The 'Bundle' Of Life !!!

Technology has reached dizzying heights, software has developed way beyond our wildest imaginations, travel and living has advanced like crazy and the list goes onn.. But the ONE thing that has always fascinated me the most, has been the small bundles of life, babies!! Yes, even a peasants family can bring into the world, the same angel that any millionaire could have! This miracle of God is something way beyond technology, money, knowledge, power, status, religion, nationality - say what you want - its still way beyond it!

My passion for the little ones has driven me to post yet again. This time ofcourse with some snaps to support my stand... The pics that you will be seeing on this post, were all taken on my mobile phone! Mobile photography is something that I am crazy about! My friends would know best about this, lol. The way they get irritated when I start clicking away to glory, taking snaps of trivial things too! :) My mobile is not THE latest one in the market, so please adjust with the picture quality n stuff lol. Instead try to imbibe the sweetness from the expressions and the implicit beauty of the pics!

Thats Mariam, cozy as ever. Thats what I call 'deep sleep'!

Let's joooomm in a little bit!! ;-)

Okay, these pics were taken when I was at my native place, Cochin! The sleeping princess is my niece 'Mariam'. Isnt she such a doll? Wow I jus love this snap. The 2 pillows are kept on both her sides, to prevent her from rolling and falling off the bed :) And to imagine that the pillows are bigger than the child! So cute.. The way the baby curled up inbetween the pillows was a really adorable sight, and I just could not resist clicking! Those pillows which would otherwise seem so insignificant to us when we use it everynight, now seemed to have that magically cute thing associated to it, didnt it?

The million dollar smile! I would'nt mind travelling miles to see this one!

This pic was taken a few minutes after the previous ones were taken! lol, yeah its the same place, same baby! Have a look at that expression on her face! Soooo amazing.. I can keep looking at this snap for hours together, without even realizing it! I was guilty of waking her up, cos I was crawling all around her with my phone, tryin to click different poses of hers when she was sleeping :) And yes, my silly self accidentally woke her up, but thankfully I managed to make her laugh and smile tooo! And what a laugh that was!! Soooo adorable.. But hey, pls dont underestimate the things I had to do, to make her happy. Wonder how i might have looked with all those funny faces! "Already it looks funny by itself " - I can hear you all saying.. Jus shuddup ok! :) Anyway, thank God, the cam was focussed on her face, and not mine! lol...

Amma doing what she does best! Doesnt the expression on the child's face say it all? So cute!!

Thats my mom with one of her old student's son. Man, does she have her way of handling babies! I guess I got this attraction towards babies partly because of her. She can make ANY baby stop crying, and she manages to put them to sleep too (Not by talking!)... She is just awesome with a baby in her hand. Probably I was totally mesmerised by the way she handled them..

She is not called a 'baby' just cos of her age, or else she is every bit one!! Lowe this snap..
For a change, this time its not a 'baby' as such, but she's my grandpa's sister. One of the sweetest 80 year olds, made to look like a small babbiiee, inbetween two 'tall' brothers!! lol... Yeah dats me and my bro flanking her on both sides! Women might not get much mroe safer than that, lol.. Jus kidding.. But hey in this pic, pls dont think she is sitting or kneeling.. She is very much standing, and there are not photoshop tricks here! :) Have to mention again, she is a reallly sweet granny. She lovvvves usss sooo muchhh!!!

That's me holding Sara! (I've put her to sleep, note da point..) lol..

Back to the real 'babies'. Thats my cousins daughter, 'Sara' and me, in the pic above. It was her baptism ceremony, and thats why yours truly was in full formals and all.. lol.. The place - Days Inn Shaan, Chennai. The actual 'baptism' ceremony was just about the only time when that child was not in my arms, lol... That too the priest insisted that the baby should be with him, for that 15 mins when they pour holy water on the child... :) Rest of the time, I had the privilege of 'handling' her..

