| 6 Month Break.... |
[Feb. 23rd, 2008|11:04 pm] |
Finally after a hiatus of six months, am back at what i try to be the worst at - blogging :)
Coming to think of it, the inclination to blog today basically came from the fact that this year is a leap year... and i am blogging in a month that has only 29 days !!! i might never ever blog in the month of feb of a leap year... ( Why i dont know... )
so this should be special...
i have always wondered why is "Free" called free... what is the etymology of this word?
and then..boom, i stop bloggin and look up google...damnit, spent a minute or so and could find it, can anyone help ?
now that i failed miserably to use google, ill move to the next section of the blog.
(Yeh, i know... since when did my blogs start having "Sections")
in this section i will talk about TV's, and the use of TV's when they work, but you dont have a DVD player to watch movies nor do u have a cable connection nor do you have a game console... it strikes me suddenly that a TV without these peripherals is just a box !!!! its such a simple thing, but why hadnt i thot of this before !!!
damn i am stuck with a "box" and i havent done anything about it... not that i am going to now, but still i think this harsh reality about my TV not being a TV but a box is a bit disappointing.
I could have a carton box in my room instead and it would serve the same purpose !!!
If you guy have any ideas on what to do with the "BOX" pls let me know... i need to put it to better use...
ok, guess thats it for now... and yes yes YES YES !!!! I blogged in the month of Feb in a leap year...
all i am praying for is that the page doesnt expire when i press submit !!! |
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| Ceiling |
[Aug. 19th, 2007|02:06 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
Here I am in my room at 2 am in the morning, trying to find peace, surprisingly by looking at the ceiling. Never before have I spent this amount of time looking at this marvelous part of my room. The span, the shear size and the smoothness in uniformity of color, the fan right in the center… but then I think beyond, beyond the ceiling, beyond the braches of the coconut tree whose shadow falls on the roof… beyond… beyond all that… I imagine the sky.
Blue during the day and brilliant black at night.. Salted with white pearls.. Just thinking about it makes me feel beautiful. Beautiful, because, I can think about something so beautiful, so big, so INFINITE…
Life without a sky, would be boring… life without a ceiling would be boring… life without thinking would be boring.
Wow, I love my ceiling…. |
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| Blog |
[May. 14th, 2007|08:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
I aint a wonderful writer to lyrically wax a concoction of words that your transport you into the place that I am at right now !!! but will keep keying in brief notes about this trip of mine to Gurgaon….
An immediate question that come to my mind is that… why makes notes of only this trip and not the previous ones, well its because on this trip I do not that an internet connection ????
Yeah yeah… I don’t have an internet connection – why ? will let you know later in the blog , if I remember. Yet, the question remains unanswered – why do I want to blog, when I got no internet connection ? well, that’s the way it is. Most of the times I feeling like blogging are when I don’t have an internet connection. But I aint a freak, like Psycho Sid : who suddenly wakes up in a car being driven to HYD from BLR and decides he wants to blog !!! and the concomitance of a mobile phone, blue tooth dongle, a laptop and a router to boot… he set along. Result : Connectivity – failure, Blogging in word – success.
So coming back to why I don’t have an internet conncetion… that’s cause I am on visit to a customer site ( Hush Hush … cant use the name ) .. and the security guys at the gate, ensure that they took away even my data card !!! so its only work work work on a desktop… pretty confusing to transition to a desktop after looking only at laptop for a better part of the three years that I have been on job.
BLAH BLAH…. That’s it I wanna get down to the reason why I wanted to blog…
Scene – 1
Location : Delhi Airport
Props : Prepaid taxi & taxiwallah…
Story : The Taxiwallah comes running to me and says pls come I will drop you, surprised I went along. Being a prepaid taxi he was to get himself registered in the register prior to departure – but he drove along saying it wasn’t necessary. Harmless. I thought !!!
Then he pulled up near another taxi, Haryanvi at its confusing best exchange of papers.Harmless. I thought.
Further down, suddenly he waves at a friend, screaming at the top of his voice that he is going to Gurgaon. He asked me whether he can be picked up. Harmless. I thought.!!!
So with the two blokes we proceeded to what “ seemed” like my destination, in a “kali – peeli” ambassador taxi.
When I figured out our friend who joined us late, was drunk – pissed drunk & a mighty hefty fellow. Yelling at other cars, in eloquent Haryanvi I presumed. Good fun, Harmless. I thought !!!
Then he turned around, and began a discussion… or rather I thot… it turned out into one abusive, spit spraying session all around the car. Complaining. I thot.
Taxi wallah, suggests he needs to get off the main road, to fill in CNG. Getting late. I thot.
