French Open on the Net

Whenever a cricket match is going on, especially if India is playing, then most of our PC's have atleast one window open which has the Scorecard on display. Does that affect our productivity? Well that is something debatable, depending on what position you work on! Yesterday during lunch when I was checking my mails and surfing, I remembered that French Open is in progress and I suddenly had a desire to check whats happening at the Roland Garros. www.frenchopen.org was the site I typed in the browser and it redirected me to Rolandgarros.com. Interesting! That is the word I would use to describe my experience on this site. With a color that gives you a feel of clay and features that make you stay on the site and explore more and more, visiting the site wants you to come back for more. Some of the features that impressed me a lot were the Online Scorecard, Virtual Tour of Roland Garros and The IBM Multimedia Console.

Yesterday was a bad day for Indians at the French Open. Both Mahesh Bhupati and Leander Paes lost their respective matches. The only Indian Challenge left is Leander in Mixed Doubles with the great Martina Navratilova. The women's singles had couple of interesting results. The 10th seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne ousting 2nd seeded Maria Sharapova and the French woman Mary Pierce beating top seeded Davenport. It would be nice to see these two ladies battling it out in the Final. Very much possible! In my opinion the match of the Tournament is going to be Mens 1st semi-final between World No 1 Roger Federe and the 18 year old Spaniard Rafael Nadal who is storming the Clay circuit. Ideally this should have been the final. Though I like Federer a lot I would want to see Nadal go through to the final and win the championship. Lets see!!
Cherio

Natalie Glebova - Miss Universe 2005

Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005. This 23 year old blue eyed beauty has been crowned as Miss Universe 2005 over contestants from 80 other countries. Answering "Always Remaining Optimistic" as the biggest challenge in life, Natalie will now embark on a year long journey to different parts of the world as the Official Miss Universe.

The 54th Miss Universe pageant was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Marked by various controversies the successful completion of the event is not just good for Tourism in Thailand, but the entire Tsunami hit South-East Asia. The region has to now leave the disaster behind and now concentrate on rehabilitation and development of these areas. The message by Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004, regarding the tsunami relief work was a step in the right direction. Lets hope that this event brings into focus the beauty of South-East Asia as a whole and reinvigorates the Tsunami relief work.

2 Nuts and a few loose Screws

The following is an account of a trip that me and my best friend Nirmal took, which resulted in one helluva adventure. Well before I begin the travelogue a couple of lines about Nirmal. Normal is Boring This is what holds true for Nirmal. Being serious about anything is a Crime! Laughs a minute is what you get when you are with Nirmal. I guess this basically sums up Nirmal, a great guy, who lives life to the fullest and has a unique ability to make you feel special. I was in Mohali for the weekend. Our Trip began on Sunday morning and ended on Monday evening. The log here is of Sunday.

22nd May, 8:45am, Mohali, The Confusion
It was a surprise that we were both awake at this time, considering the fact that we had gone to sleep at 1.30am. The previous night we were thinking about what to do and in the morning we had a hazy idea that we were thinking of going to Kasauli for the day.

Kasauli, situated 55 k.m. approx from Chandigarh, at 1927 meters is a quaint little town that seems to exists in a time wrap in an era that reminds one of the 19th century. Its colonial ambiance is reinforced by cobbled paths, quaint shops, gabled houses with charming facades and scores of neat little gardens and orchards. Kasauli is surrounded by a mixed forest of chir-pine, Himalyan oak and huge horse-chestnuts. Its narrow roads lither up and down the hillsides and offer some magnificent vistas.
Information as per himachaltourism.nic.in

Now the plan was to start somewhere around 9.30am. Reach Kasauli by 12.00pm, have lunch, trek around and be back by evening. "We will come back and cook dinner, save some money", was what Nirmal said.

22nd May, 9:45am, Mohali, The Start
Journey begins. Mode of transportation : Pulsar. Called City Beautiful, Chandigarh is no doubt the most planned city that I have seen. Broad roads, organised traffic and lot of trees on roadsides, offered good drive out of the city. Cruising at a comfortable speed we were soon out of Chandigarh, crossed Panchkula and reached Kalka. Beyond Kalka the climb starts. The weather had become pleasant, and the traffic was also thinning. A quick stop for a glass of Sugarcane juice and off we started again.

