Chargers on the Storm !!

Prologue

As I take out time to blog after more than a month’s grueling cricketing action, not just for the players but also diehard fans like me who had to juggle between Late Night Cliffhangers and Early morning office meetings.

India; a cricket frenzy nation where it doesn’t take more than couple of seconds for a completely random strangers to bond over a game of cricket by merely asking “boss score kya huva”. A billion heartbeats thriving on the success and failure of the National Cricket Team which binds this nation together. The IPL however managed to bring in a completely new dimension to cricket by drawing battle lines alongside a regional franchisee based system. No longer can you safely tap the shoulder of the stranger next to you and “assume” that both of you are cheering for the same team.

The stage was set for the Delhi-Daredevil vs Deccan Chargers Semifinal last weekend, After hopping by at a couple of places hoping to catch the Live Screening, we settled for IndiJoe’s; As we were hooting screaming and clapping; trying to match Gilly’s scintillating strokeplay; we realized that somewhere between all of that we managed to entangle ourselves in a verbal battle with the guys on the next table who were Delhi-Daredevils supporters. Not sure if it was Gilly’s batting or the couple of budwisers that gave me the high; but I was in no mood to relent inspite of being aware of the violent & unpredictable behavior of jaats.

As Gilly continued to plunder the Delhi attack, our banter was getting louder & confident and we managed to corner the jaats and send them packing; not before they expressed their frustration by fighting among themselves. Helpless and Outnumbered by Hyderabadi’s and Outplayed by Gilly.

I had got my revenge, after being taunted and ridiculed by my friends from Delhi during the whole of last season when Deccan Chargers were subjected to humiliating defeats & finished last on the league table.

When the IPL-2009 season had began the time had come for the Deccan Chargers; he players were eagerly waiting for an opportunity to make a statement; As a fan I was more than eager to make statements of my own. I got myself a Team Jersey (pic below) 2 weeks before the beginning of the IPL and much before the actual Team got one. As people continued to mock me and my fanatic support for the Chargers calling me “The only Deccan Chargers fan”; also claiming that the only way the owners would make profits was from the team jerseys I had bought (3 jerseys in all). I was subjected to mockery even before the season had began.

I have nothing to say except for the few lines I decided to plagiarize and pen down

(no points for guessing the original song)

Chargers on the storm
Chargers on the storm

Like a wooden spoon we were thrown

A team without a spine
it’s the zeal that got us crowned

With the warriors on a Song
and the Chargers on the storm

There’s Gilly on the road
His brain is running like a code
The rivals can take a holiday
while the underdogs continue to play
If ya give this man a ride

He will rise against the tide

And push you down the slide

Killer on the road, yeah

It’s time for everyone to move on especially the sore losers; As we all need to unite and cheer for TEAM INDIA in the World T20 Championship starting June 5^th.

All the sore losers see you in Champions T20 League in Oct-2009; May be we Indians will have another reason to fight.

As I conclude this post; My take on the IPL Controversies.

1) Increasing the 4 International Players/Team Limit – Unfortunately the hypocrite Indians want to see more local cricketers playing; however none of them would be taking this tournament seriously if it was a pure domestic affair

2) Lalit Modi calling for 2 IPL seasons/year – He is on a high after the success in South Africa. Let him come out of the hangover

3) Indian Captain lifting up the Trophy – Either Ban All foreign players from captaining IPL teams. No matter what; there is some foreign hand involved in the success/failure of each of the 8 teams or become more broadminded.

4) Deccan Chargers win was a fluke – Get a Life

5) Lack of talented local players in Deccan Chargers – We lost most of them to the Rebel ICL League, the rebel franchisee called “Hyderabad Heros” won the 2008 tournament. Most of the players from the rebel league are going to join the Deccan Chargers for the 2010 season.

P.S.: Special thanks to my parents for putting up with the late night loud volumes; Thanks to TataSky+ for allowing me to record and rewind matches; Thanks to all my Deccan Chargers Supporter friends for staying with the team and tolerating my occasional pessimism and for spreading the belief that this team is going to win.

The world sneezes when the Americans catch cold !!

