20 20

Itz T20 now with the IPL going on.. it wud be interesting to see which all teams make it to the top four, as most of the teams are separated by only a few points.

But then I feel this IPL is so much more boring compared to the last edition.. I guess the tourney shifted out of India is one important reason.. the crowd, the excitement, the atmosphere u see in Indian stadiums.. that ain't der now.  Nother reason is the umpteen no of ads u see(especially those vodafone ones.. i really find them very irritating..), and this 'strategic' break..(gr8 strategy from those money-makers..).

Above all, the cricket u see in T20 has got pretty boring.  Initially when T20 came into the fray.. its was really fun to see this action-packed form of cricket.. either you see 4s and 6s.. or wickets...it was action all the time. But then.. thats all is der in d game.. batsmen try to hit.. bowlers try not to get hit. It resembles more like the street cricket we used to play.. there are 5-6 players in every team.. each team plays for 5 ovrs.. and everyone comes and just throws his bat around.

You dont see those fiery and long spells by bowlers, testing the batsmen continuously with line and length, movement, etc etc.. here its more about variation, making things unpredictable for the batsmen, changing pace.. you see our Indian bowlers like Pathan and Balaji bowling slow balls to surprise batsmen.. well, they are already slow.. and batsmen just lose patience waiting for the ball to come..itd be more of a surprise if they bowl fast occasionally.You dont see those lil contests between batsmen and bowler.. remember when Ishant got Ponting out after troubling him continuously for some 8 overs.. that was Ishant continuously prodding at Ponting's weaknesses, making him miss, playing on his mind all the time.. and finally getting his reward.. and words of appreciation from Ponting himself. Or those hard-earned and long partnerships in testing conditions and pressure situations, those innings(es) of character from guys like Dravid, those situations when a spinner is bowling and fielders all around the batsmen waiting for the edge.. well, these are all the stuff that make cricket such a rich and special game.. endurance, fitness, concentration, precision, and ofcourse.. class.

T20 is a good advertisement for the game.. no doubt... but then it's not what cricket is all about. You can have occasional T20 games.. but T20 tournaments make no sense.. the upcoming world cup and all. I feel serious cricket cant get shorter than 50 overs.

2 more exams to go.. then m done. Then comes all the packing work, paying all the dues n all.. gonna be one big headache. If only I can outsource all that work to sum1..And this system of mine..I was thinking I will just leave it around ovr here.. no1 wud even touch it.. but then.. no..i gotta take it home.. its 2 close to my heart..my best frnd for the past 2 1/2 yrs.. gonna b a hell of a task carryin it home.

So then, I take this 'opportunity' to wish every NITCian good luck with life.. as our wise profs said..its all about being happy. 

Longing to get home.. 

(P.S.  Put that image just to add a lil something to my blog.. And of course... m a CSK fan.)

At Home for the weekend

(P.S. Sitting at home.. bored.. so I thought I would write something. This is gonna be really pointless.. so read on, if you have nothing else to do :) )

Bored of the monotony of life in college, of the same pathetic mess food, of the hours of boredom when you are logging on to gmail/orkut every half hour in search of new mails/scraps, or scanning the LAN every now and then for new stuff.. I thought I would rather go home. Well, I could also sense that my parents were entertaining thoughts of coming to college to see me.. so, I rushed home before any such thoughts could take shape :) .

Took the Chennai Express train... it was a relief when 'Chennai Central' finally arrived.. and we could get out of the train, after spending a really hot and uncomfortable night inside the train. Believe me.. the people in the upper berths climbed down and sat for a while in the bottom berths every time the train halted at some station.. it was simply unbearable when the train was not moving.

