Kolkata, a matter of convenience

Had been to Kolkata to attend a friends marriage. And this is where I happened to see one of the most hilarious thing.

We friends were in one of those famed yellow taxi's of the city waiting at a busy intersection. Time was about 7pm and it was dark.
Right in front of us was a rickety local bus. We saw  the conductor getting down on pretext of checking something. He first went over and checked the front wheel near the driver and then moved to checked the rear wheel. We kept intensely watching him trying to fathom what he was upto. He was leaning on the tyre and then we saw the tyre spring a leak.

Well, it wasn't the tyre, but the fellow had conveniently relieved himself in the middle of traffic.
We had a hearty laugh till our tummy ached and then some more.

Kolkata, thy name is convenience :)

We did it in style

A top class showing by one and all athletes of the Indian contingent.
Few didn't live up to there billing but then such things happen.
The icing on the cake will be when Saina wins her Gold.

Its really heartwarming to see the will to win and the emotional outburst of the athletes once they have accomplished the goal.
Hope atleats a little of the media attention will shift to these athletes and the sports authorities will put in a lot of focus to help prepare them for Asiad and Olympics.

hoping for the best !!!

Lets Play

After all the negativity, mismanagement and allegations of corruption, finally there was a sliver lining to the CWG.
The opening ceremony was simply fantastic and so was the aerostat. A well coordinated and superb display of events.

Now its time to shift focus to the games and lets cheer for India. Hope they reap a rich haul of medals.

All said and done, I am just wondering !!!
Is it all worth 7000 cr rupees.

Politics of cricket

I love cricket outside of the cricket field.


BCCI elections are on and you are amazed to see so many politicians in the fray for a post in a cricket body.

And an amazing fact is those very politicians from various parties who do not see eye to eye on various national issues gel so well and have a common vision, ideas and ideals when it comes to running the cricket body.

It would have been so good if our national politics was as uncomplicated as a game of cricket.

culinary skill

The Missus was out to work this weekend and so reluctantly handed over the kitchen to me.

That is when I tested my culinary skill after a hiatus of over a year. I will tell you that I haven't lost my touch.
I started on saturday with 'Kozhi varatha chicken curry', the recipe of which can be found here.

Well I made a few of my improvisations (chefs license a.k.a poetic license) and the outcome was as they say "Finger looking good".

Haven't yet got the vote from the missus as she is not keeping well and hence advised against consuming delicacies, but you can take my word for it.

After tasting blood (success), I ventured on sunday to make chicken fry with a little advice from the missus and rest all MY creativity.
A resounding success, this one too.

Take a bow to the chef, will ya.

PS:- Missus is all grumpy about the state I left her kitchen in. She says its like a tornado has stuck.
But I guess she is grumpy cos she couldn't get to have the delicacies.

Commonwealth - Whose Wealth is it anyway?

India is hosting the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 in the National capital from October 3-14.

Amidst the media glare and focus on the games, there are shocking revelations being unearthed every now and then.
First there was the expose of rampant corruption.
Not with foot over-bridge falling, ceilings caving in, filth all around the games village, shoddy construction and so on.
One can only hope that this is the rock bottom and there only one way to go - UP.
But is there enough time? With just about 11 days left for the games to start and the athletes supposed to arrive tomorrow.

I hope against hope that we somehow stitch together everything on time and organise successful games. No hop of having a magnificent magnanimous one, but atleast a decent facesaving one would do.

All this really makes me wonder - Whose wealth is it anyway?

Will those culprits who plundered away the wealth be ever punished? or they will walk away scoot-free just like the Britishers did in 1947 !!!

Pray we have a successful games. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Ok, now go and listen to a stupid A.R Rahman games song. Even here they couldn't come up with a peppy foottapping number.

A virtual tour of Mysore palace

For those who have not visited Mysore yet. May inspire you to visite this palace city.

And a nice reminiscence to those who have been to the mysore palace.

Take a virtual tour here.

I hate politicians

Yesterday evening I was held up at the traffic signal at Jakkasandra as some dignitary was due to pass by. I was cursing as they have to hold up the traffic for this.
Then I saw the cavalcade coming and sitting in a nondescript ambassador car followed by few luxury car, sporting the now very familiar white mane was our old man, "APJ".
I have never been this happy to see a politician. A man of simple choices (consider using ambassador than those swanky cars).
Came to know that APJ had come to inaugurate some school in HSR layout.

I don't hate you Mr. President, I like you a lot.
Hope we have few more people in the bureaucracy like you.

les bleus loosing out?

PS: The latest casualty of the blue curse being Uruguay who lost out to Netherlands.
And guess what. They were playing in BLUE. The BLUE curse strikes again.


Is it a co-incidence or what. All world cup teams in BLUE lost out during important matches.

1st to go was France who go by the name of les bleus. They were in blue jerseys when they lost.

Next were Italy. They too were in blue there jerseys on the day of there loss.

Then came Brasil. They played Netherlands in blue jerseys rather there there traditional yellow jerseys. And the favorites lost on that day.

And finally it was Argentina in there blue and white striped jerseys (not totally BLUE but has BLUE no). They too lost.

They only team to have broken this spell are Spain, who beat Paraguay while playing in there navy blue jerseys.

Now lets see if the CURSE of BLUE will strikes again.

Fall and fall again, until lions became lambs.