Then I glance at his dashboard, the fuel indicator showed “Full”, when queried – taxi wallah told me he has another meter… apparently somewhere in the direction he pointed. Rat. I smelt.
Then suddenly the car slows down, the friend in the car gets down and tries to push, asks for help. Help him. I thot.
Fully well knowing that my stuff is in the car, first thing I do is take a pic of the driver and his car. Clever. I thot.
Then we tried and tried again, did not start. Another taxi. I called.
Ok its getting boring now….. I don’t feel like keying in anymore…. So saving this on Word and going to the Hotel.!!!!
************************************************************************
Scene 2 :
Hailstorm… awesome… its been a while since I had witnessed one, and damn was this a good one of what. The way it set itself up, came, finished its job and wound up… all in a span of 15 mins. Was fantastic !!!
Dry winds… with stunning speeds… dust…. People running helter skelter. And then the hailstones. Wow. The sound of hailstones on cars, certainly sounds good… but not to sure that the car owners would agree with me. Then the rains lashes down, great fury, fantastic feeling… super experience.
While I know Google exists, and can tell me how hailstones are created etc… anyone here who can let me know in layman’s language ( cutting out jargon like : pressure, velocity, physics and chemistry ) |
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| Sachin.... Sachin... |
[Apr. 3rd, 2007|11:13 am] |
Sachin .... Sachin... Sachin... Sachin...
For years and years and years... this chant has reverberated across almost every stadia that he has stepped into... the man... the god... the magician... the cricketeer - Sachin Tendulkar
Every time, i think about the chant, the joy that is propelled internally takes me to a surreal world.
But now, i cant seem to think about it, everytime i do... i get this image of Sachin being castled by Fernando... and the voice of the commentator " And that is the end of the Great Sachin Tendulkar"
And, now every time i think about this, i shiver and shudder... is it really the end of the Great Sachin Tendulkar. |
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| U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E |
[Mar. 24th, 2007|09:24 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | cricket | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | onde onde sari | ] |
I havent felt this disconnected with the game since the time Mohd Azharuddin has been cleared of all the cases in the match fixing scandal...
Still cant digest the fact that we are going into the remaining 35 odd matches in the World Cup without India playing even one !!!
Forget about the ad revenues, the betting money, the broken hearts, the broken window panes of our cricketeers houses, the efigies being burnt.... forget everything, they will not remain in our memory for long, but one thing which will - is the fact that India will play no further part.
Conviction they say is "An unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence", that is what we, atleast I had - the magical 47th over was what i waited for.
For every batsman who walked "out", the conviction used to get stronger - the belief that screamed out loud saying that - this is the stage for him to perform, and perform he will!!!
but he didnt !!!
Could Bhajji and Munaf do it ? the mind screamed yes!!! they will and they will by the 47th Over.
Maybe another day, another opposition, another tournament - but not today, not against SL and not in the WC07
And now that we have lost, i am not going to be a "good loser", i need someone to blame and logic to support that...
in a fit of anger, i decide to point fingers at the ICC, we all know the "love" that ICC has for the teams from the sub continent and the extent they would go to defame them...
Sure, most of you are getting the drift, it gets better read on...
first things first, for the uninitiated, i will answer this simple question - Why does the ICC "LOVE" teams from the sub continent ?
the clout!!! the clout that all of them enjoy... reminds me of a dialogue from the Matrix... " what do men with POWER want ?... MORE POWER "
Which is simply the case, they want to break the good relationship between the countries that support the BCCI -- the cash cow of ICC.
so what do they do, 3 teams of the subcontinent are in one group !!! i mean how unfair is that.
they leave India to try and buy out the other two to go through to the Super 8...( If you have the question - why shud india buy out the other two ? pls, you can leave )
they frame Pak into murdering their own coach... all in am attempt to ensure that the boards of these teams arent as close to each other, as they already are.
reminds me of the divide and rule policy !!!
however on a lighter side, i think the only person responsible for loss in the world cup - is Mrs Indira Gandhi, wasnt she the one responsible for Bangaldesh !!!!!
and i still know and have the conviction that India will win the WC07, i dont know how but i know they will...
Reason sometimes defies logic, and for the people who know me - well you know how "logical" i am...
Come On India Jeetado....
or rather for today only
Come On Bermuda Jeetado.... |
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| Sense... Good, Logical Sense |
[Mar. 2nd, 2007|11:23 am] |
Ever had the feeling that you are being arm twisted into doing something... by your own self ?
I somehow have this feeling right now. Why ? Good Question.
