Birthdays... :)

I didn't change my Orkut first name, last name for a while and since it reads "Yogaesh blogs regularly", quite often people ask for the quantitative description of "regularly" :) It's indeed been a long break this time; and though I thought of writing about a lot of things - movies I saw, my workload, mood swings, thought process, etc; I never got the time and the yearning to write together. To be more precise, I got both of them a couple of times, but I used those wildcards for continuing with my script which has been on hold for a longer duration than my blog :)

Anyways, today is my birthday and thanks everyone who wished me over mail, phone and Orkut. Unlike the usual b'days where the Indian version would be an early wakeup, sandhyavandhanam, temple visit, semiya paayasam and some sweet words; and the US version would be midnight get together's that last for about an hour or so; this birthday was extremely unique. Only one of my two roomies even knew it was my b'day and I was busy with some project work at midnight. I slept only by 5:45 and that pretty much ruined the rest of my day too. Some of my regular wishers missed my b'day; but I got some pleasant surprises from a few. So it's been a quite unique b'day in a lot of ways. Despite all this, there were a couple of things that this b'day had in common with my other b'days - temple visit and thoughts. The former is nothing new and anyone who know me faintly will be aware of my theistic thoughts; so I'd rather not get into religious philosophies now :)

Coming to the second part, every b'day is a natural alarm that rings in your mind, reminding you about your age and handing over the key to the world of thoughts and retrospection. The alarm has gone off every single year and this b'day was no exception. Career, personal life, relationships, philosophies and a million other things crowd my mind and somehow my mind finds out a way to ponder over every single thought that comes up and give its judgement. My blog would become a trash can if I pour them all out... So let me not do that! :) But this time the processor was quite occupied all through the day; and let's see if these thoughts turn into any positive change :) Fingers crossed in all possible combinations... :D

Across US in two and half days...

When I first came to US, I had a stupid dream or rather a wish that I should cover all 50 states in the nation before I go back to India for good. I always wanted to do a coast to coast road trip for this purpose and time and again, I couldn't do that partly because of laziness and partly because of practical limitations. But this time, it became a necessity and though it's not technically a coast to coast drive, this 2700 miles drive did take me through a many parts of the nation I've not been to, before.

Ironically, as much as I wanted to do this trip before, I didn't really have the mind to drive all the way this time because of several reasons. First of all, I was driving my own car and I didn't want it to break down or get damaged during the long and almost continuous course. Second, unlike a trip with a group of friends (or at least one good looking girl :D) I had to travel all alone and third, I couldn't really enjoy the trip or halt at different places. I just had to rush from end to end and reach the destination by Saturday (Jul 4th) in the worst case, so that I have a day to relax before I get to work. So as much solitude lover as I am, I thought that the trip wouldn't let me enjoy it.

But the trip eventually turned out to be pretty interesting; and I took away a lot of memories from this trip. Usually I drive at very high speeds and my objective would be to cover the distance in the shortest time possible. But this time, I was averaging 80 miles may be because I'm getting older; or because I was too cautious not to add any more direct/indirect expenses because of speeding :)

Before I talk about anything else about the trip, I should definitely appreciate the US government for building such a neat transportation system. I've travelled about 2700 miles which is more than the distance between Kanyakumari and Kashmir; and this I was able to do without any sort of pre-planning. A printout of the route and I'm all set. I sincerely wish Indian roads were as organized. (Fortunately for us, we have the railways and we could really boast of our rail network :))

The drive through the North-Western states was unbelivable and the scenaries were awesome to say the least. Uploading a few photographs that I managed to click on my way... Wish I had more time to spend clicking. :)

Apart from these, a lot of thoughts/ideas were going on and off in my mind; and to recollect them all or write them in a blog would be an impossible task. But sure enough, I'd say this would be one of the most memorable trips I ever made - thanks to my stallion which was smooth as silk throughout the journey, the police department for not noticing my ocassional speeding :D and of course God for well... everything! :)

An interesting cycle...

