Half a century

I just realised that I completed 50 posts with my last post on the 4th of February. This is the 51st one .

I haven't blogged as much as I should have,but half a century is a decent achievement.

What do ya think ????

KBC

A KISS post here with only message to you folks.

WATCHING KSKBT CAN GET YOU A MEETING WITH KING KHAN

If you did not understand what I said, then check out Thursday's episode of KBC again. Vasu Jaitley made it to the hot seat purely because she watched Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.Although the question wasn't difficult, Ekta haters and our western serial watchers would have had a hard time. I am not discriminating against them, just giving a reason why watching Kyunki helps.

Kaun Banega Crorepati 3- SRK vs the Big B

Like many other people, I have been watching KBC 3 with great interest, primarily to see how Shahrukh Khan steps into the shoes of the Big B.

Day 1 wasn't particularly impressive. Day 2 represented a marked improvement over day 1. Maybe it reflects something about my personality given that most of the celebs interviewed in various papers thought King Khan rocked. I wouldn't say he rocked on the first day, but did his job reasonably well.

The cheorographed video by Ganesh Hegde at the beginning of the show makes for decent viewing, but you just feel that you have been transported back to Bluffmaster. SRK and hip hop do not make a bad pair, but there are times in the video when you do feel that somebody else would have done a better job. He gets through the video with average marks, and we now move on to the main show.

Khan makes attempts to erase all memories of the big B and says that he hopes that the audience will accept him. Freeze replaces the lock kiya jaye and the first question asked to excise officer Prasenjit Sarkar is a question of bridges on Kolkata. They probably wanted to ensure that he didn't go out on the first question.Computerji becomes compaqda, keeping in mind Sarkar's Bengali origins.It later becomes compqgaru for Gugs Gugila, participant no 2 from Khammam , Andhra Pradesh. Gugs Gugila looks a lot like Bugs Bunny though.

Positives of the show
1.) SRK cracks jokes, even at his own expense.
2.) SRK's smile. His greatest asset along with his eyes.
3.)He is a little more friendly with the contestants than Amitabh. He even gave Gugs a Tag Heuer watch when the man failed to answer the Infy question for 6,40,000 and came back to 20,000. This is supposedly Sallu's idea.

Negatives :
1.) SRK overdoes the yuppy stuff like the high 5 a bit too much.
2.)He does appear a tad nervous and has a slouch while sitting.
3.) The breaks are too much, and consume nearly half as much time as the main show between the breaks.
4.) Some of his actions look artificial.

Another loss??? Not again damn it...

So, India lose again. I thought they had their best chance of winning a game in the series after the openers took em to 23/0. But then the familiar old story started, and within minutes, we were back to 39/4.

Not too long after , we folded up for 163 on a pitch where 250 was very gettable.

Now for the twenty twenty ODI...hope we win something there

Change to Statcounter

You might have noticed that I have switched to statcounter from sitemeter. Well the move had to come, it was a matter of when :D

ICC Champions Trophy-Rohit Roy

OK, I get the idea of marketing, but I simply do not think Rohit Roy is the right person to anchor extra innings. The way Mandira and he were questioning the crystal ball reader, didn't appeal to me at all. We know you are a good actor Rohit, btu why did you have to get into this.

PR update

I know I am a bit late here, but better late than never, so here it goes. 29th September 2006 was a Google PR update.
The values have begun to show across many datacentres though not all.
Yours truly got a PR1 despite not having done too much work at all in the last few months. Whats your PR??
Click here and fine out http://livepr.raketforskning.com/

Anybody noticed the mutual friends option in Orkut???

Has anybody noticed the mutual friends option which now comes just below the "friends" on the right. When you click on the profile of a person it tells you how many friends you and that person have in common.

I find that a pretty neat addition too.

Pluto removed from the list of planets

OK,it is official...My very eager mother will not show us nine planets from now on,she will show only 8.Pluto has been removed from the list of planets which will now read Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Jupiter,Saturn and NEPTUNE.

http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0602/index.html
read this for more information

Time for a bit of revival

Ok,I agree that I haven't been paying too much attention to this blog,as I have recently shifted to WP.But the listing of it on a popular site has made me restart it again. After all,we can't just let the gals be unimpressed,can we....???

India vs Sri Lanka washed out due to rain again

The India-Lanka series is becoming a bit of a joke.First South Africa pulled out and now the rain gods seem hell bent not to allow a game to take place.

When it was a time when rains occurred in the emerald island,why keep it there in the first place???

The story of a boy called Prince.

The name of this boy is Prince and it is his birthday today.But by no means is he living like a Prince at this moment.This 5 year old boy is currently stuck in a 60 feet deep well in Kurukshetra in Haryana in Northern India.He has been stuck like from Friday evening 6.30 pm Indian Standard Time and as of 1.30 pm on Sunday IST,he has not come out.

The whole of Kurukshetra is at the well and the whole of India is praying for him.His cries are quite heart rendering. He was fed glucose by a rope and has miraculously survived the fall as well has managed to stay alive for the last 42 hours alone.

The Indian army has been called in and they are trying their best to rescue the little boy.A tunnel is being made to try and rescue him.

