Anyone for some Dilbert episodes???

Was going through some webpages and came across this...check it out...you can download images as well as episodes here.

What is your deepest fear?

Saw Coach Carter and came across this powerful quote below which works on the theme that we all have the ability to live extraordinary lives.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same….” - Marianne Williamson quoted in 'Coach Carter'

Colombo and Cricket

The season starts tomorrow with the Indian Oil Cup and I get a suprise invite to go watch the India v West Indies match in Colombo (all expenses paid) on 7th Aug...my lucky day eh?

Colombo..here I come!!!

Btw my gut feel is that dada will turn it around in this series (if his Glamorgan stint is any indication). Not gonna bet you guys anythin though!

Bharat Bhasin (1977-2005)

Here's to you Bharat...we won't forget you!

Don't you forget about me - Simple Minds

Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing --- you know it Baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out
Love's strange --- so real in the dark
Think of the tender things
That we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, Baby

Don't you forget about me
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't you forget about me
Will you stand above me
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling
Rain keeps falling
Down, down, down
Will you recognize me
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling
Rain keeps falling
Down, down, down

Don't you try and pretend
It's my beginning
We'll win in the end
I won't harm you
Or touch your defenses
Vanity, insecurity

Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing --- you know it, Baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, Baby
Don't you forget about me
Don't, don't, don't, don't
Don't you forget about me

As you walk on by
Will you call my name
As you walk on by
Will you call my name
When you walk away

Oh, will you walk away
Will walk away
Oh, call my name
Will you call my name

a lot like love...

Had come across this movie a few weeks ago..had been lying around with me expecting it to be yet another 'chick-flick' (what would you expect with Kutcher in it?). But when I had ran out of movies i watched it and was pleasantly surprised...its built around the 'Serendipity' theme...where people are meant to be together irrespective how long it takes...here it takes more than 5 years! Watch it...you might be surprised as well and Peet and Kutcher have a pretty good on-screen chemistry. And yes, if you are not willing to try it...you should beg, steal or borrow the soundtrack...its quite a spread. You can't but not love Aqualung's 'Brighter than sunshine'. Other artists featured are...Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, The Cure, Hooverphonic, Ray Lamontagne, Travis, Chicago, Jet, Anna nalick, Butch Walker, Groove Armada.

bombay - a few pics

here's a few pics (that i received) of the city under the rains...

what's worse than...

...a cold???

been down with the flu bug doin the rounds here...and its so irritating...you just cant do anythin about it...been on anti-biotics to get my ass to work today (after giving it a miss y'day)...its the most pathetic feelin ever!!! couldn't sleep properly...tried to watch some tv...couldn't...tried to read..gave that up quickly...made some hot soup...spilled most of it...man!!! so turned on the music and went off to sleep (yet again)!

few things i hate...

1. time taken to go home from work takes more than an hour..sometimes close to two...(time it should take= 20 min!)

2. when i wake up at 6am on a weekend (inspite of quite a lot to drink the night before or was it ealier that same morning...and my body telling me 'go back to sleep!')

3. claiming GST refunds...what might have been $200 comes to $40 because you did not know that less than $50 purchases don't qualify and some shopping doesn't count...what the fuck?!!!

4. getting a cold...(i have one right one)...its makes me so bloody miserable...can't sleep...lose my appetite...looking at the screen gives me a headache...can't even read a book!!!

5. people giving me directions when they abso-fucking-lutely haven't a clue themselves...why try to help...just say no!

6. going for an interview abroad and being asked 'Do you know English?' People don't know I was raised by tribals in an island where everyone communicated in sign language!!!!

7. when keeping a comforter on makes me feel hot...and turning on the fan or the air conditioning makes me feel cold...does anyone have a solution to this one???

8. i stay up late for an important game (soccer/cricket) and my team always loses...why cant i go to work next day all smiles saying that it was worth staying up late...instead its puffy eyes and the mastered dont-tell-me-myteamlost-i-know-it look!!!

9. airline food...even on business class you got to choose what you eat and what you don't...but the funniest part is that over the years airline food is the one thing that has been consistently bad! Chips and water on Spicejet was the pits!

10. when indians go abroad they start following the rules of the road/they don't litter and even give you a glare if they can help it (when you might indulge in jay walking)...catch these guys back home and they are a different species all together....why cant they do the same when they are back in the country??? this one i'm stumped!!!

what are some of yours???

Movie Tagged

Manic Mambo tagged me a while ago...didn't mean to take so long but with my travelling over now...am finally getting down to it. So here we go...

