Meaningful thoughts... Take Home #370

Rather than looking into the literal meaning of everything, its better to spend our time and energy on some meaningful thoughts. Everything is not important; its important to notice this fact. 

The times of need... Take Home #369

Appreciated are those who are problem identifiers and problem solvers. The best products come out when the problem identifiers and solvers are willing to play the roles of each other and together during the times of need. 

The Edge... Take Home #368

The whole of your experience can prove wrong when you do not try to understand and hence adapt  the contemporary ways of looking at a particular person or problem. Keep updating yourself often. Keep having the edge. 

Wrong decision... Take Home #367

When you think that a certain decision taken by someone is wrong, it just means that both of you have different ways of looking at the same situation. Most of the times, if not always, it does not mean that the decision maker is wrong and you are right. 

Third person... Take Home #366

When a third person speaks between two people, to coordinate our whatever, there is always a possibility that the two people get a third perspective into it which can be right or wrong. Hence there is always a possibility of longer negotiations and some times misconceptions. When two people know that there is a third person between them, better they have a final word before taking any decision. Doesn't matter how much confident they are about the third person, as most of the perceptions are right when seen in unison. 

New year and a resolution!

Wish you all a cheerful, healthy and fantastic year ahead. 

#Drizzling Morning

The day has begun with drizzling a little as if the new year has already brought some pleasantness to environment and also to mind. Below is the view in panoramic view (Courtesy - clicked by me with my Moto G). As expected, the day has gone busy with sending wishes and responding to the new year messages from friends and well wishers. 

#New year resolution

It's been quite eventful at work today. I was searching for some long lost papers and thought I should clean the paper files that I'd piled up over all these years, mostly in the earlier four years of my career. I started tearing the extra papers and I never expected when I started the task that I might fill up two dustbins! It was embarrassing while I was doing that but that inherently and eventually made me helpless to make a new year resolution finally, doing which I've not been so used to!  

I've decided that I will not use printer/xerox unless otherwise pretty much required, henceforth. It's not that I used it just like that, of course I did on some occasions, in the earlier days at work I did not have a laptop and hence I had to rely a lot on hard copies while attending meetings etc. Also, being freshly out of college, writing and print outs give a special and unanswerable joy. Hence I used to write a lot and take a lot of print outs! But now, I'm matured enough to understand what's right and what's not required to be done, just for joy. Probably, that no  more gives me joy now! Hence I've promised to myself that I will not print/xerox unless otherwise very much required. I will try my best to live up to this. 

Once again, wish you all a very happy new year!

3 Most Awesome Incidents @2014

Now coming to the awesome experiences pertaining to the incidents of 2014, according to me, there is a competition. But below three are the best chosen. 

#1 - Modi as the PM of India and CBN as the CM of AP

I'd not been a big follower of Indian Politics although Politics interest me. But surprising to me even, I followed the news on the Indian General Election 2014 day in and day out. To add to my interest, the Assembly polls of Andhra Pradesh were conducted along with the General Election. That made the occasion more than deserving to follow. Especially after all the protests and issue with the state division, this election became particularly important for both the states, AP and Telangana. A record polling of around 80 % was observed and all it hoped was for good. Curtailing down all the misconceptions, and proving the exit polls right, the BJP almost clean swiped at the central with record majorities at some constituencies. At state, Chandrababu Naidu (CBN) and his party (TDP) rocked the results. After a long gap of ten years, they have come out as a wining side. All that CBN did for Hyderabad and the IT sector did not go in vain. Another capital city can only be built by CBS was the major driving factor. And of course the unforgivable corruption scandles (alleged) of the opposition party added the extra votes required for a clear majority. After a long day of watching TV, I was in all freshness and positive energy at the end of the day, I still remember. It was one of the awesome feelings. Hope to see both these leaders live up to their promises in the coming year. 