Pray for this boy and hope he emerges from this unscathed

World Cup final preview

I wont take much of your time,but will compare both the teams --

Gigi Buffon------------Fabien Barthez--- +1
Grosso------------------Abidal-----------+1
Cannavaro--------------Gallas------------- +1
Materazzi---------------Thuram------------ -1
Sagnol-----------------Zambrotta-----------equal
Perotta----------------Malouda-----------equal
Gattuso-----------------Makalele--------- -1
Camoranesi-------------Ribery-------------equal
Totti------------------Zidane------------- equal (this was the toughest part of the comparison)
Toni-------------------Henry--------------equal

This leaves Patrick Vieira and Gilardino to be compared. Both play at different positions but I'll give Vieira an edge given the form he is in...
That makes it equal and a very tight game to say the least.

I 'll be rooting for the French though.

Les Bleus vont au Berlin

Yes folks,Domenech's golden oldies have done it.They beat Portugal 1-0 to set up a date with the Azzuri on July 9.Portugal had more possession but could not translate them into shots going into the back of the net.

The result means Luis Felipe Scolari's boys will have to be content with a third place playoff against Germany. That game will not be easy ,as they have Ricardo Carvalho suspended,a real blow as the Chelsea defender has been one of the star players in Germany.
Potugal welcomed back Deco and Costinha from suspension as the match started off with a flurry of activity .Flourent Malouda nearly gave France an early lead after latching to a wondeful through ball from Thuram,but he shot wide.Both the teams were restrained in their tackles in the first half,something quite understandable from the fact that 10 players were on yellows.Lilian Thuram was outstanding in defence and time and again thwarted the moves of Deco,Figo,Maniche and company.He anticipated the ball well and timed his tackles perfectly.

The breakthrough finally came in the 33rd minute when Carvalho had some contact with Henry in the box.The Arsenal forward lost his balance and fell and the referee pointed to the spot.Ricardo guessed right,but Zidane kept his cool and slotted it past him. 1-0 to France.

France preserved their lead till half time.After the lemon break,Theirry Henry nearly made it 2-0 to France ,but Ricardo saved well to keep the margin to one goal only.After that it was Portugal,who had more of the ball,as France soaked up the pressure in order to defend their 1 goal lead.Pauleta ,Portgual's all time highest goal scorer struggled upfront .He was playing as sole striker and looked lost on the pitch.When he did get a teeny weeny inch of space,he shot into the side netting.Miguel hobbled off as he was replaced by Champions League winner,Paulo Ferreira.Scolari also brought on Helder Postiga and Simao as Portugal searched desperately for an equaliser.Their best chance came off a Cristiano Ronaldo freekick which was parried by Barthez. It met the head of Luis Figo and went over the bar,much to the relief of the French.

The Portuguese looked capable of anything but scoring a goal.They dived blatantly ,the most prominent culprit being Ronaldo himself.The 19 year old did nothing to endear himself to the fans as he constantly dropped himself to the ground in the box.One wonders why they did not try Luis Boa Morte,who has proven himself with Fulham in England.The Portuguese did earn corners and dominated attacks in the second half but just could not get past the French defensive wall.
Fabien Barthez did display some signs of the eccentricity that all Manchester United and French fans know him well for,but fortunately for France,nothing came off them.

The final score ended 1-0 to France.Zinedine Zidane went one step closer to his goal off signing off with a WC win while his ex Galactico Luis Figo had his dreams shattered.
France vs Italy is a rematch of Euro 2000 and Italy will be thirsting for revenge.This scenario is very similar to what happened in 1982 ( Last time all four semifinalists were Europeans) and that time,Italy won.

Another thing to add : The referee himself was a bit lenient and it was only in the latter stages of the game that he started handing out cards.It was probably a step taken in the right direction for nobody might have liked to see a France vs Italy final without the likes of Zidane,Vieira and co.

The dream has to wait for four more years.....

I havent updated this blog for quite a while and the reason is the FIFA world Cup.And today the reason for me updating the same is the FIFA World Cup......
As and ardent English supporter,I feel gutted after the penalty defeat to Portugal.Especially after watching the match in a mall,in an absolutely marvellous atmosphere. Everything was right,except one---the winner.

Somehow someway,Big Phil has done it again. A Hattrick of knocking England out of major tournaments in the last 4 years.Portugal went into this game without the services of Deco and Costinha.Yet two players played caused England enormous problems on the flanks. Wily veteran Luis Figo and his future replacement,Cristiano Ronaldo.The rest of the Portuguese played a supporting role to the two.England started off well in the first five minutes and after that lost possession of the ball for long periods of time. Barring a couple of saves,neither goalkeeper had much to worry about.

England played a 4-5-1 with Hargreaves in midfield and Wayne Rooney playing as sole striker upfront. Frank Lampard who had the most shots attempted for a player in this World Cup shot a few more at Ricardo but they were saved easily.Lemon Break 0-0.
With all to play in the second half,both the teams started showing more urgency.Valente appeared to handle the ball in the box but there was no reaction from the referee. David Beckham limped off after 55 minutes to be replaced by Aaron Lennon.Lennon immediately injected that much needed pace and trickery to the right wing as Valente and his fellow defenders had a hard time.

