CASIO G-SHOCK 'Black Force' G-101-1AVMDS

• Shock Resistant (G-SHOCK)
• Electro-luminescent backlight
• Afterglow
• Dual time
• 1/100-second stopwatch
• 200m water resist
• "ANTIMAGNETIC"

Always wanted a G-Shock. Bought mine today.

F1 season 2009 begins

It seemed the new year was still a new year till the other day, but here we are as F1 season 2009 began today with the Australian GP. Time flies.

There had been a lot of talk regarding the new rule changes for this year & I frankly hadn't given them much importance. I guessed it would have as much of an effect as the previous rule changes over the years had had .... marginal.

But, if today's race is anything to go by, there has been one hell of an impact.


Brawn GP, who had taken over Honda's team after the Japanese decided to give up their F1 ambitions for this year, became the first team since 1954 to achieve a 1-2 on debut! And that, I think is just stunning ..... I didn't even know their name till the beginning of this race. What a start to the racing season for the debutants!

Force India finished 9th, just one position adrift of a point. Which is cool for last season's perennial back markers.

V For Vendetta

"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh... Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof."

Superb movie!

Honda Activa 2009

Honda has refreshed it's monster selling twist-n-go for this year.

The update was long overdue and looks like the typical Jap design that grows on you with time.

Once Upon a Time in the West

So this is where Sholay got some of its inspiration from. A bit lengthy, but very authentic.

Transporter 2

A bit over the top, but watchable nonetheless.

I See ....

Akhila is back to the old wing after she joined another project associated with ours last week. She's put on some weight after marriage, but remains the cute dumbo she used to be.

And talking of the office, it's spring time and the 2 trees located on the parking lot have burst into blossoms. This picture ....

.... doesn't bring out the color well enough, but it's a nice sight every morning on the way to the cubicle.

Meanwhile, back at #77, Sid's stack ....

.... of used Marlboro packs keeps growing taller. Wonder what he plans to do with these?

Also, the house has received a new coat of paint before Ugadi & the smell of freshly applied distemper & thinner assaults the senses every morning on opening the front door.

Nano is go!!

After riding roughshod over some serious bumps along the way, the Tata Nano finally had it's commercial launch today.

This .....


..... was the official site.

This .....


.... was R.K. Laxman's take in today's ToI. The common man finally gets his own set of wheels. Lovely one!

And this ....


..... will probably become an increasingly common sight throughout this country in the not too distant future :-)

IPL becomes NRIPL

.... that's today's Times Of India headline. I think that line captures best the crazy situation where one country's league will be exported bag & baggage to another.

On second thoughts though, it seems a prudent choice. Most people caught the action on TV anyway, & this way, one major security headache during the general elections is thrown out the window. So I guess it's all cool.

WTF?

This was on today's ToI.

Ronin

What a movie!

Down to 0.44

Inflation is down to a 30 year low of 0.44% this week.

Quite a comedown from the August 2008 levels of 13%.

Poseidon for IN

The US has cleared a $ 2.1 bn sale of 8 of Boeing's P-8I Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the Indian Navy. India had signed up in January.

The sale marks Boeing's 1st defence sale to India & is the largest ever defence deal with India by a US company. Interesting.

Polls 2009 - The Fights

Tuner Tuesday

^^RUF's 'Dakara' - a job on the Cayenne that finally makes it look like a part of the Porsche family.




^^Kicherer's mods on the new Merc E-Class. Looks smashing & I love those deep dish alloys.

Politics is in the air

The general elections begin exactly a month from now. The first since I started blogging.

Politics dominates the conversation during lunch these days. The last elections in 2004 threw up a surprise in the form of the UPA winning power, but predictions this year are hard to come by. 3 motley groupings viz, the UPA, NDA & the 'Third Front' are in place. It promises to be interesting.

I just hope, for the sake of the country, that one group gets a comfortable majority & that it's either one of the first two.

Cars in the time of recession

The economic slowdown hasn't had much of an effect on new car introductions in India. There's been one (or two) every month over the last few months. It's hard to believe for someone whose father had to pay extra 'black' money to buy his Bajaj Chetak ahead of turn back in the late 70s ..... but that's how things are in today's India.

This is what has appeared on the market, so far this month .....


^^Skoda's new '7 Star' Superb. Built on the VW Passat's platform, it appears a far better car & at around ~18 lakh rupees will give a tough fight to the Honda Accord here. The 20 lakh plus Toyota Camry can cry itself off the market. Not that Toyota India would care anyway, seeing how they've been treating the Indian market of late.


^^the stonking new 270bhp Honda Accord V6. Perhaps a riposte to the Skoda's launch. Honda's been doing pretty well in all the segments it's present here & this should continue it's hold.



^^Mahindra's facelifted 'Mighty Muscular' Scorpio. It's still built on the modified World War 2 Jeep's chassis .... but that shouldn't matter to the droves who buy it.


^^And finally, the big one, Merc's new M-Class. Hmmm, it's front seems to have inspired the Mahindra's facelift!

Four Brothers

Lots of violence. Nice.

Shooter

What a movie to watch on a Friday evening of what's been a busy & tension filled week.

Walhberg has always been one of my favorites and this role suits him really well. The action scenes are superbly shot & all that sniping jacks up the excitement further. Lovely movie and great storyline.

Victorious in NZ

The trip to NZ didn't start off well with the 2 straight losses in the T20s.

But, this team has stormed back into contention during the ODIs .... & how! Today's win marks India's maiden ODI series triumph in Kiwiland.


These guys have turned into white-washing specialists. The last few series have seen scorelines such as 5-0 against England; 4-1 against the Lankans & 2-0 against the Aussies. And we are the T20 world champs.

The arrogance of Yuvraj; the calmness of Dhoni; the brutality of Sehwag; the consistency of Gambhir; the demolition jobs by Yusuf; the incisiveness of Zahir; the pace of Ishant .... all of them have come together like never before & even as one watched, this Indian team has metamorphised into a supremely confident pack of hunters.

It's wonderful to watch, yes, but I just hope that they haven't peaked early & carry on like this for a long, long time ..... unlike the numerous false dawns that many an Indian cricket fan has often been witness to until not so long ago.

What Holi?

Today was Holi .... it would seem.

Probably my driest Holi ever, with not a drop of color or a speck of gulal. Blame it on the working day or the recessionary times.

Valkyrie

Very interesting film about an event that could have changed the course of World War II. The sets are quite authentic & Cruise's performance is very believable.

The Bridge On The River Kwai

Well made film with a superb finish.

Bangkok Dangerous

Passable fare, except for the climax.

Variant time

The Geneva Auto Show is on, & Tata unveils the 'for Europe' ....



.... Nano Europa. Looks mighty fine, it does.

And encouraged by the heady response to the FZ, Yamaha India launches (within 3 months of the original's release), the FZ's 1st variant ....


.... the FZ-S. S for stylish.

All pics - vicky.in

There goes the neighbourhood

Terrorists at their usual best in Pakistan.

Army men killing one another in Bangladesh.

Crazy Maoists in power in Nepal.

The evergreen LTTE & it's war with the Sri Lankan army.

The guy who was said that India has possibly the worst neighbourhood in the world wasn't kidding. Bar Bhutan, everyone else is in deep, deep shit.

Transporter 3

Well this time he's driving an Audi. Nothing much save that .... pretty boring overall.

American Gangster

Had been lying on the Seagate for over a year. Should have watched it sooner.

Crowe & Washington are superb. It's a bit long at almost 3 hours, but the story keeps one engrossed enough.