Generally speaking, I hate being institutionalized (courtesy: The Shawshank Redemption :D). I mean, if I'm asked to do the same thing over and over again, in a fixed cycle; then it wouldn't be long before I get fed up with the system and give it up. I'm into once such cycle now but lo and behold! I find it interesting. :)

Let me try to describe the routine...

09:30 AM - Wakeup with (a complete sleepy head and) the faintest interest to do so; and get ready.

10:00 AM - Come over to office and allow the system to take a deep breath and show me the desktop in about 7 minutes and 23 seconds :D

10:07:xx AM through 11:45 AM (xx denotes variable seconds depending on my system's mood and state of mind on any given day) - Complete pending craps if any. Answer stupid questions that come up in office and once through with the whole process, sit down with gmail and orkut. Mostly, my best friends would be online and time flies away.

11:46 AM - 2:00 PM - Power lunch and if possible power nap. (Indha baadi evlo thaangum nu kanakku vacchukkura vaenaamaa naanu :p)

2:01 - 5:00 PM - Repeat the tasks listed under 10:07:xx AM through 11:45 AM. :)

5:01 PM - 6:00 PM - Short nap before the long workout.

6:01 PM - 7:00 PM - Chat with roomies, ensure schedule and get ready.

7:01 PM - 10:00 PM - Volley ball or tennis depending on whether there is a group or just a few.

10:01 PM - 10:30 PM - Get home, take a shower, complete my prayers and start cooking

10:31 PM - 11:15 PM - Cooking and setting up everything for dinner. Meanwhile, make sure a movie is buffered.

11:16 PM - 11:45 PM - Start watching the movie and eat.

11:46 PM - 12:45 AM - Continue watching the movie and have a discussion on the movie.

12:46 AM - xx:xx AM (again xx denotes variable time) - Wonder if I should sleep and stay awake until I get yes as an answer (from within :D)

Now, I know some of u might be fuming reading this schedule :D Don't worry, this won't be on for long and just like all good things come to an end, this will too and that day is not far off (a week away may be ;) :))

Roger that :)

At last, the champ has managed to conquer clay too... Definitely, he'd be much relieved now and as he said "Now nobody can say he never won French Open" :)

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Nadal is definitely a lot more sportive than him. But when it comes to the game, I can't think of anyone who impressed me as much as Roger. Let me try to think of the top few reasons for this... :)

Alligator spirit:

No matter how the game progresses, he will be hanging around until he breaks in. That's something that defines a champion.

Versatility:

The variety of shots, strategies and game plans he could put to use is just unbelievable.

Style:

Lot of players play the game well, but not everyone gets the style. Even the simplest of his shots will look like the most elegant shot one can play :)

Demoralizing the opponent:

Once he gets his rhythm, I couldn't imagine anyone except Nadal who can handle the pressure. He just blazes through and makes the opponent's life miserable.

Playing full-court:

Unlike many other tennis champions, he can play virtually everywhere in the court with the same level of comfort and dominance. With other players, they remain at the top of their game only in their comfort zone. Nadal for instance, collapsed against Soderling because he was constantly deploying top spins and that was a piece of cake for the opponent given his dimensions.

Painting the line:

The way he hits the ball just along the line (especially with the single handed backhand), pitching just on the baseline is a treat to watch. As simple as it looks, it is an unbelievable shot and one needs enormous control to play that shot. :)

In short, I concur with the statement that he is the greatest tennis player ever! :)

That said, let me a few videos where the champ is at his best... :)

And before moving on to the videos, let me congratulate Leander Paes for winning the doubles cup. Unfortunately, we never publicize that or encourage anyone except cricket players. Let's hope for a positive change just like any other department in the current state of affairs...









I can just keep adding more and more! Let me stop here :D Way to go champ...

A quick catchup...