Then came the decisive moment of the game. The boy who had been touted to make the World Cup his own,stamped on Carvalho's groin.It did not look intentional on first look,but did after some replays.His club teammate Cristiano Ronaldo protested and the boy lost his cool and shoved him away.The referee brandished a red and Wayne Rooney was off the pitch......England down to 10 men.Rooney had done what his skipper had done 8 years ago against Argentina.....

From then on England defended and Portugal attacked.Eriksson brought off Joe Cole and brought in Crouch.Frank Lampard took on set piece responsibilities for England in the absence of Beckham but could not find the back of the net.The English back four had a good game,especially Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand.Many people thought Owen Hargreaves was brought in by Sven for his German speaking skills than his playing abilities. But the Bayern Munich midfielder was easily the most impressive English man on view in the Gelserkirchen.He robbed the Portuguese attackers of the ball and made surging runs into the box from the left,only to see his work go waste as the ball often landed on the wrong side of the post.His work rate was excellent and the British will hope that he can put in more performances of that kind in future. If he does,then he will surely make more appearances for England,may be even at the expense of Lampard or Gerrard.

Luis Figo produced a sublime chip in the 78th minute that was brilliantly saved by Robinson.Scolari then brought Simao for Pauleta. Figo left the ptich,with many Portuguese unsure whether they would see him on the big stage.ON came Helder Postiga,determined to show the English that he could do better than what he did at Tottenham.He did not however do anything great.Full time 0-0.And 30 minutes of extra time failed to break the deadlock .Aaron Lennon was substituted for Jamie Carragher ,two minutes from the end of extra time,as Sven had one eye on his list of penalty takers .And then came the dreaded shootout.


Simao sent his penalty to Robinson' right ,to the bottom of the net ....1-0 Portugal.
On came Lampard,England's first choice penalty taker,looking for retribution.

But the Chelsea man's penalty was saved by Ricardo and his miserable WC continued..
Viana missed the second for Portugal by shooting wide.
Owen Hargreaves capped an excellent display with his penalty beating Ricardo....1-1

Petit misses for Portugal...
On steps Steven Gerrard,one of the better English players on view during the match.
Saved by Ricardo.......still 1-1

On steps England's nemesis,Helder Postiga...2-1 to Portugal.
Jamie Carragher scores,but is ordered to take a retake..
Ricardo saves again...2-1 to Portugal.

On steps up Cristiano Ronaldo...and no mistake as he sends the ball past Robinson.

England's penalty jinx continues...

The world will most likely never see David Beckham and Gary Neville in the World Cup again.

Why....Why Sven ...why did not you not bring off Frank Lampard for Peter Crouch...Why did you sacrifice Joe Cole when it was not Lampard's day. You may argue that you had Lampard for penalties....

Why did you not give Theo Walcott a game???Bringing on Walcott instead of Crouch would have been a gamble which might have paid off. We needed somebody who could play with his foot.......not head......Argentina will wonder what might have happened had Messi come in place of Julio Cruz. So might the English.

Jamie Carragher seems to have a curse which prevents him from showcasing his skills for England.His critics will say that he did not fill Neville's boots properly and neither did he score the penalty when it was needed.Only Kopites will ever know what Carra is capable of..

And finally,Cristiano Ronaldo will become the Ahn Jung Hwan of this World Cup. I foresee him going out of Old Trafford..If Rooney never forgives him for provoking the referee.......

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

India will fight for third place against NewZealand in the Sultan Azlan Shah cup today. The Aussies and the Dutch will fight it for the top spot.Netherlands beat India by a solitary goal in the semfinals and the Australians whipped their trans Tasman Neighbours by 7 goals to one

Argentina vs Mexico

It was a match billed to be a match between two evenly matched teams. And it certainly was. And as it so often happens in such games,the match is decided by one piece of magic. This match was no different.The hero--A certain Maximiliano Rodriguez.And he will be one name Mr.Ricardo Volpe will not forget for a long,long,long time.

Mexico had not justified their World no 4 ranking in their group stages. They might have not made it if Iran hadn't struck a second half equaliser against Angola.But they sorely missed Bolton striker Jared Borgetti in their last 2 group games.And the return of the veteran striker seemed to vitalise them as they attacked the Argentines from the beginning . They were rewarded when Rafael Marquez slid one past Abbondanzieri into the roof of the net.1-0 to Mexico in the sixth minute.Argentina,who didn't expect to fall behind so early then,launched a furious hunt for an equaliser. And they were granted it just 4 minutes after conceding when Borgetti put it into his own goal off a Riquelme corner.Hernan Crespo however appeared to have the minutest of contact with the ball and claimed it as his own. 1-1.There were many chances created after that. Argentina once again showed that they are a delight to watch with some splitting passes and breathtaking moves and some 1-2's.But the ball somehow did not find the back of the net.Reason-both the goalkeepers especially Oswaldo Sanchez had an outstanding game. He rose airwards,had one on ones and showed some excellent reflex actions to keep the Argentine forwards at bay.

It stayed like this till 90 minutes.In came Tevez n Messi. Still nothing. Then in the 98th minute,Maxi Rodriguez launched on to a cross from Sorin . He then volleyed it from some distance out with absolute force and Sanchez was left helpless. That goal is certainly a contender for one of the goals of the tournament along with Frings' opening goal.

