Take a bow Sachin

As the world bids adieu to the little master, I cannot help but marvel at what a profound effect Sachin has had on all of us. Every he time he walked in to bat, a nation united in awe to watch the magician weave his tricks. It was more than just Cricket for everyone when he batted. It didn't matter where you were from, what your religion was, what you did, rich or poor, old or young, you just  had to love Sachin.

I remember. It was 1998.India visited Sharjah for the Coca Cola cup. Two magnificent Tendulkar innings to single handedly win India the cup was enough to see off the Aussies. It was as if he out there to teach the world how to play cricket. He just blasted the Aussie bowlers all round the park. This series was probably the reason I started loving cricket. I am among the million kids who tried imitating him when walking on the street, who drank Boost just because it was the secret to Sachin's energy.

Then there was the Commonwealth Bank series in 2007-08 down under. Sachin was up to it again. You would think that Sharjah innings was enough to make him an all time great against the Aussies. But not for Sachin, as he added more feathers to his cap. The four that he hit against Brett Lee straight down the ground in the second final is still imprinted in my mind. The only thing that eluded Tendulkar was also conquered as he won the World Cup in 2011 at his home ground to add the cherry on top of the cake. He had practically achieved everything and sometimes he would make you wonder how much more a cricketer can achieve.

Now as you decide to quit the one-day format with just one short of fifty tons, I wish you could have played a few more years. But you probably know what's best. We will miss you Tendulkar. We will miss your humility, your sublime shots, your off breaks, the awkward adjustment of your pants when you walked in to bat. I am lucky to have grown up seeing you play cricket. I will look forward to every Test match that India plays now. Adieu little master.

Winter has Come !

So after a long time, 111 days precisely, I am back with a post. To all the Game of Thrones fans, sorry to disappoint but this post is not about it as the title might suggest. Neither is it about the approaching Christmas winter. Rather it is about the gruesome Delhi incident that I am sure everyone is aware of.

I am extremely shocked and saddened by the gravity of this incident. Just thinking and writing about it sends a chill down my spine. I am not sure what is worse, this incident or the fact that our lives will return to its normal self after a few days until another similar incident. A few days back all of us shed tears for the Guwahati incident and what happened? Those heinous bastards are yet to be sentenced and are roaming free on our streets. What exactly will stop them from doing it again? A lot of rallies will be organized and slogans shouted, but is the government listening? I think its high time that our judiciary system shows some balls. It is ridiculous enough that it took us four years to hang a terrorist and celebrate the so called justice, but whats worse is that an act of rape or molestation results in just one year imprisonment. Come on! The US didn't bring Osama back to their home, feed him and give him a life of luxury until his existence sucked the souls out of their citizens. They just sent a bullet through him without thinking for a split second. That is one of the reasons why it is the most feared country in the world.

The fearlessness with which the Delhi incident took place goes to show how ridiculous the state of safety especially for women in our country is. There was a debate in the Lok Sabha on whether an act of rape should result in death penalty, but that died down as fast as a flash. Why is our government scared to take actions? Why can't they step up, take some extreme steps and send out a message that we are not ready for such outrage. What are they waiting for? A few more women to get raped, a few more bomb blasts to kill us, or is it for Batman??

I would like to share a poem by Farhan Akhtar that he wrote after this incident and I could not agree more with him.

What is this country that I live in?
With no equality
And the quality of life
Differs from husband to wife
Boy to girl, brother to sister
Hey Mister, are you the same?
Contributing to the national shame
Replacing your mothers
With the bent ideology of another's
perception that women have a particular role in society
Fills my heart with anxiety
Where is all of this going?
What will emerge from these seeds that we're sowing?
It makes my head spin
But I'm not giving in
Will keep asking the question 
What is this country that I live in?

What is this country that I live in?
That takes away her right to love
Brutalises her with an iron glove
Rapes her without fear
of there being justice for her tear
We've demeaned our goddesses
Gone back on all our promises
Become a gender distorted nation
Given our conscience a permanent vacation
what do I tell my daughter?
That she's growing up to be lamb for the slaughter
we've got to make a change
Reboot, reformat, rearrange,
and never give in
no matter how much our head may spin
Just keep asking the question
What is this country that I live in? 

I know that this post is not going change anything, but it is with the hope that one day I will get to see an India which is ready to stand up to its citizens and protect them that I am writing it. That one day where there will be equality in our country. That one day where we can roam our streets not with fear, but with conviction and belief in our governance. But as of today, there is nothing but shame that beholds us.

