tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31448472818836637912024-03-08T14:53:19.211+05:30Musings of a restless mind...All my life, I wanted to be somebody! Now I see I should have been more specific.U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.comBlogger310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-14668043990042502182019-02-09T22:56:00.003+05:302019-02-09T22:56:54.855+05:30Vicky pleeeej<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This has to be the "Line of the year" for 2018 among Hindi movies for me. Yeah sure, there were many other interesting ones. 2019 has already started with nation-wide sensation "Hows the Josh" & "Apna time ayega".<br />
<br />
Well, I am back here. It is like visiting our school after decades. Lot of nostalgia. Memories and smiles with lot of pictures coming back to mind. In our heads, it all looks the same. Though a lot has changed.<br />
<br />
It is a similar feeling visiting my blog. I used to be super active here. Lost it all. Trying to revive now. Hopefully it all comes back.<br />
<br />
Lots have changed since the last time I posted here? On top of that list is the 5 cats that have come into my life. They will get a lot of coverage here going forward. Rest of the things are mundane. More body-weight. Less head-weight. More work. Less travel. More movies. Less books. More reading, less writing. More realizations, less complaints. Yeah I know, signs of getting old. In fact, I am turning one more year older tomorrow!<br />
<br />
Any visitors from back then? Am trying to remove the cobwebs here. </div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-35398257145766492412015-11-20T16:07:00.000+05:302015-11-20T16:07:11.091+05:30Right to forgive - is it the most important?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A Sufi saint, on pilgrimage to Mecca, having completed the prescribed religious practices, knelt down and touched his forehead to the ground and prayed: “Allah! I have only one desire in life. Give me the grace of never offending you again.”<br /><br />When the All-Merciful heard this he laughed aloud and said, “That’s what they all ask for. But if I granted everyone this grace, tell me, whom would I forgive?”</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-40914740622051523912015-01-05T13:40:00.000+05:302015-01-05T13:49:19.211+05:302014 & Movies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2014 was a good year for me as far as movie watching was concerned. I saw the following movies, most of it with my wife who is also a a movie-lover.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Bollywood</i></b><br />
<br />
Dedh Ishqiya<br />
Hasee Toh Phasee<br />
<b>The Lunch Box</b><br />
Gunday<br />
Darr @ The Mall<br />
<b>Highway</b><br />
Shaadi Ke Side Effects<br />
<b>Queen</b><br />
Bewakoofiyan<br />
<b>2 States</b><br />
<b>Hawaa Hawaai</b><br />
<b>Filmistaan</b><br />
Mardaani<br />
<b>Mary Kom</b><br />
Finding Fanny<br />
Bang Bang<br />
<b>Haider</b><br />
Happy New Year<br />
PK<br />
<br />
<b><i>English</i></b><br />
<br />
The Monument's Men<br />
<b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
The Amazing Spiderman - 2<br />
<b>Million Dollar Arm</b><br />
<b>X-Men: Days Of Future Past</b><br />
<b>Chef</b><br />
<b>The Ship of Theseus</b><br />
A Million Ways to Die in the West<br />
<b>The Angriest Man in Brooklyn</b><br />
<b>Blended</b><br />
Deliver Us From Evil<br />
Boyhood<br />
Interstellar<br />
<b>Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>Malayalam</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>Drishyam</b><br />
<b>ABCD</b><br />
<b>Diamond Necklace</b><br />
<b>Run Baby Run</b><br />
<b>Memories</b><br />
<b>Bangalore Days</b><br />
24 North Kaadan<br />
<b>Manjadikuru</b><br />
<b>Chaappa Kurishu</b><br />
<b>Kerala Cafe</b><br />
<b>Adaminde Magan Abu</b><br />
<br />
The movies in bold are the ones I felt are good. Quite evidently, Malayalam movies that I chose to watch have been quite a pleasure to watch. I should thank my nephew Arvind for recommending most of them!<br />
<br />
P.S. I might have forgotten some of the movies seen!</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-73125319683721386762014-10-28T11:09:00.001+05:302014-10-28T11:09:34.821+05:30The empty container<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<i>Received this as an email. I for one surely need to restart with an empty container!</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Our lives get so complicated not overnight but gradually.<br /><br />The complications creep up on us, one insignificant step at a time.<br /><br />Today I order something online, tomorrow someone gives me a gift, then I get a free giveaway, then I decide I need some new tools. One item at a time, the clutter accumulates, because I’m not constantly purging the old.<br /><br />Today I say yes to an email request, tomorrow I say yes to a party invitation, then I get asked to a quick cup of coffee, then I decide to be a part of a project. One yes at a time, and soon my life is full and I don’t know how I got so busy.