I hail thee, Brian Charles Lara.

Last couple of years has been what cricketers call “a purple patch”. It was a dream runs for any batsmen where he does not score run he piles them up, no different with Lara. He like Shane Warne has been mercurial on the field. When it’s his day, come rain or thunder; McGrath or Murali, he fights fire with fire.
When I woke up the clock showed ten minutes past ten and I switched onto the Start Sports with Lara not out on 10 runs more for two hundred. I remember Shane Warne quoting “He is due for big one.” The signs were so onus that the Wizard for waiting for the once proclaimed prince to besiege the rightful throne of highest runs scorer in Test Match history.
A great feat in itself. Let me take you through how Lara got his last eight runs i.e. from 192 to 200 not out. It was an evening Adelaide pitch. Bret Lee with the red cannon ball in his hand; running towards Lara like a raging bull. The ball is dug in short Lara seizes the opportunity and behind square for a power thud boundary. I know Adelaide Oval has small boundaries at the square*
Bret Lee not amused, place a fielder in the same position and again pitched the ball short hurling it towards his ribs. Lara a better puller and hooker among the present genre of batsman struck it well in front of square. The ball went past the boundaries before one could say L-A-R-A.
Warne and Lara an odd comparison to make. Many who follow cricket will agree but I would like to bring forward a few comparisons before we get onto the debate of “Lara Vs Tendulkar” debate. Both have been mercurial for their respective sides. But both have alone ensured victory the day when tide was against them. Both have been hugely flamboyant and always shrouded in controversy and some malaise drawing controversy and excelling at what they do best, playing cricket. If you happen to go and check out Wisden, The Bible of Cricket one will realize that Warne is a bowler who has captures more Test wickets than any body and Lara has scored more runs than any other batsmen in history of the game.
But scoring runs and not winning is what might be hurting Lara the most, in the past two years all his runs have been for losing cause. When he toured Sri Lanka he made 688 runs with an average of 114 runs per inning and West Indies were whitewashed.
If I may, if we compare him to Tendulkar he has matched him for stroke play and balanced the consistency of Tendulkar with his huge line of scores in excess of two hundred (I prefer calling it double century). Tendulkar prefer playing straight Lara prefer the square of the wicket region. But both are strong cutters and pullers. Lara is more fidgety shuffles around the crease a lot. Tendulkar is one of the most correct batsmen the game has seen. Both have dismissed teams on their own and demolished attacks alone. Tendulkar has four or more and Lara has nine. He has 31 centuries these include nine double centuries, one triple century one quadruple century (400 not out) all the in a Test arena and he also has a 501 not out in county cricket.
It may be on television but I have seen some innings of Lara which include:
A century in 2003 world cup where he sent South Africa packing.
An emotional 153 not out versus Australia
A double hundred against South Africa in South Africa.
Of course a 400 not out against England to save a match.

Lara stats are one which you can see with much awe and much more respect. At some point in future he will hang his gloves and Tendulkar will surpass his record Lara is shining and shining brightly as he has always done. When people will sit and talk of panache, flamboyance and uneasy drives cuts and flick to the square boundary people will bow to thee, Brian Charles Lara.
if you wish to check out any stats of any player who ever played cricket kust follow Wisden
*Square is nothing but number of adjacent strips in the ground which are used to prepare a pitch for playing cricket.

About: An estranged city

The city which I am visting,namely Mumbai after long days seems to be growing leaps and bounds.I have studied all my life here.The view of marine drive still enthralls me as it did the first time I saw it as a kid.I will try to go there this time too and get some pictures to upload.
Anyways my life these days in not much except listening to FM radio and may be odd movie and some where at thge back of mind I have a few worries of my studies.Anyways to my dismay/horror/expectation for some reason I bought the morning newspaper (The Times of India) you get 48 pages of gossip, gossip and lots of page three and some news here and there.I opened the Education time and I realised the answers to CAT 2005 were given.I am getting scores between 38 to 41 now on what I calculated i may get calls from SP Jain,MICA and MDI I will be applyimg for few more like IMI and TAPMI.
Any correspondents to CAT 2005 please feel free to mail/tag/comment on the page.
I hope my dreams come true.

About: CAT Update.

All said and done.The preparation for ages was consumed in minutes, 120 mintues to be precise.Well i heard people say "The pattern was different this year".Well has it been same at any point in time?If one starts predicting CAT, thre great Michelle Nostradamus might come back to life again.
The details of pattern was as follows.
S 1a 1b 2a 2b 3a 3b
Q 10 20 10 20 10 20
M 10 40 10 40 10 40
A 03 07 07 12 06 04

S=Section,Q=Number of questions M=marks per section A=Number of question I Answered
The game is not over yet,so are the prayers.I hope I move forward towards next phase of my life.I will try and keep postede as to what happens next.
So Long...........keep visting :-D

The Final Count-down....