#2 - Mars Orbiter Mission

The MoM's successful launch in the last year itself was one of the highlights that I chose to write about at the end of the year 2013. Now, this calender year has yet again seen an awesome and exciting moments later to the successful reach of the MoM into the Orbit of Mars. The scientists of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have been hailed across the globe for the successful attempt they made. They truly deserved the applause not just for the efforts but also for the design accuracy that they could achieve which played major role in letting the MoM enter the targeted orbit. Prime Minster statement after the success of MoM, "MoM never disappoints", will be remembered long. Hope to see some of the key members of the project get bestowed with the high civilian honors of India. It's just a beginning. A lot more is yet to be delivered by them in 2015 and in the later years too. A lot more is definitely getting expected from the team ISRO in the upcoming years. They must hire, they must encourage the young India and cash in the enthusiasm. I wish them all the best for all the attempts they make. Space is the only place about which no significant wars have been envisaged. I just hope the peace about the space will continue to prolong. 

#3 - Interstellar, a technical marvel

'Interstellar' is the only film that I watched twice in theaters in this decade. Too good it was for me and it interested me more than ever. The scenes just lingered all around me in my thoughts after I watched the movie. Even after a week or so, I could feel the same awe as that of what I had on the day I watched the movie. I did a lot of reading from internet, probably the highest ever after watching a movie, that I prepared myself very thoroughly, I guess, for watching it again. And the next time, I did not miss out on concentrating on the subtitles. I was very much impressed with the taking, the script, the background score and the technological explanation. For a director or a story/script writer to think that way it was thought for this movie, it was a great risk taken I believe. It could have gone wrong too but the technical adviser did his best in conceptualizing the balckhole, wormhole etc. I was stunned to watch such a marvel. You need imagination, you need dedication, you need brains, you need interest, you need risk-taking and you need all these together to make such movies, that's what I feel. This movie has its own dark sides or say unanswered questions but it was never either said that this movie was going to be exceptional. No movie can be exceptional. After all, it's a movie and entertainment is the main aim. According to me, this movie is yet another Oscar-block buster. I just hope the Academy awards in 2015 will bring smiles on the faces of the case and crew of 'Interstellar'. 

Hope to write even longer post next year end on the topic of awesome experiences! That's all for this year 2014. 

3 Most Awful Incidents @2014

Another year passed. We are in the final hours of 2014, the year that has left a mix of awful and awesome experiences. In this post, I wish to write down about the awful experiences I've had with the things happened around the world. Although I was not personally involved in any of those, they pinched me a lot and will keep doing so every time I recollect them. They are purely my choice. I'm not downgrading anything else that's not mentioned here. Here I go.

#1 - Flight MH370 disappearance

The major question that comes to my mind, every time I think about the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370, is how come a flight gets disappeared in the ongoing times of the much advanced technology! Human  made machines have landed on moon, have orbited a comet and have set the course to orbit Mars. Yet, a Boeing flight gets disappeared with 239 on board and after almost ten months, we are clueless about its whereabouts. Better to forget for now what would have happened in the cockpit. It might need a lot more time than we all can anticipate to unravel the unfortunate moments happened on that plane's last flight. At least some information, a clue, a sign of its presence on earth could have ended 2014 on much lighter note than now.

With absolutely no information about the plane after it went missing from the radar screens ten months back, it's difficult to believe that we are all aging in the times of the advanced technology! We are not. We are not yet there still. If the disappearance was unscripted, this is the most unfortunate flight accident so far. If, by any chance, the disappearance was scripted by someone, this will remain as the most mysterious man-made flight mishandle so far in the history of aviation. Hope 2015 brings in some news, a positive one being the whereabouts of the wreckage, about this mystery. 

#2 - Death of Philip Hughes

How much a cricket buff I used to be is known to many of my friends. I always enjoyed watching cricket, following the news about cricketers since early age. Cricket always made me happy, despite of few tears here and there. In the wildest of the wild dreams also I never thought something sad about cricket except in the one that I had the night before the death of Philip Hughes. This is for the first time i'm talking about it. It was a day before the night that Hughes was struck with bouncer, in a dream, I read a statement from Google News page saying "Doctors confirm the death of Philip Hughes". The experience in the dream itself was awful. When I woke up the next morning and especially when I heard the news about his death, my feelings turned uncontrollably awful. 

