Pit stop 1- Madurai

Leaving for Madurai my main worry had to be getting up at 5 in the morning as the train reaches my destination at that time. But the Gods helped me here and delayed the train for almost 2 hours and so i was not sleep deprived. After reaching the hotel, i banged on the door to awaken my bro who was comfortably dreaming away to glory. After having beaten him (and kicked him) to my mind's fill we started pulling each other's legs, the best job for us! Lets see, the entire fight was for his brand new mobile gifted to him by two of his college friends and that too Nokia E-series. I kept on bugging my brother telling him that his friends should know better than to buy him a pure white E-series, and i quote " Kurangide kyil poomala" ( for people who don't know malayalam, go and learn some :P). After mom and dad tried to referee the entire match we were told to freshen up and be ready by 9 but not before i was promised a new mobile, no not any series but something i will like! And then we proceeded towards the famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple.

All through the way appa quizzed me on the temple and the city. I was not spared even inside the temple. The lotus inside the temple proved to be the butt of all jokes. Appa tried to fool me saying that the lotus floated on water and i ended up checking the construction of the lotus! Stupid me, I must say. Then after a tour of the temple, which was smaller than i thought it was, we headed back to the hotel. As usual i had my siesta while everyone around me packed to leave for somewhere. On waking up i realized that our next stop was going to be Rameshwaram. That was the height of everything. All throughout my life i had been branded by my family as an atheist but i have always tried to maintain a no-temple-visit strategy. I believe that one need not visit places of worship to seek God and that my friend is an atheist according to my mom. Innumerable times have i showed the dictionary meaning of an atheist to my mom but with no avail. Only on my birthday do i enter a temple that too because mom blackmails me of something or the other. So my routine of one-temple-one-year was just a far cry out from what i experienced this summer and in one particular occasion monsoon too as i was drenched in rain when we decided to walk home from a nearby temple. And above all this my mom was whining about the fact that a trip to Pazhani was not possible! Duh. All i had to say was " Just because there were 2 senior citizens (mom & dad) travelling with us i decided that a trip to Madurai wont hurt and now you are stretching that luck. Wait till next time. I am definitely going to look for places without any temples!" And as if that was the joke of the millenium the entire family just burst out laughing. It did not end with Rameshwaram. Every place had its share of temples and i was taken to pretty much all of them. Now in Hyderabad it has come down to the fact that we go to one temple every time we go out, which comes down to one-temple-a-day! Now i keep on saying that our driver uncle himself knows how much of a temple freak my mom is, so much so that every day when me and mom go shopping he takes us to a new temple!!!Somehow i used to like the one-temple-a-year idea, at least the fascination for temples was kept alive. But now times have changed and amma has come to the conclusion that i have become more of a christian, though she considers that it to be for a secular common good!

The Plan

No, it is not a movie review...It is actually the extensive plans i had made for my vacations. Started of with plans to West Bengal. I must say that the place holds a very special place in my heart. After all i am a bengali by birth...ahem i meant place of birth. Having heard a lot about the place from mom and dad which include their childhood stories, how golguppas and jaalmoodi were the staple food when young and after having seen my baby photos there, it was like an all-time wish for me to visit my birth land again. I have always told that i would want to go see our house there and roam around all those places of which only stories i remember. I wanted to enjoy the real sandes and wanted to enjoy shopping in the Great Market which amma so lovingly describes as street-shopping is like heaven with her for i just need to chose what i want and she gets it for me in the price she wants. What do i have to complain about at the end of the day- i propose and mom disposes. So when we were looking for a place to go, it was just an obvious choice for me to suggest WB, or rather i suggested Kolkata along with a tour of the north-east. Then comes the real problem that the tour is on just for a week because Varun had only a weeks time before leaving. So that idea was dropped.

Then my cousin came up with this idea of going abroad with Varun seconding the idea. But here again there was a problem. Since i had turned 18 my passport had expired and i had to renew them, something i had put off for the end of my vacations. Never thought that me becoming an adult was going to be such a big problem! After a lot of discussions we decided to drop that idea and decided to settle for a small trip this year with the promise of an awesome tour abroad to a place (or places ;)) of my choice next year.

So after a lot of planning, deciding and vetoing we finally decided on Madurai- Kodaikanal -Pondicherry. Well in the end all that i can say was that did not prove to be the final destinations.

