Hottest car in town

On 30 November when I set out to go to Lamington road (in our Maruti Zen) to get a few computer parts that I needed little did I know that I would have the greatest pleasure of sitting in the hottest car in town. The car was so hot that even though I intended to reach Lamington by 11 I ended up sitting in the car till 1 pm, I just couldn't leave it.
     As we drove along Peddar road we realised how hot a car we were sitting in. The car was over heated and the coolant was spilling out from the engine. So then we turn into a side lane, park the car and call the garage. After an hour long wait the person whom we need comes up, tinkers around with the engine, pulls something here and there (none of which makes sense to me, u see I am an engineer in the making but not an automobile engineer!!??!!) adds water to the engine as coolant to replace the spilled chemical and tells us to drive to the garage. So thats my plan to reach Lamington by 11 scuppered. 11:30 am finds us at SBS Road - Fort. Now this SBS Road Fort is a curious little road (actually more like a street) It is that place in Mumbai where u can see men shaving on the road side in the middle of the afternoon checking their reflection in the sideview or rearview mirrors which have evidently been snapped off the car to which they may originally have belonged. The cars, some of which have donated their mirrors to the barbers' and shavers' causes, and some of which have donated their headlights or taillights or wheels, or a pleasant mix of all these to God alone knows what causes, litter both sides of the street. It can be quite interesting to watch the life and habits of people on SBS road but not if u are pre occupied about carrying a large amount of cash in your pockets and being late for a Pratibimb meeting.
              By the time the car was fixed it was 12:30 and I was now faced with a dilema - Lamington or Pratibimb? If I go to Lamington I miss the Pratibimb meeting and if I try to go to Pratibimb meeting, I won't be able to fix my computer for another 3 to 4 days. Finally selfish love for my computer wins over, but by the time I have got the monitor it is too late for the meeting. Since the car has to be somewhere else by this time, I dump the computer parts in the car and head back to the station. It is already well past 1 and I have missed the meeting, all thanks to the hottest car in town. I even end up landing onto the wrong platform at Grant road station. Oh boy! This is certainly not my day. As I head back
home I just hope that the computer co operates and works properly today, unlike everything else which has gone wrong. Luckily, oh ever so luckily the computer decides to be friendly and functions properly. The only bright spot on the dark horizon of that day was that I could drown my day's grief by watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on my new computer, which helped me forget the distressing day for some time.

MORAL of the story: Never ever sit in the hottest car in town, it may just turn out to be one of ur worse days.

The First T20 World Cup

The Final of the first T20 World Cup. Australia vs South Africa. Oh sorry, its Australia vs England. Bound to be an exciting game. That is what everyone expected, right from the Carribean, across Asia and till New Zealand. But in the end it was a match no one ever expected, yet having more excitement attached to it than any other final ever could have.

The Final Showdown, World War 3, Greatest battle in the history of cricket were terms used to describe the match before it was even played. INDIA vs PAKISTAN. Since almost half the world must have seen this match and the other half must have heard of it already, it would be useless to describe the match here. Needless to mention, the Indian team celebrated with an utter recklessness, running like madmen across the ground and crowds at home went crazy. Well a world cup victory against Pakistan is something to celebrate.

The Media ofcourse had a gala time, describing the team as "The Indian Idols" "Greatest cricket team" with catchy headlines like "India thrash Pakistan". However all the newspapers conspicuously failed to mention that India had nearly lost the match, that the result could have gone either ways even in the last over.I have no hesitation in saying that had India lost the match the media would still have had a gala time cursing the "pathetic team". In Pakistan people took to streets burning effigies of their star players, whom they had glorified only days ago. Had India lost the match perhaps the reaction may have been much the same in India.

