Am I missing it

After seeing the vodkathon promos, I have started feeling that I am missing something very interesting.

I was listening to "tubthumping" song since morning.

We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him
Of the better times:
........
........

Reminded something

I received this forward from my colleague..

On a flight James bond was sitting next to a Teluguguy.

Telugu Guy: "Hello, May I know your name please?"
James Bond:"My name is Bond"

Continuing in his inimitable style,"......James Bond."

Then Bond asks: "And you?"

Telugu Guy: "My name is Rao...
Siva Rao...
Samba Siva Rao...
Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Sitaramanjaneyula Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao...
Vijayawada Sitaramanjaneyula Rajasekhara Yarlagadda Venkata Samba Siva Rao..

Since then when someone asks Bond his name he simply says "James Bond".

The above joke just reminded my name (not official). Infact it took couple of days for me to memorize my name "Mohan Venkata Naga Udaya Gowri Shankar"

The Legend

One of the supernatural talents any human possess in this world is “the art of criticism”. We criticize on everything and anything we see and hear. Now it’s the turn to criticize the legend, the master “Sachin Tendulkar”. Do you think we really have any rights to criticize him? Till today is there any sports person in this country who touched the peaks as he did. Becoming a sports person is not like eating an ice cream; to become a legend you need sheer talent, dedication and hell a lot of hard work. Well now almost every cricket fan along with the media had started criiticizing about the bad patch sachin is facing. Its not now, we have been doing this since he stepped into the international arena. I have been a great fan of him for years and still I am a great fan of the master blaster. He broke almost all the records and he is not going to end it so soon. We have been backing him till he climbed the Everest and touched the peak, now when he is slipping down lets try to give a hand and pull him back to the peak; let’s not kill him by pushing down from the top of the mountain. We should feel shameful if we do that. Let’s at least try to respect for his 16 long years of service to his country and the people.


I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two... high compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel!

-Don Bradman, the greatest batsman cricket has ever seen

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.

--BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar.

His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...

--Mathew Hayden, Australian Cricketer on Sachin Tendulkar.

I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone , apart from Don Bradman , is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.

--Shane Warne, after Australia's tour of India and Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah.

You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.

--Brett Lee, on Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 1999

Whenever I see Sachin play I am reminded of the Greame Pollock quote of Cricket being a 'see the ball, hit the ball game.' He hits the ball if the it's there to be hit.

--Ian Chappell

He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back."

--Ravi Shastri

Never ending search

Every person in this world thinks that his or her thoughts are unique and no one else would experience the same feelings or understand them completely. Why to talk about others, I myself have experienced this many times and thought people don’t see things from my perspective. How do we conclude that we think differently from others? We would come to know only if we express our thoughts to others and understand what others think on what we think.

One of the greatest and toughest argument with most of the current generation people fighting and questioning within themselves is “Does god exists”. That too if you are a strong believer in science, this question takes the top priority in your list. I was going thorough one of the blog site and found a posting on the belief in god. The posting and the comments made me think there are many other creatures in this world who are thinking the way I think.

In the recent times, I am also stuck in the battle between the minds of a theist and atheist, should I or shouldn’t I? My parents are strong believers in spirituality/religion and there are many things which they follow blindly. There might be many good hidden reasons for their beliefs but with the current state of mind, I end up in asking various reasons and questions about their acts and in the end adding more worries to their list. So, does that mean I am an atheist? Well I don’t have an answer for that. I read theories on big bangs and black holes and start ridiculing the views toward superstitions and redundant beliefs. But everyday morning like many other people in this part of the world I also go to the pooja room and start praying “Suklam baratharam vishnum sasivarnam”. This might not be the case with me alone; the count would be in millions. Why should you or I pray? Does god really exist? If he exists, why doesn’t he come in front of us? Or am I or you praying just because someone has directed and molded us to do that? Has someone introduced the concept of god just for the sake of having a control over what we do? Is everyone praying seeking to have peace in their lives or expecting something else to happen in their lives? You do this to me; I will return you back with something else. If he is god, why should he behave like a human, always expecting something from us? Have we made him to follow the bad practice of accepting bribes by sacrificing innocent lives or punishing ourselves? Who is right and who is not?