Someone bought to my attention that "in the end" is a Linkin park song rather than a Limp Bizkit one> I know it is it just that when ever i sit to write my blogs there is "Winamp" running in the background and it tends to distract the attenion for the span.
The radio channels in Mumbai do great serivce to this never-die-city.I think radio has great potential specially FM channels.ANyways it will less than a day when my fate of joinh a b-school will be seized.I have a toughtless mind.I don't want to think anything.I just know one thing,ok there are 170,000 odds students who will be appearing.I have not added couple of zeros for fu, b'coz b-schools are serious bussiness.
Anyways I would like to ride my luck any hope that it carries me through as it has done all way life.Best of luck to all those who will read these and appear in CAT.

About: Mission - CAT

A CAT has nine lives.This one has how many I dont know I believe I am going to give my best shot at CAT.As of you who dont know what CAT is,its not an animal it is a exam,a ticket to perhaps India's best bussiness schools.I hope I come good and "bell the CAT".I dont know whats going to happen next but i will keep my blogs posted.This is perhaps one blog which I could not thought of much but I just wanted to post a post so that every one can hope and pray coz I think with hard work one needs good luck and good will."In the end it doesn't even matter" says *Linkin Park*,Let me check it once in life.I am leaving for Mumbai,which is my test center.I hope everything goes well.Wish and pray for me,Till there is hope.....
*Correction done I hope

Blog (un)Buttons

About: Three Amigos, Three Actors, All Legendary.

The three actors which I am talking about need little introduction if one follows Hollywood. I believe most people reading this blogs do so. I hope I am not wrong in what I believe.
I am talking about Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. All of them are contemporaries and have done well in leading as well as supporting the films which many of us have a good expperince of watching. At-least we do not regret watching these movies. All of the above mention actors have over the years achieved a certain mastery over the things and the manner in which they are done. Add Gene Hackman to this list too. The reason of special mention of these actors is the confusion which they bring in. I have seen a lot of DeNiro and Pacino but not much of Hoffman.
All these actors bought forth a lot of vigour; in the sense they seem to fit the characters just like a hand in glove. I always had a confusion regarding names and faces of these actors. Its always been ones face and the others name. I think they are all time leading and now great support actors and they have truly earned whatever they have after all these years.
I would like to recommend these following films featuring these actors.
Robert DeNiro: Taxi Driver, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Casino, Godfather
Dustin Hoffman: Meet the Fockers, The Runaway Jury, Kramer versus Kramer
Al Pacino: Devil’s Advocate Donnie Brasco.

Blog Page Vs Home Page.

Is there really a competition between the two? Or are they the same book having a different cover page? What do you prefer? A Blog page or a home page? If I am asked I would opt for Blog Page. It’s just a perception but I think Home Page has a lot more hassles to keep on updating the page. I think this is the main reason my so many of us who always dreamt of Home Page end up making a Blog page.
Blog Page I think they are easy to build and maintain. This way I have some of my footprints on the net. At least, my virtual life is spent beyond coming online just to check mails and disconnect after getting disheartened to see spam in my inbox. As long is internet provide me free tools I will continue to evolve my Blog page. Moreover I have a sense of belonging to what I can call my own.
It is in a way also gives me a framework. It is beyond just dumping the thoughtless crap on net. I don’t know how many of you are regular to this page, but I know that a casual net-surfer who shares the same language might just land up on my page and leave a worthwhile comment which opens a new Pandora’s Box of ideas. At least he can understand what I have written.
There are some wonderful things one can add or edit so as to get the look of his page just right. I also of late have been doing lots of Blog hopping. I happen to by chance land on some pages that caught my eye. Some had really beautiful photographs, some whose page setup was wonderful. The best part is to check out when that page was started. When I see that some of them started at the same time as I did then I am filled with a sudden sense of honour and pride.
I exactly don’t know the reason for it. I have learned a lot from blogging for the past few months I have been blogging. As one Chinese saying goes “A journey of thousand miles starts with a single step”. The one thing I know is the journey has just started…….

Blog: Give me Red.