Thats me and Aadhi. He is never short of an expression on his face! :-)
Well till now you guys saw girl babies and my wonderful lil experiences with them. Now here is one cute fellow who is an absolute sweetheart, Thats "Aadhi" and me in the pic. He is my colleague's 1 yr old son. The snap was taken when I had gone to my colleague (GR's) house. A cute house, very cute family and of course, an adorable child! He can be notorious at times, but he is such a cute chap. He's got that 'scientific, always thinking' expression on his face!! One thing about him, you'll probably know it 5 mins in advance before he starts crying! His face swells up, the cheek bones suddenly appear prominent, those million wrinkles appear one-by-one on his chubby face, his lips curve into an 'S' shape and the eyes start growing smaller and smaller. When all these happen, it's time to look out for his mother, or else, say your prayers :)

Hope you people did not mind the HUGE post :) It was a topic I truly loved, from within my heart! I had a tough time trying to stop my hands from flying all over the keyboard. The words jus kept (keep) coming and coming and... . There are still lots more snaps with babies! Probably I'll put them up in another post, cos this one is gettin jus tooo big! lol.. Like I always say, that feeling when a 'bundle of life' sleeps innocently on your shoulders - is a feeling beyond compare! Nothing comes even close, in comparison! Seeya around!

A Different Post :-(

When things don't go your way, they really start going awry one after the other, don't they? Its a kind of a chain reaction straight from the dark side of life. You can compare it to the cycles in a cycle stand. If the first one in the row has a wobbly stand, no matter how sturdy the remaining ones in the line are, once this one falls down, invariably every other cycle ends up on the floor. Well I guess today was just that sort of a day for me. Nothing has been going right, and thankfully the day has almost come to an end. Actually the end of the day is in my hands, it is just that I have not been able to sleep and get the day done with!. Its 1 am now and its not out of my own free will that I am awake. I am just not able to sleep. I tried closing my eyes, thinking about some of the good things in life, but somehow the 'good things' did not seem so good after all. No wonder they say that everything is in the way you look at it,right? It was just not working for me, and hence I decided that it was time to stop 'imagining that I was alright'! I got up, switched on the comp and decided to talk to my best friend. And who is that? Of course its ME. And how do I talk to myself - by writing, how else? This is one of the best ways for me to fight through a rough patch - pour out everything on my blog, and lighten my heart in doing so!


Probably this is one of those times when I really miss having a girl friend. Someone whom I can demand time from, and someone who I can wake up at any hour of the night to pour out my mind. Everyone needs someone to talk to, at certain points in their life, don't they? Unfortunately, my 'certain points' alwez crop up at unearthly hours, when I am the only one around! Well. lets get down to the facts, I dont have a girlfriend and I have to adjust with my best pal computer screen right in front of me, who seems to be displaying exactly whats on my mind in the form of letters! Its really soothing to see my sad state right in front of my eyes, growing bigger n bigger as my keyboard gets to know more about the helplessness of my situation! Actually I do not blame anyone for this situation. Its just a bad day and I am feeling its after effects, at 1 in the night! Most of my friends are asleep, and the rest are talking to their boyfriends/girlfriends, and the remaining rest have some other work to do!. The remaining 'remaining' some whom I can talk to, are in the US of A right now. Sad isnt it? But thats life. When you really need someone, the only person who will be there for you, is you. And that my friend, is the truth.


Talk about seeing the glass half full, and not half empty. What if there is absolutely no water in that glass? How would you call that? You got no option but to call out the facts, and admit your situation. The god damn glass is empty, and thats all there is to it. Its absolutely useless to pretend as though everything is just fine, and just carry on with life. Its much much better to realize the problems and try to sort it out, rather than remaining oblivious to the whole thing. My stomach is feeling a bit woozy, and I wanna puke but it just aint happening. The sensation remains, but sadly it remains only as a sensation. Wish I could puke and get it done with, but then I wished for so many other things too. Nothing happened. Maybe its not a day for wishes, its more of a 'take-what-comes-along-your-way' kind of a day. And what has come along my way, is nothing but bad luck! Still you gotta take it all and carry on, expecting more n more bad luck along the way. Sigh.. .Wish there was an option to pause life, and take a look at people around. Maybe some solace somewhere!


