Trick Question

A BRILLIANT Calvin and Hobbes Strip!!

Things I Like

Another tag by Upas, this one made on Aug 22nd :-D

--> waking up to hear heavy rain drumming on the windows and realising I have a few more hours to sleep, after which I pull the blanket over my head and snore away to glory again :)

--> Standing all alone with my mom on the terrace on a peaceful late evening

--> Talking for endless hours with a close friend

--> walking alone along the shore very late in the evening, when the beach is emptying.

--> watching India win a nail biting finish

--> listening to 'Harivaraasanam' by Jesudas late in the night.

--> eating amma's saathumadhu and bisi bela baath.

--> giving a gift to a friend that they would most appreciate and watching the happiness on their face.

--> getting a call from someone very close when least expecting it.

--> visiting my good old college and sitting in the place where i used to sit, imagining my classmates to be around me

--> reading books that are supposedly 'kiddish' - Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha, Archie etc..

--> Taking a late night/early morning walk around the neighbourhood.

--> Visiting the neighbourhood Hanuman Koil at 9 PM, just about the closing time when there would be just one green bulb glowing above the lord, he would look astoundingly peaceful in that light and would radiate immense divinity.

--> Going to a cricket match and cheering for Team india, making the hands and throat sore with clapping and shouting!

--> Reading a book that would bring tears.

--> Just thinking about certain people who mean everything to me in my life.

--> visiting a person who likes me all of a sudden.

--> being visited by someone who I like all of a sudden!

and lots more.. will keep updating as and when I can think of them!!

I tag the same Makkal as in the earlier post!!

Books Tag

Tagged by Upas on July 1, 2007; just a tad late :P

1. Books that Changed Your Life:

There hasn't any book dramatic enough to change my life.

2.A Book that I have read more than once:

Harry Potter series
Timeline, Jurassic Park, The Lost World by Crichton
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer
Something Under the Bed is Drooling - Calvin and Hobbes
Weirdos Fom Another Planet - Calvin and Hobbes

3.A Book You'd Take onto a Desert Island:

All HP books
All Calvin and Hobbes books

4. Books That Made You Laugh:

again the same
all Calvin and Hobbes books (OBVIOUSLY)
Harry Potter series (Courtesy - Weasley Twins)
All Asterix books
All Tintin books starring the Adorable Captain
Jughead books :)

5. Books That Made You Cry:

As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer - I was wailing, couldn't control my tears at all.
A drop or two of tears rolled down my cheeks when I was reading Dumbledore's speech after the death of Cedric Diggory

6. A Book You Wish Had Been Written

The Ring, Dark Water and The Matrix Trilogy
An Autobiography by Dravid and Ganguly

7. Books You Wish Had Never Been Written:

I wish Sidney Sheldon had never been an author

8. Books You're Currently Reading:

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes :-D
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

9. Books You've Been Meaning To Read:

Chicken Soup
Lord of the Rings
The Kite Runner
The Chronicles of Narnia (All of them)

10.The other books worth a mention are

The Goosebumps series (especially 'The Give yourself Goosebumps' thingy) - I dont read them anymore
Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Deception Point is dumb)

I will tag - Asha, Naren, PA, Sindhu, VJ and Meera. Sorry if u guys posted this already :-D

The elusive 42

Damn you, you jinxed, bloody 42!! X-(

I hate you!! X-(

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Completed the book at 0408 hrs on 23rd July, 2007, Monday! Extremely disappointed that the book got over, well, all good things have to come to an end!! :( Anyway, reviews after all the euphoria dies down, I dont wanna spoil the fun and surprise for anyone who haven't read the book!! And yes.. every HP fan will be happy with the ending!!

FINALLY!!!

This took 1 hr 52 mins. PHEW!! I've never worked harder in my life!! I am truly happy!! :) :)




Thats a streak of lightning if in case u don't understand what its all about!! I know it doesn't look quite 'striking', but its pretty ok for a first attempt!! It was shot with my bro's N72 on sunday, 27th May, 2007 at 1903 hrs.

Friendship

Just a collection of a few pictures of animals that you wont normally see together. If they can do it, so can we..

Damien Martyn: A Tribute

Ya, I know its coming too late. I definitely have to write about one of the few Australians whom I admired. A cricketer who features in the list of players I love and adore and very importantly, gets a place in my list of likes just behin Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and Shane Bond. He is among those rare breed of players who come in, grace the field with some exotic shorts and leaves as quietly as they came in. The fact remains that Marto is still an underrated cricketer.
The amazing thing to be noted in his career is that he was never the same throughout. Martyn had an exile of 7 years from international cricket. The pre-exile Martyn and the post-exile Martyn were two polar personalities.