<br /><br />I look at a news site, then a social media site, then my email, then read an interesting article, then watch an online video someone sent me … and soon my day is gone, and I didn’t get much done, and my life gets eaten away in minuscule bites.<br /><br />How do we protect against this feature creep, this complication creep? We have to take a step back, regularly.<br /><br />Instead of thinking, “How can I get rid of this complicated mess?” … let’s ask, “What if I started with a blank slate?”<br /><br />What would you do if your life was a blank slate?<br /><br />If it were an empty container, with limited space, what would you put in it?<br /><br />For me, I might put in some play time and reading time with my kids; coffee time and exercise time with my wife; some long walks and talks with good friends and close relatives; work that matters to me and that helps others; continual learning; and time alone to meditate and spend with my thoughts and a good book.<br /><br />Those are the things that I’d put into my empty container, because they feel right to me. What would you choose?<br /><br />Once we’ve figured that out, we know what belongs in the container … now we just need to constantly look at things and activities and requests and tasks, and ask: “Is this one of my container items?”</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-36281361816829660302014-08-16T11:55:00.003+05:302014-08-16T11:55:39.117+05:30What do we do with freedom?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We spit, we litter, we abuse, we kill, we rape, we discriminate, we disobey laws, we break traffic signals, we cut lanes, we bribe, we take bribes, we misuse authority, we cut into forests, we mine all natural resources illegally, we loot the poor in all ways possible. We splurge money on movies and malls, overlooking the poverty just outside and around. We disrespect "outsiders" from "other states" and want only "our people" to prosper. <br /><br />Of course, we also forward messages about how great India is, and how our national anthem is the best in the world, and how corrupt the ministers are. We do a lot obviously.<br /><br />We are indeed free to do all the above things. We are truly cherishing this freedom.<br /><br />Thank you freedom fighters to give us this freedom to do all this and more.</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-62055961488243910042014-02-22T14:25:00.001+05:302014-02-22T14:25:27.860+05:30Memories of New Zealand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
I read the below lines in a sports article written in Wisden by R Kaushik. This was the opening para of his article on Indian cricket team's tour to NZ. However, the para reminded me of my 2 weeks spent in NZ last year with my wife. Each and every word is so true and it is wonderful to be reminded of what NZ made us experience.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<i>Five weeks in New Zealand spoils you. It works wonders for your facial muscles because you learn to smile at strangers – on the roads, in the malls, at the grounds, in the airports. You get accustomed to drivers stopping to let you, the pedestrian, cross the road, and after the first two or three days, you sort of leave your door unlocked even when you go to sleep. You take it for granted that if you have forgotten something at the ground, it will remain untouched when you return the next day. That if the meter fare is $38.90, you will get the $1.10 change back when you hand over $40. And that if you have asked for a cab and the operator tells you, ‘Someone will be there with you in 2 minutes’, it is not just a 2-minute warning, that the cab will unfailingly be at your doorstep in 2 minutes – maximum.</i></div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-36036678821344812232014-02-22T14:10:00.002+05:302014-02-22T14:10:41.976+05:30A lousy start for movies in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Year 2014 has not offered anything great on the movies front so far. Already two months down, and no movie has made me feel ecstatic to write about it. Now, that is as far as the bollywood movies are concerned. I had expected Dedh Ishqiya to be good, but it turned out to be boring. Even the legendary Madhuri could not replace the raw talent of Vidya Balan.<br />
<br />
Highway too was a movie I expected a lot out of considering it was directed by Imtiaz Ali. Again, it was a decent movie but not as good as his previous ones. Aaliya Bhatt has done a good job in the movie. She has got a meaty role and she has not let it down.<br />
<br />
I happened to watch few movies on DVD at home. Most of them turned out to be good. The most remarkable was Ship of Theseus. It is a brilliant movie that portrays the paradox trying to understand if a ship is destroyed completely and all its parts are used to make another ship, is the new ship the same as old one? And if we repair the old ship with new parts, which one of the two is the original ship now? Sounds odd but it is explored beautifully in the movie. Proud to see such a movie coming out of Indian artists.<br />
