Monday, February 14, 2011
Toruk Makto..!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tea Towel explanation of Cricket
Came across this hilarious explanation of Cricket while at Lord's, which is popularised as the Tea-towel explanation of Criket. This was actually printed on a Tea-towel in the shop at Lord's.
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.
Highlights of the day
The Urn is actually never used in the Ashes series and only the crystal replica much bigger than the original urn is used. The tour guide poked fun saying that this is something that the Australians can never take away from England....:D
After the museum we started of towards the Pavilion. A red carpet marked the entrance of a Pavilion. Photography was strictly prohibited inside the Pavilion and we were warned against camera lens caps unknowing falling and clicking mistakenly and all those attempts at capturing glimpses of the ground... The first part of the Pavilion was the famous Long Room from where the MCC members watched the match. Players make way from the Dressing room through the Long Room for entering/leaving the ground when their chance to play comes.. The walls of the Long Room were embellished with paintings of famous players of all times. Including Bradman, Viv Richards and many more...Was a bit disappointed not seeing Indian faces there... Apparently Sreesanth had used the length of the Long Room as an advantage for a match (can't recall how though..).. Adjacent to the Long Room was the Commitee Room, which, as the name suggest, is used by the MCC members for meetings. Interestly, if one really wishes to be a member, it takes an 18 year long wait and recommendation by 4 existing members... Arguably, worth the wait.
Through the Long Room Bar, we were taken to the players’ dressing rooms. The guide told us about which seat is a favourite of which player. The changing room balcony is also famous for its own reasons...This was where Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup and Sourav Ganguly ripped off his shirt and brandished it to the crowd after winning the Natwest Trophy...!.. The changing room also contained a board where the names of those who scored a century featured. A surprising fact is that Sachin Tendulkar has never scored a hundred at Lord’s so his name is not on the list, while Agarkar has scored a century at Lord's and his name features in the list..! Cricket was truely in the air of Lord's. Me, despite not being much of a cricket lover, could sense the identity of the game somehow intermingled with the spirit of the ground. I could imagine why its affect can be so overwhelming for a Cricket player/fan....
After the changing room we were taken to the Grand stand and the ground.. The capacity of the ground is 30000 seats and the view was awesome..Next was the Investec Media Centre, where the Commentators sit and the players enjoy their meal. The Investec Media Centre looked like the newest part of the ground as against the much older Pavilion. This was the last part of the tour and interestingly we din't quite realise how the 100 minutes flew..:)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
realisations galore..
to get people to think.. but a lot is going wrong.. and there are realisations... about how
things are changing in India... about the pace at which it is changing and
the direction...
The base and the scariest part.. is the deep rooted inferiority thats somehow
creeped into the minds of Indians. Why else would there be so much admiration for the West.
Why else would people be proud about their children studying abroad..Why else would there be
so much excitement about visiting places abroad.. Its not like India does not have the
ability to give its citizens education.. or that we do not have beautiful places. Then why
is there a hint of pride on being tagged as someone whose been abroad? Why does that thought
even arise...Why is it cooler if a person has visited Switzerland or Scotland.. and not so
cool if the same person goes to Matheran or Panchghani..? I am not against going anywhere..
infact I'd like to visit places too... but m as excited to visit these places as I'd be to
visit Jammu or Ladakh...What I don't understand is the 'extra' importance given to people
abroad.. or places abroad.. Why are we Indians always gullible.. and so easily led into
believing something... In order to get India its rightful place in the world.. the first
step and the most important one.. is that we stop believing that places/people abroad are
superior to us in anyway. They are not. This is a fact and the earlier we start believing,
the better it would be for our country.
A lot has already been talked about our culture being influenced by the West... English is
important period. Everyone wants to learn english and the fact remains, we need it. We
need to be good at English to keep pace with the world. But it is english that is
important.. not the culture it brings..!.. We need to adopt English.. but not let it replace
our own languages..!..We need to use English and move ahead.. Not let the English culture replace our own... On the contrary, this gives us even more reason to consiously stick to our roots.. because thats where our identity stems from. And When I talk about our roots, it includes everything.. food.. religious beliefs.. traditions.. culture.. languages.. We need to preserve them and not get swept away. I do see a lot of people of our generation making efforts to learn and keep up. But it isnt enough. Because there is a much larger crowd which does not. We need to consiously make an effort to learn our traditions and beliefs so that we can keep them for the generations to come. If things keep moving as they are now.. it wouldn't take too many generations to lose them all..
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Its a month already..n I dont know how to feel about it...I am happy cuz a month is up.. n i am one month closer to going home..... . I know deep down m too desi to be around somewhere else too long.. but life has its ways and we choose some of them... I am missing the lovely weather of namma bengaluru.. the daily hustle bustle .. going down my house with mum n eating paani puri... seeing lots of people on streets.. noise..hindi music playing on radio..the noise.... people just pausing for a casual chat.. It all felt so good.... I am just Listening to "Rehna tu" from Delhi 6.. It so beautifully describes how I feel right now.. about India.. about Bangalore..