18th Birthday

I must say that i don't remember much of what happened during that time but I am just penning it down so that i never forget what my friends did for me and a lot of firsts that happened. It was the time of 'Tathva' in college and i ended up being on the dance team. It was just after test 2 in s1 when i was down with high fever. Incidentally that was the first time, and now surely the last time, i ever visited our Health Centre. The doc on seeing my condition advised me to skip the exams and do makeup exams but the thought of staying in college even for a day after my endsem exams was quite revolting. So she prescribed some very strong antibiotics and told me not to stress myself. So i did do as was told to me. By the end of the exams i was back to my normal self and the next week started a hectic schedule ( now come to think of it, it was nothing compared to Ragam) with classes and dance practice.

Now a new problem arose. My fever was long gone but i felt tired like anything even by just walking and i had those gut-wrenching pains. Initially i had those only when i danced during practice but the more i strained the more painful it was. I called it quits then and went to bed just to awaken the next day with the pain three-fold. I got dressed and decided to ignore it and get on with my life. But it did not seem that easy. Even walking proved difficult and returning back from college i was glad that my friend was there with me and she literally put me to bed on reaching hostel. I decided to contact my usual escape-route and told him to book my tickets home that weekend and told him specifically to not tell our parents and worry them. Instead of getting some soothing words he literally blew away and told me to talk to mom first before booking anything. I talked to mom and dad and after a lot of persuasion from me they finally allowed me to be in college till the weekend.

This indeed was a twist to my friends who were planning a birthday bash for me. Since i would not be available to give a treat on my birthday i gave everyone an ice cream each two days before my birthday on the 13th.I packed and was ready to leave on the eve of my birthday on the 14th. So i had to celebrate my birthday with my friends around six hours earlier than they would have expected. There was my entire close friends set in my room- people i already knew from home and my new friends there. The cake was spared of any damage it would have suffered on my face or any other's. After all i had a train to catch. I was also spared of the famous, or should i say the infamous, GPL. That was purely a consideration on my health. After a blast with everyone and getting a sweet present of which i had no idea i left for home. On my way home at exactly midnight i get flooded by calls from family and friends. It was kind of an embarrassing situation since i was travelling by train and my phone kept on ringing but there is always a solution. I put my mobile on vibrate mode and continued answering them. After all i do disturb people at midnight with phone calls and it was revenge time and i did not want to be the spoilsport!

I reached home thinking i could just sleep off the entire weekend but my family had other plans for me. I could not get forty winks before my mom pulled me to a place i am terrified of- HOSPITALS. It just sends the creeps down my spine. I knew what their answer would be. First on the list was a blood test. The old and the young (in my family) alike know how terrified i am of needles. I have had just 2 blood tests in my entire 18 years of life and both times they were not event-less needless to say. And finally hugging my mom, closing my eyes and clenching my teeth i went through the ordeal. The tests were normal. Well what did they expect? Anyway in spite of it being my birthday i was not spared any medical procedure. A first of many sorts were in store for me. A girl who was petrified of preliminary tests was asked to take a scan, x-ray and what not. Seriously, it was high time that the doctors accepted that they had no clue as to what exactly they were looking for. Not only was my birthday spoilt but also Diwali (17th). With 3 days of hospital life, i had had enough for a lifetime. All this while my friends were worried about me that they flooded me with get-well-soon messages and i called one of my roomies on Diwali night. After all it was her birthday the next day and my mom was definitely not going to allow me to stay up till 12 thanks to my health. So i called her up earlier and wished her and in turn she was telling me what all was happening in college, how much fun they were having and how worried they were of me. After a long phone call of jokes and facts and truths i hung up and decided to go to bed not wanting to think about anything in my life.