All said n done, the day will be over in a few minutes as the shutters in my eyes slowly roll down, on what has been a forgettable 10 hours. It could have come down much earlier, if only I had been ignorant to the troubles around me. But now, I have stayed up, given vent to my feelings and I feel much better. I really do. I will go to sleep now, and when I wake up tomorrow morning, everything will be forgotten, and my slate will be a fresh one. Its a new day and of course, its a new beginning. Nothinz gonna hold me back. The show must go on, and so it will... This funny life just keeps continuing... See you around next time, when I need someone the most, again.....

T. Nagar - Traffic Nagar??? :-)

It’s been a long time since I uploaded something, in fact anything on my blog! Well I have absolutely no excuses this time :-) It’s been out of pure laziness and nothing else. Work has been keeping me on my toes, but still no where near 'hectic'! I'd wanted to write about a helluva lotta things but I jus kept procrastinating.. Knowing me, not too surprising huh? :-)

I thought I'll share a torturous experience I'd been through, in T Nagar last weekend! Thinking about it now, it’s quite funny but I guess I was really stretching my limits of patience on that crazy Saturday evening. It was one of those situations where I really felt sad for myself :-) Guess that just about sums up my frustration, doesn’t it? :-) I had to go to T Nagar cos I wanted to get a birthday gift for my mom. I was with a friend of mine in my car. If not for her I might not have come out of that beehive of a place, without bruises! The people walking on the road were literally driving me nuts. They walk on the middle of the road as though their father had built it especially for them! :-) And if you honk, they give a reaction as though I was disturbing the 'peace' and 'serenity' around! lol... Mann, talk about having a bad time!

In an attempt to park my car in any little space available, I must have gone round Panagal park about 3 or 4 times.... seriously, not kidding!! But all to no avail. Had it been some temple instead of a park, I would have had the satisfaction of getting some blessings atleast! After a few unsuccessful attempts, I'd come to realize that any further attempts to park the car on the main roads would only end up with me in some mental asylum... And with this decision in mind, I stepped into a side lane, only to realize that every single spot by the road 'sides' had already been taken. Why I say this is coz the road itself was barely a few feet wide, and to park the car along its 'sides' really needed talent! :-) To my bad luck, after 15 mins of frantic driving (which must have covered 10-15 feet), I reached a smalllll lane where I could see cars coming only in the opposite direction and every driver in each of those cars had something to say to me! I could not exactly figure out what they were saying, but very quickly I realized that it was only good that I dint hear them! Yes, I was in a one-way, in a lane which could barely hold 2 cars side by side at a time :-( My mistake, yes.. I didn’t notice a signboard, which said 'One-Way' at the beginning of the road. Actually I was sooo frustrated seeing 'No-Parking' boards one after the other, that I had given up even caring to look at any boards! It was a mistake, and boy was I made to pay (sweat) for it!

I was left with no option but to reverse and get back to the nearest intersection. Driving forward in those roads in itself was a monumental task, so you could imagine driving in reverse gear in that lane! Finally don’t ask me how, but I did manage to somehow get back to a legal road, and by this time I had given up any hopes of getting anything from T Nagar. It began to dawn on me, that by the time I manage to park my car, step out, and buy gifts for my mom, her birthday would be over! :-) (Her birthday was on Sunday, July 2nd). Actually more than me, my friend sitting next to me was beginning to lose it! She had cursed my driving, shouted at me, called me 'blind', and what not! :-) I felt really sad for her :-) I could understand her frustration too.. But it was all in a good vein and we had a nice laugh that day! Gosh yes, the moment I got out of that one-way, I raced away along one of the roads. Best thing is that I dint know where that road led to, but I had seen a traffic board which said 'T-Nagar' pointing to the opposite direction, so I knew that wherever this road led to, it went away from T-Nagar... And thats alll that I wanted to know! :-) lol..

