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Confused whom I am referring to? None other than all cricket fans’ “technical idol” Rahul Dravid.
A dry run of 2008 seem to be ending in the last test match for the calendar year.
Hopefully he will continue to play good and do good for the country and himself!!
HAIL DRAVID!!
One year gone by.
I have been remembering and being reminded of the myself and thw world then and now. This blog is a retrospect of things then and now.
I'd jus joined WIPRO and off to NY on an assignment for 3 months. Before the travel; the whole episode of my wedding being fixed and Kusuma traveling to Califonia jus a couple of weeks before me.
There I was in NY learning the basics of Asset Management and Custody Services and writing (as Vignesh used to call it) NASA Code (nothing great! C++ code using some complex datastructures of nested maps and vectors of STL). Making some friends for life and enjoying the time of my life visiting Niagara, Atlantic City etc.
Then, the new world tat I was introduced to by Srivatsan was flourishing; making marks over marks. One milestone after another within no time! SENSEX barely touched 20000 and there was a lot of hue and cry that the Indian Market is flourishing.
Then came the quarterly results of the big Investment Banks in US. One behind the other; each of them started reporting losses because of the Mortgage crisis.
Just then I left to India from US by mid December.
Then from India.. off to Brussles by end of Jan. Had seen the greatdown fall of the Indian SENSEX by then. The SENSEX doesn seem to know the +ve side since then. Its just been the FALL.
Ofcourse there as one commodity that rose. That was CRUDE OIL; from $80 a barrel all the way upto $145 a barrel.
The 10 months into the year 2008 have not jus been anything but extraordinary in terms of the world financial status. How many banks that saw the end. How many of them eventually gave in to buy. How many of them changed to Bank status.
Now, towards the end of the 2nd quarter, OIL started coming down. USD started appreciating. OIL is kind of an undisputed Queen in the World Market. Ofcourse, no points for guessing which country hosts the queen's throne. It is US.
Literally, US is able to buy in OIL just by merely PRINTING PAPER. Nothing more or nothing less. If there is any other currency that was standing tall against the USD and was finding place in the OIL Market, it was EURO. But OPEC and US Supportive countries doesn seem to buy in the argument.
What actually it translates to? Every country needs to buy USD and keep it in its treasuries to exchange for OIL. Imagine what will happen if all the countries all over the world open their treasuries and start exchanging USD for the "other" currency to buy OIL. There is no place in US to store that much of "PAPER" if the whole world starts returning it.
Ok. Now back to the current status. The world markets are all in a bear phase and US is "supposed" to have already entered recession mode and UK "probably" on the brink of one. Asian Markets have seen nothing but just ground for a long time now.
Some analysts predict that the recession might last a couple of quarters or may extent to a couple of years. No one knows tha Answer. Ofcourse; only when history will be updated a decade down the line will it be evident with facts and figures when recession started and ended. No one living in the current time can predict it.
But one thing is for sure. Be Happy that you are witnessing something very great in the history of WORLD economy that two or three decades down the line the next generations will talk off the great recession that lasted from end of 2007 to ...........
Its not incorrect when the media and people say "India Aus is as big or even bigger than Ashes". Believe me; It is!!
For me; its sure that it will be a good contest on hands and nice cricket over the next month or so.
So happens that whenever India has played Australia; I have stayed less at home in the past 2 yrs.. Hyderbad then.. and now Brussels...
So internet has been my only saviour. Hyderbad was atleast much better as in I would follow the score from day start to day end. But now; by the time I get up and on the PC; its -1 session for the day.
Indian Australia series is now comparable to the India Pakistan series that we used to enjoy as kids. Not that we do not enjoy India Pakistan now; We do.. WE WILL FOREVER!!
But yeah I agree; you miss the charisma and the enthusiasm following it on the internet. But I have found other ways and believe me I have enjoyed each and every day of the testmatch in Bangalore and in Mohali.
BLOGS!! SO many blogs everyday all over India sharing their experiences, views. Not to forget the cricket specific websites.
Especially: The one by Allan on Cricinfo
Thanks guys!! To all of you whom I follow!! Keep writing more!!
Everyone has his/her own comments and way of talking about life before and after marriage. 
If you check my Orkut Profile, the status says “Married life? So far So good.. u need to marry to understand tat its a BLISS”. Well you may understand from that I’m “Happily married”
Well, to the other side of it, here’s how I compare life before and after marriage when I talk with my wife
Weekdays
Offshore Before Marriage:
Offshore after Marriage:
Onshore before Marriage:
Onshore After Marriage:
Weekends
Offshore before Marriage
Offshore after Marriage
Onshore before Marriage
Onshore After Marriage
None the less, she too has a similar set of “before and after marriage” which we exchange to time pass the weekends :( and make fun that there is a one more set of “before and after kid(s)” that we will have to exchange in the future. Say to each other that we must make sure we enjoy our life “before kid(s)” so that we would pleasantly exchange the thoughts similarly later
Fed was supposed to meet on Tuesday. Everybody in the market expected a rate cut. And Fed did not disappoint most of them(coz many expected an exagerated full 1 (one) percentage cut). It delivered a 75 basis points cut getting the interest rates to 2.25%!!
It was close to 4.25% in December of 2007, and the series of Fed rate cuts has got it down to 2.25%. But will it affect the Dollar negatively? Will this effect the inflation? will this effect the oil prices? How much will this help the mortgage crisis? All will be answered in a week from now.
And the markets!!?? NASDAQ?? On the expectance of the cut, the market sentiments were pretty positive by the time it opened with the DOW and the 30 stocks Tech Index slightly in the green. Follwed by the Monday when the Bear Stearns bad news came up, making the banks stocks fall by quite a percentage.
Tuesday, LB and GS deliveed results beating the market expectations adding to the fed cut and when I write this, the markets are celebrating these events with the DOW up by more than 400 points and NASDAQ up almost a 100 points!
The market sentiments needless to even mention that it is very very high!!
What will happen to the Asian markets which are sighted to open jus like in 5 hours from now!!?? It will be a big rally and I will not be surprised to get up morrow morning and see the indexes with a huge jump!!
If you are reading my blog before the markets open, I would suggest to put in your money if you have any, and it will surely give you good profit by the end of the day morrow!!
Happy Fed Cut Celebrations!!
I was alone at home as my room mate had been to a party early evening and late evening he called me to inform that he would be spending the night with his frnds and that he would come home morrow.
So, then, I decided to watch a movie and has been long since I watched any movie online (Thanks to the wonderful internet connection in Brussels). However decided to watch this movie as my bro recommended me.
Its a good movie. I felt it to be a very very romantic movie. Ofcourse.. the first 30 45 mins is a little too much to bear the history part of it. However I must say that Ashutosh has done very good work in portraying the love between Jodha and Akbar in a very beautiful way.
If you are one like me who loves Romantoc movies, its a good watch. Just have some patience for the first 30 45 mins; later I am sure you will love it. Bored of watching romantic movies where the hero and the heroine jus make love, run around trees, elop from home; this is totally different and only one of the kind in the recent times.