<br />
Another interesting movie is Compliance. Released last year in US, it is based on real life events. It portays an incident where a person calls up a fast food restaurant, pretending to be a cop and instructs the supervisor to investigate a theft allegedly done by a female employee working there. As you keep watching the movie, you get increasingly frustrated with the turn of events. And to realize it is a true story makes you feel worse. Apparently a lot of people walked off the theatre, unable to tolerate the level of stupidity being done by the supervisor.<br />
<br />
Both the movies are must watch. Get your hands on them asap.</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-41145576600694776702014-02-21T10:03:00.000+05:302014-02-21T10:03:13.489+05:30New training modules<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
CLASSES FOR WOMEN....<br />Training courses are now available for women on the following subjects:<br /><br />Topic 1. Silence, the Final Frontier:<br />Where No Woman Has Gone Before<br /><br />Topic 2. The Undiscovered Side of Banking:<br />Making Deposits<br /><br />Topic 3. Parties:<br />Going Without New Outfits<br /><br />Topic 4. Bathroom Etiquette:<br />Men Need Space in the Bathroom Cabinet Too<br /><br />Topic 5. Communication Skills I:<br />Tears - The Last Resort, not the First<br /><br />Topic 6. Communication Skills II:<br />Getting What you Want Without Nagging<br /><br />Topic 7. Driving a Car Safely:<br />A Skill You CAN Acquire<br /><br />Topic 8. Telephone Skills:<br />How to Hang Up<br /><br />Topic 9. Classic Footwear:<br />Wearing Shoes You Already Have<br /><br />Topic 10. Oil and Petrol:<br />Your Car Needs Both<br /><br />NEW EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN!!! ALL ARE WELCOME! OPEN TO MEN ONLY!<br /><br />Evening classes for men. Starting this month!<br />Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty of their contents, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants each.<br /><br />Topic 1. How to fill ice-cube trays.<br />Step by step with slide presentation.<br /><br />Topic 2. Toilet paper rolls: do they grow on the holders?<br />Round-table discussion.<br /><br />Topic 3. Differences between the laundry basket and the floor.<br />Pictures and explanatory graphics.<br /><br />Topic 4. Learning how to find things, starting with looking in the<br />right place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming.<br />Open forum.<br /><br />Topic 5. Health watch: bringing her flowers is not harmful to your health.<br />Graphics and audio tape.<br /><br />Topic 6. Real men ask for directions when lost.<br />Real-life testimonials.<br /><br />Topic 7. Is it genetically impossible to sit quietly as she parallel parks?<br />Driving simulation.<br /><br />Topic 8. Learning to live: basic differences between mother and wife.<br />Online class and role playing.<br /><br />Topic 9. How to be the ideal shopping companion.<br />Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques.<br /><br />Topic 10. How to fight cerebral atrophy: remembering birthdays,<br />anniversaries, other important dates and calling when you're going to<br />be late.<br />Cerebral shock therapy sessions.</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-3489664217375274652013-12-31T11:45:00.000+05:302013-12-31T11:45:04.951+05:30King Kallis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To me, Kallis is the greatest cricketer that I have seen playing the game. Yes, greater than SRT or Lara. Sad I cannot see more of him on the field.<br />
<br />
A lovely <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/705451.html" target="_blank">article</a> on various facets of his personality.</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-56163682755246661472013-11-18T00:02:00.001+05:302013-11-18T00:02:21.167+05:30The other side of a SRT-like success..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
At one time, he was admired by Sachin Tendulkar himself. Now he is struggling to fight alcoholism! The emphasis that Sachin placed on a strong family system in his farewell speech is evident here.<br />
<br />
Here is the <a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-one-who-dropped-the-ball-when-sachin-started-out-anil-was-mumbais-brightest-star/1195838/" target="_blank">story</a>.<br />
<br />