Memorial weekend, tennis matches and movies succeeded in keeping me away from blogging for a while and I thought I should just sum up whatever I wanted to write over the past few days.

Haircut:
People who read my blog regularly (or atleast once in a while just so the count would increase a wee bit :D) would know about my haircutting experience here. With the first hair 'mowing' effective for 3 months, I had to trim my hair again; and living in a great metro like Clinton, I had no choice but to go to the same shop again (I should get my clippers and try 'suya sevai' once). This time, I made sure I sat on a different chair; and I did succeed in dodging the big mower :D This lady, a typical red neck seemed to understand my description better; and the way she explained it (just blend it all the way to the top, etc, etc) I believed she would do a better job (nammmmmmmmbi okkaandhaen :D). Everything looked fine until the machine almost reached the centre of my head. I was thinking "aaaahaaa... Wanted a vandhu vaangaayittiyaeda" (digging my own grave); but fortunately she wasn't as dumb as the previous mower. As she set a virtual boundary almost at the center of my head and started playing around, I thought I'd end up in the infamous Beckham style; but she had some soft corner for the right side of my head. So ended up having a cap of hair at the center of my head with my left portion completely mowed and the right portion cut as I wanted it to be. Hmmm... At least I was 50% close to what I wanted. :)

A trip to Arkansas:
Long weekend usually means a trip; and memorial day weekend was not an exception. We were out to the nature state on road and pretty much covered all of Arkansas. Needless to say I took a lot of photographs and I'm trying my hand on post processing now. One of the them turned really well... A pic that looked so ordinary appears exceptional now. Let's see how it goes. Highlights of the trip -
1. Met my friend Karthik after a long time, 2. Rode a boat :) Not a hand motor boat; but a pontoon with a steering wheel. That was fun to say the least, 3. Visited some excellent spots. Usually, we would be going in search of such spots. But the whole Ozark area was splendid when it came to the view points and scenaries. In short, enjoyed the trip. :)

Some movies:
Saw quite a few movies over the past few days... New roomie being a gulte, I was catching up with a few Telugu movies too. Of the ones I watched, I liked Sarvam. It's not an exceptional movie or something; but the concept behind the movie (butterfly effect) was awesome; and it's definitely worth a watch. Newtonin moondraam vidhi was also good; but one should forget logical aspects to watch the movie.

That's all we have for now... Stay tuned as we come back with more updates shortly. (Itthudan indha seidhi arikkai niravadaigiradhu :D)

Hail Democracy!

Well... I'm not sure how to start this one, to be honest. I just couldn't digest the fact that India has chosen THE WORST party to the nation one more time. 60+ years of independence and the nation has moved from good to bad to worse; completely under the spell of this party; with the heights of its impotence reached on December 26th, 2008. No development whatsoever is possible under (pardon my language here) a bunch of old brats lead by an Italian!

I can keep writing pages and pages about this without any reduction in my irritation; but let me share a few points that are quite interesting and annoying.

1. Election malpractices reached a historic high this time; including rigging, bribing the voters and rejection of electoral rights for lame reasons. For instance, in Madurai (my home town), Tamilnadu; the polling % was 70+ when many of my friends and acquaintances didn't get to vote; and out of that Azhagiri (the corruption king's son) won by a margin of 2 lakh votes (the entire constituency has only 7 lakh voters). Further every home in Madurai was given 500 Rs per vote.

2. The polling % in Mumbai was in the lower 40s. Probable reason - Long weekend; and everyone planned trips to Goa and other nearby spots. In one simple sentence 'Shame on you Mumbaikers'. It's not sufficient to just talk and compose sentimental emails about blasts, insecurity and the loss of lives. What did you actually do to save your butt? Nothing! Even worse, Congress has won all the Mumbai constituencies; while the home minister shrugged his shoulders and told you that he has no idea about the nation's security.

3. I can't think of any improvements in the past 5 years; and in my view this was one of the worst Governments India ever saw. Corruption was at its peak; and in Tamilnadu alone thousands of crores were swallowed by MK and co.