Prologue

As I make yet another attempt to revive my blog, I am clearly falling short of ideas, As I have given up on begging, borrowing & stealing thoughts, I am trying to get provoked (last time) and inspired (this time)

The title of my post could bring in way too many analogies starting from economy, governance, Military, fashion trends, movies, music, and how even a minuscule and unintentional American issue can create a furor in the rest of the world. But for once let me not pretend to be intelligent and purely stick to the literal title of the post.

AH...AH....ACHOOOO…..ACHOOOO (23…24…..as my younger brother gives me a stern look as he keeps track of the number of times I sneezed in the last hour or so rather the number of times he got disturbed from his serious semester exam preparation)

As I surf the Television, the news channels continued to flash “Breaking News”, which ironically and obviously is about the SWINE FLU that broke out in the US, 3 days ago, and since then has only been threatening to enter India (only thanks to the news channels), as they continue to wait desperately for the symptoms to be tested positive, so that they can go on and increase their TRPs, and later claim that they were “Subse Teez”

ACHOOOO…..ACHO (as I tried to hold my 2nd sneeze back only to avoid the unsympathetic looks from my family members)

Its been 3 long days since I tried to hide myself from the scorching sun and the horrendous heat, for reasons that have nothing to do with me getting a sun-burn or TANned (if at all there is a difference between those two), as I continue to sip the 5th glass of fresh lemonade + Aam Panna mocktail, which pretty much has been a lifesaver for me for 25 years, thanks to my aversion to yoghurt, buttermilk and all the byproducts of milk.

ACHOOOO (as I speak to my friend on the phone to discuss the weekend plans which later failed and if that was not enough the Deccan Chargers loss to Rajasthan Royals further ruining the already disastrous weekend)

I continued to surf the channels, completely ignoring my mom’s demanding looks to give up on the remote, meanwhile one of the news channels in a bid to become the number 1, almost confirmed the first “Positive” case of the Swine flu, as the others tried to demystify the dangerous disease; I decided not to leave it to them.

“Swine flu also known as pigfluenza or hog flu or pig flu”,

Couple more google results and I came across a news which was far more interesting than the actual disease itself, It is to believed that the Indian Health Ministry was facing a serious dilemma on what this outbreak would be called “Mexican Flu” or “Pig flu” ? I thanked god for leaving them only with 2 options.

If that was not enough, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) & World Health Organization (for human health) are also battling it out to figure out if this “swine flu” is a threat to mankind or animal-kind. (Later they concluded it as cocktail disease, as I gave my mocktail a dubious look)

I couldn’t stop myself from appreciating the concern of the Health Ministry and the WHO; asking people (read pork lovers) to get rid of the misconception that they could be infected by consuming pork, which has already brought about the downfall of the sales (ultimately resulting in the downfall of the national GDP ? I seriously hope not)

Indeed the world sneezes when the Americans catch cold.

Meanwhile they finally decided to name it as the H1N1 (Influenza A virus subtype H1N1) I almost began to wonder if “H1” has to anything with “H1-B” as I try to rake in a new controversy but decided against it as i do not hold any stakes in any of the news channels.

ACHOOOO ACHOOOO (as I try to sneeze softly for the fear of being overheard (over-sneezed) by my neighbours who might panic and call up 108/102, and leave me to the aftermath of the Indian media who would prowl on a pray like me only for their TRPs

“aaap India ke sabse pehle H1N1 mareez hain, bataiye kaisa lag raha hain aapko ?”

If swine doesn’t get you, the Indian Media will……

ACHOOOO...........

"God Bless Me"

P.S. Clearly Inspired, Nothing Intended !!

Semi-Inspiration, Semi-Co-incidence, Semi-Fiction, Semi-Facts

Tip of the Day....errr Lifetime.....

Having taken a vow not to write anything controversial on my blog after the verbal bashing I received after on one of my earlier posts. Since statements made and vows taken under the alcoholic influence are not legally recognized even by the Indian law I decided to make an exception for myself.

The reason for getting drunk this time (as if I care for one) as I sit alongside my best-friend-forlife Vinay and together mourning the demise of ONE MORE his youthful years as he turned 62 err 26 (oh tht was a copied joke with no copyrights)

Intoxicated and indulging ourselves with alcohol shot-after-shot we ended up going back a decade ago (well almost) and picked up the most sought-after dreadful mystery that has kept the 'MAN'kind guessing for decades & centuries together and still shows no sign of unraveling itself; well it came back to haunt us on that unfortunate evening.