22nd May, 10:30am, Kalka, The Decision
I am a great admirer of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Among the achievements of the NDA government the one that I feel has directly affected all of us is the Golden Quadrilateral project. The National Highways have definitely become a lot better than they used to be. The other good thing is putting of boards indicating distances and directions to various places. It was on one such board that we saw Shimla 96kms. I read it out loud and I knew both of us were thinking the same thing when this fellow said, "Shall We!". The decision was made. Kasauli was off and Shimla was On. With a war cry of "YeeeeHaaaaaaaa!" he gunned the bike forward. After about 15 mins the practicality of our decision struck us. That we were going to Shimla and not Kasauli meant that we were not coming back that night. We were not prepared for an overnight stay. No change of clothes! One great thing about living in this age is "Plastic Money". As long as you have your cards (Debit/Credit), there is always an ATM around. On seeing the first ATM after our decision, we made a stop and withdrew some money. Next stop a garment shop. We bought T-Shirts and Windcheaters. It was only when I was paying the bill that I realised that we were very serious about our trip. Oh the fallacy of on the spur Decisions!! Or is it ??

22nd May, 11:15am, Kalka, Shimla Here we Come!
With a renewed energy and eagerness the journey continued. Both of us are good at quite a few things (I know this shows that modesty is not one of them) , but singing is not a talent in either of our resume. But when your friend is singing, even if it sounds awful, you still enjoy it. Feeling like Viru and Jay of Sholay, riding the bike, we too started screaming (that's not a mistake, our singing was more like screaming) Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Bhulenge...... Trading places every half an hour, our journey was slow and steady and very very enjoyable. I was driving at this point of time and we entered a town called Dharampur. We hadn't had anything in the morning, so we decided to stop somewhere and grab a bite. That's when I saw it!!!

22nd May, 12:30pm, Dharampur, Mocha or Latte?
Its a coincidence that my previous has been about my visit to Cafe Coffee Day. I was surprised to see a CCD here in this quaint little town. Without giving a second thought, I crossed the road and stopped the bike. Now this was going to be interesting. Hats off to guys of CCD to select such a picturesque location. Comfy sofa, Bryan Adams song playing and windows on three sides from which you see mountains and a valley, coffee never tasted better. Apart from a coffee pub on The Mall Darjeeling, this was the most exotic location that I had coffee. Relaxed and refreshed the pleasure trip resumed.

22nd May, 3:15pm, approx 5Kms from Shimla, The disappointment
The drive had been very pleasant, with lot of 2-5 mins stops to enjoy the scenery. As we had no plans of coming to Shimla in the first place, we had not bothered to pick up a camera. But as Nirmal said, "Keep these moments in your heart, they will last longer than a picture", we savored every moment. Shimla is actually visible from quite a far. What we saw did not appeal to either of us. Cluttered and crowded with lots of vehicles, it was not what we wanted. Both of us were brooding over this unexpected turn of event, we came across Himachal Tourism Information Office. Turning back was out of question and not in our nature. So what was left was to explore what laid ahead. For a change we came across a government official who was helpful. When we told him our predicament, he gave quite a few alternatives, places near to Shimla yet not very crowded. Among the places that he told us about, the one that appealed to us most was Fagu.

At a height of 2450 mtrs above Sea Level, Fagu is located 22kms from Shimla on Hindustan-Tibet Road. It has enchanting views of the Himalayas and offers a stay of solace and sojourn.

Taking a road map and information about the Himachal Tourism Hotel at Fagu, we made up our mind that 22 more kms were a piece of cake. We had one work in Shimla, to draw some money from an ATM, having been forewarned by the person at the Tourism office that phone connectivity is not so good at Fagu, our cards may not work there. On enquiring where the ATM was, one man told us its just above this particular junction! A typical hillstation direction. Above! Below!, not Beside, Ahead or Behind. Just Above turned out to be quite a climb. It took me exactly 15mins to reach the ATM. By the time I reached, I was huffing and puffing. Man am I out of Shape! With the monetary aspect taken care off, there was nothing else in Shimla that was holding us. A kick on the bike (A press of Ignition Switch to be more accurate) and off we were once again. The drive from Shimla to Fagu turned out to be a bit more steep than what we had encountered so far. Difficulties not withstanding, we went ahead. The weather had become pretty cold by this time and was time to use those newly purchased WindCheaters. Stopping intermediately, we reached Fagu at around 4.30 pm.