Mexico tried all they knew to get a goal,but it was in vain.
And so ladies and Gentlemen,it will be Argentina vs Germany in the next round.
What a mouth watering clash that promises to be.

View Rodriguez against Serbia

England vs Sweden preview

England face a side whom they have never beaten in the last 38 years in a game which will not only decide the winner of group B,but will also determine who plays Germany in the second round.The side they are facing has one of its own countrymen managing the English. Yeah folks,the team in question is the Scandinavian nation of Sweden.
England are already assured of progress to the next stage while their opponents have all but qualified for it.The Swedes are on 4 points and their nearest rivals,Trinidad and Tobago are on 1 . So if the Swedes lose to England and T & T slot a few past Paraguay,T & T might go through on goal difference. But Trinidad haven't exactly looked as if they are capable of creating opportunities for themselves. They haven't found the back of the net even once and I think it will need an Herculean effort on their part to get a few past Paraguay,who have acquitted themselves quite well in this tournament without having a point to show for it.

England will be minus Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch with both on yellows. Gary Neville hasn't recovered from his calf injury and we will see Jamie Carragher fill in for him at Right Back. Teenage Wayne Rooney looks to make his first start of the tournament alongside the disappointing Michael Owen.Sweden will be without Juventus forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

England say that they will go for a win,but I suspect that the strategy that both the teams may use for this game will be hugely influenced by the result of the Germany Ecuador game. Privately neither of the two teams would like to face Germany,a team which always reserves its best for the World Cup.

The last encounter between the two sides was a 1-1 draw. A draw looks to be the most logical result.I cannot see England scoring much. Neither do I see them conceding with their impervious defence manned by Terry and Ferdinand. I may see a narrow English win say a 1-0.

England beat Trinidad and Tobago,but just about

Final score
England 2 --Trinidad and Tobago 0
Scorers :Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard.

England today were unconvincing and the Soca Warriors may feel a little hard done by the final result considering the way they thwarted England time and again.

The pair of Michael Owen and Crouch struggled.Owen got subbed for the second time in as many games.Crouch missed some really simple shots but his eventual header made amends for all his misses. Owen is not at all showing the form which made him one of England's most feared strikers.

Jamie Carragher struggled to fill the boots of Gary Neville and could not match his surging runs forward and the crosses.

Frank Lampard left his shooting boots in England and had about 7 to 8 shots on goal,but to no avail. Steven Gerrard scored and this is a reminder to Eriksson to play him in a more attacking role rather than DM,where coming upfront is a luxury for him

Rooney had an ordinary game by his standards but both Aaron Lennon and he brought in an extra spark in England's attack in the second half.

England's backline had an otherwise good day with John Terry producing some wonderful defending to ensure that they kept their clean sheets.

The media will be happy with this win,but England need to buck up. They need to get their scoring boots on,otherwise they can kiss goodbye to any chances of winning this WC
..

England vs Trinidad and Tobago preview

Sven Goran Eriksson's lads play the Soca warriors in a game where a win could well and truly confirm their progress to the next stage.England put in a below par performance against Paraguay and will be keen to silence their critics with a thumping win over Trinidad and Tobago.
The game may see Wayne Rooney on the pitch for a few minutes and we may get to see glimpses of the boy who was supposed to make the WC his own.Peter Crouch may have get his thinking hat going,after virtually being victimised by the referee in the game against Paraguay. Every time Crouch rose for the ball in the air,the whistle went against him.Sven is expected to start both Lampard and Gerrard in this game and is unlikely to make any changes from the squad which won a few days ago.
The Soca warriors have nothing to lose. They have already climber their own Mt. Everest by holding Swededn to a draw.But England have more keener guys in front of goal and Shaka Hislop,their MOM last time around will have his work cut out if they are to get anyhting from this game.

Spain thrash Ukraine

Luis Aragones will be a very pleased man. His team just thrashed the living daylights out of an Ukranian side in a match which was to effectively decide the winner of the group.
Aragones's decision of leaving Raul on the bench was justified by his replacment David Villa who scored a brace. Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso added the other goals.
This has been Spain's best start to a major tournament in years,given their debacles they have had .They have comprehensively beaten a team which was expected to give them a headache.This augurs well for the Spaniards and possibly this is their WC.

The Three Lions vs La Albirroja

At first glance,the title of this post doesn't seem as if it's even minutely concerned with football. But a deeper look will reveal the hidden meaning.Yes folks its England vs Paraguay to clas in the World Cup today.Paraguay will be looking to emulate their highflying South American counterparts,the men from Ecuador who upset the Poles' 2-0 yesterday in Group E.

This England squad has very good players for every position on the pitch. And the best part of it ---everybody right from Owen upfront to Terry at the back can score.Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard is a slight doubt going into the game and this probably opens the door for Michael Carrick or Owen Hargreaves to step in.May be if I were Sven i might think on giving Aaron Lennon a few minutes on the pitch inplace of Gerrard. The Tottenham winger has been hugely impressive in the Premiership and is an unknown quantity for the Paraguyuan defence marshalled by veteran Carlos Gammarra.With Rooney not yet having recovered fully,new England hero Peter Crouch gets another opportunity to repeat his Robot dance.