“What goes on inside a women’s brains ?”

If not for the influence of the alcohol I would have yelled out loud

“NO !! NOT Again !! I need to rush home! I got to water my dog & feed the plants”

However I was helpless as i felt someone pulling me down holding back me on the chair (by the time I realized that the culprit was my new Deccan Chargers jersey that manged to knit itself into one of the rusty nails of the cosy chair it was too late)

If any of you are expecting a intriguing debate or discussion; well I am afraid I will have to end up disappointing you readers (if at all there are any) especially the female ones(I know some of you liked to be addressed as women or girls, excuse me but I am drunk), the fact that bitching was never on our agenda; Also let me clarify to my audience that I am no Chauvinist (atleast I think so) and my friend next to me respects women more than he respects himself; which unfortunately is a problem with his girlfriend (as I say this he whacks me on my head and asks me to focus on what I am supposed to say, I didn’t retaliate because he was drunk)

As he continued to live up to his reputation of being a ladies-man, a charmer, a sweet-talker (failing to realize all of that works only with women) I began losing losing my patience (whatever little I had); as he continued "There is nothing mysterious about women they are most simple human beings on this planet but are unfortunately perceived as the most complex ones thanks to dumb men like me" (mind u he was drunk); I wanted to instantly agree to his thoughts hoping that the topic would come to an abrupt end; not before my bloated ego had announced its arrival in grand style and didnt let me give into his stupid theories; for the next half-an-hour we ended up quoting numerous examples, stories, quotes, real-life incidents, authored books and tried to outsmart each other, Eventually resulting into a dud discussion which had to happen thanks to two oversmart men.

Meanwhile the alcohol levels started to supersede the water levels in the glasses as well as the blood levels inside, I began regaining the lost-confidence from the morning hangover, after yesterdays alcohol-fest.

It is a common sight to see two drunkards challenge each other and end up just blabbering trying to verbally outsmart each other; we made a conscious decision to leave all of them behind and spring into some action; my friend had decided to provoke (rather I decided its high time to get provoked or else it wouldn’t do any justice to the alcohol we gulped down) as he continued to demonstrate how simple & approachable women are…as he signaled me to turn 3 O’ Clock (meaning 45 degrees right in a ciphered the code language guys devised themselves to spot eye-candies (oh gosh how cheap of us to even address women in such derogatory terms, OMG I just gave out century-old secret of the astronomical clock men have been using to sight pretty women)

He pointed out towards a women sitting next to the table in a pink sweater branded “C K”; as i concentrated really hard to pay attention to the faint voices in the background, I figured out the ladies discussing about the 200USD sweater and the special wool used out of which the sweater was knitted.

As we signaled for the cheque oops bill err cheque; we realized that very much unlike the visa commercial we were contemplating on who would foot the bill even after working for MNCs and earning 5 figure salaries (big deal everybody does); we decided to resolve the issue as he threw a challenge asking me to strike up a conversation with a stranger female; which was in contrary to the opinion I had voiced moments ago. I would have never ever dared to even accept a challenge of that sort, but the fear of CreditCard wallas chasing me has engulfed me and I gathered courage held up my breath and walked up to the female and said.........

“Hi, Do you think Lok Sabha 2009 will be a coalition government?”

Poor girl was absolutely dumbstruck and regained her calm only to say “Try one more time” (how nice of her)

I turned back to my chair and stood up almost as if I had to give a retake; stood up walked past the table and ended up blurting out.....

“Do you think Obama’s economic stimulus bill will help the global economic crisis ?”

(and raised a eyebrow & almost as if to ask her if that was that intelligent enough ?)

C.K. answered "As if I care, right now I am bothered about someone bailing me out of my personal economic crisis"

By this time, clueless little miss CK was speculating if i was News Reporter or a VJ of some stupid show playing pranks on hapless people

Meanwhile I could figure out that my friend was having a laughter of a lifetime at my expense; but never ran out of tips; and this time suggested me to find “common or similar things” to strike up a conversation; it took me a couple of seconds to figured out that except for the time on our watches we had nothing in common.