Now i get the feeling that i am slowly twisting my body into a particulary difficult position to ensure that the arm is " un-twisted " so now as the entire body gets used to this particular YOGASANA position that can be achieved only after years of experience... i settle down to blog sense.
No really, i mean - sense, good.. logical sense... ( now i hear laughter.. internally, a twisted body laughing ) but i continue, no internal body that thinks its twisted for a good cause laughing can stop me from keying in sense... good, logical sense.
I think the yogasana has relaxed my mind, there are no longer any conflicts... only peace... it feels like a cool, mint flavoured breeze is flowing through my mind, i can see colored crows flying about, trying to hide behind the wind ( ????????? )
its almost as though i know that the internal mind wants to say something, but isnt... it cant... it wont... simply cause i need to continue to remain relaxed !!!
Sense... good, logical sense - by now is like the colored crow, trying to hide behind the wind. It is like the black crow thats on fire... totally covered with fire... a blazing fire... speeding ahead of all the other "colored crows"... but surprisingly the trail of black crow on fire is Purple !!! and the smoke just fails to go away...
All the crows flying below the line of smoke cant seem to fly beyond the line... and then there is laughter...
While i try to figure out who / what is causing the laughter, a huge "thump" is heard, i turn around - reality grinds to a halt, i am transfered to an imaginary world @ work... then i start thinking how this imaginary work world is similar to the "real" world....
Life always rocks, whether its in the imaginary world or the real world... |
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| Dhiru... GuruBhai |
[Jan. 15th, 2007|07:06 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | movie | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
dhirajlal hirachand ambani, goes on to become dhirubhai
gurukant desai, goes on to become gurubhai
for every nusli wadia of bombay dyeing, we have a Arzan Contractor
the indian express is the independent
chambaklal is called jignesh
Arun shourie/gurumurhty as "madhavan" - wat was his name ?
MithunDa, represents the Goenka's
but mani rathnam remains the same... a three star is probably what it deserves and gets, awards i doubt - not as the best movie, not for the best actor and definitely not for the best actress. Rajiv Menon might run someone close & hope mani gets sonething.
All in all the reason why i like the movie is the fact that it was released, as the movie itself deppicts anything and everything against the actual "Sakthi Parivar" of India is very difficult to pull of.
The climax was a bit dull and drab, a killer ending would have sealed it, nonetheless i figured something out, the theatre that you watch the movie dramatically enhances and influences and individuals rating about a movie.
Picture this,
Friday Nite - Inox
Saturday Nite - Vaibhav
Sunday Afternoon - Inox
Three days, two theatres, one movie... before you head to book a ticket for the movie, on the fact that "yours trully" watched the movie 3 times inside 3 days, read to to get the reason for this experiment.
Day One - Inox, well and trully impressed about the movie - so much so i decided to quit my job as soon as i got a salary three times my current salary .. ala the movie
And then getting carried away because of the high of the movie - i blandly state, i will be watching this movie again tomorrow.
Day Two - Vaibhav, as a person who keeps up to his word - ensured that i got the tickets at Vaibhav for the first show, my hearty thanks to the SI at Sanjaynagar PS. And somehow the feel good factor just didnt match up to the previous day !!! the pump and the goose bumps just didnt kick up as regularly as they did the day before. Was it that the movie had already lost its " Motivating Potential " just beacause it was being watched for the second time ??
So totally dejected, i thought - let me undertake another exercise, just how much does a movie loose out because of the theatre, and just how much a person looses out if he watches the movie again and again - in a theatre
Day Three - Inox
Not interested, already humming most of the songs of the movie, knowing better than ever whats going to crop up next i sit down - coke in hand. This time i managed to catch a glipmse of the first five mins of the movie something i religiously missed the earlier times.
It was boring, the statement - "Ban na hai India ke sabse badi company" dint give me the kicks, the climax however bland it was made more sense & Aish's makeup was pathetic during the second half of the movie.
Amitabh's... oops Abhishek's voice, dramatics kept reminding me of the angry young man... so the third time round i just enjoyed Abhi's acting, paid more attention to the dialogues and could link more and more parts of the movie to each other.
So whether it was the "chacha ki kimthi cheez" or Mrs Gandhi's investment of 2000crs - Rajiv's bald head is a dead give away, much like the movie itself - it is not a movie with an uncanny resemblance to Dhirubhai. It is a movie on Dhirubhai.
Well now the onus is on his sons to take Reliance to the dream of "Ban na hai Duniya ke sabse badi company"
===============================================================================================
Part Two, wishing all a wonderfully memorable Sankranthi Festival |
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| 2006 .... goodbye |
[Dec. 30th, 2006|07:06 pm] |
2006 ... what a year !!! ---> i think that my first statement is an UNDERSTATEMENT... an absolute Understatement.