Especially, I liked the respect that they had for each other; giving each other thier space and time to get along. It is not that Akbar jus fought with a pack of rowdies and Jodha came running towards him, huggin him and kissing him.
I do not wanna get into the details of the movie. I suggest you to watch it.
I hope the movie will still be featuring in the theatres once I get back to Bangalore, so that I can plan it again with my sweet heart :)
Back again with an INFO blog.
After the huge success hit rate of my blog Searching for Accommodation in NYC, I wanted to blog my experiences about the same in Belgium (Brussels to be specific). The other blog had a whooping number of hits and even now, atleast 3 or 4 everyday (thanks to google search).
Its almost time that I am returning (in 3 weeks from now) to India and then (after my wedding) back to Brussels on a long term (tentative plan). So, I have been into looking out for accommodation if I have to return. Coz now I'm sharing a house with a frnd of mine (Whom I found thru orkut). So, here I'm trying to give some pointers to find some accommodation for you when you are anytime wanting to stay here on work (not for vacations).
When I was chosen to be travelling to Brussels on an assignment, I started to look out for accommodation. By experience, I wanted to first check out any help from google search. Nothin specific it returned except for some serviced apartments which are quite costly.
Coz I was travellin for a short stay of like 8 weeks, it was best that I could find some shared accommodation(for savings as well as for other reasons say cooking/roaming around).
Next, I wanted to try some references. I mailed all my pals and wanted to see if any of them returned any references. Sriharsha did. He referred me to Ashwin (student at Leuven). But hard luck!! Ashwin had his exams schedule soon, so he helped me with some stuff online and I too did not wanna disturb him coz of his exams.
Last, I wanted to give a shot on orkut community before I finalise on some hotel for my entire stay or chose a serviced apartment for my stay. I left some scraps on the Indians in Belgium community on Orkut. I guess my star shined there and in jus 3 days, I had a couple of mails and I started to interact with them over mails.
Its history now, tat I found a reference thru orkut (Thanks a ton to ORKUT) and now I know quite a bit of Brussels/Belgium to atleast refer people to the right places for information.
So here goes the the meat of the BLOG..
1. If you are travelling single and for a short stay: Search on orkut for someone whom you could share accommodation with. If not them exactly, there are loads of Indians here who are not on Orkut, so atleast they would spread the word and it will surely be useful. If you do not find anyone then Hotel is the only choice and hope tat you will get someone to share the hotel as its quite costly here. Unless you are coming on a work permit and can afford to take the lease for atleast 6 months, you cannot rent a house other than ofcourse serviced apartments which is a good choice. Check for City Flats in Belgium and they are quite OK for the money that you give.
2. If you are travelling with a family and long stay(min 6 months): I guess this can be comprehended with my previous point. You can rent a house.
So how do I find house rentals? Thats the major question to be answered in this blog!!
There are a couple of internet sites that showcase rental houses.
http://www.immoweb.be
http://www.vlan.be
You have the option of seeing the content in English too. So search for rentals specific to the post code that you wish to stay depending upon the location of your office. (FYI.. I stay in 1000 Brussels)
So, how do I know the travel and other things? This question is as important as the one before.
Brussels is well connected with Metro/Tram/Bus. You can find information about the routes on www.stib.be
When you look for rentals on the site, you could ask them the nearest Metro station and then you can figure out on the STIB connectivity map (click here for the link) and hook up a house for rent.
So, you found a house and then also the way you can get to office. Now, the next question. Food!!! Where do we find some shops to buy the daily groceries and provisions!! (What to do!! We Indians can survive without anything but for the Indian masalas)
Orkut community is the best believe me. Jus browse thru the topics that they have discussed and you will find everything. Right from where to buy Masalas to the Driving licenses. The people in the community are very approachable and any post that you put up, you can expect replies in a day (give them 2 days to reply for whole-a-lot of options) and then set you foot out to explore the needs on those grounds. Its all about experiences. Share information and get information. You get information; but it comes with a cost!! (sharing in this case)
I do not thing you will have any questions unanswered once when you go thru the posts in the orkut community. Be it gettin kids into school, procuring a driving license or jus planning an outing or jus a place to socialise (pubs n bars); you will find answers to them on the community.
Thanks to Atul Awasti for the noble idea of creating the community for sharing information!! Ofcourse, it goes without saying.. Thanks to everyone who is an active member of the community, sharing their experiences in Brussels and thus helping people!!
Anything else I forgot!!?? Yes!! The climate!! Climate in Brussels is usually wet and cold. Personally, where ever I travel, I prefer the www.accuweather.com site coz of its accurate weather forecast.
(Just a tip by experience)Plan your trip/appointments according to the weather to make sure you enjoy the trip/appointment in the best way naturally.
I'm actually thinking of coming up with a desi site for Belgium to help share rentals and information (Advertisement-free site). When I do, I will leave a comment on this blog or if you know of any, please leave a comment on my blog and the Orkut community, it will be of a lotta help!!
So!! Here you are prepared to take off to Brussels!!! Have a safe journey and a great time in Belgium!!
/Sriki
It has been full 4 weeks since I’m in Brussels. Meanwhile, I met a small gang of Indians and since then, we have been rocking the streets of Brussels.
Shopping in Brussels is a little expensive; more to it is the extra VAT that makes it so expensive. Pankaj and I were casually speaking about shopping one night and he mentioned that electronic goods are quite cheap in Germany compared to Brussels.
I immediately checked with Prashanth & co and Arun, Prem if they will be interested. They were game for it and then we started for looking to get there at the least cost and a possible close place where we could plan our Day trip.
Cologne (Koln) is quite close to Brussels and we decided that we would go to Koln, and conquer the streets of Koln. We booked the tickets well ahead on Eurolines.
We wanted to make it even more fun. So, we decided to party on Fri night and travel on Sat morning; return to Brussels Sat night. We had a good dinner set up at our place and had pretty good time Fri night. If I were to tell you we slept at 2 AM early morning on Sat to get up at 4 AM (after 2 hrs); imagine the fun we had.
All of us got fresh and made it to the bus by 5:15 (we were supposed to report at 5:30). Prem and Arun had preferred to get home instead of sleeping at our house and the only hiccup was they did not get the taxi as they had booked and they got to Brussels Noord station just about 10 mins before the departure.
The travel to Koln from Brussels Noord was jus close to 3 hrs and it was fun in the bus making fun of each other and “others”. Finally reached Koln Train station by 9:30 and then started our March to conquer the streets of Koln.
Walking thru the beautifully architectured Train station was an enthralling experience. Jus to get out of the station and to see the Cathedral was even more an amazing sight. So tall the old cathedral still stands just outside the station! Capturing the sight in our Cameras, we moved ahead to see maybe one of the lengthiest shopping streets in the world. You keep walking walking and you never see the end of it, till Newmarkt; all the stores and Brands you name in Europe, you get it here.
