Its been ages since I started this blog.
Now its the time for destruction and rebirth.
I stand to dissolve this blog. The blog will die its natural death and
a new form will take birth

PS: The lady in the picture is Yulia Tymoshenko - Prime Minister Ukraine.

Kursi => Authority or Responsibility

For the last few days I was thinking about the "kissa kursi ka".
When somebody gets the right to occupy the chair, does it mean s/he has the authority or has some responsibility been bestowed on them?
I ask this question because many of my friends (who also happen to be the readers of this blog) are already sitting on chairs and will sit on other chairs in the future.
India is a country where we easily accept the statement "Jiski lathi usiki bhais". Where do we see people sitting on chairs exerting their authority. Take the case of CBI enquiries against former CMs ordered by the new CMs. This is a case of vendetta more than it is an intention of bringing the guilty to book.
I just wonder why the men in chair forget that they have been nominated to don the chair because people have given them responsibility. They are supposed to exercise only that authority which is justified bu the responsibility they handle.
A simple way of detecting if the person has lost a sense of responsibility is to observe the way he speaks. If there is no tinge of humility or politeness, you know the person is off-track.
To end this discussion, I will recall the words of one the best Prime Leaders and one of the finest orators. He was responsible for the security of the citizens of India. This gave him the authority to direct Modi to carry out his "RajDharma" (a king's responsibility).

As for the pic, she is the new girl on the block. Though she does not come anywhere close to the two queens Katrina Kaif and Ayesha Takia, she has a bright future. All great things have a death and from the rubble rise the new stars. It was only after the sad demise of Ayrton Senna that Schuamacher could rise to the heights that remain unparalleled.

Fuel price hike

Finally the decision to hike fuel prices has been taken.
When the input costs double, I believe it takes 2 years to take the decision to raise the selling price. But this is the super efficient UPA government with highly learned Prime Minister and Finance Minister, highly honourable Gandhi family to sanction the government decision and the Left provide some much-needed policy help. Thus, the government finally managed to hike the price by 10% and reduce the central taxes to a certain extent.

The subsidy burden which stood at 2.45 trillion rupees will reduce by 0.45 trillion. The PSU oil companies will bear a loss of 0.65 trillion and the rest 1.35 trillion will be borne by the government.
Now for the reservation-premi government, 1.35 trillion can easily set-up 15 IITs and even provide them with working capital for years to come. Also, the subsidy goes down the drain whereas these IITs will produce engineers who will be productive in their future life.

The worst part of the subsidy and taxation structure is that it totally distorts the energy consumption pattern. Diesel that HPCL buys in Mumbai is costlier than petrol. But, the retail price of petrol is a good 40% higher than Diesel. Higher you consume higher is the subsidy that you get and more the noise you make on news channels to continue with the subsidies.
No money to oil companies means no new exploration, no city gas distribution projects and no search of the alternative to oil. Indian bio-diesel policy is waiting to be finalised by the cabinet since 5 years. Dr APJ Kalam had announced the bio-fuel mission in 2003. Countries like Brazil have changed their energy mix. All new cars use 85% ethanol.
But, in India with the distorted pricing mechanism there is no incentive to search for the alternatives.

Even the BJP is behaving like a bunch of idiots. The fuel price hike is inevitable, demand-supply law has to take precedence in a market-economy. I am also surprised as to can the average Indian be so stupid to expect the government to keep on bearing the subsidy? Government finances are not invented money like that of entrepreneurs, money given to one cause means money deducted from somewhere else. I started this post with the decision making, it remains to see how many months it takes for BEST to raise the bus fares.

As for the usual pic that accompanies the post, since Varun could not fully appreciate the last pic, this post contains none, he has to relook at the old one and see its beauty. The beauty is in the face of the girl and not the surroundings.

Travelogue

Posting after a long time, so have to post about this long and ardous journey.