Any field / domain / stream, just as any year it had ups and downs... good and bad... fast and slow... beautiful and ugly...
There are so many things that flash back and remind me of what the year defined... publically and personally...
And somehow i also feel that the Second Half of the year was the more significant half... well it could be due to the fact that it is effectively " recent memory " but yet...
We lost the Great Dr Raj, something which we in the region still havent comes to terms with that the thespian isnt amongst us now!!!
Legends of the sport signed off - Micheal and than Warne...
Legends... fallen - Zidane... Leas/Bhupathi ( in their own right )
The Blasts in Mumbai... the Suicides of Farmers...defacing statues... atrocities against Dalits...
And suddenly i cant think of anything nice ...
The controversial Reservation Policy... which had many takers, and even fewer against it...
The World Cup Victory for Italy... is somthing that comes to mind as the greatest sporting event of the year...
Laloo @ IIM - followed by Nitesh... hilarious...
The kannada film industry had another bad year... stark contrast with Bollywood...
Ramya stamped her authority in the BO, Sudeep did the same in the actors category... unfortunately, 8Crores went down the drain - in the industry's most expensive movie till date - Gandugali Kumarama
Bollywood, well it had the Munna's, the Don's, the Omakara's ... and suddenly a strange concotion of new and old in the "remake madness"
Anyway... with less than 24 hours to go... what will 2007 bring in...... cant wait for it :)
roll on |
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| Of Old things n New |
[Dec. 26th, 2006|11:13 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blank | ] |
| [ | music |
| | kalaraLi huvagi | ] |
Well, its nearly 2 months since i have posted something on the blog and today all i can think of is the relationship that everything that i feel like blogging about has with a couple of my recent posts !!!
Be it the Supreme Court's intervention that renaming of cities / states will not happen
or the fact that another politians son is caught in a brawl ( blown outta propotion this incident )
or the " look what i got for myself " - Toyota Innova post...
I will steer clear of the first two, simply cuz of the politically and illogically statements that need to be made either to justify them or critise them - i'm in no mood for petty politics today :)
The third one i will have to steer clear of, cuz i cant imagine into what it has actually turned into - one momentary lapse and then you have a heap of mangled metal.
I aint gonna be writing about anything actually, not about christmas, not about a new year, not about farmer's commiting suicide nor about the pakad mane hudugi...
Or wait... why not about the pakad mane hudugi ???
sounds interesting, and suddenly my eyes light up at the prospect that i might actually have something to write about... yipee !!!
Its an awesome feeling when you are down and dont know what to do and then suddenly... you have a flurry of activity in your brain and you dont feel sleepy anymore... life might have a new meaning - if you know what i mean.
Guess its the same way that people might feel about the Pakad Mane Hudugi ( for the uninitiated - that is a direct translation of : Next House Girl - wasnt that supposed to be Girl Next Door ?? ( Hudugi Pakad Bagilu ) )
Actually Hudugi Pakad Bagilu - is awesome... it translates back into english as Door Next to the Girl - very interesting !!!!
So now, before I digress again let me continue peppering this blog with some kinglish...
*******
Duh, sorry guys / thank me for cutting this short... the cric match has begun - Gotto Run : |
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| karnATaka rajyOtsava |
[Oct. 31st, 2006|07:05 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | kannada | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | ecstatic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | hachuvevu kannadada deepa | ] |
mitrare,
igo baMdide... namma suvarNa karnATakada suvarNOtsava...
namma karnATaka rajyOtsava ...
namma karnATakada 50nE huTTu habba
banni, idannu sadagaradiMdAcharisONa ...
namma nADina jyOtiyannu beLagONa...
nammanimmEllara karunADannu... suvarNa karnATakavannu mADONa
karnATaka rajyOtsavada hArdika shubhAshayagaLu . . . . |
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| Troublesome Teens |
[Oct. 27th, 2006|05:20 am] |
Two Weeks - two incidents : here is my take on them
Mr Bidappa Jr, what a dork !!! he is lucky that he is cooling his heels running scared to Hong Kong than facing the heat, here in Bnagalore.
How did he even expect to get away after kicking out at Cops ?? drunk and under the influence of drugs, if that wasnt enough he decides "let me go around and kick a couple of them".
