Let the show begin!

So here we are! The world cup is about to begin. As always, the euphoria about world cup is tremendous in India. The Indians are ecstatic to say the least, as apart from being hosts they are enjoying favorites tag also!
At this point of time predicting about a world cup winner would be asking for a lot. Apart from India, SL, SA & AUS are in good form. If we leave their last series against Aussies, England have played decent cricket too. Pak & WI are as always unpredictable. And NZ tend to lift their game in major tournaments.
Still if I were to choose top 3 contenders for the cup, those will be India, SA & Eng. India looks to be the strongest team with devastating openers, strong middle order, batsmen capable of bowling 7-8 overs, a good spinner(at least in ODIS), a game changer at no. 7 & more than decent fast bowlers!
SA have got good opening pairs – both batting and bowling, outstanding no. 3, good middle order, more than decent spinners and as always a good fielding unit.
In terms of balance this English side looks way better than any of their other sides in last 10 years! If injuries don’t hit them hard, they look certain to reach the semis at least.
All of above 3 are in same group which means they will not face each other in quarter-finals. To me, all 3 look good to reach the semis. I would go a step further and predict a SA-Ind final!

Football - 'Such' is Life!!!

The word ‘Such’(pronounciation) is reserved for cricket only especially if you happen to be an Indian. But I could dare use this word while not referring to cricket is because the things have changed in last 3 weeks or so. Since beginning of Football World cup I have seen unprecedented interest in the sport. By unprecedented, I really mean it for any non-cricket event.

Before the tournament began, I chose Argentina & Netherlands as ‘My’ teams. Being an Indian I had no choice but to look for other nations which I could support. I am happy & lucky to be able to be still supporting one of them. Despite being a dark horse, Netherlands has stormed into the finals! (no comparisons with ‘psychic’ Paul please J)

Argentina began the tournament in grand style, thrashing all their opponents in league matches. They had faced stiff qualifying but seemed to have kept it away. But as the fate would have it they lost the match against the agile Germans. Being the knockout stage they were thrown out of the tournament.

Netherlands also began the World Cup in style winning all their league matches. In fact they had won all their qualifying matches also. That makes it winning streak of 14 matches and being undefeated for 25 matches. That’s an incredible achievement in itself!

The only question that remains now is that whether can match the glory achieved by Brazil in 1970 by winning all their qualifying as well as finals matches. Only one team stands between them and the cup. However, that one team, Spain, happens to be in supreme form. They began the tournament on shaky note by losing their opening match. But they seem to have peaked at the right moment and are dominant contenders of the cup. As far as my support goes, I have been supporting the Dutch since the beginning and would want to stick to them only. The Sneijders and the Villas will have to put their best game on display, remaining unaffected by the thought of Golden Shoe. It should be cracker of a match. Can’t stop waiting for it to begin. And the rest, as they don’t say, will be known in 2 days!!

The Unsung Hero……

He has been in bollywood industry for quite some time now. He has sung n number of songs many of which r just amazing. Right from ‘Tadap Tadap K’ to ‘Tu hi Meri Shab Hai’ n frm ‘Labon ko Labon pe’ to the more recent ‘Khuda Jaane ki’, he has sung truly different kind of songs. Yess u guessed it right..am talking about none other than K.K.

Some other songs sung by him, I pretty much adore include Yaaron Dosti.., Aashayen, Kya muze Pyaar hai, Maine dil se kaha(Rog),Ek pal k liye hi sahi(Unkahee) n so many. D list is just endless. Another differentiating factor could be the variety of songs sung by him. Be it Sach Kah raha hai Deewana, Koi kahe kehta rahe, Dus bahane kar ke or Tu aashiqi hai(Jhankaar beats) there just aren’t any limits to the capabilities of this singing sensation.

But one thing I have failed to understand is pretty less popularity of him. I know he likes to keep low profile, but that can’t be reason enough for that. (Not attending Reality Shows could b one!!!)U just have to listen to his songs n u ll know it. He puts all the emotions in the song..ekdam ‘dil se’ gaata hai. He just gets fully involved wid the song. Actually dis works out to his disadvantage. Many a time people don’t even know that the song or songs they have been praising for so long have been sung by KK. That’s why the popularity index could b low. Wen u tel people about it, they get surprised like anything. N am very much sure that although I have mentioned only few of his songs, some of them will come as a surprise to you.

It may be difficult to identify the songs by him, but a true fan of KK can certainly do that n loves to do that! Want to hear this voice again n again n again….

100 Days!

Just completed 100 days in the ‘Corporate’ world. So thought why not review this journey. To say the least, it has been pretty eventful one. Being a fresher, it was my first real exposure to the corporate world (I had joined JBIMS directly, after completing B.E. from VJTI). I had worked in this world for couple of months during summer internship. But only MBAs will know how real the exposure is!!!

My job started wid training (or induction whatever u may call it...) as has been the trend in the industry. It was a nice 2 week programme in Ahmedabad. I have used the word NICE for couple of reasons. First reason being bcoz of it, I got to see the beauty of Gujarat..yess..beauty in each sense. Be it roads, structures, nature, culture n of course people. From whatever interaction I have had wid them, I can say that people out there are good looking n more importantly good at heart. And the other reason is that I went there by flight. However late it may be, still it was my first experience of boarding a flight. Though there was nothing special while traveling, I must say I was very much excited before the experience.

Now sumthing about office out here in Mumbai...In the office we have had many events like Birthdays, celebrated (and not celebrated JJ) send offs. A bit of leg pulling is part n parcel of each day. Must say, have got good colleagues in the office. Till date I have enjoyed working here. Hope it remains that way only...

Yeh hai cricket Meri Jaan!!!

There must be thousands of articles written n lakhs of comments made on cricket…but still…can’t help it..i hav to write about the game I follow lik anything…till date I hav watched every possible delivery bowled. ..(like most of the Indians do!!!)….be it 20-20, ODI or even the test cricket…l just lov to watch it…although it may not be possible to see the game every single time…u can b rest assured that I hav kept track of the scores….and as some of my frnds hav rightly observed I like to watch the game taking minute details into consideration…J.. Of late there has been Mendisomania which is testing Indian cricket like anything..indian players are considered to be best players of spin..i wonder wat would happen to other teams….but lik any other spinner am sure Indians would be able to solve this Mendis puzzle as well…right now series is nicely poised..but Indians need to solve mendis riddle n hav to do it fast to hav any hopes of series victory….hop they can make it…india played well in 2^nd ODI…a couple of good things happened for india…zaheer’s amazing bowling n dhoni’s normal style of batting(which used to be aggressive in the past) at least in the beginning of his innings…don’t think captaincy has done any gud to his batting..his style has become too conservative to anybody’s liking…may be tries to play too many mind games, tries to play DIFFERENTly…n which I think, has affected his batting….anyways, like it has been said many a time..being Indian captain is never easy…at least he has brought some energy n aggression in the team n the world cup of course!!... it may not be as valuable as 1983 cup to many…but still..its a world cup…cheers to Dhoni n cheers to Indian cricket!!!

The beginning...

After thinking for so long....i suppose its time i start wid it...finally....hope to write here on regular basis...will write about me, my frnds n my opinions..which may hurt sum people...but plz don't mind...(or do mind...i don't care!!!)...lets see how long can i continue wid d blog...my earlier attempt was a miserable failure..so a bit circumspect..but no...dis tim i will surely continue wid it..