Gary's tale...

It all started when i met Gary while i was waiting at the bus stop. I was heading for the railway station to receive my sister who was coming home from a trip abroad. Gary was my school friend and not having seen him for quite some time i was pretty happy to meet him there. He was an anglo indian and talked his english with a weird accent.

"Hey!", i shouted

He looked equally happy.

"Hi da. Long time no see", his face broke into a weak smile as if he was forcing it.

"yeah...been kind of busy. Too much work at college", i obviously had to lie

"Hmm...so where are you headed?"

"Railway station. My sister is coming from bombay..well..actually from the US"

"Oh..so how have you been", he didnt seem to be in a hurry and no bus was in sight.

"Well, pretty great actually. you know there - "

He sighed. I stopped and looked at him. He looked forlorn.

"Whats the matter?"

He looked at me and shook his head.

"The last two months have been very bad for me"

"Why what happened?"

"Well, its my..", he stopped himself. He couldnt bring himself to say it,"..err..its Stephanie..she was dying and so i sold her off"

I looked at him shock. Stephanie was his dog - a beautiful black doberman. The
last time i saw her she looked pretty healthy.

"You sold her", i sputtered.

"Yeah. the guy who bought her had no clue that something was wrong with her..you know..she looks pretty good"

I cannot blame the guy. Even i did not know something was wrong. she had been active, healthy and well fed. Well, one never knows.

"What was wrong with her?"

"She just got old. thats all. You know its a wonder she managed to run this long...i maintained her well...but lately she hasnt been that responsive", he said proudly.

"yeah that happens with age", i said sagely, "but poor girl...i liked her a lot"

"Yeah me too", he said with nostalgia, "How many hours of pure pleasure"

I stopped and looked at him. I knew these guys were weird and so let the statement be. Still, pleasure? What the hell did he do with his dog anyway? I didnt ask him that directly and so veiled my question.

"Guess you guys were pretty close. You played around a lot with her", i said.

"Yes. I had got carried away at times and banged her around. And last week...", his eyes misted up but he quickly recovered and smiled.

My eyes fell out of the socket and my face bore a disgusting look. Now i was looking for the bus. I didnt want to be around this sick kid.

"Its ok", i said trying to change the subject, "so hows everyone at home"

He looked at me with sadness again.

Again tears sprang in them."My b..", he stopped as if he didnt want to say that and then smiled a little as he said, "You have met Roger right?"

I nodded thankful that the conversation was moving away from some sick man and dog coupling.

"yeah, a couple of times", i said. Roger was his younger brother. Roger was in class 10. I always had the feeling that he was slightly retarted bacause of the way he used to act around me. He just didnt behave like a tenth standard kid.

"He was becoming a huge pain...you know...acting restless and whiny"

I knew it! I had a knack for people. I smelled a rat with that guy long before their family themselves had any clue.

"So", gary continued, "We took him to the doctor. And he said..", he was giving a sly grin,"...said..roger needs some action...you know what i mean"

My mouth was agape. "But but..",words just wouldnt come out

"I know", gary nodded sagely, "its so unreal...and u know my dad was there when the doctor said that..and... it was so uncomfortable"

I would bet my ass it was uncomfortable. What kind of sick doctor advised sex for a restless 10th standard kid?

"and now i have to look around for some bitch who would do it", he continued.

I just stared. By now my head was swimming. I saw a bus approaching from far away and heaved a sigh of relief. Gary saw it too.

"Good. the bus is coming", he said

I remained silent praying that he wasnt headed in the same direction as me. But it was one of those days and as it happened gary was sitting next to me on the bus.

"It really has been a hard month for you", i mused wondering if he was just making this all up just to freak me out as the bus rolled away.

"And you havent even heard the worst man", he said and his eyes welled up with tears.

I suddenly became sympathetic. "What happened?"

Its about Ralph. I was pissed. So much of tears for that!? For a rickety old car. This guy was unbearable. "what about Ralph?", i asked unable to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

"He met with an accident", he sobbed.

"Oh my god!", i was genuinely shocked, "What happened? Who was driving?"

All of us were there but no one else was hurt.

No one else? Except Ralph of course. The stupid car.

"What happened to the car?", i asked

gary stopped sobbing and looked at me with venom.

"The car!? is that what matters to you?", his voice sounded ominously hostile

I was beyond care now. This had gone way past the line and i was going to give a piece of my mind,

"Frankly, i dont give a shit about your stupid car or for that matter about your sex starved kid brother nor the old dying dog you sold. You know why? Coz your family is just a freakshow. You guys should put a tent and run a little circus with your stunts. These are not even real problems and you are sobbing about it? you know what people around you are facing? Do you even have any idea? Do you know how many people are dying of hunger everyday and you are crying about ramming your stupid car somewhere in which no one was even hurt. Do you know how many children are being orphaned every minute and you are worried about finding some 'bitch' whom your brother can bang! I am so disgusted with you gary!", that was perhaps the longest speech i had ever given.

Gary stared at me in shock and then walked over to another empty seat and sat there. I felt free at last. He deserved it. All these people living in their own small world, thinking that they had all the problems. And more importantly i was disgusted to be his friend anymore.

We never talked after that. I would see him a few times in some places but we would just give each other the cold stare or turn our heads away. Then i stopped seeing him around at all. Someone later told me that they had shifted out of town. I didnt hear about him for several years after that when we friends decided to get together after a long time. Gary was not there - not that i cared, though. After a couple of rounds of beer some one thought about Gary.

"The poor guy", vignesh mused
I sat there still feeling the hatred i felt several years before on that bus ride.
"What now? Is he humping gorillas?", i asked with a chuckle.
Everyone stopped and stared at me.
"What?", Kartik asked
"You guys dunno? He used to hump his dog man. He is one sick son of a bitch!", i was drunk and i hated him.
"What da hell are you talking about! He is one of the most pious christians i've ever see", mused Kartik
I looked at him patronisingly. He obviously didnt know Gary's true colours.
"Its a shame that such a big tragedy befell their family", Arun said
"What tragedy?", i was getting sober by the moment.
"You dont know?!! Ralph's death?"

Some thing akin to a bolt of lightning passed through me

"What? Ralph?", i tried jogging my memory to action, "his car?"

"No you idiot", it was vignesh, "Ralph was his brother. He was in the ICU for an year and then died. They shifted after that."

"No!", i just couldnt accept this. They were wrong,"You losers! Roger was his brother"

"Roger was his dog u ass", kartik shouted

"Wasnt his dog Stephanie?", i was sounding milder by the moment

"No that was what that guy named his stupid car"
, kartik laughed...

I wasnt laughing.

I remembered the day clearly. Me screaming at Gary. He walking away and then getting down a couple of stops before the railway station. I remembered looking out of the window and staring at the huge white building on the other side of the road which read "Apollo hospitals". Then the bus had moved on. I never did see Gary walk into the building to visit his brother who was in a coma.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

'Bunker' reminiscences - 1

I have always been a 'bunker'. My mom tells me stories about how as a kid (i am talking about the KGs here), i used to run back home for lunch and have a peaceful siesta for the rest of the afternoon while the school carried on.

Over time, all addictions get worse. Michael jackson wouldnt stop fondling little boys, the bush family wouldnt stop obsessing with iraq, the indian politicians couldnt stop being corrupt and i continued bunking. However with age comes more challenges. School provided quite a few of them. If there was one thing my school management did, it was to cook up elaborate disincentives to bunking classes like flogging and electric treatment. Kidding! But to put it in any investor's words "It was a highly skewed risk-return structure". Thankfully, when it comes to bunking classes i am a risk lover. I had to bunk. It was an addiction. I made it through school with sufficient number of bunks (not at will though) to keep me going. Of course, my as-of-yet-unmeasured-but-exceptionally-high IQ helped me cook up a plethora of valid excuses like an unbelievable headache that showed all indications of a potentially life killing virus, an exam the day after which i was sure to fail and my career doomed for ever if did not have a day off or a heavy downpour which i was sure was an acid rain (after i learnt it in social science class) that could potentially kill me. And it didnt help my ego one bit as i rattled off excuses to convince my gullible mom into letting me stay at home and then conjuring much more valid excuses for my school principal. On hindsight, its apparent that although she saw through my excuses she just let me have my fun.

And then there were those special days - sports days, school days, independence days. If there is one thing i am the most thankful to god, it was my small, thin frame back in those days. I could scale and slip through the small gaps in fences, scale up walls and generally remain anonymous and merge with the sourroundings with elan. Any commando would be proud of me. As a sorry school parade marched in the burning sun with its off beat trumpet and weak drumming, i would be busy compromising the facility, wriggling my way through one small opening out of the school ground. If ever there was a character narrating my life as Red does in Shawshank redemption, he would have a climax every so often. I was a free men at so many times a year as i proudly walked away from the school grounds thinking 'What now?'