In the end, even though the media turns out to be a winner both ways what has to be remembered about this match is that both teams were equally matched and India certainly never "thrashed" Pakistan. Finally in that last crucial over it was as much a matter of luck and fate as it was of skill

Harry Potter final Showdown

          "Once upon a time" - If a story starts in this fashion, it is considered as one of the worst type of beginning for a story. "And they lived happily ever after" I am not sure if this type of ending is considered good or bad, but I know that everyone loves to read an ending like this, atleast I do. With the last Harry Potter book due in 8 days time, speculation and spoilers have started flooding the market. Most common among those is the "end of Harry's story" as the author has put it. The general opinion, obtained from the many interviews given by the author, is that since she does not want any one else to write any further Harry Potter books, she has decided to finish off the boy hero. JK Rowling is the creator of Harry Potter and Harry Potter the creation so she has full right to finish off the wizard as and when she chooses.

However as a rule it is always the creation that becomes more popular than the creator. How often do we think of Thomas Edison when we switch on the light bulb? So also Harry Potter being the creation is more popular than the creator, and I have no hesitation in saying that more people will mourn the end of Harry Potter than cry for the author's funeral(may that be long postponed). I hope JK Rowling knows this and for her own selfish feelings that no one other than her should write the books any time in the future, does not send half a billion fans over the world into mourning, though most people have already got used to the thought that this is the end of the boy wizard. I however will still keep my fingers crossed, for that "Happily ever after" kind of ending. After all, book have got to have happy endings.

About an year ago JK Rowling announced that one of the characters got a reprive but two others die whom she never intended to. Remember we are dealing with pure evil here is what she said. First thing that jumped to my mind was that Harry Potter gets a reprive but his best friends, Ron and Hermoine whom the author never intended to die have to go. So the author cleverly saves Harry Potter the main character, but in my opinion if she does away with his best friends, that would be an equally bad and gory ending. In fact people like me who are rather a bit obsessed with Happy Endings may start turning to "The Seventh Horcrux" a fan fic as a better version of the seventh book. Then again, maybe JK Rowling may surprise all of us with a nice happy ending too. Who knows? Well come 21 July and all the speculation will end as JK Rowling reveals what she has intended as the best end for the Harry Potter series. Despite all the rumours and leaks about major deaths, I will still keep my fingers crossed for "and the lived happily ever after". No, scar is not the last word any more.

Harry Potter festival 1

               Look at the heading. It says Harry Potter festival, because this month is the Harry Potter festival. It says 1 because I am writing about the movie to be released soon. The last book follows just after. So for all those true Harry Potter fans who have like me read the books a million times, the movie holds no suspense, except for the acting, visual effects, and in some cases Harry's first kiss. To be released on 11/7/2007 world wide, I feel sorry that I will be able to see it only on the 13th of this month. Still no regrets, I have never missed the first day first show of any of the Harry Potter movies in India, so I guess I have proved my weight in gold as to being a rock solid fan.
              While I am just one person, there are a host of people, maybe just like me, whom I am afraid I can't challenge to being the biggest fan. Harry Potter is far too popular. I also read somewhere about this kid who had learnt the Harry Potter books by heart back to front and recited the whole of the first chapter in front of JK Rowling.
              Talking about the movie sensation, I guess every Potter fan knows that Doleres Umbridge is the character to look out for in the fifth movie, and the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione which gets an additional three members in the form of Luna, Ginny and Neville. Apparently Cho Chang will also have to appear on the screen for some time. It remains to be seen how much stuff from the book is cut off in the movie, especially since Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix is the largest of all the books and the movies have always had to cut off plenty of stuff before. There is a saying, "Never trust a book by its movie" and most Harry Potter fans will agree that the movies fall well below the expectations of the book, but that won't stop them from rushing for the first day tickets any time.
              Which brings us to the books, last of which Harry potter and the Deathly hallows is set to be released later this month, and in my opinion is the real Sensation, the real secret, the real suspense. So for all the Harry Potter fans out there, enjoy and lets hope that Harry Ron and Hermione make it safe and alive out of Deathly Hallows.