That's the English football story.
When they left the English shores for South Africa, they proudly represented the 3 lions in there emblem.
But since the world cup finals group stage they were increasingly appearing to be lambs and the way they meekly surrendered to the Germans, they were lions no more.

I wasted a few good hours plotting an English victory in my earlier blog.
They didn't deserve to win anyway.

Back to School

The schools have reopened and the little toddlers are back in school.

So who is the happiest amongst all.
Is it - The working parents, for they need not worry about there kids being alone at home while they are out at work.
Is it - The little toddlers, for they are freed from the confines of the home, they get to mingle with other kids and play.

Me thinks the happiest of them all are the shops selling "back to school" wares :)
Why else would there be so many shops selling "back to school" wares. They are the ones raking in all the moolah and laughing all the way to the bank.

Only 1400 tigers left now - not 1411

Happened to hear this one.

Now only 1400 tigers left in the wild.
Recently 11 went to the "Windies" for world T20  but came back as 'Lambs'

Predict the winner - FIFA world cup'10

One of the worlds biggest sporting extravaganza - the FIFA WORLD CUP is happening this year.

The stage for the event is all set in South Africa. The extravaganza will start on 11thof June and have a fitting culmination on 11th of July.





Get ready for a month long carnival.
And here's the world cup anthem(song) "Wavin flag" by K'naan



Another good one -



Here's my winner prediction list.

Group stage winners:-

Group A        Group B        Group C        Group D
1. FRA          1. ARG         1. ENG          1. GER
2. URU          2. NGA         2. USA          2. SER

Group E        Group F        Group G        Group H
1. NED         1. ITA           1. BRA          1. ESP
2. CAM        2. PAR          2. POR          2. CHI

Round of 16 winners:-
Match    Winner        Match    Winner
----------------         -------------------
FRA                        URU
  vs          FRA           vs           ARG
NGA                       ARG

ENG                       GER
  vs          ENG          vs            GER
SER                        USA

NED                       ITA
  vs          NED         vs              ITA
PAR                       CAM

BRA                       ESP
  vs           BRA        vs             POR
CHI                       POR

Quater Finals winners:-
Match    Winner        Match    Winner
----------------         ------------------
FRA                          ARG
  vs          ENG             vs         ARG
ENG                         GER

NED                          ITA
  vs          BRA            vs          ITA
BRA                          POR

Semi Finals winners:-
Match    Winner        Match    Winner
-----------------        ----------------
ENG                         ARG
  vs         ENG             vs          ARG
BRA                         ITA

Finals winners:-
Match    Winner       
-----------------       
ENG
  vs         ENG
ARG

3RD-4TH winners
Match    Winner       
-----------------
BRA
  vs          ITA
ITA

The world cup winners after a long time (1966) will be

"ENGLAND"

tongue in cheek

Why is no one able to get Jayawardhane out ?

Cos of every bowlers new found respect for "mahela"

La Picasso

The missus has taken up her old hobby with some gusto these days.
And the supporting and enthusiastic husband that I am, have also taken a fancy to her glass painting hobby.
Its fun and relaxing. The missus does all the hard work and I am the color coordinator.
I am allowed to choose what colors to be filled :)

A few from her ensemble.

Turned off the light.

To commemorate EARTH HOUR, have turned off the light on my blog page.
It will stay BLACK till March 27.

La Lune

This January, on the 29th, the moon was the closest to earth appearing as the biggest full moon of 2010.
Also called the wolf moon.

clicked a pic with my point and shoot camera.

And then there was this other moon. My nephew has his first tonsure.

Lets turn OFF the LIGHTS

EARTH HOUR 2010 :- 27th MARCH, Saturday, 8.30pm - 9.30pm
----------------------------------------------------------------------

EARTH HOUR is observed every year on the last Saturday of MARCH. This even is promoted globally by
World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) and was first observed in 2007 in Sydney, Australia.
It has grown into a world phenomenon since, with every country and its world citizens trying to contribute.

The essence of Earth Hour is this - Educate fellow world residents on the dangers of global warming and
and one among them, the effect the poor looking incandescent light have on global warming.

On Earth Hour, people switch off all non essential lights and electronic gadgets for an hour between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm local time in there region. This is to show our solidarity towards the cause and fight united against global warming.

Also its an effort to educate each individual to switch to a lifestyle more energy efficient and more self sustaining and help keep our planet the lovely blue speck it is.

So lets all unite for this cause and Lets switch off the lights.
2010 Earth Hour is on 27th March - 8.30pm to 9.30pm.

Also lets remember that its not about an hour, but about a change in PERSPECTIVE.
To know more about this movement visit here

The Majestic one

As per the latest census, there are only 1411 remaining in the wild.
And we read stories of a few being hunted and killed in the most barbaric fashion.
Yes the majestic tigers, Our Nations pride, Our National animal, fast becoming extinct.

I have seen a live one and in the wild. I doubt if my kids will see one and at this rate of barbarism
I am sure there kids will not.

R.I.P dear tiger. Even god cannot save you. We humans don't need you.

The trails are green

Remember E-grocery Mart !!!

After making a modest start, e-grocery mart has transformed for the better.
Offering more services not only for your groceries, but also for your daily greens.

And what a metamorphosis it has done. Lots of inventories added for you to choose from.
Have a look at the All New greenytails.com.

Come on now, what are you waiting for. I dont mind you moving out of my blog :)