MuchAdoAboutNothing

A great sportsman...

2006-10-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

The difference between a top class sportsman and the reigning champion.....

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (DNF): “We are a great team. Our guys are the best and I have a great affection for everyone at Ferrari and am always more than satisfied in the way we work. Incidents like today’s can happen and they are part of racing. You win together but you also lose together. Today we did our best, I was leading the race and then my engine broke. That’s the simplest way to sum it up. That is Formula One. We can be proud of what we have achieved since Canada: we were twenty five points behind and no one could have thought we would be back in the fight for the championship, but we did it. Now we are nine points behind in the Constructors’ classification and we will do all we can to win this title in Brazil. As for the Drivers,’ it is lost. I don’t want to head off for a race, hoping that my rival has to retire. That is not the way in which I want to win the title.”

Reality v/s fairy tale

2006-10-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Just because you want something really badly it doesn't mean it will happen.

Just because it is the right thing to happen it will not happen.

Just because a person deserves the best it will not happen.

Just because half a billion people pray for something it will not happen.

Just because it completes a long 15 yr old fairy tale happily it will not happen

Just because its the perfect ending it will not happen

Just bacause 'I believe' that to happen it will not happen

Desitiny......reality ......fate...god knows whatever....

Michael's & Ferrari - champions no matter

2006-10-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is to just put it on record that whether Michael wins or not- whether ferrari win or lose - for me Michael and Ferrari are magic together. They've bene there done that -won this won that- they don't have to prove a thing to me or to the world or to Fernando Alonso...

All the best to the best!

Countdown to the championship finale

2006-10-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Second last race.....
Suzuka...michael's second favourite track and he is by far the favourite there and everywhere
Schumi still drives a bit faster than alonso in practice...
Sillyness of alonso off track continues..
Showers in Suzuka...
Superstitions galore...am keeping my fingers, hands, legs and everything crossed....

Signing off for now....more to come...

A Contradiction- Fernando Alonso

2006-10-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

Fernando Alonso is ferocious, aggressive, positive, confident, straightforward, determined driver on track. But off track he's insecure, tormented, frustrated, nervous- a bit of a cry baby.

Here is his latest crying ...

"Fernando Alonso has sensationally accused Renault of sabotaging his title campaign by making intentional errors during the Chinese Grand Prix.
Alonso lost the lead in both Sunday's Shanghai race and the Drivers' Championship after Renault put the wrong tyres on his car during his first pit-stop and then compounded the error by bungling his second stop.
And according to the Spaniard, the mistakes happened because Renault don't want him to retain the world title as he's leaving for McLaren at the end of this season.
"They wanted us to finish second and third because they do not want me to take the number 'one' to a different team," he told Spanish newspaper AS.
"They are not helping me as much as they could."
The 25-year-old went on to claim that Renault are now only interested in the outcome of the Constructors' race.
"Some [at Renault] are happy because we went past Ferrari in the team battle," he said"

To me he seems to be going the Jauqe Villenevue and Damon Hill way - who while successful on track but could not handle Schumacher's dominance and popularity in the F1 world- who could not accept that while they were individual champions they were not the most popular..while they reasonably good drivers they were not awed ...

Eventually the bitterness and the in security off field affected their driving and they went into F1 oblivion.

I do like Alonso on track but off track he is defintely going way off the track of what champions are made off- i hope he can keep his head held up high off field because it would be a shame to see such a great driver wasted.

Attempted comeback

2006-10-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

Yet another comeback from me to the world of blogging......watch out fotr more posts on this one

Attempted comeback

2006-10-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Yet another comeback from me to the world of blogging...lets see how long this lasts!

Ridiculous Things I Read This Week

2006-02-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

1.Dogs sniffing out cancer...who 's going to trust that?

2.Muslims asking for a ban of Danish products because of the act of a private newspaper
cartoon.