Films I own:
I have more than 300 odd movies (in both dvd and vcd) so i'll just name a few...
Cinema Paradiso (how can you not like this one...specially the background score and Alfredo)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Jack Nicholson at his maniacal best)
Motorcycle Diaries (loved the movie...Bernal is fantastic; loved the book and loved the soundtrack)
Usual Suspects (Kevin Spacey in the role of his lifetime)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Bernal is one of his earlier movies)

Films I'd like to own:
12 Angry Men
Sunset Boulevard
West Side Story
Lord of the Rings (Special Edition)
Batman Begins (when it comes out in dvd)

Last film I bought: (bought them together)
French Kiss (Meg Ryan is oh-so-good in this)
St.Elmo's Fire (one of the high school classics which I had seen when I was in school...loved it)

Five films I watch a lot or that mean something to me (all of these I own):
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (can't get enough of this one)
Reservoir Dogs (what about the shooting scene at the end eh?)
Serendipity (its a little mush-mush but I still like it)
The Godfather (you can't make another one like this...EVER!!!)
The Shawshank Redemption (this one is on everyone's fave list...one of the few well-made Stephen King stories)

People to tag...
Onua
Satish
Saint
Super Bock Stout
Kaps

Lemme know if there's a movie out for me to see...and language is not a barrier!

An MBA can do it!

This is a sexy ad made by FedEx. Check it out here!

Soccer blog is up and running

First post is up for the soccer blog...hope it shapes up well as the season progresses.
Go visit: http://lebeautifulgame.blogspot.com/
Both Shiju and me would be posting there and would look to hear from anyone who loves soccer as much as we do.

What am i listening to this week?

1. Daniel Powter - Bad day
2. Royksopp -Only this moment
3. The Ravonettes - Love in a trashcan
4. KT Tunstall - Other side of the world
5. Athlete - Half light

Bienvenue au Canada part 2

been sometime i blogged...lemme recap the rest of my Toronto trip.most of the first week was spent in shifting to the new apartment...buying stuff...figuring out the locality...complaining about the appliances...lol...what a week! But had got the internet connection from Rogers who charged about $30 odd for a 3mbps connection which came with a 60 gb download cap...thats as much as I pay for my BSNL one for 256 kbps with a piddly 1gb cap...guess the economics of demand and supply should work out here soon...sigh!!!

so wat else did i notice there? most of the workers are immigrants...most canadians love a good time so are at home dot on time...they usually pay the workers from other origins to do the night shifts etc and pay them more (thats what i've heard first hand...dont sue me). but i dont understand why shops close early on weekends when everyone's out shopping!!! go figure that one out...maybe everyone's made enough money for their lifetime!!!

owe Shaun a lot to take me around and do all the touristy things...go to CN Tower and also Niagara...

During the course of the travels with him...I asked him..'What's the local cuisine man?'....he thought long and hard before he replied...'Street Meat'. I was like...'ok lets go get a taste then'...and then i figured the street meat was hotdogs that are sold on the road. But they are quite yummy. Another misconception...i always had my hotdogs with mustard and maybe ketchup and thought that was the usual additions...was pleasantly surprised to find an assortment of stuff that you could add to your hotdog...hot/sweet sauces...was quite a meal! And the eastern european woman who served us said 'namaste' also. And she'd been to Delhi. Guess India's on everyone's list nowadays!! They don't buy the snake-charmer act any more...lol.

CN tower was fun specially from the sky-pod which is the highest observatory in the world...and believe it or not they had a post box there (claiming thats the highest post box ever)...erm dunno abt that...depends if they meant highest post box at a man made structure...anyways! was fun to look through the glass floor all the way (147 storeys down)!!!

Niagara was an absolute blast...it was beautiful! Shaun had taken me and my bro there...and we got close to the falls by taking the caves next to it (and giving the Maid of the Mist a pass - as suggested ny our tourist guide a.k.a Mr. Mehta) and it was worth every second. We got whiplashes of the spray from the falls and looked quite a sight with the yellow polythene raincoats...but we didnt wanna go...i wanna go back there in winter when Shaun tells me its quite a sight with icicles forming eveywhere.

Last few days were spent again setting up the house and helping my parents settle down. But caught War of the worlds and Wedding crashers. The first one i thought was quite boring given it was spielberg's...and surprisingly wedding crashers i enjoyed a lot...i didnt think i'd say that about any owen wilson movie. Vince Vaughan rocks and Rachel McAdams (she's Canadian) is quite a cutie!!

