A few moments that just passed by......

Cricket has been my favourite sport ever since childhood when i used to see Mark GreatBatch and Allan Border (a few of my childhood heroes) smash the red cherry round the park. Well the basics of cricket was instilled in me by god i guess..Cos seriously i don’t remember who taught how to hold a bat....During my nursery days the best cricket i used to play u was with my brother inside the house using those fancy plastic cricket bats...Ever since I joined Loyola school cricket just became such a big passion for me. I dun remember if I ever played cricket during my 1'st 2'nd and third classes...But yes i do remember when i was in the fourth standard me Manu Shankar and Arnab Mukhergee playing the now-famous tree cricket during our games period .and yes there was quite a funny incident when i walked to Elaine job madam to complaint about Manu Pattar not sharing the cricket bat....Also we used to have the card board cricket which was quite prominent during exam days when a bunch of used to gather and play cricket using the card boards we use to bring for the exams and paper balls. During those times Jojo Job a.k.a Vasu was quite a hero amongst us cos he could hit sixes when playing with paper ball when the boundary was some 10 metres away from the batting spot...Well fifth standard saw qutie a high rise in the number of cricket enthusiast...with the addition of names like Thasseem,anoop roy,Hari G,Ravisankar.. and quite a few more people joining us....Also we used to get the middle wicket (the middle portion of the football ground) to play during our games periods...And i believe it was in sixth when we were allowed to play cricket even during the After noon breaks.....Well the cricket during the afternoon breaks was quite an expensive affair as most of us would lose our lunch boxes,as they were used to be kept as wickets at the runner's end. Time passed by...And the occasional A vs. B matches were played with much vigour..Then came the split of our group into the ICSE batch and SSLC batch..Ya while we were in seventh we had this new boy SOju who was also quite a cricket enthusiast...Even after the split we used to play togethre during the afternoon breaks...Between the Icse batch and SSLc batch .But that was quite short lived as spate of poor umpriing decisions forcing me to lead a walkout wiht our team...Hehe...Well all this things sounds quite funny now...There was one traitor in our team who was MANU.R.C who stuck with playing with ICSE batch till end(All those guys were our good mates and are even now).While all these was going on there was a group of cricket enthusiast playing under the able leadership of Subin and GOPI at a different venue. To be fair initially we had the option of playing with them but we thought it would be more competetitive to play against our B batch mates....The SUBIN's cricket as it was famously known was quite a tense rivalry between two teams lead my GOPI and SUBIN George. We used to hear of Neil Stephen being a prolific batsman and Kiran Prince the leading Wicket takers but we just couldn’t cut down our ego to play with them..Well if u are wondering about the WE. The self proclaimed senior team of A division lead by the able leadership of your's truly .Well if u are wondering why i wa smade the Captain of the team. Very frankly even i am not sure. But still maybe it was due to the fact that whenever i used to write the team sheet i made it a point to include the heavy weights (both literally and physically)like KIRAN MENON,SABARi,RAHUL ALBERT,SANJU in the team...and also my best mates like rakesh,jatti, ravi,jojo ,Ajay.s(a good wicky and had a great reverse sweep shot which he nevre succefuly played )and a couple more...The division of the class was such that during one time there a 8 A "B" team led by neil .The strangest thing was that the strength of our class was just nice to have three cricket teams.....Well if i am not wrong it was in the ninth when the self proclaimed egoistic players returned to play SUBIN's county cricket. To be fair to them they didn’t even show a bit of reluctance to accept us...And to be fair we did enjoy a bit of high profile status there cos we were always like the first names on the team sheets. But the status didn’t really transform into performances as most of us were big flops while playing there.....The biggest scandal which i have ben involved took place that year. The INTER CLASS INTER HOUSE TOURNEY..Well it involved cricket matches between the houses involving teams conisting of players from both the divisions .It did have a grand launch by the organising comitte that had me also..But the biggest fraud was the treasurer who collected money from players of both the teams citing the reason of buying trophies fir the winning team...Well he did manage to collect a good sum but the trophies...Maybe the presentation ceremony will come in a few years.....that tournament had it its fair share of controversies but eventually AP house led by Sharath(obviously i was also there as the Vice) won the tourney. Well AP house did have it's share of good player like the author. the captian..vinod ,Gopi(he was the top scorer in a few matches),soju to name a few...Well for the three years since the 8 A and 8B teams had been formed we the A team idd enjoy a stranglehold over the B team which continues even till now...The culmination of all the cricket i played in Loyol aSchool was the inter house cricket final played in front of the whole school when i manged to pick up five crucial wickets to help our House life the trophy.....And in the end picking up the Best Bowler of the tournament recognition. Well I have heard great people relish great stages......Well shifting to BVB the only possible chance to play cricket was the INTER HOUSE matched played in the very little place that was available ther.The reputation of the "BEST BOWLER" was there but to be true i failed big time to live upto it. Even though i did manage to end up on the winning side once and reach the Final the other time a high amount of wides in the first final i played did harm my reputation and confidence big time....Even though i made it to the school team i had to sit out of the solitary match the school cricket team played in the whole 2 years i spend there......Coming to Singapore i had a fear that i would have to forget my cricketing dreams..But to my surprise i found out that our poly had a cricket team also that there were a few cricket clubs here playing league cricket...well getting into the team wasn't a tough ask as there just one left armer around....So getting and playing for the team wasn't a tough ask. So even now i continue to play my cricket for one club playin in the Division three league here......Cricket has been quite a big part of my life and still remain to me as the my number one sport...Hope it remains so.....