3. One day people talking about the end of Tendulkar the next day the same people talking
about how great he is.

4. A stampede during the shooting of a TV game show in Manila where 70 people died and the the blame goes to the host (a comedian) of the show..."why did he have to be so popular?"

5. FIR likely to end row over Gandhi's last words....

6. Angelina Jolie and Brand Pitt still not admiting to their relationship

Montoya for Ferrari?

2006-02-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

Montoya has no team to drive for after 2007..with Mclaren taking on Alonso.

Its a long time away but there is a possibility that he may drive for Ferrari.

That would be TERRIBLE is an understatement.

He has on and off criticised the Ferrari team, he's arrogant, he is inconsistent driver, he doesn't seem professional, he talks more than he does .

Driving for Ferrari is the dream of most F1 drivers...they can get the best in the world. I hope they look real hard first before even considering on JPM .

Ideally I wish Kimi would drive for Ferrari after Schumi.

But then I also wish Schumi would drive forever and that someday I will drive with him:-)

Random thought.....

2006-01-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

The child is grown, the dream is gone.I have become comfortably numb.

.......and it feels good this way.

American Justice System

2006-01-31T18:42:00.000-08:00

I don't completely understand the american selection of the judiciary but what the end result is that you've got a judiciary which reflects the political leadership of the country.

What i think:

1. A judiciary should be neutral and not represent a section of the political parties more than others.
2. The selection should not be done my the elected political representatives. It should be selection based on qualifications and done by some no political body.
3. A judiciary can make judgements which go against the belief of the majority party if required.

But to contradict my own thinking-

1. Judiciary should represent the way people think
2. Therefore as the senate/house of common is therepresentative of the people, they should select the judiciary.
3. In the end judgements would be what majority would like them to be.

Looking at both the rationale I would still go by my original thoughts. Mainly because I don't believe the majority is always right. You got pass the right judgment irrespective of what most people want.

Blogging becoming too big for its own good?

2006-01-20T00:32:00.000-08:00

What i see even in all parts of the world..blogging is more and more being used for commercial purposes, for marketing, PR etc.

I may sound like too much of an 'idealist' but that doesn't quite go with the spirit of blogging. Blogging to me is for the common person to share his world , his life, his thoughts and opinions freely. And its great, that millions are now using this media.

But it would be sad if popularity of blogging is capitatiled on for economic purposes.

"Journalism of Courage"

2006-01-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine called it 'journalism of courage' - check out the article ..

http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulleistory.php?content_id=61137

The power of 'hate'

2006-01-10T00:27:00.000-08:00

A perfect example of how hate sells is 'Bill O Reilly'

Guess this is not new news or any sensational statement...just something obvious to everyone .

Last weekends just saw an example of 'reilly' at his best which is at his 'best worst' - on the letterman show.

Just reminded me how Mr O Reilly loves to take extreme points of view and get people to hate him.

From a marketing point of view..he's got it right...great clear positioning for himself."somebody most people love to hate"..totally unique selling point-- "take the unpopular point of view"....
....gets the awareness...gets trial (because of news generated around him) and the more ridiculous he is the more repeat viewers he gets.(after his lettermen show O'Reilly's viewership was up 20 percent over his December numbers)

Proves that "creating hate" can be a good business proposition.

(if thats the case am sure onec Bush retires he can become one of the richest men in the world! )

Disagree with dravid

2006-01-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

I have always been an ardent admirer to Dravid but that doesn't mean I have to admire everything he does or says... here's something which he said recently:

Dravid: "You don't want people whose own insecurities, whose own problems and whose own fears drag everyone else down. That can be a big dampener in teams."

Dravid went a few steps furthur to elucidate his point, the Indian captain said,"I want to say that at this level I shouldn't need to motivate anyone. If I'm needing to motivate an international cricketer then there's something wrong actually. The challenge is to not demotivate anyone."(Reuters Photo)

Whats he talking about? Basic role of being the captain is to motivate good players who may be down ...to get the best out of them...to support them through their insecurites..to bring them to their best possible levels..