Was watching Friends on TV today.. and it reminded me of all the old serials we watched.. Vyomkesh bakshi.. Mrignaini.. Talaash.. Circus.. Nukkad.. Karamchand.. and everyones fav chitrahaar.. dekh bhai dekh.. tehekikaat...Just the thought of it makes me smile...
Somehow everything about India is so perfect.. or atleast thats how I feel... Rehna Tu, Hai Jaisa Tu Thoda sa dard tu, Thoda Sukun
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Bath Spa, Wiltshire
one to begin with. We left from our cozy little serviced apartments in Swindon at 8 in the
morning, a little let down by the really windy and cold weather...but happy about the clear
skies.... We hit the train station by about 8:15, and took the 8:30 train to Penzance with
Bath enroute.. I love train journeys and was delighted even while we were boarding the
train.. I chose the window seat and the scene was beautiful with landscapes sprawling
endlessly and farms with really healthy looking (read fat..hehe) cows and sheep.. the houses
in all those little villages were all of the same size and shape and made of a typical red
stone... Arrived at Bath at about 9, and with the help of a tourist guide centre, we planned
our day. As soon as we stepped into the city the georgian architecture of all those
buildings seemed as if the city hasn't changed much from a long time... limestone houses
with really small windows...lots of crescents... abbeys..made me feel like i've gone back in
time.. the most obvious thing a tourist does in an unknown city is take the city tour..
which we did.. The city is known for a lot of little things.. Apparently earlier people
built very small windows in the houses so that only a small portion of daylight gets into
the house. Now people wanted it that way so that they didn't have to pay a lot of tax,
because they were taxed for the amount of daylight getting into the house! (thats where the
saying "daylight robbery" came into picture..)..
The highlights of the city include the Roman bath, which are actually natural mineral hot
water springs from the River Avon (Avon means just river, so "River Avon" is really
just"River River"...) where the romans had a worship place for their goddess "sulis" and so
the place is aptly called "Aquae Sulis"... An interesting place with all the walkie-talkie
assisted self guided toursin and aroud the bath.. The ancient temple relics were also a good
sight to see..
The city is also known for its famous resident.. Jane Austen..and tea.Here tea was regarded as the drink for the upper class and so was made much more expensive than wine or any of the other intoxicating drinks.!
Next we took a ride to take to the stonehenge (meaning the hanging stones).. one of the
wonders of the medival world... the winds at stonehenge almost blew us off.. it was cold as
hell and the so windy.... the wind actually moved us ahead.. so we didn't even need to
walk..:D.. Again, the stonehenge tour was with a self guided walkie-talkie... Now apparently
the stonehenge was built about 3 times and then apparently people just gave up..!..:D.. Each
stone had a reason and history behind it.. Interesting to listen while you stroll around the
structure..
Off from stonehenge we headed to this beautiful little village called the 'lacock village'.
Known for the shooting of 'Pride and Prejudice' on one of the streets and also for
HarryPotter's home.. the house where Voldemort kills Harry's parents James and Lilly
Potter...After seeing these places, We had a nice cup of tea in a Roman Bakery and were off
back to Bath.. On the way back, was Solsbury hill.. atop which Peter Gabriel (of Genesis
fame) had a spiritual change of heard experience and he decided to quit the English band to
start off on his own.... This is where he wrote the song Solsbury hill..(his first solo) The tour guide was nice enough to play the song for us as we went past the scenic hill... 'Had to listen.. had no
choice'..:D :D
Friday, October 31, 2008
Kamath Loka Ruchi
reason, my sis and me take unusual delight in having south indian meals...So this was her chance of experimenting. While the meal hadn't arrived, me n sis kept asking one of the waiters about the meal contents.. Gauging our less than perfect kannada, he was nice enough to give us a description of the meal in Hindi. My mouth grew increasingly watery as the minutes snailed by... Finally, they got us plantain leaves and served the first dish - the 'payasam' - a sweet
made out of mung dal and jaggery. I usually avoid sweets. They make me sick. But this payasam was steaming hot... and tempting. So i abandoned my no-sweets diktat for the moment and gulped down the entire cup of it. I din't realise m eating too fast until I saw my parents relish every whit of it. I looked into their plates hoping to get some of their's, but quit the idea soon. They din't look too keen on sharing it either.. :)
Next there was a little salad made out of channa - dal n cucumber, with a glass of machige ( butter milk). A vegetable curry made out of horse gram, followed by some stuffed brinjal...The waiter, dressed in a typically north-karnataka attire, served the garam garam Jowar Rotis topped with a generous helping of butter ( I quickly brushed
aside the calorie-clock ticking in my head...).. I don know how many of the rotis I gorged down ( it was being served continuously ). After having a good share of the rotis, there was rice and drumstick sambar ( a typical south indian lentil dish )... Everybody finished up the meal with a nice helping of fruit salad with icecream ( i dint eat that.. :)..).. Sis meanwhile was enjoying her Karavali meal which had a lot of coconut stew with rice noodles... Had some of that too. Yummy.