4. Rahul Gandhi, except for his surname has no business whatsoever in Indian politics. IMHO there are a million other deserving youngsters fit to rule India better than him.

5. This is an illustration of how stupid the system of democracy can get. Reminds me of Hitler's lines in Mein Kampf where he says democracy will never allow a great person to raise up to power, purely because of the impedence mismatch between the brilliant few and the masses. This result just testfies every word of that sentence.

In a nutshell, I sincerely hope that the sanity of the Indian masses improves in the future; and that they get out of this silly sentiments of electing a party just because it has been ruling us for a long time. My dad's history book read "India is a developing country" and mine did too; but even if my son's book doesn't read "India is a super power"; let it not read "India is an underdeveloped, poor nation in the clutches of hunger". May God bless Indians and save the country from this destructive path. Jai Hind!

P.S: The ONLY thing I like about this election result is that the commies have got a nasty blow; and they've been castrated this time. At least one news to be happy about. :)

Elections...

Elections - One term that will be lingering in Indian hearts (at least in those of the politically active/responsible citizens) for the past month or so. With the final phase of elections happening today, the fate of the nation for the next few years would be decided in a few more days.

I'm not a political expert per se; and given that I'm in US now (and that the Indian Govt provides no options for people like me to cast their votes), I don't even have my name in the electoral list. But I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the way things are poised; and I'd also like to take this chance to cross verify my ability to analyze political strategies depending on the similarities/differences between my analysis and the actual proceedings.

Congress doesn't have anything to boast of as an achievement save the fact that a puppet PM compelted his term and that they signed the nuclear deal. Whether the deal is good or not in itself is a mystery and a highly debatable topic. That said, the Govt has a lot of negatives against it, primarily lack of internal security and absolutely no development whatsoever. In Tamilnadu, its allies (DMK) have taken corruption to a new level and they are setting role models for how one family can loot thousands of crores of taxpayer's money by controlling and distributing power among its members.

So does that mean the BJP will sweep the polls? Definitely not. Several reasons can be attributed for this fact. 1. Single party majority is almost becoming out of question in the current decade. 2. National parties, though known across the nation, aren't particularly strong in all states. Classic example being Tamilnadu; where the the Dravidian parties take the lead role in controlling politics. 3. The pseudo secular media (almost all the Indian news channels are under this category) and parties have always tried to portray BJP as some Hindu fanatic organization that will gun down everyone from the minority if it comes to power.

Personally I feel (1) is going to be the deciding factor in this election. BJP doesn't have a real strong alliance in the southern parts of India; and almost in all four states save Karnataka (where BJP actually commands some vote bank) BJP is almost deserted. In the north, I feel BJP will do quite well especially in states where it is in power. Even otherwise, there isn't anything that prevents people from voting for BJP; unlike congress that has a bunch of negatives tailing it. So assuming that the BJP does well in the north, all it needs is some solid support from the southern states; and I believe they have a plan in place - the third front. The third front in my view, is more or less like a short term parking place and honestly speaking, it has absolutely no sense in it because the parties cannot contribute to each other in anyway! So the whole point of the third front is to get some MP seats and then trade them on either sides depending on individual interests and profits.

That said, ADMK in TN and TDP in AP are likely to join the NDA; and the notable point there is BJP didn't even contest in many constituencies just to make sure that the anti-congress, anti-DMK vote is not split. With ADMK+ winning a large number of seats in TN; and TDP winning at least 50% seats in AP, added to the fact that BJP itself will get something out of Karnataka, the party doesn't really need to struggle very hard to cross the magic number. If at all my assesssment is right, Advani has taken this political game into a new level of post-election competition, which is kind of new to our setup. The party is seemingly very weak in the south (encouraging the opponents and giving them a relaxed mindset); and down the line when everything is finalized, all the silence might pay off and the lotus might bloom in the center. Let's wait and watch :)