Meeting an old friend

So it was that I met an old friend for the first time this vacation, though I meet him regularly in every vacation. Well I said 'him' but I think 'it' would be more appropriate, especially since the friend whom I am referring to happens to be the Crossword book store at Shivaji Park which I love to visit during the vacations. Since the current vacation had kept me very busy till date I had no time to visit Crossword, but today evening since I had no other activity, I thought it only appropriate to call upon the Crossword corner. The Children of Hurin was the book I chose today for reading, though I have not yet finished it. Other books which caught my attention were "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai and "The Kite Runner" Shantaram is of course only half finished and I intend to finish that one too in this vacation at Crossword only.
The Non fiction section had a new arrival on the no. 1 position. The book's name, "The Secret" which could be an interesting read as well. And if these books are not enough to keep me busy over the vacation there is always Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, and John Grisham (Innocent man). So already the vacation seems packed even if I have no other activity, though I intend to socialise a bit with friends as well.
Can't help feeling that I may have missed a book. Waiting for some one to drop in a comment suggesting some other books as well.

Discovering Mumbai and bird watch

Yes of course the vacations are still in full swing. Being born and brought up in mumbai like so many others naturally I know a large part of the city quite well. It was an eye opening experience that the large part of the city i know is actually a very small part indeed. For instance even if I may know quite a few roads along the western side of Mumbai, saying that my knowledge along the central line of Mumbai and the far harbour line is poor would be a huge overstatement. And so it was that I discovered a bit about a place in Mumbai where I have never been before.
The bird watching expedition took me to Sewri, a part of Mumbai I had never been in before. It was an odd experience to see how different this part of the city is from the parts in which I have been. Huge godowns sprawled the extent along the eastern side of sewri. The roads were dusty and desolate, almost as though i had walked into a remote village and not the heart of the biggest metropolis of India. The godown and truck lined road finally brought us to the jetty at Sewri. The road was probably the filthiest one I have seen in Mumbai to date and probably the most desolate road as well.
Well we had come across all this unwelcome landscape to see the migratory birds(flamingoes) who nested on the mud flats of Sewri, Mahul, Airoli and Uran. We were not disappointed. A whole sprawling patch of pink lay before us, like the huge tulip fields of Amsterdam. Some daring flamingoes even ventured to come close to the jetty (though not very close) and all in all it was a most enjoyable experience, watching the curious little birds(they are not that little) digging in the shallows for their food. The hot sun beating down on our heads reminded us that it was time to go back home, so we turned homewards, back through the desolate lands, to the part of the city which truly looked like the Mumbai we were familiar with and from there back home.
Thank you.

And after exams come the holidays

So the exams are history and nothing to mar the relief and enjoyment till the results are declared, which i presume even others like me hope will be delayed as much as possible.
At first I thought that i won't have much work to do in the vacation but the first two days have clearly proved me wrong. Very busy fun filled days.
As Hardik kothare rightly said "An engineer's favourite watch - bird watch" so thats what i was doing today. then online time pass. Not to mention the cricket match at Shivaji Park and a much neede visit to the hajjam's (barber's) shop ensured that I have been kept busy. That of course has still not stopped me wondering what all my friends are doing over the long extended vacation (except the AILA spiritual party at mt. Abu) So drop in a comment somebody. Oh yes and I think I should make the blog open for public viewing now. (Just to grant the wishes of people like Raghav Ohri)

Come April and exams are here

April is here and the exams are approaching(atleast for VJTI students) OK so there is a mad rush to complete journals and workshop jobs as soon as possible. Add to it the oddity of an exam being kept on a Sunday, 22 April.
Surprisingly i am done with almost ("almost")all my work, though last minute glitches and errors are but to be expected. So ofcourse i am feeling a bit relaxed, rather lax and need to listen to the song Aashayein atleast 5 times a day so that i can get back to my books. Shocking performance in the Mid sem exams, and ESE prospects not looking too bright either, atleast not as bright as i would like.
So what am i doing online posting on my blog? Ah well just hoping that some of my friends atleast check this blog and that some day they too may add something on this blog.
In the mean time I REALLY need to get back to my books, so goodbye for now.