Moral of the story: If ever you want to go to T Nagar for shopping, please do not choose weekends. And if at all, you have no option but to go on a weekend, and if its sooo urgent, please do not choose anytime thats anywhere near 6pm - 7pm. And still if you have got no other option but to go in the evening on a weekend, please do not take your car and go! It doesn’t make muchuva difference if you've got a driver, cos he is also gonna the drive the same car, on the same road only. Spare him a thought! lol.. And still, if you 'have to' go to T Nagar on a weekend, in the evening time, in your car.... Well, God Bless You... :-) You will certainly write a similar post on your blog too.. :-)

Hehe... Well, that’s enough of grumbling for a year I guess... This post was not written in an irritated tone or anything! I was in fact smiling thru it. I had a nice time ridiculing myself, and we did manage to have a good laugh. For the record, on the same day I'd managed to get gifts for my mom, from spencers! :-) It made me realize somethin that I had only heard about, before! No matter what the situation is, and no matter how difficult or irritating things are, it’s only the way you look at it that matters! So true.... And also, it really does matter the company you've got! Thankfully that day I had someone next to me, who also saw the lighter side of things.. A Saturday which started looking like a forgettable day, ended up being a funfilled one! Thanks to T Nagar :-) After all, nothin on earth is actually 'bad'! :-) Have fun people!

Tagged - CHECK M8 !!!

Been a long time since I posted anything on my blog! Thanks to my laziness, of course. At times I need a tag post to wake me up from hibernation and that’s exactly what I got. I have been tagged by Shalz, and not surprisingly, this one’s gonna be a tag post. The tag is about the top 8 things that I look for, in my partner... :) Yes, it needed an interesting tag to wake me up... heheh...
So here goes, these are the 8 things that will give a woman the best possible chances of check m8ing me …

1. Should be a nice talker :) I am someone who loves to talk. Sometimes I might sound a little silly, but then it’s all jus for fun and I am doing it on purpose just to make people smile! Some people do not realize that! We should be able to talk on the same wavelength! She should appreciate my sense of humor, and I should like hers too. According to me, looks and stuff will provide the initial attraction, agreed. In the long run though, it’s gonna be the ability to keep each other happy which will keep a relationship, full of life! I need someone, who will make me look forward to waking up everyday in the morning!! This sentence has a very very deep meaning!!! :) Talk about me talking a lot, heheh... Someone please remind me that I have to move on to point number 2!!!!

2. Should not mind me being a sports addict! Snatching the remote in the middle of an India-Pakistan match could probably drive me mad :) I need my space as far my extra curricular activities are concerned! Cricket, music, gymming, table tennis, formula 1 etc are my hobbies and these should not be a hindrance to her. She will not be a hindrance to them, no probs about that :) She can alwez join in and we can do all these together, it’s double the fun!

3. Should be a music lover!!! This is an important facet, because music forms an integral part of my life. People who know me well will understand to the fullest what I am trying to say! The type of music she listens to, doesn’t really matter cos I am a great believer that everyone is entitled to his/her type of music. There is no ‘bad’ music! Its jus based on your taste and your mood, isn’t it? I lovvvve music, no matter what category it belongs to! As long as I like it, I’ll listen to it all day…

4. Looks – she should be pretty! I have already mentioned before in this very space, that she need not be ‘beautiful’... But she needs to be pretty :) I will take upon myself the task of distinguishing between the two! Heheh. She should look pretty to me, that’s all that I want. I give a damn to what others think about her :) Simple and elegant, with a nice smile – can make me fall hard on my knees... How u define beauty varies from person to person, so it doesn’t make too much sense in me trying to explain!! But still, I will..... lol

5. Looks again – Listen, this is my space, and not that I am really looking out for a bride or anything! So I have every right to voice out my opinion on ‘pretty’ women - my likes and dislikes. She should not be fat! Pretty and expressive eyes are a huge turn on, as far I am concerned! Nice hair is another thing that attracts me a lot!

6. Dress sense!!! A good dress sense is a must. I never feel comfortable with someone who dresses like a clown :) lol… Yes I am exaggerating things a bit, I know. Everyone has their own dress sense, I am not denying it. But it should be good, in my books.

7. Should be someone who can make life interesting by just being next to me :) it should not be a kind of criteria that only if we go someplace or do something interesting, that we have fun. Some people have this ability to make my day by just being there! In short, a strong personality is an awesome turn on.