I was supposed to reach Gurgaon, Sukhrali at 5.50 pm. Started from my house in Rohini at 4 pm. The distance is 45km. Assuming 30km/hr I should reach in time.
Caught a Cycle Rickshaw to the nearest bus stop. Caught a DElhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus to the nearest big Depot. On reaching there, I spotted a bus which would drop me right to my detination. But, there was a small hurdle: the bus did not have any gas, so the conductor told us that he would go in the Depot and get the gas filled.
Half an hour of wait under the tree and a bus came out. 10 of us boarded the bus and 50 mtrs down the road, the driver abruptly brakes and comes to a smooth halt. He informs us that the "bus is breaking down". What astrolgers these DTC drivers. They know when their buses are going to get sick. Another 15 mins and finally I am inside the bus sitting comfortably.
Half and hour goes by and I sense something unusual. Though there are just 10 people in the bus, the conductor hasn't come to ask for my ticket. Then I realise that this is not Mumbai and I have to go to where the conductor is sitting to buy the ticket. At least he is in the bus physically, better than just signing the register and going home. Also, the bus seems never to have a halt at any of the bus stops. This reminded me of the Sardar joke; A sardar chases down a DTC bus and manages to heave himself in. The bus is empty but for a few passengers. Sardar goes to the driver and asks him

sardar: “Yeh bus teri maa lagti hai?”

driver: “nahi”

sardar: “Yeh bus teri behen lagti hai?”

driver: “nahi”

sardar: “Yeh bus teri biwi lagti hai?”

driver: “nahi bhai”

sardar: “Toh tu mujhe buspe chadhne kyun nahi deta?”

My journey was detined to be doomed and the terrorists too had a hand to play. There was grapevine that a bomb was diffused on Chawri Bazar (old Delhi) and there were huge traffic jams. As it is either the bus was incapable of going beyond 30 Km/Hr or the driver was too lazy, on top of that, the road diversion and I reached my destination at 7pm.

3 hours of boring journey and I reach tired. But, DTC is happy that they have provided such “cheap” transport. Transport policy makers in India refuse to go beyond “cost, accessibility, safety” to the time factor when it comes to public transport.

When coming back, I decided to give a ditchu to DTC and caught a call centre sharing cab. In 20 rupess, it dropped me right at my doorstep in flat 1 hr. But, the government doesn't recognise this form of transport as legal and these cab drivers are in constant fear of the police.

NCR region is the richest in India and has the maximum car density in India, but when it comes to public service delivery, it fails miserably. Mumbai at least provides good service even if it is insufficient to cater to such a huge population. Delhi is a gloring example of how we Indians fail when it comes to working together for the benefit of all without directly benifitting a single person.

Controversial Sania and Raj

Sania has made a very controversial decision by deciding not to play in the Bangaluru open where even the Williams sisters are set to play.
But, this decision has been a reaction to the constant torture faced by her from fellow Indians who can't see any other Indian succeed. An environment has been created where all merit is perceived to be foreign and nobody believes that India and Indians can so something great.
Though I was never interested in the girl or her sport, I remember a Sania with a "nath" in her nose. Today, Sania and any other typical European lady cannot be distinguished by the uninitiated. This is because the concept of beauty widely accepted by India today is of European origin.
Sania is just a victim of this "only foreign originated is good".

Coming to the hot topic of North Indians in Mumbai, instead of castigating Raj Thackeray, the leaders of the cow belt should introspect as to why do so many people move out of UP and Bihar and come to Mumbai and live in sub-human conditions. Whoever re-emphasizes that all Indian citizens have a right to settle in Mumbai an earn their living should first ask why any Indian citizen cannot buy and own a house/land in Kashmir or the north-eastern states.

BOON TO YOU

It was sometime in May 2007 that I was suggested by an extraordinary soul to install UBUNTU on my brand new laptop. The promise of free software and freedom was irresistible and I installed the OS. I was forcing myself out of the clutches of Microsoft. But, I was not ready for this journey. I wasn’t prepared for the change in mindset as also the extra effort and initiative.

The installation was smooth and the look of the OS was good. But, I banged into a big wall. My Broadcomm wireless card was not detected and I could not use the wireless internet. This was as good as not having a laptop or using one sometime in the 1970s. Now I realized the real difference between Windows and Linux: you fend for yourself in Linux and thus you are the master. In Windows, you blindly believe MS and hence are chronically dependent on them. My wireless did not work and the frustration mounted. During the time, I was parted from my laptop because of my long duration official trips. Thus came November and I was contemplating migrating back to Microsoft. But, I mustered hope inspired from the plight of the BABA man. He was torn apart trying to migrate UBUNTU. He could not break himself from the bond of enslavement from MS. He found the effort worthless.