Ganguly did that...when the team was insecure ...they were not sure of them selves...no confident...he brought the best in players like harbhajan..zaheer...and even to some extent dravid.

Just because the team is on a winning spree doesn't mean you don't need to motivate...doesn't mean you don't need to support players who are not in form...doesn't mean insecurities in the team members will go away..

I am not passing judgements on Dravid as captain...he's a smart and good guy ...but to make such statements...

I hope this is an aberration ...just a random thought from his part.

Catholic Fundamentalism

2005-04-20T02:09:00.001-07:00

You would think that the westren world lead by catholics would be the the most progressive....but unfortunately time and again when given a choice to move ahead they have chosen not to....the selection of the Pope is another instance.

Me thinks they insecure about losing out to Islam. They are trying to reiterate their religion...make it more well defined...strengthen the meaning by increasing rigidity.

Am glad and proud that our religion - hindusim is so much more open and accepting.

But then are we losing out to islam....is it growing at a faster pace because of its extreme beliefs ...

Should hinduism become more extreme and rigid as well?

Does it really matter which religion is more popular?

Elections ... niche marketing....etc

2005-04-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Isn't it strange that most elections held through largely/supposedly democratic processes in the recent past have mostly not resulted in clear winners...the US election was the closest ever...the indian national elections as well as in most states last year resulted in a coalition governments.. even the iraqi elections had no clear winner. Even the BCCI elections could come up with a definite winner.
And now the voting for the pope by the cardinals at the sistine chapel...its been hours of discussion among the cardinals however they still haven't been able to come up with one leader.

Is it a sign that the world is becoming more bifurcated..whether its the common people..or its the cardinals in vatican ..more divided in their thinking than ever before?

Mark Antony would definitely have had a more difficult time in turning the masses so sweepingly on his side!

The insight for marketing here would be go for the niches...mass marketing is passe.

Also am back to blogging ...and this time for real ... so you can watch out for more random incongruent thoughts on my blog.

Am back!

2005-01-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

Have no idea why but just feel like getting back to blogging.

A lot has happened since i stopped posting on my blog. But , like i am doing in my life, am going to leave the past behind and start afresh on my blog.

So keep reading and your comments are welcome!

Presidential Debate- First Round goes to John Kerry

2004-09-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

I was trying to watch this debate as far as possible as a neutral bystander. I am not republican nor am i a democrat. In fact i am not even American!

My reaction to the debate:

1. Kerry was 'LISTENING'... he answered everything , did not skirt issues,. He was listening to everything Bush said and dealt with every accusation, every fact, every opinion of Bush's. On the other hand Bush just ignored issues..just avoided topics for e.g.
When Kerry was talking about Global warming, about stem cell research about soldiers dieing about global alliances.. Bush had nothing to say he instead started talking about International criminal court!!
When Kerry was talking about 90%casualities Bush just didn't deal with it.
When Kerry reacted to Bush statement that 'we went after the enemy' pointing out that the 'enemy was Osama and we left Osama scot free' all Bush had to say was that ' I know Osama was the enemy' . He did not defend or justify why he didn't go after Osama.
There were a quite few other such incidences during the debate.

2. Kerry had facts, he dealt with various issues, he raised issues, he defended his various stances, he answered every question straighforwardly. He was concise , clear and commanding. Kerry got Bush on the 100000 hours of terrorist tapes still not translated, on the 90% caulaities, on the training of the troops, global alliances, on whats happenning in Korea , on dealing wit osama etc etc
Bush on the other hand just kept repeating. His only point was 'Kerry is flip flopping'. In fact his entire campaign has been based on that. All bush did at the debate and has been during the campaign is picking up things out of context, not understanding the whole reaction or the opinion making everything Kerry says seem like a flip flop when in fact its just a part of a sentence, just part of the entire opinion. he had nothing of substance to day. Even while defending he didn't have facts he just made statements like ' i know it was osama' instead of saying why they didn't go after osama and went after saddam. He

3. Bush was fumbling, sounded nervous, was getting frustrated.Kerry was a lot calmer and more confident.
Lets wait and watch for the latest ratings.