8. People with a really caring attitude, attract my attention a lot!! Especially women who care for poor people, and not just care but also do something for them! A gentle heart is irresistible as far as johnny boy is concerned. If she is genuinely interested in helping the poor and needy, well she’s already high on my list without having to do anything much!!! :) And hey, she should be kind to animals. She should like Max :) If she throws stones at dogs/cats/poor little animals on the road, I’ll get wild. (Will she throw the stones at me, then?) ha-ha.

Ok, so this gives a slight insight into my preferences when it comes to the qualities that I look for! Actually it’s just a brief overview cos 8 points I feel are no where near enough to fit in my thoughts and imaginations :) Hmmm, that brings me to the end of this post! Man, it took a long time coming, I know. It feels so nice to be back to writing once again!!! I myself am looking forward to my next post… lol.. Won’t be long for sure!

A Goan Experience!!

I'd been to Goa with 6 of my colleagues. It was awesome fun and I thought I should share it with all you guys! This happened around 7 months back, and we freshers had just finished our first ever project at work. Obviously all of us were excited, and whats more we had got a week off from office, as compensation for all the weekends of work that we had put in! So what do we do - we planned a trip to Goa, on the fly, and within a couple of days the plans were finalised and even the tickets were booked! Talk about plannin well in advance! :) We were scheduled to leave for Goa the next week and before we realised it, the day of departure had come! We had all been working for almost a year now, and even though we had been earning for a year, we never got a chance to really enjoy and spend the money!! This was our first opportunity at blowing up our own money, and boy were we excited! :D

And so, we left Chennai central by the 'Vasco-Da-Gama' express. We were 7 of us - close friends! The journey was fun, especially the rail route after the Londa Railway station. Londa is a station in Belgaum district.. From Londa to Goa, the train passes over the western ghats, studded with 20 odd tunnels. The view from some of the spots was breath-taking! We reached Vasco station around noon the next day. We were received at the station by Mr. Vishnu, he was my mom's old student in the school where she teaches!! We owe him so much... In fact the whole trip was possible partly due to him! He put us onto a Sumo (which we had hired for the entire stay, thru Vishnu), and we were taken to our hotel - The Miramar Residency. For those who dont know, Miramar is one of the many beaches in Goa. Must admit, Miramar is one of the more polished areas in Goa.. Nice place, nice crowd ;)
This is the gang that went to Goa :) From L to R - Venkat, Prakash, Ashok, Kumaresh, Murali, Myself.

We had booked 2 rooms at Miramar Residency from Chennai before leaving, and worth mentioning that the place we stayed was neat! Often, if the accomodation is not proper, it tends to pull down the joy of a vacation! Thankfully we had no room for complaint, in this regard.. The first day, we were already tired and thus we asked the driver to leave us at our own free will - anyway no long trips for the day! We jus walked down the roads, explored more into the city and then of course had a long lovely stroll on the miramar beach. Our cottage was right next to the beach ( In goa you need to search very hard to find a cottage, away from the beach :P ). Among the 7 of us, 3 were absolutely 'No' to drinking.. Me, well i would not say that I never drink :) But frankly i'm not a big fan of drinkin, donno why. I have never found it exciting. Me had beer, and of course i freaked out on the breezers!! I like the bacardi breezers a lot :) lol... My friends still pull my leg for that! 'Comin all the way to Goa and havin breezer, duh!' - was a sentence that my ears got accustomed to! :)
This was a pic my friend took, outside a church at night. Yes thats me standing next to the cross :)

