Bullies and kiddy fights

Finally, the cloud has lifted. The Chennai high court has given its decision on the whole messy TV rights issue - ESPN-Star and Zee are both going to cry foul while the BCCI and PrasarBharti are going to laugh their way to the banks with the telecast rights in their kitty.
Such is the shambolic administration of cricket in this country, that the nation’s favorite sport ran the risk of losing the India-Pakistan series to some careless functioning of the governing body. The court of course has done the most sensible thing that could have been done. Doordarshan would have telecast the matches anyway, given the little time remaining before the series starts, but by asking the BCCI to hand the feed rights to someone other than ESPN or Zee, the court has snatched the toy from two quarrelling kids and grounded both. Ironically, their bully, the BCCI, is the one who has gone scot free. It can now start playing another game with someone else. Having aptly demonstrated so far that they are no good at their job, and are letting money, power-play, one-upmanship and politics take precedence over the greater good of the game and its fans, we should rather be asking the court whether the BCCI deserves to be the “administrator” that it claims to be.

The cost of being good

It’s nice to be nice to other people – who would argue with that? I would. Well at least some times in any case, particularly so when you are in the middle of making some personal deal, monetary or otherwise. If you are one of those types who have a compulsive need to have people like you, who can’t rest in peace knowing that there is someone you know out there who you have pissed off, turned down, or disappointed in general, watch out! On the surface, it seems like a good quality to have, but can have serious consequences if stretched too far. I am not suggesting being too selfish, just a wee bit – call it “looking out for oneself” if you may. It might be something negligible - making some unnecessary purchases simply to get rid of the nagging sales guys, all because you are too nice to simply but rudely say “Thanks, but No Thanks”, or some important decisions you take to keep others happy, at the expense of your own peace of mind. In either case, the goodwill comes with some price tag attached. For all you know, you might have been taken for a ride. Unfortunately, the art of achieving that fine balance is subtle, and till such time that you master it, you have to keep paying.

A Lost Hobby Returns

Last sunday marked the end of GATE and a lot of other activities that had been keeping me busy. With no other good enough way to while away time, I got back to the most popular hobby - reading. Within a week, I have gulped down two books: The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons - something I would not advise people do, especially one after the other (the order is immaterial). A & D seems more like a paper-back movie script than a novel, and the storyline as well the story-telling is far too similar to Da Vinci Code (and the intuition phenomenon worked here too, dammit!). It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if you gave A & D a miss. I think its the Robin Cook syndrome: you can't read more than one of Cook's books in a row, you start smelling the disinfectant.
Suddenly I feel saturated by suspense thrillers. Its time for some slow moving, serious and meaningful reading. I have high hopes for The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, inspite of the less than expected returns from the above two.

Da Vinci Code

Knocked off the first book in my books-to-read pipeline. Sadly, it hasn't lived up to its hype. Of course, given its storyline, it could not have possibly ended on the same note that it started, else there would have been the same uproar in the Vatican that it mentions itself. The end is an anti-climax of sorts more because it leaves the interpretation of the end to the user. Nevertheless, it is a book worth reading for its sheer pace, thrilling story, excellent use of cryptology and symbolism, and the nail biting suspense both in terms of who and what next. I don't know what it is with me and suspense stories - I start getting a very strong conviction of what the suspense is all about just a while before it is about to be revealed. It happened with The Sixth Sense, and also with Da Vinci Code. It lesssens the shock value and in turn the amount of satisfaction you derive after watching/reading the story. It also used to happen with almost every book written by Sidney Sheldon (in this case, even before I was halfway through the book, although that should be a universal phenomenon, Sheldon is that predictable). I have since stopped reading Sheldon :)
Anyway, the next in line is Angels & Demons and I have to say that I am just a little less excited about it now than I was before.

YADD: Yet Another Dumb Day

This post was going to be about Valentine's Day and why I would like to have nothing to do with it, but someone already wrote pretty much what I wanted to say.

And its not just about V-Day either. Its about the whole package.. Friendship day, Rose day, this day, that day.. the list just goes on and on. I guess everytime the fancy-gift-industry sees red in their annual reports, they pick something up that catches on the imagination of the youth and they make some cool profit. Speaking of which, not celebrating these days is considered "uncool", I hear. I disagree. I am not opposed to people celebrating these days, but why am I am considered an outcast if I choose not to? Who defined coolness/uncoolness anyway? Suddenly, wearing scores of coloured bands on your wrist on a particular day means you care a lot about your friends!! Duh!!