Boys were longing to get to Mediamarkt and see the electronics prices (comparing it to the Medimarkt in Brussels). It was kind of disappointment as there was not such a huge price difference for the electronics. To make the trip memorable, couple of boys got camera each and all of us decided otherwise.
Getting into the apparel stores was so exciting!! Beautiful collections. I bought a blazer and a shirt for my brother for him to wear it on my wedding. Such top class finishing, you would go mad on the Brands. All the well known brands of Europe have their presence in this lengthy shopping street.
Finding some vegetarian food was not that a hassle in this street as most of the outlets had something or the other to offer for us vegetarians (including rice). It would not be an exaggeration if I say that we vegetarians enjoyed the food with rice, cooked vegetables, butter and sauces; rather than the non-veggies who opted for meat/fish burgers to only throw most of it untouched in the bin.
Walked all the way till NewMarkt, it was so much of fun and more to add to it was the crowd, the statues, shops, the musicians on the streets playing some wonderful music on the weirdest of instruments I have seen till now.
Luckily the weather did not let us down. Though it was cloudy when we landed in Koln, sun came out by 1 PM (Thanks to www.accuweather.com for the accurate weather and helping us plan our trip to enjoy it the most). People jus go crazy when the sun comes out here. People make it to the streets and wanna enjoy their favorite wine/beer/kaffee/food sitting in the sun. For us also, being in Brussels, feeling the warmth of sun was so beautiful. Atleast I remember, that it was the 1st time in Europe that I walked the streets without my jacket. Our body feeling the warmth of sun brings in so much of happiness in us. I then understood why the Europeans and Americans are so jealous of the Indian climate and plan a yearly tour to their favorite destination Goa.
The Globetrotter shop was amazing. It had some amazing collection of trekker stuff. We also witnessed a treasure hunt in the pond inside the shop. The bags, shoes and all other trekker stuff. You name it and you have it there. Including the air boats that people use for water rafting.
The prices were quite OK. Most of the items that I saw, I guess is quite cheap in the US and some in India too.
The most interesting part of our walk all the way was the many number of Mc Donalds and STARBUCKS coffee. I’m not quite sure if there are these many outlets of these shops in the US also.
All done, and conquered the shopping streets of Koln, we started to walk back to our bus which was at 6:30 PM.
We had spent close to 8 hrs on the shopping streets of Koln, conquered it and headed back to Brussels where we just wanted to hit the sack. We reached Brussels by 10 PM and by the time all boys got back home, I guess it was 10:30 PM.
A great trip which will be remembered for many reasons. Thank you boys for making the trip unforgettable.
Boys: Prashanth, Ananth, Balaji, Baskar, Prem, Arun, Pankaj, Srikanth
Travel: Brussels Noord to Koln
Date: 23rd Feb 2008
Transportation: Eurolines
Last weekend was amazing. I caught up with a lotta Indians in Belgium and we had hell a good time. Friday evening was wonderful. My frnds coming over from Leuven and we went around Brussels Central. Went to an authentic European Bar which serves 2000 types of Beers; one the most unique Bar in the world. People from all over the world visit this to taste the many kinds of Beer. I tasted STRAWBERRY BEER (It has 0.01% alcohol. For only the 2nd time in my life, I tasted alcohol. I tell you, it was very very bitter.)
And Sunday, 2 of our frnds came home and we had a nice time cooking Indian food and spoke a lot! That’s when this topic came in. How can India Prosper?
The social security that the western people have is totally not a viable solution in India. India cannot even dream of it in the near future.
Just a small example was that Pankaj’s and his frnds completed Masters from Paris. One day one of his frnd suddenly fainted in a train while traveling. He was immediately rushed to the hospital. Treated and all done. He was not around for 3 days and that’s when Pankaj and his other frnds got frightened and infact even called his home back in India to mention that he is missing for the past 3 days. He has neither come home nor gone to college.
Later in the day, they were confronted by some cops visiting their home, who told them that their frnd had fainted in the train and he was immediately rushed to the hospital and taken care of. As they were students and not tax payers yet, he was then later asked to repay 10% (90% coverage for students and 100% coverage for students) of the total expenses at the hospital; which that guy more than happily repaid working part time in an Indian restaurant.
Imagine if this had happened in India. Would it be such a good full stop to the story? Certainly not!
There was a recent survey done which studied why people save more in the east than the west. Japanese, Indians saved more. Wondered why? More than 80% of the people saved money for emergencies, weddings or some crap ceremonies. Very little people saved money to buy new gadgets in the market. This shows the lack of Social Security in India. If you take your wife to a hospital for her labor pain; you will not be allowed to see the baby until you bribe the nurse even when you are the one who is bearing the whole expenses of the hospital for your wife. So, bribing gets in to the veins of the people in India.
Will Social Security be an answer to this in India? Maybe! It could work. But will people not take advantage of this? Social security includes paying the unemployed and the senior citizens for their livelihood. Free education to the kids. Free hospitals to the citizens. Many many more.
What all do you want to include in the package of Social Security in India? Imagine the state of Govt. Schools in India as of today! Infact, Private schools itself has become a huge commercial business minting a lotta money. The same is true even with the “hospital industry” in India.
Why would the cabinet approve free education and free hospitals to the citizens in the country when most of the people sitting there have one of the other in atleast one part of the country?
Lets imagine a hypothetical situation that the Indian Govt. with all these difficulties, “thinks” of implementing this. But it is not possible in India.
Why does India does not have this social security? To implement the concept of Social Security in a country,
1. Each and every citizen must be at the “hand’s reach” of the Govt.
2. Each and every working citizen of the country SHOULD PAY TAXES. Otherwise where will the Govt. get the funds from?
The above listed 2 are just the first of the many few such limitations. Maybe, if we could satisfy these bare minimum 2, I guess, the Indian Govt. “may start thinking” about Social Security in India.
We also continued to talk as to how to practically to make this a possible task? Immediately Pankaj said that they had conducted a similar study when they were doing their MBA. And one of the probable ways of doing this is
CHANGE THE CURRENCY IN INDIA
Just study the effects of changing currency in a country like India. The very thought of this makes me run a chill down my spine. Amazing!! This could be one the most amazing things to happen for a country like India.
Imagine!!! Within no time of declaring this and starting this process of changing the physical currency, taking back the old currency notes and replacing them with the “new currency”; making it mandatory that everyone in the country SHOULD get it exchanged on or before SUCH AND SUCH DATE. After which THE OLD CURRENCY STANDS VOID.
The effects are amazing!! I guess India would be far a richer country and could well be badged as a “Developed Country”.
When you want everything to be Indian. Why have the currency as RUPEE. Change it to RUPPAIYA.
Give this noble endeavor a thought. If there is anything noble or sacred that you can do to this country of yours by becoming a cabinet minister/Prime minister/Financial Minster, CHANGE THE CURRENCY OF INDIA.
Hmm!! I am an internet freak since the days of my college. I never had to get any reasons to get to the internet parlor. I remember going to the café since the time, internet was on dial up and it was a whooping Rs. 50/- per hour.