College was a turning point in my bunking career. For once, i was in total control. No more stupid excuses. But with control came responsibility. You see, although i am addicted to bunking, i never let it screw up anything for me. College managements are better at laying down your disincentives. You can bunk 25% of the classes, not more, they said. Now i had to set up elaborate bunk management policies to control and allocate bunks through the calender year. Now, not only did i have to control the allocation across time but i also had to have buffers for contingencies like when a section of the class decides to bunk and go for movies. Solid planning was called for. It was good but not very exciting.

The real excitement started when i joined the 'Marks and Spencer' account in Cognizant Technology Solutions....


...to be continued

An Index Into My Mind - recent posts

witnessing a recent spurt of incoherent and imaginative writing....


One conspiracy theory that never fails to thrill me....

November 3 2006,

The sweet notes of a distant music surrounded the place. The heavy night sky smelled of an impending rain. Thunder clouds added a complementing bass to the distant music. Lightning provided the fireworks.
A small boy - about 10 years old walked up the steep incline of a grassy knoll. A fragile silhoutte against the residual night light, climbing steadily.......

read on - Rendezvous...


one of those stories where you start writing and end up with something u hadnt planned....

It was to be a cladestine 'job'.
Only 2 people in the world knew about it and they didnt know about each other.
Each guy knew that one another guy was involved but didnt know who.
The stakes were high.
It was about revenge.....

read on - The 'job'


Ah...a truly white canvas to paint a story on...

It was all white.

Am i dreaming?

I look around. Spotless white and no shapes around.

Am i awake?

I look down at where i stand. All white.

What is this place?

read on - The most logical story ever told.

Rendezvous...

November 3 2006,

The sweet notes of a distant music surrounded the place. The heavy night sky smelled of an impending rain. Thunder clouds added a complementing bass to the distant music. Lightning provided the fireworks.

A small boy - about 10 years old walked up the steep incline of a grassy knoll. A fragile silhoutte against the residual night light, climbing steadily. A big flash of lightning struck the apex of the knoll but the boy carried on. His face was set in determination. He had a job to do and quick.

Midway through the climb he stopped to catch his breath. The first drops of rain started and a freezing wind had also picked up. Up from here, he could see the lights of the village he had left behind. He would never see them again. He stared at the comforting warmth of the huts glowing yellow and felt home sick. But he had a job to do and quick.

A huge thunder growled in the distance. He almost felt the ground shake. It was coming. He began to jog his way up the little hill.

He didnt have a left arm. They had to amputate it when it got infected when he was only 6. The doctors didnt know what it was. It was a completely new strain of bacteria. More deadly than anything anyone had ever seen. He still remembered those horrifying times. His mom's tear streaked face. His father's drunken sobs. He also remembered the time when his father died 6 months later leaving them with no income. He died from a uknown lung infection. Around 100 people in his village died that month. He remembered everything clearly.

Another rumble. This time closer and louder. It was coming and he began to run. He reached the apex of the hill, blood pumping through his veins and out of breath. He stood there waiting. It would be here anytime now.

He waited for a long time. Waited until the first rays of the sun washed the sky with a brilliant orange glow. It never came. He sat there dissapointed. Tears welled up his eyes as he rose up to walk back to the village. As he walked back he thought about that night 4 years ago when he met IT for the first time. IT had said, "I will come tomorrow. At the same time. Wait for me at the grassy knoll" He had been waiting for the last 4 years.

He reached the village and walked towards his hut. His mother was still asleep as he walked to the corner of the hut and snuggled into the mattress. He would again go tomorrow.

Newspaper articles clipped

A small bit on page 15 of an indian english newspaper...

Strange sightings over remote indian village
March 8, 2000

Residents of the remote indian village Amaravati reported strange lights and sounds yesterday evening. Several village women rushed out shouting 'The devil has come' to witness a strange spectacle on the sky. The metereological department denied any cosmic activity in the region. However....


Translated from a marathi newspaper

Strange bacterial infection spreads across Amaravati
March 15, 2000

The unknown bacterial infection began to spread across the remote village of Amaravati. This deadly infection has already claimed 3 lives....


A small section in a hindi tabloid...

Boy loses arm, Claims he saw a 'strange creature'
April 2, 2000

The deadly bacterial infection that is continuing to affect the Amaravati village has taken its toll on the Yogesh, a 6 year old boy from Amaravati. His left arm was amputated after it was severly infected by a hitherto unknown strain of bacteria - a variant of the one spreading across the village. Scientists comjecture that it must be a mutated version of some known bacteria although they are yet to figure out structural or behavioral similarities with existing strains. Meanwhile, in what could be called a scene straight out of Speiberg's 'ET' the boy claims that the infections were spread by strange creatures who came 'that night last month'. The boy claims that he talked to one of the creatures and refers to it as his friend. This has led doctors to believe that the bacteria could have also affected the brain leading to delusions.....

The 'Job'

It was to be a cladestine 'job'.
Only 2 people in the world knew about it and they didnt know about each other.
Each guy knew that one another guy was involved but didnt know who.
The stakes were high.
It was about revenge.
Easy to comprehend ; difficult to execute.

Each guy had a part to play.
Alpha thought he was the Executor.
Beta thought he was the decoy.
Only those two knew about the job.

The target was a human. Very high profile. Very secure.
The location was in the heart of the Indian capital.
The time: mid day.

Alpha was an excellent sniper.
Beta was an explosives expert.
Alpha thought beta led the operations wile Beta thought alpha did.

The day came.
Alpha decided where to snipe from. He knew Beta would provide the diversion.They didnt need to talk.
Beta decided how to provide the decoy. A small explosion would do.
Beta rigged the road where the convoy passed through and left.
Alpha set himself up for a snipe.

The explosion occured at 12:03 PM.
Beta had failed. The target was destroyed. That hadnt been the intention.
Alpha waited for the redirected convoy.
It never came.
Alpha knew that Beta had failed.
Alpha decided to abort.

Beta knew he was doomed.
The plan had failed.
Alpha would now be pissed.
He decided to kill himself.

Alpha went back to the 'hole'
He couldnt extract his revenge.
Beta was there waiting for him.
Beta had failed him.
Beta had to be killed.

Beta had a gun. It had one bullet.
Alpha had a gun. It had one bullet.
They aimed.
They shot.
Both hit the targets.
Both fell down dead.

Hours later secret service would find that the ex-prime minister's assasin had commited suicide in a 'hole'.

The man who had set up a bomb.
The man who had then waited atop a building for a convoy that never came.

The man who had had his revenge yet failed to comprehend it.
The man who killed himself.

The most logical story ever told.

Disclaimer:
1. This is purely a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely hallucination.
2. This is not for people who are inflexible when it comes to time, space and universe.
3. Not for colour blind people.

Prologue:

It was all white.

Am i dreaming?

I look around. Spotless white and no shapes around.

Am i awake?

I look down at where i stand. All white.

What is this place?

It all seamlessly merged into a world of white. It appeared as if i had been thrown bang in the middle of a unpainted canvas. I shifted one leg. It moved. Phew! I could move. I walked forward and then stopped. It didnt matter. I was in a space of whiteness. It seemed to stretch into infinity so there was no point walking. I wasnt going anywhere. I suddenly remember that it was time for my meeting with my boss and look at my watch. It had stopped. Of course, what else did i expect. I was beginning to get increasingly frustrated with my inability to do anything about my situation and decide to shout. My mouth opens but no voice came out. This was when i grew claustrophobic, ironically, in what was apparently an infinite space. I began to panic and started to run. I even didnt know if i was running for there was nothing relative to move with. It was just vast emptiness of white. But i kept running until i no longer could and stood gasping for breath.

The falling

A spot of red?

I walk upto the small spot of red on the floor. God! First colour. It seemed like the painter had let one small drop drip although it was a perfect round indicating that it had been put there intentionally. Not knowing what to do i crouch down and touch it. I was dissapointed when nothing happened. For the next 5 minutes i tried all possible ways of activitating some hidden mechanism that i assumed that the spot controlled. Then i ran again. This time a much shorter distance before i came across a blue dot exactly like the red one. I again ran. But just about 20 steps before the green dot.

I stopped to catch my breath. Ahead of me i could spot another red spot. I walked over to it. This one was bigger than the last one. About the size of my fist; again perfectly round. I was beginning to get tired of this and hungry too. So i sit down next to the red spot tired and hungry. I begin to lazily fiddle around with the red spot trying to dig it using my nails when suddenly it catches fire. But the fire is so beautiful. perfectly shaped like a leaf and unwavering. It looks like a solid leafy yellow projecting upwards from the ground.And i know its fire coz it had burnt my finger when it started. I sit there blowing my finger and wondering where in the world i was.

When the fire stopped the red spot was a black spot. when i place my hand on it i realise it is rather a hole.

Should i risk putting my hand in? What if the fire starts again?

