Thursday, July 28, 2005

The good bad-minton

What is it that you gain by running to the nook and corner of a 44’ by 17’ rectangular area dissected by lines running parallel and perpendicular to the base lines? You are also restricted to one half of the above mentioned space by two 5’ 1” vertical posts and a 20 mm thick fine cord net with a width of 2’ 6” running across them. All you get to do is hit a crazy feather-y object which is nothing but a cork base covered with a thin layer of leather, on which 16 feathers of approx 70 mm length are fixed, weighing just 5.5 grams. You don’t even get to hit it with ur bare hands, u need to use a frame which is nothing but a circular head with a pattern of crossed guts connected to it, and a handle attached to it, with an overall length of 680 mm.

So, that exactly is what me and many men and women like me like do when we are in the company of one another. Following the foot steps of greats like Allan Budi Kusumo, Joko Supriyanto and our very own Prakash Padukone.

I used to take pride in counting myself as a good (rather very good) badminton player, until I played with Aldrin, my Mumbai roomie… I used to be the school, town, PU college and Engg hostel champion. All the pride shattered like glass when I had my first encounter with Aldrin in the EdenWoods indoor court. 15 – 3. Cant call that a one sided game, right? ;_). One hell of an athlete who wins due to his stamina and will power. I had never seen my smashes being returned with such ease. Then there was this guy Anand. A tactical player with beautiful drops and professional serves.

Aldrin used to drag me to the court on weekends… 1 full bundle of shuttle, juice cartons, chocolates… To EdenWoods indoor court. We used to play for hours together. Often singles against each other. Anand used to join once in a while.

Patni badminton championship was announced and we decided to take the plunge. The three of us and we needed two girls also to form a team of 5. We were lucky enuf to get Sheebs and Laks on our side. They hadn’t played much, but had the will power to learn and master the art in the available short time period. Even though I the boaster suggested names like “Spikers”, “Smashers”, “Serves and Servlets” etc etc for the team, humble Aldrin settled for the modest name “Amateur Shuttlers”.

Practice sessions… 6 o clock bus home… practice till 10 in the night… there were some 5 or 6 teams from our locality, so around 30, 35 people used to be there in the court. It was fun… playing to ur hearts content. Showing off ur smashes, jumps and what not to the female players ;_) and getting those “Wow”s ;_)).

Championship began. 5 people per team. Qualifying rounds. 1 mens singles, 1 womens singles, 1 mixed doubles. Semis and Finals will have womens and mens doubles as well. Aldrin volunteered for the singles. Anand and me for doubles and Either of us and sheebs for mix doubles.

Qualifying rounds were cake walks. Aldrin and Sheebs used to win hands down. Anand and me used to be like”Show off before the match..” ,”high serves”, “smashes”… kind of like crowd entertainers. Other teams were like, “These ‘amateurs’ are damn good… Aldrin is playing damn well; even the 2 guys who havnt played are doing wonders during practice”. Everything was going great. We were having fun. We got into semis easily, without Anand or me playing a single match, but all the while showing off ;_) He used to do his ‘lovely’ net drops from all across the court and I used to do my ‘jump smashes’ from back courts…

The all important Semis!!! We against the title holders, the Dare Devils… They had one of the best female players of Patni. She used to play professionally. So our hope was in winning the mens singles and doubles and mixed doubles, as we were sure that the ladies only events wont come our way.

First match. Aldrin Vs their captain. He too was a mallu, who was not as good as Aldrin on court. But he had the experience of playing in many tourneys. He started using all possible negative tactics, like taking breaks when Aldrin was ready to serve, serving before Aldrin was ready, distracting him, arguing with teh referee and a million other things. Aldrin got irritated and got carried away. End result, he lost the match which we were sure to win. Ok.. Ayway… We still had 4 matches left. Next was mens doubles. Anand and me on the court for our first real match of the tournament. Our confidence level was sky high before the match, not after it started. My jump smashes ended at the nets. My serves landed right in the front box. Even Anand had a bad day in office. Whatever could go wrong went wrong. We were also defeated in straight sets. The rest of the story was predictable as they had the woman champ who defeated our ladies singles player in a rather one sided match. That sums up my Patni baddy championship story, which started as a hilarious comedy but ended as a tragedy. Our hopes which had grown fat like a Hot Air Balloon dropped all of a sudden to sub zero levels, much like this elaborately started but abruptly ended blog post.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Blocks, Phases, Sectors

I wonder who the bloody heck had this wonderful idea of dividing Bangalore into Blocks, Phases, Sectors and what more and what not...
DIVIDE AND RUIN!
As if these on themselves are not confusing enough, they have bestowed on us Mains and Crosses.
147th W Main, 69th cross.
It sucks man, it does big time.