I was in no mood to relent; and drew inspiration from those hundreds of bollywood movies and decide to pen down some pick up lines on the tissue paper; I wish I had access to google and ended up recollecting a few pick up lines (obviously not my own)

For someone so adorable, how can you be single? (fingers crossed I hope are you really single ?)

You are the kind of person people have to work up the guts to talk to (yeah I did I mean the alcohol did)

I know of a foolproof way for you to turn me into a prince... (well errr yeah….i guesss)

No Points for guessing the reactions i received (very obvious ones) I would refrain from publishing the responses to each of these pick up lines as my blogs are strictly against Non-Violence & use of language unacceptable to certain section of the audiences :D

It was only later I figured out that I was set up for this whole episode by my best friend and his long time colleague (no points for guessing); I really wanted to thank my friend for motivating me and thank Miss C.K (Calvin Klein) for being so approachable however I couldn’t really get in touch with her again thanks to the Orkut Privacy Settings and locked scrapbooks.

Meanwhile I still continue to draw attention to my Orkut Profile by clicking pictures with my neighbors red Ferrari and friends red karizma…hoping either I turn intelligent and smart one day…or hope that i come across someone who belongs to 20% category...

P.S: The content of this blog is definitely inspired and provoked and is purely fictional; Although intentional, it is not intended to hurt the feelings of people whom it is intended at; My Sincere apologies if I have gone overboard with the post as I tend to do sometimes.

The Great Indian DemoCRAZY - II

I may not have done justice to the title of the earlier post by mocking at the Great Indian democracy; but here I am to provide the some facts to back my claim. (I am really sorry for the torturous lengthy posts; but ideally you wouldn’t even be reading upto this point of apology if were actually bored)

India may be the Largest Democratic Nation; however we are surely not quite a successful democratic nation; The Economist based on the Democracy Index has published a list democratic nations ranking India at 35 of 167 others; and also has classified India as “Flawed Democracy” which might be a slap on the face of the Political & Judicial Systems in India; however I am sure that it would not come as a surprise to an average Indian. Infact most of us would be wondering why haven’t we been ranked lower than 35; We may not be that good; but we are not definitely that bad either; You can read more about the Democracy Index here..

While the whole of India is glued on to outcome of the 15^th LokSabha results; I am more concerned about the improving election reforms in this nation, about the Importance of Voting, the Innovative campaigns, exposing candidates, their assets & criminal background; For the first time ever I got the EC Voter ID cards enrolled online for my entire family and got them delivered at my doorstep;

The 2004 General Elections (when I voted for the first time ever) and the results are fresh in my mind when for the 3^rd time in 2 decades the Assembly Elections have coincided with the LokSabha elections in the state of Andhra Pradesh; The massive pro-congress wave almost swept of the longest serving chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Nara Chandrababu Naidu and his party;

But there are somethings that haven’t changed; Inspite of the various campaigns that tried to emphasize the importance of youth; I could only notice youngsters in colorful tees and banners with the bustling enthusiasm to Vote; however I barely came across a few who really understood the nuisances of Indian Politics; Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Counsel, Legislative Assembly were really aliened words; Polls, National Parties, Regional Parties, Alliances, Manifestos, didn’t really matter to them most of them would have gone by their parents choice, someone of them didn’t even knew which constituency they belonged to, some of them didn’t knew they had 2 votes to poll (Lok Sabha & Assembly). Nobody bothered to know about the candidates and their background, All they knew was “HAND”, “LOTUS”,“CYCLE”, “CAR”….

I realize that I had personally gone through a similar exercise of helping out all the people around me find their names in voters list identify their constituencies and spoon-feed them about the various alliances that parties have; inspite of which people ended up casting votes to candidates whom they didn’t want to; Some ended up criss-crossing between MP Candidates & MLA Candidates; to my utter disbelief nothing has changed even after 5 long years.

As we continue to crib about the Political system the politicians and the “The Great Indian Democracy” I continue to wonder if most of us even have the right to even utter something about all this.