His debut in 1992 saw him as a rash 21 year old who flayed anything outside the off stump. In the 1993-94 season when Martyn threw his wicket at a crucial stage against South Africa and it costed Australia the match, Martyn was sent packing and it took him a total of 7 years to get back to international cricket. After his comeback, Martyn was a personification of class and elegance. If you want to show an aspiring cricketer how to play the shorts in the book, you can play any footage from Martyn's innings.
He was Australia's silent warrior in the 2003 World Cup until he pasted the Indian bowlers in the final for a blistering 88 with a broken finger. Damien Martyn came under the axe again after Australia's disastrous 2005 Ashes campaign, but was retained for the one day side. His chance came again when he was selected for the tour to South Africa where he played his way to a composed 101 and won the final test and the series for Australia. After this Martyn played a vital role in Australia's first ever champion's trophy victory. The 2006 edition of Ashes again saw his form dwindling and Martyn decided to move away gracefully after the first two tests.
One of the greatest ever cricketers who wielded the willow like a magic wand!! Cricket will miss Marto deeply!!

Whats a pronoun?

What is a pronoun? Hobbes gives us a very simple explanation. :-D

Not satisfied.. but happy!!

we'll get stronger and stronger.. :-) :-)

Greatest Test Matches Ever

Test cricket; even with the advent of very fast paced ODIs, scores looking to touch 500 in the shorter version of the game, with the rise of the twenty20 format, has not lost its flair. Test cricket has always fascinated me and will continue to do so. Since I have nothing to do on this lazy sunday evening, I have sat down to type in a few of the best test matches I have ever witnessed. This is just a list of tests that come to my mind, and hence will contain a list of only those matches that I have seen or followed. To refresh my memory, I of course used some help from cricinfo and wisden. If anyone feels I have missed a great epic, please add that to the comments. So, here goes

1. India vs Australia, Kolkata, 2001 - India won by 171 runs
The first test any Indian cricket fan would think of would obviously be the great test of Kolkata played from 11th to 15th of march 2001. After a severe 10 wicket beating in Mumbai, which incidentally brought up Australia's 16th consecutive test victory, India were definitely facing an uphill task; especially with day 3 dawning at a score of 128/8 in reply to a mammoth 445 posted by Australia in the first innings, the Indian fans were getting ready to see a 2-0 to Australia at the end of the day. On day 3, the inevitable happened, India were bowled out for a paltry 171, which meant a trail of 274 and of course a follow-on. The Indians started the 2nd innings in a confident fashion losing the first wicket at 52. When India lost the 4th wicket, the score was 232 and in walked Dravid, this is were it all started, an epic was written by two authors : Rahul Sharath Dravid and Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman; they amassed an amazing 376 runs for the 5th wicket, even more amazing was the fact that the Australians went wicketless the whole of the 4th day. On the 5th day, Laxman fell for 281 when the score was 608 and Dravid fell on 180 when the score was 629; Ganguly finally decided to declare when the score was 657/7. The rest of course, as they say, is history; set a target of 384, the Aussies were dismissed for 212 with Harbhajan Singh claiming 6 victims. India won the match by 171 runs ending a dream streak of 16 consecutive test victories and earning a place in history by becoming only the 3rd team in test history to win a match after following on.


