Terrorised .... again

I've waited 3 days before posting to allow myself to cool down, to allow my feelings to subside, to allow the pent-up emotion within to vent itself so that my writing retains an iota of coherence .... something my thought processes haven't been able to do over the last 3 days since this happened.

Indeed, since Wednesday I've spent almost every waking hour thinking about what was happening in Bombay. The brazenness of the perpetrators; the number of locations attacked; the sheer number of special forces they've been able to hold out against & the extent of time they've managed to survive & hog media attention for their perverted cause.

I've been smarting over what seems like a personal insult - as if somebody's got into my own house & ransacked the drawing room. And I haven't even ever been to Bombay.

There is a sense of outrage; a desire for retribution -quick & massive; but above all there is an overpowering sense of hopelessness - that this too shall pass - that people will invariably go back to living their routine lives - that politicians will go back to their electoral games - & we shall all lie in wait for the next attack.

But we must not - we can not do this. Innocents have lost their lives - some of our bravest service men have been killed in the prime of their lives - property worth crores lies destroyed - the reputation of this nation has taken yet another beating. This was the scene on BBC & CNN on the 27th .....



Someone, somewhere sits celebrating. That they've managed to bring the financial capital of this mighty nation to a standstill. That they've yet again demonstrated it's absolutely appalling lack of strong leadership & absence of strong deterrent security in places where it's needed the most.

The most I could do was roll up the newspaper on the 27th & throw it at the opposite wall in anger. But the government must do something substantial this time. Something - anything - take back the no 1st strike declaration for nuclear weapons for instance or pursue a Munich style covert operation to get even with the bastards sitting & plotting in their lairs to the West of this country. Something visible, something tangible like that would go a long way in returning a semblance of respect to the pride of this country that has been ravaged at will & far too often in the recent past.

God bless the souls of the fallen. I salute the brave men who gave up their lives for the nation. May God bless this country with the leadership that is required at this difficult hour.

Hayabusa!!!

4 years after it's starring role in Dhoom created the legend & endeared it to Indian youth, Suzuki India released the Hayabusa here to take it's designated place among the Indian biking pantheon.

Nothing like a good dose of hyperbole, is there? It's a hyper bike after all!


Oh, & they also launched the 1800cc(!!) Intruder alongside. I know, I don't care much for cruisers.

Von Ryan's Express

Very enjoyable! The film starts slow but picks up pace throughout.

Ashutosh wins Bigg Boss 2

What a journey it's been for this guy!

From auditioning in 5 cities to get into MTV Roadies 5.0 (& winning it) to getting his hands on the 1 crore jackpot for Bigg Boss 2. It's true ..... fortune favors the brave.

EDIT: The thing now is what to do once 10 o'clock strikes. The fingers automatically switch to channel 17 then. Something similar to what used to happen after the IPL.

??

".... she's such a female, machcha! ...." - the Tamil guy from the cubicle at the end of the aisle.

WTF is that supposed to mean anyway? And more importantly, what was the context under which this was said?

Maruti A-Star

And the line up of corny named cars from Maruti Suzuki continues with the launch of the A-Star today. And it seems that the corniness has spread to the design too.

However, it's very attractively priced & comes with the full load of safety features like ABS & airbags on the top end variant.

What I especially liked was the placement of the tacho ....


.... in a separate nacelle of it's own separated from the speedo, just like on riced cars. Quirky, but nice!

I'd love this to be my 1st car & it would have been too ..... had things taken a different turn. But that's a post for another day.

wimmen

Over the course of the last few days, we'd been having this discussion about women & their always opting for the wealthiest men over lunch. Pavan & me for the motion, while Akhila & Rajalakshmi opposed it (for obvious reasons).

The whole thing had begun when Akhila brought up this clip of Steffi Graf's. It was mentioned that this instinct was so strong among women that even somebody as rich as Steffi couldn't help but mention it instinctively in response to someone's proposal. The girls insisted it was a joke & should be taken as such. But we guys had made our point.

Then during lunch today, the topic of debate was dowry & how it was the guys being money-minded. We countered saying it was a social custom & not necessarily an indicator of a guy's thinking, but the girls knew that this round was theirs & they had got their own back.

This was till Chandan sent along this forward in the evening ......

Quote of the day:

'The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love'

.... and yours truly lost no time in forwarding it to the two girls ..... who just read it & smiled back. The debate shall continue.

By the way, Akhila leaves for her marriage tomorrow. All the best girl!

Rant at Sony

What's with Sony & it's earphones? The wires start fraying the moment they are taken out of the packet & continue doing so with irritating regularity. It doesn't help that they cost a bomb.

Can't somebody come out with good sounding earphones whose wires don't fray??

Winter train

Came upon this on SkyscraperCity yesterday. It's the new train in Kashmir running amidst the 1st snow of the season.

Definitely not a common sight in this country.

Sold via the net

Just for a lark, I'd placed an ad on Sulekha classifieds 2 weeks back putting my new-but-out-of-use T.sonic 840 up for sale. Got about half a dozen responses within days & finally completed the sale this evening.

It's a hefty loss, but then something is better than nothing. A lesson well learnt. Will try not to be so impulsive in future.