I could go on and on and on…..however; dwelling too much on the problem leaves you no time to find a solution. So I bring an abrupt end to this topic right here…

DemoCrazy

Prologue

Its been 6 months since I last posted an update on my blog; Neither was I busy nor did I run out of topics ; but the fact that I was too confused to pick one. As I try to make another attempt to continue regular blogging I realize its so much difficult to keep making comebacks; Half of my friends can’t recollect my blog’s URL, the rest half have even stopped asking me if I had an update; and a few of them have removed me from their Blog rolls. I was honestly tired of infusing sarcasm and dry humour in my blogs, tired of mocking people/systems, tired of posting dud blogs about Formula1 & Google Chrome. But here I make another attempt....

It has been barely 6 months ago that news makers in India made merry with the US Elections & the Pre-Primary Campaigns; The reality shows took a backseat and one wondered if Barack Obama overnight became a celebrity competing for spotlight on Indian Television alongside the likes of…………(doesn’t really matter); If that wasn’t enough former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan went miles ahead and said that Barack Obama could be a 007 agent on screen; I am not sure if Obama has lived up to all the hype; but I am doubly sure that the people of America are still desperately waiting for their messiah to resolve the Global Economy Crisis;

Meanwhile India 9 hours ahead of the United States is gearing up for a mammoth 15^th Loksabha General Elections. 828,804 Polling Stations 1,368,430 Electronic Voting Machines. 10,000 Crore rupees spending by all political parties put-together & the official Election Commission expenditure of 1,200 Crore Rupees (as against the 1.8 Billion USD/8,000 Crore Rupees spent by in United States 2007-2008 Presidential elections) the numbers speak for themselves; Inspite of which most people believe “Nothing is going to Change”; may be Barack Obama borrowed the “Obama for Change” campaign from the frustrated India Public.

Although I would not have liked to compare the election reforms in both the nations for various reasons; my curiosity forced me to figure out the thread separating bothe two nations; As I frantically try to figure out the mysterious differences between India’s Liberal democracy & America’s Representative democracy, a couple of Google and Wiki results........

to be continued......

Lights Camera Get Set Go......Vrooooom !!

Prologue

The number of comments on my earlier post pretty much summed up how seriously it was taken, without pondering much about it, I have decided to move on and here I come up with yet another post which might not live upto the expectations. However I decided to release the post I composed almost a fortnight ago. Do not let the title of this post trick you, inspite of the lights & camera, I assure you it has nothing to do with Bollywood.

I call myself a sporting enthusiastic, with the Olympics still lingering around in people's mind , I decided to blog about my favorite sport. Surprisingly it’s neither part of the Olympics and nor is it called Cricket.

Nerve wrecking speeds of 300kmph, scorching heat, taxing conditions, G-forces acting on your body, wet tracking conditions (sometimes worst that Indian roads) sub-second speed differences between winning, loosing, life and death. Welcome the Formula1, the most expensive, glamorous, & breathtaking sport.

Ever since Michael Schumacher bid adieu to racing back in 2006, F1 has never been the same, although the likes of Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Vettel (i ignored Alonso) are like a breath of fresh air, it might take a couple of seasons before they even think of bringing the same kind of charm that Schumachers’ and the Hakkinens' did. No wonder Formula1 is going through a viewership crises, something probably worst than the Ferrari-Mclaren Spy controversy which managed to make all headlines (apart from Rookie Hamilton’s heroics) last season.

The Mclaren-Ferrari battle has managed to revive itself more often off the race track than on it. All the accusations & spy controversies may be compensating for the lack of action on the race track, however FIA has not left any stone unturned to bring back life into this sport which is laudable.

The recently concluded European Grand Prix, held in Valencia/Spain was one such attempt by FIA’s to spice up Formula1. The Valencia Street Circuit made its debut inspite of the fact that Spain had 12 racing tracks apart from this, one of them already having hosted a race this season & 5 others having held F1 races in the past. If only I could wish to trade them for all the cricket stadiums in India.

The Circuito Urbano Valencia a new street circuit, has been provisionally assembled to hold a grand Prix with the intention to attract spice up the boring Formula1 Itinerary. The only other Formula 1 Street Circuit currently hosting a race being Monte Carlo, Monaco. Both there circuits add the much needed blitz, spunk, glamour & drama to the sport. Imagine sipping beer and watching drivers zooming past your hotel balcony. No other racing circuit allows viewers to get so close to the action. The narrow streets built around sea ports, shipping harbour private estates, Hotels, with a scenic water bodies; the race track’s landscape is an absolute visual treat.