2. India vs Pakistan, Chennai, 1999 - Pakistan won by 12 runs
The next test would be the match played on the 28th to 31st of January, 1999. India vs Pakistan, played in my home - Chennai. The match would be remembered by all cricket lovers for the sporting behavior of the crowd. After Pakistan snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the crowd stood up to give a standing ovation to the never-say-die attitude of the Pakistan Cricket team lead by the great Wasim Akram. India started off very well bowling out Pakistan for 228 in the first innings with Anil Kumble claiming 6 victims. The innings was held by a solid partnership of 63 between Mohammad Yousuf (53) and Moin Khan (60); and also a partnership of 60 between Moin Khan and Wasim Akram (38). India came into bat and could not capitalize on Pakistan's batting debacle and managed to get a first innings lead of just 16; thanks to a partnership of 53 runs between Dravid (53) and Ganguly (54); and also a good opening stand of 67 between Laxman (23) and Ramesh (43). Pakistan came into bat with a deficit of just 16 and lost Saeed Anwar before they could cover that. The score card read 11/1 and Ijaz Ahmed was dismissed when Pakistan were 42. At 42/2, Inzamam-ul-haq walked in and steadied the innings at one end while Afridi was taking the Indian bowling to the cleaners at the other end. By the time Inzamam got out, the score was already 139. Mohammad Yousuf got out when the score was 169 and at 169/4, the match took a decisive turn. Salim Malik walked in and scored a patient 32 with Afridi continuing the hard hitting and the pair added 106 runs for the 7th wicket. Pakistan finished with 286 and set the Indians a target of 271. India had a disastrous start losing both the openers with just 6 runs on the board. Dravid and Azharuddin then displayed some of the slowest batting ever witnessed in recent times; Dravid took 55 balls to get to 10 and Azhar snailed his way to 7 of 34 balls. The Indian 2nd innings also saw some of the worst umpiring decisions ever in test cricket history. Ganguly, Laxman and Kumble were victims of extremely idiotic decisions by umpire Ramasamy. At82/5, India were staring down the barrel. After that, the Chennai crowd witnessed one of the greatest innings of the little master, who, along with Nayan Mongia added 135 runs for the 6th wicket. The knock played by Sachin Tendulkar will go down as one of the best ever efforts in history and the knock can never be explained using words that are available in the oxford dictionary. After Sachin fell to Saqlain Mushtaq for 136, India were 254. With just 17 runs to win and 3 wickets in hand, India were sure favourites to win the match, but the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar came as a huge morale booster to the Pakistanis who gave a mere 4 runs to claim the remaining 3 wickets and finish off the Indian innings for 258 and claiming victory by a mere 12 runs.


3. Australia vs New Zealand, Brisbane, 2001 - Match Drawn
The match, though ended in a draw, will be remembered for Steve Waugh's daredevil declaration in the second innings. The toss was won by Fleming who invited the hosts to bat. Australia totally dominated the proceedings with an opening stand of 224 between Langer (104) and Hayden (136). The Kiwis came right back into the game when Australia lost the next 5 wickets for 39 runs. The scorecard read 263/6 and Gilchrist (118) steadied the ship with Warne (22) for a 39-run stand for the 8th wicket. Brett Lee then came out to play the innings of his life. Along with Gilchrist, Lee (61) added 135 runs for the 8th wicket. Steve Waugh declared the innings at 486 when Gilchrist got out. The match was interrupted by rain after New Zealand had started their innings and the batting was a lack-lusture performance. With O'Connor injured and the New Zealand innings reeling, Fleming decided to declare the innings at 287/8. This is where cricket won, with a trail of 200 runs, Fleming decided to declare the innings because he did not want a draw. As if that was not enough, Steve Waugh came up with yet another surprise declaration when Australia were 84/2, setting a target of 286 runs to the Kiwis. The Black Caps went after the target right away; Richardson, Fleming, Astle and Cairns all displaying some big hitting; when rain came in again, both the captains decided upon a draw with New Zealand just 12 runs short of the target. The man of the match award was given to Brett Lee for his 61 runs and 5 for in the 1st innings, but the true winners were Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming for their dynamic and bold captaincies.


4. Pakistan vs Australia, Karachi, 1994 - Pakistan won by 1 wicket
A real epic battle. The first test match of a 3-match test series. Mark Taylor won the toss and decided to bat first and the Aussies made a respectable 337, thanks largely to a 5th wicket 121 run stand between Michael Bevan (82) and Steve Waugh (73). Ian Healy also chipped in with a well made 57. Pakistan, who failed to capitalise on a good opening stand of 90 between Saeed Anwar (85) and Aamir Sohail (36), were bowled out for 256; handing a lead of 81 to Australia. The Australian second innings witnessed just one big partnership of 122 between Boon (114) and Mark Waugh (61) for the 3rd wicket. All the other scores were just single digits. Australia were bowled out for 232 setting a target of 313 to Pakistan. Saeed Anwar was playing his second good knock of the match, but was lacking support on the other side, he got out for 77 and the scorecard read 174/5 when he got out. With 139 needed and just 5 wickets in hand, Pakistan were in deep trouble. Another 2 wickets were lost in quick succession, now, the score was 184/7 and Pakistan were considered finished with Rashid Latif and Inzamam-ul-haq at the crease. They added 52 runs for the 8th wicket and when Latif got out, the score was 236/8. It sounded impossible - 77 needed with 2 wickets in hand; and it sounded even more improbable at 258/9. 55 runs needed, 1 wicket in hand, and battling against names like - Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, one man, Inzamam-ul-haq thought it was possible and he made it a reality with Mushtaq Ahmed at the other end. Scoring 7 boundaries and scoring at almost 10 RPO, Inzamam scripted a fairy tale and Pakistan beat Australia by 1 wicket to gain a 1-0 lead in the 3 match series.