After pondering for a few seconds i quickly thrust my hands inside hoping to meet some end. My hand touches water. What the ! I suddenly realise that the water level is rising and pull my hand out to watch water begin to overflow the hole and flow over the white surface. I scoop up a handfull of water and sip. Its fresh water. Atleast i can quench my thirst. Once i had quenched my thirst i realise that the water level is rising. How was it possible in an infinte space? I begin to run forward again. I see bigger spots flying by me. Soon they are the size of a large elephant. I hope no fire breaks out from these as i run past them. Then i suddenly stop over a blue spot and jump. The entire floor begins to go in. Almost like an elevator. The blue spotted zone drops through a cavern of whiteness and lands me in another white space exactly like the one i had come from. Only again absolutely white and no dots. However there is another person here. It was me.

He who is me

I stand there dumbfounded. He who is me is looking at me in equal shock. He (I) comes to me and touches me and says "You're real?"

I nod and say "So are you..."

It was all white.

"Am i dreaming?" , He says

He looks around. Spotless white and no shapes around.

"Am i awake?", he says

He looks down at where he stands. All white.

"What is this place?", he asks

For me, its like watching a rewound tape of myself all over again. I could see him trying to move his legs in an attempt to move and then walk. He stops realising that there is nothing to move relative to.

"Run", i say hoping to help him. He looks confused. "Where?"

"Run. Run to the blue spot. The big blue spot. If you are thirsty rub the red spot and a fire erupts. Wait for it to finish and then there will be a hole. You will find water inside."

He looks at me like i am mad and then starts running. I see myself fade away into distant whiteness and think what now. So i sit down and think. I had apparently entered a parallel white universe and might be hopefully altering the future by telling myself what to do. As i sit there something weird happens. A large blue spot begins to emerge right under me. I stand up in shock and wonder what its all about. It continues to grow in size, bigger than an elephant, to about the size of a football field. As i stand there i see another figure come running from the oppsite side. It was me!! I had made a full circle. Was it a circle after all ? He (me) comes to me and asks "How did you cross me?"

I smile and say, "Magic!" before jumping on the big blue spot. Nothing happens. I keep jumping and the other me looks at me quizzically. Suddenly i realise something and ask,
"Didnt you drop down that elephant sized blue hole?"
"What blue hole?", he asks, "This is the first colour i am seeing in this fuckin place", he seems positively stressed.

"Ok", i say confused, "Jump when i tell you to. One, two..three", we jumped

The floor dropped and it dropped for a long time through a football field sized cavern. I looked at my watch. What the hell! 3 hours had elapsed since i had been thrown into this world. i thought it didnt work. The seconds hand remained still. Maybe the watch had stopped 3 hours later in this parallel universe. We finally land up in a large green area. I look around and find no sign of the other me. I was just outside my garage - on the lawns. I rise up.

Epilogue

Was it all a dream? I look at my watch and it reads 12:05 PM. I had walked out of my house at 12:08. I had just travelled back in time by 3 seconds? I look at the door of my house. Where did the other guy go? I look around but find no trace of anyone else. I still cant hear any sounds and so i walk into my house. Its so surreal. I cant hear anyone talking. No one seems to be noticing me. I was a ghost and it was deathly silent. I walk into my bed room and stand there slowly losing my mind. Then walked out of the house and stood in the lawns before my garage. I looked at the watch 12:08 PM.

Then it was all white.

I knew what to do. I ran.

An idle mind is a wasted blog post....

10.25 PM - i decide that a post in my blog was long overdue. Its not like i have to make time for this between my busy schedule or anything. My schedule pretty much stops where it starts. You know the feeling of frustration when you sit around and wonder what to do next. Well, that has been my curse this term. I spend half the time - half my conscious time - cooking up ways of wasting the other half and later executing them.

Having read everything possible on a dead f1 season (which includes some really arbit stuff like david coulthard's insane opinions on what schumi should do) and watching a cricket match whose result was pretty clear even before the start i sat wondering what to do next. I had also squeezed in some hours of pool earlier in the day. Well, why not a blog post? That would be a fitting dessert to one hell of a 'vetti' day.

So now i sit and think what to blog. Its 10:34 already and i have succesfully wasted 9 minutes. Great!. Iron maiden's 'Fear of the dark' is splitting the serene silence of the night in my room. The song s just reached a cresendo. The same is not the case with life here. After an exhilarating thrill ride of the first year, this virtual vacation, which appeared exciting at first no longer seems to be. I am now wishing it would all come to an end so that i would have another change - the work life, although i am damn sure that i am gonna regret these words 6 months down the line.

If i have done something worthwhile this term, it has be playing pool and a good reunion of sorts with friends at coimbatore during diwali. Plan D - as one of my friends had named it - was full of fun and interesting anecdotes and so i will be dedicating a blog post to that later. First, pool. Well, before this term began i opened up a notepad instance and put 4 'resolutions' for me this term.

1. Learn guitar
2. learn and master pool
3. Jog regularly
4. -- censored --

I cant believe i am on my way in fulfilling 1/4rth of my resolutions. An unprecedented 25% success rate is something i have to be proud of i guess. I havent mastered pool by any stretch of imagination but it has blessed me with several passionate hours of wasted time. With wagers flying around it got extremely competitive at times. Tempers flared, abuses flew and people were playing it like a 'do or die' match. The fact that i managed to lose all the wagers is pretty insignificant, though.

Oh shit, its 10:47 and the 'Other side' from RHCP has just started. May be its time to complete this post. So, well, au revoir or whatever crap people say when they part. Anyway, i've just figured out what i am gonna do for the next couple of hours. Tuck in tight and finish of the prison break episodes i am lagging in. Bye bye.

Alonso is nearly there as Ferrari stumble

Alonso needed a miracle and he got one. Up until schumi's engine began to spew smoke and he pulled over with an admirable calmness, the race was shaping up to be a blinder. It wasnt exactly an exciting race with few overtaking manouvers but Alonso's drive injected a lot of thrill to it. Starting fifth on the grid he needed some catching up to do with schumi who was leading the race what with Massa moving away early on and letting Schumi through (i am not again gonna talk about team orders). Alonso, who set the fastest lap of the race, drove like he had rarely done in the recent past : an all out racing. Dismissing off truilly with disdain he had some trouble getting past a determined ralph. At points he pushed too much and lost a bit of time and racing line. But then when the overtaking came it was awesome - a typical karting move that saw him shoot past ralph into the third spot with massa ahead of him.

Ferrari's bad luck started early on, though it was much less advertised with Massa having a slow puncture. He had to go in earlier than ideal and that is when Alonso pushed. I sometimes get the feeling that Alonso observes schumi keenly and learns from him. In a typical schumi style, he did a couple of blistering laps bringing down the time constantly before he pitted. This and the fact that massa was caught behind a slow heidfeld ensured that when he came out he was 2nd on track. The race was already on.

For nearly the rest of the race, Alonso pushed really hard. But so did schumi. The fact that the gap remained constant for quite a few laps indicated that both of them were on their limits, not erring and pushing as hard as they could. If that had continued, we would probably seen a schumi-alonso 1-2 with maybe an exciting last 10 laps. But it was not to be. It had been a really long time since Schumi had an engine failure during a race that he might have forgotten that it could happen. It did happen and at the wrong time. Probably the biggest anti-climax of the season. Alonso's punch of the fist as he swept past the idle scarlet car indicated how much the victory meant. It has nearly sealed the championship for Schumi.

Brazil awaits. Who knows, a wet race and anything could happen. Schumi could still be the chamipion although i can already picture alonso jumping in joy on the podium with his 2nd championship. Go Nando!

A miracle and a german between alonso and WDC 06...

Michael schumacher dealt the first punch in the suzuka boxing match. Aided by great bridgestone tires and a near perfect ferrari he drove like a man possesed setting record time in session two. Although his team mate managed to steal pole, he must be satisfied that he is one step closer to the 2006 world championship than alonso. Schumi looks set for a victory and Alonso looks set for the drive of his life if he is to have any chance of even come within touching distance. He will start from a modest 5th place behind the toyotas in a race position that looks like a team march. Ferrari 1-2, Toyota 3-4, Renault 5-6 and Honda 7-8.

Frankly, it will take a miracle if Alonso is to win this one or sheer bad luck for schumi like alonso had in china. As far as predictions go, Alonso will almost definitely end up on the podium in 2 or 3 along with the two ferraris. That would also mean that he would almost nearly be out of the championship unless schumi screws up in brazil. But Brazil is always wet and so anything could happen.

I dont see alonso overtaking schumi on track except for maybe at the start. Renault always have great starts and so if he can somehow trick his way into 2 then we've got one hell of a game on our hands. Even if he ends up in 3 it should be a race with no holds barred. Schumi and alonso are not exactly chums and when the stakes are as huge as this we can well see some daring moves. It all depends on the first 5 - 10 seconds. I just hope alonso moves to 3 and then it should be a thriller!!