And then his Father in an absolutely melodramatic fashion breaks down in front of a couple of newspapers reeling out a story which makes me feel he would have done better if he was in the movies than being a person who trains courtesans ( isnt a fashion choreograher - a glorified term for it !!! )
I spoke to one of the Traffic Inspectors associated with the Ashok Nagar PS, after all its namma office area :)
when i meet him over breakfast at the Ramprasad hotel near Shoolay Circle, and he was of the opinion that the cops had no other choice but to use a bit of brute force on that idiot !! Apart from kicking into the air out side the nightclub [ which gave him his swollen ankle ] when cops tried to restrain him , to the spitting on the cops in the station and hurling abuses which i am sure even arent a part of most people's vocab. A couple of whacks and the crying baby was put to a silence - only for his fugitive mother to step on the gas, i am sure that motherly love would have overcome her - but her actions were despicable, its really sad to see educated and "matured" people act in a manner thus - what did it give her ? the tag of being "underground" running from gully to gully trying to say her backside.
All this and then the tailor ( isnt/wasnt he a fashion " designer as well ) Mr Bidappa - trys to offer a bribe to the cops - 25k outright, and when the cops did not budge... he blatently reverses the charges against the cops... ol trick mr tailor, aint gonna work here will it.
After all this the Jr Joker, who will shortly be booked under the Narcotics Act - did the running away act to HK.
Papa Bidappa - makes a claim that he did not feel like staying in blore - Mr Bidappa, what are you still waiting for ?
After all i think Bangalore can do with out people who publically state that using the F word on public servants is normal for people in his profession & also stating that a couple of beers for young boys is alright !!!
give me a break, and to top it all he asked the cops to " go smell the coffee "... lol Mr Bidappa, guess you mustve checked "the toys in the attic" before making a statement like that !!!
Verdict [ Adam ] : RI for 1 year for assaulting Public Servants & 5 years Imp if found guilty of using Narcotic substances.
Verdict [ Mrs Bid ] : 500hrs of social service
to round off this section a small joke ( or so i think )
Why are young boys afraid of Mr Biddappa ?
B'Cuz : avanu it kondre, bid-al-appa
Now coming to Mr Nikhil Gowda.
We all know Empire and its law of the land flouting time lines :) but i am not blaming the hotel - but the newspaper reporters who are taking into blindly what a Youth Congress Worker has said as a eye witness.
Yes, there was a minor altercation between the staff and 3 boys, of which one guy who was drunk asked the staff - " do you know who he is ? - the CM's son " i am sure that this statement is one of the most abused one till date across the world :)
during the altercation the young Nikhil who wanted to douse the fire got injured due to the persistent assault of the staff.
But once this was done - everything settled down - no complaints were made from the Hotel's end.
The 3 boys lodged a complaint with the Cops and went home. But Politicking can never stop can it - the Youth Congress Worker rounded up people and ransacked the place - following which there was a complaint from the Hotel's end that unidentified miscreants attacked and ransacked the place.
Its just that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. All in all much ado about nothing if you ask me, infact even the opposition party - Congress have played down the incident.
Verdict [ Nikhil ] : Not Guilty
Edit 1 : Guys check out today's TOI P2 - " Virtual War Against Nikhil and Bidapa Jr" < dated : 29th Oct >
I quote what the newspaper has called the "Blogger" who posted the above blog - an unforgiving blogger... who hasnt even spared the family... and even suggested punishments for the celebs.
Lol... Maggu - if you are reading this.... who needs people to post comments now !!! :) |
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| Complaining Clowns |
[Oct. 18th, 2006|05:59 am] |
Radio channels handing over movie tickets to people who explain what happened
news channels covering bangalore burning
People spreading rumors, speculating wide spread arson...
Gimme a break....
Guys, lets assess what happened last afternoon - a BMTC bus ran into an auto, avoided missing a bus shelter and rammed into a tree.
People at the bus shelter and employees of HAL- rightfully so, torched it down ( let me explain to you later in the blog, as to why is it "rightfully so" )
And an inevitable traffic jam - thanks mainly to the jokers driving around fourwheelers than anything else.
So all you freaks before starting blaming the infrastructure of Bangalore, the incompetence of the police, Asking why arent there any arrests made yet... think about what you did wrong ??
Didnt you in a bid to avoid the traffic jams cut lanes and drive in the opposite lane and block traffic
dint you with out paying heed to the traffic police, wind around internal roads just to get back onto the same road.
Dint you spit and curse on the "miscreants" who created this nuisance without even knowing what exactly had happened
I will also ask, how many of you actually and trully
Bemoaned the loss of lives of the accident
if you did do you know the names of the people who passed away ?
did you meet the injured in the hospital
did you raise a hue and cry about the compensation for them
did you rally people around to contribute toward their compensation / treatment
its very easy to put the blame on others, i am not saying that we need to take everything lying down - but what i am saying is that use the blame game effectively & not go on complaining about everything.