Now, I wanted to prove to myself that I have the courage and resilience to go the distance. As my journey progressed, I was introduced by the faithful soul to a financial accounting software Gnnucash. I started maintaining my daily accounts with the help of this software. Gnucash has diverse and versatile capabilities. An account all your financial transactions can be maintained in this software. Even investments can be logged into the software. But, how do you see your capital gains. Income and expenses are exactly what they are, but the value of investments changes on daily basis. So, how do I measure what money I put and what is it worth now. Here the wizardy capabilitites of Gnucash came handy. Gnucash has the facility of retrieving the stock quotes online. But, is it possible with Indian stocks? Have the stock exchanges in India become technically savvy enough? Do Indian markets have the might to develop the stake which forces popular websites to stream online quotes of Indian stocks? And the answer is yes. Yahoo Asia gives realtime quoted for stocks listed in the NSE. Now came the most difficult part: getting to the technical grind and configuring the Gnucash application. After two days of struggle, I finally managed to get online quotes not only for the stocks but also for mutual funds. I was thrilled and convinced of the cutting edge technology of Linux.

After this small success, I am past Microsoft and have stepped irreversibly into the free world of linux. I am happy that I didn’t disappoint the soul whose name I reveal at the end of the article: RVB.

Economics in one Lesson : Book Review

This is one of the best books I have read. Very lucid and always revolving round the central theme. The essence of the book is summarized in the author’s words itself as

“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate, but at longer effects of any act or policy, it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group, but for all groups.”

It is significant to note that the author calls economics an art and thus distances economics from the rigors statistics or what in modern days is called econometrics. The author takes up different issues like supply-demand principle, subsidies, tax sops, price control, import-export policy and analyses (using the before mentioned principle) the effects of a particular policy on different groups of people viz. producers, consumers, tax-payers and indirectly affected people. Pure straight thinking and natural reasoning flows to draw conclusions of which we know, but are not aware or refuse to accept. All the reasoning in the book is based on the following axiom.

“Something cannot be created out of nothing”
In other words,
“Economic resources have alternative uses and the best policy is the one which which produces net gain in the long run.”

Also, the author tends to rely on the belief that

“Nature always tries to reach a static equilibrium” which does happen in mechanics but is contrary to the III Law of Thermodynamics: “In any thermodynamic process, entropy (chaos) is always greater than or equal to zero.”

I would recommend this book to all those interested in economic and business policy. It would entice those people who believe in long-term rather than quick-fix solutions. One reason I liked the book was that the author thinks in a way similar to the author of the book “The Intelligent Investor” viz Benjamin Graham. They both believe that making your point louder and more often doesn’t make it right. A short review of this Geeta of investment philosophy will come next.

Available at:http://www.mises.org/books/onelesson.pdf

At what cost?

We make choices everyday, some with due consideration some impulsively. Choices decide the course of our journey and we realise which road we are on only after coverung a great distance. Then we start thinking: Am I achieving what I had set out to? Were the sacrifices I made to come here worth it? Do I really want this at the price I paid for it? Many a times either we don't realise how much we pay for something or we don't anticipate what price we will have to pay in the future

This is the theme of the movie "Life in a Metro". We work long hours just to earn few more Rupees for our family, but do we realise that our family requires more time than money? What happens when the spouse can't fulfill their emotional needs from each other? (Shilpa and Kay Kay).
The "at whatever cost" attitude makes us commit so many crimes, but only when the consequences are reflected in our personal life do we realise that the "cost" was just too high. (Sharman and Kangna-what a babe).
The movie also narrates the oft repeated story of "waiting a bit more for the perfect thing". One can always invest more time and achieve more but the law of diminishing returns always holds and one should not expect "beyong a point". (Konkana and Irfan).

So, all in all the movie makes us sit back and think about what we are running after and what we are leaving behind.

PS: Shilpa has one of the best figures in Bollywood. The pic is the first on my blog which tilts towards beinf termed erotic

Open up (Notebook)

Friends, after witnessing a lot of fights, some sensible (Bhute Vs Thite) and others just for the sake (Bhute Vs Bhise), I have finally migrated to Linux.
And guess what, I have made my recently purchased Compaq notebook totally open. It has only one OS and it is Kubuntu. Now the three of us Bhute (Ubuntu), Bhise (Xubuntu) included have Ubuntu with each enjoying his flavour of the Desktop.
The migration has been made possible after I learnt Solaris on joining Siemens.
I would like to thank Bhute for spending his time on me and help me migrate to the open world - I myself feel free. Though the change has been sudden and I don't have my old ways to fall back on, I am navigating the open world by RTFM.
Both my notebook and me will take some time to stabilise with the new OS. This would be the time of maximum learning. Also, I feel fully confident of using the net for more purposes as Linux is free of malice. So, the next step would be to configure my personal financial software and use it to track my investment portfolio online.