Then, I used to go to the internet to mainly Chat! And Yahoo Chat was the only thing I knew. Coz I used to majorly chat with my my sis in Sydney. You will not believe, she had I seldom talk even now when we are together on face to face, but we exchange a lot of conversation on chat and on mails. They used to be this mIRC Chat which was quite famous, but never got to try that though.
That is when I used to visit Yahoo site. I also have a yahoo.com account which people do not get it now. They get a .co.in or .co.uk stuffs. Even now, I just login to yahoo chat jus to talk with her, if not, all my other frnds, pals, mom, bro and my sweetheart its only on gtalk. Coz the interface supports the text chat and I somehow like the plain text chat and plain smileys rather than the animated ones.
I was jus reading articles on the Microsoft bid of $40+ billion to acquire Yahoo and eventually got to the yahoo.com site after a pretty long time (3/4 years). I was doing some generic searches on tech content and otherwise to see how efficient the search engine is. Its pretty OK infact. I found that the edge that google has got on yahoo is because, it supports plain text and hence, the search is faster. They make it more obvious specifying the number of records found in so and so amount of search time. But Yahoo! On the other side, though reports the search results, there are the display ads that come thru too. If I were to do the same search from home, I would have ended up cursing yahoo for the sheer amount of time it takes. But the search results were of good quality. Infact, I found a couple of results to be more specific than that on google when I compared them on my dual monitor screens.
Just then, a thought struck my mind. Lets see what yahoo is got for the Indian community. I quickly typed yahoo.co.in and instantly, the news, everything was updated and quite recent when compared to the ndtv.com side by side. I was just seeing the other links to Finance, Games, Cricket, Dainik Jagar.. and I happen to see “Directions”. A google map fan that I’m; wanted to explore this and confirm on my decision that google maps rocks! So, I opened. And I wanted to check Bangalore. Typed in “Forum Mall, Bangalore”. I expected it not to give me a proper result (Coz long back when I had seen it, I was not impressed).
I was awestruck when it came up. I then thought, lemme see if this gives you directions and clicked on “To here” and typed in “Mahalakshmipuram Layout”. I was dumbstruck when it actually came up! Oh my God!! The one-ways and the traffic was so rightly gauged and it showed it I guess more precisely than I would jot it on a piece of paper!!
I think this is one of the very few sites on the internet, I think I will not be wrong if I say, this is the 1st site on the internet that I have come across which actually could show directions in India. Google Maps fails!!!!
That is what prompted me to quickly blog it as I wanted to shout to the world, and join the voice of many who are praying that the Microsoft bid not be honored by Yahoo and yahoo continues to excel in what it is doing.
From now on, my search is on Yahoo. If I can help support yahoo to be the best and compete against google, I’m for it. Yahoo is virtually the mother of all internet companies. One of the 1st that came up. I would certainly suggest Yahoo chief/co-founder Jerry Yang, to stay on, and we are here to get yahoo up there again.
Go on Yahoo!!!!!!!
For anyone who had seen the Benchmark trading at the end of December and after a break of a month, one would surely be surprised and would surely go haze n’ blaze.
No investor would have ever imagined that the Sensex would crash so much and infact remain to be at the same point. Even on the day of the HUGE crash, investors were very optimistic that it is just a matter of a week and the benchmark would be right up there again.
However, I guess I’m one among the many market watchers/investors who were pretty surely waiting for the huge correction. Infact, I have time and again mentioned that it was a pseudo market and the right price for the Indian market/economy was somewhere in mid 16k or 17k.
The huge plunge in the market was for various reasons that I have elaborated in my previous blogs. The US inflation and the US markets had reached its saturation. Its always natural for which goes up for a long time, has to come down. In the case of US, its been like this periodically. So, a US economist would not bother about it as its quite sure that there are some FED cuts following and some Tax cuts following, after which its again gone be the BULL! But what really bothers for all of them is, how long will it take to bounce back to the BULL. I do not think anyone has answers to this as of now. Coz economists, Fed, Govt are all analyzing if the US is in recession already or if its yet to come.
There are many compelling factors for one to tell that the US probably is already in recession mode. The less sales, services slowdown, mortgage crisis, sub prime crisis are just to name few of the many indicating the US slowdown.
This is the era of globalization! Everyone speaks of it infact!! The term actually weighs a lot! And if someone speaks of it, others feel that “this guy knows a lot!”. The countries are interdependent on each other for survival and growth. I was reading one of my friend Rahul’s blog. I had actually touched on this topic, but he has gone ahead to explain this at a big level.
For a while now, the markets are trading almost at the same level. I guess this will go on atleast till the Great Indian Economists, our own Finance Minister Chidambaram and our PM Manmohan Singh present to India, the budget for the next financial Year.
Talks have already been spurred on what could the budget offer to the common Indian, what the budget could offer to the corporate, to the sales, to infact all the industries.
I would like to present it again, that this is one of the best times that a commoner could get into the market. Get in and stay long. Remember, be it life or market or anything, the more u stay long, the more you are the returns. The short term returns are very little, be it profit or loss.
For all those who had invested during the Great Indian BULL, keep the investments intact, do not sell it. Remember; Every dog has its day!
It has been just more than a week that I am in Brussels. My office is on Rue Montoyer and my house on Quai du Batelage. It is like 3.1 kms away. From the day 1, I decided to walk to and from office back home. Below are the glimpses of my daily walk from home to office and back home.
From the day I have been here, I have never seen the footpath dry. It is always wet. Brussels is one of those countries in the world where it rains all the 12 months of the year. Maybe the rain also constitutes and plays its active part in keeping the city clean. The Drainage system is quite good.
The traffic control system is so well synchronized. Even the pedestrian signals!! Of course, all forms a part and parcel of the same control system.
I step out of the house at around 45 mins past 7 AM. Get down from my house on the 13th floor, and start my routine walk to office. I reach my 1st pedestrian signal. I just have to make sure that I start there just when the pedestrian signal turns green. If so, I am more than sure that I need not bother about the next signals and that I will get through them quite easily. I do a brisk walk. It is neither too slow nor too fast. The pedestrian signals are well synchronized for a decent brisk walk.
I pass by the commercial places of Central Brussels. The Shopping malls to the restaurants. It is quite early in the morning when I am passing by them. Just about 4/5 mins to 8 AM. Parents taking the children to school. So cute and lovely looking kids in their uniforms. Of course some good looking girls and handsome guys walking by my side briskly to get to their office. Be in Girls/Guys, I wonder what is the secret of their figure? Even when they look quite old by age! They are far way better than our Bollywood/Regional film Heroes and Heroines by looks.
So many cars and taxis on the road! I have not been to any other country except US and mostly only NY most of the time. But, I have not seen Mercedes Benz and Audi Cars as Taxis every before. I know the stretch limo and the normal limo service that exists almost everywhere and is one of the services for the Business Class customers offered by most of the airways. But Benz and Audi as Taxis! And as normal Taxis!! I guess very few places!!