An Indian Supporter Speaks

Well hadnt taken to blogging for quite some long as my work and tight scheduleds didnt just give that bit amount of free time to type down a few words.But now after the edn of the India_england series i guess it is the perfect time to vent my frustrations...
At the end of of a one all series i just cant take it all the praises goes to Flintoff and co.. I admit that the england side was deplted But come on the matters in the indian team wasnt worse..We didnt have the Bets Batsman in Form(Sachin Tnedulkar as i am forced to say)..VVS Laxman was warming the benches for most part of the 3 match series...Harbhajan Singh was nowhere near his best ..And to spearhed the bowling we had two debutants..Give prasie where and when it is due..I have been an ardent Saurav fan to the extent that i would argue him to be the best batsman in the world..BUt now Dada has to retire graciously as just like evrey other indian can guess he is very much past his colours...As for VVS Laxman...Indian public and the indian Cricket team has everything other than grattitude..This Guy was the sole reason that India was counted to be the FINAL FRONTIER by Stephen Waugh..This Guy stood up on hiw own agianst the Aussies....Well his last few innings might have been a bit off colour but a few deliveries for which he got out were indeed real gems which given any time no other batsman in the world would have been sfae with....All this hype and hoolah about Flintoff is really getting onto my nerves..I admit he is a very good cricketer...But is he worth all the praises he is been showered upon..He led a team of relative new comers to a well dreserved draw but how many cenutries did he score how many five wicket hauls did he get....The english are no where near to be world beaters..Remember that the last series in Englad also had ended up in a draw and the Indians werent credited as much as the English has been now....Well about the crowd behaviour and the so called cricket experts being unhappy at that...Big time hypocrites is never a light word to describe these senior players.They go all the way to australlia get abused by the crowd ,cow down l,ose the games and come back doing nothing..The crowd behaviour around other places are not exemplary either...Well autrallia is getting abused by the South African crowd like anything as a return of the kind welcome the proteas were given by the Aussie crowd....We indians have always been light on the filed ..Refusing to sledge refusing to abuse the umpires...And what do we gain...Nothing to be precise.This has to change the home crowd besides getting behind the home team has to be hard to the Away team as this is just what all other crowds around the world do..
As for my feeling about this indian team...A young outfit got a draw agaisn the Ashes champions are no pushovers.Admit Dhoni shoudln have played that rash shot but come on we are the same people who have cheered him when he has hit his way out of pressure situations...If Sachin cant score,Dravid cant hold the team together..Shewag cant get a single run ...Please give me a break..Dhoni is no super human.Indian team is on a chnage.Give this team the time and it will surely impress.And from a personal view i would replace Jaffer with Aakash Chopra who for me was the most cruicial player of the team Down under when Indai tamed the world Champs at their den..GO INDIA GO.......