Accolades to the reporter Bharat Sundaresan for digging out this story. </div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-703545180026281392013-11-17T12:02:00.003+05:302013-11-17T12:02:35.842+05:30Boo Hoooooo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I so want to blog again :(</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-61342656027697359162013-03-20T16:31:00.001+05:302013-03-20T16:31:11.387+05:30Memories of Sehwag<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/625814.html</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-48441503139951697142013-03-03T23:31:00.001+05:302013-03-03T23:31:41.346+05:30If...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you can keep your head when all about you<br />Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,<br />If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,<br />But make allowance for their doubting too;<br />If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,<br />Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,<br />Or being hated, don't give way to hating,<br />And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:<br />If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;<br />If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;<br />If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster<br />And treat those two impostors just the same;<br />If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken<br />Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,<br />Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,<br />And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:<br /><br />If you can make one heap of all your winnings<br />And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,<br />And lose, and start again at your beginnings<br />And never breathe a word about your loss;<br />If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew<br />To serve your turn long after they are gone,<br />And so hold on when there is nothing in you<br />Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'<br /><br />If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,<br />' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,<br />if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,<br />If all men count with you, but none too much;<br />If you can fill the unforgiving minute<br />With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,<br />Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,<br />And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>- Rudyard Kipling</i></div>
</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-69423448700457594622013-01-26T20:09:00.000+05:302013-01-26T20:09:30.806+05:30Blind Faith!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."<br /><br />Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.<br /><br />Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."<br /><br />So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.<br /><br />Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-64706164596268612602013-01-17T22:00:00.001+05:302013-01-17T22:00:12.336+05:30Realistic?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This story is frequently told to be true. Whether true or not, it is certainly powerful.<br /><br />A man and a young teenage boy checked in to a hotel and were shown to their room. The two receptionists noted the quiet manner of the guests, and the pale appearance of the boy. Later the man and boy ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. The staff again noticed that the two guests were very quiet, and that the boy seemed disinterested in his food. After eating, the boy went to his room and the man went to reception and asked to see the manager. The receptionist initially asked if there was a problem with the service or the room, and offered to fix things, but the man said that there was no problem of that sort, and repeated his request. The manager was called and duly appeared. The man asked to speak privately and was taken into the manager's office.<br /><br />The man explained that he was spending the night in the hotel with his fourteen-year-old son, who was seriously ill, probably terminally so. The boy was very soon to undergo therapy, which would cause him to lose his hair. They had come to the hotel to have a break together, and also because the boy planned to shave his head, that night, rather than feel that the illness was beating him. The father said that he would be shaving his own head too, in support of his son. He asked that staff be respectful when the two of them came to breakfast with their shaved heads. The manager assured the father that he would inform all staff and that they would behave appropriately.<br /><br />The following morning the father and son entered the restaurant for breakfast.<br /><br />There they saw the four male restaurant staff attending to their duties, perfectly normally, all with shaved heads.</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-51110914166315345802013-01-15T20:28:00.002+05:302013-01-15T20:28:50.562+05:30The Tendulkar habit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Harsha Bhogle on Tendulkar after the latter's announcement to retire from ODI cricket.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/598770.html">http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/598770.html</a></div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-84562204734569520342013-01-15T19:50:00.003+05:302013-01-15T19:50:59.170+05:30The mantra that wasn't<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A great emperor asked his wise men to give him a mantra that could be used in any dangerous, fatal situation.