It was a restful weekend after an arduous week. Spent it sleeping & watching TV.

The tickets for the trip are looking dicey. Should've booked a lot earlier.

Whoa!

Check out Vidya Balan in Lagey Raho Munnabhai. Sight for sore eyes!

Life plays strange games. You could see the joy on Sachin's face when he'd got the US visa yesterday. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, .... his father died of a heart attack last night. My sympathies are with you, friend.

DTS-Fi !

There has been a rash of forwards & topics on discussion forums of magazine websites .... the hype is well in place, all that remains now is the launch, which is rumoured for Diwali.

Let's see if Bajaj can deliver .... I think it will. It'll truly be one small step for motorcycles, but a giant leap for Indian biking.

'Ram'med!

DaimlerChrysler is planning to axe my favourite Pick-Up. Noooooo ....

The 'Game' is on .... here goes nothing.

A Prince's tale

The coverage started on Friday evening & went on all the way upto Sunday evening. In the end, it was all's well that ends well.

From BBCWorld.com

Child rescued from well in India

Army engineers in northern India have rescued a little boy trapped down a 60-foot (18-metre) village well for two days in the northern state of Haryana.

The five-year-old boy, named only as Prince, had been playing close to the bore well near the town of Kurukshetra when he fell in.

Soldiers dug a parallel shaft and reached the boy late on Sunday.

Closed-circuit cameras lowered into the well showed the boy appeared unharmed and he was fed chocolate and milk.

After he emerged into daylight, the boy was carried through the crowds of people who had gathered to see him and reunited with his family.

Looking tired and confused the little boy had little idea his fate had captivated the nation, the BBC's Navdip Dhariwal says.

Cries

"We are pumping in oxygen and also feeding the child milk and chocolates," police inspector Vir Singh told the Reuters news agency earlier on Sunday.

Some reports say the operation was slowed down because of concerns that the sandy soil could be dislodged in the final stages of the operation, putting the boy's life at risk.

Villagers first realised something was wrong when they heard his cries on Friday.

Construction workers had left the bore well, close to the village well, uncovered on Friday before the boy went to play in the area, locals say.

When he slipped in he slithered down the narrow shaft, managing to escape serious injury. The bottom of the well is dry.

One effort simply to pull him out failed because the shaft is not wide enough.

The shaft built by the engineers was approximately seven feet long and connects to bottom of the wide village well to the borehole.

National concern

The rescue operation gripped the nation's media.

Some TV channels have pulled their schedules to devote live coverage to it.

The coverage showed the boy looking around timidly, munching on the chocolate and drinking milk from a can.

Thousands of people have been sending messages to TV stations, wishing luck to the rescuers.

"Ever since I saw him on your channel yesterday, I have been crying. I can't think of anything else. He is a brave child, I would not have survived if I was in his place," a caller to Zee News, Shashi Jain, said.

Prayers were said around the country.

The chief minister of Haryana state, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, joined the family and other well-wishers at the scene.

He said fire fighters from Mumbai (Bombay) had been called to add their expertise to the operation.

The ban is off!

The misdirected ban on BlogSpot has finally been lifted. At last, reason seems to have prevailed. But I can't help feeling that a bad precedent has been set.

BlogSpot is blocked & Vipin is leaving

Somebody told the Government that 'terrorists' were using blogs to communicate .... & so the DoT decided to ask all ISPs to block TypePad & BlogSpot .... only! Obviously they haven't heard of MSNSpaces or RediffBlogs or Sulekha or whatever. That means I can post on my blog but can't read it .... except through proxies, heh heh. Whoever it was that decided to issue this ban, obviously didn't have any idea about Blogs .... or the Internet for that matter.

Anyway, after Sweta, it's Vipin's turn now to wing it to foreign shores. This is his last week in the company. After that he leaves India, for good. From someone who was just a passing acquaintance (& that too since he worked for systems support), to becoming a good friend who shared my interest in Wrestling & Gaming, it's been an enjoyable trip. Au Revoir, friend .... you'll always remain the biggest Wrestling fan I ever knew .... & I'll miss those shaayri-filled SMSs of yours.

