White-Washing

We are all the same. We invite people to our houses as guests and humiliate them in front of the world! That's not acceptable I must say. We don't give our guests any time to acclimatise to the surroundings, and subject them to the sternest tests in conditions which favour us immensely.
If you've still not understood what I'm blabbering on about, this scoreline might bring some sense about the situation : 5-0. Yes, that's right, we won. Let me rephrase that, we cantered to a series brown-wash. We blew them away. Alright, so we didn't win the 20-20 match. But then again, is 20-20 really cricket? Let's leave that debate for another day. Just a month ago, England had the privilege and honour of hosting us in their backgrounds, and humiliating us to our worst ever series defeat in a very long time. And this month, we returned them in kind, and then some. Ofcourse, us being the perfect hosts that we always are, let them have a consolation win to take home as a return gift per say. All the big talk about England being the best team in the world have been silenced for good. Everyone is King in their own stadia, in front of their own supporters. Make them travel a few thousand kilometers and play in front of hostile crowds, and those kings become a little better than mere paupers. This has been happening ever since teams started travelling abroad to play, and isn't very surprising when you consider the hectic schedules they have to encounter on each and every tour. So get used to it. The best teams in the world can and will be humbled sometimes. All this keeps it exciting I guess, if you look at the situation from an optimistic point of view.
The last line itself is ironic, considering that this post has been written with as much sarcasm as I could muster :-p. Signing off people. Later....

We pulled it off :-)

30th October,2011....A dream has finally come home.
For 15 years I've been following the fast cars zooming around the tracks in the world of Formula 1 racing. The first race I remember, is the last race of the 1996 season, the year and the race in which Damon Hill was crowned champion. Down the years, I've seen Michael Schumacher and  Jacques Villeneuve tangle in 1997, the biggest pile-up in F1 history in 1998 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=LcAH418Alko), Mika Hakkinen perform perhaps the greatest overtaking move on Schumacher again at Spa in 2000(http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-eE3gCy5zvM), and his two year stranglehold on the sport, Schumacher and Ferrari dominate the racing world for a good 5 years, a young upstart in Fernando Alonso dethrone the greatest champion in its history, leading him to eventually retire from the sport, two back to back seasons where the title was decided by a single point, a team named Brawn GP rise from the ashes of Honda's departure and blow away the competition, and finally to a German nicknamed 'Baby Schumi' leave everyone in his dust to become the youngest F1 champion and then the youngest 2 time champion as well this year. I think you can judge by the details exactly how closely I've been following the sport. So today just wasn't another day in my sporting calendar. Today was special. The first ever Indian Grand Prix was being held at Delhi. And unfortunately, I was at home, and not at the track. Well, there's always next year...
The race as it turned out wasn't very spectacular. Vettel lead from the start and didn't give up the lead even for a second. He was followed home by Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. It was nice to see a Ferrari on the podium at 'my home race'. The first couple of corners produced a few coming togethers, leading to three retirements. The 'big' incident of the race was however the coming together of Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton on lap 24. This led to Hamilton having to replace his nose cone, while Massa was handed a drive-through penalty for initiating the crash. This effectively put paid to both of their chances. Massa eventually retired a few laps later, while Hamilton finished 7th. The race didn't exactly go to plan for the home team, Force India, as they managed just 2 points with Adrian Sutil finishing 9th. Paul di Resta managed a lowly 13th. This was definitely disappointing given their better starting positions of 8th and 12th respectively. One got to see a rare glimpse of the old Michael Schumacher as he made up 3 positions at the start, and then consolidated to finish 5th in an impressive race performance, a total improvement of 6 positions, after another disappointing qualifying session.
Catch the race highlights here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAkTo_zGw-o
As the race comes to an end, I'm delighted to read the positive feedback from all the drivers regarding the track. The race commentator even went as far as saying that this might be the best race on the calendar. That though I'm not exactly sure about, because the older tracks such as Monaco and Spa have a lot of heritage and sentiments attached to them. But I will say this, the first Indian Grand Prix has definitely been a success. We have shown yet again that if we try hard enough, we can pull off any international sporting event in our country. Lets hope that this race becomes a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar for years to come.
So on that very positive note, I hope you all enjoyed the event. Next year, I definitely plan to be there.
Oh and Happy Halloween everyone. Signing off...

