Killing time

What will you call a guy who waits in the airport for 5.5 hours for his delayed flight ,who gets to know that there will be a further delay of 1.5 hours, who tries to post something in his blog and ends up deleting it ? You guessed it right .. Arune. But I am amazed at myself as I had been keeping myself cool for this entire period.

It has been a little stressful day at the office with issues cropping up at the last moment. While coming to the airport, I end up paying extra 5 bucks for my taxi as my call was considered advanced booking by the taxi company. When I checked in my luggage, I got to know that the flight is delayed by 4 hours. Not even a single apology. Way to go Air India.

After killing 3 hours roaming inside the airport and watching pretty faces, I get to know the flight is delayed further. As of now, I have been told that the flight is expected to start at 00.30 hrs on 28th Apr. Phew....Mani has been so courteous and has been inviting me continuously for dinner today. He is damn sure that I wont be leaving before tomorrow evening. As of now, I have decided to carry on killing my time inside the airport.

I hope my next post will be sometime soon from India.

Lara the legend !

The end came atlast. The king could just make 18 runs before he was run out ! But it was a fitting farewell for the maestro. What a match it had been. Poms chasing 300 and winning it in the last over.

Like his batting, his career has been quite exaggerated. But he was the number one entertainer of the last two decades. Read what Rahul Bhattacharya says about the king in this article.
http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/291744.html

Truly a legend !

Back to some good old cricket !

With India out of this world cup, cricket has become wonderfully enjoyable. What a relief ! Be it Mali's 4 wicket burst in 4 balls, Bangladesh's win against SA, Bopara's futile yet fighting half century the current world cup has seen some wonderful performances. I am sure we will see some more of these in the coming matches.

Almost everyone has been complaining about the ticket prices and near zero attendance for some of the matches. Too bad, the locals have been denied to be part of such a great spectacle. Caribbean crowds and Lankan crowds have a lot of thing in common. They enjoy the game in full josh and have never heard them misbehaving during defeats. Not like the True Desi fans :P.

The Indian Cricket Tamasha has seen some actions from the board. What the heck has happened to the so called senior players ? Why was the world's greatest batsman washing dirty linen in public ? Add to this, the hype created by our own media. Wonderful. It is a perfect setting for disaster. The board has issued show cause notices to Sachin and Yuvraj for their reports to media. Hats off to the board for treating everyone equally! Board has come out with lots of action points. I welcome those. Planning is always easier the part. The real test comes during execution and maintaining the standards. I sincerely pray we don't mess up this time with the new plans.

Sachin, show us that you can bat. Then do whatever nonsense you want to do. Look at Sanath/ Murali/Mcgrath or for that matter Paul Nixon. One should see their energy levels and spirit on the field. Too bad that none of our so called senior players have not showed the energy. I wont blame Greg for whatever he has done. These guys should earn their places and not because of their past performances. Greg wanted to bring that in place, which invariably affected these guys' comfort zones and he had to bear the brunt. Guys, Take a break or Grow up!

Shifting houses

I have recently shifted to a new apartment in Khatib itself. It is a good apartment with a large living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, toilet & bathroom. The only pain point is the distance from the MRT. But will get used to it. Got my Cable connection and Internet connection all done. Waiting for a telephone connection to be installed. Singapore stands apart in providing these services. Was heartening to see things get done pretty much on time.

MBA Orready maah

Yah Lah. Aruneganesh became an MBA. The results came out this Monday when I was in Chennai. Papu paas ho gaya. I expected better grades this trimester, but I was disappointed. But what the heck, I am happy that I am done with it.

I attended Mani's marriage last week. It was a good get together with some of the NBS stalwarts attending the same. Mr and Mrs DV, Mr and Mrs AK, Moy Zaa, CK and yours truly were there from NBS. Mann dropped out at the last moment. But the real disappointment was Dada not attending the marriage. Man(i) proposes, Dada disposes. Thanks to Moy Zaa, here are some good pictures of our trip. He exacted revenge this time by taking my pictures in some fundoo angles.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/ManiSEngagement

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/ManiSWedding

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/NeeraDosaFestival

When I was in Chennai, I went for the movie "The pursuit of happyness". It was a touching story of an African American who leaves the medical device salesman job for an internship in a brokerage firm. Will Smith is just too good. He and his son have done a commendable job. Storyline is very simple. Man works hard, achieves success. But the performances were noteworthy. You will come out with tears at the end. Give it a shot. It is worth it !