<br /><br />Clueless, eventually they went to a Sufi mystic who gave them a piece of paper and said, “This should not be opened unless there really is danger and there is no more hope!”<br /><br />The king put the piece of paper under the diamond of his ring.<br /><br />There were many moments when danger approached, but the Sufi had emphatically said, “Unless you feel this is really the last hope – that nothing can be more dangerous – do not open it!” Many dangers came and went, but the king always felt that he could face it, and that he was not yet at the end of his tether.<br /><br />Finally, death approached, and the king had still had not opened the piece of paper. His wise men pleaded, “Please open it. We want to see what is there.” But the king said, “It is now irrelevant what is there; the mantra has worked upon me. Ever since I received this mantra, I have not felt any danger at all. Whatsoever the danger was, I have felt still more was possible, and I have remained unperturbed.” The king continued, “That Sufi is a wise man. I am not concerned about what he has written.”<br /><br />After the king died, his wise men hastened to open the ring and pull out the paper. There was nothing written on it; it was a blank piece of paper. But the advice worked; the mantra worked.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>P.S.: May be this is why many people, including "educated" ones follow the "advice" of any religious guru or prophet for success and well-being.</i></div>
</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-90465382998552158002012-11-26T00:28:00.002+05:302012-11-26T00:28:41.547+05:30Practice what you preach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A woman once came to Gandhi and asked him to please tell her son to give up eating sugar. Gandhi asked the woman to bring the boy back in a week. Exactly one week later the woman returned, and Gandhi said to the boy, “Please give up eating sugar.” The woman thanked the Mahatma, and, as she turned to go, asked him why he had not said those words a week ago.”<br /><br />Gandhi replied, “Because a week ago, I had not given up eating sugar.”</div>
U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-45126679353799906312012-06-28T23:10:00.000+05:302012-06-28T23:10:02.051+05:30Peace of mind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”<br /><br />The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”<br /><br />After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.<br /><br />Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”<br /><br />What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Source: Unknown</i></div>
</div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-5425144185743752262012-06-19T11:36:00.003+05:302012-06-19T11:36:39.025+05:30Adi n lolo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
lolo is adi's two feet brown teddy. these days mum is jealous of lolo. y ?<br /><br />1. coz lolo is placed carefully on sofa to watch mickey videos with adi. mum stands in a corner with her food tray. <br />2. adi hugs lolo n sleep. mum sleeps on her bed.<br />3. lolo is sweetly introduced to all visitors. mum is to serve snacks.<br />4. some times adi insist on tkg lolo to play area. nw mum needs to push two prams.<br />5. wht ever adi eats, is lovingly offered to lolo. mum can eat on her own.<br />6. adi reads his picture books with lolo.<br />7. adi sweetly carries lolo every where he goes. mum has two feet n can walk.<br />8. whenever adi drinks his milk frm bottle, lolo sleeps next to adi for moral support.<br />9. some times, lolo also wears adi's t shirts n shorts.<br /><br />it is amazing hw adi loves his lolo.........</div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-65876463940806910162012-06-19T11:34:00.004+05:302012-06-19T11:34:58.601+05:30Adi n doudou<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
adi is very fond of dogs which mks us friends with every dog owner on r street. paa has bot a little brown fur dog(a toy) for adi,hw adi loves it..... sm hw adi has named it doudou. so doudou bathes with adi thrice a day in bath tub. so far doudou has nt complained but looks at me with pleading eyes saying i hv bathed enough to last a life time. by nw doudou is ragged but hw adi loves him. even neighbors n guests r introduced to doudou lovingly :) a neighbor has a pet dog, the moment adi sees her, he calls her doudou...... acc to adi all dogs n their owners hv a universal name : doudou<br /><br />adi n disney : nw adi has joined billions of disney kiddie fans. diligently he watches disney cartoons ... like mickey, donald, pluto, mermaid, simba, nala...... list goes on..... adi calls them all : diji ie disney :) <br /><br />adi n strawberry : no one on this planet optimizes strwbery as much as adi, he loves this fruit. hence he has strwbery milk, strwbery soap, strwbry toothpaste, strwbery curd, strwbry pillow...... n god save me if adi spots strwbery in super mkt coz he wants to tear the pckt rite away n eat them all.... </div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-86681595936588406712012-06-19T11:32:00.002+05:302012-06-19T11:32:44.719+05:30Adi at gurudwara.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