Me and my En-'Light'-ened House

As promised here are some of the Kali Pujo/Diwali pics. Hope everyone had a fantastic festival. Enjoy :-)

From one balcony to another

Probably my favourite picture

That's my house

Lone soldier

Lone soldier 2

Look at the sparks bounce

Double the fun

That's my terrace, and yes that's a rocket about to take off from inside the bottle

Fantastic Five

White fury

It's tilted!

This is probably the silliest Diwali pic of mine, ever...Sorry Duke and Roshan, had to upload atleast one pic of us. I'm blurred as well :-o

Lighting Up the Night

It's that day of the year again when you can make noise, lots of noise, and your neighbours won't mind that much. Mainly because, it'll be drowned out by all the noise they are making. It's Diwali today, and for us Bengalis, it's Kali Pujo. The pandals are ready, the people will be really busy all day preparing for the pujo, which takes place late at night. Everyone will take a long afternoon nap to make sure they can stay awake till the wee hours of the morning. Lots of 'not so noisy' firecrackers have been bought(we have to adhere by the decibel limit u see :-p) and have been placed out in the sun to dry, and heat up. Those same firecrackers will be whizzing up above our heads in all directions from evening. There are some really spectacular ones which can be seen. The frequency decreases as the evening moves on, but the quality sure improves!



Three things make this festival my favourite. Firstly, it has to be the firecrackers. No firecrackers, no fun. Secondly, it is lighting the diyas(don't remember the English name) around the house, the terrace and the balcony especially. Makes for some lovely pictures as well. I'll try share them on this blog. And thirdly, it's the time I get to spend with friends and family.



Me and my friends follow the same routine every year, bursting crackers at my house, then moving the party to Duke's(my neighbour and close friend for more than ten years) house, and finally dinner at his place, followed by late night chats. There is a Kali pujo at his house which has been going on since as long as I can remember, and since well before that. So it's nice to be a part of the occasion.
Anyway, I gotta run now. Lots of work to do. I'll upload the pics soon hopefully. Have a great Diwali/Kali Pujo. Signing off...

The Cargo has landed

Now you can see this in India!

I know I'm a few days late in writing this blog, but I haven't been able to get the time to do it these past few days! This past Thursday, the cars and the equipment involved in the Formula 1 races landed at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi. That means that there's not much time left for the Indian Grand Prix. WOW, its actually happening here, in India! 

The first time India was mentioned in the F1 paddocks was some 12-13 years ago, with Rajarhat in Calcutta being the likely venue. Since then the venue has changed thrice, with Hyderabad coming into the spotlight briefly, and then disappearing into the background as their state government changed. Mumbai was also in the running for some time, but somehow that plan never materialised. Finally, Noida, near Delhi was chosen as the venue and the track was built over a span of nearly half a decade. Also, the first tentative date given for the Indian GP was 2001. It's 2011 now, so it took them 10 years to finally come to our country.
The Buddh International Circuit will host the first ever Indian Grand Prix. The track was officially unveiled on 18th October, and has been receiving praise for its wide corners, which would allows lots of overtaking, and long straights, which would allow the cars to reach speed of 320 kmph.