David 2 Goliath 0

I was one of the crazy folks who had subscribed to the cricket channel at a monthly fee of 25 dollars. Now with the WC getting charged at 100SGD, I decided enough is enough. With all the matches happening in the Carribean, where the time difference is about 12 hours, it is probably the best decision that I have taken. The WC has started and the so called minnows have risen up to the occasion. The Goliaths of the world India and Pakistan have taken their worst defeats of the WC against Bangladesh and Ireland respectively. Holding has been made to eat his own words by the Sub continent giants.

I did not see the match, but the mode of dismissals seem to be all too familiar.Barring Dada (though his innings was slow) and Yuvi, no one played a decent knock. Same could be said of Pak also. Will these two teams qualify for the second round ? India's chances are fair but Pak's chances are very slim. For Pak to qualify, Windies should lose to Zimbabwe & Ireland, and Pak should Zimbabwe convincingly. If that happens, Pak has a remote chance of entering the next round alongwith Ireland. Very unlikely though. For India, they shoul beat Bermuda and SriLanka. Both of these seem himalayan task now. Can this team pull this ?

Thanks to Pavendran, I got to see 11 commercials which have some real good music. Enjoy.
http://www.eachnotesecure.com/11-commercials-featuring-great-music/

Cricket Quiz - II

Continuing the quiz series on cricket, let us have the second round. If possible, avoid Cricinfo and google. Give it a try. All the best. This week it is India at the worldcup.

a. Who has the best bowling performance by an Indian bowler ? (Pretty easy one).
b. Including 2007, which Indian player has played the maximum number of worldcups ?
c. Who was the man of the match in the England Vs India match during the 1987 semifinals ?
d. Who made his debut in the 1987 WC for India and remained consistent through out in the series ?
e. Kapil was tried as an opener in some WC matches. When ?
f. The 1987 worldcup had an Indian company as the major sponsor. Name the company.
g. Who scored the maximum runs for India in the 1983 WC finals ?
h. Venkatesh Prasad, the MOM in the game against Pak in 1999 WC took how many wickets giving how many runs ?
i. When Kapil made 175* against Zim in the 1983 WC, what was India's score when he entered the ground to bat ?
j. India Vs Srilanka in the 1996 WC at Calcutta, who was the man of the match ?

A Wicket Goes Down

Congratulations to the "fastest" dude in our batch for getting married. AK has attended the reception and has provided us the updates. Badhaai Ho sir.

On Friday, we had the party at Harry's @ Esplanade arranged by the NBS office to celebrate NBS' entry into top 100 in the FT rankings. Met up with my profs, seniors and my own batchmates. Atlast some decent veggie food at an NBS party with samosas, potato chips etc. Nice place to hang around. I remember coming to this place during the induction. It was the same Harrys where we went after our out door activities ended. Missing those good old days with friends.

Coming to CNY holidays, I tried my luck to get some tickets to Bangkok, but in vain. Too late to enquire. Baptiste staying in Bangkok, I thought staying should not be an issue at all. But all these airlines are running packed. Tried my luck in some of the cruises. (thoda zyaada ho gaya na..) There is one cruise to nowhere which is like 640 SGD for the first person, 640 for the second person and 320 for the third person. Add to it the taxes. Gave it up instantaneously. Finally what is left...........Good old Malaysia. I am planning for a trip to Malacca. Enquiring couple of friends if they can join me. Mani might not join as his Dad is around during this time. Seems like a small nice place, this Malacca. Has got rich history and decent beaches around. Should not be a bad choice for a weekend.

Last week watched my favourite director's movie, GURU. Technically it was a well made movie. Nice locales, Good songs, Wonderful camera. Some amount of work has been done to recreate the past decades. Kudos to all who have worked. But did I feel the impact after the movie ended ? Nope ! Well, that is the truth. They have worked really hard for the movie but the punch was not there at the end. To me, it looked like collection of scenes from the life of Guru. Mostly in bits and pieces. The climax did not impact me at all. The pace was also quite slow.
But the movie is doing well, I heard. The next movie in line is Eklavya. Big B was gifted a Rolls Royce for his performance. Phew... Should be some performance. Let us wait and watch.

