Voila!!

The BB today is flooded with ‘voila’ messages from Hawks. We don’t miss out on any opportunities to brag [chance pe dance karo types!] Sachchayi being- Not having had much luck with Carom and Chess, we've dropped to No.3 in the current standing. It’s a big feat for us to have made it to finals in Waterpolo- only because the hawks have managed to fly into the finals after a pretty long spell.

I’ve always liked to watch Water-Polo!;)... It was more fun last eve since the Hawks sunk the Marines with a landslide victory- 10-3! The Hawks were everywhere in the Pool and each one was a crocodile in water! Could not help but reminisce “water polo in Synergy,03”. Shaji was in the team. He was like this king-crocodile- vigorous, powerful and seamless with his shots. No matter how many people tried to block him or how many people guarded the goal post, each of his shots found the goal post! It was a treat to watch his game! I have been a huge fan of Shaji since then.It’s a pity he isn’t around this time!

Talking of the hawks, we await to take on the Red Bulls in Water this evening! Again, insider reports unveil that the Bulls seem to have a strong team and it’s not going to easy this time too!

May the force be with us!

But Dont Turn Around!!!-( Ace of Base)

Feeling tad lonely!.. Its kinda absurd to feel so as I cant decipher the reason for such a feeling -mostly cuz everything seems ideal around me ( touch wood)--I've been playing to my heart's content; spending good time with family; working good- have been very pleased with everything going on with Santosh and Sona esp amongst all the 'unknowns' and 'uncertainties' -though it was my first time 'over-looking' projects; attending yoga classes and music classes; doing some good reading (though haven’t brought myself together to study the INS22 syllabus!!)

In spite of everything, feeling away from myself-- I dunno what that means..

Wondering how’d it be if I were missing from the face of earth this very moment, what difference would it make!
@Work- No One is indispensable here. Onsite will probably have to take up the night-support till they find a replacement for me! A slight unease probably at offshore to have someone else 'over-look' Santosh's work!
With Friends- They might miss me for sometime!- probably mostly during lunch times..;)
@ Home- They'll miss me!... for a long long time!
Jimmy (my house owner's dog) might also miss me for a while!

Kya paya:
One bright thing would be that I'd have no regrets! Therez almost nothing that I've wanted to do but haven’t done -- I've played, sung, danced, rafted, sky-dived from 12000 ft, played with snow n sand, watched numerous sunsets by the beach, played Barkha Dutt, painted, sketched, written, spoken, played naughty pranks with friends, watched eurotrip, read all the books I wanted to read...and even cooked! I've never cheated, robbed or played dirty (So, I can safely deduce my conscience is clear)- Been a good student; a good daughter to my parents and good didi to neetu, a good team member at work, a good friend to my friends!
I’ve also done a li’l bit of social service. I’ve traveled and visited more places than i'd imagined! Also I've met a cricketer(Robin Singh) and a singer(Jaspinder Narula) , NRN , CM of Karnataka(SM Krishna) in real life...:)

Wow!... seems like I've been a good person-kinda fulfilled all my duties and I've had a good life!

But is that it- was i born to just lead a trifling but complacent life!... to be an insignificant part of the set up I belong to! Nope, I do not want to be an -unknown-NOBODY when I die. I want to leave behind a huge bag full of pleasant memories and want to be remembered for them!

I want a life of purpose! My purpose should now be to discover that purpose!

Time Out!!!! I think such introspection can only result from having too li’l on my plate at work! Hell, I need to check on Santosh’s Tracker, go through the new requirements and make onsite calls before I can watch ‘water-polo’ ;) this eve! I have an early morning Basket ball practice session too…!!! Also therez a quiz selection I need to conduct for the hawks and pick up the placement of ‘Ga’ in mandra Sthayi!!!

Competitions!