My top ten addictions of this fortnight

1. A R Rehman - New York Nagaram (Jillunu oru Kaadhal)
2. Coldplay - Rush of blood
3. Dire Straits - Money For Nothing
4. Bob Dylan - Things have changed
5. TaTu - All the things she said
6. Mettalica - Fade to Black
7. Harris Jeyaraj - Azhagiya Theeya (yeah relapse ;))
8. Ozzy - Miracle Man
9. Yuvan - Kaadhal Saidal (Mounam paesiyadae) (all time favs.)
10. Led Zepplin - Stairway to heaven

ARR fading from tam cinema?

People say AR Rehman's music is like 'Sex'. It grows on you with experience. It is always a little confusing and shocking the first time. But you learn to love it and slowly it becomes addictive! A better comparison would have been 'wine' but there is nothing like a shocking first line when you are writing something isnt it?. Anyways, just a couple of days back, completely bored with all the rocks, hiphops and pops in the world i turned to the master for some respite. Digging through the old archives i brought up all of rehman's classics starting from 'roja' through 'dil se' to 'Rang de'. It rocked! Thats when it really hit me - you never get tired of rehman. According to me he is 'the best' music director of indian cinema.

But there has been more than a perceptible shift in ARR's priorities over the years. It all started with ARR's music first going nation wide thanks to maniratnam and then international thanks to Andrew lloyd. In fact, some of AR Rehman's all time best would be the ones he composed for the bollywood : Dil se, Taal, Swadesh, RDB- all brilliant compositions. But if i were to draw a graph of rehaman's compositions for tamil cinema with quality as the defining parameter then we would definitely witness an exponential drop. The abyss becomes all the more apparent when you spot the huge difference in class between a 'Rang de Basanti' and a 'Godfather'. Its shocking to note that both have come from ARR's hands - one album that makes you want to dance and sing along and the other a dissapointment. The trend has been there for quite some time New,Aah Aaah,GodFather and now 'Sillunnu oru Kaadhal kadai'. I wouldnt say they are bad but they pale into comparison when compared to his brilliance in bollywood. Why this bias?
I wouldnt blame rehman. Its the fault of the tamil directors who still swear by formula compositions - one slow, one fast, one item number, one ghana. The story and songs no longer have any connection. Clearly rehman would be wasting his time here and just mixes up a few loops and throws in a few organs and bingo u have ur tam number. A frightening prospect.

But tamil music is not dying. Rehman may be the king of indian cinema but not tamil cinema anymore. Yuvan has taken the place of the number 1 music director in tamil cinema. With his own distinct style, yuvan has given some brilliant compositions in the past couple of years. In fact, within the last year and a half he has composed some songs that would find a place in my all time list of great tamil songs : Kannai vittu(pattial), Kangal kandadhu(oru kalooriyin kathai), Oru naalil vaazhkai (pudupettai). He has really blossomed under selvaraghavan and is now a complete music director. Yuvan is the flavour of the season. So tamil cinema is not entirely missing AR Rehman. But when he comes and gives a completely brilliant composition some time in the future (sivaji?), i am sure all the pretenders will pale into comparison.

Kodai Trip Pics

The winch track at palani















Steep and scary climb to the top of the hill

















The view from the hill top















a few hundred feet above ground
















The bridge over the kodai lake












































The Kodai Lake

















Just like that

Pudupettai - Not for the faint hearted

Gangster movies seem to be the flavour of the season in tamil cinema. After the massacre riot of pattial - just when you thought it could not get more violent or gory than that - comes pudupettai painted in red. Its not a movie for the faint hearted.

Selvaragavan, yet again, puts dhanush in a character you can neither dislike or dis-hate. But unlike kaadhal kondaen where there was a strong undercurrent of love, this one is purely about - well... bloodshed. The movie has a cliched storyline: a young boy influenced by circumstances to become bad. But the execution is different from other movies. Unlike its predecessors which try and sugarcoat the life of a gangster, this one shows it in all its blood and pain. No dream lands, no duets..i like him for that. Sometimes the movie reflects the noir undertone of the story and feels like one is reading the pages of a well written script. Was even reminded of max payne at times - an unheard deep bass voice taking you through the story. The movie proceeds like a melange of events each fading into the next conveying a meaning, each depicting dhanush in new light and each a stepping stone for him in the dark and murderous world of killers and thugs.

What makes this movie enjoyable(at least for me) is the awesome sound track and incredible camera work. As always selvaragavan has integrated the songs into the movie so beautifully that you wont even realise that a song has gone by. Even the background score is amazing in combo with the scenes. Apart from the music, the camera work is just awesome. The scene that stands out is the sword fight on the street. The entire scene looks like it happens in the night, essentially in black and white, except for the red blood. It was an amazing fight sequence with some excellent slow mo captures that felt like a matrix duel. Hats off! Even in other scenes, the artful use of light tones - i could distinctly remember green, yellow and grayscale tones - made it enjoyable watching.

However this is not a movie that will go down well with everyone. The gore and violence is perhaps too much and it was probably intentional. Dhanush fits like a glove to his role as in all selvaragavan movies. Post interval, he gets cranky and begins to do all sorts of crazy stuff. This is the point you feel that the director has spoilt all his good work though this follows a small prelude from Dhanush's ramblings in the cell where he says

"Its just the first murder that scares you. After you have done it once, you begin to like it. You are intoxicated by your own power and begin to feel what you do is right"

That in essence captures the entire story line.

Excellent Fernando Alonso videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3KuuwvCEGU&search=alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrf2djg4rGU&search=alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47JDmOTR9s0&search=alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9t9ngrLqeI&search=alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA0nfz_MbAs&search=fernando%20alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le1CHSkEmD8&search=fernando%20alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItUcMX9SMf0&search=fernando%20alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtvsNyfBnJ4&search=fernando%20alonso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRR8BA33fLA&search=fernando%20alonso

The sprint from iimb to sjr-ipark: On a lap with me

The sprint from iimb to sjr i-park starts predictably from iimb. To be more specific it starts in the dark and musty underground garage of the college. The dark corridor opens into sunlight with a steep 50 degree slant rising upwards to the road. The intial half a kilometer is a curvy and speedbraker ridden path that beautifully cuts through the dense iimb foliage until you reach the front gate. Here one would have to virtually take a 90 degree turn to the left at the gates and will invariably require the drivers to come to a near complete halt as the gaurd opened the gates. One could reach a maximum of around 50 - 60 kms per hour in this stretch. From here on the race is on.

Imeediately outside the gates you hit the main road perpendicularly. Braking hard and quickly accelerating from the line are essential as you find a gap in the traffic and hit the main road. The track is bumpy and pot holed and curves gently to the left. The more important aspect is the traffic that does not let you speed at more than 50 kmph. The stretch from this area to the silk board crossing is a maze and drivers could take multiple routes of varying traffic and road quality to reach the spot. The average speed can rarely increase beyond 50kmph during this period with several very low speed stretches interspersed with bursts of high speed and hard braking.

The infamous silk board crossing requires almost every driver to stop for the signal before merging with the flow into the 'outer ring road'. From here on drivers push the pedal. The flowing traffic means that the initial spurt of acceleration is gradual and soon you are doing 80kmph on the gently turning but wide ring road. The first speedbreaker forces the drivers to hit the brake hard and take it at an uncomfortable 3rd gear before quickly pushing the gas again. This is a spot where overtaking is possible. A burst of acceleration and you encounter another speed breaker and then another. These short bursts require the driver to be extremely alert as there as brakes are hit at high speeds and acceleration is immediate. The ring road continues until it takes a strong 40 degree turn to the left. From here on the road becomes wider and offers the maximum chance for high speeds in the entire sprint. The maximum speeds in this circuit are reached here and you can do upto 100kmph and once again drivers have to be extremely careful about the speed brakers. This stright is long continues until marathahalli where drivers take a slide to the left into the twisty upward inclining road the skirts the highway. There is an invariable stop. Once up the incline which is usually done in the second gear due to the extremely high traffic you have to take a curvy 60 degree right turn and continue this slow pace until the end of the irritating marathahalli bridge. The heavy traffic, narrow track and drivers desperate to overtake make this the most challenging part of the sprint and tests the drivers skills to the maximum. Once past the bridge you can push on the accelaratpor to about 50 kmph until the 90 degree left and then accelerate upto 60 kmph. This twisty high speed, traffic filled portion of the circuit is where most accidents could happen and hence require utmost attention. You finally hit a 90 degree right leading to IT parks and this section of the track is good enough to hit speeds though for a short period until the final turn of the sprint a sharp left that leads straight to the saibaba hospital and SJR i-park.