Cricket Quiz - I

Now that Cricket fever is catching up with the Worldcup round the corner, I was thinking of coming out with a Quiz. I will try to post a series of questions related to cricket and post the answers in the next post. Avoid Google/Cricinfo if possible. Enjoy lah...

This week is on worldcups.

1. Against whom did India register its first win in the world cup ?
2. What is the best performance by a bowler in the world cup ?
3. Who was the Indian captain at the first world cup ?
4. India Vs Pakistan matches have always been onesided in the worldcups. Who were awarded the man of the match awards in these matches (1992/1996/1999/2003 )?
5. Name the man of match award winners starting from 1975 till 2003 world cup finals.
6. What is the dubious record that Gavaskar has at the world cups ?
7. India & Australia had two closest matches at the 87 and 92 worldcups. What was the margin of victory?
8. It was the rain rule in 1992, in 1996 it was Lara, in 1999 they ran themselves out and in 2003 the spoilsports were was once again rain & Duckworth-Lewis method. Whom and what are we talking about ?
9. How many world cup matches ended in a tie ?
10. Who were the victims of the Chetan Sharma when he took the Hat trick in the 1987 world cup?

Happy Quizzing.... Will come out with some more in the comings posts.... Au Revoir !

RIP

Masala Novels author Sidney Sheldon passed away recently. Truly a masala novel writer in all sense. It is little difficult to believe that he was the same guy who came up with "I dream of Jeannie".

Some of my favs are Sands of Time, Doomsday Conspiracy and If Tomorrow comes.

Most of his novels portray the stronger side of women. Women get cheated; they struggle hard and rise to the top; exact revenge. Memories of midnight, Other side of midnight, Rage of Angels etc etc.

He himself has said that most of his novels resemble the way a movie screen play is written and the reason being that he started writing screenplays from the age of 17.

Mani and I were discussing about him in the morning. He surely is a publisher's delight as his novels have grossed millions. Everyone starts reading novels with Sheldon and adds that as a hobby in their resume. But very rarely people move beyond him. I and Mani belong to that genre :P

May his soul rest in peace.

Hurray ! It is done

After a brief hiatus, I am back. This is not because that I have been getting countless emails and calls to start writing again. Neither was I too occupied at work nor my comp broke down. It is the same old reason, Laziness. Hmm..Posting something in your blog can happen only when something interesting happens in your life or something that you want to share/post across. Apni life mein tho.... Cheer up..Cheer up..

Well, My Indian trip is getting postponed for the second time. I thought of going during the New year holidays, then the CNY holidays. But now it seems CNY will be missed. I am now thinking of planning my trip sometime in March.

Recently sent money through Western Union money transfer. Quite efficient and safe. I ended up submitting the money in SGD to one of the agents here. Within 15 minutes, my Dad could take this amount from any agent in India. He prompty received the same from Head Post Office Pondicherry. The commission was 20 bucks though. ICICI Money2 India is free of charge. Should try this out soon.

Yes Coming to the title of this Post, Officially I am done. My MBA course requirement of 16 courses + 2 extra courses are complete. I sent out the pending report for Mgmt Consulting yesterday night. Wow... What a relief. I had to do night out for this report exactly on the 30th to be ontime for the 31st deadline. Now no more of those for MBA sake. So Aruneganesh has provisionally finished his MBA. The grades should come in the month of March. Hope to get an A+ in atleast one of my subjects. This is something that has not happened to me in my MBA curriculum so far. Have got lots of As and A-s, but not a single A+. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I thank all the souls who have been with me all through this and helped me out to finish this. Thanks to my family, my friends, my Profs and also to Google. If not for Google, most of our reports would not have happened. Most of my batchies are gone back. It is just Ani, Mani and the two Aruns here at SG. Missing all the Grad Hall days and Friday night gatherings.

Chalo then folks... Till next time.. Cya..

Battle of PaniBed

Friends, Romans, Countrymen ! Lend me thy ears....Hmmmm Enuff enuff...

So after suffering from Bedbugs for quite sometime, it was time for revenge. Inspite of scoring 50 (yes I killed 50 of these damn suckers) the day before, I just could not sleep.