So soon it was time to say au revoir to Canada. And i think I've figured out the perfect way to beat jet lag.
1. Get on the flight and change the time on ure watch to that of the final destination. So now u wud know when its lunch/dinner/sleep times.
2. Order a couple of stiff ones (scotch/vodka) and add on a wine (if not 2)...trust me you will sleep like a baby...atleast i did all the way to B'ham. Repeated the exercise all the way to Amritsar/Delhi.

Did get half a day at Delhi to get some lunch and sleep before i was doing del-mumbai at 10pm and then Mum-Blr at 3:30am...got to Blore at 6am (after delays)...came home/showered and went to work. Had to run from office at 2:30 to come home and sleep...lol. Was fresh as a daisy the next morning!

So thats that from my side...hope to be back to some more regular blogging...and i need to start on the football/soccer blog with Shiju...am gonna start by this weekend i promise!

what am i listenin to this week?

1. Paul Oakenfold - Starry eyed surprise
2. Killa DJ - Freed from desire
3. MVP - Roc ya body
4. Stereophonics -Superman
5. Dancing DJ's vs Roxette - Fading like a flower

Bonus Track
6. White Stripes - Blue orchid

Bienvenue au Canada Part 1

30th June:
Left Bangalore in the evening with SpiceJet. Do not think I'm gonna fly with them again. First of all this is the only airline that calls passengers to tell them that the flight has been preponed. And then when the flight finally leaves its more than an hour late. The security guard at the security check entry said, "Sir, please do not go inside. You won't be allowed to come out then. And the morning's passengers have just left." I was shocked. More when the flight landed at Pune...it jumped like a Hummer tackling the Dakar Rally roads...my ass was actually in the air for sometime!!! The air-hostesses/stewards are young and pretty but have very poor diction...so please do not strike up a conversation with them ever!!!

1st July:
Took off from Delhi finally a hour behind schedule. Don't complain with my free ticket. Bernoulli's theorem was seen in close proximity. It was raining and cloudy and a lot of turbulence, as a result of which you could see the flaps cutting through and the airflow as a result through the streamlined flaps. I never noticed that ever...wasn't that bad weather ever too. The flight wasn't that bad...but too damn long. Birmingham came and we (my dad's boss's daughter also in the same flight) chilled in the executive lounge for a while before we were off again. I picked up my copy of the new Empire magazine as usual. This time around i was too tired...so no more personal TV and music and books. Just slept. Had finished Hari Kunzru's 'Transmission'...didn't find it too great...was ok ok. When I got to Toronto I looked like i had just got outta my bed. Funny enough, the arrival area ran out of trolleys/carts...so i was sitting with my baggage for nearly an hour before my dad's colleague suggested we use a wheelchair and get the luggage out to the shuttle. So finally after landing at 9pm...I was home close to 12am. Bienvenue au Canada!!!

2nd July:
Didn't feel the jet lag. So was up on my feet at 5am...everyone else was sleeping so switched on my laptop and caught a few episodes of 'One Tree Hill'. Then later in the morning we headed to see the house (where we are to shift into). Quite nice! (More headaches to follow...) Then we were off to Square One (a pretty huge mall close to the new house which reminded me of the one on Harrow on the Hill in London)...time just flies in there and I ended buying a pair of shoes for myself and a pair for my bro. Then my fave double cheeseburger from burger king happened. I was happy. And then it set in...the jet lag...i couldn't keep my eyes open. Unfortunately we were invited to a family friend's house for dinner. So had to make it...was quite good actually as i downed a Canadian and Coors Light just like that and felt much better. Pretty good beers i thought..a little light so goes down fast. I'm still waiting for a Guiness here...i just love that! Pulkit (son of a family friend's was down and me and my bro chatted up with him to get the lowdown on games, sports, tech in toronto). Actually most of the people I have met have been quite nice. Hope the trend continues. Went to sleep close to 2am.

3rd July:
Just slept. :) Too tired. Had set my alarm for 7:30am for the F1 race which I saw and then fell off to sleep again. Ferrari is not looking too hot...Alonso's gonna win the championship. Federer won again...how can no body take him to 5 sets...I so miss Becker and Edberg...no more serve and volley players anymore.

4th July:
Went to UFT and York for my bro's admissions with Sangeet. He's been here for 5 years now...pretty chilled out dude. Thanks to him we got a ride to York and then took the TTC bus and subway to UFT. Was fun to walk around Downtown to Yonge street. Ended up at Eaton Centre. Must be the biggest mall I've seen...close to the Takashimaya ones in Singapore. Have to go back a few more times to cover Yonge...its supposed to the longest shopping street in the world. I know my wallet's gonna be pretty light by the time I leave here. Will have to get back to SAM to get a few deals for sure. Its the oldest record shop in the city.

More to follow...