I Concur... I concur with what they say about Pizza,

Pizza is either man's greatest inventions or God's fondest gift to mankind.

Couldn't be any truer.  ¶ 12:52 PM 2 comments

  I found him Finally found Ramesh Mahadevan’s articles again. He is one of the pioneer desis of internet writing. Most of you would remember the web pages that grad students used to setup in their school websites (yeah those annoying little pages that are supposed for your research work but where you actually upload the pictures for your folks to see). Invariably there used to be a link to the archives of Ramesh Mahadevan’s articles in those pages. I even vaguely remember him having a fan club of his own :-)

No one can forget Ajay Palvayanteeswaran and his adventures. One can easily find a bit of AP in all of us. I really wish Ramesh starts blogging. That would be a whole lot of fun. He will quickly establish a following for his blogs if he chooses to do so.  ¶ 4:06 PM 0 comments

  Cookie Wisdom 1 Henceforth, I have decided to share with the whole world (or with the souls that accidentally stumble upon this spot) the pearls of wisdom that comes in Fortune Cookies :)

Even if one doesn’t gain anything useful from fortune cookie messages, they are always good for a laugh. Also, they have added a new section on the back of the message named “Learn Chinese” :). Without further ado, here goes the first nugget of wisdom the fortune cookie threw at me today.


“You Show your true face to the people who really matter”
Learn Chinese – Bank
Yin -Hang  ¶ 4:29 PM 0 comments

  The Blockbluster Deal

Nimbus Global Media won the broadcasting rights for India's home games for the next four years. The contract is worth a whopping $754 millions. That works out to nearly $190 millions a year. Though the amount pales in comparison to what the NFL gets from the network channels like Fox and CBS, it still is a staggering amount.

India has and always will be the heart and soul of the great game of Cricket. As much as i like Cricket, I still have a little beef with it. In a way its popularity forces other games to oblivion. I dont see a change in this scenario in the near future.

If one game is going to be hugely popular than others in our country then we better make sure that we are the best in that sport. The new contract signed by BCCI almost increases the revenue by ten fold. How we are going to spend this sudden increase in wealth of the already cash rich BCCI will determine the future of the game in India.

As a cricket fan, I would like to see a good chunk of this money spent at the grass root levels. I am not talking about Ranji Trophies, District or University matches. I am thinking more about spending this money for the Under -12, 14, 16 and 18 levels. Quality infrastructure should be established not only at the state capital level but also at the District level. Kids from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Kohima to Jaisalmer should have access to good facilities and coaches to hone their skills

Spending money on establishing facilities and developing coaches at the grass root level will be a great investment for the future. The great cricketers from India either developed their skills on their own or had good support from their family members. Had Ajith Tendulkar not taken little Sachin to Coach Achrekar, there is no master blaster today. That kind of an opportunity should be available to all the kids with potential, whether or not there is an Ajith to spot it or a Coach Achrekar to develop it. I really hope the money from the blockbuster deal trickle down to the masses that takes this game as something more than a game.

Picture Courtesy: The Hindu  ¶ 6:57 PM 1 comments

  So, What would you do? A group of eight meat processing workers claimed the biggest jackpot in US history. Congrats to all of them. They walk (or probably drive a Ferrari) home with around $15 million dollars each. I think a couple of months back, someone from Oregon won the then biggest lottery. That day I and some friends were discussing what would we do if we get that kind of money :-)

My answer that day was to buy a sports team. Ideally, one would like to buy a sports franchise in the big four (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL). If, thats a big “IF”, someone is willing to sell their NFL team then it will cost at least $600 million . So NFL is ruled out. The same logic goes to MLB, NBA and to some extent in NHL. $125 million ain’t enough to buy a franchise in the big four. Remember, I don’t want to be part owner.

That pretty much leaves one with an option of buying a minor league baseball team. A class A or AA farm team affiliated with a good team like the St.Louis Cardinals or Boston Redsox would be awesome. Ah… enough of day dreaming.