The second day, we went on a 'churches' trip, visiting a number of the famous churches in Goa. Some of them were fabulous! Especially the St. Francis Cathedral.. Had lunch at one of the roadside hotels, and the one thing that we freaked out on, throughout our stay at Goa was the Sea food. It's truly awesome! Fish and prawns were alwez on our table, no matter where we had food!! And a breezer to go with it, yummmmm !!! :) Towards the evening, we were taken to the Colva beach.. And boy, this turned out to be the most exciting part of the trip! Little did we know that on the way back from Colva, we would be discussing about our para-sailing experiences!! Yeah, all of us went parasailing at Colva beach, for the first time in our lives.. It was some experience! The best thing, we got some awesome discounts for the parasailing trips. Indians had special prices and foreigners had to pay some 50% extra! Ridiculous, but then thats the way tourism works in our country.. :P Bargaining is the name of the game, no matter what you do in Goa. We went in pairs of 2, uppp into the sky and over the seas in the parachute pulled by a speedboat!! Awesome the view was.. That was not the end of it. After the parasailing experience, all of us got bolder and we were not in the mood to go home without a water jet-scooter ride! :) I found this much more thrilling (scary) than the parasailing thing! We were taken one by one, for a 400 feet ride deep into the sea along with a rider. He controlled the bike while all we had to do, was sit. This in itself was such a task! He rode the water-jet as rough as he possibly could, and on purpose he attacked every wave that came our way! Man, i really thought i would not make it to the shores!! Everytime the machine went up in the air and landed in the water with a jerk, my groin went for a 6 thanks to my sitting posture!! :P lol.. And in the middle of the sea, zipping at speeds of 80kmph, I had no option but to control my emotions and sit 'chup chaap se' :)
Thats my friend and I, suspended high in the air!! The View from there was awesome!! I liked the background of this snap too.
What an eventful day... With fantastic memories, we retired to our rooms and slept like logs. The next day, we went to a few more beaches - Calangute and Aguada... Some of the beaches were real naughty ;) Gave us a feeling of walking down the miami beach!! :) We went on a dolphin cruise too, on a speedboat at the Aguada beach! It was an hour long cruise right at noon, cos that was the time the dolphins surfaced.. Sighting the dolphins was a tough task, cos dolphins are really shy creatures! But for all our efforts, we did manage to sight a few dolphins within 10 feet from us! And one of them did a splash dive too, right in front of us!! So sweet of them! :) In the evening, we decided to go on the 'Santa Monica' cruise, which is a famous attration in Goa. This is a cruise, where they take you out into the sea in a small ship, with games, dance and traditional Goan stuff onboard! It was fun.. After returning from the cruise, we decided that we wernt jus gonna go and crash into bed, no matter how tiring the day had been, already! So what do we do - we book tickets at the INOX theatres, and watched the 23:15hrs show. The movie was 'Karam'.. Movie was only ok ok, but then, we had our own fun.. Very rarely were we actually watching the movie :P
The Goan folk dance being performed by artists, on board the Cruise! It was time to say Good bye to Goa as we were scheduled to leave the city the next morning.. Sad part was that we did not get direct return tickets by train, from Goa to Chennai. We had to come to Londa to catch the 12:30 train to Bangalore! What we did, we came from Goa to Londa by the same Sumo we had hired.. It was a 4hr drive but like I said, the journey was a nice one!

The wait, at Londa Railway Station, on the way back..

We reached Londa station on time for the train, reached Bangalore by 21:00, then took another train and reached Chennai the next day early morning! End of a wondeful trip!! Each one of us, still carry some lovely memories from the vacation!!

The Sri Lankan Lions, that never really were...

Been a while since I wrote about Cricket!! Cricket being one of my passions in life, well its quite unusual to find johnny boy not talkin about cricket for a long time :) Those who don follow cricket much, don run away yet.. This is nothing too deep into the technicalities of cricket or anything :) Its just a light post, for 'fun reading'. The India-Sri Lanka ODI series has just concluded and who would have ever predicted a 6-1 drubbing of the Lankan Lions?? Coming into the series as the second best ODI team, they return to their country without an identity for themself. Their ranking in world cricket right now, will be the last thing on their minds!

The Sri Lankans were totally outplayed in every department of the game. Whatever they tried backfired, and whatever the Indians tried, came out fantastic and this buried the Sri Lankan ship beneath the ocean floor. The best thing about this series from an Indian point of view, was the talent on display. Every match, a different guy would come and hammer the opposition. They dint know how to respond to the questions raised by the Indians. The trouble being that the questions were never repeated! Every match a new plan, new personnel, new batting order etc etc.. Only one thing was the same, the result - Sri Lanka were out thought!

Well, this is just one series, and lets not create too much hype, which the media is anyway bound to do! Give credit where its due, India played fantastic, agreed. But they aint a 'great' side yet. The series against South Africa will only give us a chance to confirm our faith in this team. For them to be really considered as world beaters, they have to beat England and Australia in their own backyards! Which is still a long way off. But atleast, the team is on its way up and right now, they are on a roll!