Why is blindly aping the west in, and just being yourself out? If this country survived for the last thousands ( -10) of years without even knowing of such stuff, why do we need to go over the top to define ourselves in terms of how we subscribe to such ideas? I mean, does anybody foresee Rakshabandhan being big in the US or brothers and sisters in the UK getting excited about Bhau-beej?

Freedom of mobility

Finally, after months of enduring some woeful service from BSNL, I have now switched over to Airtel. I still wonder why I was so loyal to them in the first place. I mean yeah, on paper they turn out be cheaper, but their basic idea seems to be to make it so damn hard to hear anything you or the other person says, that you get fed up and hang up. Gone are the days when I would grab the phone and rush to the nearest window and scream at the top of my voice to take a call and gone are the nights where my sweetest of dreams were rudely broken at 4:30 AM by an SMS that someone had sent me the earlier afternoon. Heck, I can now speak on my mobile lying down my cosy bed. Now that's mobility.

Gone in 60 seconds

Update: Feb 07, 2005
Got it back!
The news of the grand robbery had spread by word of mouth. All sorts of people who roam large areas by day, viz. milkmen, newspaper boys and of course Dileep, (the fellow who looks after the mini garden in our building) were requested to be on the lookout for my bike. As luck would have it, on his way back home on Sunday noon, he came across a dust-laden red bike left by the roadside on the road leading to the Western Bypass, in Warje. He recognised it, came back to tell me and the rest, as they say, is history.

I don't think there is any probability of him reading this blog, but still, thanks a million Dilip! (And btw, he's the one who's gonna get a treat of some sort :P)

Original post: Feb 05, 2005
It seems that our parking lot in the building has become a prime target for all sorts of thieves, dacoits, burglars what have you may. After some petrol, my car audio a few months ago, now its the turn of my motorcycle tonight!. Yes, MY MOTORCYCLE HAS BEEN STOLEN!!!!!! in broad dusklight between 19:15-19:30 hrs,quite literally from under my nose. As has been the modus operandi of similar thefts in this erstwhile safe city in recent months, people whose bikes have been stolen have found them left lying somewhere, probably after the tank dries up. As enjoyable as they were, meanderings around dark alleys around the neighbourhood and obscure zopad-pattis at around 11 in the night, looking for my precious darling haven't borne fruit.
Anyway, I have already lodged a police complaint, but I would be really grateful if anybody reading this who is in in Pune can be on the lookout for a red coloured Hero Honda Splendor bearing the license plate MH-12 LA 820. If anybody does spot it, please let me know asap on 25445503 (or if at all possible in a gazillion years, on 9422302790).

If the robber has noticed that the bike hasn't been away for a week as I am on leave and chanced upon it, then this might just be the costliest exam I have given. May that #*&# never rest in peace. Amen.

Gooooooooogle invites!!

Just like Aditya, I too, have have 50 Gmail invitations left. (Yes, that's right - 50!) and I have no idea who I am giving them out to. So if you are looking out for a Gmail account, lemme know.

Get real, folks

Page 3 doesn't come across as an intense, thought provoking movie. But somehow, maybe just for a few moments as you leave the movie hall, it does make you wonder about something. It's a stinging diatribe against the lifestyles of the rich & the famous and since my experience with people in that bracket is next to nothing, for me the picture raises bigger and conflicting questions. Is what is depicted in the movie just too real or too exaggerated? And is there even a difference between the two? Have we become so used to being content with the rosy picture that we choose to disregard reality as an exaggeration? The movie stops short of being cynical, but isn't candyfloss either. If it is indeed a result of the director's far fetched imagination, then it is much too unfair to the people it talks about. However, from my impression of page three celebs, I am inclined to believe otherwise.

Way to go Narain...

He's finally got it... Narain Karthikeyan is about to make history by becoming the first Indian driver to take part in a Formula 1 race. Lets hope technicalities like sponsorships don't come in the way as they did with Minardi last time around, and we can see Narain sharing the starting grid at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne!!

Nostalgia

A long overdue break from work (albeit for studies) is bringing back some great memories from
the good ol' college days... particularly the PLs. All the slogging, mugging, freaking out at the amount of stuff still left to go through, taking far too many frequent breaks, then realising that those breaks are getting rather too long as well, trying desperately to avoid a mid-day nap, checking emails for no real reason...and then buckling down to finish that one more chapter (not that I did all those things, but still).. it's all coming back as if I have travelled back in time. Speaking of which, so has the weather! Pune has suddenly gone surprisingly chilly (even by my standards, which are pretty unpleasant for most people) after an unexpected heavy shower and the cold murky weather isn't helping one bit in setting the tempo for academics.