Cricket up close...

Ah yes. With the IPL bandwagon hitting the city. It was kinda difficult to go too long without bumping into one or other of the cricketers. Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist were the first two that we bumped into. Unfortunately they were also the most arrogant of the lot. Didn't have the time to pose for a snap before dinner while they were still waiting to fill their plates. Seems like it was too much effort for them to stand still for a second while taking a snap. Herschelle Gibbs here though was a much nicer guy. Posed for pictures, signed a couple of autographs even though he was waiting for his dinner himself. Just goes to show how differently, different people take success. Even our very own R. P. Singh seemed to have picked up his own attitude in his short stint on the international scene. It is no wonder that there has been that little controversy with Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh of late. Enough about that though. It was great to bump into these cricketers especially cause my little brother is a big time cricket fan. It sure made his day, and that made mine.

-- Kairav Parikh

Tera Tera Tera.....Suroor.....

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It's a Himessss Ressssamiya. Or a look alike at least, that we spotted while stuck in a traffic jam on the way to a trek at Igatpuri. Quite a few people do not like the nasal man's music but quite a few folks out there love the guys music and you got to give the man a hand for sticking it out in the industry. Kudos to him.

-- Kairav Parikh

Nirvana

What is nirvana?
From what I understand and based on what I've read or heard, it is a state of peace, of bliss, of moksh.
Is everyone trying to attain nirvana? Does everyone want peace and bliss?
If that is the case, then in the rat race which we are running, each trying to keep our noses ahead of the other, aren't we damaging our chances of attaining this state?
What is more important, a peaceful life or a life without peace? They say it always goes down to a battle between health and wealth. When we say health, it includes physical, mental and spiritual and is not to be confused with physical health alone.
Does wealth offset the effect that the rigours of attaining that wealth have on one's health?
Is it truly worth it?
Who makes the decision?
Isn't it you, yourself?
One man's food may be another man's poison. Or woman's.
Makes you kinda wonder doesn't it? What choices do we take in life when we are at the crossroad. Is the choice we take, the correct one. As a wise person I've met in the last one year would say, "YOU WILL NEVER REALLY KNOW THE TRUTH." By which time, it will be past your decision-making time and the consequences will be yours to bear. You would naturally want to choose the decision that would result in the error you would prefer more which arise from two separate decisions.
Anyway time to get back to HRM, again for those who know, you can twiddle your thumbs or whistle and look around, while I tell the ones who don't know that it stands for Human Resource Management, the subject of my next examination.
Time for me to ruminate about that.
Adios. Pip-pip. Cheerio. And all that rot.

-- Kairav Parikh

When temples are not so pious!

It's the most irritating thing to have a post wiped out thanks to technology. Sigh. Can't be helped though.



Starting afresh. A recent visit to Siddhivinayak Mandir reawakened the question within me. Do the people paying 50 bucks to get ahead of the queue where normal people going to the temple wait, get their prayers answered first by God. I mean is it a FIFO queue (my technical minded friends will know what I'm talking about - for the uninitiated its basically that the first to reach is the first to get service). Forget the 50 buck paying variety what about the biggie stars that are ushered in by temple authorities who then go scurrying about to catch the celebs on camera in their temple. Like seriously, is God not listening to the prayers of the people who wait in line? The time is the same for everyone and as far as i know every single religion says that all people are looked upon as equal by God. So why is there a discrepancy in our treatment of God.



That apart, there was a time when I visited Orissa and we went to a few of the temples there. We couldn't carry leather items inside which meant I left my wallet amongst other things with in the car. There was a serpentine queue inside with plenty of pushing and shoving. Not to mention the security yelling at people and goading them on like animals. They even had sticks in their hands which were pretty menacing. At quite a few places there were priests near the dieties who were asking the people in the queue for money. I mean, normally there is a box or a place where you put whatever you want to, but here they were actually asking the people. And when I said that I don't have my wallet, on more than a couple of occasions I got responses from them as to what the heck I was doing there without money on me. This attitude was quite disgusting.

The other thing that really put me off was that some lecherous males were taking advantage of the confusion and the chaos of the crowd and pawing females who had strayed away from those accompanying them due to the crowd. For heaven's sake, its a temple, don't these people have a conscience. The same applies for pickpockets and thieves at the temples.