From a sad Indian. Comments welcome.

Mera Bharat Mahaan??

Gre,Toefl,Cat,Gmat,Placements..Now these are some of the things that are commonly heard in hostel these days.Everyone seems to be looking at their life ahead of IITH,ready to pounce out of this jungle,free into the outer world.Now I say 'outer world' maybe because we are so far isolated from civilization(trust me we are!!).But it may also be because somehow IITH seems like one closely knit family.Most of us including myself are ready to leave the country for higher studies.

Anyways getting back to the topic,very often me and my friends talk about how India sucks(pardon the usage,but it is the truth!) when compared to most of the world.We stand 95th on the corruption list,have a third of the world's poor and the scam count only seems to be increasing everyday with the coal scam being the latest.Yet after all this we claim that India is the greatest country in the world because of our so called ''CULTURE''.I don't see how our culture is making our lives better.Don't mistake me to be pessimistic.I am just laying out the facts.I know you people might have read about all this but I am still writing it because I find something disturbing.

It is us who keeps complaining about corruption and still it is the same us who don't even hesitate to bribe the traffic police.The mood of the country seems to be complacent.There seems to be a Chalta Hai attitude among everyone.People are almost convinced that Indian future isn't very bright and this is true even among some of my friends who by the way are some of the smartest minds in the country.But this is not true.Gujarat under the leadership of Modi seems to be a perfect example for this.In a span of few years Modi has managed to change the face of Gujarat.I am a great fan of him and I still believe that if we do things right,Kalam's vision of India 2020 may as well come true.

So why am I telling you all this?You probably already know all this! I think there needs to be a drastic change in attitude of Indians,especially the youth if India is to come anywhere close to China.India has the largest youth population in the world and this can only be a boon to us.They need to believe that we are the ones that can bring about this change.Most of us seem to under estimate what we can do for our country.On a small scale our contribution may seem irrelevant but if Mother Theresa had thought like us,things wouldn't have been same for all those lives she saved.I am not saying that each one of us has the capacity to single handedly change the fate of India.All I am saying is if each of us does our bit,India definitely has a better future.It is like Kennedy said,''Ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country''.

I don't know what I might do for my country but I am willing to say that I am ready to do my bit.Are you??

Comments and suggestions welcome..:)

The last crusade at IITH!!

So I am back in IITH after a pretty good summer break and the first thing that dawns to me is the fact that this is going to be my last year in this place.Well I'll save my tears and bore you guys some other time.Anyways I see so many changes,some good,some bad and some I really don't care about.The absence of the seniors is possibly the most noticeable thing around.I always knew it was going to be weird without them but now that its here,it certainly is.And how can I not mention the horrible new Mess with its lame so called 'Grand opening'.I am not kidding when I say that even a dog was invited to the opening of the mess.I am pretty sure the new Gymkhana has worked hard to get everything in place,but they sure haven't done a good job regarding the mess.Even after spamming the students with a string of mails,they somehow managed to narrow down on the worst caterer.Guess its just one more thing to put up with.

As much as I was looking forward to an easy going semester,all my hopes were dashed when I found out that I had to take 32 credits making it one of the toughest semesters so far.Thanks to Elec profs its only going to get more hellish.MS applications and placements are only among few of the many things that seem to be bothering me now.Still when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel,I am forced to take solemnity in the fact that this is the place that has given me 3 awesome years until now and convince myself that its going to be pretty much similar again.Well in any case all I am looking forward to is one hell of a semester(ironically!!) and saving my ass from the angels of death(you guessed it right!! our elec profs).

So I am embracing myself for one last encore at IITH only as I realize that these days ain't coming back!!

IIT's serving their purpose??

I recently came across an interesting article about Engineering in India and the IITs.The IIT's are premiere institutes for higher education started as a brainchild of the  Nalini Ranjan Sircar Committee. They are the pride of India when it comes to Engineering producing some of the finest Engineers over more than 50 years.