2005-MOVIES

Well one year has flown past in a whisker and 2006 is here....Well in this blog i would like to comment on a few movies based on a couple of catagories.
A.Less expectations but high satisfaction

1.BLUFF MASTER- Evnt thought the promos gave an impression as to the film would be slick con movie somehow i had my own reservations about an ABHISHEK BACHAN solo starrer.Boy how fool was i made to look.At the end of the movie i had a feeling that i had really watched somethign that i had be looking for so ong in hindi movies.Rap Hip-Hop songs....Perfomances of the highest order.....Mind Blowing camera work....And last but not the least the Climax of the movie...This was the true crossover movie as opposed to other hinglish movies that are being churned out.

2.Ghajini- Yet another Tamil potboiler..But again i was proved wrong.Even though the story was inspired from a hollywood flick this movie was the only tamil movie worth spending a few dollars to watch.The onscreen chemistry between the lead pair ASIN- SURYA was something that wasnt witnessed in indian movies since SRK-KAJOL.The music was quite ok and the picturisation of the songs were quite brilliant.Altogether 3 hours of entertainment.

3.D- Well a relatively fresh face as the hero.But this movie certainly did have the RGV imprint on it.A well made movie on the mumbai underworld .Even though a lot of movies had been made on this genre time and time agian this one was very differen from the lot mainly due to the casting.Radeep Hooda was amazing in the potrayal of the underworld gangster.

4.Salaam Namaste- To be frank i am not a big fan of the aditya chopra school of movie maving.For me VEER-ZARA was crap.So when i read the preview of this movie i really thought that this would be just like any other chopra movie heavily laced with sentiments.But i was proven wrong ..Evn though the climax was abig let-down.The rest of the movie was worth watchin again and again.This movie really proved that indian cinema has changed big time....Kudos to siddhart anand and team.

5.Chocolate-Many might not have liked this movie.But as far i was concerned this movie was one of the better made movies of 2005.The suspense in the movies had you at the edge of your seats all the time.And the perfomance of IRFAN KHAN playing the suspect does indeed desrve a few awards.The climax of the movie was the highest point of this movie even though it was a copy of the hollywood flick USUAL SUSPECTS.

High expectations and complete disatisfaction.
1.MANGAL PANDEY - This had to be the biggest dissapoinment of 2005 for most of the movie buffs.An aamir khan movie after 4 years ..All the hype just evaporated once the curatins were raised .This movie was a complete bore barring the perfomance of TOBY STEPHENS.Amisha patel and Rani mukherjee wer mere props while the music from AR.RAHMAN(my favoutite personality) was pathetic.Aamir Khan was completed wasted in the role of MANGAL PANDEY who has a you blink you miss place in the history books of tenth standard.Hopes are high for RANG DE BASNATI.Touch wood this might be a comebcak for aamir.
2.ANNIYAN-Stupid movie making from one the most highly rated directors of indian cinema.An insipid audio track.Less said is better about this movie.But the perfomance of VIKRAM and Prakash Raj was a highlight of an otherwise drab affair.

3.ELAAN- What a bore.Touted to bethe modern SHOLAY.....there was just no fire.An illogical script coupled with some of the worst perfomances evre to be seen on indian screen(amisha patel leads the pack)made this movie a torchure of anyone who
dared to venture to watch this movie.

4.CHANDROLSAVAM-I had to include this .Didn I.Why not...A mega star movie with a maverick director of mallu world.But no movie could have been more boring than this
(Kochi rajavu will give a tight competition) .Oh god SAVE MOHAN LAL.