Chinese Grand Prix Update!

2004-09-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

Interesting race far..kimi barichello- button; villi-schumi ; different pit stop strategies; punctures; return of ralf etc

Schumi type was punctured. Hence his two stop strategy advantage cancelled.

Strangely kimi has just take his third pit stop.Don't really know whats happenning to him.

Ralf is doing really. great laps. good great return. I like him as a driver . Cross my fingers he gets a podium finish today.

Barichello's got th ecar. Ferrari has got the speed. As long as he makes no errors its should be a smooth race for him

MOst of the cars are still running. Just one car out. SHould be an exciting finish. Hopefully ferrari and Schumi are a part of that excitement!

Chinese Grand Prix...Live

2004-09-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

Its strange to follow a race at this time of the night. But i guess formula1 is becoming truely global. They're in shanghai right now. Wish i could have gone but well next year maybe.

Schumi started last on the grid(20th)...its lap fifteen he's already 9th.

Hope all his critics are watching....

Growing Up

2004-09-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Something I picked up from KB's blog...nice..its about growing up...its about my current phase in life.

After a while, you learn the subtle difference between holding hands and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security
Ater a while, you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child
After a while, you learn to build your roads of today
Because tomorrow's grounds are too uncertain for plans
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden and decorate your own soil instead of waitingfor someone to bring you flowers
And you learn that you really can endure...that you really are strong...and you really do have worth.

Great movie...

2004-09-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Watched Shawshank Redemption again...super movie. Can watch it a million times.

Some of my favourite quotes from the movie :

Red:reading a note left by Andy: "Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."
Red: "I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that know it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."
Andy: "Get busy living, or get busy dying."
Andy : "Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lies within"

A brilliant idea! Any takers?

2004-09-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

In response to one of my posts one of SPM's comments:

"With regards to news channels or any news media, I feel there is room for a channel or publication that only has scams as its focus. And the USP it can declare to the readers is that "no scam dies with us.. " Basically it can keep covering scams long after they have disappeared from the pages of the main stream publications. Interested readers will then be able to follow the developments, or otherwise, of old matters like say, the Urea scam, fodder scam, securities scam and what not.. and in pursuing scams to their death, they will differentiate themselves from other media! "

Think is a great idea..the love for scandal is so great anywhere- india, US wherever. Plus most scandals disappear in regular media becuase there's so much of new news...but i and most other readers would love to know what happened - follow up on scandals.

I will add to the list of businesses I want to start!

News Channels are having a blast.!

2004-09-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

So much happening...so many new news items going on...alerts...breaking news

1. The russian hostage situation
2. The florida hurricane
3. The republican convention

and now Clinton......

More news --- more viewership--- more advertising---more money--big time party for the channels!

Clinton may have a by-pass surgery.

2004-09-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Bill Clinton has chest pains and is undergoing various tests . He is likely to undergo a by pass.

Its sad and surprising. He's not too old (58) and seems so fit and active.

Hope everything goes ok. He's a great guy.

Bryant : Case Dismissed

2004-09-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Kobe Bryant's case has been dismissed.

The girl involved was 'unable to continue' and 'refused to testify'.

Its sad that people are always so willing to bring down celebrities... am not sure whether with such weak evidence they would have tried any regular person.

Even though the case has been dropped his reputation has been damaged and lots of money wasted...all because of the rashness and over eagerness of a few publicity hungry prosecutors

A democrats speech at the republican convention...

2004-09-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

I am watching the republican convention at the moment. Saw quite a few speeches today and few yesterday.

Most of them( all republicans ) were boring , fake and uninspiring. But the speech on right now is great... ...its surely the most powerful speech i have seen in this convention...the crowd seems to be equally impressed and charged up....one helluva speaker ...

The speaker is Zell Miller senator from Georgia and the strangest part is that he is a democrat!!

why is a democrat rooting for Bush at the RNC?