5. Sri Lanka vs South Africa, Kandy, 2000 - South Africa won by 7 runs
South Africa bounced back from an innings defeat in the first test to gain a miraculous 7 run victory in the second test and squared the series 1-1. South Africa batted first after pollock lost the toss and managed a mere 253. The entire batting collapsed, the saving grace being a brilliant 124 run partnership for the 6th wicket between Klusener (118*) and Boucher (60). Sri Lanka followed up with 308 runs, the highlight of the innings being the 120 from opener Atapattu and Ranatunga's 54. The pair added 104 runs for the 5th wicket. South Africa's second innings did not have the best of starts. Already trailing by a 55 run margin, the Proteas lost their top 3 for just 50 runs on the board. A 71 run stand for the 4th wicket between Kallis and Rhodes gave a bit of relief and the scorecard looked much better at 121/4 when Rhodes was dismissed. South Africa looked desperate when they lost their first innings hero - Klusener for just 4 runs. South Africa were eventually bundled out for 231, setting a target of 176 runs. Though the target looked small and easily gettable, the track was wearing away and Nicky Boje was drooling to get on with things. Eventually Sri Lanka were bowled out for 169, 7 runs short of the target, with Boje picking 3 wickets. Ranatunga's 88, studded with 15 hits to the fence proved to be futile and South Africa squared the 3 match test series 1-1.


6. Australia vs India, Adelaide, 2003 - India won by 4 wickets
One of India's most sensational tours down under began on a summer day on the 4th of December, 2003. After stunning the world by taking a first innings lead of 86 runs with a brilliant 144 from the then skipper Saurav Ganguly, the match meandered to an exciting draw. With a performance that exceeded all expectations, India went into Adelaide for the second test high on confidence. Things started to go down hill for India the moment Ganguly lost the toss. Australia flayed the Indian bowling attack and finished the first innings at a staggering 556. Ricky Ponting doing the damage with a merciless knock of 242. The innings would have ended before Australia got to 500, down the order, Jason Gillespie wielded the willow to race to 48* with 6 hits to the fence. The Indian openers walked in with a daunting task ahead of them and found themselves in a spot of bother at 85/4. The dreaded Laxman-Dravid duo came together and memories of 2001 started to haunt the Aussies again. The ball started to fly all over the ground and the two were running relentlessly. By the time Laxman got out, the scorecard read a mammoth score of 388 and the damage had been done. After Laxman's wicket, Parthiv Patel offered some resistance and aided Dravid's knock of a lifetime. The Indian innings finally folded for 523, a deficit of a mere 33, something that the Australians would have never dreamt of after Ponting's massacre, but Rahul Dravid made life hell for the Aussie bowlers with a staggering 233 that still remains in every cricket lover's memory for the exotic and stylish drives and pulls. Australia walked in for a second time and the Indian bowlers, who were high on confidence after the batting assault, flattened the long batting order. The Aussies were done and dusted for 196. Agarkar had some answering to do after being labelled the 'Bombay Duck', and he replied with a 6/41. The Indians had some worrying to do when Gilchrist went on a rampage, otherwise, the match would have ended too soon. So, it was all very clear, 230 runs to re-write the history books for the Indians; and thats exactly what they did! The opening pair put up 48 after which the first innings hero walked in. The Aussies were still picking wickets at regular intervals at the other end, but Dravid soldiered on. It all looked as if Agarkar and Dravid, the two heroes of the match had to be together to finish it off, when Patel fell to Katich for 3 runs, the score was 229 and Agarkar walked in, Dravid finished it all up with a strong hit to the cover boundary and history was made. It was indeed a proud moment for Indian cricket and a prouder moment for a Dravid fan!!