As for the lady in the pic, I simply can't see her marrying to Salman. It is difficult to accept. But, I have always maintained that man should always accept the truth and I have had the strength till this point in my life.

So, adhering to the principle of accepting the truth and conronting relaity head on, read the piece of article on this link http://valueresearchonline.com/story/storyview.asp?str=9903 and send in your comments.

Humko Deewana kar gayee

Heard in the news today morning that Salman and Katrina are getting married.

This is the saddest day of my life. I have seen Katrina movies sitting alone in the theatre and now....

How the hell can she marry a man of her father's age. Forget that, how can she marry somebody who crushed people under his car and doesn't care about it?

Any volunteers for Jehad against Salman?

A new Beginning

Dear Friends, we have now started earning money and saving for the future is part of earning a living. Our wants are unlimited and the means to satisfy them are limited.
But, good financial planning can make our life easy. Financial planning not only helps maximise the power of money, but also saves us from shocks and crises when we need the money not to satisy our want but need.
I would like to share with some of my knowledge and learnings which I have gained through my passion for the financial markets. I am starting a series with the first article dealing with investment options.

INVESTMENT BASICS

Definition: Part of the income set aside today to create higher value/purchasing power tomorrow.

Investment options:
1. Debt:
a) An investment instrument that gives non-negative returns.
b) Generally safer with low-moderate returns.
c) Available instruments:
i. National Saving Certificates (Post Office)
ii. Public and Employee provident funds
iii. Bank Fixed Deposits.
iv. Government and corporate Bonds (direct purchase)
v. Debt mutual funds (indirect bond purchase)
d) What returns may be expected?
Historically, till about 1998 (since socialist eras) interest rates were about 15-18%. Then came the phase of low interest rates: 8-9 %. Again, the interest rates have started moving upwards closer to 10%.
e) The first three instruments need very less deliberation from the investor, though investment in other debt instruments requires knowledge.
2. Equity:
Definition: Direct or indirect ownership stake in a company.
a) The chances of returns are in both directions ie positive as well as negative.
b) Equities are riskier and need careful active investment.
c) Higher the risk taken, higher the potential (not actual) returns.
d) What returns may be expected?
In the last 5 years ie since Jan 2002, top mutual funds have returned 50% annually ie Rs. 100 would have become Rs. 760.
But, there are market crashes which could wipe out the entire money eg the 2001 tech bubble where lot of companies lost all their value. The recent May 2006 crash where lot of companies lost 60-70% share price. One can take the examples of the 1929 or the 1969 US market crash. Thus, it also depends on the shares that one purchases.
There are phases in the stock markets, where the prices go nowhere eg Indian markets were in the 3000-4000 range between 2001 and 2003.
3. Bullion (Gold, Silver):
a) Jewelery is not an investment but an adornment.
b) Gold/silver having very less correlation to the stock markets is used to spread the risk of the portfolio.
c) Returns are generally low and it is used as a hedge against downslide.
4. Enterprising Assets (Timber, Commodities, Real Estate):
a) The house you stay in (single house) is not an investment, but a necessity.
b) Buying these assets to be considered to diversify your investments.
c) What returns may be expected?
Since 1960 till 2000, the best performing asset has been timber with 6% annualized returns.

Summary Matrix

Investment Risk Potential Return Volatility Liquidity
Debt Low-moderat e Low-moderate Low-moderate Low-moderate
Equity Moderate-high Moderate-high Moderate-high High
Bullion Low-moderate Low-moderate Low-moderate Moderate-high


INVESTMENT STRATEGY:
1. Investments are made to satisfy needs which may range from funding education (of self or children), marriage, house/car purchase, retirement corpus. Hence, an investor must start with a well defined need (ie set a target).
2. The different needs are to be satisfied at different times and hence the investment time period is different. This provides a guideline. For example, if you have to purchase a house in the next 3 months, you won't park those funds in equity as if the stock prices decrease, you will not be able to buy the house.
3. The investor should decide her risk-tolerance capacity ie who are her dependents and how badly she requires the invested money. If the investor has dependents (old parents, spouse/children who have to be supported) she cannot take too much risk.
4. The investor should then assess her risk taking capability ie how would she feel if her money decreases by 20% in 1 month: will she panic?

5. Thus, depending on the need (or aim), time, risk tolerance capacity, a strategic plan must be prepared to allocate the available funds for investment into the various asset classes. The risk-return (likely) scenarios of asset classes differ ( also with time) and the investment plan may be effectively implemented by investing fractional parts in the various asset classes.
6. A low-risk portfolio would consist more of debt than of equity and a more aggressive one the exact opposite.
7. The overall returns do not depend so much on the individual instruments (20%) as on asset allocation (80%). Thus, asset allocation is the key to achieve sustainable returns and to manage risk.