Extremely unfortunate incident it was. It appears even more unfortunate, as it has happened to an young yet talented cricketer. I watched the live telecast of his funeral in all tears. The messages read by his family and friends was the most touching part of it. His smile and the news about his death, both could not be taken away from my mind for longer time. I finally did a post on Facebook with a hope that I will be free from those thoughts and that worked luckily. Philip Hughes will be remembered always for his play and for his untimely death. 

#3 - Peshawar school massacre

16th December has not been good since last two years. Two devastating acts by humans make me think what for the technology advancement to be made when people can turn such cruel at times and in moments they can destroy the fellow people. The Delhi Gang Rape happened on December 16th of 2012 still cannot be forgotten. Another December 16th has seen the Taliban attack on the military school in Peshawar killing 145 people and injuring at least 130 people. School children were the victims of the cruel minds  and their bullets. Unimaginable stint was that, but few people made us realize that it was very much possible! Whether that could have been avoided or not, I'm not sure. But henceforth such incidents shall be avoided under any circumstances. 

The Government of Pakistan has definitely shown some progress in the form of reciprocation. But how efficient all that has been will be understood in the coming year. Hope it gets proved as very efficient. All country meets and hence an united stand is required in handling the cases such as terrorism. It;s not the problem of any single country. It's a common problem. An united voice and acts can only lead all of us towards solutions and not country-ego! Hope to see some strategical and constructive approach towards tackling this matter in the coming year. 

So, that's all for this year. And that's more. Sincerely hoping for a smaller post at the end of 2015. May this year bring on new challenges and that they be handled in a better way. 

Choose battles... Take Home #365

Among the whole lot of battles that we face every day, worthy are only few. Choose them thoughtfully and carefully. Be strategical in getting ready to face them and then go for them in full spirits. Battling is nothing wrong, especially there where you must battle. 

A foggy morning to end 2014!

The below shown picture is evident enough that fog has surrounded all this place in Pune. A day just before the calender turns to 2015, it's the first foggy morning that's probably saying goodbye to the running year. Apart from the fog that's captured in the shot, the location shown has many a memories of mine attached to it. This is the view from the top floor of our office where we usually stand in the early morning sun after breakfast. I've been standing that way since many years now. Many a partners have changed but the freshness that comes to my mind every morning has remained the same, fortunately. 

I miss too many of my friends almost every morning when I stand there. The moments spent with them, the words shared, the gossips lingered, the smiles, the laughs, the debates, are all stored in my memory preciously. Every time I stand here and look at the building captured in the click, I remember all those good moments spent and cherished. 

Meeting and missing

Is what life is all about! 

Memories remain intact. 

So as the moments lived. 

Dhoni retires from test cricket; surprising and unimpressive!

MS Dhoni, famously known as 'Captain Cool', 'MSD' and 'Dhanadhan Dhoni', has retired from the test cricket. He will continue to play the one day cricket and T20s. He was the captain of Indian cricket team this morning and now a former Indian test player and captain of course. How quickly times moves! How surprisingly people decide and declare! All in all, I'm not much impressed with this decision of MSD. I've not been a person who is a fan of his expressions or statements. However, I've always followed the news about him. Being the captain of the Indian cricket team, he has of course driven the team to victories in many tests. He is, as per the stats, the best winning captain so far. But I've my own doubts if he is the best person to captain the Indian side ever. 

In his tenure, he got some players in their best of the forms. Form is a state of mind as Dhoni rightly quoted few days back. Viru, Yuvi, Sachin, Raina and Kohli have been the pillars in many of the famous test victories of Team India. I do not deny the fact that Dhoni has always been a qualitative finisher, probably the best! But in the position that he bats for India, he could not have done more in terms of runs. The attitude of his batting is evident enough almost always to finish on winning note. However, there were number of occasions when he failed to bat along with the tail-end players. There were number of occasions he failed to prove himself as a strong middle order batsmen. Well, not in all matches a player can play well. But looking at the number of matches he has played, and the way he used to drag the innings until the very end of the overs, although he is famous for hitting the sixes including the winning six in the world cup final on the home soil, he could have done much better considering the chances he got to prove as a batsmen. 