The Dirty Dozen

The 1st of the WWII-themed lot of classics I downloaded over last month.

Pretty good overall, but some of the plot sequences come across as just too convenient. Even so, I've discovered new favorites in Lee Marvin; Charles Bronson & John Cassavetes.

Slam Biff Bang

Yuvraj's demolition job on England today reminded me of the days back in the 90s when Saeed Anwar & Ijaz Ahmed would run riot opening for Pakistan. Time passes so fast, no?

Chandrayaan - mission accomplished

An Indian flag now lies on the surface of the moon.

When you sit back & think about it; the odds that ISRO was facing; & the resources they were working with; & the way everything worked according to plan on the very 1st try .... it's an incredible achievement. Well done guys!

Border Gavaskar Trophy 2008

What a series it has been! A see-saw battle between 2 equally adept sides battling for the de-facto world title for the best Test team. The last 7 weeks have seen a pretty awesome level of cricket being played & the last test was a fitting finale to end it all. 

While Dada & Kumble declared their retirements along the series, India have been blessed to have Dhoni slide into the captaincy space with remarkable ease yeilding beyond expected results.

Granted, the Aussies were not at their best, but they still were the Aussies. Beating them takes planning, guile & determination, all of which the Indians showed in plenty.

But the best gesture, by far, was reserved for the very end of the last Test. Australia 9 down; staring at a series drubbing; Dada's last match ever - & Dhoni asks him to take over the captaincy till the victory is achieved! I, myself have never seen something like this - & it's made me an even bigger fan of the Jharkhandi. And this was what Saurav himself had to say about it - "I didn't expect MS to ask me to captain the side for five overs. I was already switched off, so he woke me up. I didn't know what was happening the first six-seven balls."

Sourav Ganguly was pleasantly surprised by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's symbolic handover of the team's reins on his final day of Test cricket
Nov 10, 2008

Awesome show guys! Thanks for everything Dada & Kumble! MSD for Prime Minister!

Wedding season

Ajay left for his wedding on Friday & Soumya did the same on Saturday. All the best guys.

EDIT: Soumya leaves next weekend.

Quantum Of Solace

The latest Bond flick will release in India today, a whole week before it does in the US. I think this is a first.

Audi R8

Audi launched the R8 in India today.

A car that will cost 1.17 crore in a country where people will be taking loans to pay for the 1.17 lakh Tata Nano.

'New' Ford Ikon

Almost a decade after it's introduction, Ford has launched it's facelifted version.

wither WWE

Caught an episode of TNA Impact tonight & here's what I saw -

• Kevin Nash
• Sting
• A J Stylez
• Samoa Joe
• Kurt Angle
• Booker T
• Mick Foley
  

Apart from Stylez; Joe & Sting all of them were big names from WWE. Made me kinda nostalgic for the good old 90s.

Champions League Twenty 20

The promos have begun. Starts December 3rd. Looking forward to it.

Obama wins

The year long US presidential election nautanki is over with Obama emerging victorious. How I wish this country had leaders who could inspire hope like he does.

Chair travails

People are fighting for chairs at the office. It's a crime to leave your place unattended it would seem - if your meeting lasts more than half an hour, chances are that your chair will have been taken when you're back. Pathetic!

Habiba

Rediscovered Bappi Lahiri's 'Habiba'. This was the 1st ever Indian/Asian Electronica/House track that made it to the Billboard charts back in the late 80s. I had managed to wrangle a recording from Bunty back in the early 90s, I think, & it was one of the most played tapes in my precious collection back then.

It's memories came back to me somehow last Saturday while Arnie was packing for his US trip ..... & I immediately scoured the web - & found it. What joy hearing a long forgotten track brings ..... almost the same as chancing upon its elusive mp3 from cyberspace (long live coolgoose).

As for the track - my earlier recording was not too good - the mp3 is a crystal clear digital rendition with the full bass efffect - that still has the potential to blow the listener's socks off. It's been playing in a loop on the Walkman all this week. Now to get that car with the boombastic woofers to blast around in!

Hamilton is champ

Too bad McLaren couldn't get a hold of the Constructors'. But Hamilton did get his hands on the Drivers' .... and what a race it was!

The last race of 2007 was hugely disappointing for McLaren fans when Raik upstaged the 2 Silver Arrows to win the Drivers' by 1 point. And it seemed something similar would happen this year when Sittu called me up at midnight to say that Hamilton was running at 5th with Massa 1st - exactly what Ferrari needed for a win.

But it turned out to be different in the end - with an overtake by Hamilton on the final corner of the final lap! How's that for nail biting finishes?

Kumble retires

It's retirement season in Indian cricket.

After Ganguly's announcement last month, it was Anil Kumble's turn today. I remember the time when he had come on the Test team as a mustached, bespectacled youngster (Deepu used to pronounce his name similar to the Hindi word for blanket).

Since then, it's been 18-19 long years of mostly consistent performances from him. He has indeed been a dedicated soldier of Indian cricket.

Golmaal Returns

A sad; bad attempt at a sequel. Considering that the original was half decent, this movie is a big letdown.

Arnie leaves for LA ....

.... and we're just back after seeing him off at the airport (which is one of the most impressive sights I've seen in this country, by the way).

The house feels eerily silent.