American politics sure is confusing!

Signature test

2004-08-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

I visited the California State Fair in Sacremento last weekend.

There were computers there which gave a personality analysis from the person's signature only.

I was very impressed because it did a pretty decent analysis of my signature as well as of the signatures of people I was with.

Of course most of the stuff the computer said was good things which is why I agreed with it!:-)

All i had to do was sign and here's what the computer had to say:

You are a good judge of people
You often have a way of making boring jobs seem interesting
You often find it difficult to control your emotions.
Your levelheadedness gives you the ability to handle situations well.
You have a deep well of inner strength.
You are very compassionate and try to help people out whenever possible.
With perseverence and sheer grit you accomplish your goals
Bored by inaction, you go from one interest to another.
You are long suffering and put up with a lot.
You have good concentration and pay attention to details.
You have no problem separating right from wrong.
You have a very tolerant and loving nature.

You should try it if you ever come across something like this.

Keep the faith.

2004-08-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

Someimes you wonder why certain not so good things happen to good people...but then things happen which reiterate your belief that someone is up there and watching.

My mum was diagnosied with Cancer two weeks back( an absolute shock!)..luckily it was just breast cancer which is curable....last week she had a masectomy .... luckily it had not spread so a partial masectomy. ...the results of the lymph tests came...and even more luckily she doesn't have to do chemotherapy just radiation.

She is back home leading a normal life...watching Kyunki and chatting on the phone!

Strengthens my belief that good things happen to good people!

Wayne Rooney Signs up for Man U!

2004-08-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

Finally Man U has signed up the much talked about Wayne Rooney. They paid Everton (Rooney's club) 27million pounds!

Rooney is being talked about as the best young star in English Soccer in last 30 years and as Europe's brightest new talent.

Rooney was the big find of Euro 2004. The only good thing that happened to English soccer.

Hopefully the young blood with revive the struggling Manchester United.

I miss my races

2004-08-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

I miss watching FI. I used to wait anxiously for the fornighthly weekend. Wait for different circuits...for the different strategies...wait for the pit stop excitement and the chamagne celebration.Wait to watch Schumi win again and again. Wait to fight with Shaleen and Yusuf. Wait to cheer and shout with Suchi. Wait to exchange sms's with Percy, Muffi, Parul and Vik.

I didn't watch the Spa race. Have missed half the season this year and not because it was boring but because priorities in life were different for the last few months....too many things on my mind...so just didn't make the effort to get up at 5 and watch the race.

Last few years I had must have missed just one or two races and that to because the cable was down or something completely unavoidable. I would go out of way and fight with the world to watch my race!

Had never thought I would miss eight races in a row but well 'such is life'! I feel like I am growing up and I don't like it!

Schumpli The Best!!

2004-08-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Have been off blogging for the last month or so for different reasons.

But Michael Schumacher winning his SEVENTH title inspired me to write a tribute .

Schumi is a legend undoubtedly and not just a motorsport legend but a sporting legend.

Some sports people are immensely talented.....some just plain determined to win..some amazing hardworking ...some extremely enthusiastic...some superbly motivated ...some totally team players...some absolutely ambitous ..some are dreamers ..some are performers ...some are a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Schumi is all that and a lot more ...

I don't know of any sports person who has this kind of will to win ..... I don't know any sportsperson who has changed the benchmarks of that sport -practice benchmarks...fitness benchmarks..teamwork benchmarks..... I don't know of any sports person who was so unbeaten that they had to change the rules of the sports so that someone could beat him(even that didn't work).... I don't know of any player who has broken all records and still wants to race and win just as bad! I know of no team that works as closely as Ferrari and Schumi( "What Ferrari are doing, what Michael is doing for Ferrari, it has never happened in the whole history of motorsport." ...Jean Todt)

Without undermining the ability and talentand genius andsportmanship of Pele, Mohammed Ali, Steffi, Bradman, Jordan, Borg,Senna, Woods., Tendulkar..Michael Schumacher has dominated a sport like no other.

