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Showing posts from 2008

Monza and More - Do we have a new Schumi?

This post has been in my drafts since the Italian GP. First of all treacherous conditions for the drivers. The star of Monza Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever driver to win a Formula 1 race. It also brought about the first victory for Torro Rosso formerly Minardi. I remember watching Minardi in the 2002 season when Ferrari was unstoppable and wondered - Will they ever be able to match the front runners? I guess they have answered their critics. After a long time I saw a German Driver winning for an Italian team and at the presentation ceremony hearing the same sequence of national anthems when Schumi used to win for Ferrari. I hope Vettel will one day drive for Scuderia after all it is said that Schumi discovered him. Vettel still want's everyone not to compare him with Schumi. Ferrari though could not match the pace in their home GP and Massa who should have taken advantage of Hamilton's situation just managed to finish one place ahead. Then came the Singapore GP. F1&#

Google Chrome- The new kid on the block!

"The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better." - Google Well being a fan of google for quite some time now so I decided to try out Google Chrome. I did try Apple Safari to Windows and fell in love with it. The only problem with Safari was that it was unstable and sometimes a real memory hog. So I switched back to old faithful Firefox 2. I was quite impressed by IE 7 but due to some office applications not supporting IE 7 I had to stay on IE 6 as my back up browser. Damn... Then came in Firefox 3... Wicked! The Address bar acting as your history search is the most amazing feature. I normally don't use add- ons on FF much except for PDF Downloader and Download Them All.. FF3 made my browsing experience far better than any of the browsers I tried. The neat bookmarking feature cut out my time to add bookmarks and I could sit and organize them at a later point in time. Eno

Back On Track-- or should I say court!

Well we started badminton consistently now and looks like finally I'll be getting good at it. My last post about badminton told everyone as to how 'athletic' and super I was :P Well not anymore. Since we started mid last week I have been sluggish failing to serve right and hit the smashes to finish the rally. Looks like I need to go back to the basics again before our office champs return to smack me out :) We'll my 'Partner' and me are doing quite well in doubles and seem to be a formidable team but I feel I have lost my earlier stamina. Time to get back on Court and get my game right! Adios

A Bachelor's Guide to Cooking - Rice n Veggies

Now this one's the most simple of them all! I come home late from office and I find that I have a lot of veggies lying at home some rice n dal. So I decided to make something with rice but was too lazy to cook a separate vegetable and dal to go along with it. So time I experimented. :) Here's what you'll need Rice soaked in water for around 20 mins Your favorite veggies ( Paneer, cauliflower, carrots etc...) A few onions vertically chopped 2 green chillies Some cloves of garlic and some ginger (you can use ginger garlic paste if you want) oil Water Some jeera Seasonings(Chilli Powder, Turmeric, Garam Masala Pwd, Dhania Jeera Pwd) A Pressure cooker! Fry the onions till light brown in the pressure cooker. Add the jeera, ginger, garlic, green chillies. Saute till you get the jeera's aroma. Add in the vegetables and cook till they are glazed. Add the rice and some water to cook the rice. Add in the seasonings and salt. Pressure cook for max two whistles. Now it might not co

A Bachelor's Guide to Cooking - Prawn Pasta

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This isn't as easy as the others. I was watching Hell's Kitchen and some other shows where these guys make some lovely pasta. I just felt the need for cooking non-veg pasta. All these years Mum n I have only tried vegetarian Pasta. So here it goes. Disclaimer: This is a Bachelor's Kitchen and the pasta was cooked out of sheer desire. The pasta presented here is an 'desi' version. I highly recommend using fresh herbs, celery and parsley along with some oregano seasoning to get the best out. Firstly choose your favorite pasta. Mine's Penne but I didn't have it at home so I used fuscili instead. Mind you don't try Spaghetti I have a gut feeling that won't go well. Read the instructions on the pasta packet and cook the pasta. Here's what you need for the sauce Two Large tomatoes Half a packet of tomato puree Chilli Powder A pinch of garam masala (use some other seasoning please- I didn't have anything else) fresh herbs here would be the best salt

A Perfect Couple?

Everyone knows there is nothing like a perfect man or woman. So what exactly is a perfect couple anyway? This is what I would think:- "I know I am not a perfect man. I also know the woman that I would love might not be the perfect woman. But you know what we can be perfect for each other. It would be like god has sent you an angel to rid off all the troubles that lie before you and you would be an angel for her". A part of this is from the movie Good Will Hunting . Robin Williams plays a very good role of a professor/ shrink who has lost his wife to cancer. When asked if he would have been better off without meeting his wife to save him from the pain he's facing now he replied "No. Whatever time we spent together will always be remembered by me. I do not regret loving her or the time we spent together. I do not regret the time when she was in the hospital and I do not regret the time I spent with her in her last days at the hospital. The term visiting hours in the h

Super Sunday

If you are a sports fan then the 6th of July 2008 can be affectionately called Super Sunday! Three different sports going on in parallel - The Asia Cup Final, Formula 1 in Silverstone and The Gentlemen's single's final at Wimbledon. It was a horrendous show by Team India at the Asia Cup Final. Although they managed to restrict the lankans to a modest total. As per the indians 'superior' batting lineup it should have been a walk in the park but the lankans had other plans. So much for a fight. Then came the Grand Prix of Britain. Dark clouds loomed over the Silverstone circuit as everyone started on intermediate tyres. Lewis got a great start and went on to win the race in treacherous conditions. He really proved he was the no 1 Mclaren driver. A mistake of not changing tyres during the first pit stops for Alonso and Raikonen caused them to lose the podium. Alonso was driving the wheels of his car. There were a lot of spins and a lot of excitement because of the wet rac