However there have been a lot of debates lately over the standard of the engineers graduating from the  IIT's.Who is to to be blamed for this?The faculty? Or is it the students?I think it is the education system in India as a whole that deserves the credit.After secondary school education,most of the students end up staring at either medicine or engineering as their future prospects.Even students who want to pursue an MBA get into the frenzy of the IIT coaching institutes just for the brand value.So the IIT's end up getting intelligent students but not necessarily ones  interested in Engineering. One should then not be surprised to see the quality of engineers dropping.How many of the engineers actually end up taking a job in their core field?Most of the highest packages from the IIT's are that of the banking sectors and this is too 


The IIT's are being looked at as an option for a safe future rather than institutes for research studies.Parents often force their children into the coaching centers.'Work hard for two years and your future is safe' seems to be their mantra.Even the teachers get frustrated as they are left with the task of teaching engineering to people most of whom are just not interested !!


 A higher awareness at the school level  about various career options available is the need of the hour.Students need to be more aware of the different options they have so that they can choose the field they are going to spend the rest of their lives in without just blindly following the crowd.This responsibility should be taken up by the schools.


Just a thought! 

Tennis Tango.

So Roger Federer won his seventh Wimbledon and is back to being No1.The world seems to be back to normal again because it is the return of the king.On his way to his 17th grand slam Federer equalled Sampras's record of 7 Wimbledon's and also for topping the men's rankings for 286 weeks.Britian's only hope of ending the 76 year wait,Murray,went down fighting in a spirited match.With Britian hoping that Murray would finally end the grand slam drought, the expectations were high and the ticket prices soared up to as high as £42000!!However Federer was in no mood to let this get in his way as he outclassed Murray in a 4 setter only to extend Britian's agonizing wait.

With this win Federer shut his critics,lambasting suggestions that his era of dominance might have come to an end.Against Djokovic in the semi finals he looked absolutely flawless and defined pe'RF'ection as we got a glimpse of the old Fedex.I am inspired by his hard work and perseverance  as it is definitely not easy to end a two and a half year title drought at his age against oppositions of such caliber.He definitely inspires greatness and mesmerizes his fans with his elegent shots.He may be the greatest player to have ever graced the court.His humbleness only adds to his charisma and makes him so difficult to be disliked.He has risen to the challenge when required and has shown us why he is considered a genius.

One should at the same time not forget the other three titans.The top four players have taken tennis to a whole new level above the rest.I still cannot forget the recent Australian open final between Nadal and Djoker.It is until date some of the finest display of tennis and athleticism I have seen.It was really sad that there had to be one winner.Murray on the other hand deserves credit for his consistent efforts to give the other three a run for their money.His emotional speech at the end of the match showed how much tennis means to him.For the sake of tennis,I hope he wins at least one Grand Slam.The fantastic four only seem to be pushing each other harder which makes this beautiful game an ultimate winner.I recently came across an interesting stat-29 of the last 30 Grand slams have been shared among theTop 3.Now this is sheer dominance on their part because it is almost 8 years worth of Grand slams we are talking about!

Unfortunately at the same time there has been some ugly drama unfolding in Indian tennis.Even players such as Leander Paes and Bhupati who together have done so much for India,for whatever reasons have gotten into a spat and are unwilling to pair up for the all important Olympics putting the AITA in a fix.The demands made by Bhupati to pair up with Bopanna are unreasonable,extremely selfish and not in the interest of the nation.The AITA itself did not handle this situation gracefully,chauvinistically using Sania Mirza as a bait to pacify Paes.Sania deservingly thrashed all of them for their preposterous insensitivity.I wouldn't be too surprised if India returns home without a Tennis medal from the Olympics,thanks to this frivolous frenzy.It is a sad day for Indian Tennis and for once,the Indian government's apathy towards sports is not the one to be blamed.

From an elated Tennis fan and a sad Indian!Comments and suggestions welcome.

Maaki Trip 2..:D

Its funny how difficult it is to spare 10 min for your blog and still manage to spend so much time on Facebook.Just a food for thought!! Anyways I was talking about our amazing trip in my last post and even though I am back to my work at my internship,I am filled with nostalgic memories from the trip! From the past few days,many times I have just giggled thinking of the funny moments on the trip (for one,Naveen pointing to a foreigner and yelling Heh!! Foreigner!!!!:P ).

After an awesome day at Ramanagar,we managed to get our only rest during travel to Kudremukh in the Tavera before going to the guide's house that was on top of a hill on a really cool yet scary jeep ride.We freshened up at his house and began the seemingly impossible 28Km trek!The first 7-8 Km were easy going and I came across some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life.At the same time we were practically saving our asses from the million leeches that were acting like they were at war with us pouncing at us thirsty for our blood.As we went higher the clouds started to set in and it started getting chillier and the hills,steeper.The leeches were now our least concern as we started stepping really carefully for one slip is all it would have taken us to kick the bucket!Still somehow Siddu was managing to slip and fall every now and then like it was his duty to do so.Once,he almost slide tackled Ajay down the hill.2Km from the peak we had almost given up and were contemplating turning back as it was freezing cold and we were damn tired.