Chennai bombay and 7-up

This has been sort of an ugly weekend in f1 terms with schumi getting discgraced and all. The race eventually wasnt a very predictable one except for alonso's victory. Webbo drove an awesome race and so did kimi. Ideally these 2 guys should have ended up on the podium. Well, thats huv f1 is. Coulthard will be ecstasic to grab his first podium with red bull. He indeed was the superman this weekend. Moving away from f1, it had been a pretty quiet weekend for me after a hectic last week. Last weekend i was in chennai basking in the sweltering heat. It was nostalgic to catch up with the city and my friends although it is just an year since i left the place. A couple of days later i was in bombay peacefully confining myself in the air conditioned depths of my room in hll's training center. The IT interns had no other job than eat, watch movies and have unlimited free ice creams until evening. HLL took us for bowling in the evening at phoenix with drinks, disc and food. 'twas fun.

My internship seems to be screeching to a halt slowly. We have our final presentations this friday and then its freedom i think. Well, i'm longing for some free time before the unforgiving grind of term 4. I've decided that i'm gonna fight this term. Well, thats what i say before every term. Two months of ineternship and i'm already missing iimb so much. Dunno huv difficult it will be after i pass out.

Meanwhile my new after work entertainment has been cards nowadays and its mega fun. Learnt a new game called 7-up yest and its real fun. I have a suspicion that the presi invented the game himself. May be will make an exclusive post on the rules of the game some time.

A day of shame for schumi as Alonso slides into pole

In a rather shocking turn of events, the race stewards have pronounced schumi guilty. He will now be starting the monte carlo grand prix from the back of the grid for having "deliberately impeded other drivers". I am not going to go into whether it was deliberate or not but for a world champion of his stature it is a shameful moment. I still feel he could have been given the benefit-of-doubt. But what the heck! he has been given numerous benefit of doubts in the past and the rage with the other drivers came out against him shows something more than competitiveness. Anyways, this means that the reigning world champ Fernando Alonso will start the race from pole and will have a definite shot at his first victory in these twisted streets. Now lets wait for the race.

Alonso Renault and michelin hit back at spain

So bummed that i missed the race. But couldnt have been that exciting since Alonso literally took off and a win looked more or less secure even after the first ten laps. Renault, alonso and michelin know this track all too well and that was reflected in the huge margin of victory which is a return punch from the trio to schumi,ferrari and bridgestone trio in what is turning out to be a close boxing match this season.

Alonso delighted a sell out home crowd like schumi did a week ago.

Hats off to schumi and ferrari pitting. He managed to secure a second from what was supposedly a better performing renault. Fisi dissapoints. Atleast he ended up in the podium. Great drive from Mass to end up 4th and he is proving his worth at ferrari now. Brilliant drive from kimi. Salutes to iceman for securing the fifth place after an enthralling start. Give him a good car guys, it about time.

We move into mote carlo next where qualifying would take on a greater importance than the race itself. Hope this fight continues for the rest of the season.

Pink panther sucks!

Lousy second grade comedy and worse - audience laughing their ass off for that. Sucks! Rating: 0.003 / 10

Scuderia are back...with a vengence

Ferrari fired on all cylinders at nurburgring as schumi left alonso panting as he scorched his way to his second consecutive win this season. The plot that was kept wound up until the second round of pit stops unravelled as the renault decided to call in Alonso for his second pit stop. Up until then, things had stood at a delicate deadlock with schumi playing a waiting game matching alonso lap for lap. Throw in your best time, he said, and i'll respond with a better one.

Then Alonso pitted for the second time and schumi exploded. Its been some time for schumi since he could flex his muscles like this. For those decisive three laps that he stayed in the track, schumi showed what a good ferrari can do in his hands and when he emerged out of the pits, he was all set for his second consecutive win.

Yes, Ferrari are back! I am not a big fan of ferrari but it is a wierdly satisfying feeling when the team is at their best. You can hate them and admire them at the same time. I would rather prefer Alonso fighting against a strong schumi rather than win the championship hands down. Already this is a different season for Alonso. It wont be Alonso defending his championship position but he will be fighting for it.

As for renault it was dissapointment. Fisichella once again failed to come close to his team mate. The gulf is too wide for comfort. Agreed, he won a race but then he displays such poor consistency that i feel he might not continue in renault next year. Alonso finished a credible second. There was nothing much he could have done. He has been showing such an amazing consistency that inspite of two blistering wins shcumi has cut the championship gap just by 4 points. Will he ever finish out of the podium this season?

Mclaren dissapointed. Although there was a late charge from kimi, they did not match the performance of the renaults much less the ferraris. At least kimi is finishing races. Montoya was insipid for most of the race until he retired.

And button, he's a joke !

Well, so as barcelona weekend approaches, ferrari seem to be the strongest in performance closely followed by the renaults.Will it be happy homecoming for Alonso? Will the michelins hit back? Lets wait and watch.

The f1 caravan moves into the Mclaren stronghold....

The F1 caravan moves to the european grand prix. After ferrari delighted their home crowd with an emphatic win, it might be the turn of iceman and his team to delight their homecrowd. Team Mclaren have been subdued to say the least in this F1 calender so far and everyone waits with bated breath for them to explode. And nurburgring might just be the place for the men in black to come back into reckoning. Kimi would be hoping to break the jinx of the ring and finish the race. He DNFed the last two races here from commanding positions from where he could have won. He will be hoping for a win this time around.

Reanult are wary of Mclaren which is obvious from all the chatter from Alonso and Fisi. Alonso might possibly be fighting with kimi this race after he put on a great effort at Imola. However the odds are stacked in his favour and yet again he is the favorite to win this race. He got lucky the last time around and would be hoping for a more convinving win this time. However the fact remains that he starts favorite in all the circuits and different racers might challenge him at different tracks. So it remains to be seen whether Imola was really a ferrari resurgence and if a black resurgence would occur in the ring. Kimi better bring all the good luck charms you have!

Imola conjures the same drama...roles reversed

There's something about imola and a shumi-alonso fist fight. I would gladly rate the last ten laps of imola last season as the most exciting segment of that season. This time was no different. It lasted longer, was more intense and had more drama as imola 2006 produced an even better screamer than its 2005 predecessor. This time it was alonso chasing schumi - a mirror image of last season - and this time it went on for more than 20 laps. Alonso stuck behind schumi like his tail for about 20 laps trying his best look for a minor glitch, a small opening that would let him go through. But it was schumi in front and you dont see him screw up chances. The pressure would have been intense but schumi showed no signs of it as he kept his smooth line across the chicanes, driving on the limit but not once faltering.

Alonso faltered at times, trying too hard and braking late, bumping over chicanes in a desperate attempt to overtake schumi. But ultimately schumi was just too good and imola is not an overtaker's paradise. Like last season the 1-2 remained till the end and schumi was jumping in joy. He is back. As for alonso, he stretched his lead further comfortably and would not be too worried about the 2 point loss. He is still the man to beat, simply because he is so damn consistent and fights to the finish. If ferrari's form continues from imola then he has a fight on his hands

For want of an eye scorcher....

Treats are always given for the most arbit of reasons. But i crossed new thresholds today with a treat for a whooping 1500 bucks for a reason as simple as not wearing a tangy orange t-shirt. Well, the story begins much earlier in mumbai a week back. HLL's induction session was just winding up and we were asked to take t-shirts. I didnt need a direction to where they were kept coz there was a bright glow on the ceiling. Curiuos, i walked up to the pile and was blinded by a brilliance so pristine and blinding that i was in a haze when i picked up the t-shirt and walked out. I have done several stupid things in my life and this must perhaps rate among the best. A couple of days later back in coimbatore, when i opened my bag, i was struck by the same brilliance, the same blinding glare. Quickly grabbing a pair of coolers i investigated the source and found that the t-shirts were emitting those bright rays. It was of a luminiscent orange not very dissimilar to those radium traffic signs. Like an alien piece of equipment it was sending rays of colours that - as my friend described it - could be best described as 'retina scorchers'. The story stops there and continues about a week later in the small cafeteria in HLL's office several hundred kilometers away in bangalore.

It was a serene wednesday morning and we(the summer interns) were having a nice hot cup of cofee. As the discussion meandered it fell on the fateful topic of friday dressing. HLL allowed casual clothes on friday and i did another one of my stupid blurts then, saying perhaps we should all wear those tangy t-shirts and scare the hell out of the hll employees. I was obviously kidding but like many of my jokes this was badly interpreted and taken seriously. Aalap(a fellow IIMBian) was taken in by the idea and when we later sat in our conference room where we sat all day, an ordinance was passed! Everyone wears that tee to office on friday. He who does not wear it treats those who wear it! I was one of the earliest supporters.God!, I was on a stupidity spree!

