Wrong Number

Murphy's laws are always at work guys. And these are laws that transcend across domains, countries etc.. truly remarkable.
Last week I had a spate of wrong number calls. That too at the most inopportune time say when I am having my siesta or in a serious discussion with my friends. It certainly annoys us at that time. But looking back you can afford a smile or two. Some samples:

1. Guy calls me and says that I need to come and collect my order of a truckload of potatoes. He says that the address is not clear so I have to clarify the address.

2. A gal calls and asks for "Anthony". She first wants to know who I am and when I ask her who she wants, (that's my standard practice), she replies. I start cursing the phone industry.

3. Some one calls from Mumbai and asks for "Fernandez". After told that it is a wrong number, he asks where is my number from. I say "Bangalore". He apologizes and disconnects.

One striking thing was that everybody had dialled my number correctly. So someone had given the wrong number that too my number to 3 people What a coincidence. Or is it something to do with the phone companies. Do let me know if u had a similar experience last week.

Hail Federer!

The first time i heard about Roger Federer in 2001, I did not like the guy. That's because he defeated my fav tennis player Pete Sampras in Wimbledon. I did not know that 4 years down the line, he would be my fav tennis player and I would consider him as the successor to "Pistol Pete".

But it is not only due to the fact that he equated Sampras' record of 3 consecutive Wimbledon victories. It is only one factor. It is due to the other factors. In sports, as in other professions, it is not only essential to do your job well. It is also important how the person handles himself/herself. It is here I feel that Federer is equal to Sampras.

His game is sublime. He plays superbly. At times it seems he is casual about the game. He plays it so naturally, it is a treat to watch. Also, he is very polite and humble about his achievements. He respects his opponents and relishes challenges (Not to mention that there are few who can challenge him). All these make you not to dislike him. You just cannot find a chink in his armour. I feel that he is here for a long time to stay. And if he plays like this, he can possibly overhaul Pete's record of 14 singles titles.

Disgusting

Hi, this is about my frnd who was dispossessed of his mobile. Well I thought he had forgotton his mobile somewhere (He lost his debit card the same way on an outing with us). But the story was quite different.
He was going on his bike when he avoided another guy (who was on the wrong lane incidentally). As a result he fell from his bike. Now some "samaritans" came to my friend's "help". And some of them thought it fit to repay themselves for their help by doing away with his mobile.
Similarly, another frnd of mine was relieved of his debit card a couple of years ago and was poorer by Rs.12000.
There was a similar case during the tsunami that hit last year.
C'mon guys, robbing a person when he is fully aware is one thing, but making do with someone's goods when he is injured or not in a postion to be careful is really disgusting.

Catch 'em young

I know that the title has been used often w.r.t to young minds and sportspersons. But this has impressed me so much of late thanks to two sports, tennis and football.
In tennis, the champions start by the age of 16-17 and by the time they are 20 or so they are at the top of the world. By the age of 25 they hang their raquets or they are not the same force to reckon with. The age of retirement has come down considerably. Just look at the Williams sisters. Around 3 years back, they ruled Women's tennis. Now they struggle to get past players they would just brush away in their hey days. Though this phenomenon is not visible yet in Men's tennis, the major players are in their 20s and a few good players are still in their teens.

Secondly, football. Wayne Rooney is 18, C. Ronaldo 20 , Robinho 21 . These are the hot names in football and look at their ages!. Football being a very physical game gives a short playing time to players. So if you start early, you get some more time.

So what should we do? I do not think we can do much in football right now as it is a team game and it is difficult to get good talent really young. But in tennis, yes. Get the players really young. And make them pro by the age of 16 or 17. This will give them lots of opportuntites to win.

Bye for now.

Goal

Hi, writing after a long time. Just that did not find anything good enough to blog.
The title of the blog may make it similar to my previous one on football, but it is not about that.
It is about a book titled "The Goal".
This book is a mangament book but written like a novel with lots of drama. The protagonist of the book is a manager trying to save his plant and his personal life too. The book is all about how he does it along with some very good management.
BTW the book takes a very simplified stand: Every organization is there for a goal. Any action that takes it towards its goal is productive and anything that does not is not productive.
So beautifully said. This can be applied to our personal life too.
Every person has (must have ) a goal in life. Anything that the person does, which takes him closer to his goal is good and the other actions are not good. But how easy is it to find a goal in life!
Remember, it is not a goal for a couple of months or a couple of years, but for the entire life.
Let me see what use I can make of the old things I have learned (in a new way).
Bye for now.