A scenic landscape views of the Valencia Street Circuit (click to enlarge)

Building a Street Circuit would take close to around 2 months and further 1 month to dismantle it, It would have to be done every year. If it is worth it, only Formula 1 bosses can answer that. The Street Circuit in Valencia has managed to set an unique record of sorts by hosting 5 races (Formula 1, Formula 3, GP2, Mobile 1 SuperCup & Formula BMW) on a single day. Considering the time, effort and money involved, it is indeed a wise move.

Come September, Singapore Street Circuit would make its formula 1 debut, a 3rd street circuit this season, but what separates this one from the rest of the races ? 1,600 light projectors; power requirement of 3,180,000 watts (my poor bed-lamp consumes 60 watts) producing a illumination of around 3000 lux (It takes 1200 lux to light up a Cricket Stadium), Formula is just going bigger, with the first ever Night Race. After years of speculation about safety, visibility, logistics and technically issues, the FIA has finally decided to go ahead with a night race, which by far is going to be the biggest racing spectacle in the history of Motor sports. Its soon going to be Lights Camera Get Set Go……..

A Night View of the Singapore Street Circuit (Click to see the Race Map)

The very thought of a night race gives me an adrenaline rush a great high. I just cannot wait for the 26th of Septemeber.

A new street Circuit & driving under the lights itself is alien to the drivers on the grid, and to add to it, if the rain gods decide to shower more excitement, there could be rivers making suicidal maneuvers, far more dangerous than those by maniac drunken road drivers, we just might have a cracker of a race in Singapore.

With Vettel pulling off a surprise win in Italy (the last race of the European leg) and 4 races (Singapore/Japan/China/Brazil) to go with Ferrari & Mclaren locking horns in both the Drivers & Constructors championships. Singapore would be a perfect platform for the climax

Before I conclude this post, it is well worth mentioning the fact that India is destined to host a Grand Prix in 2010, after Vijay Mallaya has achieved the impossible by inducting Force India into the formula 1 grid, its time for him to influence the policy makers and make sure we meet the deadline of hosting a Formula 1 race.

P.S: This might sound a boring season review to most of the readers whom I believe are not Formula 1 fanatics by any stretch of imagination, (I seriously hope you guys prove me wrong).

Haven’t used that thing called IE for ages now.

Prologue

I am in a state of introspection, and probably should call myself a hypocrite for voicing contrasting opinions in two of my previous posts , firstly I lambasted RGV for his arrogant movie making, and I myself ended up writing a so called arrogant post which almost caused a verbal riot. Neverthless it managed to get maximum hits (literally too), by far in number compared to my earlier posts, May be I should celebrating a box-office success. But I am pretty sure if I should be writing blogs for myself or for people who read them. After flirting with controversies, I just managed to recollect the fact that I have a draft ready from last week on Formula1, which I now feel is stale, thanks to innumerous revisions it has been through. I managed to push its release further, owing to reasons unknown to me. I was wondering where my next post would come from, as always Google comes to my rescue (this time its not work-related).

I wake up on a holiday to see Times of India publish something about Google, surprisingly this news wasn't stale. Google ? Browser ? I had decided I had to get it !! Its called Google Chrome

Google Chrome, one of my friends mistook this as the launch of Google’s famous “Personal Genome Project”, hopefully by the time its out, I would still be blogging. (Wondering how you were not aware of this one – get yourself a copy of “The Google Story”). Fortunately this one is not that complex, Google has finally managed to unleash yet another beta project, this time a browser called “GOOGLE CHROME”

I have been a die-hard fan of Mozilla firefox for a very very long time, ever since I got myself introduced to the Internet way back in 2000-2001 (not a early starter or may be I am), It just took me a couple of years to realize the power of firefox, ever since then it has been Firefox all the way. No wonder when people started asking me “If it was the end of the road for IE ?”, I retaliated saying “ IE ?? IE was never in the picture,It was always between Firefox and maybe Opera or Safari !!". I know there are 2 kinds of people who would oppose me from making such a statement, people who haven’t used anything else apart from IE, and the oversmart ones who would try suggesting Avant Browser, Konqueror, Flock, Epiphany, K-Meleon and AOL Explorer.