Then, I get to the one of the longest Roads that I need to walk to get to my office. So picturesque the place is! Makes us feel as though god took some time out to decorate this city so naturally beautiful.
Then, I realize that its already 15 mins past 8 and I need to stop appreciating the beauty and walk faster to get to office on time. Everyday is different. Everyday, you see different people, everything different. You are bound to stand by and watch the place unveil in the morning.
By this time, I get to almost closer and now, have to pass by the American Consulate and Embassy. This is one of the places here in Brussels where the security is very high/tight. Everyday I see a set of new corps there. Everyday, I need to show them my Office ID Card and I need to tell them “I’m passing by to office”.
There is corps standing on the either sides of the street of the consulate/embassy with police vans that are always in the “ignition on” state. Wonder why they waste so much of fuel when people are so worried about the exhaustion of the Natural Resource? And I wonder who is paying for the extra security here? US/Belgium? I think it is certainly the US.
I cross by the consulate and then, suddenly, many cards coming from down and then you realize, there is also an underpass there. I think there are 2 underpasses to be precise. This helps in regulating the traffic so much. Even then, there is this usual traffic jams during the peak hours as it happens in any other city of the world. I think the whole planet is “cursed” to have traffic jams during the peak hours [:P] or maybe its us who have made our world this way. So many cars, bikes, cycles; obviously when all of them are heading to offices at the same time, jams are bound to happen.
Oops, I again enter into these pedestrian crossings now. If in the course of me appreciating the beauty, have maintained my “brisk pace”, I surely am gonna get green signals. That’s when I realize if I have been overly involved in appreciating the beauty (nature/girls) around me or if I have also maintained my pace while doing so.
And here I’m on Rue Montoyer in no time. It’s a long walk all down the Rue (Road/Street in French) to get to my office. If I have maintained my pace all the way, it takes me a full 40 to 43 mins to reach office. I am usually the 1st one in my team to come in, and get seated in my desk! I hope people do not assume that I am there for a long time now!!
And then, back to the same pool of shit(work)!!! Catch u later at 5 PM Brussels!!
Hmmm!! This is the question I have been asking myself for the past 2 days!! I tell you!! If you are alone!! And the only time pass is to surf the web; read reviews; read blogs!! You sure will end up getting temped to buy something very facinating and that faination might well lead you into the buy and you end up buying it too.
How do I know?? Thats what happenned to me now. I surely had it in my mind that I wanna buy a DSLR. Coz its a "nice to have" gadget. Simply superb. Many of my frnds have it. I have seen them using it and surely thought! "Well!! I can as well use it!!".. I tell you, these frnds who have these kinda tempting gadgets must be kept away for your good.
So, I used to once in a while surf the web to see the new arrivals, check their specs and say "Wow.. Wonderful!!". One of my frnd (Sharada Prasad) recently bought a Nikon D300 for a whooping $4500(including lens and accessories) and made me revisit and rethink my decision on owning one of those masterpieces on earth.
While I was in the US, I was temped a lot there too; coz once when I had been on a city tour, one of my mates carried it and when I used it a couple of times, I really went wild on it and deperately wanted it. Then, I sat down calmly and thought and convinced myself, "Not this time, I am in savings mode for my wedding". I came over it and stopped looking for them on the web too. I eventually returned from the US and was in no mood to even think of buying it as I was lost in my calculations of wedding expenses.
Then came this opportunity of travelling to Brussels. I was in no mood to travel. I wanted to enjoy my pre-marriage courtship and what more wonderful city to enjoy it than Bangalore!! But I was eventually "the chosen one"for travel. I very very reluctantly agreed to my boss's words for travelling. Even though, till the last min I jus hoped and prayed god, something to happen out of the blues and stop my travel. But it was not destined to be!! I eventually landed in Brussels on the fine Monday Morning of 28th Jan 2008. This rejuvinated in me the desire to own a DSLR. Why? Coz I had enuf "vonga" in my account for my wedding and planned on it too. I jus needed another 30-40k which I can make it up very easily. So, announced to "My Chittu" and my Bro that I will be buying a DSLR.
Then started the whole adventure of looking out for one. But I was lost for a day and then said to myself "Wait!! Fix a budget for it!! Or else I might end up sparing all my Brussels Allowance on it"
Ok.. 350 to 400 Euros (i.e., $600 to $700) I thought was a good one. And I must be able to get a good one. I went out on Sat in the Brussels Shopping malls looking out for some cameras!! Oops!! I suddenly felt my budget was short by another 50 euros and decided to check the US deals sites. I later discovered that Belgium has 20% extra VAT and that summed up my experience in the malls.
So, the next one and half day, I spent browsing almost each and every deals site in the US to find the best deal. Meanwhile, decided that the Canon EOS Rebel XTi (a.k.a 400D) was a good option for me, it being my 1st DSLR. Though facinated by the "self lens cleaning" technology or rather to put it technically "Dust protection enabled" camera; I was open to any other camera that anyone could suggest me in "my budget". Even then, whenever I took a break from searching, I've been asking myself "Do I really need a DSLR?" And each time, I have not been able to go against my decision in what ever way/angle I have given it a thought.
Infact, when Vignesh said he cannot carry it for me as his luggage is full, I gave up my thought on buying it and thought that I would buy it the next time I go to US myself. But on talking with Rahul, and he pampering me that he too had bought the same one 4 months back (when he had visited US almost when I was there); it gave me a boost that I too have to "own it". That is when I discovered that desires are so strong in humans! I keep advising my mom not to spend money un-necessararily and I was now here all set to buy a DSLR. Wonder what my mom would say when I tell her that I bought the camera for INR 25k!! I can imagine she literally yelling at me and going mad at me!! She had done it when I bought the camcoder when I was in the US!!
Anyways, once decided, I am not the one to go against it at any cost!! So, my search continued!! Adorama Camera gave me a good deal and that was the best one I had in my mind for almost 60% of the time I was looking out! I wanted to finally decide on it, and wanted to zero-in on it, and gave a last shot to pricegrabber and thats when I discovered that I was getting it for a more $30 cheap and that too with free Ground shipping!!
I decided that the DSLR will be Canon EOS Rebel XTi(400D) and told Rahul to book it!! But again when I was looking out on reseller ratings, I got frightened as the rating of Butterfly was not that good (6.83/10 as of when I saw). So, told Rahul to hold so that I could check with Srivatsan and Vignesh about the stores as I remember Vignesh buying a HD TV from the same reseller.
I had to wait till Monday (today) morning for it as tats when I get to speak to both of them. When both gave a positive opinion on the reseller and their service, I mailed Rahul confirming the order!!
I guess by now Rahul must have ordered for My Canon EOS Rebel XTi. Now, I am a proud owner of a Canon DSLR!! Though I will only be able to collect it from him once I get back to Bangalore (he is scheduled to return just before me); its a great feeling!!!