Come friday i woke up as usual by 7 am to begin the long journey to the office. Disaster struck at 7:04 when i realised that i did not have the tee with me. Although elated on one side i realised that i was going to be the treat scapegoat. A quick flashback confirmed the worst of the fears. I remembered cursing the t-shirt and throwing it. I remembered the t-shirt splayed open some where below my desk (ya my room was horribly un-clean). I also remembered that i forgot to pick it up when i returned to bangalore. Well, the treat did happen. We caught a rick to ITPL to find a crowded pizza hut, we waited half an hour for the pizzas and had the treat. 1500 bucks for 7 people all because of a stupid t-shirt. Well 600 of that was consumed by aalap alone. Remember the name. If you ever come across it, run, dont ever treat!!

Well, the whole of pizza hut was staring at us, like zombies in bright red costumes. People on the road looked in awe at the moving red signs. Hundreds in HLL office went colour blind. Anyways, the only good thing that came out of it was that i managed to looked the sanest among the lot of bozos (a new thing in itself!) coz i was wearing a more mundane colour. A colour that does not turn heads only to scorch the cones and rods in the eye.

Albert park turns into a destruction derby but Alosno is in the 'zone'

Well after the australian smash derby other races might seem a tad too boring. But if imola repeats anything close to what happened last year i'll trade it for a thousand albert parks. At least the last 10 laps had me on the edge of my seat or rather squirming on the floor my eyes wide open and my mouth shut tight in a nervous clench. It was the most amazing ten laps of 2005. Schumi and alonso head to head screeching along vying for the victory. They had more than a victory at stake - both had points to prove. It was the acid test of 2005 and alonso came out of it unscathed.

The situation is not very different this season. Alonso is again leading the ranks and fisi is close behind. Schumi is looking for an improved performance and what better place to do it than in front of a million screeming red-clad fans. Imola is ferrari's stronghold and last season alonso got away with the attack into its very heart. That the climax was a one on one ( like in a movie climax) between the two heroes (yeah dont wanna call one of them a villain) was the perfect finish for an unfinished story. The story will continue this time around. Only now the master of the castle will have to recapture his rightful place, his fortress. Only time will tell as always.

Well honda did it again, in australia. They 'advised'jense not to complete so that they could avoid the down grid penalty in the next race. They certainly are thinking about the future and maybe that is where their problem is. Australia was a huge dissapointment, no doubt. Jense was expected to end at the podium, may be even win the race(not by me!) but ended up coming to a halt 75 yeards from the chequered flag. Had some grip problems during the race that had alonso and kimi overtake him at will although they were helped immensely by the safety car. I still fail to comprehend this hue and cry about jense not getting his first win yet. Jense is one the most overrated drivers in the circuit. How can he win when he has neither the fastest nor that most reliable car on the circuit. He is not special. If you really want me to rank racers i would place jense on step two, below racers like alonso, kimi and schumi.At least in this season, for him to win, the renaults and the mclarens have to perform poorly or have dnfs. Of course, he can end up on the podium. He is good enough for that. He might do it in imola and i am willing to take a bet on that. But i am also willing to risk a bet that jense might never get to win once this season with kimi and alonso on track. Meanwhile barri is enduring a painful transition. The fact that he had to be happy about ending in points in Oz reflects the current state.Serious problems for honda.

So what can we expect at imola. A ferrari resurgence? Quite possible. Schumi showed some serious race pace in his brief stint in albert park. So the car is still competent enough and imola is a ferrari's circuit. So will this homecoming be a happy one? We'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile yet again kimi sets the fastest lap at the last lap. I keep wondering why he does that time and again. I understand that he will have the least fuel then but more than a second faster in the last lap is not just fuel load. Why should he wait till the last lap to do it? Well kimi is a total enigma more so his partnership with Mclaren. So where will they be in imola? Its a big puzzle and with mclaren its better to stay out of predictions a win as well a big zero are equally possible.

Renaults, ever so reliable and oozing performance will be the favorites more specifically alonso. He just carries on as if nothing is happening around him. He is in what i call the 'zone'. Sportsment occasionally do fall into it and you see performances that are totally out of league of the others. I've seen aussies do it, i've see tendulkar do it and also laxman during one of those knocks. They seem totally self assured, peaceful and ruthlessly dominating all the same time. He is the 2006 champion too! Oops there i did it again..Too early to call?..Lets wait and watch how this drama unfolds.

Well after the australian smash derby other races might seem a tad too boring. But if imola repeats anything close to

Friday, March 31, 2006

Race 3 - Albert Park April 1 - 2

Manoj
1. Kimi
2. Button
3. Massa (thoooo!)

Me
1. Alonso
2. kimi
3. button

Arjun
1. kimi
2. schumi
3. Alonso

Sepang , Renault continue where they left ; So does kimi

Two races down and i've still not blogged on season 2k6! A stark contrast to the suffocating deluge on season 2005. Season 2006 is expected to be one of the most competitive seasons in the recent times. But nothing much has actually changed. Still alonso reigns supreme. Renault are invincible and are providing a lesson or two in matching reliablity and performance. Kimi still grapples with an inexplicable phenomenon of not being able to go for that win because of issues totally out of his control. And button still finds a win elusive. But there are also some important differences compared to the previous season.

For one, Schumi looks more competitive. But one will have to wait for other circuits to see how competitive the ferraris are. Massa is performing remarkably well although at times his drive not the smoothest around - locking up, skidding , and nearly taking out alonso by braking very late in a desperate attempt to overtake him. He beat schumi fair and square in sepang. Dont call that bad strategy. Schumi had enough fuel to take him to finish but his ultra fast charge through the field burnt everything up and he had to make one final pit stop visit. But even otherwise ferraris pit stops were not the usual picture perfect ones we are used to seeing. There were moments of little clumsiness. On the other hand, renault seem to go wrong no where. Pit stop strategies are perfect and the pit stops themselves are a tutorship in perfection akin to the ferrari ones we were used to seeing.

Mclaren continue to experience the kimi conundrum. At least kimi cant blame them for sepang. Of course, klien too refuses to accept the blame which i find very unpolite. His teammate meanwhile could have read a little novel on his way to the fourth place. His race was so incident free that no one even noticed a maclaren rolling into the fourth place. He is doing the job a second driver well although it seems like he has predetermined not to attack. It could also be a case of Mclaren's lack of performance. Still a bit of fight would have been good. Talking of racing spirit, Sato for once was in the screens for the right reasons. Super aguri screamed through to victory in a clash between the minnows. And he put in a few interesting clashes on his way to completion. If there is anyone with more than a point to prove its Sato.

Meanwh Nico was still in GP2 mode as the showers of praise following the bahrain drive perhaps got to his head and he tried to run his teammate out of the race. Of course, both ended up out of the race dude to failures. But i am sure they wouldn't exactly be buddies on track from now on. Nico, its time u moved on to F1.

Honda is not exactly brimming with glee either. For one, they are still nowhere near matching the renault's pace but more importantly barri is having a torrid time. The adjusting process he is going through might just cost Honda some very valuable points. This was expected to be the best team mate war of the season but it has dissapointed. However the best team mate war seems to be building up between the renault pair of fisichella and Alonso. After the 'accidental' double fuelling alonso was left down at 7th in qualifying while fisi grabbed a good pole. But Alonso's charge through the mess at the start was something of a spectacle. In the first few seconds he was running in the third place behind button. On the other hand starting from pole, light on fuel and with a brand new engine fisi had a perfect race to the finish. It will be interesting to see whats happens next to alonso. Any more accidental screw ups. Strategies that keep him behind fisi? But alonso is driving a perfect race nowadays. Agreed that he has a great car but then his drive is perfect and pushes and eases to perfection. He is the best in terms of thinking on the track after Schumi.

So Australia beckons everyone. Renaults are on a high. Mclaren will love to improve performance and so will ferrari and honda. Will be interesting to see who the victors will be going by the first two races.

Two races down and i've still not blogged on season 2k6! A stark contrast to the suffocating deluge on season 2005. Season 2006 is expected to be one of the most competitive seasons in the recent times. But nothing much has actually changed. Still alonso reigns supreme. Renault are invincible and are providing a lesson or two in matching reliablity and performance. Kimi still grapples with an inexplicable phenomenon of not being able to go for that win because of issues totally out of his control. And button still finds a win elusive. But there are also some important differences compared to the previous season.

For one, Schumi looks more competitive. But one will have to wait for other circuits to see how competitive the ferraris are. Massa is performing remarkably well although at times his drive not the smoothest around - locking up, skidding , and nearly taking out alonso by braking very late in a desperate attempt to overtake him. He beat schumi fair and square in sepang. Dont call that bad strategy. Schumi had enough fuel to take him to finish but his ultra fast charge through the field burnt everything up and he had to make one final pit stop visit. But even otherwise ferraris pit stops were not the usual picture perfect ones we are used to seeing. There were moments of little clumsiness. On the other hand, renault seem to go wrong no where. Pit stop strategies are perfect and the pit stops themselves are a tutorship in perfection akin to the ferrari ones we were used to seeing.