5.JAMES- A movie from the RGV factory can be so badly made...???yes it can be..this movie proved it.The perfect repentance for any major sin you would have done last year would be watchin this moving without moving from your seat.Mohit Alawat is sheer waste of reel space.Hope Rgv comes up with something better.


There has been more good movies and more worse movies.But these were a few that i felt i had to write about.

The Best Of 2005

Well yet another year goes by...My Second New year away from Trivandrum...Well now that shoul be the Norm for the next few years.This year was a very cruicila year as far as my future goes as it saw me get a job ...and that too one which i am enjoying very much.The biggest pain of the year was without any doubt the trip back from yercaud to trivandrum with my best mates.....well the realisation that it was never going to be the same again really put me into tears.It is not that we will nevr meet or that we wont be there like never before....But the magic of those moments was something that even a david blaine could never perform.We lived through all those precious moments like never before.The topping tothose was when we joined in a huddle ..as neil would put it"That would surely put team india to shame" and started hummming "Ek doosre se karte hain pyaar hum"...I could x change all the pleasures of my life for moments like those.The highest point was quickly followed by the realisation that we are going to split for one year..But time has flown past very Quickly....2006 is on the way..So are we..June .that is the month ..The vikings will be back.
The other high point of 2006 was indeed me getting selected for my job from more tha a hundred of applicants..Well i am really grateful for my formative years in LOYOLA school for my perfomance at the interview where i was interviewed by the Manager of our department ..and by god's grace i was able to impress him...
Well other than that Neil going Down Under to represent his uni for moot court..Sajjad and unmesh getting placements at CTS and INFOYS respectively..RC flunking nine of his subjects..Ravi scoring a half century against my team in the inter poly tournament(Even though he should have been out firts ball from me(not boasting but the "best bowler in my secondary school")..But lucky him. he somehow dugout a yorker to guess where..THIRD MAN!!!!!)Afzal leaving for London from the gullies of ullor.Circuit working hard to pass his B.COM.And the biggest surprise that 2005 could give .....SABARI passing all his first year BDS papers..
That was 2005 in a flash.It had more but nothing better than the above mentioned incidents.
The expectations for 2006 are high...I need to further my studies.Get a degree as fast as possible which will see me getting a higher salary by god's grace.Chotte and Rc to secure a Job .Sajjad marrying Shayana..NEil falling in love.Sabari to continue his winning run...LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST "JUNE TO ROCK"

The Plight of Cricket

Well it is not that cricket had lost its place in my heart ....But somehow the turmoil indian cricket was going through didnt inspire me to blog about cricket.I hope that gives a good explanation to the question raised by my cricket mates as to why i didnt blog in support of my favourite cricket player.Cricket is game of uncertainites and indedd it lives up to show its real colour every now and then.The "Maharaja "of indian cricket whose bowling nevr won him a place in any form of cricket is included in the indian test team on virtue of being a batting all rounder...Ridiculous outrageous are too light words that could perfectly describe this.Ajit agarkar winning a test place ahead of Zaheer khan indeed puzzles just due to the basic fact that until now ajit agarkar is the only bowler in the whole cricketing world who can't bowl six good perfect balls in an over.Every two or three good balls he bowls ...u bet a couple of half volleys will be followed by one down the legside.Zahher for all his bad time he had is one bowler who has showed his ability to bowl well to the tail as well move the new ball around considerably.Now to the Bcci elections ...A new board president form Maharashtra ...Haha ..Nothing is goona change in indian cricket.And whta more you will see talented keepres like Dinesh Karthik left to warm the bench while kepper like Sameer dighe (a guy from maharashtra)don the indian colours.Well the goosd aspect of Sharad Pawar being the Board president is maybe guys from Maharashtra wil;l get more consideration.And if in case this happens to be the scenario i would love to see Amol Muzumdar don the indian colours before it is too late.He is one high scoring batsman who due to certain unknown reasons has never been given a proper run in the indian team.While Muzumdar can hope the call.a few others like Devang Gandhi.Laxmi Ratan shulka,Deep Das gupta and last but not the least Dada it is going to be a tough time .BArring dada the rest others can leave behind their dream of playing for the country once again.As for DADA ...SOuravyou was ,you are ,and you will be .....THE BEST CAPTIAN TO LEAD INDIA.The way they have treated you should let you down as you have nothing to prove to any of those f****** selectors.TEAM INDIA.....Go ahead...