22nd May, 4:30pm, Fagu, The Problem
Reaching the Himachal Tourism Hotel at Fagu, we were very pleased. We had come almost 160 kms from Chandigarh in one piece and the Hotel was at a very pleasant location. Things going 100% perfect, now that must be happening only in Utopia! The lady at the receptions says, "Sorry Sir, We are full! You can come back tomorrow afternoon, there may be a room by then". Come back tomorrow afternoon!!! Where are we supposed to sleep tonight? On the mountains? Not that it was such a bad idea, but then we didn't want to push our luck anymore. So dejected, we came out of the hotel. We had seen boards of three hotels on our way. Two were located on top of a hill and one on the road. So we decided to try our luck in these hotels. Snow View Resort 1000 mtrs ahead, read one board. These 1000 mtrs turned out to be equivalent to around 3 kms on normal road. Winding up the mountain, this was the worst treatment that we had given to beloved Pulsar so far. When the Resort was still 400 mtrs ahead we came across a small tea shop. Stopping there we decided to have a cup of tea and get our bearings.

22nd May, 5:00pm, Fagu at height of 9000 ft, Trek 1
The tea shop was selling Maggie. We ordered two plates and it was the tastiest Maggiee that I have had. We asked the person as to how much would the room rates be in this Resort. When he told us that the starting rate is Rs 4000/- for a room, sleeping on the mountains became more of a possibility. There was a group of guys who were relaxing there. One of them heard of our conversation and approached. They were staying in Shimla and told us that we should drive back and stay in Shimla itself. Now this was not an option that we even wanted to think about and told him so. We had two more hotels to check, who knows one of them might fit in our range. These guys were about to trek for about an hour and then head back. He offered us to come along with them. Forgetting that we were yet to fix a place for the night, we took him up to his offer and joined the group. During the introductions, it turned out that they worked in a Gurgaon based company, in which I had couple of friends. The world is really a small place! The trek was absolutely breath-taking. I mean this both literally and figuratively. I was out of breath by doing the climbing! Finding a suitable place to rest and relax we took in our surroundings. Oh what a Wonderful World! The pine trees, the sun rays seeping in through the clouds and the forest, heaven must be a place like this! Though physically tired, mentally I was feeling very fresh. We climbed down back to the tea shop where our vehicles. These guys offered that they would check the remaining two hotels with us and if we didn't get an accommodation there we should drive back to Shimla with them. We finally got accommodation in the road side hotel. The room was nice with hot water and a balcony that opened to a view of terrace gardens. Incredible sight! Saying our goodbyes to the newly made friends, hastily ordering some food, we crashed on the beds.

22nd May, 7:30pm,Ras Resort Fagu, The Party
Woken by the waiter bringing our food, we refreshed a bit, had the food and went back to sleep. If you are thinking that our day had ended, as even I thought at that time, then think again. My sleep was disturbed by sound of Bhangra songs. I saw the time. It was 11:15 pm. I peaked out of the window and saw some kids dancing around a bornfire. Now I wasn't going to miss the chance of warming my toes over the bornfire. Waking my buddy, we went out to the verandah, where these kids were dancing and enjoying. Clapping our hands and shaking our legs to the tune of the music we warmed ourselves. Soon the kids who were on a school trip, went back in. Both of us sat beside the fire. It was a wonderful moment, I was able to think so clearly. There are certain things about which I am confused or not very sure, but sitting there I was able to logically reason them. Both of us shared our dreams and visions with each other. It was the best time of our trip.