For more details about the track, follow the link given below,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddh_International_Circuit

As a 15 year F1 viewing veteran, this is big news for me. I'd been dreaming that one day India would be hosting a F1 race, and that day is finally here. I would have loved to go watch the race at the track this year. But alas, that won't be possible. The training schedule at my new job is getting in the way. Well if not this year, then definitely the next. This event is here to stay.
As for the people who will be there to witness this historic sporting event, this will definitely be an event to remember. From what I've heard, the sound of an F1 car cannot be explained in words, it has to be heard to be believed. The feel of at the venue of a major sporting event always keeps everyone on their toes. There will definitely be a feeling of being part of something special. And I'll miss that :-(. Missing the chance to see some of my sporting heroes, is disappointing. I would have loved to see the Scarlet Ferrari's of Alonso and Massa burning some rubber on our shores, this is a lifelong Ferrari fan talking, as you can very well make out. Also, the current champion Sebastien Vettel is no slouch either. There are talks of him maybe joining Ferrari in the future. That would be something special. And last, but definitely not the least, the chance to see our very own Force India team in action would have been great. Racing is not a sport that has a huge backing in India. So having an entire team to represent our country at the very pinnacle of racing is definitely worth applause. I hope that they exceed expectations at their home race.

For more about the race, follow the link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Grand_Prix

Looking forward to an enthralling race. And next year, I'll definitely be a part of it. Signing off...

Its in the Game!!

Are you a FIFA fan? How many times have you played recent versions of the game and been disappointed by how easy it was to master the game? Well I surely have been. So much so that I preferred not to install the 2011 version of the game. Instead, I had taken a liking to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, because of its dramatically better gameplay, and an overall more challenging experience. Graphics-wise,FIFA definitely won hands down. But overall, it wasn't going anywhere.

FIFA 2012 is a completely different story however. Finally, EA Sports have improved the game to a level where they can give Konami a run for its money, and maybe even better it. There are a whole list of changes in the game. A wide variety of new control features have been introduced to enhance the gaming experience. Entire control settings can be customised to suit the user. The skill level of players have been made entirely realistic. The difference between playing with a Ronaldo and with someone from lower leagues can be felt in the way they dribble, pass and shoot. Also, when playing against the CPU, the difference in the opponents can be felt in the way they play, from formations, to aggression, to tactics. There is something called as Precision Dribbling which gets automatically activated when controlling the ball in close proximity to opposition players. This feature lets you keep the ball close to the feet of your player while at the same time keeping the opposition defenders at an arm's length.
The Physics Engine is vastly enhanced. Now tackles really look like tackles, and not as if its a badly made animation. The player reactions after being tackled depend on the angles from where the tackles have been made, as well as, or so EA claims, according to their weights and physique!

Then there is Tactical Defending. What do I say about this feature. Even in their initial promotional video, EA had been stressing on this feature, which they said would revolutionise the way FIFA games were played. And they weren't exaggerating one bit. Its tough, very tough, to defend. And the better team you play against, the harder it gets. Forget about positioning yourself in line with the forward and pressing the standing tackle button when they come near. Now, the attackers you how to dribble past you, know how to change direction in a flash, and in short know how to make a fool out of once mighty defenses and leave them scratching their heads. Goalkeeping is relatively easier because the computer does a part of the work for you, unless you take complete control.

There are even more customisable options like various assistance options which can be set as per the user's expertise. All in all, this is a great addition to the EA Sports stable, and definitely the best and perhaps most improved FIFA game in the series. And thats saying a lot, considering I've played every version starting from '98. So go ahead and experience this awesome new game from EA Sports. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

My Rating : 9.5 on 10


Watch the Trailer here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C95lxSw9Hbc

