sporting life

Newly founded HRT F1 team has confirmed Indian driver Karun Chandhok for 2010 season along with Bruno Senna. This is great news, even though expectations from him, are only of finishing all races.

I think after Narain Karthikeyan, he could be the second Indian to race a F1 car in a Grand Prix. 

Narain Karthikeyan is one of my favorite not for his driving skill, but for ideals. There was a news item that when he was looking for sponsors, some cola giants were ready to sponsor him. But he decided against them as he thought cola's were bad for children/youth's health, so he can't endorse something which is bad for their health.  That made an impression on me.

My affair with F1 began in the days of Mika Hakkinen. He was my favorite. Of course, after his retirement favorite changed to Kimi Raikonnen. And surely Schumi is also my favorite, especially I remember his and Ferrari strategies. One or more races, whenever he lost lead after pit stop, and then the race leader took pit-stop, Schumi would put up a lightning fast best lap time, so when this guy came out of the pit lane, he was sure to race behind Schumi. 

Currently I have no exact favorite. But S. Vettel looks promising, but so does L. Hamilton, so I can only decide after the racing season begins.

I also like WRC (world rally championship), but don't watch it regularly. It really is very very challenging. Oh! I love it. They race like men, be any climate and surface. Snow, mud, gravel, you name it.

Same with MotoGP, not watched regularly, but exciting and yes fast! I have promised myself I will try to watch both regularly, time permitting. 

IPL is about to begin, so office will be abuzz with discussions about it. Not sure which team to support, will have to check the team-lineup. Dada (saurav ganguly) was my favorite in his playing days and to me was India's best captain. So maybe....I could....uhh.. still not decided. 

And as always, love for Arsenal, means I will still be rooting for a win in every game. 

Other than Football, F1, MotoGP, WRC, and cricket, I don't watch much sports.

But I like hockey a lot, both Field Hockey (watched Ind-Pak world cup match) and Ice Hockey (winter olympics Canada v/s Switzerland) . Tennis is a good game but never interests me. 

I find Golf to be one of the most wasting game. It just waste of space, so many acres of land wasted. One man plays with one small ball over huge surface area of land. waste!! 

found sanity

too many thoughts clogged my brain

thinking clear brought more confusion

and in the head caused lot of pain

for it no doctor had medication

instead of a solution 

that indicated alleviation 

all I was left with was

more and more disorientation

still I hoped for tunnel-end light

it wasn't about perseverance

it was more that I had no other way

than to just sit and wait

wait for the knots to clear

then I grasped why that guy sang

"give me some sunshine" 

"give me some rain"

he thought that would erase the pain

so as the sun sliced the clouds 

in a proverbial way I found direction

not exactly the perfect one

but at least I am no more lost

and now I can relax 

that my sanity is back

Awards!

I was given,

Happy award by Destiny's Child – a talented writer and a budding poet.

Along with this award, here are some rules.

Rules to accept the award:
1: Link to the person who gave it to you,
2. List 10 things that make you happy,
3. Pass it on to 10 happy bloggers.
4. Notify the nominees about this Happy Award.

So here are 10 things that make me happy 

1) Riding my bike or bicycle. Long rides/short rides, riding alone or with friends! 
2) Making people happy (friends/relatives or strangers). 
3) Tasty food, mostly spicy, and mostly snack or light meal instead of full course meal. (chaat!! Indian Chinese soups!! ) 
4) Watching movies of all kinds, and be it in any language (with subtitles for foreign stuff), and especially late night movies which leave me with hangover the next day (lack of sleep!).
5) Music, lots of bands to choose from, but for the moment, Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, The Offspring or Goo Goo Dolls, Scorpions, U2  ...oh I could go on!! 
6) Reading blog readers comments, facebook comments, and orkut/gmail buzz comments 
7) When people praise my efforts and dedication at work. 
8) When my parents and friends feel proud about me.
9) Traveling with friends to different places, be it forts, beaches (love them!!!), forests or desert (never been there!) 
10) When Arsenal win!!!  Go Gunners!!

So I present this award to, 

shruti, chandrika, humming words, tasha, chocolatelover, niyati, sameeta, refak, xorkes, supriya

Potpourri of varied topics.

Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland. Nicklas Bendtner of Arsenal taps in from close range to give Arsenal the lead against Sunderland. Fabregas seals the result with a penalty kick.  

Very good result for Arsenal. ManU lose to Everton, but sadly Chelsea won.

Cheers ! Go Gunners!!

A good win, to wipe out the pain(to some extent) of losing clumsily to Porto FC during a CL match. 

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Haven't watched "My Name Is Khan" yet. 

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Watched Zombieland, Up (animated movie), Tropic Thunder. All three were total fun.  Especially Zombieland.

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The whole week I have been listening to "Black Clouds and Silver Linings" an album by Dream Theater, who are a progressive metal band.

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 Holi festival is around the corner, signaling a chance for a long bike ride. So lets see, how it pans out. 

----------------------zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz--------------------

sleeeeeppp! interrupts!!!  zzzzzzzzzzzzzz~

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Arsenal win 1-0 against Liverpool

  image sourced from www.sportinglife.com (best sports site )

yyyyyaaahhhoooo!!

Diaby's header powers Arsenal to a victory over Liverpool.  Chelsea lost to Everton and ManU almost lost but finally drew at Aston Villa to keep Arsenal in the title race.  I hope Nasri is not out for long time due to injury. But Bendtner coming back from injury was reassuring. I stayed up late to watch the match (from 1:30 AM IST)  and it was totally worth it.

Go Gunners!! 