7. Bangladesh vs Australia, Fatullah, 2006 - Australia won by 3 wickets
Yes, believe your eyes, it is Bangladesh vs Australia and the result is true, no april fool joke. Australia managed only a 3 wicket win here. Some say the match came close due to Australia's complacency, whatever was the reason, the minnows gave a real fright to the world champions and also lost a great chance to script a victory that would be etched forever in the memories of every cricket lover. One hot day in April, in Bangladesh, Habibul Bashar called the right side of the coin and decided to bat. Australia touring Bangladesh was voted as the joke of the year in my college. The 9th of april was a sunday and since there were nothing worthy of doing, we all decided to watch the match together to have some fun. We definitely did have fun, but not the way we thought. Every over for the first five overs, someone would say "a wicket in this over"; it never happened. A 50-run opening stand was the first shock of the match, Javed Omar fell when the score was 51. Then came the skipper; we all were confident the tumble would start there; proved wrong yet again!! 100/1, 150/1, 200/1; now come on, this is carrying things too far. The second wicket partnership was worth a mighty 187. Habibul Bashar finally fell to Stuart MacGill for 76 and the scorecard now read 238/2. There was a stunned silence in the room, and we were all silently hoping for a Bangladesh victory, too embarrassed to say it out to each other. It was too much to take for everyone when the scorecard read a score of 400/6 with Mohammad Rafique and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza at the crease. Finally, Bangladesh folded for 427 and now, talks of an upset were slowly creeping into the open forum. The star of the day, was of course - Shahriar Nafees; 138 runs of 189 balls with 19 hits to the fence; his knock was nothing short of pure, unadulterated entertainment! Mathew Hayden and Mike Hussey walked in and the thought was a century stand, when Omar and Nafees can do a 50 run stand against Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, surely, SURELY, Hayden and Hussey can do it against Mortaza and Hossain, right? Wrong!! score - 6/1, Mathew Hayden lbw b Mashrafe Bin Mortaza for 6, we all jumped for joy and saying to ourselves - this cant be happening, but I hope it is. Soon, it was 43/2, the skipper gone. 50/3, Damien Martyn; 61/4, Mike Hussey; 79/5, Michael Clarke!! WHATS HAPPENING??? Australia have lost half their side before getting to 100 and they are up against a score of 427! 93/6, Warne, now wait just a darn minute, it is gonna happen, we all confided, the match had us all drawn now, we were all involved in it as if we had been supporting Bangladesh for years together. Just when we started assuming Australia were finished, Gilchrist started flaying the ball, with Brett Lee providing solid support, the 63 run partnership dented the Bangladeshi chances a bit, but still, when Lee got out, the score was a mere 156 and the Aussies were still 271 runs behind; so, we were still hopeful of a follow-on, after all, they needed 72 runs to avoid a follow-on and had only 3 wickets to go. Gillespie decided to glue himself to the wicket and played to a defiant 26 of 88 balls and thus saved a follow-on embarrassment! The score was 229/8 when Gillespie was dismissed. The 9th wicket partnership was worth 39 runs with a brilliant contribution of '0' from Stuart Clark. Australia finally folded for 269 with a deficit of a 158 runs. We were now literally praying for a Bangladesh won and hoping for another blistering knock from Nafees. The start was a good one again, the first wicket stand was worth 48 and the lead was now beyond 200. The sad thing however was, it was Nafees who was dismissed. He played himself to a quickfire 33 of 38 before his stumps and a few hopes were shattered by a quick one from Brett Lee. After this followed a sad end to a fairy tale run. Bangladesh were bowled out for a 148 in their second innings, setting a target of 307 for the Australians. Even though the Bangladeshi second innings witnessed a batting debacle, 307 was not going to be easy to get on a 5th day pitch. The Aussies started off well, the opening pair contributing 64 runs before Hussey was dismissed. The second wicket partnership was the biggest dent in the Bangladeshi hopes and saw some merciless hitting from Hayden and Ponting. They together added 109 runs for the second wicket before Hayden was dismissed for 72 runs. At 173/2, it was still anyone's game. Wickets kept falling at one end while Ponting soldiered on at the other, at 227/7, things were looking good for Bangladesh; 80 runs to get for Australia and 3 wickets for Bangladesh, Gillespie again offered some resolute defending and gave maximum of strike to Ponting who finished Bangladesh with a classy 118 and saved the Aussies from tremendous embarrassment. A match that really had all of us in awe. One of the greatest test matches ever!