The Paraguyuans are no pushovers . I remember one very flamboyant personality from their last edition squad--Jose Chilavert. The veteran custodian will not be in Germany however. The onus will be on Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Valdez,both of whom ply their trade in Germany to get them goals.
Possible English Lineup
Robinson
---Neville-------------Terry---Rio--------------------A.Cole

Becks------Gerrard/Carrick--------Lampard--------------J.Cole

Crouch--------------Owen
My verdict--England have high hopes pinned on them this time and will want to prove that they are worth the hype generated about them before the WC.I feel Joe Cole could be a key player for them today. Its not that the others won't be but the left winger has a penchant for scoring goals ,especially when needed.

The Best opening match for a World Cup

Sepp Blatter and his VIP guests would be absolutely delighted after watching a match which truly justified being the opening match of the quadrennial extravaganza.
It was a match which did not promise much on paper but showed its potential at the Olmpyic stadium. Germany played with an attacking mindset instead of their usual 1-0 grinding and Costa Rica as usual played with a lot of flair.The end result--6 goals ---the HIGHEST EVER in an opening game of the World cup.

The Costa Rican defence in the starting was very shaky and looked at times worse than a local club side.Their Goalkeeper produced a couple of amazing saves and Germany also shot wide or strayed offide.The Costa Ricans were under constant bombardment from the left flank,with Philip Lahm and Bastein Schweinsteiger causing them all sorts of problems.Lahm produced a wonderful courling shot to open the scoring of the WC in the 6th minte. Wanchope equalised in the 12th minute only for Schweinsteiger to bisect the Ticos's defence with a splitting pass which resulted in a simple tap in for Miroslav Klose.Klose added to his tally with another one ,thus celebrating his B'day with a brace..Paulo Wanchope then scored his 45th goal for country from a Centeno assist leaving Lehmann stunned.But then Torsten Frings slammed home an absolute screamer from long range to settle the issue--a goal which is definitely as of now a contender for Goal of the Tmt.

My observations from the game---the central defensive duo of Mertesacker and metzelder were not composed enough. The germans escaped with conceding two here,but it will be more difficult against the Poles.Also the Teamgeist ball appears to be difficult for Goalkeepers' to handle and it may be a reason for the high number of goals.

What ever be the case,the match was a perfect ambassador of the way football should be played.

allez Berlin--

Yes folks,the biggest sporting extravaganza,the Fifa world cup,its 18th edition to be precise will get underway in a little less than 2 and a half hours when hosts Germany take on Costa Rica in Munich.
The quadrennial extravaganza is probably watched by many people than any other event,may be barring the Olympics.You can probably understand the impact of the beautiful game when you realise that FIFA,soccer's governing body has 205 members in comparison to the 191 members of the United Nations.
There isn't much difference between the Germans and the Costa Ricans in the rankings but Costa Rica weren't very impressive en route to Germany. I expect Germany to win this one and take some pressure of their and Jurgen Klinsmann's shoulders.

Here's a photo of the stadium where the match is taking place courtesy Fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

So Near and Yet so Far

In a match where fortunes kept swinging like a yo-yo,a draw was probably the most fitting result at the Antigua Recreation Ground yesterday.And that's the way it eventually did after 90 overs of play on the final day.The heroes for the home side were the southpaw trio ---Chris Gayle,Shivnarine Chanderpaul and ...........Not Brian Charles Lara but .......Dave Mohammed.Gayle was mostly Ungayleish,choosing to defend rather than his natural attacking style. Chanderapul played a composed innings.Mohammed ,the least unlikely hero of the trio scored 52 runs which were worth their weight in gold.

On the final day the most potent threat to the home side was expected to be Anil Kumble and the Karnataka warhorse proved that with 4 wickets to his name. He also bowled close to one third of the overs.Darren Ganga and Gayle started off the innings pretty well and at 66/0 with a few overs to go for lunch,the West Indies were in the safe zone.But Kumble struck ,with Ganga out to a brilliant diving catch by Yuvraj.And Sreesanth for whom it was remarked that the test had so far been"worth jumping off the bridge" snapped up Ramnaresh Sarwan,the one day series hero and then the prize wicket of Lara,whose last test at the ground when he had broken batting records ended up with a golden duck. (Notice the little similarity between Bradman and Lara).After Gayle and Chanderpaul defied Kumble the wet behind the ears Indian pace bowlers,with the trio having a total of 4 tests between them . But then things changed --Kumble struck and then Sehwag added to his tally of 2 in the first Innings with another 2.

The West Indies ,who before the start of the last session hadn't exactly envisaged defeat were now staring down the barrel. 21 overs with 3 wickets to go. And the last three were the West Indies tailenders,not definitely with defying capabilities. But them Mohammad scored his 52 and Collymore survived the last over amidst great tension with Fidel Edwards.And so the WI ended with 298/9. Lara did not have the heart to see the last ball ,he himself remarked later.The umpires were under constant pressure throughout the day and they gave a pretty decent acct of themselves.

One wonders whether a draw might have been a win had Pathan and Harbhajan played. But this is not time to talk about if's and buts.A win would have been sweet for this young Indian team and would have been a morale booster for a side which have been on a losin streak after seeing their run of 17 Odi victories end.