And finally on the 18th the doctor finally admitted that he had no clue as to what was wrong. And then came the highlight of the day, the doctor had the nerve to suggest a surgery to know the reason behind my fatigue. I must say that my tongue just got stuck in my throat but i was able to utter that i would be leaving that night for college and that i would not be back for another two months. The doctor's disappointment was evident on his face and so was my joy on release from the hospital. Going under the knife was the last thing in my wish-list for my birthday. All the plans i had when i was coming home was shattered. I was so disappointed in my weekend that i ended up going home the next weekend too missing my first ever Tathva in college. When my mom asked me to come home i never knew that she had other schemings. In fact that week she had been to other doctors for second opinions and God knows how many other opinions. The first time i spoke to her itself i made it very clear to her that i would go only to our family doctor for i trusted him and he very well knew my phobia of needles and always diagnosed me correctly with almost a 100% record of not sending me for any tests whatsoever. But only after a harrowing weekend with me in the hospital that my family remembered my favourite doctor. And as always he was very sweet and told my mom that all the tests were not necessary and that it was just an overdose of antibiotics that i had taken from our dear HC and that it was not supplemented with vitamins... Well so much for the surgery i guess.

The second weekend holiday went without much events with mom just revealing to me the doctors she had met in spite of me telling her that i was not going to spoil my weekend again and that i was not coming within a seven-mile radius of any hospital. Anyway in spite of all the mental and physical fatigue i must say that the birthday will remain close to my heart. After all it was proposed to be my first one away from home but it turned out to be something else. So enjoying an awesome cake from my friends and my favourite kheer at home, the birthday was two-fold happier for me. Setting aside all the unpleasant moments i will look back to 15th Oct,2009 as a special day and that would be due to my family and mainly my friends in hostel and all i want to say to them would be ' Thank you guys for making the day so special'.

Cooking Expeditions

It all started way back- the year, day and time i exactly don't remember. The entire family was all gung ho about me trying to do something in the kitchen. But the only relationship me and the kitchen ever had was me entering it once in a while to fix a snack for myself or mainly to get chocolates from the refrigerator. The earliest memory of me making anything was a lemonade for my dad and uncle. It turned out to be a fabulous lemonade that my uncle finally had to tell me not to show my anger on the lemon and that i had to squeeze the lemon pretty softly to prevent the lemonade from tasting sour. :-)

The next one had to be with Varun. Whenever grandparents were not staying with us, then mom left it on us to make our own evening tea. Age was definitely not a barrier in making tea as far as he was concerned! I took up the responsibility of making tea for both of us. When one day we had our usual fights i challenged him to make his own tea and thus my sweet bro tried his hand at cooking. He stood in front of the gas staring very hard at it. Come to think of it now, whether he thought himself to be the X Men or the Fantastic Four fire guy only God knows but it was as if he was waiting for the fire to just come from somewhere. All this while i was sitting there and laughing my stomach out. Finally after what seemed to be like an eternity of staring and laughing matches he had the presence of mind to ask me. After i helped him light the stove he managed to do things on his own...

Now after so many years the entire family which includes me, papa & varun decided that we will make life easier for mom and that was by making me enter the maidan-e-jung of kitchen! It all started by me helping her cut some vegetables. And guess what the first vegetable was...onions! I had read before that it is the odour of onions that is responsible for all the tears that one sheds while cutting it. I hinted that to mom and all that she could come up with was to stuff some cotton in my nose...PJ i know. Anyway, i cut 2 onions without much of any accidents (as i am generally prone to) i did finally end up with one. Cutting the third onion i was just checking how sharp the knife was and i soon got the answer to my question in return for some blood and skin. After cleaning my wound and having properly attended to it i continued with the cutting process and i realized that it was not such a good idea after all. The stinging sensation in my wound was so evident on my face that mom took the knife and continued with the rest.

So much for helping in cutting vegetables. But mom did say that i cut the vegetables so small and cute that it reminded her of her mom! So one medal! I decided to give myself the degree and graduated to the next level.

The next day i saw mom preparing dough for chapathi and it was my all-time wish to make round chapathis. So finally with everything settled with mom i settled into making gol gol chapathis. With flour all over me and almost 3 or 4 retries i finally managed to make one. That is when mom noticed that there were traces of flour in vessels kept at least a metre away from me! But i continued to make chapathis and finally ended up making perfect good-looking chapathis and i let my imagination run wild with that. I kept on commenting that one chapathi looked like an old man's face, the other like Varun's face and all. Well in short, me and mom had a blast making chapathis so much so that i ended up giving her demo of how messy a work could be done. Thus finally i made gol gol chapathis and aloo masala, though the masala was mainly done by my mom except me cutting and putting garam masala in it.

