IPL 2009 Campaign

This year's campaign began with a lot of confusion, whether the event will be staged in India or abroad. Though this year's event will be remembered by all cricket fans for the unexpected end results, but many would be disappointed for they couldn't witness the matches on Indian soil.
Nevertheless, I feel this was an opportunity to take brand India global in terms of sports and kudos to BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Lalit modi (IPL Chairman) for leaving no stone unturned to make this event a memorable one and successful too.
The end result of Deccan Chargers(Hyderabad) and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the winners and runners-up spot respectively was very surprising and enthralling too. None imagined that previous year's bottom teams in the points table would end up as this year's top two teams.
This result brings to me the statement once made by Harsha Bhogle wherein he says "Anything is possible in cricket and one can expect the unexpected". This statement is very apt to IPL 2009 campaign.
The credit for the incredible performance of these teams goes to their respective captains who have toiled hard to bring their teams out of quagmire. Just imagine, what Kumble could have gone through to restructure and breathe a new lease of life into Bangalore team which was branded as a TEST TEAM.
I wish and expect the unexpected to happen in the next year's event too and hope to see more such surprising results in the future IPL tournaments.

VJ

All the Best !!!

This compliment is exclusively for Akshat Agarwal, peer and a friend of mine for over 2 years.
The stint at Syracuse University has come to an end and the first among our Engineering Management (EM) coterie to say good bye is Agarwal (This is how he is addressed by many). These 2 years have been very memorable and will remain ingrained in our minds forever. The memorable events which have surfaced over these 2 years are endless and I restrict myself to just bid adieu to Agarwal and not list them.
Agarwal is leaving back to India for good. He has an onerous (I guess this is the right word, isn't it Agarwal? :D )task of looking after his family business and has stuck to his words of returning back which he has been saying from the day one.
Dear Agarwal,
All the best for all your future endeavours and may God bless you with all the strength to execute the responsibilites bestowed upon you.
Keep in regular touch and lets strive to keep our friendship afloat for ever and ever! :)
Take Care.

Yours
EM Gang (This is how we refer ourselves ) :)

VJ

RGV ki tryst with Indian National Anthem

To all those, who are not familiar with the acronym RGV, then here it is.. RGV stands for Ram Gopal Varma, one of the finest film makers in India.
If many are not aware of the recent developments in Bollywood( Indian version of Hollywood), then the title of this post sounds bit weird.
I have a penchant for keeping track of cricket, India and world politics and Indian films.
I hardly miss watching any trailer of a new film. RGV's new film which is tentatively titled as "RANN" is one of the most anticipated films of the year. I was quite surprised to see the trailer released amidst the on going tussle between the producer's and multiplex owners.
Just after few seconds of the trailer, I realized that this is going to create a controversy and this issue will certainly not go well with the Indian audience.
It happened exactly the same and was immediately banned by CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification).
RGV, as told to the media says that he wanted to showcase it to the audience about the disparity happening based on the caste, religion, region and language in the contemporary India.
At the same time, he also says that it was just a marketing tactic and attract the audience's attention. He is not firm as to what he wants to make a point. The above two statements are quite contradicting.
Well, there were many films in the past which have portrayed the conflicts and disparity among the contemporary Indians through their own lyrics and not tinkering and interspersing words in the National Anthem. Ex: Bombay , RDB (Rang De Basanti) and many more....
RGV, if at all he wanted to showcase his ideas, he should have done it without playing around with the National Anthem. There are 101 ways to attract public attention and National Anthem is not the thing which one has to resort to.
This act of RGV clearly points to the second statement of the above two i.e marketing tactic.
The issue is now with supreme court and I am very sure that the apex court will come out with a judgement which will protect our national values.
The link to the trailer of RANN is here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jYlb_orVnc

VJ

My name is Winter.... Winter???!!!!

This is one of the most hilarious incident which I have ever come across and it revolves around my close friend Pranav Barwe. This incident dates back to August 2007 when I had just arrived in US to pursue my Masters.
Academic sessions in US universities commence in the month of August and this is known as Fall semester. The subsequent semester is known as spring semester. We Indians, know spring as Winter which commences from January. After spring, the next session happens to be Summer. After Summer, again there is Fall semester and so on the cycle continues.
My first day of class for Fall semester was scheduled to commence from Aug 27. We(Myself and my friends) had arrived in the first week of Aug. We were fortunate to quickly find a house for ourselves and were done with all the initial registration formalities at the University office.
We were invited to join on a trip to Niagara falls on Aug 25 which was organized by an International community.
Since the trip was by the International community, for the International community, many new students from China, Japan, Australia, US and of course, India had convened at a Prof's residence for breakfast and were supposed to depart from the prof's residence.
Myself, Pranav and other friends were having our breakfast and at the same time we were meeting and introducing ourselves to new students from other countries.
One student from China came near our group and introduced himself to Pranav Barwe.
Chinese Student: Hi, Winter.. (Shaking his hands to Pranav)
Pranav: Fall 2007 ( Thinking that the chinese student is saying the semester in which he joined) :)
Chinese Student: Fall??!!!(bit confused)... I am Winter..(Still shaking hands with Pranav)
Pranav: Fall 2007... This August (Still in the same thought)
Chinese Student: Fall???!!!( Still Confused)... Hi, My name is Winter. I am from China. I have joined this Fall semester.
Pranav Barwe: ( My dear friend was startled to hear Winter as anyone's first name and so was I). ohhhhhh!!!!... Hi, I am Pranav. I am from India. (Well, there was no need for him to say Fall 2007 as he had already said it twice..) :) :)
Just after Winter left us to meet others, there was a boisterous laugh in our group and since then whenever our entire friends circle come together, this incident keeps resurfacing in our minds. :)

VJ

Pappu's Can't Vote Saala....!!

Well, this is not something I am referring to any common man who did not vote during the '09 Indian general election.
After the 26/11 attacks, there was a large hue and cry from many sections of the society to come out and vote and elect an able government which can provide a secure environment to live in. Among the many such Vote India campaigns, one which was eye catchy and hyped was a move by 12 young Bollywood artiste's. They tried reaching the entire nation through a short film called "Kuch Nahi ho Sakta" urging each and every Indian to come out and cast their vote. Though, it was a good move, the irony is, out of 12 only 6 cast their vote. The others in spite of being in Mumbai were lazy to go their nearest election booths and cast their vote. What a shame???!!!!!!! Well, if you won't follow what you preach, then what is the difference between you and so the called "Indian Politicians", who just visit their respective constituencies to garner votes.
Requesting compatriots to do something worthy will yield good results only when ones sets an example by applying what he/she preaches. Merely smearing grease paint on face and posing for shutterbugs will take you nowhere.
Apart from the artiste's who cast their vote, one who is praise worthy is Imran Khan. Since he is an American citizen, he couldn't cast his vote, but this short film was his brainchild. Kudos to you, Imran!!!
To 6 non-voters,
I hope next time you'll shed and keep your star image back home and cast your vote as a common Indian.

Better Late Than Never.....

Well this one was pending from my side from a very long time. I have been pondering over a year to blog, but mundane academics were the major stumbling block. Now that I have finally graduated from school gives me some respite and continue to do what I like most... writing!
Hey, all you there.... keep watching this space for further reading and to know more about me.. :)

VJ