A Bachelor's Guide to Cooking- Prawns Curry

We'll I have been cooking for quite some time now. So I decided to share my quick delicacies with all the bachelor's around. I have been reported as a good cook who makes edible food by anyone who as eaten ;) So here goes. My first time at cooking Prawns and they were awesome! Here's what you need :- -One Packet Prawns(I used Sumeru Frozen ones as I couldn't go out buy fresh ones ) -2 Medium finely chopped onions -1 large tomato finely chopped -2 tblspn Tomato Puree -2 tsp Ginger garlic paste -Red chilli powder -Turmeric powder -1 tsp Garam Masala Powder -1 tsp Dhania Jeera Powder -1 tsp Jeera -1 tsp Hing -1 Cup Coconut Milk -A pinch of sugar -Salt to taste Now here's what I did for coconut milk. Go out to the store and get Maggi's Dehydrated Coconut Milk Powder. Take 1tblspn and mix it in warm water and voila you have ready coconut milk. The Procedure's quite simple actually: Put in oil. Put in the jeera and hing. Add the onions and fry till translucent. Ad

O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!

Yepp you got it write. This one's about Leonardo Da Vinci - The Mona Lisa. Anyone who's read the Da Vinci Code or seen the movie remembers the title which was left by the curator of Le Louvre for our famous hero Robert Langdon. Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda ) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo Da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance . The work is owned by the French government and hangs in the Musée du Louvre in Paris , France with the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini , wife of Francesco del Giocondo . The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a woman whose expression is often described as enigmatic The ambiguity of the sitter's expression, the monumentality of the half-figure composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the painting's continuing fascination. Few other works of art have been subject to as much scrutiny, study, mythol

The Badminton Diaries

Badminton : a game played on a court with light long-handled rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a net Now comes the difficult part.... playing Badminton. All these months I was thinking I want to do something with my free time. I never liked going to the gym here. It was too much for me with very bad results. So the peril was how do I start losing some weight by not going to the gym. The answer was fairly simple I needed to 'Work out' by taking up a sport. Now now I know that I am a fairly good table tennis player (well atleast in my company for sure). But that wasn't enough. It was just too easy. And doubles really didn't give me the exercise let alone the excitement I needed. Then came the day when Milind and Sudhir decided to go for Badminton. We'll they had racquets but didn't want to play singles. So Vinod and me went with them. Now let me tell you playing badminton is one thing and playing badminton in formals is another. So like scapegoats Vinod a

Alexander's Wishes

I am not sure if these are even relate to Alexander The Great. Nonetheless it's something which every person should know. There is very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the great Greek king. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit Him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wis

A nice thought

I have been forwarded the following piece time and again. It's one of my favorites.... ---------------------------------------- Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens. He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the fastest lion. If he cannot, then he will be eaten. Every morning in Africa a lion awakens. He has only one thought on his mind: To be able to run faster than the slowest gazelle. If he cannot, he will die of hunger. Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence. It is enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run. And you must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die. This is the race of life."

Long Time No See!

Well it's been a while since my last post. Almost two months actually. There are lots of things happening recently the IPL, the F1 season and not to forget the rise in inflation. Petrol prices have gone up too that's a real downer for someone who's awaiting his new car :) With inflation set to go into double digits there are some tough times ahead for India. This could very well decide the next government.  The Rajasthan Royals won the first IPL. This was the only team I really liked as it had a lot of youngsters and always played as a team. It didn't rely on any 'One' player but everyone chipped in to get the team through.  The only other team which I thought had a chance was Kings XI. I am again going to be bogged down by more work :( So it might be a while before I get to write again.

The 2008 Formula One Season

Well it's started. The 2008 season is go! Two races down and we already have rumors flying around. According to some websites the Prodigal son of Renault is now interested in going to the Prancing Horse's team! Now that is something I feel many Ferrari fans won't want to see. Kimi has finally won his first championship with the Scarlet team and I really do hope he makes it two in a row. This time Ferrari not only faces the Silver Mclaren Team but also BMW who have shown tremendous form in the past two races. Looks like it's going to be a three way battle for the title this year and with almost 6 top drivers fighting it out for the Drivers championship. If the last season was anything to go by this year it's going to be one hell of a season. The last I remember three teams fighting it out was the 2003 season with Mclaren, Williams and the eventual winners Ferrari. Last year Ferrari had a lot of issues with finishing races and it's already started this season. The

Memories

--------------------------------------------------- How things change. How people change. Only change is permanent . I don't know why I dug up my old mails. It's very unlike me. May be I just wanted to assure myself that I was on the right track and not heading back to the old 'dead' me. There is something which I have realized..... It is up to us to decide what to do with the time that has been given to us. We can either waste our lives complaining or just strive harder to achieve our dreams. One thing's for sure..... Only people who believe they can turn their dreams to reality actually end up doing so. Can't think of more to write. Signing off.......

Think Different

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. .... .... 'Think Different'

The Kings are Here now Feel your Fear!

Signal Established ..... It's been a while since my introductory blog. So finally I have decide to post something more. What better day to pick than when India sucker punched the Aussies in their own backyard. Australia have never played the third final in a best of 3 finals tournamet in the past few years. And same was the case was in the recent tri series against India. Only this time Australia lost! Yepp the Indians beat them 2-0. For the first time in recent years Australia is on the receving side of a series defeat. Go India! It was a befitting end to a tour of Australia which had controversies all the way. Amidst all the celebrations lets not forget about the Indian colts who are the new U-19 World Champions! They too deserve a share of the spotlight. Signing off.... ....Signal Lost

The Iceman Cometh!.

So I am finally here... After so many years of thinking whether I should be blogging or not I made the decision that yes the blogging community was more than ready for me. Well I did use to blog on our office server which unfortunatley got formatted :( and I lost some good posts.  So get ready to bow down! :P Let's hope all you people out there enjoy my posts :)