Our attack was not a planned one. It was very much instantaneous. Mani and I launched the attack, starting from the master bedroom, the other bed room and then to the hall. We had face masks, cigarette lighter and Baygon in our armoury and launched one of the deadliest attacks. The operation went for close to 2 hours and finally it was done ! After a long fought battle, it was time to relax. So we ended up landing in our couch only to find some more bugs...... aah that was one last adda which we have not attacked. Not in a mood to start the attack once again, we have decided to call it off temporarily. But remember, we will be back with Vengeance !

Shantaram

It has been close to a month since I posted something here. Exams, Parties were all happening. Lots of things have happened on my personal front too. But I am not in a mood to share those things here. I have started reading the book "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts.
If you have not read this book, beg/borrow or steel and make sure that you read this book. What an amazing piece. A wonderful life history. This guy has lived his life to the fullest.

Please please read this book. It will definitely create a big impact on you.

Best of Luck

Atlast the last trimester is coming to an end. (not for me though).
The exam week is starting. Here is wishing everyone a succesful exam week. FSA, IM, MA, OB are exams that are round the corner.

BEST OF LUCK !

Insomniac

I dont know whose idea was it. But it all started with Mani saying let us go to Insomnia this week, couple of seniors are in the city. I was lil hesitant as Insomnia on a Wednesday can be a really painful experience the next day. But my hesitation was of no avail and the entire gang, of course there were exceptions were game for the night. Puja at someone's house was the reason and we all vanished at 9.00 PM from the class. Ended up getting into Insomnia around 9.45. Unlimited Orange juice for $18 from 9-11 PM. What more can you ask for ?:P

The first time when I went to Insomnia, I formed a decent impression about the place. Good music, Good crowd and you get to shake your leg. This time the impression was totally the opposite. The place no more has the class and it had become more of a pickup joint ! Tried to dance for sometime, but it was so crowded that I could barely move. The music was the same, but the crowd was not that great. Somehow spent my time there and came back home.

It rains roti these days at night for us at home. Thanks to Pillsburry, we have the readily available bela hua atta. Store these in the freezer and enjoy mast Rotis at night. We also tried Panneer at home. We had 400 gms of Amul Panneer and we also had the cooking procedure for Panneer Handi. I and Mani took over the mantle and ended up making a decent dish. I felt that the chillie was lil high and Mani felt that the salt was lil high. But all in all it was good and we enjoyed it.

The Kinrara Experience

Got a nice opportunity to see the match in KL as I had a meeting on Thursday and Friday at KL. On friday my work was over around 1 and I and Karuna went ahead with our plans of watching it at Kinrara. Just as we were standing in the line to buy our tickets, a gentleman approached us out of nowhere and asked us if we needed tickets. We thought that this guy has couple of tickets extra and his friends have not turned up. I went ahead in getting those tickets. When I opened my wallet to hand over the 122RM for the tickets the guy refused and walked off. So we ended up watching the cricket match free of cost ! Phew.....Could not believe my luck.

This was my first ever match when i watched it in the stadium. Went ahead in finding our seats as it was in the K row in the open. It was quite sultry and I was sweating like hell. We were seated in the first row and we were exactly square of the wicket. Watched closely the guys like Bhajji ,Veeru, Hayden and Martin when they were fielding. It was an entirely electric atmosphere. More than the match in the centre, the activities happening at the stands were more interesting. Few aussies were there too... "Haydo give us waive...." "Clarkie give us a waive..." were some of their funny lines ! Thoroughly enjoyed my day inspite of having a severe headache.

Too bad, we lost the match. Guys like Raina, Dhoni, Agarkar raised the hopes and let them die by playing some rather poor shots. A team could not chase 213 and win the match. Just too much. I need not write much about this.

Two states - Two different Scenarios ?

Very recently my parents have applied for passport. Here is my Dad, a Hindi Teacher in town, well known to everyone, living in the same town for the past 40 years had to struggle for getting his work done. These things are not new to me. I myself was at the receiving end once. But some of these guys had infact studied in the same school where my Dad served. It hurt. Maybe I can take solace from the fact that these guys are impartial to anyone and everyone when it comes to getting things done from them :). I called up my Dad and asked him to see Lage Raho. I was giving him hints that he should have followed the Munna way to get his work done. His reply was clear. He called these folks as "Anukool Shatru" and one cannot escape from them. Maybe I got too carried away from the movie or my current Singapore environment makes me long to see such a governance in my motherland too.