The Week that Was

Times have changed. And I haven't felt it more than during the last week. This week, the whole of Bengal and Bengalis everywhere have been celebrating Durga Pujo, the biggest festival of the year for us. And yes, it is the best time of the year here in Bengal, especially in the city of Calcutta. But coming back to the first line of this piece, the times have changed. Till last year, the time of the Pujas meant atleast a two week holiday,starting from the day of the inauguration to Lakshmi Pujo. This year however, holidays are hard to come by. Why you ask, its because I've started working, and to get any holiday now is like finding an oasis in the desert. Even during the Pujas, we had only two days off officially, not counting the Sunday. Its a different issue that I didn't go to office an extra day, just to have some time to enjoy. But this time, it was like I was having to squeeze out every last drop of off days. It is now that I realise the true meaning of holidays. Getting three days off in a row would have been a dream. But we weren't given that luxury from office. As it turned out, we took it upon ourselves to take an extra day off, we mass bunked!, carrying on the tradition so popularly exercised in college :-p. It was only possible because we are still in training, and not working in projects.
The festival started on an irritating note, with my return from office being held up on the first day due lack of buses and traffic jams. Really felt the difference on the third day, when I had to go to office, even as everyone else was having a gala time. It did help that we could leave early. The next three days were very good. Met some friends and visited different places. Co-hosted the quiz contest in our locality. Had last hosted it three years back! So this was a comeback of sorts.
Even today, after the Pujo has officially ended, the mood still persisted. Feared that I wouldn't be able to return in time for the final farewell, when the Idols are taken away for immersion. Made it just in time to catch the procession heading out of our locality. That was a relief, and the satisfaction of the effort to return home early paying off was immense. Did not want to miss anything this time around, because there is no guarantee that I will be in the city next year to catch the festivities.
All in all, it was an enjoyable Pujo, and definitely better than what I had expected. The only regret I have is that I didn't get to spend enough time with some of my friends, but I hope to catch up with them very soon. Here's looking forward to an amazing Durga Pujo next year. Till then, keep up the Pujo spirit.
Signing off...

PUJO

Its that time of the year again when Calcutta turns into a week long carnival. Everywhere you look, there's bright lights, beautiful decorations and grand Idols. It is the the time of blocked roads, one way streets, traffic jams and bustling crowds, all impatiently moving towards the next pandal. It is also the time of meeting old friends, savouring the festive spirit and enjoying the city during the best time of the year.
The pandals start springing up all over the city from a month before the event. They vary in size, from the tiny to the fort-like, in decorations, from the simple to the opulent, and in management, from the tidy to the chaotic. People throng the streets to get a glimpse of the Idols which are the temporary residents of these pandals. I'm sure that if you look at Calcutta from the sky at this time of the year, say from maybe a helicopter, the people would like millions of tiny ants moving about. There seem to be no end to the number of people standing in the queue to get into the next fancy pandal. And its not just Calcuttans who descend on to the streets. People visit Calcutta from the neighbouring districts as well as from far off places, to experience the 'magic' of the Pujas.
When I was younger, pujo was the only time curfews would be extended, more cold drinks and ice cream would be consumed than the entire year, and rules could be bent without worrying about the repurcusions. As I started growing up, I started to explore the city beyond the security of the locality, with the safe company of my friends. Recently, it had become the ultimate hangout week for all of us. There were certain favourite hangout spots which we would never going to. Last year though, all these places seemed to have lost their sheen. They seemed strangely empty, inspite of the fact that we were all present! Not that we didn't have a good time. But the magic seemed to be lost somewhere, as far as these spots were concerned :-(.
For me personally, this year will be different. Till last year, most of my friends were in Calcutta, or they would make it a point to be in the city during this time. We were all in college and it wasn't a big deal getting a leave for 4-5 days. This year however, many of them have started working, so have I, and won't be able to make it this week. So even though there is that childish excitement inside, their absence does dampen the mood. In fact, we are having trouble making plans because the work schedule seems to be always coming in between! But I'm sure that this problem would be solved. Just yesterday my office increased the number of off-days from two to three for the Pujas. That was a relief. An extra day to catch up with my friends. And yes, we have made plans, starting today. Tomorrow is a Sunday and that helps. Hoping to have a memorable Pujo.
Not without reason has this festival been called the 'Carnival of the East', mirroring the huge celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil every year. Yes, it is a carnival. Yes, this is the best time of the year. And yes, I do plan to have a great time.
HAPPY PUJO everyone. Hope to catch up with you soon.

The Divine