AFZAL LONDONWALEY

Well the silent assasin of the VIKINGS underworld gang...Naveed.A.Sajid aka Afzal is another Viking legend.Well a lot can be written and said about this handsome guy from ullor and any words ill never be superlatives.Initially afzal was the most silent member of our gang but whjta completely changed him was his foray into the world net and chatting.Well his flirtatious insticts were something that he couldnt hide form us as we came to see that the afzal on the net was a maverick_navi and totally different guy to the one who was out in public.Well the chatting bug had bit him so hard that he trusted the YAHOO MESSENGER to find his first love(Even tough it was a small time affair it was to be a benchmark to the rest of Aashiqs)
Well his first try at love was to a heartbreaking affair as the break up had caused him to change from the Dashing debonair(a superlative) to a drunkard DEVDAS(not a superlative).But when all of thought that we had a tvm version of the DEVDAS this guy rose out of the ashes with a new affair.But this time no internet ..no msn..no yahoo.Only AIRTEL.Well now that airtel is not a service provider in U.K it is all vodafone.Now the dude is in LONDON ...and belive it he is on to doing part time ...Well for those who dont know afzal they will know he is one guy who just cant even walk 100 metres (laziness is the sole reason). The most funniest episode relating to him can be many ....e the age old joke of Dating the most sensous lady ofBhartiya vidya bhavan(who was manu rc's lady love)to the most recent incident when he went and ordered one fish curry meals at a Mcdonalds outlet in Kent.Isn't he Great......??????

RAVI ROMEO

Well the series on VIKING LEGENDS continues.This one is about the smallest yet big mouthed member of the vikings."Good things come in Small Packets"!!!!!.Amazingly true in this case.Well Ravisankar.N alias CHOTTE is one such good thing to have happened to us.A total romeo in each and every sense ,A unique philandering mind,well words are few to describe this small wonder.Well any story about chotte would be incomplete without his queen of hearts since childhood whose name i wouldnt put on the net as it is known to all those who read this.RAVI ROMEO sad to say has always had hard luck in love.The hero has been in love with this heroine for most part of 6 years(ps:hero is also carrying an affair on another route),but more often than not lady luck has deserted our sweet hero.Be it five years ago when he used to run to the heroine an ask her whether she needed "dil se's" cassete till date when he rings her up daily to say that he doesn't love her anymore,there can't be anyone so bad in love than chotte.His "down to earth " image even though it goes well wit guys was as and is a strict no-no for the heroine.And the egoistic bollywood hero he is,he is not willing to shed his egos for love still dreaming big.One of the worst experience's he had should be the one incident in which he and chris(one of our best friend's)commented about an aunty's(apun ke slang me "ek dam akkan") physical features without knowing that the heroine was behind him and also the fact that "akkan" sorry aunty was the heroine's aunt.The hero also had a lifetime achievment of presenting the heroine a ring and a third class love letter(the routine mallu stuff) on her engagment day.And one thing ,those who come to read about this legend,please keep in mind that the heroine is presently married(????).Well there is more about Chotte but then certain things are too personal to blog about.But whatever bad luck he has we are really fortunate and luckier than everyone that we got him.As chotte would proudly say"Maut se dar nahin hain mujko,Sirf tujhse juda hone ka Dar hain" (i wouldn't fear death,but i fear beiong seprated from you).Well that line sums of his care and sincirety to friends.I know anything about ravi is inccomplete without his Trademark "THALLU".But maybe next time.
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