Surprisingly to our guide,this was like his morning walk.When we were all crawling like ants on the hills trying to get support from the rocks,he was literally yawning and was unmoved by the cold.That somehow pinched our egos and now all we wanted to do was get to the peak come what may!

Finally after 4 hours of climbing we reached the peak and we were literally on cloud nine(no,literally!! coz we were so high up!!).All that was there on the peak was one stick on a rock.We all ran and held that stick and were feeling like Neil Armstrong holding the American flag on the moon!!
Now it was time to eat,but all we had got was a small packet of rice with us.As we sat to eat,for one it was freezing and for another the wind was blowing from all directions!!Whatever few grains we managed to get into our hands were also mostly blown off by the wind.Food seemed like gold at that moment to all of us.!!

Our way back was only trickier if not tiring.As it was only getting colder,the only thing on our mind was to somehow get back home.Finally after 3 hours filled with leech bites, Naveen's cramps,Siddu slipping(btw even I managed take a massive fall ironically when making fun of Siddu!!..:P) we somehow managed to make it back to the guide's house.It took us some time to actually believe that we had completed the 28Km trek!!Finally with a sense of relief and achievement we retired to sleep with a memorable day etched in our lives!!!


Hope you guys enjoyed reading!!Suggestions to improve are welcome.See you in my next post..:)

Maa ki Trip 1..:D

Now,I have been trying for a long time to follow the footsteps of my friends(Adi,Aniket,Abby) to start a blog and finally here I am with my first post!!What pushed me to do this were the awesome past 3 days of an even more awesome trip!I feel these memories are worth penning down and here I go!!This post is mostly about the first day of our trip.

What was planned to be a trip with 13-14 people was turning out into a flash in the pan with most of them dropping out one by one.Finally we managed to pull in 9 people for the plan,only for Adi and Abby to give us the slip and drop another bomb on our plan.Now we were apprehensive about making the trip wondering if we should just take lite.After just convincing each other that we could still make it,we decided we would still go on with the plan with just the seven of us(me,ajay,khalid,naveen,siddu,kotri and praveen). We were not sure if we could complete the 3 days because it looked almost physically impossible as it was filled with only travel and activities with no halt anywhere!!

On the first day we went to Ramanagar,a small district close to Bangalore.Now this is the place where Sholay was shot and I could only imagine Gabbar singh asking me,Kitne aadmi the?? (and me answering only 7...:P I know its lame but still couldn't resist!!).Anyways,we were off in a flash to Ramanagar looking forward to some awesome adventure.This chap called Aryan was our instructor for the day and I can tell you he is the fittest guy I have ever met in my life,and he definitely didn't look like one.The first thing we did was Rappling.This is when you climb down a rock with a harness tied to you.The first few steps down the rock,all of us were shit scared and were already wondering if this was a bad idea and if we should have just sat at home peacefully facebooking..:P.But we braved the rock and the feeling after finishing it was just priceless.All of our sulkiness was now gone and we already  knew there were one hell of three days ahead of us!!

Now I won't bore you guys describing all the activities we did,but will tell you about the ones worth mentioning.The next adventure was Chimney climbing.This is where you climb up a narrow space between two huge rocks.Every step of ours up the rocks was reminding me of 127 hours!:P.All of us finished this also with ease and were only adding to our Roadie adventure ka CV.:P(which by the way included stuff like rock throwing, rope pulling and many more.:P).Not to forget Kayaking where Ajay was peeing in his pants to get on to the boat and with the funniest rowing by Naveen(Khalid...Remember?).Anyways this day was mostly about us facing our fears and at the end of the day I felt like Tom Cruise who could pull off any stunt!(Exaggeration...:P)

The guys who missed it missed one hell of a trip and I can tell you it was only going to get better!!The next day we were off to Kudremukh with the night's rest in the car for a 28km trek wondering what was in store for us.This trek by the way turned out to be the best part of the trip.Wait for my next post on Kudremukh! Hope you guys enjoyed reading(a nervous blogger with his first post!!).

Comments are always welcome!!