At last!! MY DSLR!!!! BTW!! I got it for $565.99 with the kit lens of 18-55mm!! :)
Brussels - Unknowningly Known Place of Europe
Seems confusing.. Ain't it?? Brussels is a booming new IT city in the heart of Europe. People had knowm Germany, Sweeden to be a home for some IT companies. Paris the Fashion capital of the world. And Switzerland, the honeymoon country of the world.
Brussels!!! Till off late, an unknown place atleast for most of the people until it started to become a home for many of the IT and financial institutions of the world.
I'm now in Brussels on an official assignment for the next 8 weeks. So centrally situated to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome(little far) and Switzerland! Obviously if you wanna tour the Europe, this is the central place to be so that you can visit almost all the places here.
Very few people know that there is a place by name Brussels. Only they understand when I say, I'm in Belgium!! Heard of this small country somewhere.. Saw this as a small country on the World Map.. Isn't it??
Brussels is a Pictureque city. A Dream City. As beautiful as those cities that are described in the old fairy tales. The best way to explore this city is by walk. You will love walking in this city. You walk walk and walk, only to realise you can so quickly reach to the other end of this city.
The beautiful foot path, so beautifully decorated by benches and some stone statues here and there, so calm, so cool, bright lights on the buildings, so many shopping malls!! Oh my god!! Anyone will fall in love with this place and wanna be here for a long time. Lover's paradise this is!! Such a Romantic city!!
If anyone were to ask me, "wher do u think I can go for Honeymoon?", I would suggest "Brussels". Visit Brussels just in the month of Oct or max Nov; if not come here in March or April to get the best!!!
Lets take the example of the Asian markets and how they are trading since the start of this year 2008. Jan 2008 has not been a very good start with most of the markets loosing a lot of ground. The markets as of today have dropped close to 20% lesser than what they were in Dec 2007.
All this was because the fear of US heading towards a recession. Uncle Sam heading to recession has so much of impacts all over the world. Its a cyclic reaction. Uncle Sam heads to a recession; the companies start spending less and the americans start spending less. The usual routine is the whole world saves for the Americans to spend.
Only when the US companies spend much on their services, Indian IT grows. Only when the Americans spend; the Chinese market grows coz export grows. Globalization in the recent past has led to a lot of cyclic reactions. The markets in the US catch cold, the Asian Markets cough.
Indian and Chinese markets called as the Emerging markets are supposed to be very good for investement. Now, once Globalization has started, a person sitting in India/London/NY can trade in the emerging markets in the morning (of IST), and then shift gears in the European market and then; have his dinner (investment) in the US market. Now you see how one market can affect/effect the other market.
On 22nd Jan, the Indian benchmark hit the circuit in the first few mins of the trading session, only to recover from that later. However in the pursuit, it had almost hit another circuit before the blue chip stocks pulled it up. Later on, by close it did recover. There were many reasons why the sensex fell, FIIs liquidifying so much to the extent because they had to fund their mother companies. Large caps saw such a down fall that a retail investor could buy them that day and sit on them for a long term.
The US which was on a holiday for Martin Luther King day, was astonished to see this happen on Monday. The fed held a phone conference only to decide to slam the interest rates by 75 points; which was announced after the Asian markets closed at around 0700 hrs EST on Tuesday. NASDAQ reacted a little positive, though not into the greeen area, the announcement for sure made sure that the DOW did not fall further.
The next day, the Asian markets reacted strongly opening quite high and trade steadily throughout the day. The european markets were still open and did gain some momentum once the fed cut was announced.
How much ever the world is globalized or growing, US remains in the centre dictating terms in the market. We will have to wait and see if this ever changes.
The exchange in October 2007 had fixed circuit filters for the Sensex. If the index drops 10% before 1 pm then trading to be halted for one hour. If 10% drop is between 1-2:30 pm then trading to be halted for half an hour. If 10% drop after 2:30 pm then no halt in trading.
If in case index drops by 15% before 1 pm then trading to be halted for 2 hours. If 15% drop between 1-2 pm then trading to be halted for one hour. If 15% drop after 2 pm then trading to be halted for rest of the day.
In the case of 20% drop in the index then trading to be halted for the rest of the day.
Today, the circuit was broken in the 1st 2 mins of the trade! The trade was halted for an hour till and resumed at 10:55 AM (22nd January 2008). The benchmark kept flickering till the Finance Minister gave an assurance of Liquidity in the market and in one of the interviews expressed his confidence over RBI and other banks that there was good amount of liquidity to be offered for brokers and investors.
Good god and then the markets recovered considerably and avoided another circuit break which would thus halt the trade for the whole day!
I heard here and there rumors among my colleague and frnds, that they have lost so much and so much in the trading today. One of my frnds lost considerable amount in margins/derivatives and was running around in havoc trying to arrange money for tomorrow's margins.
But by the end of the day; the market stabilized considerably taking into account the magnitude of fall to end close to 700 points down to yesterday's close.
The Sensex needed this correction as trading at such a high figure of 21k+ was certainly not the economy of India. India by par stands somewhere around what the Sensex is as of today. I would say that 16k to 17k is the economy of India as of now. No matter the amount of corporate strength or corporate taxes is being pulled in, mid 16k is a good number for India.
The causes for this correction can be attributed to many as I have been reading by some famous columnists.
It is partially because of the US fear of recession. Fed is meeting early next week and there was a hope of another 75 points cut on the interest rate. But, by the time I wrote this article, Fed announced a three-fourth points cut as expected!! 75 points interest rate cut. Now the Interest rate stands at 3.5%
We will have to see how the US markets react to this. If there is any up in the market, you may well see a huge plunge towards the positive side morrow in the Indian Market. Sleep late and tight; wake up at 9:50 AM IST and see the Indian market.
The market also seemed to liquidify the equities to cater to the biggest IPO of Reliance. It is also told that this can be a major reason for investors to have pulled back money! Who would not wanna do it? You buy the IPO in the 410-450 range and then it shoots upto 2k in a very short span (a normal public belief on Reliance). More to it; Ambani declaring that he wants the lay man to be a part of his investment; this calls for more liquidity in the market with people wanting to pull out their money from other stocks that they feel is not fetching them high profits that Reliance could do in a very short time.
Given the fact that there is one more BIG IPO coming through from BSNL and the SBI Rights issue following, it would be interesting to see how the markets would react to them. Maybe they are not so high priced or high valued as Reliance; but sure they are supposed to be good.
A seasoned long term investor would take this correction in his stride. This is not the time to sell of his equities in haste. This is the time to buy any and every stock if you have any spare money as this price. Some big stocks will fetch you pretty good returns in very short time.
Or, if you are one among them who says "I have invested enuf". Mind you; do not sell in haste. Keep it and you will earn your returns.
The volatility of the Market seen today was remarkable given the fact that the US markets are scheduled to open less and the amount of plunges the Australian, Asian and Europe markets saw today. Not a single market finished its daily business in Green. All were in RED.