I wish I could try convince people and demonstrate the power of firefox, but I have no plans of re-inventing the wheel, a simple google search should bombard you with enough reasons to use firefox for a lifetime, especially when I am standing at the cross roads, wondering if I should shift my loyalties towards Google Chrome.

Is the Google brand name enough to trust Chrome ?
Let me quickly pen down my first impressions on Google Chrome

1) The User Interface: So simple yet so powerful, Just like the Google Homepage & Gmail Inbox. The UI is so light…I feel like flying.

2) Auto-Complete: The URL auto-complete goes one step ahead, Chrome helps you complete your URL with a list of virtually all the websites on the internet, (unlike the other browsers who auto-complete from the browser’s history). This is only possible with Google, thanks to all the crawling google has done for years now.

3) Incognito Window: Equivalent to “Anonymous surfing” on Safari. You can surf all the porn in the world, without leaving any traces of history, webpages or offline content. You don’t even have to clear the history. So Kinky of Google.

4) Restoring Previously opened pages: Firefox’s Restore Earlier opened windows

5) Default homepage – Shows graphical tabs of most visited websites

Couple of other things that took me by surprise.

1) Google not misusing their monopoly by restricting Google as the default search engine, You have option of changing it to Yahoo/rediff/MSN/Guruji (not sure how many of them would take that option too seriously)

2) Surprisingly Chrome’s borrows its Network/Proxy Settings from Internet Explorer, May be Google believes in humiliating competition infront of their eyes, rather than de-throne and rule in monopoly.

I am sure, most people wouldn’t find the browser feature rich, but Google is known for its strategy of throwing in BETA projects at users, and trying to develop them based on users opinions, rather than force users to use something you build. Interesting? More on that on “The Google Story”

Would Google Chrome work ? It’s too early to comment on issues like Stability (No. of times it crashes) & Security (I have no idea what tht means) . On the other hand, having got crashed too many times, I haven’t even bothered to check the developments on IE7. I still occasionally use IE, thanks to most Web-admins who are too stubborn to make agnostic webpages, I also recommend “IE Tab - Switch rendering engine” plugin to the firefox fraternity who face the same problem as mine. The browser war is far from over, with Soon to be launched IE.8 & recently launched Firefox3.0, Chrome is just a baby.

Meanwhile I still continue to await for the day, when the final nail would be banged on IE's coffin, Who is going to do it ? Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome ?

P.S.: My humble request to people is not to label me as geek/nerd, The opinions mentioned in this blog are surely biased; If you want it that way. I hope I don’t get sued by Microsoft for this. May be I am dreaming…May be I am long long away from even dreaming. The opinions in this blog are purely personal, and are definitely not echoed by my current employer, nor my future employers.

- Posted via Mozilla Firefox

I beg your Silence

Prologue

I was on the verge of posting a new blog sometime this week, I did manage to come up with the rough draft for my next post, however certain events have spurred me to push my new post a little further, and squeeze this forgettable piece of writing. Read On

My mom was rather surprised to see me awake @ 8 AM this morning (30th August), no wonder it was the weekend; I was supposed to catch up with the most awaited movie for a long time now; ROCK ON. Some of you might ask me, how I could even think of watching a Saturday morning show, for which I have no answer.

May be i should serioulsy think it is worth wasting your precious saturday morning time, in a multiplexer with people around you behaving the way they would in their own bedroom, loud and boisterous chatting, passing comments (the ones that don’t even evoke laughter) hooting/screaming at the worst appropriate time.

Before I start sounding like a grumpy senior citizen who has got a problem with everything that youngsters do, let me clarify stance on this, for people who know me personally, well I am not somebody who would let go any opportunity of having fun, irrespective of where I am. However I am seriously perturbed with people who fail to realize the fact that, having bought the tickets for a show alongside hundred other people doesn’t make you the owner of it. You have every right to enjoy the movie, but not at the expense of the rest of the crowd, who are entitled to have their fair share of fun.

You are well within your rights to chat up with your friends, I mean that’s the whole idea of watching a movie with your friends/family. I fail to understand why people forget the concept of whispering, while they remember Giggling (for no reason).

Not only are the silent onlookers irritated to the core, but also are helpless as they do not want to further add to the existing chaos, not to forget those rare specimens like me, who do stand up and ask people to shut up, only after making sure that we outnumber or out-power the idiots.