This morning, after I had meticulously placed 'Ga' immediately after 'Sa' and just before ‘Re’ as a part of "Daatu Varase", I asked my guru why had we constricted to the first 10 Sarale varases(Basically, I loved the 12th one - it was the toughest among the Sarala varases and I got it perfectly..:)
He explained- “these days the students wish to be taught only what is necessary and sufficient for the exam” ( Junior Exam- exam in Carnatic Music). He spoke fervently about how these days people took to fine arts like music and dance just to be in the "race" and not because they were genuinely interested. Little did I realize I had stumbled upon a delicate matter when i opined generally "This is an age of competition and everyone wants to be as equipped as the other ". He believed that "competitions" were unhealthy for any fine art- music particularly since they catered to improve or motivate a very minor section of the entire interested-n-deserving community! He went to prove his point by giving an example- "In a singing competition. Let’s say the person getting the first prize scored 98, second scored 97, and third scored 96. - This neither implies that all the other contestants below 96 are bad nor does it differentiate a 95 from 35- which is not healthy-for the majority. These competitions are more of breeding centers for unhealthy feelings like jealousy and resignation among competitors instead of serving as a forum for appreciating the talent in each other!"
My view: Competition today is a way of life. I remember being amidst them since time immemorial. Competitions in all the fields have always had a positive effect on me- they have only bettered me. In sports, it made me play better; at academics- it made me more cautious and alert; at Office - it made me pragmatic ;at other extra-curricular like painting, dancing , singing- it just made me feel good about myself..:) May be - i am a very bad e.g. for such an analysis!
Lets take the contestants of "Sa Re ga Ma Pa"-- they are all extremely talented. In every round of the game-show, invariably one of them at least is performing in bad- health condition- all of which is attributed to stress. My point is- the one who performs well in spite of the pressure, is the best! and competitions present an opportunity to do just that!

However, I do agree with my guru when he says that if not taken in the right spirit by contestants (and their parents), competitions could breed unhealthy attitudes!

Mom.. are you sure?

Last Friday, I vaguely remember having woken up with some pain in the upper arm- But the knot in the guts had so totally occupied me, that i paid no attention to my arms! By lunch time, I could feel the cramps in my back -which i dismissed immediately linking it to the hours spent before teh comp in wrong postures. In the evening, my calf muscles began to complain!The sane part of my mind told me to go home and rest. It was 5.00 pm anyways!
Pavana was playing carom against the hawks today. I decided to watch her game and then leave for the day! Pavana lost to Suneetha. To get her more comfortable for her game on Monday, we decided to play some carom for a while( and I realized I suck at this game!!). When we were returning from the food court, we saw a few girls playing volley Ball! The sane part of my mind came up again and reminded me to go home... well, I master this special technique of overriding that side of me at the times when it is outright illogical to do so! I played for a while and by the time i reached home, my lower arm also seemed frozen!

There were no pain killers at home! I was very tempted to empty the cough syrup to get some sleep-- but remembered the last time I had tried such a stunt and dismissed the idea!Its ironic how the whole of last week i felt no signs of pain inspite of all the paying ( and had over-exerted myself at the gym to feel tired enough to crash out on my bed) and how the entire quota of pain and exhaustion seemed to hit upon me at once( Was my physiology also getting accustommed to the WAR System???)! Sometimes, i think I havent understood my body even after having spent 2.5 decades with it!

Mamma.. and you think I am all set to be married??!

The momentz gone...

'It's not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game'- is probably the most used cliché after every game! A friend once commented-'when you did ever hear a winner say that?'

Nope!- Me aint even remotely suggesting that the Bulls Vs Hawks fight at Throw ball last night wasn’t about winning!-it was all about winning! We knew RED BULLS were good right from day One and facing them was going to be anything but easy!

Nov 24, Thursday 7.00pm- The game that was described as "something awaited with lot of nail biting" by one of the BULLs finally began. RED BULLS got an early lead. But, the BLACK HAWKS did not make it easy for the Bulls. The referee seemed to read quiet a few of the Hawk’s moves as fouls and the Hawks ended up not offering the resistance required to control the Bulls! The Bulls took the first game!-15-2
We Hawks then paused for a while and quickly glanced over the mistakes we had done- It was all just sheer excitement and extra-energy in our shots. We worked on them and won the next game12-15. The BLACK Hawks were filled with a new energy! We had gone beyond just giving the bulls a tough time! We had defeated them! And if we did that once, we could do it again.
After each of us had one game to our credit, the Referee called for both the teams again-- instructed that we'd be playing for 8 points on one side of the court and then we'd be changing sides for the game point. The Hawks were flying high and continued to soar higher for the first 8 points.(8-5) We then changed sides and again seemed to play great. The last score that the sane part of my brain remembers is 10-7 and all of sudden the game was out of the Hawk's claws. The Bulls had got over the hawks again! And that was that!!
Well it definitely feels terrible to have reached so close and have just let it out of our hands. However undoubtedly, it was a great fight!
But I maintain, the game was about winning and the BULLS won!
Just before the game, I had asked our champ and ace player Suneetha – "What chances to do you think we have? What strategy do we go with"- to which she replied-- "The side that makes lesser mistakes will win" and so it was!

Personally, there was an exponential improvemnet in my playing! My serves were very good. No fouls, No mis throws but yes- missed a couple of catches.
The game was over and we had lost! .. Again there were no signs of tireness... which unlike the previous match, i could not attribute to victory! There was this wierd energy building up within me! probably it was anger and frustration balled up within- which neither could be released nor could be contained! I headed to the gym -- i finished within .5 hrs some of excercises that i usually take an hour to complete! Was something wrong with me?