Mclaren continue to experience the kimi conundrum. At least kimi cant blame them for sepang. Of course, klien too refuses to accept the blame which i find very unpolite. His teammate meanwhile could have read a little novel on his way to the fourth place. His race was so incident free that no one even noticed a maclaren rolling into the fourth place. He is doing the job a second driver well although it seems like he has predetermined not to attack. It could also be a case of Mclaren's lack of performance. Still a bit of fight would have been good. Talking of racing spirit, Sato for once was in the screens for the right reasons. Super aguri screamed through to victory in a clash between the minnows. And he put in a few interesting clashes on his way to completion. If there is anyone with more than a point to prove its Sato.

Meanwh Nico was still in GP2 mode as the showers of praise following the bahrain drive perhaps got to his head and he tried to run his teammate out of the race. Of course, both ended up out of the race dude to failures. But i am sure they wouldn't exactly be buddies on track from now on. Nico, its time u moved on to F1.

Honda is not exactly brimming with glee either. For one, they are still nowhere near matching the renault's pace but more importantly barri is having a torrid time. The adjusting process he is going through might just cost Honda some very valuable points. This was expected to be the best team mate war of the season but it has dissapointed. However the best team mate war seems to be building up between the renault pair of fisichella and Alonso. After the 'accidental' double fuelling alonso was left down at 7th in qualifying while fisi grabbed a good pole. But Alonso's charge through the mess at the start was something of a spectacle. In the first few seconds he was running in the third place behind button. On the other hand starting from pole, light on fuel and with a brand new engine fisi had a perfect race to the finish. It will be interesting to see whats happens next to alonso. Any more accidental screw ups. Strategies that keep him behind fisi? But alonso is driving a perfect race nowadays. Agreed that he has a great car but then his drive is perfect and pushes and eases to perfection. He is the best in terms of thinking on the track after Schumi.

So Australia beckons everyone. Renaults are on a high. Mclaren will love to improve performance and so will ferrari and honda. Will be interesting to see who the victors will be going by the first two races.

Nostalgia?

Here is a forward i received...

From Chukku Kaapi to Cappuccino
This blog was written because I was left with no work to do after coming back from Café Coffee day today. I always feel that blogs are written by people who have nothing else to do, but write blogs. And blogs are written for people who have nothing else to do, but read blogs. So if you have nothing else to do, continue reading.

Café Coffee Days in my life!!! I can't believe it. Six, seven years back I would never have imagined that such a day would occur in my life. Café Coffee day is supposed to be a place where high class people who didn't know how to spend the money they had, go. But now I am there... I have changed a lot since my school days.

As I said in my previous post, I never talked in English till the end of my 12th standard. May be in my primary school we talked in English a little bit... (Since girls were there in my primary school we used to talk in English... Mostly it was the "You go girl." "Miss this boy no... he is stealing my pencil miss" and "Miss this boy is pinching me miss" type of pathetic English.). Till I went to college, I never read an English newspaper. I never knew who Sidney Sheldon was. I never saw English movies. "Star movies" was considered adult material at home. I never talked to a girl. I don't feel that I missed anything...But still because I didn't have such experiences, I had to adjust a lot when I traveled beyond Cornigela, my place.

Born in Cornigela, an ordinary conservative town, even Chennai took a lot of time for me to adjust. My home town was too cool. You could watch movies for 15 Rs. in an AC theatre. You get the best food at lowest prices. You can drink water wherever you want and it doesn't affect you. Girls never wear T-shirts or Jeans. You can see girls in half-sarees. And there were a lot more things that were cool to me...My first costly experience as far as I can remember was my first Pizza.

In my 12th standard holidays I had my first Pizza. We, a group of 5 friends went to a bakery. It was around 7 p.m at night. We ordered our first Pizza (only one because it costed so much - 20Rs!!!). As the Pizza arrived one of the guys started using his hand to take out a piece. "Ley" ....The others shouted... "asingam pannatheylae. Fork kudupaanga"... We got 5 forks for eating one Pizza. Everybody tried taking out a piece with the fork. Nobody was successful. Stupid forks... As we were trying different methods, two girls came in, and took the table adjacent to ours. They seemed to be from the so called high class families in Cornigela. They ordered a Pizza. We were still trying to eat ours. Their Pizza arrived in their table. Unable to find a solution, we looked at them for one. One of the girls took out a piece with her hand and started eating it. Damn stupids we were!!! But what do we do now?? We can't go back to the hand-intake method... We are brave!!! Luckily for us the power went off... Forks were put down and everybody started picking a piece with the hand. Our sole aim- finish it off before power comes back!!! Unlucky for us, power came back immediately... We had a piece each in our hands... The girls started laughing... People around us realizing what had happened too joined them...We promised we would never eat Pizzas again. But we all did.

The first change in lifestyle for me occurred in Chennai. Chennai was completely different. Watching a movie for Rs.40 was a one time life experience for most people in my village. I had to adapt to such things since I had to be a part of the group. Otherwise you feel let out. My habits started changing. For example, you look into the glass before drinking water to check whether it is clean. I went to my first Coffee Pub in Chennai. I remember saying some time back "Loosu paya thaan Coffee publa poi mukkaa manineram wait panni oru black coffeeya 50 Ruba kaasu kuduthu kudippaan" - I did it...

If Chennai was difficult for me, how easy would be an MBA school? I was dumbstruck with the culture... The Hi's and the fundoo English speaking guys were all a great change, though I had expected it. There is a sense of hollowness when you say a Hi to somebody here. In Cornigela a smile was enough to say what you feel. There is real sense of belonging in a smile. I miss it - a smile without a Hi.

Here is an example to show how my family mindset is different from the mindset here. At the end of the first term when I went home, I showed quite a few photographs to my parents. In one photograph there was a guy who had his arms around a girl's shoulder. My mother asked me whether they were in love. I said "No". But even today she doesn't believe me. She still feels that they are in love!!! If only she comes here(...

The mind works mechanically here - after you crack a joke you do what they call high fives!!! When you meet a person you ask something like "What's up buddy?"- Only God knows how you are supposed to answer for such a question!!! You say "Excuse me" after a sneeze - What big mistake have you made to say that?? When you are ready to sacrifice ethics for grades and see even your closest friend as a competitor in group discussions, how much difference will that Excuse me make? Pretty difficult to adjust!!!

Even Café Coffee Days and costly dinners sometimes hurt. Daily my father takes a bus to reach home from his office because taking an auto would cost him Rs.30. He walks a kilometer daily from the bus stop to my house. When I think of that and the fact that I am spending Rs.50 for a Chocolate Fantasy, I feel uneasy. Definitely it is not a matter of money. The fact is that I somewhere in my heart feel that this is not really who I am...The fact that I have changed a lot hurts... I want to be the same myself, but I am unable to do so.

Started listing down a few things that have changed in my life. The left column is a list of things that were part of my life before I entered college. And the right are those that I came to know/were a part of my after I entered college.

I wish I go back to school and be the same guy I was. I know I can't. But I want to do it and live the same life all again.

Leo da Mirci once said, "I love what I do because I do only what I love".

If only following something is as simple as saying something!!!

My take?

I come back to my room in despondence after an RMD class and find this mail in my inbox. Another one of those forwards, oozing out nostalgia and making the mordern urban lifestyle look like hell. I could so easily have escaped into this surrealism of reflecting on the days gone by; innocence lost and simple pleasures abstained. But instead i sat down to write a blog post. Yes, i am one of those jobless individuals who write blogs targeting similar species. To begin with, childhood always seems so much fun; full of new things to discover, a world to explore, simple joy to be gained out of the most ridiculous acts and moments of pure ecstasy. No wonder we go nostalgic and would give anything to warp time and get back to those carefree days. But were they really carefree? You had fears even then, you had worries and you had pain. Of course, on hindsight after an experience of more than 20 years in this unforgiving world they pale into atomic insignificance. You feared the dark, you were afraid of your maths teacher or whoever it was, you hated going to school (i did), you worried about crossing the street that had a growling dog prowling and you were terrified when you did something wrong like breaking a vase. Then they were mortal fears. They tore you apart with terror and agony.

My point is simple. Enjoy life as you experience it. The past always looks so much full of fun and innocence. But in leaning too much into it you might just miss the pleasures that life throws you now. I still savour insignificant moments like in college me and karthi used to stop by a potti kadai to buy lays and cool drinks on our way home every evening like a ritual or when me and kandha created our first presentation ( a review of the film kushi ;)). I still remember the elation and joy when it poured cats and dogs in coimbatore and our school got cancelled or the first time i met paddu at karthi's house when it was dusk and i had accompanied him from college. But then i also enjoyed the tasty food at dhaba express i had in chennai with paddu last year or the bloody mary i had with arjun a couple of weeks back at residency or the numerous post cs escapades to boomerang poring over the menu on what to eat or the unlimited beer at cts annual day. To me all of them were fun - total and complete. Either kalan or pizza, pal ice or choco chip, afghan food or dosai, i enjoyed all these moments equally and would continue to do so. So no regrets in growing up!