8. West Indies vs Australia, Antigua, 2003
The 4 match series had already been won 3-0 by Australia and this match was a dead rubber. It did not mean much for Australia, but it meant the world for West Indies. Steve Waugh had won the toss and decided to bat first. The Australians could manage only 240 against the West Indies attack and Jermaine Lawson ended up being the destructor-in-chief. Sending down a fiery spell of 19.1 overs, he returned figure of 7/78. Quite amazingly, a rare occurrence in test cricket, West Indies were dismissed for exactly the same number of runs. Australia came into bat for the second time with a 0 run lead. The second innings batting was in stark contrast of the one displayed in the first innings, Lawson was injured and could not continue beyond 6 overs and as a result, the opening pair made merry and contributed a hefty 242 runs. Langer got out for 111. Australia were finally dismissed for 417 runs, Matt Hayden doing the damage with a 177 and Steve Waugh being the only other notable contributor with an unbeaten 45 to his name. West Indies had to chase down 418 for a win and it was a very laughable matter considering the situation the team was in at that time. Till 74/3, the expected was happening, after which Lara and Sarwan decided to actually go for the kill. The pair added 91 runs for the 4th wicket. After Lara got out, Chanderpaul joined in the party along with Sarwan and made some astonishing strokes to put up a 5th wicket stand of 123 runs. Ridley Jacobs returned without scoring putting the Windies in a spot of bother at 288/6; but Chanderpaul soldiered on with Omari Banks and they added a valuable 84 runs for the 7th wicket. When Chanderpaul got out for 104, the scorecard read a healthy 372/7, Windies still needing 46 runs. Omari Banks stayed till the end with Vasbert Drakes for support and saw to it that his efforts did not go in vain and West Indies were home with 3 wickets to spare. The partnership between Chanderpaul and Sarwan is something that remains fresh in my memory till date.




Thats the lot I could come up with. Test matches will be added as and when they come to my mind.

An Excellent Strip

A superb C & H strip sent to me by Naren. Absolutely brilliant!! :-D :-D

Some memories

Just read the most recent post in Upas's blog, it made me very nostalgic and a lot of college memories surfaced all evening and even made me forget the Kiwis were squaring up against the Kangaroos this evening!! Seriously, what a life it was, I've missed nothing as much as I've missed those years, what would I not give to have all that back? Take anything, anything at all, those 4 years was my life!

The day we mobbed Sathyam Cinemas :



Varutha-padaadha Vaalibar Kazhagam (I) :

Varutha-padaadha Vaalibar Kazhagam (II) :


The Padips :


Seniors :

Our Awesome Juniors (I) :



Our Awesome Juniors (II) :



The most beautiful picture on the planet :


Love you guys! Life's worth living!!

Predictions!!

Well, this is post intended to predict the final 4 of this edition. If I have to give my reviews on how this WC has been so far, you would be seeing a lot of swear words here, as I want to refrain myself from profanity, let me not get into those details!!

Let me start from the match on the 1st of April :

Apr 1 : West Indies vs Sri Lanka
going by the current form, I see WI bowing out of the competition today. Even if they manage to beat the Islanders from the sub-continent who are in some serious form, WI will have to win all their 3 forthcoming matches and will also have to depend on other results, so, its goodbye home team (yet again). I see SL move to 4 points and WI at 2 points after this match

Apr 2: Bangladesh vs New Zealand
while Bangladesh will be upbeat facing New Zealand as they have done the damage in the warm up games, it will mean nothing for NZ, as they are in sublime touch and each player working as a unit, the morale seems to be high in the Kiwi camp. Kiwis will easily beat the Asian Lions and get their 2 points. So, NZ 6 points and Ban still on 0 after this match.

Apr 3 : Ireland vs South Africa
South Africa will definitely win this one, but as we have seen so far, the valiant Irish wont give up without a fight. The Proteas will be wary of the Irish bowlers as they already had a taste of them in the warm up games and they will still remember what a bitter taste that was. SA move to 6 and Ireland remain at 0 after this game.

Apr 4 : England vs Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka to pull of another victory here. England look thoroughly unconvincing after bringing the World Champions down before the start of the WC, Sri Lanka, easy winners here. SL move to 6 points and Eng remain on 2 points after this encounter.

Apr 7 : Bangladesh vs South Africa
You dont have to be Nostradamus to predict this. South Africa move to 6 points and Bangladesh remain on 0 after this match.

Apr 8 : Australia vs England
No, we will NOT see a repeat of the CB series final, Australia will win quite comfortably. Australia move up to 8 and England remain at 2.