This match may be remembered for the M.S. Dhoni "catch" and Lara's behaviour. But it deserves to be remembered for more than that. For this was the last test match at the fabled ground where Brian Lara scored his 375 and his 400 + knock,both against the Englishmen

The progress of the internet in India

Two countries in the Asian Subcontinent are supposed to be the new markets for internet penetration. Identifying them is no tough task as they have the highest and second highest population respectively in the world.They are described as the biggest rivals to each other as well as the factor which drives the other's progress.We are talking about India and China.
As I do not live in China,I do not assume that I am the most competent authority to talk on the subject of internet penetration in China. But Beijing atleast as far as statistics go is miles ahead of New Delhi in the number of Internet connections.

Speaking of the progress in India,it is absymal. We mere mortals in India dream of one MBPs and greater connections,something which is quite common in the USA and other countries like Sweden,South Korea Etc.Therefore downloading big files turns out to be a very excruiating exercise to say the least.The average guy in India has a 64kbps connection. Some of the more priveleged have 256 and thats probably it. Its this section of the population which is defined as having broadband. But,the actual definition of broadband is something which is 256kbps +.Higher speeds than this are rare and are mostly for commercial users and the niche class.

The other odd thing--the internet hasn't really taken off in India vis a vis Exam results.Many university servers are just not equipped to handle the pressure and most of them crash during result time.Being able to view one's result on the net for a first timer is indeed good. It creates a good impression of the net for him.E commerce in India is still in the nascent stage. But with new age budget airlines promoting E-ticketing and sites like Ebay making slow but steady progress,we are on the way.This is however largely restricted to the urban areas. Some of the rural areas are not even wired,do not have telephones. As a result ,the villagers do not even have an idea of how a PC looks like. Intel has recently launched a PC for the rural man. Let's see what kind of response it evokes.

Somebody has said "Growth of India lies in the growth of its villages"Maybe its time for the concerned authorities to wake up to this and take the appropriate steps in the right direction.

India falter at Trinidad--what to do now??

In their fourth successive defeat in as many ODI's India lost the fifth and final ODI to the West Indies in Trinidad to end up losing the series 1-4.The match which will be most probably remembered as Brian Lara's final ODI at the Queen's Park Oval.

A measured 95 by the Najafgarh Mauler was not enough as India fell short by 20 runs. None of the other batsmen went beyond 30, a rather sad thing for a team which was expected to whitewash the Calypsos 5-0.The heroes for the West Indies--Dwayne Bravo more so for his 62,and Jerome Taylor and Dave Mohammad for their three wickets apiece.Coming back to Lara,the King of Trinidad hit 36 before slipping while going for the second run which saw him being Run out.

Where do you India go from here? Clearly the young Indian side had performed extraordinarily well in the last few months but this was not their series.The second ODI was some kind of live saver and motivator for the West Indies and it produced exactly the opposite effect for Rahul Dravid's boys.. My view--persist with the lads.I do agree that clarion calls for the Gangulys and the Laxmans will start flowing in. I have no disrespect for the batting talent of these two wonderful classy batsmen. But give the lads another couple of series to settle down. One bad series is not everything.Give them more chances to prove their mettle.If they do not perform well there also,then may be its time for the selectors to get their thinking caps on.

Sherpa. creates a record-not one most of us would like to emulate

A Nepali Sherpa shed his clothes a few days ago on Wednesday---You may wonder why this news merits attention. The fact is that this guy stood naked for over three minutes on the top of Mt. Everest. Quite shocking isn't it????

Probably the bloke wanted to etch his name in public memory amongst all who had climbed Everest. Really--The heights people go to create records. I wonder how hard it is to reach Everest,let alone do what he did.We have heard of guys who have died of frostbite on Everest,so to stay three minutes like that is quite stunning.

Maybe i should steer this topic on today's world and what it takes to be remembered indirectly taking it into Psychology which will research the crazy tendencies of the human mind. On second thought that can wait for another time.

Fanaa to be stalled in Gujarat

Aamir Khan's film Fanaa will not be available to Gujaratis in theatres because of his stand on the Narmada issue--scream the newspapers in India.
Much as we would like not to mix films and politics,the two have had a relationship dating back to quite a long time. And boycotting everything which is even minutely related to a person or thing your ideology opposes is not a new practice. This therefore means that Titan,Coke,Toyota to name a few will be hit quite hard. I wonder how the corporate honchos of these companies will react to this.
We live in a democracy and everyone is entitled to his /her views.Aamir has categorically stated that he made these statements as an Indian and not a Muslim. Sad to see that we have to justify our nationality even after close to 6 decades of independence. Aamir has been targetted because he made his support public ,added to the fact that he is a celebrity. That's not to say that he is right or wrong. But may be the BJP can adopt better methods of protest. Personal attacks against a person are unwarranted. Aamir and the BJP maybe right in their own ways,but everybody has a right of opinion and people have to accept that. Not everybody will think the way you want them to. And forcing them to think that way is wrong, because it's an imposed opinion and not a natural one.
Any ways Aamir has said he will not change his stand.He said that the loss in revenue is far less than what the poor villagers will have to undergo.
The BJP has said that it will stick to its ideology and has trained its guns on the actor. This issue has also given the media a lot to chew about.
Let's hope for an amicable solution.