To me.. he's Schumpli the best ... better than all the rest.

Hakkinen may replace Button!!Wow!

2004-08-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is related to my earlier post on Button ditching BAR.

Well, maybe the Button ditching was a blessing in disguise - BAR may get Mika !

Mika is the only guy whose beaten Schumi for the world championship in the recent years...and BAR is getting better than ever...so looks like next year finally there will be some much required competition for Michael and Ferrari.

Who says formula1 is boring! Whether its on or off field F1 as exciting as ever.

Anyways would love to see Mika in his BAR beat Button in his Williams....

Teror Alerts - politically motivated

2004-08-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

New York has been on terror alert since last Sunday.

There may have been some danger /threat but i think the importance and publicity given to it in my opinion has been exagerated to gain mileage for Bush's campaign.

Why I think the alerts were politically motivated:

1.Yesterday on ABC news there was an interview with an FBI guy. He said that since 9/11 the intelligence had often gotten such information on threats, often made arrests of al queda, often done raids and checks of possible terrorist haunts...but he clearly said in the earlier such instances the information had not been made so public nor had any alerts been made at such a high scale. That makes me think why now?

2.It seems the information was at least three years old before September 11, 2001. The intelligence agencies are not sure whether al Qaeda has been able to update its information since then. Furthermore, much of the information on the buildings had been obtained from the internet or other "open sources". The informations sounds too flimsy to call for such a large scale alert. These days flimsy information and George Bush seem to be walking around hand in hand!

3. I haven't really followed the past few terror alerts but if i go by the the new york times analysis : "Some of the past terror alerts have seemed aimless and happened when the Bush administration would have benefited from a change in the political conversation."

4. Lastly, the credibility levels of George W Bush are not too high in my books after misleading America into war...

I don't know whether I am just being overly cynical . Guess we'll never really know.

.

Terror Alerts - more harm to Bush than good

2004-08-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

The terrror alerts may really end up harming Bush's campaign more than help...

If there are still terrorist threats on such a big scale and if they are on the increase as the Bush adminstration claims....it means neither the afghanistan bombing nor the iraq misadventure has helped in curbing terrorism.

I hope at least some people stop to think about this a bit.

It would be sad if people actually get swayed by the exagerrated alerts.

Button- distasteful ditching

2004-08-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Jenson Button is going to join Williams! He was under contract with BAR but found some loophole so he wriggled out of it and accepted Frank Williams offer.

He's been with BAR for the last two years...they've worked around him and made superb progress.They held on to him even when he was almost being written off as a mediocre driver.
The future obviously looked very bright for both.

Button said he moved because he wanted to be world champion and with Williams he would have more of a chance. BAR is way ahead of Williams this year but Of course Williams is a bigger team and set up so we'll have to watch and wait on how right he was.

But leaving the BAR team high and dry was unfair. They will be losing a lot of money becuase of him. And they really didn't do anything wrong. They gave him the best of support. To leave without a warning without discussion without notice before the end of a contract is distasteful.

We watch all sport with so much passion and loyalty for teams...wish the sportspeople were even half as passionate and loyal about their teams as us.

Ofcourse there are exceptions like schumi who stuck on to ferrari even when they were completely down in the dumps. His loyalty has paid off and how!

One more heir apparent to Schumi

2004-07-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber has signed up with Williams

And before he's even started racing for williams he's already been named heir apparent to michael!

However people forget ...there's a big queue for the position of the heir apparent. ...button, trulli, ralf, montoya, alonso and kimi of course

I would put my money on kimi...anybody want to bet?

Of course that is likely to happen only when Michael retires.

More on Ganguly!!

2004-07-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Didn't want to write more on Ganguly but this article/presn is good. Check it out.

http://info.indiatimes.com/it/ganguly/index.html

Customer is not just king she is GOD!