last week v hd taken adi to gurudwara. a wedding was in progress so the place was pretty crowded. before i go any further lemme remind that adi loves to b in water, any waterbody excites him ..... bath tub, bucket, swimming pool, bathroom, taps..... basically he loves palying in water :) <br /><br />so here v r admiring the beautiful gurudwara, a punjabi wedding, n suddenly v c adi dashing towards the middle of temple - small pond like structure with fountain....... he jus ran, took off his pants, eager to play in that water fountain..... sree leaped n caught him....... obviously on lookers had a good laugh to c a kid running in his white diapers to play in water fountain, in middle of gurudwara......... n papa huffing n puffing after him.....<br /><br />as if this chaos was not enough, inspired by adi, few more kids decided to splash in fountain........ all this with a wedding in background...... o dear lord.....<br /><br />adi howled n cried when v coaxed him to wear his pants, explaining y he cnt bathe there........<br /><br />adi is still not sure hw does he bathing in diapers affect the wedding around him...<br /><br />once again adi's love for water splashing was loudn clear when he decided to get drenched in water fountain at r near by mall....... mus confess it was a sigtht to watch adi plYing, smiling, laughing by himself in those color ful water umbrellas, totally oblivious to bizi world around him. that day i walked home with drenched adi sitting on semi drenched stroller :) </div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-91500625696559468362012-03-21T09:10:00.000+05:302012-03-21T09:10:03.220+05:30I showed the finger!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After years of believing that marriage would be a futile thing, I still could not duck this one that came at me. It was almost like God looked at me, showed me an angel and said <i>"Aha..so you don't want to get married huh! Okay, now try and resist this one."</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
Well, I did not resist. So decided to <i>sacrifice (hehe)</i> my peace and freedom for a cause - of that of keeping Sangeeta like a princess. That's her name and I showed her my finger for the engagement ring.<br />
<br />
I got engaged on March 18!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-29YsStQbk7Q/T2lNMXQrPxI/AAAAAAAAAnk/cyLKy3KlQL0/s1600/398778_10150745789281499_536841498_11365514_827406338_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-29YsStQbk7Q/T2lNMXQrPxI/AAAAAAAAAnk/cyLKy3KlQL0/s320/398778_10150745789281499_536841498_11365514_827406338_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U77kXXwDz8Y/T2lNP3Tdz1I/AAAAAAAAAns/ukPEgNtrF1o/s1600/293773_10150745789741499_536841498_11365519_2135181864_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U77kXXwDz8Y/T2lNP3Tdz1I/AAAAAAAAAns/ukPEgNtrF1o/s320/293773_10150745789741499_536841498_11365519_2135181864_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><br /></i></div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-88388092850415624542012-03-14T15:57:00.000+05:302012-03-14T15:57:54.303+05:30Rahul Dravid – India's genius who could see way beyond the boundary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/columnists/2012/3/9/1331288092912/Rahul-Dravid-005.jpg" /> <br /><i>Rahul Dravid is congratulated by Steve Waugh following India's victory in Adelaide in December 2003. Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images Sport </i><br />When most people talk, you wait for your turn to speak. With some, you listen. And with a select few, you hang on every word like it's a sermon from on high. For many cricket fans, Steve Waugh falls into the latter category. A combination of Waugh's laconic nature, his avoidance of the spotlight, his abhorrence of banality and his status as the inscrutable figurehead of the Australian team that ruled the world at the turn of the century have made his pronouncements as valuable as any in the game. He is certainly someone whose respect you would be desperate to earn. Muffled praise from Steve Waugh is worth 100 rooftop eulogies from other cricketers.<br /><br />It's no surprise that Steve Waugh respected Rahul Dravid. He respected him so much that he asked him to write the foreword to his autobiography. Their mutual admiration was cemented over dinner during India's tour of Australia in 1998, when Dravid asked Waugh incessantly about the mental side of the game. They differ in some respects – Dravid's idea of mental disintegration was the watertight forward defensive – but they share crucial qualities. A love of the dying art of batting time. A rich understanding of the history of the game and particularly the importance of Test cricket. An awareness of how important cricket is but also how important it isn't. Both see way beyond the boundary.