Spiritualism, religion, praying, these are all very personal and private things and up to the choice of an individual. Violation of this space is very putting off. I can't be at peace if I have someone harrying me on because I've spent 2 seconds in front of God and he thinks that means my appointment is over. Amen.

-- Kairav Parikh

Let's Go Garba...

Shucks...I really miss those days...back in engg college...when I got to enjoy the simple things in life like garba...now I've got to grapple with things like legal and tax aspects of business...well its not really as bad as I'm probably making it sound...but I did miss out on playing garba this last navratri...and thats a terrible no-no for a Gujju like me...:)...not that I play well...just the spirit and atmosphere thats fun...I remember this one time I dragged my South Indian friend Sid to the dandiya...and he was grateful to me for dragging him along for he sure did have a great time...those were the days...so careless and free...

-- Kairav Parikh

MBA Entrance Prep Material

Very utilitarian post here...

Anyone needing MBA entrance related material for assorted entrance examinations in India or anyone who knows anyone who needs the stuff please contact me within a week otherwise I will make my raddiwalla the recipient of about 10-15 kgs of the stuff...

Was the stuff worth it? Well one has to take the trouble of going through the stuff and solving the practice problems...That was the mantra that was chanted out to us...practice practice practice...i can almost hear it ringing in my ears even now...

getting back to the point of the matter...let me know...else its going going gone...

and somehow stuff like this or any stuff that you are discarding has a habit of being discarded just two days before you or someone else needs it...:)

later then...

-- Kairav Parikh

Another day another exam...

3 out of 11 papers for second semester of MMS first year done...
8 more papers and 15 more days seems quite a long long time before one goes back into the phase of not being pressurised by exams...
we do curse the professors that conduct surprise tests and tests during the semester and the assignments that we get, but when you come to think of it and look back at it, you would probably realise that if all those were done individually and not with one person doing it and the rest mass producing it, then it would be a lot more stress free at exam time...
also these professors are ensuring that the entire onus is not on one end sem exam which more often than not turns out to be a muggu's paradise...

-- Kairav Parikh

Where do you go?

With the modern day craze for hip-hop, heavy metal, rock and electronica, there are few English songs whose lyrics I would like to know leave alone remember. Just a throw back to the days when this song had released and was quite popular, just happened to randomly remember the song, so I wanted to share the lyrics with you. If you've heard it and know the beat do sing it aloud, I wouldn't dare try given the voice I've got - I'd be arrested in no time for killing the song. :)

" Where do you go, my lovely
Where do you go
I wanna know, my lovely, I wanna know

Where do you go, oh oh eh oh
I wanna know, oh oh eh oh
Where do you go, oh oh eh oh...
I wanna know

You leave without a word, no message, no number
And now my head is pounding like rolling thunder
You left me with a heartache deep inside
Girl you should see me cry all night, and I wonder

Everybody says, what a shame, what is wrong
They don't like the game we play
Heard you're hanging round every night until dawn
I'm waiting for you night and day

You gotta break the silence, don't keep me waiting
Just like a river flowing to the sea
You're running back to me
Come hear what I'm saying

Where do you go, My Lovely
I wanna know

Where do you go, oh oh oh...
Where do you go, oh oh oh...
I wanna know
Where do you, where do you go?...

Save me...

Come back and dry the tears, I cried for you baby
You've gotta stop this heartache deep inside
You've gotta help me make it through the night safely
Come back and save me "

Have a great life. Enjoy the day.
-- Kairav Parikh

India-South Africa Test Series - Honours Shared

With the recently concluded India-South Africa Test series ending in a 1-1 draw after India managed to win at a dustbowl in Kanpur, there is bound to be criticism from both domestic and international quarters. Former Indian and international players alike will censure the Indian board and the curator at Green Park, Kanpur for producing a wicket that was conducive to spin bowling. There will be serious questions raised about India not producing "friendly' wickets. All hogwash, after all when India visits England, South Africa or Australia, do they provide us with spin friendly wickets or do they have bouncing, seaming tracks? Any competitive team would play to their own strengths and try to expose the chinks in the oppositions' armour, so I see no reason why India should be criticised for any reason if they won on wickets that helped the spinners. We do know that Indians are good hosts and treat guests equal to God, but that does not mean that we will provide seamer friendly wickets that would play to the advantage of the opposition. \

Sehwag's performance, with the extraordinary 2nd triple century and chipping in with the bowling was commendable. Always a true entertainer, his shorter innings always had a couple of sixes for the spectators. The ball to get Smith bowled around the legs was just brilliant.