As a captain, yes, he has proven himself. Although it was because of the great play of some of his teammates in his tenure, driving the young team to victory in his first T20 world cup and driving the team to many victories at home and hence to the top spot in the test rankings are some of the contributions he has made. Many young players have been lucky enough to get the Indian cap. Equally, many quality players had to leave the team and are still away from the team! Sehwag and Gambhir have been great openers and cannot be seen now at all in any of the tours. Agree or not, there was a cold-war kind sensed among these players and their captain. Eventually or incidentally, Viru and Gambhir were thrown out! Of course they lost their form. But if form is just a state of mind, as Mr Ex- Test Captain quotes, Sehwag and Gambhir should have been given the chance too! A debate on this might never end. So I choose to cut this short. 

Retirement is a player's personal decision. I agree and fully respect Dhoni's views on it. But the timing is appearing to be not correct and hence his decision is unimpressive, to me. He could have waited for some more time! At least until the world cup is played! Anyway there are  no tests planned before world cup, as much as I'm aware of it, except the remaining Sydney test.   This decision could be a savior from much of the criticism for the series defeat down under. But I'm sure he is stronger enough to handle it and he always did. Well, I just hope the decision was taken in as genuine interest of the team as it is appearing to be. Kohli is the next option that BCCI have. But Kohli lags a lot in terms of emotional quotient which is one of the stronger points of MSD. Kohli must adapt his former captain's good sense of humor with media by not being straight forward as he is now. Its a good opportunity for Kohli at this age. He needs to prove himself, now. Because of IPL, Indian team now has many players with captaincy experience including Rohit Sharma. Kohli could as well bag some. I just hope the age group that Kohli belong to does not lead to any 'Gang War' in the team! 

Best wishes to Kohli and co. I think we will get to hear Dhoni's decision about retiring from all forms of cricket from the Down Under, probably after the world cup! It will not surprise me even if he announces his retirement before the world cup. Be ready Kohli! 

Movie: UGLY - Nothing else could have been a better choice for the title!

Movie making is almost like launching a fight against perceptional views of wide number of audience. What you like might not be liked by me. What you think about a particular scene or story line might not be thought in the similar way by me. What you want to watch might or might not be there in the plot. What you expect based on either the director's or hero's last stint might not be fulfilled by his latest pie. No questions asked about the expectations or wishes of the audience. Everyone who watches the movie has the very deserving right to be hopeful of an entertaining or thoughtful one coming their way. This is the very reason why movie making is nothing less than launching the fight as mentioned earlier. Director might be very much clear about the plot and script. But if he forgets the fact that the success of his attempt largely depends upon how the audience will receive it, he will not be able to maintain his self-confidence for a longer time. If success and failure impact him, they do obviously, and if he cannot accept certain facts then he will not be able to be consistent in presenting his thoughts and ideas. Anurag Kashyap might have had his good and bad times with his presentation skills. 'Black Friday' bagged all the best possible ratings. 'Gangs of Wasseypur' was an award winning series, but that did not reach the class audience. And now, Anurag Kashyap is back with his next film 'UGLY'. 

'Ugly' is yet another movie based on true incidents. Living up to its name, the movie depicted the ugly side of the misconceptions and misunderstandings that exists among people even though they are bonded in as stronger relationship as wife and husband or they are two good friends who share almost everything in their daily lives. Heights of police interrogation and investigation is excellently shown in this movie. What happens when a responsible police office himself drives the case in a different direction instead of going for the facts, only based on his experiences with someone whom he eventually accuse, is narrated in a good way. The script and narration should have been more entertaining rather than giving an ugly feeling. How much better it could have been, I cannot comment as I have no idea of what could have been went through by the director and his team. 

There isn't much to say about this movie, frankly. Cast selection did not surprise me, it did not need much better actors and all of the actors have almost justified their selection. Only the narration is the draw back in making this movie reaching the masses. One really needs to be thoughtful enough, and that too after the movie ends, to get the feel of what 'UGLY' really meant! I strongly feel that a voice over could have done well rather than leaving it out to the audience to think over. Conveying the message is important, but I think conveying it in a reachable manner is further important as after making such a full length movie and you leave it on to the audience and you sit back believing that they will get what you wanted them to understand, is according to me not a good ending scripted for such a tiresome effort put in while making the movie. Well, I could understand the message what the director wanted to communicate or I only suppose I understood as I could not be entirely right. Anyway, it was a boring watch on a long weekend, realistic and thoughtful movie to summarize! 