Apr 9 : Ireland vs New Zealand
New Zealand will win here, but they will have to watch their step, cautious approach will do it for them. Many teams have a lesson to learn from India and Pakistan. New Zealand move to 8 and Ireland remain at 0.

Apr 10 : West Indies vs South Africa
Quite difficult to predict, but I will give it to South Africa because the middle order batsmen of both teams are faltering, but the top order of the Proteas are in better nick than the home team. SA move to 8 and Windies remain on 2.

Apr 11 : England vs Bangladesh
England will pull this one off, but again, wont be an easy win, not because of Bangladesh is strong, but because England is weak. England move to 4 points and Bangladesh remain on 0.

Apr 12 : Sri Lanka vs New Zealand
Very very difficult to predict this one, as my heart goes out for the Kiwis, I will give them the 2 points :-D New Zealand move up to 10 points and SL stay on 6.

Apr 13 : Australia vs Ireland
Nothing much to write about at all. Australia move up to 10 and Ireland stay at 0.

Apr 14 : South Africa vs New Zealand
60-40 in favour of NZ, only going by current form. NZ move to 12 and SA stay at 8.

Apr 15 : Bangladesh vs Ireland
Ireland will win this. I see more commitment in the Irish side than the Bangladesh side. They are here to prove a point. Ireland move to 2 points and Bangladesh remain on 0.

Apr 16 : Australia vs Sri Lanka
60-40 to Australia, definitely cant write off SL, they are looking good. Australia will move to 12 points and SL stay at 6 after this match.

Apr 17 : South Africa vs England
80-20 to SA, both teams not looking great, but, SA look more convincing in comparison to England. SA move to 10 points and Eng stay at 4 after this match.

Apr 18 : Ireland vs Sri Lanka
SL will win, quite convincingly too. SL move to 8 points and Ireland stay at 2 after this match.

Apr 19 : West Indies vs Bangladesh
WI will get their first win of the super 8 stage which will be of no use. WI move to 4 points and Ban stay on 0.

Apr 20 : Australia vs New Zealand
FINALLY!! Well, its gonna be New Zealand! :-D :-D :-D Dont ask me any questions!! New Zealand will move to 14 and Aus stay at 12.

Apr 21 : West Indies vs England
The last of the super 8 games where a win will do no good for both the teams! I see England winning this encounter though! Eng will move to 6 points and WI will stay at 4 points.


So, here we stand :

AUSTRALIA VS SOUTH AFRICA

NEW ZEALAND VS SRI LANKA

And I will stop my predictions here!! May the best team win!!

and yes, I would like to add :
GO KIWIS!!! :) :)

Blue team's Blues!!

I am not going to vent out my anger or frustration in this blog, mainly because I am not angry, but deeply dejected, disappointed and very badly hurt!!

I always was extremely confident you would go through, I knew before the WC began you would be beaten by B'desh, but I was dreaming of a strong comeback against Bermuda and Sri Lanka. My dear fellas, you never cease to disappoint me, but, something in me just keeps loving you guys, and I still trust, I never lose hope in you, you always have a special place in my heart, ALWAYS!! I keep hoping and praying and even as I type this, I am praying Bermuda will pull an upset and you will do well from there. Oh yes, I definitely am one of those crazy fans who hope till they are woken by the bitter reality.

Well guys, I really cant conclude this saying you tried your best, your best is MMIILLEESS away from what you have done, fortune favours only the brave, I dont think its gonna favour you in the form of Bermuda, because I dont think you deserve it, you know that, dont you?

Hope to see you guys in Antigua and Barbuda on 31st against Australia(or South Africa)!! If not we will start afresh in England.

A deeply hurt,
and a loving fan

Babble Tag!

I liked this one, so another copy-paste :-D

Since I have been tagged and cant think up of any appropriate title to this post, I use the same title that was used by the person who tagged me; so, here goes:

Its an extremely difficult task to bring out 5 things i miss in my childhood, because i miss the whole period. But, anyway, i'll try

1. I guess the top spot should go to the innocence of the days, i bet i am missing that a lot; the first thing that comes to my mind is the first question i asked my thatha when he took me to my school for my first day of Pre.Kg.; when all kids around me were crying, i kept a cool head and asked him pointing at the school building; "thatha, idhu ennadhu?" I would give all my wealth to have that innocence back. :)

2. Then of course, cricket, tennis ball, wooden bat, 3 in a team, 10 overs, 1 pitch catch, stones for stumps; nothing can beat it!

