Desis on top

The Sensex topped 20,000 yesterday catapulting Mukesh Ambani to the status of the richest person in the world, beating the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Plus, this makes the Ambanis the 1st family with a combined wealth of over a 100 billion dollars, ahead of the Waltons.

I should've taken up Economics at school.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Very engrossing, but 'Curse of the Black Pearl' remains my favourite of the three.

The new queen of the skies

Today marks the 1st commercial passenger flight for the A-380, flying for Singapore International Airlines.

The Boeing 747's 40 year reign is over.

War Of The Worlds

Had been intending to watch it since long. Didn't disappoint.

Brazil GP

What a race! And what an end result to the year's championship!

Raikonnen, rank outsider coming into this race, wins it for Ferrari. Ferrari take home both - the drivers' & the constructors' championships.

As they say, never say never.

A convincing T20 victory against the Aussies yesterday. India got to the target of 167 in 20 overs almost effortlessly. They really played like the world champs.

Skyline GT-R

After months of spy shots, the Skyline GT-R is finally out in the open.



Looks good, but I don't like the fact that they've changed the basic shape from that of a sport sedan to a generic fastback. The R-34 looked intimidating & fast, while this one looks more like a pretender to it's predecessor's throne.

I like one thing on the new car though ....


.... the video-game like display is a very novel feature.

Sad thing is, the Skyline moves to being one of my favourites from being the favourite car of mine.

Air Deccan simplifly-ed!

Kingfisher's takeover of Air Deccan is now coming to fruition.

What used to be this ....

.... has now turned into this ....


Looks better than the old one, but it's too similar to the Kingfisher livery. They could at least have kept the font same as before.

Somehow, I feel Deccan's lost it's identity. It's all red now.

Hero Honda Hunk

Beginning last Monday, speculation had been rife on Indian auto forums about an imminent release from Hero Honda to be called Hunk. It was conjectured that it would feature twin headlights & could go up to 250 c.c., which in turn gave rise to speculation that it could be a twin cylinder engine.

Well, the release has taken place today & as these pics from Rearset's blog prove, it has none of the above. Powered by a conventional 150 c.c. engine, it has gas shockers at the rear (a 1st on a Hero Honda). It goes against the grain though in not offering a digital console or L.E.D. tail lamps. Which I think is sad.

Because the looks are smashing! After a long, long time we get a Hero Honda with a modicum of visual appeal. HH needed to come out with something like this. Bajaj & TVS were running away with the 150 c.c. & above market.

Team Force India

Mallya has renamed Spyker F1 as Team Force India. Cool!

.... aur is tarah Sittu ke hastakshep ke baad shuru hua, AdSense ka istamaal.

Aneek wins

Aneek Dhar wins Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.

There was really nothing to choose between the 3 finalists, Amaanat Ali; Raja Hasan & Aneek. These 3 have been the best singers to have been discovered through these TV programs, ever.

Johnny Gaddaar

Super plot.

Sriram Raghavan please make more such movies.

Pooja bonus

The festive season is upon us with Id happening tomorrow & Dussehra round the corner.

This time of the year sees a slew of launches in the auto sector & this year's offerings are already here.

Kinetic has launched the 1st product from it's collaboration with SYM, the Flyte with Bips as brand ambassador.


Looks good, I hope Kinetic doesn't go ahead & spoil it as they've done with almost all of their products in the past.

The Avenger gets an upgrade & goes up to 200 c.c. A visor; fuel indicator & oil cooler come as additions.


India's best cruiser gets better.

Chamillionaire

We still haven't found Pac's killer, still haven't found Biggie's either,
30 minutes into the case they got tired and took a breather,
Snoop Dogg just got arrested, everyday he get a new subpoena,
Innocent when murder was the case so the prosecution got a middle finger,
Hip-Hop is sweeping the nation, but the contents seem so degrading,
Most rappers got new albums that white kids are anticipating,
If you don't like it on the radio or the television then switch the station,
Flavor Flav get a lot of ratings, Bill O'Reilly somewhere is hating,
Kanye just said WHAT? the president ain't got time for that,
The White House is going to stay white even tho' we know Obama's black,
9/11 was a calculation, and some would say it was a timed attack,
He gave a speech on CNN, "They bombed us, now we're bombing back",
Where the heck is Osama at?

And I would love to talk about Katrina, but everytime I talk about Katrina, they look at me like it's a misdemeanor
Anyways, there's way more important stuff that we can discuss
N'Sync, Makin da band and Milli Vanilli had broken up,

Gas prices raises, the money keeps burning,
Dropout rate rising, so what are they learning?,
Sending the troops in the war so I turn in,
To today's evening news.

As great as Tupac? Can't say that .... now. As good as Eminem? Can't say that now either.

What I can say now is that this guy's got serious talent.

Now Playing

1973 - from All The Lost Souls by James Blunt
Sittu, I take back everything I said about this guy.

I'll Believe You When
All Your Reasons
I Can't Let You Go - from Exile On Mainstream by Matchbox 20
Rob & his gang are back.

Jimmy - from Kala by M.I.A.
They're remixing Mithun Da's hits in England now!

The Way I Are - from Timbaland Presents Shock Value by Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.
Every once in a while Timbaland will come up with a very listenable pop hit. It was 'Say It Right' with Nelly Furatdo in 2006 & this year it's this track.

Tum Se Hi - from Jab We Met O.S.T. by Mohit Chauhan
Jab We Met is a loaded album from Pritam featuring lots of musical styles. Even so, this song stands out .... perhaps it's Mohit's vocals, or perhaps it's the lyrics. Maybe both.

Extreme Ways - from The Bourne Ultimatum O.S.T. by Moby
Just loved the movies & this song .... on all 3.

18k & beyond

The Sensex is at it's highest ever.

With talk of elections in Spring, I think this is the max it'll get. But then again, when it comes to the Sensex, you just can't say.

ODI @ office

Usually you won't come across a TV set at my company, but the guys at Golconda (my cafeteria contractor) are a resourceful lot. They somehow managed to rig up a set today & tune it into DD which was showing the Aus vs Ind ODI.

India managed to hold off the Aussies this time, but the match was quite close.

What was new though was the experience. It was the 1st time I was catching a match at the office. Crowds 8-10 deep surrounding the small TV set kept near the microwave, with security staff, cafeteria employees, red & green tags all mixed in & cheering the fall of every Aussie wicket made for a great mahaul. And the Indian victory topped it all off beautifully.

Chinese GP

Hamilton spins out on his way to the pit lane! Lead down to 4 points, he & Alonso will show down for the title in the year's last race at Brazil.

Oh, and Raikonnen won.

End of the Esteem

ToI reports that Maruti is planning to phase out the Esteem & rumours suggest that production has already been stopped.

This was the car (as the Maruti 1000) that used to be THE status symbol when it was launched back in 1989-90. It went through several upgrades & name changes over the years but had lost it's relevance by the end of the 90s.

Maruti plans to replace it with the Swift's 3 box version, which is not a bad thing at all. But I'm sure it's run won't last as long as the Esteem's.

Platoon

"The only worry you got is dying - and if that happens you won't know about it anyway."

Saving Private Ryan

Finally got to see it after hemming & hawing for over 9 years. This film is one of the reasons why Spielberg is such a legend.

The Great Escape

What a movie! This is what cinema is meant to be!

2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

All hail the newest Evo!

Japanese GP

Missed watching it. But Hamilton won & Alonso DNFed. Hamilton leads with 12 points with Brazil & China left to go.