If you have been waiting to get into the market; This is the time. Get in with some good shares and remain long for some awesome returns. Even if you are a short term investor; it will fetch you handsome returns.
But one thing was evident with today's market. Do not pack your bags in the 1st hour. Remain late and you will be happy. As I was telling my frnds:
Lesson to be learnt of today’s trading session!!
"Do not jump from the terrace of the BSE on Dallal Street as soon as u see a intra-day fall of BSE. Wait till the end of the day. U might have to just jump from the window in the 4th floor".
Aussies, do not play India again if you have the 17 tests win in mind.
It will remain as history that India stopped the Aussies twice when they were supposed to win their 17th Test match. Once in India and once on their own soil.
All the 4 days of the match, Aussies never seemed to be have an upper hand except for the last hour of play. If Aussies showed the same courage and determination that they showed in the last one hour of play the whole of 4 days, they would have had their 17th Test win in their pocket.
Right from the time that they let the Indian batsmen score on the 1st day to the last min when their batsmen did not do their job for them; Aussies never played like they had won all the 16 tests they had played earlier to this.
Coming to Perth from Sydney which was one of the most unfair test match in the history of cricket, Indian cricket team was all pumped up. Wonder who actually helped the team to put in all the agony and pain on the field instead of just showing it off the field. Whoever it was; Hats off to him/her/them.
It was a team performance. The score card was distributed. No big hundred; 93 from Dravid being the highest score of a batsman in the match; no 5 wickets next to any bowler. Everybody chipped in. Be it runs or wickets.
Last but not the least. Coming to Perth from Sydney; it was good to see no sledging from both the teams; except for some stares that's always healthy. India showed character letting down the complaint on Hogg which was setting an example of modesty, sportsmanship and helding up the tradition of leave the things on the field on the field and move on.
India have everything to play for going to Adelide. The last test match that they played there; India wrapped up Steve Waugh led Australian team pretty comfortably. As in Kumble's words "It would be good if we can square the series".
If India win at Adelide; it will not be a mistake to tell that the Indians won the Gavaskar-Border trophy of 2007-08 2 (India) - 1 (Australia) (Keeping in mind that the Sydney test was one sided against the fairness of the game).
Overconfidence is bad for anyone. Be it the best person in that field/sector. It is better to get into any assignment with little expectations and an open mind to give it your best shot.
As of now, when I write this blog, the Aussies are all out for 212 in reply to India's 330 in the 1st inings. With still an hour's play remaining for the day; India would want to play safe and see off the last hour making sure that they do not loose any wicket.
The build up to this Test Match at Perth has been absolutely Terrific. The whole lot of drama after the Sydney Test Match, the comments from one team to/on the other. The ICC, CA, BCCI getting involved and pushing many things and claiming it was in the interest of the game and to be played in the best of the spirit; all of it and now this test match which once was not sure if the Indian team will continue the series.
The Australian Cricketers Ponting, Gilchrist, Clarke all talking about the 17th win; how helpful it will be for the Aussie bowlers. It made many wonder if India will ever stand a chance in this test. But the game as it stands now, India surely have the upper hand.
The pitch was talked about so much. I read one of the articles mentioning "Only fumes are not coming out of the pitch"; told to be so fierce and RED HOT Wicket. The wicket was laid afresh. It promised some true bounce and some awesome pace. It surely is living up to the expectations.
But maybe as it stands now, Indians made use of the conditions in favor of them; as compared to the Aussies. If it was not for the drop catch by Sachin; Symonds being dismissed on score of3; Aussies would/may have been stuggling to get to the current score.
Again a couple of decisions against India pushed them to the backseat in the 1st Innings. Sachin and Dhoni adjudged Leg Before by Rauf without he able to gauge the bounce in the pitch. Well!! Hope that it doesn repeat in the 2nd Innings.
Off to the scoreboard to see the match again!! Keeping my fingers crossed!!
At last!! D-Day!! 13th January 2008. Nandhana Grand.
We were all scheduled to meet at 12 or so at Kormangala Nandhana Grand Hotel. As usual; Sunday, I feel more sleepy!! But managed to get up by 9 AM and got ready by 10 AM. Called Ashwini Kamat again to check if she will be coming (she replied negatively); called some more of my mates; confirmed their attendance and left home by 11 AM and reached the hotel as I had planned by 11:50 AM. Went in, confirmed the booking for 25 people and the waiting game started!
1st to come in was Parikshith by 12:10. Then came the gang of Raghavendra, Mahesh alias Chengi and Ganesh alias Ganjaby 12:25. Then, it was getting time for the buffet to start and I was worried if even 20 would make it! Went in; told the manager that the table for 20 be reserved and rest taken if they needed.
Then; Bharath alias Bhatti, Deepak, TP Sandeep alias Tippe came and it was sigh of relief for me. atleast we are a handful. Pavithra alias Pavi had made her way near the police station; picked her up and meanwhile Nigar too made it.
Narasimhan alias narsi was supposed be there by now; but was delayed. In the act of finding him near the police station, I lost my mobile (it fell off my jacket coz i was riding my bike so fast). Anyways; I was thinking of buying a new one, but cursed god to have made it happen on my way back home as I knew people would be calling on my cell for landmark/time to get to the hotel.
Arjun came in and so did Narsi. We decided we were enuf to get in and start the lunch and meanwhile people would join us. Ravi and Dayanand alias Daya joined in a few mins. We ordered a drink each.. Cocktails, mocktails, lime sodas. Cheered for the 1998 batch and started our lunch. Meanwhile Pranav and Bhavya too came in.
The 20 seater table almost looked occupied with one or two seats vacant at the end of the table. Then started the whole episodes of remembering the school days. The teachers, class rooms, nick names, school pairings, sports day, teasin each other, knowing wat each other is doing now for living, and otherwise too.
We never knew the time pass by. Pulling each other's legs; teasing each with other; shouting in the hotel. The lunch hall was quite small and everyone there knew were were meeting after a long time; so they understood our exitement. It was after full 1 hour that we decided to take the main course. The food was quite good.
Though here and there we kept calling people who did not make it, fighting with them for not making it, scolding them; time jus flew by. Deepak teasing Bhavya and Nigar was the highlight.
Meanwhile, Pavi did not like the lunch and decided to go home. She is carrying ane hence is advised not to eat the junk food. Met Pavi's husband and then Pavi took leave of us and then; the whole drama of photography was started by Deepak. So many pics in jus 3 hrs.
Kept changing seats every now and then. Everyone made sure that they sat and had a word with one another. It was after 10 yrs literally that some people were seeing each other. So much of excitement and chaos in the hall.
People started to disperse slowly by 3:30 PM. Even though we were starting to become a small group; we were the loudest. I knew that we were very loud only when a foriegn couple sitting besides us started to talk quite loudly (by their standards); so asked our boys and girls to reduce the volume and talk little softly.
The best part was!! Deepak, Tippe and Bhatti had decided to go to a movie and booked the tickets for the show at 4 PM at PVR. It was only at 4:15 that they realised that they had booked the tickets. They decided otherwise and Deepak ended up tearing the ticktes into pieces.