Mark Inglis

I am a bit late in congratulating this man on his wonderful feat,but better late than never. This man is the first man to climb Mt.everest without legs. It's definitely not everyday that a person climbs Mt.Everest and not certainly a double Amputee. This bloke was a victim of frostbite in a 1982 expedition in his home country. He has defied the odds and truly epitomises "IF THERE"S A WILL,THERE"S A WAY".

The other sad aspect of his trip revealed by Inglis himself is about a 34 year old British climber who went alone on the expedition ----David Sharp,who was atleast watched by 40 odd climbers battling for his life.Unfortunately none of them came to his rescue. Edmund Hillary expressed shock and was quoted as saying "Human life is far more important than just gettting to the top of a mountain".
Inglis added that his team tried to save the Englishman but were forced to make the tragic decision to leave him to die for their own safety. In England Sharp's mother said that she held no grudge against Inlgis' team for not having saved her son.

In such hostile conditions,decisions are tough to make ,one has to admit and one decision can alter the entire course of one's life.If somebody had managed to save Sharp and thereby forego the opportunity to climb Everest and maybe even risked his life ,his fame would be temporary and he would have faded out of public memory in a short while. It probably explains the reason why the 40 odd climbers never tried to save the man's life .

Sad,but true. Nothing however to take away from Inglis. The feat he's done is monumental

Mandal Part 2 just seems to get Bigger with every passing day

Just as one thought that the anti quota protesters would finally cave in,the movement appears to have increased in intensity. Medicos have struck work in protest in Government Hospitals and only emergencies are being attended to .Even the consultants who are otherwise forbidden to strike ,have gone on mass casual leave,thus crippling the public health care system of the capital.

Even traders are supporting the protesters. Markets in Jaipur were closed for half a day to show solidarity with them. Other protests have taken place in Kota (Home to some of the most famous IIT grads for 2 years if they go to Bansal and elsewhere) and elsewhere in Rajasthan.

I do want upliftment for the poor and economically backward. But what have 50 odd years of reservations done for these sections in our country. Has there been a being change in their standard of living???Have the reservations been able to do the job they were earmarked to ? The answer is a sad NO.

The government needs to tackle the problem from the base. How good is the primary education system in India?? When OBC's and other classes do not even have basic good education facilities,what is the point in giving them reservations in the most recognised intellectual brands of India?? How can the top floor be built when the foundation itself is shaky? That's a big question in itself.We all preach on equality ,so where's that gone ??Most of the OBC guys in these institutes do not believe in reservations at all.Merit,they say should be the decider.

The greatest sufferers will be the middle class which is not poor enough to get reservations and not rich enough to pay their way in. It's this middle class which accounts for most of our population.

The IIT's n IIM's who are already struggling with professor recruitment will have more people to recruit when the quota is enforced. A beautiful thing in today's Times "Good faculty do not grow on trees". And with the pittance the government offers as salaries,teaching standards are bound to fall and so will the credibility of India's most premier educational jewels.

Talks between the students and government officials have failed to make any headway so far.Some guys are equating this with the Civil Disobedience movement. That's quite a comparison??? What say guyz???????????

No Yuvi-Raj ,But Sar-wins it for WI

A gutsy 93 by Yuvraj Singh went in vain as India lost a nailbiting encounter at Sabina Park to the hosts by one run,the lowest margin of defeat in the Carribean.Chasing 199 for victory after having reduced the hosts to 198/9,the Indians needed 11 off the last over. 2 Yuvraj boundaries reduced it to 2 to win off 3 . Dwayne Bravo whose day really did not have any thing much to be written about,bowled a slower one and the ball found its way to the stumps from Singh's pads,a dismissal which shocked the bowler as much as it did the batsman. The dismissal thus saw India's record 17 match chasing streak come to an end.

Earlier the West Indies struggled after being put in by Dravid,whose luk with the toss continued. As it was in the first match only one batsman made a significant contribution --close to 50% of the team total. That day it was Chris Gayle ,today it was Ramnaresh Sarwan.Coming in after Gayle had gone for a blob,the Guyanese batsman paced his innings well gradually improving his strike rate from 20 to 58 to a final 71. None of the remaining West Indies batsmen seemed to want to stay at the middle,barring Carlton Baugh and to an extent Marlon Samuels. The flamboyant batsman finshed at 98 not out,thus becoming the first batsman in ODI history to remain unbeaten on scores of 98 and 99. Surprisingly or coincidently both have come against India.

India have themselves to blame too. Sarwan could well have been run out close to thrice in his innings,with Yuvraj being the guilty person on more than one occasion.Virendra Sehwag's poor form continued. Many of the Indians played poor shots to lose a match which was in their grip for most of the game.The dismissal of Suresh Raina was a key point in the innings .At that point India needed 75 odd runs from 15 overs with 6 in hand.

This win comes as a great morale booster for the Calypso Kings, Many pundits had predicted them not to win even a single match in the series . They have played quite well and we hope to see the same level competition in the rest of the series

We head off to St. Kitts in two days time for the third ODI. Till then,adios!!!!!

The Spanish Armada rolls on--Viva La Catalunya

Barcelona completed a Spanish double as they overcame 10 man Arsenal 2-1 in the UEFA champions League final at the Stade de France yesterday night.Earlier their compatriots Sevilla had thrashed soon to be English manager Steve Mclaren's Boro 4-0 in the Uefa cup final.