Losing friends is NOT a good feeling .... maybe I should do what AoL advises Milind to do .... love all, care for all, but don't get attached.

Sweta leaves

It's Sweta's last day in office today.

Time seems to have flown by .... getting to know her as the 'Icy' girl from college who used to hang out with the 'It' girls gang, to having her as a colleague in the same company & going on to treating her as one of my best friends in Bangalore .... it's been like, 4 & a half years
! She moves on now to a new phase in her life & better times.

All the best for the future, girl, & have a happy wedded life.

Golmaal

Easily the best comedy to have come out this year. Total paisa vasool .... & Rimi Sen is turning into quite a looker!

Crash & Burn baby!

8 blasts in packed commuter trains during the evening rush hour in the country's commercial capital. Innocent people, paying with their lives in justification for some perverted cause.

The same old tired reactions from the government, .... no sense of self-respect, only a feeling of bottled-up rage which will never find an outlet. It keeps happening over & over, the dignity of the country keeps getting trampled upon .... because we keep moving on .... because we have no other option.

And the worst part is, I know it's going to happen again.

God bless the souls of the fallen.

2 failures in 2 days

On Sunday, it was the Agni III IRBM that didn't work & yesterday it was the INSAT 4C launch on board the GSLV that veered off it's designated course & had to be 'self-destructed'.

I've always been a huge fan of the Indian space & missile programs (despite all the delays), since they've achieved so much inspite of all the sanctions & betrayals. So this comes as a big disappointment. Hope the DRDO & ISRO can get over it .... soon.

A strange final

From The Telegraph ....

Victor & villain- Cup for Italy, shame for Zizou

Berlin, July 9: The last game of the great Zinedine Zidane’s career ended in disaster here tonight when he was sent off as France was beaten by the ultimate World Cup final cruelty of penalties.

Zidane, who had put France ahead from a “normal” penalty in the seventh minute of the game, was dismissed by Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo on a linesman’s evidence.

The French captain had head-butted Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest in a clash off the ball in the 19th minute of extra-time.

France, who had already substituted Thierry Henry, thus missed their two finest penalty exponents for the shootout which the Italians had earned with a 19th-minute equaliser from the same Materazzi.

All players in the shootout hit the target with the sole tragic exception of French striker David Trezeguet.

Minutes later Fabio Grosso rasped home Italy’s fifth penalty and after 12 years, it claimed a fourth World Cup and righted the sad memory of a shootout defeat by Brazil in Pasadena in 1994.

However, the Italians can draw little satisfaction from the showdown in Berlin’s historic Olympic Stadium. Achievement was all, the manner was eminently forgettable; this was a scruffy little match between two teams who offered only the tactical shapes and shifts to cancel each other out and who lacked the nerve for the grand occasion.

No wonder disenchanted German fans broke occasionally into impatient chants of “Deutschland! Deutschland!”
Italian football has something to smile about but for only a few brief moments. Its heroes now go home to face uncomfortable music as the trial ends of four major clubs and two dozen officials accused of manipulating not merely matches but entire domestic championships.

That the match went to penalties was no surprise. In their previous six games Italy had snaffled only 11 goals and France a mere eight.

Henry was the first victim of the physicality which punctuated the final, being knocked semi-conscious in a first-minute collision with Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro — his 100th appearance for the Azzurri.

Italy’s steely approach was again in evidence minutes later when Gianluca Zambrotta was shown a yellow card for flooring Patrick Vieira deep in French territory. The foul proved counter-productive since France, from the free kick, went downfield and opened the scoring on seven minutes.