Then Dhimanth alias Dhimmi joined us. Infact inspite of repeated calls Dhimmi managed to get to the hotel only by 4:25 or so.
Finally by 5:10, we were all done and it was also time for the hotel crew to wind up and get ready for the evening dinner. We came out of the hotel and then had fun giving birthday bumps to Dhimmi.
Meanwhile, I tried calling on my mobile. A guy promptly picked up the call! I was surprised!! I checked with him and he said he found it on the street near Kormangala Police station. He told he can meet me the next morning and give me the phone as he is in a hurry. I was relieved as I would now be able to retrieve the contacts on my phone. Let alone the phone; I have no probs if he wants to keep it, provided he helps me copying my contacts into the SIM.
We all left from the hotel by 5:40. After 10 loooooong years, it feels very happy to meet all my pals with whom I spent those unforgettable 12 years of my life. Golden were those days when we played cricket in Kamalamma gundi. Played sports for our HOUSE TEAMS to win (I was in the Red house).
Though only 17 made it; it was awesome!! I hope the next time we will be more in number and have even a more wonderful time together.
For all those who made it: Thanks for making it and Thanks for the wonderful time we had together.
For all those who could not: Do not worry! This was the 1st time and we will keep meeting often. Hopefully catch you next time!! ;)
Love you all guys!! Need not mention; Miss you too!!
Link to the Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/srikanth.bhaskar/SchoolReunion
We are the mates of Presidency School, Nandini Layout. Graduated out of school in the 1998 batch.
Its been 10 looooooooong years since we all met. We graduated out of school in 1998 (March). Infact we all had not even met during our results as we all were busy planning for our next level.
I remember the last party we had was at Amit's house after our Valedictory day (officially by the school management) and the Farewell given by our Juniors. We had a nice time in all the 3 parties I remember!
People have grown up. Working!! Each one in a different field!! Some in medicine.. some into teaching(professionls).. some into accounting.. major chunk into the IT & ITES..
I'm sure most of us are in touch with our smaller groups that we were dear to and had small treats celebrating the small achievements time to time. Small group at weddings!! (3-4 that have happenned till now). But a big event of almost all the mates getting together; only this after 10 years!
Feels so happy and so much of excitement 2 days before the event! What makes me feel more pumped up; is being the initiator of this and a sense of satisfaction to have organised this and been able to contact them; the work going into it; the phone calls made!! Heard so many of their voices after 10 years literally!! I am all guns believe me!!
Though I started this to jus to reach out all and to get their contacts coz I have a big day coming up in my life in a quarter from now! The time to declare my sweet heart as my wife; stepping into the next phase of life, I always wanted to invite all my school mates. I missed doing it on my house warming ceremony. Could invite only a handful.
A little bad that a few opted out at the last moment coz of some reason; but still hoping they could make it to the event with all the difficulties they have. Simply because this is happenning after 10 long years mate!!
Awrite!! Still at office finishing of last min work for the week!! Will blog the big moments of the event on Sunday! Get ready to read with me the beautiful moments of the reunion!! Its happening at Nandhana Grand, Kormangla, Bangalore at 12 PM!! If you are one of them scheduled to come; please do not be late!! Be on time!! And lets have a ball!!
Anil Kumble is known as a gentleman who respects his game as good as a priest his temple/shrine.
When Kumble is made such a comment at the after match press conference, it shows the pain he has inside in him after a cheating defeat.
Ricky Ponting and his ****ing 15 men in the Australian cricket team have played the worst/unfair match in the history of the game. The tag that the Australian cricket team is playing is for "winning" as I mentioned in my previous blog. Clarke, Symonds are such a disgrace to the game of cricket. Infact, the whole team is such a disgrace to the game of cricket. The Sydney test will go down in the books as the "most unfair match" in the history of cricket.
This agony is not because India lost. The tail had to make sure they survived the last few overs of the match. But the decisions and the way the Australian team played cricket was shocking and a miserable dream to the Indian cricketers.
The umpires Steve Bucknor and Benson played a very important role in tagging the match as the most unfair match in the history of cricket.
Umpire Benson relies on the ****ing honesty of Ponting to declare Ganguly out to a catch that was not taken at all. Benson forgot that he has a walkie talkie that he can use to contact the umpire upstairs for a replay. He only wanted to check with ****ing Ponting to declare the catch taken. Who the hell certified these guys as umpires? How the hell do they umpire test matches without common sense?
And Mr Bucknor, I think u better retire from umpiring cricket matches. If you cannot stand the sun in the middle and the pressure that the ****ing Australian team puts on you, please put down ur papers and retire from umpiring. If you cannot distinguish the sound between the cricket ball hitting the Cloth(Pad) and wood(Bat), I suggest u to go home to Jamiaca and have a holiday.
U Mr Ponting, I am sure good old cricters must be a very sad man tday. They had built the game of cricket as such an honest and reliable sport. I must appreciate your efforts in turning your team into "sportsman spirit less" and "dishonest" cricket team in the world. Well done!! How the hell could you have a good sleep after havaing cherished such an unfair victory? Go to hell!!
Read as the famour writer of the game (an Australian) writes about the testmatch.. http://www.cricketndtv.com/cricket/ndtvcricket/cricketstory.aspx?id=SPOEN20080037976
Cricket is known as a gentlemen's game. Maybe this is past now.
The latest Test Series of India tour of Austalia, the quality of umpiring has been very shitty. The Aussies are known to be very sportive and play cricket very professionally, but this series has seen them play their cricket very dishonestly.
There has been a lot of appeals that have been turned down by unpires. It is fearful to see umpires like Steve Bucknor and Benson make such mistakes with that huge amount of experience behind their back.
The caught behinds that surely the batsmen knew that they were out, have been turned down. I got wild when I saw that the batsmen did not bother to walk out even when the umpire turned the appeal down. Being professional sportsman and playing the game with the right spirit, the Aussies MUST HAVE walked out when they knew that they were out! It just shows that they play to WIN.. not to play fair and not for the game. Its all about Winning that they bother about.
Had these things happened in India when Australia had toured, it would have been a night mare with the Australian media and the world media portraiting India and Indians as a 3rd degree country.
I in this blog, condemn the act of the Aussies for not being professional. They are not fit to play in the name of the spirit of the game. I also wanna take this to mention to the umpires that, any critical appeal, could always be reffered upstairs, having in mind that they cannot see the play at split second and would need assistance when it comes to a faint nick/edge or stumping. There is no harm or insult in referring such decisions upstairs. It would indeed make the 3rd umpire do his duty for his match fee.
The whole cricketing world knows that Aussies are the WORST SLEDGERS in the game. It is indeed surprising to see an Aussie complain against Indian (Bajji) on racial sledge. There is no rule in the books that only Aussies are permitted to sledge and all the other teams need to listen to then without speaking a word against them. One needs to teach them a lesson "their way". Way to go BAJJI!!
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