It is all about the timing and the movie, I have most certainly do not have problem with people doing all of that in a YashRaj or Karan Johar entertainer, or for that matter a RGV horror-turned-comic like Phoonk (Let me not get started again). But imagine doing it in a house full show during a emotional scene outbreak or a serious conversation. Firstly you giggle away to glory and secondly you turn to you friend next to you saying “What did he say ? Kya huva ? Kya huva ”. God Dammit you are in a movie hall, which doesn’t have the luxury of pause/rewind/play.

My outburst is incomplete without a take on cell fone users with annoying ringtones, Imagine a Sathiya or Reshammiya ringtone played in the movie hall is the most unromantic and annoying thing.

Not to forget people who go on and on and on with their ridiculously lame conversations on the weather outside, the recipe for tonight’s dinner, bitching bosses. I fail to understand who is the bigger idiot out of the two, the on the phone in the theater or the one outside.

For people who still disagree with me, well may be you should be asking questions to yourself, if all the chatting, giggling, hooting is all worth it especially after investing couple of hundred bucks. It may not be about the money, but its about the value of money.

I do respect people who use SMS, but I am still not convinced when I see peoples faces lit up in blue, trying to find something intresting in a 2 inch screen, when you have slightly bigger one right infront of you. I do realize the importance of cell phone during emergencies, but if you were anticipating something importance, you shouldn’t have been in the theater at the first place.

I am certainly not here to list down Movie Hall Etiquettes, the problem has never been about awareness, it has always been about arrogance. Arrogance in the name of the great Indian democracy. I am just hoping that theaters owners would crack the whip, by introducing something or the other to bring back the whole joy of movie watching.

For a change we can try.

1) Mobile Phone Jammers (Urgent calls is no excuse. In case of emergency try reaching the Theater HelpDesk)

2) Bouncers – Its high time we introduce those terrorizing species with close to human resemblance. (for a change female bouncers would make a lot of sense ;)

Probably something more practical Idea would be to sponsor popcorn to those chatterboxes to keep them busy munching on something edible, rather our brains. (I tried it, and it works)

PS: The opinions of this blog reflect the views of the author over a period of time, It has nothing to do with a particular incident or an individual. Any resemblance of any sort is purely unintentional, but that doesn’t mean it is not aimed at you.

Extension to the Post. (posted on Sept 1st)

I always thought that the world has run short out of critics, but they proved me wrong, I managed to wake up most of them with my last post. Seeing the overwhelming reactions ;) No wonder I decided to extend my post.

I must admit that i haven't expected this kind of response, not that i was hoping people to sing in chorus with me and my opinions, however I seriously fail to understand a few things here. The most interesting observation out of this, is the fact that, most of us do read between the lines, we only manage to see what we want to see/read. Its surprising that most of the people taking a shot at the concept of cell Phone jammers concept, but failing to acknowledge the fact that conversations/ringtones were annoying. May be there is small guilt that pricks people from doing it. I am forced to believe that the word “Timing” in my post might have been invisible to most people.

What is even irritating is, people accusing me of having grown too old or acting grumpy on one hand, and failing to relate to the humour expressed in the post. Come On guys....Lady Bouncers is got to be a joke, which seriously puts me in a doubt on who is 25 and who is 55.

Also the fact that on most occasions, the trend is set by the first few people who comment, (no I am not accusing the rest of them getting swayed), Not the opinions but the tone/mood is set buy the early birds, who could have taken the path of humour but took the serious one, which now i feel was the right one.

(Look at the comment of one of the person who disagreed to my post in public and said this in private)

Anonymous: haha ... Honestly I know what its like

One b****h sitting behind us narrated the whole bloody story to her BF who came in 40 mins late to this movie we saw a while back. 20 min of constant, non-stop yapping

The most disappointing thing of all has to be the personal accusations(even from people who knew me from close quarters), of showing off, my stupid principles, trying to be diplomatic, and all the over-reaction, asking me what to google and what not too, taking things too personal which was absolutely unnecessary. As someone proposed an idea of adding disclaimer to each comment, May be I should add a disclaimer after each sentence.

I still do not regret posting something like this, you won't agree to this until it happens to you :p