Sunday, October 23, 2005

Harsha`s mighty pen..

Came across this from one of my favorite cricket writers, or favorite writer even , and this definitely has to go down as a classic for one of the most politely worded dressing downs ever coined .. hats off Harsha :)

The Editor
The Afternoon Despatch and Courier
Mumbai

Oct 01,2005

Sometimes the truth is boring, sometimes fantasy is alluring. Sadly you succumbed to fantasy for the truth in your lead story today is boring; very boring.
On the third day of the test match we were to do a normal post match interview with Sourav Ganguly who had scored a century that day. While we were getting ready for it, our reporter Gautam Bhimani was in the press conference, his role being to bring Ganguly to where our camera was. And so, purely by accident, he heard Ganguly being asked at the press conference about whether he had been asked to step down.
On hearing Ganguly’s answer, Gautam told the producer and me about it and so when Ganguly came along to our interview I merely asked him a question that had already been asked and which he had already answered. I knew nothing about what had transpired between him and Greg Chappell at the time.
Sadly, that is all there is to it. I am sorry to disappoint you and the writer but that is it. There is no plot, no subterfuge. I can see why fantasy was the more interesting option.
“Pawn” therefore was an unfortunate word to use for it suggests moral weakness. And the headline, given all this is untrue and a bit rude.
So can we all be decent people, learn to differentiate between truth and fantasy, ignore those that cannot and apologise if we have made a mistake? On the very page on which the suggestion was made? Suitably bold so that people can see?

Sd/-Harsha Bhogle

Friday, October 21, 2005

Winds of change..

Wasted the week end working on this essay for the home page of my groups..It came out pretty well, so i consider it time well spent, even if i do have a hard time convincing my professors of that, considering my reviews were due 2 hrs ago :) oh well, let it never be said narendran ranjit was a slave to the establishment ;)

We are the batch of 2001-05, Department of tech, SNCE. The importunate first few victims of the Anna university hall of shame.

We were a motley group of individuals brought under a common classroom.
The only thing we agreed on was to disagree, be it mass bunks or hostel stays, movie plans or temple forays, year books or college tours, symposiums or get-togethers
We, were a myriad mixture of the jocks and the nerds, the kadalais and the misogynists, The Bacardi Boys and the Enchanting Eves.

But still, through the cheers and boos, through the nagging and the ragging, through the birthday bumps and semester slumps, through the Project reviews and campus interviews,
as we slept through KKTs diatribes and smarted under Vasuki`s jibes,
as we laughed through MGK`s punch dialogues , cursed CB`s scowling visage,
as we waded through Gayatri`s spit and sat through Seshu`s Sanskrit,
as we smiled over Sivamurugans ‘fefore’s and moaned over Vel`s uproars
as we continued on our merry way from being capricious juveniles to sensible adults,
Characters were built. Careers were chosen. Proposals were made. Lessons were learnt.
Some of us learnt to work. Some of us learnt to play.
Some of us learnt to think before we spoke. Some of us learnt to speak what we thought.
Some of us learnt to laugh more in life. Some of us learnt all is not laughter in life.
Hurdles were overcome. Milestones were reached.
Particularly, differences were forgotten and Friendships were forged.
Within the miniscule span of 4 short years, we laughed and we cried and we fought and we rallied and at the end of it all we emerged undaunted by Anna University’s generous arrears and on our way to become true Engineers…

United, as we once were through the common bond of SSN, separated as we now are through the vagaries of time, as each of us traverse different paths towards the same seductive goal of success, we’re bound together through this one group electronically bridging our geographical diversity. We are, and we will remain, The FreakyTechies...

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Of ears and pierces..


What is it with gals and peircings ?? (ok, so i do know a coupla guys with their ears peirced, but hey , me`s a guy and this is MY blog so i`m entitled to the prejudice :D ) ..Now , why would any1 in their right mind actually want to punch a hole thru their body, or any part of it thereof ?? and actually pay for it , for crying out loud ! hell, i know people who`ve been to jail for punching holes thru bodies ..

Ok, so tradition decrees u got to have 2 piercing for ur ear-rings, that much is fine..what better way to attract a predatory male than send out light signals by the sun reflecting off your dangling dongles ( note: i talking abt ear rings, nothing else).. But why in gods name, wud u want any more??I actually know a gal with 6 holes on each ear, and the assortment of ornaments adorning each one makes it look like she has barbed wire running over them..mabye its her idea of symbolically saying "keep out , u words ! i`m not letting u in my ear" :D..
But i digress, getting back to holes in heads, now what could possibly drive this strange species called females to it ? Something tells me it couldnt possibly be in the interests of comfort .. hmm, let me ponder.. I wud have said these things were a means for the catty bi- , um, girls, to show off ( dont get it ? more holes => more sockets for gold trinkets => "ha ha, i got more jewels than u do" syndrome) , but considering the fad these days seems to be revoltingly colored bits of plastic rather than expensive gold ( parents would be heaving sighs of relief at that no doubt), thats one theory down, and i can think of any other, so my guy magnet theory holds ( until the unlikely event of any specimen of the feminine breed perchance happening upon this blog and deigning to let me in on one of their trade secrets)..so until then, let me smirk and amuse myself observing how far these demure desperate females go to attract us desirable males .. ;)

Sunday, October 16, 2005

4 Adults, 1 Child Killed in Wis. Bus Crash - Yahoo! News

4 Adults, 1 Child Killed in Wis. Bus Crash - Yahoo! News

this news item, the lead story from yahoo headlines, and in many other tv new channels around this yankee land i bet.. To someone accostomed to making monthly sojourns thru ECR, all this headline does is make u pause a sec, and wait for the next line.. ok,4 people died..so ? And whats funny, for want of a more appropriate term , is that there IS no next line.. An accident with 4 casualities is deemed worthy of a news item in itself..

Another part of the same story says "The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating " ..All for a van crash, the driver of which, incidentally ,was 78 years old !

Now, i dont want to sound like one of those uppity nit picking nris turning up their noses and picking up nits at India, but i do wonder, whats so drastically different between ECR and and the US higways? The ECRS in great comdition, as far as indian roads go, so nuthing much different on that front..could it be the cars? more second hand cars ply on the roads here than first hand ones, so i dont think thats it either..so is it the drivers? blame it on the corrupt license officials , as is the norm ? the greater traffic on the roads? or a sheer disregard for traffic sense ? Or on a wackier note, is it just mother natures way of maintaining balance in the ecosystem , ie offsetting the ever growing indian population :D?