Love at first sight!

I was watching a Telugu movie named "Toli Prema", translates to 'First Love", a couple of days back and once again wondered  about the concept of love at first sight. I've always been a person who has not fully succeeded in understanding the emotions surrounding the 'Love at first sight' frames shown in many a movies in India. Although I do not understand it yet, I do not turn down the truth and the lovely emotions the 'love at first sight' concept might have with it. I will keep thinking of it and hopefully one day I might understand the strength it causes and the motivation it injects into someone who falls for it. Leaving that there, I'd like to share an experience I had yesterday in a shopping mall, which is not much difference from that of what I used to have almost every time I had shopped. But then, only yesterday I realized something. The thought that I had about the 'love at first sight' might have been the reason. 

From the experience that I've from all the years of shopping, I know that if I like something on my first look at it, there have been very few occasions when I do not purchase it. Even yesterday, I went to the shopping mall with as usual aspiration for some good stuff to buy. A hand bag was what I basically wanted to buy. I entered the shop and quickly turned around to the corner where the hand bags were kept. A medium sized bag in purple colour appeared just in front of me. After a few seconds I grabbed it with my hand to see the inner portion of it. But something from within encouraged me to look at the inner space with a wish to become the owner of that bag. Obviously, I liked the inner separations. I then of course turned again towards the bag racks and tried to manage my body language as if I wanted something more. I knew in my deep senses that I had already got what I wanted. It seemed to me as if the sales boy had handled many women earlier and understood my amature emotions that I was only trying to portray in front of him. Then I told myself, "let's go", as I did not want to further enlarge the experience of that sales person with women shoppers. I paid and stepped out of the shop.

The actual subject of this post 'love at first sight' means about the love between people and not with things. But to some extent I strongly believe that be it people or things, the concept of liking someone at the first sight remains the same. The mind knows that it can get further better stuff than what we have just seen, but the heart or whatever, it does not allow us to look for something more. This is probably the only place where we humans do get satisfied with what we have got, for that moment and for a few more moments. This is also probably the only thing that we heart fully own up all ourselves. Amazing all this is by looking at it. Surprising yet lovable to its core. I will keep thinking about the 'love at first sight' to understand it better and better going forward. 

Movie: PK - A theatrical question bank with all logics!

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Strange enough to me, I entered into the theater without much expectations on "PK". Although there had been many posts from friends on Facebook claiming that Aamir Khan did a fantastic job, I could somehow manage to keep myself away from all sort of expectations on this Aamir Khan's latest Christmas release. Once the movie started and until it ended I did not have time to think about anything else, including the next scene of the movie. The script was so entertaining and equally thought provoking that I barely had time to think about the upcoming scenes! 

'Bhojpuri' troubled me a little, by leaving me understanding the meaning of a few dialogues after few seconds of completion. However, the expressions of Aamir and Anushkha enabled me to follow the flow. Anushkha Sharma's hairdo didn't impress me to be honest. It indeed was successful in justifying the nature of the character she portrayed. Boman Irani did not have much scope though. But the hit combination of '3 idiots' has once again proved a lot rhythmic together.  

The spaceship in the first scene of the movie seriously surprised me. I only hoped for the best, to be very frank. It reminded me of a comment a friend made on his Facebook timeline, that PK had reminded him of "Koi Mil Gaya". I did not pay much attention to that particular comment as I was damn sure that Aamir Khan would never ever touch a script which was kind of a copy of another film of his contemporaries. But the spaceship surprised me for a second. Once Aamir Khan came out of it in normal human form and of course with abnormal human expressions in his eyes, I was a bit relaxed thinking the scene might be a dream of Aamir himself or another character of the movie. But proving me wrong, the film had certainly taken the movie making to its new heights. A sci-fic thought combined with the emotional moments and logical thinking power of a human are the basic pillars of this movie. 