Had the misfortune of venturing out towards Jayanagar 3rd block Yday. I had the full address of the place where I wanted to go(enlightened by some previous place search expeditions). Even then it turned out to be a night mare.

Silk Board -> BTM -> JayaDeva -> Jayanagar…
Was happy as I knew third block would be somewhere close by. Asked a rick-driver where 3rd block is. That bloody idiot looked at me as if I had asked for directions to Buckingham Palace. On to another rick-driver. Same result. These rick-drivers should be nominated for national award for best acting. Its so natural. These people ply their three wheelers to the nook and corner of the place day in and day out and when you ask them for some place as well-known and generic as Jayanagar third block, (that too after reaching Jayanagar area), the response you get is not much different from the response which you might have got had you asked the same question to a Mumbai Marine Drive rick-driver.

At last one helpful soul gave me directions to reach 3rd block. Reached thus far safely. Next big question "Where is 8th F Main?"
-"This is 13th Main"
-"Sorry, I don’t know"
-"Ask that paan-waala"
-"I am not from this place"
Come on!!! If none of the people I meet on Jayanagar street are from that place, then were they all air-dropped there yesterday? (I know this is a silly question, but then, u get silly when u r frustrated)

From pillar to post. I guess I even asked an electric post :)
After another 15 minutes, I realized that I was going in circles around 3rd block area. And after about 3 and 3 quarter revolutions, I decided to dump my beloved bike and to march ahead to glory.On foot. Another seven people.

Finally I was able to reach where I wanted to. It took me little less than 45 minutes and interviews with not less than 15 people to find out 8th F main after reaching 3rd Block.

If at all I get to lay my hands on the architects of this city X-(
Grrrrrrrrrr

Thursday, July 21, 2005

My Machine!

When I sit at a height of 0.72 meters on top of a combination of leather, metal, plastic and fiber of around 2.085 meter length, and 0.79 meter width, fitted into a Diamond Frame, with my hands gripping the taller part of the structure, the tallest of which is 1.125 meters above the ground, I can say I attain nirvana.

Yes, I am talking abt one of my religions here… or rather one of the altars of that religion. This is where I offer my holy communion by cruising at 100+ kmph.



Yes, third of the Indian cruisers, Yamaha Enticer, weighing just 125kg with full tank which takes just 2.2 meters to do a full circle turn and a wheelbase spanning 1.375 meters with a cool ground clearance of .14 meters.

A forward inclined single cylinder supporting an air socked 4 stroke SOHC engine having a displacement area of 123.7 cc and a bore, stroke cross of 54 x 54 mm with a compression ratio of 10:1 and a max power of 10.99 bhp @ 8000 RPM and a max torque of 1.06 Mkg @ 6500 RPM.

These figures don’t make too much of an impact on an ardent bike lover, but the looks sure turn a head or two. After all this is the kid brother of the original bully the Yamaha Royal Star.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

'>>' to present

One of these days, this thought struck me like thunder striking.
“Am I living in the past?”

Past is often dearer to us mostly because, you tend to remember only the good things abt past, only the things you like, only the ones which make you comfortable. Basically you have this royal freedom of choice to choose what you want to choose and discard the rest to the back of your mind. Forgetfulness (selective memory) is bliss.

So here I am, still living in the memories of a good or rather excellent college life I had. My mind refuses to go ahead, to push that back as something from the past, something which is over, and which won’t come back again. Its truly true that I really miss those careless days when you were not bothered about Form 16s, tax returns, budget mishits, wrong projections, quarter end audits, missed dead lines, financial constraints of your account and a hundred million other things.

But as one of my friends said recently, “Isn’t it time to discard past and move on with life?” Have I become too much addicted to my past college life, so much so that I can not find a life in the current tense?

What do I do now….
Enjoyable company with proj mates, usual gossips, ogling and stuff like that in office…
Then mid week booze parties with proj mates…
Regular proj parties…
Usually meet with Bethanians on weekends - trips, goals, movies…

But something somewhere is missing.
What?
Dunnoo…
May be that perennial urge to have more fun n Masti. Yea that’s more like it…
Fun, games, entertainment n Masti are addictive. Too much addictive.