Harbhajan with his Man of the Series performance, lead amongst the wicket-takers and it was good to see him gaining in rhythm and bowling well.

Ishant Sharma, after a short injury break, showed us the talent that he possesses which needs to be nurtured so as to stand India in good stead in the future.

Ganguly showed just why its too early to write him off, with splendid consistent performances through the series.

Dhoni has improved by leaps and bounds as a keeper with his keeping showing plenty of improvement with some incredible takes. His astute captaincy in the 3rd and final deciding test with sound bowling changes shows that he is the right captain to lead India in the future.

These were some of the biggest positives for India to take away from the drawn series with South Africa.

-- Kairav Parikh

Quota System - impractical solution

Most alarmingly for the industry, there are enough reports and factual findings that students passing out of premier Indian institutes such as the IIMs and the IITs are not matching industry standards and cannot cope with actual practical scenarios though they may be adept at the theory they have learnt at their institutes. There is a 7th IIM beginning this year. Unfortunately, despite the prestige associated with an IIM, it is not possible for each of the IIMs to share the same quality of faculty and facilities. With increase in the number of IIMs/IITs, there can only be a further dilution in the standards of the students coming out of these institutes. Background based concessions on the basis of OBC/SC/ST etc., can open doors easily for such student whereas, students in the open category have to struggle to even dream of getting into such institutes. For students entering institutes through reservations, if the student has all along had it easy and sailed through the education system piggybacking on category, then it will be a severe impediment to the student while facing a real-life scenario. This would be especially true as the basic foundation is often not strong enough and is allied with the tag of a good institute. Such a situation would be damaging the reputation of the institute, cheating the student himself - as his/her dreams are unfounded by mediocrity, snatching away the chance of meritorious students - those with good scores who will not use any means other than merit to get through, and it will affect the nation on a global platform as well.

-- Kairav Parikh

Siddhivinayak - An extended parking lot?

Come every Tuesday, the area around Siddhivinayak becomes an extended parking lot. Do noise pollution, parking rules not apply on these occasion in the area? Especially since it starts from Monday night and goes on into the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The din, the chaos due to people parking left, right and center is ridiculous. Also, there are late night accidents such as the one shown in the pictures where cars have been known to collide with each other or motorcyclists and as in the picture they even run up on to the road dividers. Meanwhile, residents of the area have to rough through it, in cases where their own buildings become inaccessible.

-- Kairav Parikh

Milkshake with an Arabian Twist

Special imports from UAE. Milkshakes, 'sheiken' not stirred.

Go for Goal

There are times when life seems so complicated and there are times when it does not. The difference between the two occasions is when people put enough effort into planning and more importantly ensuring the implementation of their plans. Unfortunately, people tend to stop after the planning stage which does not give the desired outcome. Next time keep the desired result in mind and know that you should not stop till you have achieved your goal.

Bahrain Grand Prix - Part III

Finally, Massa deservedly took the chequered flag in 1st place followed by his teammate Kimi and the BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld, the McLaren of Kovalainen. A much better showing for Force India F1 with Fisichella finishing in 12th place and Adrian Sutil the last of the runners in 19th place. Not much attrition in the race and only 3 retirements in the race. As the F1 circus heads to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi has regained the lead in the Drivers Championship with 19 points and surprise surprise BMW lead the Constructors Championship with 30 points followed by Ferrari and McLaren with 29 and 28 points respectively. It seems like this season may just be a 3 way contest between Ferrari, McLaren & BMW for both the Championships.