The next day we woke up early and went on a trek again. After trekking till 10.30 am we came back to the hotel and started our trip back. The return trip back was equally exciting. This was a trip that bonded our friendship even more. This was a trip which made me mentally fresh and clear on certain things that had been on the back of my mind. As I didn't want that trip to end, so also I am in a dilema as to how to end this post. I guess the best way would be to reinstate the title, what the two Nuts , me and my friend did because of our few loose Screws :-)
Until Next Time
Cherio

Its not just Coffee!!

Cafe Coffee Day! A place that I used to visit regularly in Chennai, provided many a pleasing and amusing moments. Barring a couple of times, the selection of Coffee among the varied assortments was done for me by a friend of mine with whom I used to visit the place. Knowing that the order anyway is to be placed by someone else, I never bothered to have a detailed look at the menu. The other day I went to CCD here with some guys. That was the first time I had a real look at the offerings of CCD. Man was I dumbfounded to see Coffee having so many names !! Whew the interest of having a coffee was slowly reducing trying to read menu items which required a dictionary to aid in pronounciation and meaning.

My thoughts went to an article by Dave Barry that I had read on coffee!! Here it is for your amusement.

DECAF POOPACINO HAPPENS

DAVE BARRY

I have exciting news for anybody who would like to pay a lot of money for coffee that has passed all the way through an animal's digestive tract.

And you just know there are plenty of people who would. Specialty coffees are very popular these days, attracting millions of consumers, every single one of whom is standing in line ahead of me whenever I go to the coffee place at the airport to grab a quick cup on my way to catch a plane. These consumers are always ordering mutant beverages with names like ''mocha-almond-honey-vinaigrette lattespressacino,'' beverages that must be made one at a time via a lengthy and complex process involving approximately one coffee bean, three quarts of dairy products and what appears to be a small nuclear reactor.

Meanwhile, back in the line, there is growing impatience among those of us who just want a plain old cup of coffee so that our brains will start working and we can remember what our full names are and why we are catching an airplane. We want to strike the lattespressacino people with our carry-on baggage and scream ''GET OUT OF OUR WAY, YOU TREND GEEKS, AND LET US HAVE OUR COFFEE!'' But of course we couldn't do anything that active until we've had our coffee.

It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts. I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smack-a-cino with cinnamon sprinkles.

The reason some of us need coffee is that it contains caffeine, which makes us alert. Of course it is very important to remember that caffeine is a drug, and, like any drug, it is a lot of fun.

No! Wait! What I meant to say is: Like any drug, caffeine can have serious side effects if we ingest too much. This fact was first noticed in ancient Egypt when a group of workers, who were supposed to be making a birdbath, began drinking Egyptian coffee, which is very strong, and wound up constructing the pyramids.

I myself developed the coffee habit in my early 20s, when, as a ''cub'' reporter for the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., I had to stay awake while writing phenomenally boring stories about municipal government. I got my coffee from a vending machine that also sold hot chocolate and chicken-noodle soup; all three liquids squirted out of a single tube, and they tasted pretty much the same. But I came to need that coffee, and even today I can do nothing useful before I've had several cups. (I can't do anything useful afterward , either; that's why I'm a columnist.)

But here's my point: This specialty-coffee craze has gone too far. I say this in light of a letter I got recently from alert reader Bo Bishop. He sent me an invitation he received from a local company to a ''private tasting of the highly prized Luwak coffee,'' which ''at $300 a pound . . . is one of the most expensive drinks in the world.'' The invitation states that this coffee is named for the luwak, a ''member of the weasel family'' that lives on the Island of Java and eats coffee berries; as the berries pass through the luwak, a ''natural fermentation'' takes place, and the berry seeds -- the coffee beans -- come out of the luwak intact. The beans are then gathered, washed, roasted and sold to coffee connoisseurs.

The invitation states: ''We wish to pass along this once in a lifetime opportunity to taste such a rarity.''

Or, as Bo Bishop put it: ''They're selling processed weasel doodoo for $300 a pound.''

I first thought this was a clever hoax designed to ridicule the coffee craze. Tragically, it is not. There really is a Luwak coffee. I know because I bought some from a specialty-coffee company in Atlanta. I paid $37.50 for two ounces of beans. I was expecting the beans to look exotic, considering where they'd been, but they looked like regular coffee beans. In fact, for a moment I was afraid that they were just regular beans, and that I was being ripped off.