So, if any of you guys win a jackpot of $125 millions or more just for yourself, what would you do?  ¶ 5:07 PM 0 comments

  Its here… and I can feel it. The last time it was here, it made me go through many sleepless summer nights. Left me with burning eyes the next day. The unusually high temperatures during that summer in the western part of the country only made it worse. It didn’t dampen my spirits. The next night, I was ready again. It lasted a month and I soaked it in. When it all ended it set off a countdown clock inside me. Now it is almost here and the ticks of the clock is only getting louder and louder.

It will start all over again on the 9th of June 2006 when host Germany go up against Costa Rica. Yeah… Its Football World Cup time folks and I am waiting for the kickoff. In 2002 I and couple of other guys in grad school caught the action in Spanish channels like Tele Mundo (ABC had tape delayed games). We didn’t get a word of commentary they were doing but we couldn’t care less. The excitement kept us up all night and if somehow sleep got the better of us, the commentators made sure that we never missed the crucial moments of the game with their Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal sound. I am not kidding here, it used to last a good 40-45 seconds. Whenever our favorite teams scored we used to join them and shout Goaaaaaal but never could I last that long with them.

My favorite team Brazil won it all the last time around. I will be rooting for them again this time and Team USA as well.

I was going through the official World Cup site and it is a treasure trove of information. The classic football page has got it all. I have got 108 days (what an auspicious number) between today and June 9th to go through it all and get myself psyched up for the big dance.


Photo Courtesy:- www.fifaworlcup.com

  ¶ 9:53 PM 2 comments

  The Flying Tomato


On Thursday Shaun White, the Olympic half pipe gold medalist was on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. When he entered the set he looked like any other teenager that you run into in a mall. The difference is, this teenager is an American hero and the audience made sure that he got a deserving welcome. They gave him a standing ovation that lasted quite a bit of time. Then, the best part of the show started. Despite his great achievement he was so down to earth and acted very much like a regular teenager.

He laughingly shared how he got the nick name “The Flying Tomato” (reminded me of our very own “The Flying Sikh”), how the Olympic committee gave him (and all medal winners) a ride worth of a State leader on his trip from the stadium to the medal ceremony.

When Leno teased him whether he cried during the medal ceremony, White said that he did well up but it was not his fault. He joked that the entire ceremony was geared in such a way to make you cry.

The stories about how his parents took a $50,000 loan on their home to sponsor him during the initial days were moving. By the way, he is a millionaire now with all the endorsements and video game deals. When Leno mentioned this, White said “I am doing okay” to a raucous response from the audience. Totally it was great show and am glad that I stayed up long enough to catch it.


PS:- Yesterday I switched on the TV just in time to catch Lindsey Jacobellis snow board cross qualifying and final rounds. In the finals she had an amazing start, got great separation during one dangerous moment and was heading home by a comfortable margin. That’s when something that should never happen to any one happened. Lindsey went for a premature celebration move on her way down from a ramp and lost her balance only to see the Swedish Tanja Frieden race past her to win the Gold. People say that show boarding cost her the medal, I would rather say it’s just her bad luck.  ¶ 1:07 PM 0 comments

  Rang De Basanti
Now that every desi blogger and their grand mother has blogged about RDB, I kind of feel left out. I want to write about the movie but I haven't seen it yet. Had plans to watch it a couple of weeks back but it fell through. So till Iwatch the movie and write something about it, here goes my token RDB post - or something like that


What would Dharmendra say to Hemamalini if he wants her to call him






"Ring De Basanti"

yeah, its an awful joke but I couldnt resist posting it. And I hope to catch RDB soon...lets see.  ¶ 8:52 PM 4 comments

  Oh...almost forgot Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  ¶ 1:29 PM 0 comments

  Inzi Bhai, hey kya kar raha thu.. If there is one Pakistani cricketer that I like other than Wasim Akram then it would be Inzamam - The Gentle Giant II(ok he is not all that gentle, but I will give it to him). He is so clumsy on the cricket field that his brilliance of the game is over shadowed by his clumsy way of playing it. While Sachin stole the show during the 1992 world cup with his baby face and beyond the age performance, it was another baby faced, over grown youngster named Inzamam Ul Haq that actually lead his team to World Cup glory. His batting performance against NewZealand ranks up there as one of the best one day innings ever.