And certainly not make a joke out of it : like the popular radio channel which handed over movie tickets to people who explain what happened ( much to the excitement of the winner ) i dunt blame the winners excitement - but i was appalled by the insestivity of the Mirchi station to come out with a competition like this !!!! |
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| Toyota Innova... |
[Oct. 3rd, 2006|09:15 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | car | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
Spanking New.... Spanking Spanking New..... that's what it is... you "little" beauty - and i went ahead and got myself one :)
yippeee...
what else can i say about it.... its new ... its new ... its new... and i get to drive it:)
wonder why i dint have this kinda excitement, when i picked up the "Power Surge" - but anyway i have promised the Ikon, that i will take her out atleast 3 times in a week :)
And as a tribute to her, i am ensuring that i have the same number that is on the Ikon - for the Innova :) 4545
so ladies and gentlemen, the next time you see a 4545 on the road - there is a high probability that its yours truly in the Car :)
PS : LOOK AT THE PIC... ISNT SHE AWESOME :) |
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| WooooHooooo |
[Sep. 30th, 2006|12:49 am] |
duh . .. neva thot i'd have so much nervous excitement... cant wait until it happens ...
eee ha :) |
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| The Dream that Lasted Nine Years |
[Sep. 25th, 2006|05:44 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | car, uno | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  crushed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Nan Niruvudhe Ninagagi | ] |
I consider myself lucky... to have had such a wonderful dream, that lasted all of Nine Years... a dream that i will never forget.
Flashback to around 10 years ago, i was in my 10th std, who used to travel to skool in one of my three immaculately maintained cycles :)
Then suddenly one day i notice considerable activity on the raodside, just below a newly constructed complex... people all over, at that time the road ( joining Mekri Circle to IISC )was a National Highway... yep NH4 - Mumbai Tumkur, filled with huge lorries - i thought maybe, there was a person knocked down or something, which was very common. I did not stop, as i would have been late for my Friday evening cricket practice at IISc.
Then next Monday, on my way to skool - i noticed what the commotion was about, it was for the launch of a showroom... i was thrilled, I was like " theres a showroom on the way to my house from skool !!!!" felt awesomely happy about it, but did not stop...peddled on and reached home beating my cousin by a huge time gap.
On Tuesday, I saw huge posters of a car hanging out of the showroom - hmm ok i thought to myself its a car showroom. . . the car was none other than the one which i had a huge crush on when i flipped through the pages of Auto India & and the company was making a comeback to India - and we could hear the halo-ed name of it again and again...
The last cars the company had produced for India was the " President & 1100 ", i had a soft corner for the President - coz i had learnt to drive in it 3 years earlier - the unforgiving car... made me run into the tap erected next to the driveway at GrandDad's farm... a memory that is so vividly etched in my mind, that i can never forget...
Yes, the car company's name was FIAT - Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino and the car being mentioned the UNO. . . as car that is so important in the hstory of the automobile industry, is that even today i am sure Italian motor enthusiasts shudder to think what would have happened if this car wasnt concieved to be launched at Florida in 83.
The history of this car, would get me into writing reams and reams on it, i shall save it for another day... coming back to the showroom... here i was, off my cycle standing and looking at that BEEAAAUUUTTTIIIIFFUUULLLL blue board, which read FIAT in that characteristic slant !!! How Awesome.... i thought as i walked in, Mr Thiagarajan, the GM of Manx Motors - saw me walking in gingerly and asked me my name... I did not reply - i looked around to see if there were any Uno's on display, alas there were none - i looked at him, rather strangely, and then suddenly saw Mr Wahid walk up to me as well ( For the Record, Wahid who i got o know very well later on as the Mechanic of the Uno's - today is the Manager of Ford - Metro )
I walked away with a smile - leaving the question asked by Mr Thiagarajan - unanswered... for another day.
Thrusday - i muster more courage - walk in directly and introduce myself to Mr T, he smiled sweetly and asked me" Why didnt you answer, yesterday" - this question he has asked me atleast a 100 times since, and all i can do is smile... anyway - i did not smile on that day, i asked him... "Sir, when wil the car be on display ??" And then he dropped tha bombshell... Tomorrow !!!! i was like... no dont do this tomorrow.. anyday but tomorrow.. i have cricket practice... but i couldnt tel him that, walked away... with the most complex decision that i had to make till date in life. - do i skip practice and see the car or do i cycle on without looking left in the evening ??