~~ clueless thoughts of a helpless mind ~~

i am still lost, looking for a way out.

i m clueless, cant really decide.
what to do, is something hard to choose.
confusion playing all time, in my mind.
clearly seeing things, is very hard for me.
i just cant decide, don't know what to do.
work is a chore, just a task told to do.
i see no growth, no money to bring some cheer.
still heart says, persist with you have.
you matter, what you do makes a difference.
hopeless thoughts, helplessly override my mind.
same way, it mirrors my romantic life.
love is forbidden, with no real future.
holy union, not possible in this time.
still heart says, spend time together.
future unknown, tomorrow no one knows about.
days go by, hours pass me of indecision.

of how my life, is a result of dazed confusion.s

kambaqt taqdeer (damn luck) and Ishqiya experience

Arsenal lost 1-3 to ManU, this means that only miracles can keep Arsenal in the title race. Fingers Crossed! 

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Watched  Matchpoint, a dramatic thriller film written and directed by Woody Allen. I am not an admirer of Woody Allen, but I like this movie. 

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And I enjoyed watching 'Ishqiya'. This movie is fast paced story of crime taking place in so called "middle india" or "indian hinterland". Its not preachy, its not lengthy, it hasn't even got message. But its enjoyable, only if you can ignore the "dehati gaali". Arshad Warsi is the show-stealer, and Naseeruddin Shah gives another credible performance and never letting his brilliance overshadow Arshad's emergence. I also liked Vidya Balan's act in this movie, while other actors seemed perfectly authentic and natural in their characters. The script/dialogues are witty/smart and if serious never out of place. In the end this movie feels like a "Spaghetti Western". I won't spoil your experience by telling the theme and story of this movie. Don't compare it to Tarantino's work but I am sure its not really far from his excellent style. Kudos to everyone who made this movie possible. Watch it guys, and avoid it if you like sugar-coated conservative stories.

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Missed "Veer", which in the end turned out to be blessing, as my friends did not really praise the movie.

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Its getting late, I need to sleep. 

Adios Amigo!

Finally I did it!!

So finally I did it. After nearly a year I got my hair cut. It had grown reasonably long, almost till my shoulder, and my hair had natural "step cut" as described by my sister. Anyway, now all of that is gone. And with that goes away, oiling-massage-washing-drying process that took away precious time of my routine. Now there is no worry of all that and I can be carefree about them, no typing bandana etc. Still I fondly miss my hair, that were a great accessory to use while head-banging to heavy metal music. Now my bandana's need to folded and be placed in the drawer, and I need to buy a new cap. Vanity aside, I was really determined to grow my hair even longer, but insistence from some people I love, made me go for a snip. Heck! I was almost rivaling Hrithik Roshan's current look (for the movie 'Kites'). Of course, that would be like comparing Taj Mahal (his looks) to Biwi Ka Maqbara (my looks). So enough of self-depreciating humor. I love trying out new styles, be it, hair styles or beard styles. I like change, at least for things I can change, hate to do the same thing over and again. Of course, it doesn't apply to everything, but still.  

Adios to you all. 

And also adios to my long hair! may they stay happy without me. :( 

stuff and more

Arsenal face bolton again today.. I hope Arsenal win!! Sol Campbell believes he can provide Arsenal with the experience they need to land the title...i hope he can....

In last match, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas produced an impressive display on his return from injury as Arsenal won 2-0 to spoil new Bolton manager Owen Coyle's 'homecoming'. 

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I watched "Sherlock Holmes", its a mind blowing movie. I am a big fan of "Guy Ritchie" movies. Really loved his earlier two movies. Here Robert Downey Jr gives a new twist to Holmes character and acts so brilliantly, that in each scene, you stop caring about the story, and always wonder what cool quotes he will make. Jude Law and other actors act perfectly, the story and theme setting is also engrossing. A very good movie, worth a watch more than once.

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Also saw "Chance Pe Dance",  its a time pass movie, like "ajab gajab", while this is less comedy than later one. But theme is similar to "luck by chance" . This one is for Shahid Kapoor fans. For non-shahid fans there is his dancing, always bubbly n cuddly Genelia. Story is light but half baked. Little bit of emotion more fun and no logic. But its all about Shahid. His style and dance. 

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A quote from the movie: Sherlock Holmes:- Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

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Also had watched "Paranormal Activity (PA)" some time back. Not exactly the best horror movie. But in the breed of no-budget films shot on a elementary camera, it is one of the best. It follows the realistic documentary style of "Blair Witch Project(BWP)" and to some extent "Cloverfield". Still among the three, Cloverfield is special because it gives a "first person perspective", while "PA" and "BWP" are both good, "BWP" is marginally a better movie. Still "PA" in all is a good movie, which may not scare the "horror movie experts who fear none" but surely will scare others who are more gullible. 

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So lots of stuff, happening in one post, more comprehensive and analytical post some time soon. 

Adios! for now..

Natarang - Movie Review

I watched "Natarang". Its a marathi movie, which tells the story of an artist struggle in the field of Marathi folk entertainment art form called "Tamasha". His ordeals as he is typecasted and abused for playing a feminine male role called "Nachya". And how he overcomes the abuse to achieve fame and success. This movie has many elements jokes, tragedy, socio-political mirrors, love story, artist struggle, selfish behaviour, sacrifice, but more importantly its a window into the world of one misunderstood person. Played superbly by Atul Kulkarni, who deserves an award for it. Sonalee as the dancer is perfectly seductive, while other actors acted convincingly. None of the characters seemed out of place. Not the kind of movie you may see too many times, but a movie which should be in the list of one of best marathi movies. Worth a watch for the quality of performances.
And one more thing, I felt it was technically a brilliant movie, good production and great visuals, which some time back was unheard of.
Kudos to everyone who made this movie possible. And congrats to Atul Kulkarni for his excellent performance. And still can't forget the seduction of the character played by sonalee (a young actress).