The next day i tried making dosa and i realized that eating dosas are much easier than making them.Finally i ended up making small cute ones that were of the size of my fist while my mom made huge ones. Such cooking expeditions continue till date and my mom is pretty worried with the sudden change in my attitude towards kitchen and she just has this weird doubt whether i will stop studying. All that i have to tell her is 'When did i ever start studying for me to stop? ;-)'

The beginning....

Never thought that I would become one of those people who finally end up living out of the suitcase in one’s own house! Yet that has what it has all come down to. Four months of hostel life with frequent visits home has allowed me to stay somehow glued to my home and its surroundings. Well I better say that this butterfly never dreamt of coming out of the cocoon of her home. Though my brother gets quite irritated with the fact that I’ve not become one of his disciples to find a haven away from home in my college but I can safely say that I would sooner or later be ‘his sister’.

After what seemed like a lifetime of college life in s1(of 4 months duration) it does sink in now that I have just got 7 more semesters left!!!

I still remember the first day I came to my hostel- july 21. The previous days were spent in trying to coax my father to take leave earlier because I did not want to end up in my college on the last day of registration. But fate had it otherwise and I was here just on the nick of time. After completing all my registration details (once more after the 1^st allotment) and having ‘puttu’ for the first time in my life I found myself standing on the doorstep of LH Block IV waiting to be assigned a room. When I was asked to sign the entry register, I noticed for the first time who my roommates would be. I saw Akhila(aki), Angelline( anju) and Asura( asu) entered under room 209.

From my fifth grade onwards I lost the ability to befriend anyone within a few minutes as dad came to stay with us and I never really had a deficit of friends in Trivandrum. Till then I was quite capable of initiating a conversation with anybody, yet on having forgotten that gift I was a little apprehensive of meeting my roomies. I still remember entering the place with dad and mom and I see that two of my roomies had already settled in and all that dad could think of was, ‘nice setup. Much better than BHU’ and I as usual, ‘Obviously, that was Varun’s college’. My mom settled into arranging my cupboard, as always, I got busy chatting with my friends from Trivandrum. Then I talked to Aki for the first time. Then our parents started talking. Suddenly out of nowhere a girl in a Capri and t-shirt enters the room, clearly an indication of how well-settled she already felt and that was when I realized that it was anju and all the while I thought it was asha( anju’s sister), who was perched on anju’s bed all the while, who was my roomie. Then asu entered with her sister, a senior in our college, and found herself amidst three crazy people( as she was to realize later). She keeps on saying now that kuthiravattam ( a mental asylum) is near and that she would have the privilege of admitting some soon-to-be mad people.

The usual confusion scenarios that haunt me in tvm did not intend to leave me even in calicut and infact it seems to have boarded the same train I did ( I know PJ). Inspite of dad wanting me to take south Indian mess I was forced to reconcile with north veg mess. And I was given clear instructions to switch to south Indian mess in august and nothing turned out like that as the food in my mess turned out to be much better than anybody could expect. And to date I have kept up the tradition of not changing my mess! Though I did go to south mess for a day, I ended up feigning sickness to switch back to north veg mess the very next morning. Even people who cannot live without non-veg gave thumbs-up to my mess with chole bhatura being the highlight of our mess. Being a vegetarian, I never had problems with eating just ‘veggies’, as my friends in tvm call it.

Meeting 211: Sudhina (sudi), who was one of the very few people I already knew, was in room 211 and it was she who introduced me to her roomies namely Nidhasha( nids), Marilyn( called anything that sounds plausibly close to Marilyn!) and Divya( divs). It was then that I realized that nids and anju where fiends from Abu Dhabi. There was this natural bonding between these two rooms mainly because marilyn, divs and me ended up in C-batch, nids, anju and asu in J-batch and sudi & aki in M-batch. Unfortunately there was the staircase and the Resident Tutor’s (RT) room in between our rooms but that never stopped us from having all the fun that 10 minds could come up with. It was only later that Garima(garims) and Monica( monics) entered rooms 209 & 211 and then there was no looking back for us from there!