Right from the adolescent age we start digging our lives in search of happiness. But while in the process of digging we never know if we would see the light at the end of the tunnel. But keeping our hopes alive we keep digging and in the end we never know if we have come across the light in the process of digging. We keep doing things for the sake of future, but when are we going to take care of the present and when will the future becomes present? Or are we in the search of some place where the sea and sky meets at the horizon?

Listening to –
Yaar yaar sivam? Nee naan sivam,
Vaalvae dhavam, anbae sivam,

Home Alone

It has been nearly 1 ½ years since I moved back to Chennai and I don’t even remember single day staying alone at my home. At least one person would be always present and I get everything on time without waiting for anything. As soon as I come back from my morning workouts, I have a big mug of tea waiting. I like the way my mother prepares tea especially for me (bit stronger. Tea tastes awesome with Marie biscuits). Breakfast would be waiting by the time I get ready to the office and all I have to do is to eat and crib about eating heavy breakfast. Day before yesterday everyone has left to Bhilai to attend my cousin’s house warming ceremony and I had to stay back here due to few security reasons and doing a watchman’s job :( . It’s been long time since I met my cousins and even I was quite desperate to go along with my family. Had I been there, I would also have celebrated holi along with my cousins. Heard that they celebrate holi in a very grand fashion. Hmmm…I should plan to go there sometime later. Even though my presence might not make much difference to the others surrounding me (just sitting mum), I always like to be surrounded by people jabbering about something and hate loneliness.

Listening to – Sweet Child of mine (GNR)

Aftermath.. Part II

Second set..

MGR and Anna Samadhi (Memorial)



Journey back from Marina to Gandhi Statue

Newly opened Chennai Citi Centre. Great architecture.

Aftermath.. Part I

After the discussion with my PM, I was quite puzzled that evening and was also not in a mood to sit at home. I took my camera and went to the beach, questioning my future and thinking whats next. I parked my bike near the gandhi statue and walked slowly towards Marina beach and gave some work to my camera too . We often talk about the famous tourist spots and forget about the place we are living. For the first time in my life I viewed chennai with tourist's eyes and enjoyed to my extremes. I didn't realize how I spent nearly 90 mins. alone.


Kids in Skating ring

Designed for Water falls

Tasty Chips.

Want to Shake hands with Superstar ?

Rejuvenated

Hazy sky, sun hidden behind the dark clouds and wet streets didn’t clutter my mood to reach the somasundaram play ground today. Yes, I went to play cricket after a long time. Infosys has completed 10yrs after setting up their office in Chennai and are celebrating this milestone by conducting Inter Corporate Competitions on sports, business quiz, cultural festivals etc. Since they have also invited our company to participate, guys have started preparing for the competitions quite seriously. Being fortunate to impress ;-) few guys with my bowling and batting (wish they don’t read this blog, or else they might not call me for the forthcoming practice sessions) I am still intact with the team.

I reached the ground around six’ish and was first to be there except few joggers and the cops march pasting. I waited eagerly till everyone came and grabbed the bat for opening the innings. I felt really rejuvenated when I was holding the bat and was thinking to send every ball over the boundary line. Even though I didn’t last long and scored only 6 runs, I was immensely satisfied and happiness started mounting deep within my heart. Childhood memories started rolling in front of me and I was enjoying each and every moment in the ground.

Just like becoming a guitarist, becoming a good pace bowler was also one of my childhood dreams. Anyhow, becoming a cricketer will ever remain as a dream for my entire life, but just getting few thoughts on learning the guitar again. I have a very bad habit of starting things enthusiastically and discontinue in the middle. So, there is lot of thinking to be done before I start learning guitar again. Now let me not divert the topic from cricket to music.

After hitting the gym quite regularly, I have built some muscles and struggled little bit while bowling my second over, I wasn’t able to swing my arms freely. Moreover since the inter-corporate cricket tournament has to be played with soft ball, i had difficulties in generating pace and controlling the line with the soft ball. But the most important thing is I got first wicket of my first ball in first over. Wow, what a great feeling. Last couple of weeks went on quite tough and I had to do lot of talking to myself and it took sometime to regain my composure. It’s a nice way to start my fresh innings with cricket and looking forward to spend my days happily.