Shushant Singh Rajput's smile did express the love that he had for 'Jaggu' character. Its a guest role but he definitely did what he had to do on the screen. Sanjay Dutt character's length could have been a little more. But that's understandable. Sanjay Dutt is one of the finest actors of the Bollywood. He definitely has maintained his consistency and charisma throughout the length of his role. The director's selection of the artists as the parents of Anushkha Sharma was not impressive. That could have been done better or may be that's negligible before the thoughtful movie that Hirani has once again proudly presented! 

One cannot confront the questions, that have been asked by the Alien character of the movie, in logical terms unless by taking the aid from the 'blind beliefs caused by the so called diverse culture of India'. In all possible terms, the director is correct in claiming all that he has claimed. The 'wrong number' stint was the best idea of its kind that had kept the audience in its grip starting to the end. Particularly, one of the last dialogues of the film still makes me laugh at myself. 'I love chicken', 'I love fish' does not mean that these human actually love chicken and fish, but that they actually like the curry of chicken and fish. This was not an easy dialogue to write. I started heavily laughing in the theater after the first few words of this dialogue by Aamir Khan. I could not control it even after I stepped out of the theater! 

Very well, "PK" is the latest and probably the last super duper hit of 2014. December has once again proved to be great for Aamir Khan and his director friend. Raju Hirani has delivered one of the finest comedies with logical questioning for this year and so far. Well done to the entire cast and crew of "PK". Be ready to attend the award functions and grab a few yourselves!

PS: Awaiting the sequel with Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor!!!

The toughest problem... Take Home #364

The toughest the problem that we handle is the deep and long-term the learning is going to be. Be in full spirits and put forward your best feet. Nevermind the toughness of the problem or the roughness of the road. Strive to resolve the matters. That's the best way!

Turning around... Take Home #363

Tough going can be turned around not by going away but by settling the matters being right there and fully involved in the situations. 

PS: Going away might work in some cases. Although it's nothing wrong from the perspective of the person who's involved, it's not a worthy benchmark. 

Being assertive... Take Home #362

Being assertively open and frank with our loved ones will make sure we are understood enough, if not immediately but within some time. Our love in being so will also be reciprocated. 

Relationships are not meant for hiding our wishes and hence suffering. Instead, a committed relationship always gives chance to express ourselves, or wishes, our fears either to fulfill of to overcome together. 

Interstellar... A two time watch!!

In this decade, Interstellar is the only movie I have watched twice in theatres. Not that I could not wait for its blue ray print to get released and that someone would download it for me. I just could not wait until all that happen. Also the visual effects and the back ground score are the major motivational factors that made me watch the movie for the second time. I watched the movie another time after a gap of one week. By doing that I allowed myself to be up to date about the scientific script which is the main thing to be understood and appreciated about the movie. I had gone through all the possible and available webpages to know the script better. With couple of doubts still remaining after all that home work, I had gone to the movie for the second time with a clear mind to watch few scenes with the maximum possible concentration. I could succeed!!!

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series was the main motivating factor behind me going to watch this movie on the first day of its where. Full marks to Nolan according to me. His selection of the scientific advisor is world wide complemented. And I second everyone in supporting that. I especially loved the back ground score at some scenes although not in all the scenes. When I watched it for the first time I thought this was a must watch. But when I watched it again, I was sure that it was a two time watch. Or one should know the script, do enough study and then go for watching it, but that will be the worst spoiler one can afford of. 

Just like the ending of the Inception, this movie too had a paradoxical ending. Leaving that, the rest of the movie is clean to be understood both scientifically and emotionally. The father-daughter sentiment is the emotional plus point for the movie along with the motive of the crew of the interstellar travel to do so for the human species and not for any particular person. The wormhole and the gravitational relativity of time are the scientific advantages which have just matched to the script. Hats off to the story writer, director and especially the scientific advisor.

All in all this movie is a marvel came my way in the recent years. It's been almost three weeks I watched the movie for the second time yet I can still manage to get lost into the thoughts of the movie whenever I want to. That's the impact it probably had on me. Needless to say that I'm eagerly waiting for the blue ray print of this movie get released in the internet, if I may say so here! If you haven't watched it yet, please do so first. And if you have already watched, do let me know what's your experience with the movie. Before I close this post, I would like to mention they I'm eagerly waiting to know how many Oscar awards this movie will have in its kitty. All the best to the team Interstellar.