The night was tough, the next day - in the evening, i had decided- No Car today only Cricket... happy with the decision i left skool, and then i made the mistake of galncing to my left near the showroom - the wretched guys, who until all this while had kept their shutters down - had opened it to unleash the beauty of the Italian babe on the Indian public... i was lost... almost like a zombie i walked in, there were so many people around the car - i couldnt see it all that well... and to top it all there were no Brochures to take back home!!! i waited and waited but the stream of people did not stop... i looked at my watch and decided to head home...Bad Day i thought to myself, missed practice and did get a good sight of the car... and also got a good dressing down at home - for missing practice...
Monday, i had made up my mind, i have to see this car closeup, come what may... to my bad luck... the dang guys at Manx decided that Monday was their weekly holiday... so i had to wait another day... and that was the day that i finally felt that GOD himself must have made this car, for me to sit / drive and own...
Day in and Day out all i spoke about was FIAT UNO, every specification, aspect, feature, dimension... you mention it and i knew it - every day i spent atleast 1 hour after skool at the showroom... sometimes selling the car in my capacity to prospective buyers :)
FIAT decided that the model to follow was a short period for booking the cars, and the dates were set - there was a window of 7 days provided for potential buyers to book the car : and the car was to be displayed at Prestige Meridian @ MG Road, this is when i went into full thosh selling mode at home, convinced dad and grand dad to buy the car... so we all went along and booked two cars with a booking amount of 27500 per car !!!
At the end of the booking period every newspaper carried a frontpage newsline - Fiat has a record number of bookings, which until this day stands - the Highest number of booking done for a new car launch in India : a whopping 3.24 lakhs across India !!!
FIAT then initiated the token delivery system in which each buyer would get a token as to his allocation number for the car delivery... we got number 634 & 10000 something... we promptly cancelled the 10000 something booking and decided to wait for the 634....
From then on eveything went wrong for FIAT, the Doshi family - onwers of Premier Automobiles Limited ( PAL ) were taken to court by Peugeot ( of the 309 fame in India ) & their Kurla plant was shut down- indefinately !!!
time went by, people started losing patience with FIAT, who on their part - repayed the booking amount with interest to all the people who did not want to wait... but that laid the foundation in people minds about FIAT... something they havent been able to shake of until today.
But we waited, Fiat was like family to us... and waited, i passed out of skool and joined college - but we still waited . . .
then we heard FIAT has decided to take things into their own hands and ship CBUs from Brazil to India to cater to the needs in the Indian market. . .
so it happened the first shipment of 500 cars hit Indian shores in the month of July 97, Mr T mentioned that the car segregtion to the cities would be based on the overall number of existing customers !!!
We happened to coax Mr T, to help us get the delivery sooner than what it actually was... he did not commit anything, but gve us sufficient hints :)
August 5th, when i reached home from College - Dad asks me " Guess What !!! " and i was like I have no Idea, but - is the good news about the car ??? .... IT was... apparently we were going to get 1 of the 3 cars which would be the first to be delivered in Bangalore on the 8th of August !!!... i couldnt believe my ears... we drove down to complete the requisite formalities before the delivery... OOh man i was so exicted that day :)
We topped that evening off with a Steak of New Bel Road at the now non existant OBIES restaurant !!!
On August 8th, after coll caught a bus to get home... and got off at IISC - home was a good 2.5 km away... waited for 3 mins did not get a bus... tried flagging down someone for a lift... 2 bikes passed by none stopped... and then i did it... i just ran. . . ran like there was no tomorrow... i dont know why... but tears were rolling down my eyes... but i just ran... i dint care to think if the bus i waited for drove past me... honestly i think i ran faster than Ben Johnson that day....
opened to gate... expecting to see the love of my life.... but it wasnt there !!! was there some problem ??? luckily there wasnt... Daddy dearest was waiting for me to come to take delivery of the car... and off we went... bro mom dad and yours truly... ( i am almost feeling the same sense of enthusiasm now writing this as i felt that day )
As we went in.. i saw my baby... a spanking white piece of art !!! man that car looked like the most beautiful thing on this planet... and now we were proud owners of it...yipeee!!!!
From that day until this Saturday... we were owners of a car that was more than a car.. it was a part of me... i felt pain everytime there was a dent on it... it was surreal the relation... it was awesome... oooh man it was awesome....
I think the car did not want to leave me either... the day i was supposed to give the car to the buyer... suddenly he and me saw a pool of oil under the car.... it hasnt ever happened before.. EVER BEFORE and here it was... almost like trying to deter the guy from taking delivery of the car... but the bloke had seen the car throughly before - on 3 occasions with mechanics as well... he said whatever the problem he wil get it rectified...