July 22: I got up early in the morning; just my very sincere effort to try to start a new beginning which always ends up getting flopped and this certainly was not going to get any better in the near future. I had spent my first night in the hostel without much of any accidents or making myself a fool. Well at least that gave me a slight hope that life would not be so bad after all. The day was spent in orientation, a word I have come to dread every time I hear it now. Infact we were even telling that our college should conduct an orientation for us to attend an orientation (again a PJ)! That very afternoon mom and dad left me to fend for myself (so unlike the meaning of the words) and I never even thought in my wildest of dreams that I would spend a few tears at this occasion. I never thought that I would miss mom the way I miss her now. Since dad always used to be away from home it never was a big issue for me as far as both of us heard each other’s voice atleast once a day. The way I missed Varun was nowhere near to anything. Though we fought worse than cats and dogs both of us knew that our separation would be really difficult for both of us, crying and cringing yet letting each other in on other’s secrets! Dad and mom left to see Varun’s friend in IIM-K. From then on I knew that I would not have mom or dad the way I had and Varun on whom I could put all the blame of my mistakes, though in vain, though I still do it in spurts. The day progressed without any surprises.

From then on hostel has gone on without me missing any part of it but college still eludes me of the fun that it promises to provide.

The Lucrative League

Well, what do I say about it that has not been written or talked about?! In its opening year it had created so much of frenzy that anybody and everybody got so hooked to it that their social lives took a deep plummeting. It has created a confluence of the two big industries of this nation- the gentleman’s game and the big bad world of entertainment. Infact this has redefined what entertainment really is. Of course I am talking about the mantra that is on everybody’s lips- the big fat IPL.
The inaugural season, last year, was a runaway hit. It threw open to the world a novel system which though was criticized initially. India has always been fanatical when it came to cricket or bollywood. So as a matter of fact the venue for this one of a kind event had to be invariantly India! But this year has so far been a roller coaster ride for Modi &Co. It all started with the security concerns after the Lahore attack. But the real issue that they faced was the elections. When this entire matter was being looked into I remember telling myself as to how I would crave for the IPL rather than the elections! Well what is the issue-one bad government will be replaced by yet another if not even worse so why not have something productive in the mean time.
As an individual I really feel that this IPL has lacked the luster of last year. Well maybe because of the absence of the fanatic crowd that India is so famous of. Now when I watch the IPL I feel as if I am watching some county cricket (maybe that would have been even more interesting)! Well EPL was better. At least there was some competition and finally Manchester United were being given a run for their money by Liverpool. But this is indeed not the case with this year’s teams in the IPL. Certainly there have been some shockers but it has pretty much been predictable. The very reason for that is South Africa. The pitches have so far favored the spinners and it is likely to continue so. Last year IPL was a batsman’s game- a six and the scoreboard would suddenly tell a new story altogether.
The inaugural match of the last season was a brilliant curtain raiser with Brendon McCullum hitting the highest score ever in T20 history. It was a treat to the eyes. But this year there has not been a single match that has reached the level achieved last year. The only thing that could have been fascinating was to see teams that had underperformed trying to reach the golden crown. This IPL has not created those nail-biting finishes or those high scoring matches. The only time it looks interesting is when the top teams compete or the bottom two! Yet there are certain things that make all the teams different though it just feels all mixed up.
RR- The victors of last year have had a terrible season so far and I feel it is going to continue. Only good thing this year has been Kamran Khan. This youngster who in his first over first ball tripped on the pitch went off to a flying start and is a bowler to look forward to. Apart from that Yusuf Pathan has been trying to relive his last year’s form but has not succeeded. Graeme Smith has not lived up to the expectations. Being a South African has not helped him or his team so far. Dmitri Mascarenhas has been another surprise package. He seems to be another Shoaib Akhtar having immense pace and line but has not produced enough wickets so far. Shane Warne has been an excellent captain to this young Indian side but he just seems unable to spin his magic this time around. This is because this potential team has not got its act right. There are glances of great individual performances but it has not been enough for a win. My bet is that they would be languishing as one of the bottom three this time around.
CSK- The runners up last year have begun pulling up their socks though the points table has not yet become bright for them. The opening pair of Parthiv Patel and Mathew Hayden have shown that their blistering knocks can turn the table around for them. Even Suresh Raina followed by M.S.Dhoni can join in the party. This year’s new pick Flintoff has not yet proved his worth and has just been a burden. Though this guy has a lot of potential for T20 it has not come to the forefront this IPL season. Manpreet Gony had been the pick of the bowlers for CSK last year and has quite lived up to his name. But unfortunately for him, Muralitharan has proved better with his spin and doosra. L.Balaji is yet another good bowler who has been in excellent form recently. The only all-rounder who has or can do well for this team is Albie Morkel. But having said that there are no other all-rounders from whom expectations can be kept and hence the playing 11 has a tough task of doing their job to the maximum possible which they have not done so far. But I still feel that they would reach the top four.
