around the mountains and enjoy their holidays..it sure looks like a very popular place of vacation for the Israelites..

Iam off..for ur sake:-)

Summer is setting in and giving us an idea of how chennai is going to be in the coming months..
So for the benefit of u people, to tell u which is a better place to chill out in summer,am off to Kodai for the next 3 days to check out how good it is and report to u all;-)
BTW the next round of checking shall happen the following week - to yercaud..
Dont be surprised if i do post some good fotos. that is if i take..(my camera)
so blogging can wait;-) meanwhile keep coming here and etching ur comments:-)
zooommm...........

Scary..

hey this varanasi bomb is real bad! one of the oldest cities u can associate to our civilisation and a bomb there..
it could have been me or any of ur realtive or parent as in the case of blogger jagadish!
yeah I have been contemplating a visit there for quite sometime now..esp after a swiss happened to visit varanasi and lecture me on how good a place it was!
but the point here is this bomb thingy is becoming too much and our politixians are happily oblivious of this and are counting their secular votes..hmmm..

while on the topic 'scary' - now slowly the news about cirus reactor is coming..I told you here about how much our guys would hav actually read the deal..and now how much will they reveal? when and in how many installments??
Now this is real scary that we may have been deprived of many things and the cunning US marketing brains would have made us commit to buy stuff for nuc and other reactors for a very high price..remember dabhol? the fuel cost and the per unit power cost??

Doctor T.J. Cherian! RIP

A great man who has operated on so many people and
saved so many lives passes away!
It’s a pity that a man of such high credence had to
decide to finish his own life! Oh yeah! He would have
charged some of his patients but it’s a well known
fact that he has performed so many operations for
free. It seems he used to pay on behalf of some poor
patients in certain hospitals which would not do away
with the fees and many a times when some people who
could not afford asked for the rates has jokingly commented
“you cannot afford my charges”. His service is
unparalleled in the medical industry today.(yeah, I
consciously say industry taking in to the account how
this noble profession has turned off late!)

Its surprising from what I hear from the industry circles,
it seems he has been dejected with his own performance
in the recent past since he has maintained an
impeccable record all through his life. Apparently
when he was in the ICU a few days back he had
dejectedly questioned his competence and quizzed at
his continuance of service to humanity. A man of such
stature who could not stand his own deviations from
the high standards he set for himself had decided to
end his life on his own.But I wish he had not chosen
this route.
What a pity that a life so much useful to the society
and had saved so many lives was dejected and so ended
on reasons of professionalism.
So ladies & men! May be this profession is after all
still a noble one! At least in some hands like this!!
Hats off and good bye Doc. Cherian! RIP

Follow up..more on THE deal!

A hasty follow up to my earlier post..not that I have done enormous research nor do I intend doing so, just my immediate reactions:
This nuke deal is as murky as it always was or as any deal with US will be..
Last time too when our south block spoke of some deal with the US, it looked more like a win-win for US and nothing for us..may be now too..
On this nuke deal thingy, have our people (I mean those who matter) understood it at all? I don’t blame if the US drafts something that is win-win for them..hey! after all they are safeguarding (yeah, pun intended) their own interest!
Talking of safeguard, if I understand, it's something like this 'Iraq play' right? The US or their binamy in the name of UN or IAEA or what ever will decide to “inspect”..and decide/deliver what their master wants! Hmm..may be US will not dare to play that game if they know for sure some one has WMD..saw how they reacted to north korea’s awaaz..

Even if our officials claim we have offered only some 50% (and this varies up to 65%)of our nuc reactors, just see one plain fact! The big 5 “accepted nuke powers” have in all close to 1000 reactors and out of that – hold ur breath – only 11 are under IAEA scanner!
Any logic there?

But all this is subject to Bush’s bosses accepting..see it like this: You and I accept and agree to go on a long drive to a beach resort, play golf and ofcourse chill out after the game..its a done deal and we fix up the date..BUT my wife can pitch in and veto this..she can come in and say “ok u guys proceed” or “no..it stands cancelled”..how do u like that? So if she says ok, we proceed else no..either way u have no say..so that’s where the deal is..the US congress has to ratify this deal..so all our reams of analyses and rhetorics and understanding/misunderstandings all go to drain if the cong rejects it..ha..ha..so much for the great deal!

Finally, our media was crowing that Pak might not be given such a deal! Man I could not stop laughing for full 5 minutes after seeing this. To my simple brains, this just means – as always pak has no bearing, no rule or no binding..they are free as ever and so while we have an unclear binding, a commitment…pak stands totally free..no commitment..ok we all know that’s a country that wud give a damn to any signed deal itself, still!

(when) will we stand up?

This Bush fella has hazaar reasons for anyone to antagonize him..but what I find amusing and irritating at the same time is that people out here are giving it that vote bank color! even to show our anger at him.. just about every other act of his, needs to be admonished and here we are organizing protests for all the wrong reasons..please do not infer I am against any normal ties with US. No! lets have normal relations, use them like how they use us and lets prosper, even if its at their cost! but..
Why shud we bother about Iran and their mutual theatrics..or his justice war in Iraq..or his oil conflicts of interest…
Lets just focus on our nuclear pressures..who are these AHs to dictate what our policies shud be and who are these jokers to decide which of our set up are civilian and which military! And unbelievably why shud they break their head on who controls them..

What are our policy makers and diplomats doing?
Can’t they stand up and tell them to mind their business?
Can’t they tell them to watch pak, mush, AQ & other chors, bin laden and other freaks?
Can’t some one remind them that Iran has signed NPT and not us!
Can’t they just point out that we have been the most well-mannered of all the nuke powers?
Can’t they stand up and tell them that we are the most civilized of these nuke nations and we need not be sermoned by the only nation that ever threw a nuke bomb and that too out of (silly)anger.
Can’t they fricking tell him that India and pak are not equal in any way. They need to be addressed as 2 separate nations!
And finally let him not open his septic tank called mouth backed with his clay pot brains about Kashmir..will our diplomats diplomatically shut that up?
Will we ever stand up…and deliver?

greggieeeeee

In an interview here,
greg Chappell has these to say..

“…But we clashed because his needs as a struggling player and captain and those of the team were different..”

“…I genuinely feel that, while I am being paid by the BCCI , I am working for the people of India…”

"There was a very poignant photograph in the paper one day recently just before we played in Lahore. A lot of Indian supporters wanted to come to the match. Now they can cross the border but you have to drive there, then leave the car and walk across and get a car or bus the other side. It is a huge effort for many to support the team.
"The picture was of a woman, elderly, scrambling through the border. It is for people such as her that we are playing the game and the players and I realise that. We pinned the picture on the dressing room wall to remind us. We drew a lot of inspiration from that."

Iam impressed! Precisely this professionalism and accountability is what only people like him can bring in to Indian cricket than probably some joker coaches like mohinder could have brought in..
hats off and thanks greg..keep marching..