3. The days when all my neighbourhood friends gathered in my house to sit and watch cartoon network for the first time, i remember that day too well.

Before I go to the next post, I am not really sure I understood what i should be posting here correctly, what I am doing is, I am just posting some of the wonderful moments I had in my childhood days, I think I am wrong, right? Anyway, even if I am wrong, here comes the next:

4. The day India chased down Pakistan's 314, we really did not understand cricket completely in those days, but all of us were jumping around, 6 of us were there, and boy, we were definitely jumping around, I missed those moments when India bt Pakistan in the recent tour and India's victory in the 1st test against SA; I sure wish I had the same 5 around me to celebrate those moments.

5 And yes, of course, the way we all used to play - Hide and seek, running and catching, lock and key; in the spacious house thats 3 doors away from mine, suddenly my friend down the street brings his dog and then we all become the runners and the dog becomes the catcher! I loved it! :)

Oh boy, that sure made me very nostalgic! :) Childhood rocks!

Vetti Fifty!!

Oh! This took a lot of time, so am re-posting it!!
if u r vettin enough u can copy and paste ur comments too :-D
Thanks da Gadhai!
Here goes my 50 :

1. Were you named after anyone?
Anyone? Its one of Lord Krishna's names, I dont know about any person

2. Do you wish on stars?
Yup

3. When did you last cry?
I do that regularly, sans tears, though

4. Do you like your handwriting?
It sucks big time

5. What is your favourite meat?
Will my cousin sister's finger count as one? used to bite that a lot when i was 2 yrs old :-p

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
The lack of CDs on my shelf is what embarasses me!

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Yup..

8.Are you a daredevil?
Not at all

9. How do you release anger?
Throw something unbreakable on the wall! its very simplke, yr anger subsides and no damage done!

10. Where is your second home?
At this point of time, I would say the college I studied in

11. Do you trust others easily?
Very easily

12. What was your favourite toy as a child?
I had a Robot, a plane, a teddy and a doll that cries, laughs at the push of a button, was very pocessive about these 4

13. What class in school/college do you think is totally useless?
Languages!(yuck!) they should not make it compulsory

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Nope

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
Whats that?

16.What do you look for in a gal(/guy)?
Nothing specific

17. Would you bungee jump?
If someone takes the pain to compel me, I will

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
I do

19.what's your favourite ice cream?
Butterscotch

20. What are your favourite colours?
All kinds of blue

21. What are your least favourite things?
Thats a toughie, cant think of any now

22. How many people do you have a crush on right now?
None

23. Who do you miss most right now?
Hmmm... A LOT of things.

24. What are you listening to right now?
A variety of sounds; dad's switching the channels @ 2 pe second :-p

25. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
Blue

26. What is the weather like right now?
quite sultry

27. Last person you talked to on the phone?
former colleague- Vijay

28. The "first" thing you notice about the opposite sex?
The first thing any sane male would think about a totally stranger female would obviously be how she looks

29. Do you like the person who sent you this?
no comments :-p

30. How are you today?
Pretty ok, very sleepy though(as always)

31. Favourite non alcoholic drink?
Strawberry milk shake

32. Favourite alcoholic drink?
not tried any so far

33. Natural hair colour?
Black

34. Eye colour?
Brown

35. Wear contacts?
Nope.

36. Siblings?
No :-(

37. Favourite month?
April. Loved it when I was n school for the holidays, so, still loving it

38.Favourite food?
Chapathi, Paratha etc..

39. Favourite day of the year?
Nothing specific

40. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
I guess I am, haven't dared to ask anyone so far :-p

41. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy Endings! :)

42. Summer or winter?
Summer!

43. Holi or Diwali?
Diwali!

44. Do you like your name?
Yes!

45. What book/magazine are you reading?
Calvin and Hobbes - Yukon Ho!

46. What's on your mouse pad?
A faded blue with no writing and the edges peeling

47. What did you watch on TV last night?
ESPN-Star Sports-Ten Sports-Neo Sports-Discover-National Geographi-Animal Planet-Cartoon Network-Pogo

48. Favourite Smell?
A baby from the bath, it smells very nice

49. Have you ever regretted breaking up with someone?
Its never happened in my life

50. Most tiresome thing you’ve ever experienced/done?
getting up from my sofa and move to the fridge to get water!

Err.. Part II

My second blog, the first blog just ceased working, just like my orkut account and my gmail account, and so, forced to start another blog!! Lets start anew :-)