Saina and Srikanth win the China Open!

I've just seen the Wikipedia page of the 'China Open' super series and I'm excited to see the Indian flag and the names of the two players being mentioned in the winners list for the first time since the beginning of the tournament. Saina and Srikanth are the stars of the day, Srikanth being a bit more for winning it over the two time Olympic Champion and three time China Open champion in Men's singles, Lin Dan.

The news of Srikanth's victory made me realize what I'd missing by being too much of an English movie buff and therefore missing out on watching the live BWF matches from China. I usually watch the semi finals and finals, especially then when the Indian players are in. This time round, both the women's singles and men's singles would have given me one of the most memorable experiences. Well, gone is gone. I'm extremely happy for these two players, the winners of the day!

Saina Nehwal and Srkanth Kitambi, congratulations for the Championships! Keep going! 

'Modi' is the name...!

"Modi" is the name going around India and among Indians abroad lately. Speech of the Indian Prime Minister at the Madison square has won millions of hearts already. His visit to Brisbane and unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi has once again proved that Mr. Narendra Modi is the most celebrated Indian Prime Minister that India and the world have seen in the recent times. His inspiring personality, his way of social networking and therefore being expressive and to his people, his amazing skill of public speaking have been contributing in making him the most watchable personality in politics across the globe among his contemporaries. It is an undeniable fact that he is definitely doing his best and ensuring that the rest of the cabinet and Indian delegation do their best to the country we all Indians owe a lot to. If it was not for him, the 'Swatch Bharat' would have taken more than expected time to reach out to the population of this country. Its his ways of ruling, decision making, policy making and along with that being close to the crowd have been the pillars of the successes of the programs he has envisaged so far. 

Although moving around the nations, across the globe, is nothing different among the Indian Prime Ministers, every visit of Mr. Modi to another country gives a thick ray of hope. A hope that we all deserve a lot more than what we have been taught to hope for. His speech at the Roma Street and he mentioning of "Mahatma Gandhi is as relevant today as he was in his lifetime" is the evident of his thoughts towards this nation, towards taking the country in a way that once many brave fighters thought of. A lot need to be done for that and I think he fully accepts the fact that he cannot do that alone. That he needs to take the citizens along with him. Hence the speeches, hence the tweets, hence the messages to reach the right and energetic core of the nation, the young Indians. Response from the citizens so far is incredible. May this all continue, may be in a further better way and in a soulful manner!

Well, its anyhow too early to say too much. However, this post is deep satisfaction about what he has been doing for this country, and in great respect for our Prime Minister, the only one of his type in the past two decades. While all my fellow Indians have been hoping for the best, let me also continue my best hopes ever for this nation. Anything can be done will be done. Anything that can happen will happen. Murphy's law, although not applicable directly for the emotions, but I guess there is no spoiler in relating it. After all, emotions are yet another powerful sources for the big to happen. May he be able to keep the nation as united as ever or more than that, probably! 

Its high time to be consistent, Rohit Sharma!

My fondness towards cricket is mostly known among my friends. There were many occasions when I got calls from my cricket-buddies to inform me to switch on TV, in case I was not watching the match, to look at the score card, to ask me to come down to watch the match together and even to congratulate me when India won a high profile tournament. Looking back at all that now, I feel I was a lot remembered, be cricket the reason, and it feels really happy. 

The highly satisfying world cup win or the sachin's retirement or the IPL match that I watched in the stadium, or the fondness i have developed over a period of time for other sports, whatever is the reason, I'm not so fond of cricket these days. I no more feel the connectivity, the craze, the unconditionalness, that once I enjoyed with cricket. It does not mean that I no more watch the game, its just that I just watch it with no much emotional connectivity to the players that I once used to strongly feel.