I believe in signs coz I think events of the future cast their shadows on the future. For the past few months now the colour red is drawing my attention. I firmly believe that men have a very restricted range of colours in which they can choose from. The western formal wear may consist of navy blue-grey-black coloured trousers, there are off course other colours but people tend to choose from above so as to look suave. There are some better choices in shirts starting with whites, blues, lightest shades of pinks and a whole lot. I like white shirts a lot and I have not met many who hate whites. Then there is off course black.
One of the few limited colours is Red, from my wardrobe. I am eagerly waiting to find a red colour shade of my choice I have already seen five to six shops and I could not get it even in a busy shopping season of Diwali. Either the size is not there or the colour. I have been running crazily for a red shirt for almost four months now. I know I will get it some day. Moreover when ever I sit and “channel surf” there is someone on some channel wearing a red shirt and I don’t know when shall I have that colour.
There is only one colour when it comes to Denims….. BLUE…..Other colours for men’s denims can be hanged!! When it comes to casuals trousers I prefer light brown and light colours which can be worn as a party wear as well as just going to have a cup of cold coffee. Shorts: if you are like me they just need to catch hold of your eye and you know this was a God send. What I did way back two summers ago was to cut my denims into half pants and then few days later to “One Fourths” as I would call them. In the summer heat of Nagpur they did help.
Coming to T-shirts, yes this is one type of clothing which can match the variety seen in women’s apparel. There is a huge variety of print, colour, collar, etc. I personally like printed T-shirts they seem to carry hilarious messages. The one I have reads “I graduated from the best college money could buy.”
I for some reason think that men have more colours to choose from when it comes to formal Indian ethnic wear namely the “Kurta”. I got a nice light coloured with nice embroidery around the buttons. One can choose from lengths as well.
I think it’s high time to get out of BLUES and check into REDS

About: Happy Birthday, Bryan Adams

Today 5, November is birthday of one of the great musician who has inspired to great lengths. Happy Birthday,Bryan Adams. I may not be able to ever see him or get his autograph but the internet has really made the world just a click away. So through the internet I would like to wish Bryan Adams a happy birthday. I wish that you keep on churning great tracks and keep rocking in your live shows. I wish to attend them someday. I would also request him to play in India as often his fan because his fans will never ever have enough of him.
The lyrics from one of my favourite Bryan Adams track.

Summer Of '69.

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it til my fingers bled

It was the summer of '69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit and Jody got married

I shoulda known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Ya - I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'

When you got a job to do

Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in

And that's when

I met youStandin' on your Mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of '69

Man we were killin' time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

I guess nothin' can last forever - forever, no

And now the times are changin'

Look at everything that's come and gone

Sometimes when I play that old six-string

I think about ya wonder what went wrong

Standin' on your Mama's porch

You told me it would last forever

Oh the way you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of '69.

Some more of you Bryan.....

Cricket: Cricket Again

Well cricket followers would be gleefully accepting the gifts offered to them this Diwali and Eid. The team is churning out key performers and match winners. One can take a gauge from the fact that it’s been just thrice in seven years that Team India has continuously won four matches.
There are players like Ganguly and Kaif who are struggling to get a place into the side. Well done Team India. I think Ganguly needs to have a reality with life and let go of India captaincy. I think he has some important innings to play in ODIs as well as Test. He has to make a big transition from being a drag especially in Test Matches where he seems lost, to a performing asset like Tendulkar. There were a many that had sounded death knell for Tendulkar and almost sent him packing in history. But cricket is a weird game it throws up things which were never expected.
As expected as Devon Smith, an opening batsman in a struggling West Indies team. They called shots for over two decades in cricket and now everyone just shoo them away. They have been decline for decade now. A prime example of cricket being a bunny of politics. Lara is the only player of some repute; others are just too mercurial and too flashy to be sought after. Lara is mercurial too; he too has been dumped by his critics some where down the test series he too will hit a blistering tonne stamped with class and authority of a Brian Charles Lara. It doesn’t get any mercurial.
Ponting is some what an antonym of mercurial. He is a key and dependable member of the great Aussie decimating machine that picks up Test wins as easily as picking up rose buds from my backyard. Ganguly are you reading take a look at Ponting. He has century in each inning, five centuries in as many innings against West Indies. The series has just started and he already has two tonnes. There is not much the West Indies can do except pray. Pray is a key word that’s what the Lankan would be doing for the next few days.
I have been praying a lot too. There is a big test coming on for me too which promises to change my life. It called CAT. It is not for the faint hearted. There are people who say, if a problem is like a bull then take it by its horns. What should one do if the when the problem is a cute as CAT, where the answers are given as options to weird looking questions.
Life is like a walk on a beach. The longer one walks there more refreshed he gets the more wonderful sights can be seen. No point in walking back because there are no footprints to trace your way back.
“Keep walking”…. Punch line of Johnnie Walker.