Then came the shocker, the key just refused to turn in the socket !!! he tried... complained and then i tried... it just wouldnt turn ( sounds filmy... but true ) ... and then it finally did start... only for it to drive away into the distance... a video of this has been captured... to remind me of the dream.... a dream that i would love to dream again... but i know i cant... i can never feel drawn to any car .. as much as i was drawn towards this... no Ikonic Power Surge can match it ... no INNOVA-tive blitz can hold a candle to it... its gone .. my dream... is over.
for the first time in my life... i look into my garage and dont find a FIAT / FIAT derived car in it... |
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| Cant Think |
[Sep. 15th, 2006|12:44 pm] |
Yeah, i cant think rite now.... but have decided to blog. < damn dangerous >
For people who have something worthwhile to do, thanks for reading - you can leave now
for others, find something important to do - actually anything that you do would be more important than read this.
Its been a long time, since i sat down and thot... and basically thot that why i cant think. I thot i couldnt think.
i think others mite have thot of this, but yet this thot i cudnt think. this is whr i decide that i cant think.
Sure a lotta people must be happy with the decision, cant think of anyone - who wud have thot that this would be useful.
Read that again.... just read that paragraph again, and you will know how much clarity i have due to a non thinking ability.
i often wonder why to people lurk around on others blogs.... its not that it is bad.... but cant figure out anything good either.
And then i get bored to write further... |
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| Raikko.. to step in |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|09:41 pm] |
Its official.... after all these days of speculation that Raikko will drive for the Scuderia...
it out now....
the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team for the year 07-08
Felipe Massa & Kimi Raikkonen...
Some good news on this day... where the entire Scuderia, is down with some inevitable sad news
Three years ... is his contract... Massa has his contract until 08...
2 stable years ... ahead... |
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| Can't it start all over again :( |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|09:32 pm] |
Most world titles: 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
Most consecutive titles: 5 (2000-2004)
Most wins: 90
Most wins in a single season: 13 (2004)
Most consecutive wins in single season: 7 (2004)
Most wins at the same race: 8 (French GP)
Most wins from pole: 40
Most wins with one team: 71
Most pole positions: 68
Most front-row starts: 114
Most second place finishes: 43
Most podium finishes: 153
Most points scored: 1,354
Most points finishes: 188
Most points in a single season: 148 (from a maximum of 180, in 2004)
Most fastest laps: 75
Most races led: 139
Most consecutive podiums: 19 (USA 2001 – Japan 2002)
Most consecutive points finishes: 24 (Hungary 2001 – Malaysia 2003)
Most consecutive seasons with a win: 15
Most ‘clean sweeps’ (pole, win, fastest lap): 22
Largest points gap between champion and runner-up: 67 (2002)
Earliest title winner: 2002 (in July, with 6 races remaining) |
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| Its Over !!!!! |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|09:19 pm] |
The greatest ever !!!! .... The Immortal Legend !!!! ....
come March 18 '07 he aint gonna be on the starting grid...
falling over with my vocab to write stuff down...
cant say it wasnt expected... but i wasnt prepared...
He was the Only story....
Ladies & Gentlemen... turn yur eyes to the Sky.. its the only thing that is bigger than him...
3 more races... and then.. a void that F1 can never fill... Michael Magic will be a thing of the past..
this blog is just the beginning... i need to regroup and post a fitting tribute .. to the man MICHAEL SCHUMACHER...
and hopefully the blogs that follow will represent the extreme manifestation of what Michael meant to the Italian Sporting Fraternity....
Schumi... matte baa !!!! |
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| How Many Times !!!!! |
[Aug. 10th, 2006|04:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Gurgaon | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | impressed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Yaare Koogadali | ] |
Yes, how many times - have i got upto this stage in blogging and then decided not to blog becoz of
No Logical Thot
No Reason
No Restart
No Cosmic / Divine intervention
No time
No evidence
No Information
No Idea
No Internet
No Vocabulary
No No's
Yes No's
Yes Yes's
No Autosave
No Legal Problems
No Communication
No Electricity
No Packets
No Computer
No Location
No Keyboard
No Chair
No Licence
No Voice Recording
No charcoal
No Food
No Connection etc
Then i sit back and realise, that even the blogposts till date havent required any of the mentioned items.
Why, why is the question ? Why is it that i cant blog, why is it that the blog is filled with ',' & '?' and relatively awesome thots ?
And then i select the mood that i am in, what if the mood that i am in is not available - what if i have no moods.... then how can i be asked such a question.
If i suddenly ask Kumarswamy what is his mood what will he say ???? or for that matter ' Madam Gandhi '
what was Sivarasan's mood b4 he commited suicide. What decides which mood we select other than the actual mood.
Sakappa, i gtg... what non sense is this...... GOOD STUFF !!!!
Thoo hogolei |
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