Bahrain Grand Prix - Part II

There was some speculation as to whether the Ferraris were running a lighter fuel load as was the case in Malaysia and thus would pit before the BMWs. However, it was the BMW of Kubica that came into the pits first. Kimi came in next and Massa and Heidfeld followed in the next 2 laps. Massa retained his first place after his pitstop while Kimi dropped down to 3rd place behind Webber who still had to stop. Hamilton went past Takuma Sato on the start finish straight and Sato immediately let Hamilton know that he wasn’t letting him through without a battle.

Button’s clash with Coulthard saw him have to retire from the race. Massa’s 2nd pitstop saw him come back out in 3rd behind the two BMW Saubers which were yet to pit. Kubica after leading the race for 2 laps came in for his pitstop which saw him behind the battling Super Aguris and as predicted Takuma Sato was anything but easy to pass. Nelson Piquet Jr. eventually had to reply after his earlier clash and transmission problems. Meanwhile, Hiedfeld was the race leader for a few laps before his 2nd pitstop. Hamilton’s race seemed to have gone all wrong as with 14 laps remaining he was still battling in 14th position. Championship points seemed a distant dream for Hamilton at that point of time in the race. Fisichella was driving a strong race for Force India F1 showing what Dr. Vijay Mallya meant when he said he wants the former Spyker backmarker team to graduate into a midfield team. Alonso was constantly harried by Rubens Barrichello down in 10th and 11th places for the better part of the race.

Bahrain Grand Prix - Part I

The start to the Bahrain Grand Prix was dramatic to say the least. Lewis Hamilton had a terrible start where it seemed like he could just not get off the grid. He dropped down to 7th place before a tangle with Nelson Piquet Jr. (who lost his 2nd gear on the warm-up lap itself) ensured that he lose his nose cone. Massa made a wonderful start which took him past Kubica despite being on the dirty side of the track. Kimi lost out to Kovaleinen at the start but managed to take back the place. Kimi later reeled in Kubica and overtook him with a wonderful mavouevre along the outside of turn 1. Hamilton managed to limp back to the pitstop which dropped him down to 18th place with a lot of work to do in the race. Vettel was out of the race 2 laps into the race. Hamilton took in a lot of fuel in his 11.7 seconds pitstop which could see his race strategy change from a two stop strategy to a one stop strategy. The second Sauber, Hiedfield took fourth place from Kovailenen’s McLaren to leave BMW in 3rd & 4th place. It certainly seems as if Ferrari and McLaren will be given competition from BMW during the course of the season. Two-time world champion Alonso was down in 9th place cutting a sorry figure from his once powerful position. Timo Glock was right on the tail of Alonso, showing where the Renaults figure in the running this season. Massa had another scary moment while lapping Force India F1’s Adrian Sutil. That would have surely caused a lot of anxious moments in the Ferrari camp while all the others would have been watching gleefully. Massa really needs to bring his car home from his winning position if he is to give Kimi any semblance of a fight in this year’s title race.

JBIMS Calling

With the CET written test results out, the scores are evidently much higher than last time round. This makes things tougher to predict in comparison to last year. There are 120 students expected to be with a score of 146 and above. With 17 marks for GD, 17 for PI, 4 for PAR and 2 for WE still to play with, there are plenty of chances for those at the borderline to make it through to a coveted seat at JBIMS. Last time round there was a case of a student with 99.95% not making it through to Bajaj whereas the year before there was an exceptional case of a student with 99.43% making it through. So a concentrated effort without any negative thoughts is the key to making the cut.

Pole on Pole

It is the corniest of lines but just couldn't resist it. For the first time ever BMW Sauber is sitting on Pole with the first Polish driver Robert Kubica who has shown much promise in his brief F1 career. Massa after his strong performances in Friday and Saturday practice sessions has garnered a well deserved second place to complete the first row of the starting grid. Hamilton managed to pip Kimi on row two. This should make for an exciting race indeed on Sunday and I hope that Ferrari can bring both cars home with strong results for both the drivers.

F1 game online

http://www.espnstar.com/formula1/formula1_ingspeedster.jsp
play the simplest of online f1 games here, it recreates the actual tracks that the f1 circus races on.

The five red lights illuminate

The Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend and already Ferrari have dominated the first two practice sessions. Massa has outdriven his teammate Kimi yet again in practice, but let us hope that Massa can carry forward that same performance come Race Day.