Remember why he died....

Is it a new beginning, I wonder ( I am not talking about cricket, not yet.) Or is it a continuum of the last year's legal break through in Jessica Lal's case. Some sixteen months ago, he was murdered by the oil mafia and today the district court ordered death penalty for the prime accused and life-terms for the rest of the accomplices.

But its not over till its over. Its too early to celebrate justice. This is just the district court, the defendants will go to High Court or may be till Supreme court. The public memory is too short, the vision is short-sighted. Its not about one killer. Its about the fight against crime. The idea is to keep the momentum going against the culprits. The key is to never let go hope. Like in another case, the verdict is still open on Satyendra Dubey's murder trial.

Its about remembering why Manjunath died [1].

On this, I urge you to read this wonderful essay "The Banality of Heroism" via Guy Kawasaki's post.

[1] The statement is inspired from a quote in the movie "300".

Cricket Google(y)

Follow this link. A concise page for the cricket buffs. Very Googlish. Thanks to Om Malik's daily blog.

I have also added in my Live Wire link list.

Who ? India ? Ha-ah !

As Indian love numbers and calculations, we have got ourselves into situation where an Einstein or a Ramanujan will thrive. Instead of playing with ball and the bat, we now have to deal with statistics and permutations and combinations. The way Bangladeshi iceberg rocked the Indian titanic (to borrow the cliche, its just a tip of the iceberg) I wouldn't be surprise that Bangla tigers upset the Lankans. (Well, I hope they do that, for India's sake.).

India, umm, I think we have an outside chance to claw our way back into Super 8. The best and the only thing that India can do is to beat the hell out of Lankans and Bermuda. Keeping my fingers crossed and hopes high. To give a positive spin, if Indians are good enough to claim the cup, then they should be able to come out of this precarious situation.

Well, I don't think only Sehwag is the match ka mujrim[1], but the guy does not get it, does he ? With his form as dead as the willow itself, why do we have him in the team ? Pathan can bat better than him and you know what, he can bowl too. I am sure the Indian think-(s)tank knows better than me, but Sachin should open for India instead of getting strait-jacketed at No. 4.

Lastly, the so-called fans of Indian cricket team vandalizing Dhoni's house in Ranchi and claiming that they have been betrayed, it's so sick that it's amusing. I think the Indian cricket team should stop playing for such lunatics[2]. No doubt, my mom had predicted the bad things happens when one just plays and does not study. Imagine Dhoni going into Silicon Valley and screwing up one of the projects, at least his house would have been safe.

In the other group, the Pakis have lost it completely. This must be one of the most humiliating exits for them in the recent tournaments. They not only lost the race for the World Cup but the cricket fraternity lost Woolmer. He died apparently in mysterious circumstances lending fuel to many conspiracy theories. For his sake, Pakistan should win their last group match.

[1] A very pathetic and puking coverage by Star News.
[2] Don't ask me how can they play only for true fans and not for the rest. It was just a rant.

The Punter-Man

It happened yesterday again, I predicted Pakistan are going to win the opener against the Windies. And as usual, the predictions were wrong. Actually, I see a trend in these.
Lets take a step back, I predicted France are going to win the FIFA'06 and yeah they were winning till a bald man ended up being a bull in the china shop. His maata was never raazi for this behaviour.

I wonder what does Sehwag's maata would say now, beta, have some milk instead of andaa...
Andaa matlab Virendra Sehwag, or is it Virendra "anda" Sehwag ?

And yeah, before France lost out in the final, many teams fell pray to my innocuous predictions. Of course, the only man who could resist the wrath of my prediction is a certain Mr Federer. (Just for the record, I did not know he was playing in the Pacific Life Open that he lost).

I have also a very consitent track record when India went to the carribeans and to SA last year. Whenever I said let there be a win, It was a win alright but for the other team.

So there, next time if you want to bet your money, you know whom to ask.

An insect called cricket

Yeah, cricket is a kida which is going to bite the blue billion for next one month at least and we are going to nibble our way to super 8 for sure.[1][2][3]
Don't know about the semis and the World Cup swansong of the awesome foursome.

Google came out with Cricket World Cup logo. Nike came out with a $99 (I am freakin' speechless) t-shirt. What were they thinking ?

Ladega toh Jeetega, is the new Pepsi Ad. Lame. Starts off nicely, then chugs down dead slow on the tracks. (Literally !). The bit that stands out - Sehwag getting almost lynched in the ad. Was it reality TV, I wonder ?

(On a side note, Coke has an equally lousy ad with Aamir Khan but its got nothing to do with cricket except Aamir played in Awwal Number (a must-watch) and Lagaan).

Yeah, just noticed Harsha Bhogle in one of the songs in the forthcoming flick "Hat Trick". He was with Nana Patekar, Danny, Paresh Rawal. What do I say more ?

[1] A 'word' from geeks, they love 'bites' and 'nibbles'.
[2] Hopefully reaching super 8 should not be difficult. Its Bermuda that is scaring me.
[3] Finally, I did my first footnote. Yipee !.

Just watch it....

Loved the new Nike ad. Expectedly, it rocks ! Nike aur pooch pooch !

I think its a first for them with the cricket theme in India.
At least some activity in the media associated with the World cup.
I am surprised that no theme song or other ads have been unleashed in the Indian media yet.
Where are Pepsi and Coke ? Buried deep inside the earth with pesticides.

Boringly, the news channels keep harping on the jaded song,
"Sunoh gaur se duniya waalon....."
Nobody is listening, yaar. Its old and dead and I want a new anthem.
And no, I don't want those patriotic jingoistic songs which make cricket look more like crusader's war rather than game about the spirit of human triumph.

Nobody listens when I say ....... Cos I don't say it loud enough. Or everybody is shouting themselves hoarse....

Bura na mano !

Its Holi-day. Its on Sunday.Damn, and my next day-off is on 15th August. Thats too far.
Happy Holi to all !
Play safe, no balloons, and use you-know-what. I meant Gulal, you sick perverted minds.

After all these years.....

Finally, The Departed is released in my gaon. May be I will go and watch it sometime next week.

Somebody had the courtesy to remember Scorsese this Oscars. After all these years.
I think something similar will happen with Sachin Tendulkar.
Arre nahi, he won't get the Oscars for Boost ad.
May be, he will get the most coveted cup of all. May be.

The new Crorepati

I think the new KBC is super cool. SRK is doing a fantastic job. He is being flippant, witty, smart ass, goofy, charming and a good host all in one. Loved the episode with the Gujju cool dude from Vapi and the more recent one, the nerdy contestant from Baroda. He kind of reminds me of my cousin (and not because he won a lot of money). It was funny expression when he took the barfi. Well, on barfi, a honourable mention on few good things one sacrifices to remain a mere mortal. Its a matter of different posting which I will duly write in my own sweet time.

For those who have not seen the promotional song video, you can watch it here !
O & M did a fantastic job with the teaser videos and the punch line:
Kuch sawaal zindagi badal sakte hain ? Aapki zindagi kis sawaal se badlegi ?

I don't know who did it for KBC 2. The ummeed se dugna tag line was quite catchy too.