Chelsea show why they are champions

Yesterday, I watched a match between ManU and Chelsea. Well, Chelsea had already won the title and ManU were playing for pride. I had an idea that this would be a cracker of a match and happily I was proved right.

First half

The match started on the right note with both teams making moves. ManU was slightly attacking and Chelsea were defensive. But the action was to begin soon. ManU broke the deadlock in the 8th minute with a Van Nistelrooy goal who got a fine pass from the sidelines.
This sudden goal charged the atmosphere and the exchanges just got better with each minute. But Chelsea are not the champions for nothing. They equalised in the 17th minute by a fine shot by Tiago which ManU keeper Carroll could do nothing about.
Then started the fireworks, both teams trying to wrest the initiative but not succeeding. Both teams had their chances but failed to capitalise. But I felt that the ManU defence was a bit shaky and allowed lot of chances if someone could get the ball beyond a point. But Chelsea's defence was very solid allowing few shots at the goal for ManU. Thus at the breather, both teams were evenly poised.

Second Half

If the first half was a breeze, the second was a storm. Both teams went to the attack immediately after the restart, with as many as 5-6 chances in the first ten minutes. The fast pace kept the viewers busy and also the referee ( 3 yellow cards in the second half and many fouls). There were also frayed tempers with Rooney involved in a couple of incidents.There were a couple of missed chances from both teams.

I mentioned that the ManU defence looked a bit shaky. In the 61st minute Gudjohnsen got past a defender and he just had to beat the keeper. And he did not miss it to put Chelsea 2-1.
ManU got into overdrive after this. Saha was brought in place of Fletcher to put more strength in the attack but the Chelsea defence held firm. ManU were trying hard for the equaliser when J Cole made it 3-1 for Chelsea in the 82nd minute. The goal was offside but these things happen in football and there was nothing to be taken from Chelsea for the hard work they put.
Final score: Chelsea 3: Manu 1

In hindsight, the main difference between the teams seems to be the confidence level. Chelsea did not flinch even after conceding an early goal. ManU were not that solid and this can be due the "chopping and churning" policy of Sir Alex and this does not help to gel the team.

Hope the wily Scot gets it right the next time. And thanks Chelsea and ManU for a wonderful game. I really enjoyed it.

Many a slip between the cup and the lip

Some weeks back, we were happy that our institute had been granted the" deemed university" status by the UGC. We were glad that we would be getting MTech Degree instead of PGDIT and all seemed fine.
Today, the bomb was dropped. The State Govt has declined to give NOC to the proposal to grant our college the "deemed Univ" Status.
So what is going to happen finally?. Do we go "back to square one" and get PGDIT or we will get the "deemed Univ" status.
Only time will tell.

My Zodiac Personality

This says my zodiac personality is Scorpio though I am a Cancerian !!


Discover your Zodiac Personality @ Quiz Me

India on Song

India on song in the second ODI at Vizag. Dhoni is the dark horse as he scores a century.
Add Sehwag's blistering 74 and Dravid's fast 40 , we have India 253/3 in 35.4 ovrs.

Ganguly fails again (nothing new, if he scores beyond 10 that will merit some attention)

Every Blog tells a story

I am a regular reader of two blogs. I check from time to time what new the authors have to write. These are the one of the first blogs that I ever read and these inspired me start writing my own blog.

Now, I also know (to some extent) these two guys. I observed that their blogs carry their traits . One guy is open, has an opinion on anything and everything and has a strongly positive outlook on life. His blog is colorful and has posts on all topics under the sun.

The other guy is serious, he speaks only when necessary, and has an enigmatic air about him. He appears brooding (almost) all the time. Needless to say, his blog is not colorful (thebackground color he uses is black). His posts sometimes appear abstruse and I wonder if he is the only person to understand what has been written!!.

So by looking at a blog can you say about the author. It is possible if the author remains true to his/her self and does not masquerade on the blog. So what do you think about me? Dont bother, you cannot post any comments here. That should say something about me, what say?

Escape Velocity

First of all, I thank my friend Harjinder whose words triggered a thought process that has resulted in this post. There is a technical definition of "escape velocity". Hari (as Harjinder is known) talked about it in terms of projects . I generalize it to all things in life.