Let me throw the focus back to the Indian team of the 90's. Just a humorous flash back! :) I remember there used to be this bowler called Venkatapathy Raju. Quite a decent left arm spinner, but I just could'nt help laughing whenever he came out to bat! For those who remember, he had the tiniest of faces, and this guy would wear a helmet which would be slightly big for one Mr. Inzamam Ul Haq! We literally had to search for his face, inside the helmet!! :D

And who could forget Venkatesh Prasad! Once again, no doubting his abilities cos he was quite successful here and there :) He was one bowler who's speed while running in to bowl, was faster than the speed of the ball which he bowled! :D And whats more, he used to take most of his wickets by bowling the 'slower' ball!! How ironic! I alwez thought that if he bowled his 'slower' ball any slower, the ball might not have reached the batsman! And I have this strong feeling that most batsmen got out to his slower ball, cos they got bored waiting for it to arrive...

There was this stage, when India tried out different combinations of openers in Test cricket and frankly, none of them worked! It was a sad phase. We had openers such as Debang Gandhi and S S Das, who made sure they they drove out whatever little crowd that came in to watch Test match cricket. They were boringly slow, and I never thought it served any purpose. One might argue that they took the 'shine' off the new ball. But I guess the only way these openers managed to take the shine off the ball, was by getting hit repeatedly on the helmet. Yes, believe me, we had opening batsmen who were capable of getting hit on the head, on Indian pitches - repeatedly :) Sometimes it made you wonder if a bat was really necessary in their hands.. The helmets which went into the cricket field blue in color, came back more red, than blue.... Do I need to explain more? :)

How could I forget Anil Kumble's dive? :) He's a great cricketer, no doubt but he seriously has to/had to work on his fielding. It was quiet sad to watch him dive at the boundary ropes. A dive would not be an appropriate word to use, bcos he used to literally skate his way to the boundary ropes, on his laps :) Whats more, the ball would have already crossed the ropes a few seconds earlier! Our man was only successful in getting the wrath of a few live grass, which were no longer 'live'.. Generally, the Indian diving standards were pretty poor in the 90's. Any India-South Africa match of the 90's would be testimony to whatever I have been talking about.

Ok, I guess the post is gettin too long, so I better curtail my thoughts.. All said and done, I am a Big Big fan of Indian cricket. I was just bringing out some really funny experiences and comments that we used to share, among us school friends.. Of course, it is exaggerated at some points, but only to bring out the funny side of things in a more laughable way.. In fact, I am a huge supporter of Indian cricket. Yup no doubts, Sachin Tendulkar is the person I look forward to, whenever India plays. He is master class.. I just go crazy when Sachin is in full flow... One of the most touching comments, which was reportedly made on the BBC a few years back - "Whenever Sachin Tendulkar goes out to bat, the whole of India switch off
their lives, and switch on their TV sets" -> Awesome, isnt it!!!

Wishing the Indian team good luck, for their forthcoming series aganst South Africa. I hope that their winning run continues and if that does, neither will the South Africans be number 2 in the world rankings for long! :)

'MAX'imum Affection !!

Heyyy ppl, work's been keepin me away from bloggin of late. But I'll still find some time to somehow drop in a post :-) And hey, of course I do keep track of my blog almost everyday! First of all, wish you all a HAPPY DIWALI! Ok, this one's been a long time pending post. Always wanted to write one on my sweetie pie, but it was kept on hold thanks to my laziness... So here goes... I'm gonna talk about our doggie - Max :)

In the pic shown above, the time is 6am, and Max has just finished reading the 'headlines' on todays newspaper. Only trouble is that after he reads, no one else can read the paper! :-) Unless of course, someone's in the mood to solve a jigsaw puzzle first thing in the morning! [Have a look at the sense of achievement on his face! He is one satisfied dog! :-) God Bless You, Max]

Max is a German Shepherd, and a big one at that! He's just 5 months old, but I guess he's reached full growth. Atleast we hope so :-) Cos if he gets any bigger, its gonna be hard work! My mom used to take him out for a walk every morning, but nowadays she refrains from doing so, cos it always ends up with Max taking my mom out for a walk :) He literally pulls her along to wherever he wants to go! We've reached a stage where only my dad, my brother or I, can can handle him. He looks very ferocious but trust me, he's a small kid inside! He'll bark like mad if he sees someone new entering the house, but whoever it is, if the person comes near him - our man will lie down and wait expectantly to be fondled! Like most dogs, he jus lovvves attention.