<br /><br />In Dravid, Waugh saw a rare species: the truly worthy adversary, and somebody who prided himself of making the tough, important runs. Waugh wasn't in the gutter very often as Australian captain, yet he happily went there in Adelaide on 16 December 2003, to retrieve the ball after Dravid had hit the winning runs in a sensational second Test. It gave India their first victory in Australia for 23 years. Waugh collected the ball and gave it to Dravid. With this being Waugh's last series in international cricket, some saw it as a symbolic passing of the baton. "Rahul wanted the extra edge that would elevate his game to the next level," said Waugh of that dinner date in 1998, "and at the Adelaide Oval he completed the journey".<br /><br />That performance was probably Dravid's finest in international cricket. He made 233 and 72 not out, batting five minutes short of 14 hours in the match. After that, even this most modest man could not avoid the spotlight. Despite that, and other legendary match-winning performances, there is a temptation to think Dravid as the guy behind the guy, someone whose career was largely spent in the shadows. When he made a gritty 95 on his Test debut at Lord's in 1996, Sourav Ganguly, also on debut, made a sparkling 131. When he batted all day against Australia at Kolkata in 2001, eventually making 180, VVS Laxman also batted all day and made a divine 281, one of the all-time great Test innings. When Dravid struck three unyielding centuries in England last summer, they were lost in Sachin Tendulkar's pursuit of his 100th hundred. Though Dravid was technically beautiful, his often weary face betrayed the fact that batting rarely came easy to him. He did not have the brutal audacity of Virender Sehwag, the poetic elegance of Laxman, the unfathomable, enduring genius of Tendulkar or the sublime cover drive of Ganguly.<br /><br />What he did have was substance. Dravid will retire with a portfolio of epic innings. Most came abroad; his percentage of Test centuries scored overseas (58) and outside Asia (39) are higher than the other fourgalacticos. This point might seem piddling – runs are runs are runs – but it ignores the position India were in during the early part of Dravid's career. Between 1986 and 2000 they won just one overseas Test in 48 attempts. To say they were travel sick was an insult to spinning stomachs. Their journey under the flinty captaincy of Ganguly in the early 2000s will always be defined by that miraculous turnaround against Australia in 2000-01, yet the most striking progress came overseas. Dravid, who averaged a staggering 102.84 in victories under Ganguly, was the key to that progress. His performance of Adelaide was followed, later the same winter, by an immense 270 at Rawalpindi to set up India's first ever series win in Pakistan. Eighteen months earlier his masterful 148 in trying conditions at Headingley – the second of four consecutive Test hundreds – led to a first win in England for 16 years. In 2006, as captain, he made 81 and 68 in a low-scoring dogfight in Jamaica to give India their first series win in the Caribbean for 35 years. Dravid batted 597 minutes in the match; nobody else on either side lasted 205 minutes.<br /><br />All bar one of these performances came during Dravid's peak, between July 2002 and June 2006 – the month in which his overall Test average peaked at 58.75. In that period, he scored 4316 runs at 69.61; even many of Tendulkar's disciples could not deny that Dravid was India's best batsman, and by a distance. Only Ricky Ponting rivalled him as the world's best. Dravid was also the inaugural ICC Player of the Year in 2004.<br /><br />He lies second behind on the Tendulkar on the Test run-scorers list, with 13288, and fourth with 36 Test centuries. He does have a couple of records of his own. Dravid is the only man to score 10,000 runs in the pivotal No3 position, and the only man to face 30,000 deliveries in Test cricket. As Dileep Premachandran said, he had "powers of concentration that were almost yogic". He was a master of the dying art of batting time and was famously nicknamed The Wall (although, as Mike Selvey pointed out on these pages, he deserved a grander title like The Great Wall of Indore).<br /><br />To talk of Dravid's ability tells only half the story. He exhibited greatness at its most humble, and is one of the most impressive men to play the game: dignified, fair-minded, eloquent (he never used a ghostwriter), gentle, yet tougher than we will ever realise. A Gary Cooper for the new millennium; the kind of man you'd want your son to grow into. Those who advocate Satan for a living would struggle to produce a bad word against him. There was one charge of ball-tampering in 2004, although most seemed to accept it was accidental. That's about it. Ganguly observed that Dravid had the eerie habit of almost always saying the right thing. He pretty much always did the right thing, too. Both were demonstrated at Edgbaston last summer when he defused the row over Ian Bell's controversial dismissal.