Talking about governance, I got to know a very heartening news from AK. His mom had to get close to 10K from the Tax Dept back, forwhich the authorities demanded 10% of the amount. His mom went and met the tax officer, where she was welcomed by the officer with a cup of tea and her work was done in a matter of minutes. The reason given is that the Govt has to incur interest expense when the public money is held by the Govt for a longtime. Such long pending amounts are tied to performances of authorities. This came as a pleasant surprise to me. An Indian Govt organisation where performance holds the key. It was difficult for me to believe. But it is happening. Such surprises make my day.

After watching the movie Lage Raho, I sat back and pondered about the movie's concept and its application to reality. Agreed, the movie had its cinematic elements. But the concept really had its effect on me. If confronted with a similar scenario, will I go the Mahatma/Munna way ? Dont think so. Why ? Probably I am a coward to follow what the Bapu has followed. I dont have the will or patience to face the struggle. I will crib, cry, shout..but will I remain tough ? Dont know !
Imagining this guy following his philosophies far away in South Africa and back in India (sorry tau). Takes some guts. Dont care what the saffron lovers say, but Bapu has remained numero uno in my heart and will remain so forever !

Too heavy a post... Chill guys... Go and watch Lage Raho... Watch it for Bapu or Sarkeshwar or Sunju Dada or Lucky Singh .....Arey yaar, be there for Vidya Balan atleast :)

Tendya tussi great ho !

It was heartening to see Tendya to score a ton on his return after a 6 months break. Too bad we lost the match. The matches are happening at KL and I dont have a chance to see the stars in action :(

Calls & Mails

Starting a new relationship needs a lot of changes in oneself. This seems to be one of the challenges and confusions these days for me. These days I am totally occupied with my work, studies, assignments etc during weekdays. The only time that I have is weekends. The time difference also does not help ! With these I have not been able to get in touch with her frequently. It is the same guy who has did not bother to call her and talk for hours !

This weekend is quite promising. We have plans of Lage Raho !!!! Heard that the movie is quite cool. Better than the first. Shud be fun. Divya Balan jo hai na:D. Jokes apart, it is Circuit whom I am really looking forward to. Arshad was the show stealer in the last version. This time heard that he rocks alongwith Boman Irani, another talented actor. Sunju bhai is made for that character. Will post the reviews later !

Weekeand action

What a weekend this one turned out to be ! Usually my weekend goes in sleep and cooking food. This time it was a little different. On saturday had to go out to meet a supplier and had a chance to go to Bombay Cafe at Paya Labar. Nice ambience. As soon as I entered, I asked for a Jal Jeera. After a longtime had Ragada Patties and Dhokla. A big longing came to an end. Atlast a place where I had some decent Dhokla. Had a Uttam Pizza also take away. Bill aaya $22.10. Hmm I had to console myself that it is a treat that I should give myself once in a while. It was worth it. Then came back and had Rajma prepared by DV. Rajma went on and on and on. Kitni time lethi hai.... Watched two movies and finally slept around 2 AM.

Early in the sunday morning I get a call from a new number. It was Chitra saying that she has reached Singapore airport and asking me what to do. I asked to get a transit visa and wait outside. Met her in the morning and took around Singapore. Took her to Takashimaya. Infact it was my first visit to that place. All the Chanels, LVs, Burberrys had their outlets in that place. ESSEC summer module did not go waste lah !
Good fun it was with her in Singapore for 4 hours.

Later in the evening it was the housewarming party. It was a rocking time we had after a longtime. The food was great and everything fell in place. DV turned out to the Best Rajma Cook. Let us hope everybody has a good time in the morning at the pot.

None of my assignments are done. It is because of some great souls that I am surviving this period. Thanks to all of you ! It is time now to sleep. Got to catch up with my work tomorrow! Coming to work, I had attended two trainings recently. One was the Effective presentation by Martin and other was Fast Start by Preeti. Quite good sessions though. Enjoyed'em both ! These trainings provide a great platform to meetup with other colleagues of my organisation.

So long !