MI- What to say about this team that has the most deadly combination of right and left handed opening pair who can become every bowler’s worst nightmare. Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuria are the biggest hurdles to be crossed by any opposition because once they settle down it is sure that the opposition has to get out of the park to catch the ball! But then follows the young Indian blood of Abhishek Nayar and Shikar Dhawan who also have the potential but have not exploited it to the team’s advantage. Lasith Malinga proves to be a dangerous force to reckon with and with the likes of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan their bowling also seems formidable. This is one team that is not going to have a problem with all-rounders because the entire team is in the best form it could have asked for and hence have an excellent chance to reach the final.
DD- This team can boast of having the opening pair of India’s test team. But in spite of their test caliber they have what it takes to be a bombastic pair that can reach any total possible. Apart from Sehwag and Gambhir there is also Dinesh Karthik and de Villers who can put up a good show. When it comes to the bowling department who better than Glenn McGrath to lead from the front. Even Vettori provides good options. Among the Indian guns Amit Mishra and Nehra are also excellent though they may struggle with their form. Even Manoj Tiwary has been useful under trying circumstances. The problem that this team can face is lack of form. They have such high quality players that just two of them firing on a day can bring victory but on a bad day they may find themselves staring at an empty scoreboard sooner than they expected. But in spite of all these I still feel that they may reach the top four.
DC- Under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist this team has gone in for a total revamp from its last year’s dismal show and now they lead the points table. Gilchrist has led his team from the front and has provided the much needed winning streak that had so far evaded this team. With Herschelle Gibbs playing in his homeland it has become a one-sided game when Gilchrist and Gibbs just hit the ball to the spectators leaving no scope for the opponents. V.V.S. Laxman who had come in for a lot of criticism has finally regained his form and has given a firm reply to his detractors and has let his willow do the talking for him. Even Rohit Sharma has proved time and again that he can do wonders for his team not only with his batting but also with his excellent fielding. Even in the bowling department they seem to have the seats full with Vaas, Styris and Ojha. But the pick so far has been R.P.Singh. He has bowled exceptionally well until now and that seems to have given him the confidence. Though they have won all the matches till now there still seems to be an issue with a quality spin bowler. But apart from that this seems to be a brilliant team that has gathered its wits to perform this year. They will be certainly in the top four but what remains to be seen is whether they have what it takes to be the champions.
KXIP- This team which almost reached the finals last year is still groping in the dark trying to figure out what is going wrong. With formidable Sri Lankan players like Sangakkara and Jayawardane in their batting line up along with skipper Yuvraj Singh they have not reached the podium they ought to have. The problem they are facing is with form. It has been quite sometime that Jayawardane has been struggling with his form but it seems as if the entire batting line up is looking at its tail-enders to provide a respectable score! Even Goel and Bopara are not putting up the much needed runs. The bowlers are at least doing a better job than the batsmen. With Piyush Chawla, V.R.V.Singh and Ramesh Powar taking control it has at least been respectable for the team so far though they have not provided any exceptional victory so far. Moreover the way they are heading they might just miss the top four slots even if they play good cricket in the following games.
RCB- This team would now be praying for a change of fortune. It seems as if history is just repeating for them. With the change in leadership they had hoped for a change in their points tally but sadly for them it has not happened. This team was highly criticized for the importance it gave to old timers but it is just them who have been doing a decent job till now. Dravid has proved that he can throw of his test coat and like any young cricketer he can bat the T20 style. Even Anil Kumble has proved in the initial game that there is still a lot of cricket left in him. Apart from these two giant stalwarts even Virat Kohli seems impressive with the bat and knows how to take the game forward on his own. With Kallis, Boucher and the newly included Ryder this team seemed to have the best batting line up though they are yet to fire. But apart from Kumble , Praveen Kumar and Kallis there does not seem to be any other bowler! Well maybe this is where their calculations went wrong and Pieterson maybe just hoping against hope for a miracle in its bowling area. In spite of having such a blessing in its batting it still has no bowling options because of which they may continue to remain at the bottom.
KKR- A team that is never devoid of any controversies has found itself handling just that and not its cricket. It started with the multiple captaincy theory which went in for a lot of criticism. Finally having made McCullum the captain, success has still evaded it. Any fool would have understood by now that this theory was just to get the world or should I say Kolkata read for the sacking of Ganguly! This is one team that is happy that it is in SA or else it would have led to a huge ruckus in Kolkata. But shame on its management that they made McCullum the captain as he barely played 4 matches last season and does not even know his team well for he was busy playing for NZ till the previous week of the IPL. Apart from that his scores in the matches show how much he is pressurized and how he is incompetent to cope with it. This is not the McCullum who is well known for his huge shots. Chris Gayle has provided some consistency with the bat which looks like a toothpick in his hand! Shukla has not lived up to the standard he set last year and even Hodge is struggling. Mendis has not fired till now and Agarkar is proving too expensive. Ishant Sharma is still not at his best. Though I feel that Murali Karthik would prove to be a good bargain this time around. Well in short I can say that the team is revolving only around Ganguly who has proved time and again that how much ever he is criticized he will always fight. This is a team that looks good neither on paper nor on the field. If they continue to depend on Ganguly then they will find themselves among the bottom three unless and until Ganguly fires totally!