Poor fellow has been having a very tough time of late. Guess why ?? Cos its Diwali! :-) He jus cant stand the sound of crackers. Now thats a very tough demand, keeping in mind the festival and the amount of fireworks that go into it. Max has to live with it, and best we could do for him, was allow him to stay and sleep indoors till the diwali mood kinda eased! :) Yeah he stays indoors these days. But even inside, he gets restless when the neighbours burst crackers. When he used to be outside, Max got into a frenzy everytime a cracker went off! We felt sad for the poor fellow.. You know what, Max 'used' to love the small kids stayin near our house, but the last few days he's been trying to avoid them, and he barks madly at them when they try to approach him. Guess why, bcos he knew that it were the kids who bursted the crackers, and that was reason enough for him to keep a distance! :-) With all the noise around, I wonder what all would be running thru the canine's mind. He must be thinking 'what the **** is wrong with the world suddenly' :) 'It was all silent and calm till a few days back, all of a sudden people just go mad and burn/burst everything! Sigh, Its a Man's world' :-) If only dogs could speak - we @ home, would have been introduced to a new range of bad words for sure... You guys wont believe, even when he is inside the house - when someone outside lights up those 'rockets', Max's head follows the 'whizzing' sound upwards, and he looks up and barks at the ceiling! One thing's for sure - if at all we just leave Max loose on the street tonight, 100% sure there will not be a single soul bursting crackers in our area :) All said and done, its diwali today, and he wont have to suffer the torture for much longer.. Wish he knew that!

I dont wanna delve into the loving nature of Max, cos like all animals - he's very attached and possesive! But some really peculiar traits that Max exhibits - The way he drinks water. Max just cannot stand or sit, and drink water. He has to lie down! Its a very sweet sight. The moment you pour water into his bowl, he goes down to his customary sleepin position, places the bowl exactly between his outstretched paws, and laps the water. Another thing, is that Max just cannot stand people wearing headgear! Lol... Yes its true, he gets mad when he sees people wearing caps, bandanas, or any sort of thing on their head. Don ask me why! :-) The people who suffer because of this -> the 'gas' guy who brings the gas cylinder on his shoulders, the 'vegetables' lady who carries the basket on her head, my brother's friends who wear 'cool' caps, and most importantly - everyone during the rainy season (cos of the umbrella) :-) He is a character for sure!

We have 3 kittens stayind behind our house, and you should see the way Max plays with them! He's so so fond of them. But sometimes he gets soo fond of them that he gives them a smallll nibble, which sends them scampering in all directions! Little do they know that Big brother is just playin with them! There is especially this one kitten - Dark grey in colour, and he's Max's best friend. The way he cuddles around Max is a sight to watch. Its very cute, and this guy is only as tall as Max's knee. The grey kitten sleeps on Max's lap whenever given an opportunity. Unfortunately I could not click a snap when the kittens were playing with Max :( they are scared of us, cos they are too small. Well if you ask me how come they aint scared of big and ferocious Max, search me!

In this pic, Max is seen with his 'best friend' kitten. Our man is busy trying to peel off the coconut skin, and his friend is giving him moral support I guess!
Max is a very disobedient and naughty, but thats cos we have not trained him. Know what my mom says? 'The children in the house aint obedient, how will poor Max be obedient??'.. My brother and I jus stare at her.. :-) And yes, that was just a joke! Another bad habit that Max has developed of late - These days he eats dinner only if he is hand fed by my Mom or Dad!! Talk about babies.. Hope you guys found it worthwhile, getting to know Max a lil better :) Next time you plan a visit to our house, you guys know what to do, and what not to do :-) hehe, jus kidding... Have fun!