Then I thought: What kind of world is this when you worry that people might be ripping you off by selling you coffee that was NOT pooped out by a weasel?

So anyway, I ground the beans up and brewed the coffee and drank some. You know how sometimes, when you're really skeptical about something, but then you finally try it, you discover that it's really good, way better than you would have thought possible? This is not the case with Luwak coffee. Luwak coffee, in my opinion, tastes like somebody washed a dead cat in it.

But I predict it's going to be popular anyway, because it's expensive. One of these days, the people in front of me at the airport coffee place are going to be ordering decaf poopacino. I'm thinking of switching to heroin.

A Lazy Sunday

How do you spend a Sunday, when you have practically nothing to do? Ideally, if you are in a new place then exploring the place is what you should do. But if the mercury has touched 42 degrees at 11.00am itself, venturing outdoors can be suicidal. So your options are limited to doing something in your house (in my case in my room). But then what do I do? This was the dilemma that I was in yesterday. Somehow I have become an early riser. I get up at 5.30 itself and my morning chores are over at the most by 7.00. Breakfast was over by 8.00. Went for a head massage and was back by 9.30. A long day ahead with two companions, a novel which I intended to start reading and my Laptop.

One of the reasons for me to take this particular room was that there is a bathtub in the bathroom. But once I started living in this place I realized that the bathtub is pretty small for me. I guess it to be at the most four and half feet in length which is good enough for some one between 5'3" and 5'8". Myself being just a bit over 6', I would have a real difficult time adjusting in it. Once I realized this, everytime I looked at the tub, I felt a pang of jealousy. The other thought that kept me away from the tub was that having come from Chennai and seen the acute water shortage there, I felt a bit guilty using so much water! But yesterday I decided to throw caution to winds and venture out into an unchartered territory, a frontier that was as of then unconquered by me. I decided to use the bathtub. Once the mind is made up, nothing can stop the implementation. I filled up the tub, set up an assortment of songs ranging from my favorites like Brayan Adams, Chris de Burg to Aerosmith and Junoon on dear old winamp, took the novel and entered into the tub. It was a bit of a struggle fitting into it, but soon I was comfortable enough, I could relax and read the novel which was what I wanted.

O Jerusalem! by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapier is what I had to give me company. I am not really into such serious reading. The only serious reading that I do is Ayn Rand, which I do time and again. Everytime I read The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged I learn something new. Anyway this was my first Dominique Lapier. Having heard about City of Joy and Freedom at Midnight by the same author, I knew this was yet another unchartered territory for myself. O Jerusalem ! is a novel about Jews, their two thousand year struggle to get an Identity, to get a state of their own. It is the story of Jerusalem the City of Peace! A bibilical city which has seen birth of three religions from its soils. A city torn by war and bloodshed from time immemorial. It details the cirumstances in which the State of Israel was formed and the bloody aftermath that followed and is still following.

My only contact with Israelis, or Jews for that matter was in 1994-95. I was in Jaipur. There was some pact signed between the Indian and Israeli governments. To promote more people to people contact between the two nations, two Israeli students had been invited to tour various schools of India. They had come to our school too, and I was one among the few who were selected to interact with them. Their group consisted of a girl who was in her 12th grade and a boy who was in his 11th grade. There are a couple of things that they told that I still remember very clearly. In Israel people stay in places called Kibutz. A kibutz is a self-contained communal village. All activities in a Kibutz are community oriented, for eg there is community farming. The children above 5 years of age in a kibutz do not stay with their parents but in a common house run by the school. Schooling there is free upto 12th grade and compulsory upto 10th grade. Three years of military service after his school is compulsory for every boy and two years for every girl. They showed us a video of their Kibutz, and it was pretty impressive.

