Anil Kumble

Called it quits from international cricket. In last two decades, there not been a single player who was responsible for India victories in test matches as this man is/was. It is difficult to imagine an Indian team without him.
Perhaps not the most skilled, but definitely one of the most reliable. Reminds me of Steve Waugh.

The above picture, from the test match in Antigua sums it up. The picture is courtesty BBC.

Bangalore Metro




Do you want to live in Indiranagar?

How abt living close to 100ft road?

How abt living on the 100ft road?

Herez a suggestion. Pitch a tent inside the barricades laid out for the metro work and I am sure you can have a rent free accomodation for 5 years.

For close to 3 months now there has not been much happening here. While the commuters have to go through the pains of the congested roads. I wonder whats happening in the MG road stretch. At this rate it will take a cool 15 years for the Metro to be ready. Well we took 4 years to build a flyover on the 100ft road and Koramangala inner ring road junction. It was used for a year and now the airport is shifted out of town
and apparently airport road is not choked anymore :)
You have to give to Karnataka govt. They really know how to screw up.

Coorg Homestay



I recently went to coorg and stayed at http://www.belhome.co.in.

It was one of best holidays ever. The hosts are amazing
and they made our stay very special. The old man and the old
lady are wonderful human beings. I hope to visit them
atleast once a year.

It is this secluded estate which is almost as dense as a forest. Vijai, who owns the place has returned back from city life to live closer to nature. Man is he lucky.

Hurt


Worse than you being hurt by someone is when you are guilty of inflicting it on someone.

Cricket Crises

After having seen the recent developments in the test match between India and Australia, the following are my observations

1. I guess sledging is accepted culturally in Australia, it became a part of the International cricket because Australians say thats the way they play cricket. It is not acceptable to me and I guess to a lot of Indians. I dont think it proves any thing about your mental strength. It only proves how cheap one can get. I guess if cricket was a pirates game rather than a gentleman's game then it would have been a accepted norm (Well knowing a bit of Australian history I am not surprised). Sledging has to been banned. If Australians want to play international cricket then let them play the way we all agree to play.

2. Lets say I can't handle certain kind of talk and my temper goes over the top. And in such a state I could say things which I would not have said in normal circumstances. There is infact a separate law to handle crimes committed in the rage. Now Andrew Symmonds has agreed that he instigated by initially sledging and if in a state of rage I were to commit murder then I can appeal for insanity, but not so for the verbal duel.


Ponting with a straight face talking about integrity made my day :)

the cynic is dead

My Desktop

Herez a typical view of my desktop.
I prefer working on Linux. I am forced to use Fedora Core 3 at work and on my laptop I run Ubuntu. Begining to appreciate Ubuntu for how easy it is to upgrade s/w and the entire distribution.

I use ratpoison as my window manager. One of those weekends at Veritas I tried it and liked it. I dont know why I use it, but I am too used to it and like what it offers. But the downside is that few apps dont run well. I will try to move away sometime soon. If you want to give it a shot herez the url
http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/

I use emacs as my editor. Been using it for a while now. Find it high portable and there is loads of config to make my life simple in almost any os.

I use gnus inside emacs as my email reader. It is one of the best out there. Painful to configure but once you get it going, it works like a charm. I also use evolution sometimes.

I run a xterm with screen. If you have not used screen then you have lost out on one of the best s/w utilities out there. I can detach and reattach my work from anywhere. I can easily log my console output, I can search my console output.

I use firefox as my browser. Meebo for ym.

Skill and Technique

I have never been into arts. I dont sing, dance
or paint. I dunno if its the skill or the interest
or the time that I lack. Anyways
I do play a lot of sports. And TT in particular
I play almost daily.

Now TT involves both technique and skill. Technique
is about knowing the different spins that the
opponent/oneself can impart on the ball and knowing
how to counter that spin. With practice
you tend to learn to use the correct stroke.
But there is something more to this game than
just technique. There is an artistic way of
playing this game. The difference is similar
to say Lara's batting and Tendulkar's.
There is a certain poetry to Lara batting.
Whereas Tendulkar at best can be described for
his technique or his ruthlessness.
I dunno if you can develop this artistic appeal
a player has.
Compare Federer's game with lets say Nadal.
Doesnt Federer's game look more artistic.
For a man who doesnt seem to be bulging with
muscles he seems to generate tremendous pace.
He uses his body really well.
Similarly bowlers in cricket. There are some
who treat it as art form and a few others build
muscles and pound the ball.
Shane Warne, isnt he an artist
Akram, can one get better than him
So in that respect I think I can say, I am artistic
or atleast I try or atleast I know the difference.