Ok, enough of old stories. This post is not about any of his heroic performances but of the comedy role he played to perfection during the 1st one day between India and Pakistan. We all know Inzi hold all kinds of records for run outs :-), but the way he got himself out during the first match will be the crown jewel of all of them.

When I read that Inzi got out blocking the stumps I thought he was running right on the path of the ball on its way to the stump. Boy, was I wrong... You got to watch this to see what he did to get himself out. His post match interview was even more comical. You guys watch it and decide it for yourself.  ¶ 8:24 PM 0 comments

  My name is...

Well, my name is Hellboy and this post is not about it. It is about the NBC hit comedy My name is Earl. I have this strange gift, I am real bad at judging movies and TV series based on the promos. After watching a promo if I think that no one will ever step in a theatre to watch it then that movie will go on to become one of the greatest hits.

Last summer NBC was heavily promoting some comedy named My name is Earl. Looked like it was a show about how a blue collar, petty criminal goes back and rights some of his wrong doings. To put it mildly, I was skeptical how such a series will work. I was least impressed with the concept, the lead actor, the cinematography and every thing about it.

Given my history I should have known this show will be on to something, but I never did. One of those Thursdays the channel flipping landed me in My name is Earl. I don’t remember what episode that was about but I really liked what I saw.

First off the show is real smart and they have assembled a very good cast. Jason Lee is awesome as Earl Hicky. He literally carries the show on his shoulders. He does a terrific job narrating the episode. The characters are instantly likable and are so different from the clean cut characters from other hit shows like Friends. That itself is very refreshing. Randy, Crabman, Earl's ex, Earl Jr... they are definitely not the Rosses and the Rachels but they are very endearing nonetheless . A touch of poignancy at the end of each episode only makes it even better. If you haven’t started watching it already do watch it, I bet you will be left asking for more.

  ¶ 11:25 AM 3 comments

  Cricket Down Under The incidents surrounding Srilanka's tour of Australia is pretty disturbing to me. Earlier in the summer it was the South Africans and now it seems to be the Srilankans turn (no pun intended) . The kind of harrasment the Srilankan cricketers go through in Australia has been well documented. We all remember how Arjuna Ranatunga led his team off the field after disagreeing with the no-ball calls on Muthiah Muralitharan. Since then the situation has only gotten worse.

This Muralitharan incident seems to be the latest one in this series. Supporting your team is totally different from involving in actions like these. I understand and hope that fans like him are few in number. Its a shame that a great game like Cricket is marred by such events. Cricket, for that matter any sport, should be a uniter not a divider. Lets hope that common sense prevail in the end and we all play/watch the game with the right spirit  ¶ 8:10 PM 0 comments

  Hogan This is a clip of some kid playing Pop-Warner football. It has been in my favorites and I watch it from time to time.

You will love the kind of intensity the kid plays with. He plays with heart, a motor that runs non-stop and without fear. Its amazing how he goes after big kids. The best part is that he doesn't show boat. Just makes a play and goes back to the sidelines. What else can I say, he can play for my team any day.

p.s: Raise the volume of your speakers, the video is accompained by POD's Boom song. Near the end of the clip see how after getting hit by #20 he comes back and repays him - Classic.  ¶ 6:03 PM 0 comments

  National LOI day Today is national LOI day for college football. For the uninitiated, LOI day is the first day the football recruits out of high schools can send the Letter of Intent accepting a scholarship to attend and play for the school of their choice. LOI day is preceded by a season long recruiting process. More about LOI here and here. I was feeling bad about the 2005 season coming to an end with that spectacular Texas vs USC classic. LOI day in a way kicks off the 2006 season. Couldn’t be more happier.

To mark the day I wore my school's T-shirt to work. Saw a couple of other guys at work do the same as we exchanged a quick nod. I can feel the excitment in the air :-). We bring in a very good recruiting class this year with an emphasis on defense. Can't wait for the spring ball to start.  ¶ 5:49 PM 3 comments