And then, you walk out of the station.. and you are mobbed by dozens of auto-rickshaw wallahs. I actually kinda like it.
"SIRRR SIRRR.. Auto venumaa? Vaanga SIRR.. Namma autoku vaanga SIR.. "
"SIR.. Unga bag enkitta kudunga SIR.. enga SIR poganum? Vaanga SIRRR autola pogalam.."
"No.. Thanks. I'll go on my own."
"No.. I wish I could.. but No.. sorry."
"No.. itz a pretty light bag.. Just has some dirty clothes.Thanks neeways. "
I sorta give the impression that there's a Benz waiting there for me somwhere around the corner and then silently sneak in amidst the crowd into the subway.. to get to the adjacent 'Park' Metro Rail station.

Just as you enter the 'Park' station.. you can see 3 'really long' queues.. people waiting to get their tickets. Often, this 'ticket-buying' time exceeds the time of the journey itself.

So then, you input the details of the queues and apply your engineering skills to place yourself in the best optimal position, so that you could get your tickets as fast as possible.

Well.. almost every time I come here.. there is always some wierd incident or the other, that happens. Mostly, it's about people coming up with really imaginative stories about the kind of emergency they are in and why they want to cut the queue. Once, a guy heeded to a request of a rather pretty-looking girl in a hurry, who gave him change and requested a ticket to some destination. Now.. this is really cheeky.. very much within the legal framework.. not directly questionable at all because each person can get as many tickets he wants. Of Course, this doesn't stop others from passing all kinds of insults about the poor guy.. mostly about how a guy would do anything for a girl who simply passes him a warm smile, etc etc. The people in the adjacent queues join the fun as well, with their own rich vocabulary.. even if the small favour doesn't affect them in the remotest possible way.(I SWEAR.. I was NOT that guy.. just a witness :) )

Hmm.. thats pretty much it I guess. Can't think of anything else to write. Feeling good that I created a blog post out of nothing. I hope it was as pointless as I promised it to be.
Tight days ahead at college I guess. But then, we have the skill to remain jobless and carefree even during the tightest of days.. Don't we?
Until next time.
Adieu.

Just a few more days at NITC...

Hmmm.. Around a month left for college to end, and we can be sure that it will simply whiz by, considering that the next few days are laced with so much stuff... project, quizzes, term papers n all. In no time, we will be packing our bags and bidding goodbye. It's quite hard to believe that I've spent 4 years at this place... that morning on the Mangalore mail when I woke up to be dazzled by the spectacular scenery and the beautiful drizzle outside doesn't seem to be so long ago.

It's been quite an experience at this wonderful place. I am sure I've learned so so much over here.. some lessons I will carry with me for the rest of my life. College is the time when you leave the comfort zone of your home for the first time in your life and you are out there as an individual, facing life on your own. You observe and get to learn from so many different people around you, each formed of different ideas and beliefs.. and that's where the biggest plus of hostel life comes in. It was the time when I thought deeply of my strengths and weaknesses, when I did a lot of soul-searching and introspection. Most importantly, it was the time when I realised that either I change, or be entrenched in the realm of mediocrity forever.

Of course, it's also been fun. Lots and lots of fun. Right from the times in first year inside the closed walls of the supremely secure A hostel when we were playing cards discreetly, and hiding them under the bedsheets every time someone knocked lest the warden finds out and slaps a memo, the educative but forbidden movie shows at the common room, the ragging sessions when we were valiantly trying to distinguish and remember the biodatas of the numerous TN girls in our batch, the innumerable bunks and proxies, the occasions when we were roaming the streets near to NITC frantically in search, the Counter Strike madness, the 'vetti' times in final year when we were playing each and every game under the sun and resolved to get up at 6 in the morning and play badminton daily for the rest of our lives, the unforgettable stint at the 'ruthless' fourz arena.. and it's aftermath :) , and the few trips we had, it's simply been amazing fun.

So then.. now it's time to move on and enter the 'real' world. How do I feel? I dunno.. it's pretty complex to express. I still distinctly remember the feeling when I was on my first ever day at school, surrounded by unknown people in an unfamiliar environment, unsure of what's going to come next. Perhaps, I am kind of feeling like that once again.
Only this time.. I ain't scared.