If there is still any player whom I strongly want to perform well, that's Rohit Sharma. Again, I'm not sure why its he, I just want to see him playing his knocks on consistent manner. In that context, the call I got from a close friend yesterday would stand important. I quickly had a look at the score card and was amazed by seeing the number. 251 notout was his score with nine more balls to go in the fifty over contest. It was a joyous moment as fas as I was concerned. I just hung on the cricinfo site until the last ball, on which he got out, and added many beautiful moments to my memory. Thanks to rohit for all this. Hearty Congratulations to him!!!

Now all that I want, as always wanted after his blistering knocks earlier, is his consistency. Ahead of the world cup down under, I wish him all the very best to prove himself to be one of the valuable players in the squad.

All the best once again and thanks Rohit!!

Well done! Down under is never easy!

Hearty congratulations to Team India for the dominating victory over the visiting Lankans in the ongoing series. One or the other member of the team coming up to the situation and making things with work for the team, which is predominantly important right before the major tournament of the world's cricket. This home series has established good headaches for the team management. It's now up to the management to choose the playing eleven, I guess, and enough of experimentation now! Making the good players feel important at the same time secure is a though task although, many a team managements have proved already that it's not an unmanageable task. Yes, given the untestable Indian mindsets of the Indian players, Ravi Shashtri and team might have to script carefully. Hope they will succeed. 

Tournament down under has never been easy for the Indian cricket team. The present team is no exception although there are many heroics have been displayed in the recent times. 

Raina is playing awesome but the change of the soil might impact his game and if that happens, India will be on serious problems to deal with about the middle order, which will have to play an important role in the Australian conditions. Opening batsmen are impressive so far, but again, how these men are going to face the new ball and frightening bowling units teams like South Africa, Australia, Pakistan have! Spinners might be very handy given the circumstances, a lot is still left to toss. Which is not a bright sign of being the reigning world champions. Experience level of the team in the Australian or newzeland's conditions is yet not qualified to be the factor to cherrish. The less we speak about the slag over bowling the better we all can hope for the best to happen at the world cup.

Having said all that, I'm not yet in a mood to believe that team India will come out with flying colours. But I definitely want the team to put it's best effort to fight out the difficult conditions in every match. They must endure! All the very best.

My support this time as well is extended to the South African team, who is yet to win the big cup. With Garry around, I sincerely hope their destiny changes, chowking ends, smiles last until the last moments of the world cup! 

Sachin's autobiography, a feast to come my way!

Ever since I started reading books, otherthan the ones from curriculum, I have been desperately waiting to read the autobiography of Sachin Tendulkar. Having been a follower of cricket and having had received inspiration from this most celebrated Indian cricketer many a times in my life, my wait for his book makes all sense to myself. It's good that Sachin has decided to put some portion of his life in pages. Apart from making money, I'm sure this book is going to help the readers from psychological and spiritual perspectives. 

Sachin is not so fond of speaking out things in public. The deep and an obvious wish to give his very own book a complacent look might have encouraged him to go back in time, in memories, to bring out the all unsaid over all these years. That's going to be an interesting read. Not just book lovers, I think, cricket and Sachin lovers are going to purchase this book to know about their ever lovable little matter and his side of the story. 

The pricing of the book surprised me to be frank. It should have been lower than that of the current price. The price of it might be a problem in the reachability of this book to the mass readers. Piracy might make the things easier but I sincerely hope that does not happen. That's all I can do about it for not. Although the pricing surprised me, the size of it did not. After all, it's about the longest carrier in the history of cricket and about one of the few players the sport loved back. 

I'm all geared up for the read. I congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on the eve of his book release. No doubt, many of the readers are going to believe him and I will be of no different. However, keeping up the commonsense is important. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy this read. Wish you the same, if you wish to do so. 

Book: SACHIN TENDULKAR, Playing It My Way, My Autobiography - Sachin Tendulkar with Boris Majumdar. 

Soft skills... Take Home #361

Most of the happenings about which we have wars of words turn out to be unworthy items if they can be seen at a broader perspective, i.e. with respect to the years of togetherness and long careers we all will have in our personal and professional lives respectively. 

And to look at the matters in broader perspective, it takes positivemindedness, patience and prioritisation. All these soft skills are worth practising by giving a mindful thought as and when the situation demands. 

Overdo... Take Home #360

What can make it can break it too. Beware of the overdo.