Definitions:
1. Asset: Something which you would be proud of passing to the next generation
2. Hedge: Strategy used to minimise the impact of a risk
3. Liquidity: Ease of converting the asset to cash.

Confessions of a sinner

You may consider this as some kind of a postscript to my 'Ab toh Zinda Hoon' blog-entry.
After travelling in the company bus for the past couple of months, I now had to travel in train again on Saturday. Thinking that the trains would be relatively empty, I chose this mode of transport over road. But, then my calculations had gone wrong and I could clearly see that I would remain standing on Kandivli station for an hour before I could board any train.
A thought suddenly struck me, why not travel in 1st class till Malad and catch the starting train at 8.35 am? I would be travelling in 1st class for just one stopover and then get back to 2nd class. I don't know whether it was a big sin travelling in the compartment I was not entitled to. My circumstances dictated my actions. Can't decide who the bigger sinner is; me or the railway planning authorities who forced me to do such a thing?
Is there anything like right or wrong? Or the fact that I ensured because of my travelling 1st class, I didn't put anybody in inconvenience. (I was standing at the door without occupying anybody alse's place)

Friends!!

What did I do in the four years of engineering- study, study and study?
Well yes, without getting the marks. But, thats not what I value. I made some great friends. Sitting late in the evening in the Gymkhana........that was bliss.
I made friends for life. And this I realise from a few weeks of parting. They will abuse, insult, make jokes about you, make u believe they have long gone past you, but they are the ones who will always remember you and be there for you.

Guys my heart goes out to you.

But, do remember life is very uncertain, anything can happen and thus please cherish each and every moment that you get. Life is not a input-output linear algebraic equation, its Fourier series, so enjoy life and be prepared to bear the burden of duties.

The pic says it all

And for those who think my blog is dead, its dormant through all the churnings of the past few weeks. It will be back....

Win-O-Win

IST 8.00pm, 20-05-2006, West Indies comes into bat. Within two overs, Gayle and Morton disappear. Lara comes into bat at score 1 with 2 wickets down. I am very happy, will get to see Lara batting for a long time.
IST 8.45pm, Lara out to a loose shot. He as well as me-totally frust. I totally lose hope from the match, though I keep track of the score as Sarwan is still in there.


Next day morning, I just check the results out of curiosity and I see a jubilant Bravo on cricinfo.
Moral: Never lose hope, try and keep trying even if the circumstances are totally against you. And yes, don't undermine the West Indies and especially Lara.

Ab to Zinda Hoo (Kaise?)

What do you think? The freedom to make a decision is actually a boon or a pain?
Do you want to take all your decisions yourself or let someone better suited take it for you. If you are a liberal, you will pitch in for the first choice but do not dismiss the second. Because if you take decisions wihtout due considerations or those which you are not qualified to take, it may result in any consequence.

Today, I was standing on platform no.2, Kandivli. A local train came and stopped on platform 4. Apparently, somebody had pulled the chain and it was an unscheduled stop. The time to take a decision had come, and I ran to platform 4. Nobody was willing to take me inside the train and I had to remain hanging on the door.
Malad came and I started realising my mistake. My hands became numb and my legs started shaking half-way thruogh to Goregaon. It didn't take great intelligence to guess the future. But, I requested the passengers, told them my condiiton and they did help me somehow get in and I was saved. My initial assesment that there was space inside the train for one person was right but I overestimated my abilities of hanging on the doors.

A bad decision was just saved saved from becoming the last.

What I saw in my friends.

I missed Varun's name when I first published this post. He was an obviuos choice for inclusion in the post and that is the exact reason why I missed writing about him. I would not be writing anything about him in this post. He has been the inspiration for me to start and continue writing the blog.