<br /><br />Dravid was also a strikingly selfless team man, and could pop up in the most unlikely places: he batted everywhere from No1 to 7 in the Test team and played 73 one-day internationals as wicketkeeper to aid the balance of the side. He could pop up in other unlikely places: playing for Scotland, or at the United Services Ground in Portsmouth, repelling Shane Warne in one of county cricket's greatest modern duels. He even appeared in the England dressing-room in 2002 to pick Michael Vaughan's brain after he had dismantled India's spinners. Imagine an Indian asking an Englishman for tips on playing spin bowling. Dravid was never too proud to seek advice. "Greatness was not handed to him; he pursued it diligently, single-mindedly," Dravid wrote of Waugh in that foreword. It's a compliment that works both ways. Waugh recognised Dravid as a rare species, and so should we: as somebody who achieved greatness as both a cricketer and as a human being.<br /><br /><div>
<i>- The Guardian (UK)</i></div>
</div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144847281883663791.post-87471944582160646832012-03-14T15:53:00.000+05:302012-03-14T15:53:02.357+05:30Was Rahul Dravid better than Sachin Tendulkar?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
No, but he was more beloved in England<br /><br /><div>
I saw Rahul Dravid get his 12 at The Oval, in 2007. It took 96 balls and lasted 140 painful, horrible, scratchy minutes.<br /><img src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02162/dravid_2162550b.jpg" /> <br /><br />In its sheer bloody-minded refusal to admit defeat or give in to his own lack of timing and form, it was a masterpiece; a sight both grim to behold and ghoulishly compelling, like watching Darren Gough in a pink leotard on that Wipeout gameshow.<br /><br />A lesser man would have just thrown the bat at a wide one and nicked off to lick his wounds and wait for better days to come. But Rahul kept at it, mistiming and clunking and missing and edging. For over two hours. It was, in its own way, brave and inspiring. He stuck it out until the bitter end, when he was finally dismissed – in an exquisite little eff-you from the universe – by Paul Collingwood.<br /><br />I’d gone to the match with a friend, who had not been to a Test match before but had got free posh seats from his work. I think my friend’s previous exposure to cricket constituted of highlights of Freddie’s Ashes, and maybe a corporate jolly to a Twenty20. It would be like preparing to join the Foreign Legion by going to Club 18-30 in Faliraki. Perhaps nothing could have readied the neophyte watcher for the prospect of Rahul’s 96-ball 12, but it’s fair to say that my mate hasn’t been near a cricket match since.<br /><br />I felt at the time that Test cricket at The Oval would somehow stagger on without my friend’s interest or patronage, and sure enough, Rahul was back at that ground in 2011, promoted to open and scoring a magnificent unbeaten hundred in the first innings. He barely had time to change Suresh Raina’s nappy before trudging out to open the innings again, following on.<br /><br />Rahul had to move up the order in both digs. Gautam Gambhir, one of several of the younger Indian cricketers whose reputation in England will never recover from that spineless, flabby, cowardly display on that tour, had hurt his head trying (and, naturally, failing) to take a catch and wasn’t up to batting before either innings was effectively over. Poor lamb. Even when Dravid was handed a tough decision for a bat-pad catch and given out, unluckily, for 13 in the second innings, he took it on the chin. He was a man amongst boys on that tour.<br /><br />So two matches at The Oval that, I submit, encapsulate what Rahul has meant to English cricket lovers. While Sachin – perhaps distracted by the hoopla over breaking a record that nobody even knew existed until it was created for him, bespoke – floundered on that 2011 tour, Rahul’s reputation grew even greater in this country.<br /><br />It is hard, sacrilegious I dare say, for Indian fans to consider, but I believe that in the UK at least, Rahul’s bravery, modesty, professionalism and courtly determination make him even more loved than Tendulkar. There is, to us non-fanatics, a machine-like efficiency to the run-compiling machine from Mumbai that makes him somehow less of a romantic figure than Rahul and, for that matter, VVS.<br /><br />While Sachin and his lesser successors are bathed in the fierce gleam of the modern India, Rahul’s greatest moments seem to be shrouded in a dimming light, like the form of the game to which he was best suited. If it is to be retirement, he will be cherished in the hearts of English Test cricket fans for a very long time. Let's just hope he doesn't take Indian Test cricket with him.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>- By Alan Tyers (The Telegraph, UK)</i></div>
</div>U No Hoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01724757771464711024noreply@blogger.com0