2004-07-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

I was surprised at the return policies stores have here- its so easy to return stuff. Storekeepers don't make a fuss..no questions asked..don't even check tags...money giveb back on reciept...if no reciept then credit given . Its so simple.
You can get home twenty dresses ...try them all and then return the 19 or even all of them and get all your money back.

There are some brands which even take back worn stuff...in case you don't 'like' it anymore or in case you have grown fat or thin! Heard there are people who never buy new clothes!

The most suprising return policy I came across yesterday at Barnes and Nobles. If you have a reciept you can return a book thirty days from date of purchase. I bought a book yesterday and have finished reading it. I odn't really want to keep it so am going to return it and get my money back!! I guess i don't ahve to become member of a library here!

Ganguly's captaincy - keep the faith

2004-07-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Many people have raised doubts on Ganguly's captaincy . He goes too much iwth inistinct, goes with his heart , he's unfair, plays favourites etcetc
As they say "great spirits always encounter opposition from mediocre minds"...a part of the criticism is because people have to say something...newspapers have to print news.

Part of it maybe true. He may not be a completely objective captain but maybe his faith in the team he selected has helped in past so why criticise him just because we don't agree.
He is loyal to his team members greatest example he had kept the faith in Dravid when Dravid was not doing too good in one dayers . We all know where Dravid stands now- no less than god himself.

He's doing the same with Zaheer. Giving him chances. Keeping the faith. Believing. Helping hin get his confidence back. Compare Zaheer at his best with Nehra at his best ..who would you go with? So you got to help Zaheer comeback from injury to his best which is better than the rest. If you're kept in the team is the only way to to do. So why not? Not too many people agree with me but here's are thoughts of one guy who does- check out what Javagal Shrinath had to say :
"The last over bowled by Zaheer Khan must have done a world of difference to his eroding confidence. Great bowlers always work backwards while staging a comeback from an injury.
It appears that Zaheer is really working hard to find his place in the eleven. But when the team management picks him ahead of fit Ashish Nehra or Balaji, it proves that he is still an automatic choice. It must have been a hard decision to leave out Balaji, but then, Zaheer's experience always matters when it comes to crucial qualifying games."

Azhar as a commentator

2004-07-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Azhar is going to be a commentator and there are people who say he shouldn't.

The only reason I would not allow it is that i don't understand what he normally says...he's too fast for me,he eats his words and he has no sense of humour ! but well if venjatesh prasad , shrikant and arjun ranatunga can well guess azhar will survive!

But to say that he shouldn't be cricket commentator because he is a disgrace to cricket is stupid. Commentating is a job like any other job. ESPN pays you /sony pays /doordarshan pays you. Its not a sport . Its not cricket. Its like getting a marketing job at Colgate or software development job at Oracle or acting in a movie.

So because of what he did if he should be banned from working anywhere then be it. Let the courts put him in jail. Let him be punished.

But his punishment was being banned from playing cricket. Then stick to it . Why take it any further?

Et u ESPN?

2004-07-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

Cricket is going to look different on small screen... Sony did it with Mandira and now ESPN is getting Shekhar Suman to 'sex up' cricket!

Oh No! Not something I am looking forward to!

Latest case study at Harvard...LOL!

2004-07-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

Don't be surprised if you go to Harvard and they giv eyou a case study on our very own Laloo bhai!! yey yey I mean the one and only Laloo Prasad Yadav.!

Check out this article

' Real'ly 'Mad'!!

2004-07-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

Real Madrid Chief has announced that Real may bid for Patrick Viera from Arsenal !

The reason : Viera is the best midfielder around! Didn't they say the same for Zidane, Figo and Bekhs( they're all mid fielders!)?

Also heard that Real may be trying for Wayne Rooney as well!!

Inspite of having the best of the best Real didn't win anything major this year.

Shouldn't they be looking at getting the best from the current team of stars rather than getting more of the 'best' ?

I want my old Times of India back!

2004-07-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

You have to check out the front page of Times of India when the budget was out (9th July) ...

