Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Oh yes, we won today. The feeling when India beats Pakistan is just unexplainable. It is overwhelming to watch our team celebrating against our neighbor rivals. But we haven't had enough of the victory drinks this time round, with the Pakistanis walking away with a series win. Indians have been performing rather under-par for the last few months, and that too at home. Speculations about changes required in the starting line-up have seen a rise, and as expected the critics have been cashing in on the situational demands.


Indian Cricket Team flunk to new lows after getting thrashed in the hands of rival Pakistan a few days back. There was a serious batting collapse, and our boys never seemed to recover after the early blows. The coach preferred to stay back in his big fat couch and watch the team crumble like a pack of cards. Our captain cool Dhoni tried to stay till the end, but ironically was made the scapegoat for the stupendous loss.

MSD has many a times been termed as a lucky cricketer cum captain. Even after having won the world cup under his belt in two out of three forms of the game, the hypocritical people have made it a point to target the captain after each and every loss. Recently, his knock against Pakistan is being hailed as the most selfish innings ever by a cricketer. Cricket greats sounded unpleased, and others demanded an explanation from the wicket keeper batsman about the particular attitude he displayed on the field.

What do you expect from a captain, who was stranded on the other end, and helplessly watched his entire team getting dismissed right next to him ? Oh yes, he should have gone for the kill right away against the likes of the mystery spinner in Saeed Ajmal and the deadly pacer in Umar Gul. Easier said than done. There had to be something in the wicket or the bowling side, when the likes of Yuvraj, Kohli and Sehwag gave up so easily. So why don't just hit and get out, and save us the embarrassment ? Oh please, give me a break. At-least, the man from Jharkhand stood and tried to play till the end.

In today's match as well, he scored valuable runs in the middle, and then marshaled the team to an unexpected and thrilling victory. His temperament and composure on and off the field is incomparable at any level of international cricket. He has been the most successful captain India has ever seen. Under his reign only, we acclaimed the prestigious top spot in the test rankings. He has single handedly led us to victory many a times with his balanced stroke play. Talking about the domestic IPL, his form has been phenomenal. He has never been in the limelight, and often prefers to spend his free time with his family, contrary to some critics who downplay his sheer class and attitude just to seek attention.

In the end, I just want to add that though the performance of India has abated after the 2011 World Cup, our captain remains one of the most prolific leaders of the game. His unmatched tactics, and coolness will always be remembered in the history of Indian Cricket. For all those people, who believe MSD is lucky, he has made his own luck by his consistent dedication and commitment for the very essence of the game.

We are proud of you Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Cheers !  

A new Beginning....

Hey readers and bloggers, its good to be back among u all and i must tell u that this time I am here to stay. So rejoice and enjoy my posts. Now I am damn sure about the one question that must be flickering in your minds .. "where was I all dis time?". Let me xplain.

I will be frank in my approach. I was in a bit of bother over the not so charming and not so good placements scene in my college. Being a mechanical engineer, I had wished for a good and a stable offer with a good amount of pay package involved. But the economic slump and the recession period from the late 2008s till date daunted my dream. My seniors who were placed reasonably in good companies suffered due to this deadly period. Some of them got regret letters while some were asked to join one year after what it was to be in normal circumstances. I was shuddering under this extreme phase of irremediable times. It was not long when the companies would start visiting for recruiting our batch of students.

And then the unanticipated happened. Our Training and placement division head gave us this shocking news. The placements for our batch had been postponed to the end of the year. We were feeling the heat of the dark times that stood just ahead of us. We could see the barbaric image of the future happenings.

It was sometimes around the 15th of June this year when I was at my home, relaxing on a couch watching some damn thing on my TV that I dont remember. The phone rang. It was my friend Ashish. And I could not believe what he next said to me. "Hey Ankur, Placements 20 July se start ho rahe hai". Those were the exact words uttered by him. I was taken aback. The next thing that I did was opening up the TnP portal on my college's website to check for any updates. There were none. I became restless, the same words echoing in my mind again and again. I had to be sure about the authenticity of the news my friend just told me. Next thing I did was mailing my TnP head Mr. Pant to confirm what I just heard.

Rest is history. You know why? Because I have been placed in IOCL, the highest paying Indian PSU and that too on the first day of the placement season. 18^th of July,2009 , the day of my life. I did prepare somewhat for the placements after Mr. Pant confirmed the speculation, but I never thought that my dream will come true this way.