Materazzi — by turn scapegoat and hero — tripped Florent Malouda, galloping into the penalty box, and Zidane chipped an outrageously cheeky penalty to Gigi Buffon’s left as the keeper dived right. Zidane was a touch fortunate: the ball clipped the underside of the bar and bounced down just behind the goal-line.

Such an early strike caught Italy in unfamiliar territory. It was only the second goal it had conceded in the finals and the first time it had fallen behind.

Not for long. It levelled in the 19th minute.

Argentine-born Mauro Camoranesi forced a corner, Andrea Pirlo swung it to the far post and Materazzi — righting his earlier wrong — rose above a surprised Vieira to head home.

France brought more movement, spirit and creativity to the second half. But Franck Ribery shot high over the bar after a Zidane corner was half-cleared and Henry had an angled drive magnificently blocked by Buffon. That meant extra time and France continued to make the running until Zidane’s expulsion.

Sadly for Zidane, he reached the end of his particular road before the rest of his team-mates.

Mera Ghar

.... as seen on WikiMapia

Les Bleus vs Azzurris

It'll be Italy vs France in the final then.

According to The Telegraph ....
The Italians, much like Germany, have not been known for offensive flair until Dortmund, July 4. Commentators are calling it the best match of this cup because of the almost relentless excitement it caused.

But it’s been a strange tournament anyway. Those, like Brazil, expected to send the pulse racing, were soporific, while Germany and Italy entertained. And France, the team of has-beens.

Let the entertainment carry on till Sunday.

Omkara

The cast was great to begin with .... Devgun, Saif, Konkona .... the trailers are looking good .... & I just heard it, the music is quite something too.

Not the normal run-of-the-mill Bollywood musical, it takes some time to grow used to, especially after the overdose of 'Himesh-ification' that one has been exposed to, of late. Still, the combination of Gulzar's lyrics, Vishal Bhardwaj's music & some wonderful playback singing (Rekha, Sunidhi, Sukhwinder among others) gels quite well. And I just love the bass guitar on 'Naina' & 'Beedi'. Looking forward to this one.

Civic sense ....

Honda launched the Civic in India today.

Among other things, it features a 5 speed auto paddle-shifter! Wow!

I don't believe it! Italy beat Germany 2-0 .... during extra time! For a team considered extremely defensive, this is a remarkable result against one of THE most attacking sides in this World Cup. Well done Azzurris!

Germany 2006, The Semis

TUESDAY 4 JULY
Semi-final 1: Germany vs Italy 2330 IST, Dortmund

WEDNESDAY 5 JULY
Semi-final 2: Portugal v France 2330 IST, Munich

My guess, Germany & France.

The next 1 ....

.

Too bad ....

Germany knocked out Argentina & Brazil were done in by France. There will be no Latino flavour in the World Cup from now on .... it's a wholly Eurpean affair. Somehow, I feel the magic is over.

As was the case at yesterday's US GP. Both McLarens were out by the 1st corner .... & that was the end of any interest I had in it.

But, it was not all gloomy .... India played fantastically to wrench the last Test of the 4 Test series against the Windies, & with it the Series. This could have been another case of so near yet so far after the near misses that were the 1st 2 tests, but Kumble managed to get the last Windies wicket with just 8 balls left before innings closure (he got the last 2 wickets in 3 balls actually). A memorable Test Series victory for the Indians then. Dravid, deservedly, was the MoM as well as the MoS. The scores -

West Indies
2nd Innings: 219/10 in 69.4 overs (R/R: 3.14)
1st Innings: 103/10 in 33.3 overs (R/R: 3.07)

India
2nd Innings: 171/10 in 65.1 overs (R/R: 2.62)
1st Innings: 200/10 in 87.4 overs (R/R: 2.28)

It's been one of the few series when Indian bowlers have contributed more towards the outcome than the batsman.

Also managed to catch Taxi No 9211 finally. It's a super movie with Nana & Sonali Kulkarni contributing in a big way to make it so. John Abraham is improving & Sameera Reddy needs to shed weight .... as of yesterday.