[Tech] Escape Velocity is the minimum velocity that is required to escape from the gravitational pull of the earth. Once this velocity is reached, any object can keep on going and is not affected by the earth's pull. But until this velocity is reached there is always the chance that it comes under the influence of the pull and falls.

[Project] Hari applies the above concept to project. There are many people in a project each with varied degrees of motivation. It is essential that there is a high level of motivation among all the members for the success of the project. But unless some work is done, there will not be the belief among the team members that the project will succeed. This work is the escape velocity that has to be achieved.

[General] I feel that the above theory applies to our general behaviour with people. Relations are developed slowly. It takes some time for people to treat others as confidantes or friends.
But once this time elapses, relation takes off grandly. Similarly, when a relation deteriorates, it is essential that one person tries to maintain it. Usually people wait for the other person to break the deadlock. This inevitably results in failure.

So this is like a spiral, it can be positive or negative. It depends on how people respond to the situation and act.

They did it!! :-((

I am referring to a previous post where I had apprehensions that India will live to their pathetic record of losing the very next match after having won the previous one.

I also hoped that I would be proven wrong in the match at Bangalore. But alas! I was proved wrong as we lost to Pak by 168 runs. What is more disappointing is that barring Virender Sehwag, no batsman (including the great wall Rahul Dravid) showed any inclination to bat throughout the day.

The team has a bad habit of losing a game after being in a position of strength. Having lost just one wicket at lunch, the strongest batting line up in the world collapsed like a pack of cards to leave the Indian supporters disappointed.

Unless we have an attitude of not losing the advantage gained (this happened in the first test too) we cannot claim to be among the top test playing nations like Australia who come back from the dead to win.

I was proven right this time, but I wish that I was wrong.

Sachin Vs Rahul

There has been a debate about who is the best Indian batsman today. Is it Sachin or Rahul?
This has been debated so many times that I dont think I will be able to add anything to it. Rather I wish to state which side of the fence I am on and justify my decison.

• Well, I am of the firm opinion that "The Wall" is the best Indian batsman today on the basis of the sheer number of runs that he has scored in the past couple of years. There are some who feel that the little master is still the best.
  
• Well, I concede that it is more entertaining to watch Sachin that Rahul, but certainly you do not want "entertainment" when you desperately want to save a match or want to win one.
• One sign of the best batsman in your team is the one whom the opp bowlers fear the most. There was a time when teams feared India due to Sachin, but that time is gone. Of course they still value his wicket, but they are more likely to heave a sigh of relief when they see Dravid's back.
• Consistency: Dravid has been the most consistent batsman in the past couple of years. This is something that we do not see in Sachin. He also became the man to have the highest average after the Don. This itself is a great achievement.
  
• I also feel that Dravid has been in the shadows for a long time. In fact whenever he played a stellar knock, some one else would do a very good job (either with the bat/ball) and walk away with the honours. So to deprive him of the honour when he truly deserves it would be unfair to him.

Sachin, of course is the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket for a loooonggg time. He has fulfilled the expectations of a cricket crazy country for a decade and a half, but it is time we give credit where it is due and do not glorify an individual for his past deeds.

Yet another test

I took yet another test on the web

Green You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

Also India are struggling angainst Pak. My frnd has been to the match. I told him it would be no good. Very rarely I feel sorry for being right, but this is one time.

Something about Sports......

Well I had written a couple of daya back regarding my apprehensions about our cricket team
(Will They?) . The match started today. We started well but then Inzy and his deputy took over and batted really well to take away any hopes we had of having a good day. So it looks like we are all set to repeat our record. The Bangalore pitch deteriorates after the 3rd day and we have a terrible record here. So we will all know whether I am right/wrong in another 4 days.

Going to another sport, this time F1. Ferrari are in an awful form this season, but the season is just two races old and it is too early to say anything right now. Having said that, I think it is good to watch the other teams doing well for a change. I am of the opinion that Schumacher M is not that good without a good car and Ferrari's inability to come up with a good car is hurting them.
As far as Karthikeyan is considered, I feel it will be a biiiig achievement if he completes all the races (yes! that's true) and it will be excellent if he finishes in the top ten atleast once, though it is very difficult.

Nothing much to write about the other sport I follow, soccer. ManU eliminated from EuroChampions and with no chance of winning the EPL, they must focus on winning the FA cup atleast.