But need to move on… Miles to go before I (dunno do what).

Monday, July 18, 2005

If there is a Heaven on Earth, it is this, it is this, it is this...

Those Night Outs
Midnight Coffees
Those Birthday Bumps
Old Torn Jeans
Those Late Night Walks
Study-less Combined Studies
Long Chats n Slaps
Crushes on Pals & that Fight for ‘em
Frying Nuts
Makin Roses
Bunking Classes
Calculating Attendance Percentage
Copying Tests n Assignments
Getting kicked out of classes
Struggle for Marks
Writing on Desks
Fight with Teachers
Tears for Love
Those B Grade Movies
Old Sentimental MP3 Songs from Friends Home
Those trips to beaches

just everythin...

That’s college life... We call if HEAVEN

Banyan County

Big Banyan Tree
Latest one in Mair-Uth-Anne tour series. This time to Big Banyan Tree, Banyan County Dam area.

Sunday morning, Autobahn-ians got up around 9.
Sand : "What doing?"
Me: "Anything"
Kiron (still fast asleep): "Trip hai tho dho options... One dhoddaal, second, Simla"

The first one was decided to be the current destination as the second may prove to be a bit hectic for a one day trip. Calls to Sow, Dips and Rat. Dips as usual fast asleep and refused to budge. Sow said he would reach in half an hour. Rat said he would reach before 9.45. He was asked to pick Jins up.

It was 11 when everybody reached Autobahn. Kiron did a quick calculation. 40 kms till Dhoddaal. 100 kms for the round trip. 400 Rs diesel. 100 per head was collected from all. Started Bolero. Me in drivers seat. To Shobha Super Markt, to buy refreshments. Cakes, biscuits, soft drinks… it was as if 6 of us were having a competition in collecting them. 7 minutes flat. The collected common fund was over :_). Some more money pooled in. To BTM diesel pump. Journey starts.

BTM- Banshankary - Mysore road – a turn after some 10 kms – Ramahally.

This is the place where the Dhoddaal is situated. Serene area. A giant banyan tree. A garden, temple etc situated within the tree. Its not like a single trunk or anything. The tree branched out and spans across a huge area. Aerial shoots that grow down into the soil forming additional trunks... Its branches and sub branches sprouting out from all directions and covering the entire area. Spent some time and snaps there.

Then to the dam area. Another 10 kms drive thru some not so good road. Had some fun and fotos near the water body. Finished lions share of the refreshments there. Met a couple on bike, the girl was gorgeous... It was like they overtake us, we overtake them... the girl was enjoying the celebrity status ;_).

In fact, the place is not the best of places to visit. But when bethanians are on the move, they make sure they shake up everything on the way. Enjoyable as usual, jokes, goals, pulling legs, ogling, snacks, thumbs up. Usual stuff. We were back by 6.

Destination : Big Banyan Tree, Banyan County Dam area
Date: Sunday 17th July 2005
Distance: 40 kms from Silk board to reach BB tree. 10 more kms to the reservoir
Route: BTM- Banshankary- Mysore Road- Right turn after Sri Raja Rajeswari Dental - Big Banyan Tree - Banyan County Dam area.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Nirvana

Is the sum of fractions always equal to 1, or is it a lil less than 1?

Does the tuff get going all the time the going gets tuff?

If u live different lives when you are with different people, then whats actually your life?

Isn’t everything thats happening to you just a repetition of endless human interactions that has happened to a set of people, over a period of time?

Your roomie is more important to you or his future wife?

What do you gain if you have to sacrifice the very same luxuries to do your work, which are nothing but the reason why you work?

When u go at 118 kmph on ur cruiser bike, if ur tire bursts, will ur studds ninja helmet be enuff to protect ur scalp?

And one last question, was the pele goal in which he received the ball facing his own goal post on his chest, outside the D, bounced the ball to his lap and then to his boot, and did a reverse lob, turned around, lobbed the ball above the head of a defender, advanced two steps and shot the ball to the second post without the ball ever touching the ground, the best of all goals?

Friday, July 01, 2005

Done it!

Yo!..
its deployed...
security module incorporated.
what works in win2k doesnt work in win2k3 :-(
ldap bind and directory search are too big issues for Microsoft to handly comprehensively...
but the only silver line is that the work-around is only a google hit away.