All this while I knew that Israel was created out of the erstwhile Palestine in 1947. It was a home for Jewish immigrants from all over the world post the holocaust. But did the Jews come to Jerusalem and its surrounding areas only after World War II? How did they establish themselves there? What is the official recognition for the State of Israel? All these were questions which I had not even thought about! Having started reading this book I realized that Israel was not created by a swish of a magic wand! Infact the Jews had started coming to Palestine right after World War I itself. Slowly the Jewish population started increasing and so also the movement to have a separate Jewish State gathered momentum. The state of Israel was created out of a UN resolution which partitioned Palestine into Israel and Palestine. What followed this vote was a blood bath which is continuing till today! Surrounded by Arab nations on all sides, the Israelis have fought many a battles, to ensure their survival.

The pace and the content of the book was so engrossing that I did not realize that I had spent three hours in the bathtub. It was only when a friend living in the next room started banging my door, asking me to join for lunch, that I realized so much time had passed. Well I haven't finished reading the book, but in whatsoever I have read so far, I can without hesitation say that if History is your cup of tea, if you want to read about the struggle of a race to establish their identity, then this is one book that you cannot afford to miss. I will surely write more about this once I have finished reading it.

Wish you all a great week ahead!
Cherio!!

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Are you spooked today? If you are then you have Paraskevidekatriaphobia !! The fear of Friday the 13th. Whew! I never would have imagined that there is a word in the dictionary for this. The superstition that a Friday on the 13th day of a month is not a good sign is actually widepread and it dates back to ancient times. In America, it is the most widespread superstition. People do not drive, won't eat in restaurants, no important function like wedding or starting something new on a Friday if it happens to be the 13th. And I thought only us Indians had such superstitions!

A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in many superstitions. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia, a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen.

The origins of the Friday the 13th superstition has been linked to the fact there were 13 people at the last supper of Jesus, who was traditionally crucified on Good Friday, but it probably originated only in medieval times. Another suggestion is that the belief originated in a Norse myth about twelve gods having a feast in Valhalla. The mischievous Loki gatecrashed the party as an uninvited 13th guest and arranged for Hod, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Baldur, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Baldur was killed and the Earth was plunged into darkness and mourning as a result. Yet another belief is that the arrest of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights on Friday, October 13, 1307 by King Philip IV of France is the origin of this superstition. That day thousands of Templars were arrested and subsequently tortured. They then 'confessed' and were executed. From that day on, Friday the 13th was considered by followers of the Templars as an evil and unlucky day.

Here in Delhi too I have come across couple of guys who were talking about being careful today. On my saying that it was just a superstition, they justified by quoting the tragic incidence of the Upahaar Cinema fire. It was a Friday the 13th in 1997 when a fire engulfed Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi, in which around 59 people lost their lives. I remember there used to be a Trojan which used to affect computers if the date happened to be Friday the 13th. Atleast that is what I remember having read somewhere. Well atleast is perfectly believable. So the first thing I did today on logging on to the office network was to disable the anti-virus of my machine, in hope that my machine would get concked off and I wouldn't have to work today! Alas nothing happened! As you can see its still working fine and I am getting back to my work.

Well I didn't know that some guys who actually wait for my post. Thanks Kalbums, yes I will definitely post more regularly and Naresh I am working on that Animal Adventure.

Cherio

That Four Letter Word!!!

That Four Letter Word!. What word to your mind if you think of That Four Letter Word. Hmmm!! Anyways That Four Letter Word that I am talking about is a movie that is being made by journalist/film-maker Sudish Kamath. The movie is about a bunch of friends who are in the process of discovering themselves. I am not going to write more about the movie cause I want you to see the TFLW blog yourself and find out what Four Letter Word are these guys talking about.

The main reason I am excited about this project is because my good friend 'Evam' Sunil is acting in this movie. I wish Sunil and every body else involved all the very best and I hope that the project is successful. I am putting some pictures of the TFLW photo shoot here without Sudish's permission, but somehow I feel he won't mind if he comes to know about it.

Pictures ctsy: That Four Letter Word : Blog. Visit the blog for complete Photo Shoot.

Hey Sunil, you were rocking in all the Evam productions and I am sure you will keep rocking in every other venture of yours. Guys don't forget to catch this movie cause knowing Sunil (and Praveen), and having seen Cray on SS Music I am sure that we are in for a joyride.

Cherio