I will sign off by quoting...

We are still masters of our fate.
We are still captains of our souls.
-Winston Churchill

Keep Reading... C U

GHAJINI : OVERRATED ???

Behka, main Behka... thats how i was after watching the much awaited GHAJINI today in a nearby theater (thank God, i did not chose a 4 screen multiplex for d movie) at my place Nagpur. "32 crores collection on d 1st day", "fantastic, Aamir at its best" , "4 and a half stars"...dese were some of d comments i heard during a movie preview show on a leading news channel (it was only after watchin d movie, i recalled d sayings and now i know that publicity strats can reach its zenith when it comes to bollywood). The movie opens when d festive season is at its peak (it opened on d day of Christmas) , people highly influenced by the ads and promos of d Aamir starrer, left no stone unturned in watching d movie on its opening day( now u must have known d logic behind the 32 crore speculation).

Now m no different. Following the crowd, i too went for having d experience of a real good 3 hours (3 hrs and 4 mins to be precise, this was what i went for). Aamir was good, as always. Script was ok types. The plethora of violence actually was not what I went for(though dis ingredient was among d most important elements behind d movie's early success). The movie asked for more briskness, a better cinematography, appealing songs( A R Rahman can be excused though), and something else other than d 8 pack abs (bollywood is witnessing a fascinating fight over d abs issue).

The biggest sore point for me at the end of the movie was that the whole memory loss bit was almost peripheral to the plot( if not irrelevant.) Seems almost like a publicity gimmick. Take it away and the basic story of the film stays the same. And the basic story is one that has been rehashed a million times in Bollywood - rich nice boy falls in love with virtuous poor girl, and just as they are headed into a blissful life, a bad guy intervenes, does evil things (and maybe kills girl). Bad guy is punished and revenge is taken. The end. Yawn!

Maybe it is the fault of the script, screenplay, performances, or all of the above, but there is no chemistry, spark or romance between the leading couple. They seem like platonic friends( or even siblings). Why does Kalpana love Sanjay/Sachin? And why does Sanjay love Kalpana.... I can understand him wanting to nominate her to succeed Mother Teresa, but love? Bleh. The whole movie can be re-written with his sister being the one who is murdered, and the import would remain the same.
Epilogue : All the ballyhoo about Ghajini might help it to gain something out of the facile Indian population but the truth lies in the fact that the movie is not upto the so called Aamir level, and beware producers, its not long that d janta will shed out the obligatory nice image of the film. I have not more than 2 and a half stars for d movie...(feel penitent for all Aamir fans) C u

2009 : A Year of HOPES

As long as we have hope
we have direction
and energy to move
and the map to move by
We have a hundred alternatives
and a thousand paths and infinity of dreams
Hopeful,
we are halfway to where we want to go
Hopeless, we are lost forever.

The year 2008 is ending on a somber note, what with the lingering, chilling memories of 26/11 Mumbai terror carnage and the unprecedented meltdown in the global economy, ever seen in recent memory, since the Great Depression still fresh in people's minds. The images of these two monumental happenings will continue to haunt the whole world for quite a long time to come. While the ever vibrant city of Mumbai was again on its feet within a few hours of mayhem unleashed by the merchants of death from across the border, as has happened in the past, the economic crisis is assuming catastrophic proportions every passing day and experts assert that the worst is still to come and what that will be nobody knows...

The old order changeth, yielding place to new...Barack Obama created history by becoming the 1st african american president elect in the USA ever. Its d Nuclear Age... India and US inked a historic nuclear deal after over three years of tortuous twists and turns, they also widened their horizons, looking far beyond a dramatic transformation of their bilateral relations. Whodunnit??... Aarushi Talwar's murder on 14 May can be termed as India's biggest murder mystery( atleast d media termed it so ) . End of Mush's Raj... Pervez Musharraf on Aug 18 announced his resignation as President of Pakistan under impeachment pressure from the coalition government.Raj's raj continues...The activists of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) continued their agitation under the leadership of their party chief Raj Thackeray against the north Indians who had migrated to Mumbai.

Its not all. If I continue to go on jotting down the highlights of 2008, then I would have to take a special permission from Google inc. to increase the present size limitation of a post in Blogger (You can laugh) . The year 2008 was like a glass of concentrated lemon juice ( lemon emphasizing the lows and the water a few highs) . But nevertheless, the year has ended (finally) and as everyone is hoping for 2009 to be a turn around, so am I... C u