Underdogs Arsenal,buoyed by the support of a pretty partisan Paris crowd nearly opened the scoring in the third minute but Victor Valdes produced an amazing close range save to deny Theirry Henry.Another Henry attempt from the edge of the area was saved by Valdes as Arsenal produced some good football in the opening minutes. Then in the 18th minute Arsenal's tournament hero Jens Lehmann became the first Goalie to be sent off in a European final as he lunged forward to deny Samuel Etoo and sent him tripping.Ludovic Giuly cooly tapped the ball into an empty net but referee Terje Hauge disallowed the goal and sent Lehmann off--A decision which has been debated quite a lot.Robert Pires probably playing his last Champions League Match for the Gunners was made the sacrificial pig as Manuel Almunia was brought on. From then on it was a match between Arsenal's defensive ability and Barca's Attacking.

Hauge made another atrocious decision giving a freekick to Arsenal when Eboue had dived. Sol Campbell ,whose season can be best described as tumultous ,rose above Oleguer and sent the ball into the top right hand corner leaving Valdes stunned . 1-0 to Arsenal .Almunia produced an amazing save to deny Etoo from close range in injury time ,leaving the Gunners with a 1-0 lead as the teams went into the lemon break.

All three of Riijkard's second half substitutes Andres Iniesta,Henrik Larsson and Juliano Belletti were tactical masterstrokes.Iniesta gave Barca more options in attack. Arsenal held on, staving all attacks on goal,preserving their lead for nearly three quarters of the match. Then a beautiful first touch by Larsson found Etoo and the Cameroonian shot it past Almunia into the net. 1-1 Arsenal had crumbled. Another superb pass by Larsson saw an other Barca player slot it past Almunia--a Brazilian ---not Ronnie---but Juliano Belletti . The Brazilian was absolutely stunned at having scored what was to be the winner's goal. Theirry Henry missed another chance to add to his third minute miss.And it stayed that way . 2-1 to the Catalans

The Catalns were deserving winners,considering their possesion and shots on goal. But Arsene Wenger's men had nothing to be disappointed of . They tried and tried but it was not to be their night.

Forca Barca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bienvenue a` Parc des Princes

Yes folks---The stage is set tonight at the Parc des Princes in Paris . In little close to an hour two of Europe's most famous clubs will battle for the ulitmate prize in European Football --The Uefa Champions League Final.The warriors--Arsenal Fc of England and Fc Barcelona of Spain.
The match is being billed as a match between two of the finest footballers in the world today ---Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho,opponents on the pitch tonight, both of whom may very well don the colours of the same club next season. The match is also seen as a Frank Riijkard vs Arsene Wenger match.On paper,one sees no need why Barcelona should not win this and if they do ,the Catalans might well go on to dominate Europe for the next few seasons.Their compatriots Sevilla thrashed Boro 4-0 a few days ago and the La liga winners would be looking to make it a Spanish double in Europe. There are few teams who can stop Barca when on song and Arsenal if they display their perfromance against Villareal in the second leg of the semifinal ,will not be one of those teams.
Still for Wenger's youngsters,it has been a dream run so far,beating the likes of Juve and Real Madrid on the way. Young Emmanuel Eboue has put up his hand up for marking Ronaldinho, a job one many of the world's best defenders would shy away from.Lets see how he fares. Cesc Fabregas would like to make an impression against his former club and Henry would like to add that one trophy which has been missing from his otherwise glittering cabinet.
Its promises to be attacking football at its best, a treat for the connossieurs of the game. May the Best team win.
GO GUNNERS AND FORCA BARCA.

Internet Security

With the internet now penetrating into virtually every nook and corner of the world,internet security has become a serious issue.Phishing,hacking ,key logging all are considered serious threats. And the simple problem is ---When new people get introduced to the net,most of them aren't aware of the bad aspects of the web. If they are a victim of any internet scam,the impression created on their minds isn't actually quite helpful for propogating further use of the internet. And we kinda take 2 steps Backward instead of one forward step

Some of the most basic stuff any home PC user must have----

• Anti Virus---I'd go for NOd32 ,although Norton and Mcafee are the better known ones. For the guys who dig on free stuff,I'd suggest AVG.

• Anti Spyware---I do quite like Ad Aware SE. Spyware sweeper is also pretty good. A word of warning to the newbies---Many sites which promise to rid your PC of all the spyware with a click mostly add to the problems more.

• Firewall---This is more generally used by advanced users. The first two stuff should protect any household, but a firewall does your PC no harm.

Suggested ones----Zone Alarm And Sygate .

There are many softwares which could do the job. However i have listed the ones which are most frequently used and the most reliable.

Another problem which gets on my head is "Spam". Most of us people are spammed with hundreds of fake mails giving us all kinds of special offers. This mostly happens when one enters his/her email in a site which asks for it. Pookmail is quite good for this purpose. You can use it and throw it. (Temporary usage)
However spammers always appear to be one step ahead of us. Somehow,I dunno why.
Actually speaking I'd love to see a Microsoft,Yahoo,Google anti spam alliance. Each of these companies are doing their bit for it and these three account for more than 3/4ths of all Email users. E commerce is fast becoming a defacto standard of transactions.

Lets keep this virtual world a clean place for all the newbies who enter it every day .