Trust Mclaren to rev it up!

Just when it seemed that the plot was secure and the story finalised, Mclaren gave that final jolt that twisted the drama out of shape and cluttered the slowly building expectations. Kimi scorched the tracks at valencia sending shock waves through the other teams and possibly causing a panic reaction. Mclaren have been good on pace but have been frequently outpaced by renault and honda during testing. And when it appeared that they were not the favourites , at least for the early part of the season, kimi set a time so far ahead as to completely throw all predictions into disarray. So my predictions for sakhir 1. kimi , 2. alonso 3. schumi may after all come true atleast partially...lets wait and watch

Countdown to sakhir: the desert lies waiting...

As i write this piece the countdown clock in formula 1's home page says there are 18 days 19 hours 35 minutes and 20 seconds left for the big day at sakhir. Well, the excitement starts much before that. At least a couple of days before.

2005 was the year that changed the f1 landscape. It was the year when the f1 rainbow lost a bit of its red hue. Shock for many, surprise for some and pure excitement for a few others. Renault had a pleasant surprise. McLaren were a frustrated lot. And the big reds were left with the realisation that they too could falter. As for the others, Toyota were pleased but not contented. Honda were dejected. Williams - dont wanna talk about them.

Renault did their homework well and were clearly the best car on the track in australia. Fisi with a little aid from the weather man secured a surprising victory. But the man who drew attention was the fiery spaniard who showed a lot of potential in 2004. If there is someone whose drive i enjoyed the most in 2004 apart from kimi it was Alonso. He was talented, fast and unpredictable. Somehow i took an immediate liking and rooted for him even when renault had no fire power to deliver victories. The most amazing stunts would come at the start when renault with its suprior traction would wind through the traffic and take the lead, although for a brief period. Come 2005, however, alonso was a completely different man. He had the fire power and the confidence. As he surged from the back of the grid to secure a podium down under, he made his intentions clear. He would take his first victory of the season the very next race and hold on to the top of the podium for quite some time. It was obvious that f1 was heralding a new champion - at least for me.

Kimi. The flying finn. The iceman. If ever there was a charcter in f1 u could write a drama around, it had to be kimi. Kimi gives f1 what it needs - sheer speed and daring. Inspite of my rooting for Alonso, i just couldnt help admiring kimi in 2005. He was there setting the pace and making others look at bullock carts. He overtook at will, cut the curbs like a bullet and showed what on-the-limit driving was all about. Had only Mclaren held. There was literally no contest between him and alonso whever he was leading. The contest was purely between him and the machine.

Kimi and alonso overshadowed everyone else in 2005. Yet Schumi had his moments. Rare ones. Imola springs to my mind always. To me that and suzuka were the best races of 2005. Oh man! Hope there are more of Imola this season between the three of them.

To me 2006 is all about these three guys. The clash of the trio will form the highlight come this march. The first race will set a lot of speculations straight. Honda and button - they have been setting an impressive pace, but i want to see them on actions and then talk about their chances.

the scenaio is murky before the start of 2006..
Will shumi be back with a bang?
Will alonso get renault's unflinching support?
the kimi - motoya rivalry - one of them is going out next season
Barri - button rivarly - barri is tired of playing second fiddle
will bridgestone bridge the gap with michelin
will toyota get more wins
will button get his first win?
and above all will mclaren hold??

well i am ready to make predictions only for sakhir. Here goes..

1. Kimi
2. Alonso
3. Schumi

seems very contrived. I dont expect all three to end on the podium but these guys are my best best as of now. Honda might spring a surprise and so can toyota. Lets wait and watch

DEMYSTIFYING THE KHARE MODEL

(Excerpts from the seminal work of Raju at the Spirited Sociology Conference, 2006 @ Indian Institute of Management Bangalore)


"I am so happy to make such a big contribution. As the model gets accepted more and more I am sure my name will go down in history as the person who initiated it" - Mr. Vengat K

"The thing I like about it is its quick and efficient. I am able to leverage my capabilities better” - Mr. Nathan

"The model simply rocks. I don’t know what I was doing so long without it”, Mr. Raju


This article discusses about the new revolutionary Khare model that is sweeping IIMB like a storm. Throughout the article instances of usage of the model by the core group at IIMB has been provided to give a more practical insight.

BACKGROUND

The khare model is a recently evolved concept and is rapidly catching the attention of quite a few people. Pioneered by Mr. Vengat Krishnaraj , an investment banker from IIMB the model is being tweaked and perfected by a core group of three at IIMB. The model is so named after a PGP2 called Gaurav Khare in iimb, a spirited individual whose modes of preparing for the exams were legendary. Soon after he joined IIMB in mid 2005, Mr. Vengat observed the high levels of efficiency, innovation and success that Mr. Khare's practice was giving him and so decided to replicate it. He then standardized the framework and created what came to be known as the 'Khare model'. The core group was established a couple of months later to implement it and show the viability. Now the core group is beginning to see the implications of the model for B-Schools all around India.


WHAT IS IT?

The Khare model basically takes basic concepts from sociology, psychology and biology to create a framework for individuals to reach a higher plane aided by the intoxication of spirits. The model tries to provide a standardized platform for individuals to excel, bust their stress and solve problems while having a ball of a time.

IMPLEMENTATION

The most touted benefit of adopting the 'khare' model is the flexibility of implementation. Individuals can choose to implement in a thousand different ways customizing it their needs and preferences. However for gaining the maximum benefits we recommend the following approach to implementation,

Step 1: Choose the right time for implementation
Individuals frequently blindly jump into implementing it and end up being worse off. The worst that can happen is a bad hangover and a bad day but don’t forget the huge opportunity missed. We recommend Fridays or Saturdays or both if you are really into it. Choose any time after 11 for that is when the implementation can proceed smoothly without disruptions.

Step 2: Stock the right amount of supplies
Many a time individuals rush into implementation without taking enough care to stock the right amount of supplies needed for it and end up getting stranded mid way. This is not the right way to proceed. Just-in-time supplies may be fine but make sure you get them just in time.

Step 3: Create the right organizational structure
The model thrives when it is compatible with the organizational structure. We would recommend an organic type of structure with things strewn about and chaotic. The core group found that this results in the maximum satisfaction for the stake holders.

Step 4: Choose the right implementation style
The core group has identified five different implementation styles for the model. However organizations can structure it and customize it in thousands of different ways.
a. Minimal (Short and mild)
b. Case Approach (medium and moderated - ideal for problem solving)
c. Reckless Approach (unlimited and can turn dangerous but gives maximum satisfaction)
d. Desperation (Also called the last few drops approach - when resources are scarce)
e. Fun approach (some where between reckless and case - goes best with a movie or any other entertainment)


TOOLS

There are countless tools available for implementation. The core group continues to implement it on the "Vodka" platform. However any other spirit is equally acceptable. However the core group found that several pretend tools are beginning to proliferate the market. In fact during the last implementation, Mr. Nathan was severely criticized for buying a "Breezer" which was near useless for implementing the model. The core group in fact is seriously considering expelling Mr. Nathan for apart from several foolish decisions, he has been accused of placing his own benefits above that of the group. Only time will tell.
There are some instances when a variety of tools will make the implementation more enjoyable. This is essentially true when the implementation is sponsored by a third party. In fact, Mr. Raju had the opportunity to revel in one such occasion (block party) and found the experience "quite enthralling" (in his own words)

PITFALLS

What are the possible pitfalls that an organization may face while implementing this model. Following are some of them but they are more due to wrong implementation rather than the model's weaknesses.
1. Missing the 8.30 classes - mostly happens after a reckless or fun implementation.
2. Physical injury - might happen during the early implementation phases
3. Incoherent babbles - actually fun - weak individuals tend to get affected more. In fact, Mr. Nathan in the core group is known for getting affected every time the model is implemented but, "It is just an extension of me and I’m used to it" , he says.

FINANCIALS

If there is one thing that is often thrown against the model it is the cost involved. The cost of implementation is quite variable and can range anywhere from 100 Rs to 5000 Rs. This cost variability is due to the customizability of the implementation process. The model provides intangible benefits difficult to capture. However research has revealed that productivity increases by at least 20% and creative thinking and innovations dramatically rise. Further other rewards like self satisfaction, sense of over achievement and ability to counter danger head-on are difficult to measure but very important. Being an investment banker himself, Mr Vengat feels that the models ROI is quite high but difficult to put a number on.

CONCLUSION

The report was given just to provide a superficial insight into the Khare model. For knowing about this further contact any member of the core group whose addresses are given below.

Mr. Raju tyagarajs05@iimb.ernet.in
Mr. Vengat vangatk05@iimb.ernet.in
Mr Nathan josephn05@iimb.ernet.in