THis is not the first for TOI ...A lot of the other big event front pages are like this...

Maybe I am conservative but I want to read a simpler paper!!

THis looks like a comic book!

Just wondering...team sport vs indvidual players.

2004-07-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

If Shaq and Kobe leave Lakers will the fans stop cheering for Lakers and start supporting their new teams? Or will they stop supprting them and stick with Lakers?

Bekham left Man U and so did a lot of other players in teh last 2-3 years ...did that mean Man U lost a lot of it supporters..?

If Schumi leaves Ferrari and joins Mc Laren will I support Mc Laren or Ferrari?

Well I don't know these answers.. ...!

Cricket on the other hand is simple. Tendulkar will always play for India. And Inzy for Pak!

(of course rohan might move to Bangladesh and become the Captain of Bangladesh! then what?...)

Bush vs Kerry : I vote for Bill Clinton!

2004-07-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am glad that i am not in the shoes of an American voter

Though I don't fully understand american political systems...... I understand one thing that I wouldn't have been able to get myself to vote for George W. Especially after watching Fahrenheit 9/11!

But to vote for Kerry wouldn't come so easily. Indecisiveness.Changes his positions on important issues everyday otherday. Lack of a strong personality. Sitting on the fence on most issues.No definete direction given to the country.

Maybe the american citizenz should start a movement to get the congress to issue a legislation to allow a president to stand for a third term...with/without monica jokes Clinton seems to be a better option than all others at the moment.

However since that is unlikely to happen ....well guess america is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea!

Welcome back Kimi!

2004-07-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Being an ardent Ferrari and Schumacher fan I am thrilled at the result of the British Grand Prix 2004. Not only happy that Schumi won but also that Kimi came a fighting sceond.

After a brilliant qualifying (pole position) Kimi Raikkonen came a close second(2.1 seconds behind Schumi) His first podium finish this year.

Am no big fan of McLaren but anyone can see the talent, professionalism and consistency of Kimi. And he deserves a decent enough car to give him some chance . And finally he's got it. Good for him.

Hope to see him with a few more podiums.

JPM, Alonso, Button, Trulli...move over the real successor(?) is back!

No matter what....Schumi wins.

2004-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yes!He's done it again...tenth time this year, 80th time ever!

This time its the british grand prix.

Kimi came a close second (after a brilliant qualifying pole position) and Barichello third.

If things had gone as per Ferrrari plan, the post race analysis would say that Michael won because of two stop strategy (FYI, everyone else was on three stops) and a few super quick laps. But unfortunately the safety car came out (Jarno TRulli crashed) and everyone on a three stop strategy got a free stop. So Schumi strategy was wasted.

Nevertheless he won. The revitalised and very fast Mc Laren couldn't match. Barichello with a Ferrari couldn't match up. Button on home ground couldn't either.

Bottomline is:
- Whether its two stops or three or four.
- Whether luck is with him or not(safety car was defintely not good for him)
- Whether it rains or is hot
- Whether Mc Laren is back or not
- Whether he gets pole or not
- Whether its a home race or not
- Whether Ferrari has the fastest package or not
- Whether Barichello's got the same car and tries hard or doesn't try hard.

No excuses

No matter what ...Schumi wins!!!!

Except of course if the great Montoya crashes into him ......

Brilliance can never be boring

2004-06-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

Its not easy to win every race. Its taken years of hardwork , talent and professionalism for Michael Schumacher. He does not just sit in the Ferrari and Ferrari doesn't drive him to the podium. Every race is tough for Schumi as it is for panis or for montoya.
And he comes back and wins every one of them as if his everything depended upon that one race.
To watch such will to win is exhilirating. To call this season boring is an insult to sporting genius and spirit.

As someone said "Change will come, unpredictability will never die, new champions will emerge. But till then we should feel priveleged to live in a time of such extraordinary athletes and teams. We've seen things our grandfathers haven't and our grandchildren may never. And its everything but routine"

Way to go Schumi .