1. Yogesh Tarate: Has anybody seen this guy not smiling? Whatever the situation, whatever the challenge: this guy is always happy to be there at that moment. He taught me to look forward to life and face it with optimism.
2. Vidyadhar Bhise: “Nothing is impossible. Tension nahi hai, shyam tak ho jayega.” How to believe in yourself and especially your convictions is worth learning from this guy.
3. Rohit Bhute: Observing this guy will tell you how to approach technology and English language. This person has a sharp intellect, logical and clear thinking.
4. Pramod Gupta: The most honest and desirable friend one can have. He will never fail your trust and you can expect him to be always there for you. He also carries out his duties with utmost reverence. He is my guru-this is the guy who introduced me to the world of carom.
5. Vikas Dixit: Very quick witted: can think on his toes. He has a very good presence of mind. Has a good, cultured personality. Will die for a friend, but will never desert him. Learn friendship from him. One thing is for sure, you will enjoy his company-very humorous.
6. Aditya Save: Has immense potential to do hard work. Exactly when you think he can’t beyond this point, he overcomes all the barriers and surpasses your imagination.
7. Bhupendra Amodekar: I have always felt at home in his company. If you want to learn how to build and maintain a network of friends, learn this art from Dahisar Mania and especially its leader-Bhupi.
8. Anwesh Das: How to bare the brunt even though you don’t deserve such treatment and still come out of the situation smiling and ever stronger. He is very intelligent and multi-talented.
9. Sridhar Narayanan: If anybody can give competition to Save, he is that person. I am trying to solve the puzzle as to how this guy manages to do so many things at the time.
10. Hrishikesh Thite: How this man survives to live another day is a mystery to me. He would eat and drink just seconds before he would die exhausted but won’t do the same earlier as it was not required so early. He does all the work as late as possible (should have been born in Japan) but still manages to do the best job. One more thing, has excellent contacts, especially his saasu ani mavshi.
11. Swapnil Jadhav: This person does his job without bothering about the numerous jokers around him. Before you prepare to take guard, he is past the finishing line.
12. Nirbhay Singhal: This guy amazes with his energy and enthusiasm and an always ready attitude. He is the right person when you need adventurism and courage. Also, he is true to his name; absolutely nidar.
13. Piyush Shah: Just one sentence; He is the Karna of our class-an embodiment of all the qualities mentioned above.

What Rs. 50,000 crores can do!

Anyone of the following things can be done with that kind of money.
• 10 IITs.
• 10 IIMs
• 10,000 primary schools assuming 5 crore capital investment per school. Each
school would teach at least 1000 students, thus the money would provide
education to 10 million children.
• Metro rail for Mumbai with a carrying capacity of 4 million per day.
• Slum rehabilitation: Assuming Rs. 1million per house, homes for 0.5 million
families.
• Employment guarantee: Assuming minimum wage of Rs. 100 per day for 200
days in a year, employment can be provided to 2.5 million people.
• 10 million computers with broadband connectivity for 1 year.
• CNG distribution infrastructure for at least 5 cities of the size of Mumbai.
• Sewage treatment (100%) for all the waste generated by Mumbai.
• Assuming Rs. 1 million per public toilet ( with proper maintenance and sewage
disposal) catering to 100 people per day, 0.5 million toilets can be built which
would service 50 million people (equivalent to 3 Mumbais).

Just imagine what difference each of the above measures would make to the Indian
society and economy.

But, you must be wondering from where to get the Rs. 50,000 crore. Simple: stop giving subsidies on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene and that kind of money will be available per year.

Waiting for the day

Its 3rd May and less than a month to go for the last exam of Engineering to get over.
I a dying for this. The 8th Sem has given me quite bad experiences and I am in a mood to forget SP soon. But, in SPCE I also has a lot of memories and have made a lot of friends. I am planning to write a post similar the awards posts started by Varun, bhise, bhute. Hope u people will look forward for the same.
For the last few weeks since my incepttion into Bhute's team my life seems to have taken the turn that was written by Bhute and I totally into role playing. I have truly been roughed up as a random variable. But, guys Bhute dude has formed his teams of the right persons and I am fit for this rough job.

magic in pipeline?

slept yesterday night at 2.30 am (was having a long chat with my father) and got up at 6.30 just to wake up to wet outfield and a delayed start to the West Indies Vs New Zeland Test. Play started and Lara came into bat in half an hour. watched Lara with anticipation and apprehension

Observations: lara had changed his style. His bat usually kisses the ground just before the bowler delivers the ball. Now it was hanging in the air. Maybe he wanted to be sure of not being late playing the ball. He was not having the extravagant "run" towards his off stump thus in the process exposing his leg stump. As a result he was able to leave deliveries that were much closer to his body.
Where do u see the world's leading run scorer working so hard and re-inventing himself after playing 15 years at the international level. Thats the grit, determination, flexibility and desire of Lara.
I get a feeling that a big inning is in the making. If not for the big score, one should see Lara bat for the patience, perseverance and determination to succeed whatever the odds that is reflected from his face and for the humility and honesty that he epitomises.