Vijay Mallya Of UK

That is what my father referred to him as when I was watching an interview of this person. Incidentally I was also reading his autobiography which had been presented to me by my brother as a sweet revenge to stop my habit of reading just suspense thrillers (for he knew very well that Arthur Hailey, Archer, Sheldon and so on were always the most preferred by me and hence he wanted me to get addicted to non-fiction, the way he is now). So after having a brief brawl with my brother over this issue, I had started reading it. To tell the truth, I got hooked up with this book so much so that when my father made a clichéd statement like this I was totally taken aback!!! Soon he added,’ this person is one-of-a-kind’!!! Yup, quite contradictory. Well, this is exactly what he is. Though I would not go to the extent of comparing him with anybody but I certainly do admire his risky ventures and adventurous life.
I had been introduced to this person through newspapers and business magazines (which I had to read because my dad always bought these and wished that I had an eye for this line but unfortunately I could never go beyond the Bombay Times! But I have always read these magazines and tried to understand them but to no avail) but I was opened to a wider perspective after reading his autobiography-‘Losing My Virginity’. Yes, it is Sir RICHARD BRANSON, the owner of the Virgin group of companies, known for his flamboyant nature and competitive spirit, but best known for his business ideals. Ask him to define his ‘business philosophy’ and he says that business cannot be taught like a recipe as one has to change his idea with changing times.
This autobiography of his clearly defines how he was crafted to be a businessman all his life. Starting a business venture at the age of 15 without any proper financial support is no child’s play and that too for a child suffering from dyslexia but he proved everybody wrong. He started his career with ‘Student’ magazine with the help of his closest friends which soon gained popularity among the student community at that time. He also started his first charitable institution (The Student Advisory Committee) at the age of 17. His dreams started growing too wild. He started a Virgin records store whose first signing topped the UK charts with his first album (thanks to Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells”). But luck did not favour him the way he had wanted for later he had to sell this first ever Virgin enterprise, the beginning of the Virgin empire, in order to keep another one of his novel ideas The Virgin Atlantic Airways afloat! The intention of starting such an airline company was to bring to bay the cut-throat price of the British Airways, the then supremo in the airline business.
But what intrigued me the most was this man’s vision of his life! In spite of being the proud owner of the Virgin brand name, he never cared a bit for his life. His world record attempts aboard the Virgin Atlantic Challenger I & II was quite surprising. One can’t say that it was because of an adrenaline rush for the first mistakes are always forgivable but not a repetition. Well this repetition somehow proved profitable for he was successful in breaking the world record for the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing. His hot air balloon expedition was given much impetus by the media when this was the first ever attempt to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
Well, not that I admire him for all this acrobatics but for the fact that such a well settled person with inimitable business visions had such weird and crazy (if I may say so) ideas! If his appearances are anything to go by then he would have gone by as a passing joke. But this baron has proved to the world that his bizarre business ethics can conquer unventured lands!