I still had this undefinable and wierd energy balling up within which i could not come to terms with! -- I guess that is what they call DEFEAT!

I slept over it. I could still feel the knot in my guts when I woke up! As I walked into the office this morning, almost everybody I met mentioned we played really well—and our team dynamics was simply great. The BULLs were playing individually, but we played as a team and we had much more energy and team spirit than them!... I think thats a huge compliment to us – as a team!

I will not say the best team won!—because I believe that as Hawks we might have been less equipped than the Bulls, but as a team we were better!...:)

Whatever mann.. We still lost ( Ross's style)!

Still Basking in glory...

On the Synergy Site:
23rd Nov, Wednesday- 6.15 PM: The Day had arrived! The first match was between the Blue marines and Black Hawks!-- A war between "Jal" and "Vaayu"! The Black Hawks won the toss and elected to serve first. The Black Hawks opened their account with the ace serve from Sridevi. The Marines put up a good fight. Some good servers from Shweta had the marines 5-4 lead pretty early in the game. But after that point, there was no looking back for the Hawks. The Hawks took the game to closure thanks to some good serves from Hema, mind blowing shots from Suneetha, swift reflexes from Sridevi & Shanteri and timely rebuttals from Usha.
The Second game was a cake walk for the Black Hawks and seemed like the Marine ladies had already given up!
In all, it was the war in which the Black Hawks soared high over the Blue Marines!
Black Hawks won the Blue Marines with 15-6, 15-2.

yippie yippie yeh yeh!!!

Its been almost 2 hrs of throwball and an hour with Shobha at the gym.. and i still feel not even remote symptoms of tireness...
I wonder if the reason for this is regular gymming or the victory in the first match of Synergy!
This match was special for me-- individually, didnot give any match-winning performance but caught some fundu throws and i surprised myself with my reflex action!!! And all my serves were flawless. No mis-throws, No fouls- just missed one catch!

Not many could tell I was trying my hands at throw ball for the first time( all my practice during the weekend did help!).. - thats an achievement enough for me!!..:)

The S Season...

Its tripple 'S' this season thats causing all the excitement- Santosh, Sona and Synergy!
I like changes! And this time .. I have been bombarded with loads of them...

I think I am gonna like this season...

TV Today

These days the TV is flooded with Reality shows - quizes, dance comptt, singing comptt-- all of which have a major emotional component associated( bluntly, it is just drame-baazi). Kaboom n KBC on Starplus, Nach Baliye on Star One, Fame gurukul on MTV and Sony, But the baap of all and my fav- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee-- Well these are the few that i have come accross during my TV-time.I must confess- i am a very below the below average TV viewer- and no matter how hard ekta kapoor or mandira or sophie or even Amitabh Bachchan try, most of my tv time is captured by Barkha Dutt at WE the people or X-factor, walk the Talk with Mr Gupta , Vikram Chandra on Big Fight, Siddu at Cricket Controversies, Pranab on India this week, and not to forget crisp Nidhi and Amitabh with the headlines...And And .. Shaan on Sa re ga ma pa..
Gajendra sing has done a marvelous job with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa( even when the 'Pa' was missing) -- It seems to be one of the very few shows where judgment is based on Merit and not on the contestant's appeal! Its the season of selecting the contestants for the bhrahmastra round. And for once the cliché seems absolutely befitting when the judges(renowned classical musicians) say- " It was very difficult to choose the best". Its the time when 2 out of 6 need to be chosen to participate at the next -level! There are 3 guys and 3 girls. 3 guys- Aishwarya Nigam has been mind blowing with the 'paune-barah-baje' number and 'Dil-keh-raha-hai' from kyun-ki! Paresh is really cute- a cool dude from London whose hindi is better than most Indians when we sings( but when he speaks normally- in his heavy accented words- "pata chal jata hai main bahar se aya hoon") Dilshad- pulls at ur heart- he is physically challenged and his songs really touch you deep!As for the girls-- its sanchali, joyeeta and ujjaini-- Sanchali is an avg looking, humble and confident girl who could spell-bound anybody listening to her. Joyeeta , the girl who used to cry every time she sang and has now evolved to a fine singer who could make anybody listening to her dance to her tunes..And therez Ujjaini- who is a 11th grade school kid but sings like a professional!I wish everyone wins..:)

The point is each one on SaReGaMaPa is fantabulous which is hardly what one can say about Kazi, Rooprekha or Rex in Fame Gurukaul! I hope more programs that give appropriate credit to merit evolve and stay!

Are we in the right hands?

A former PM makes allegations on an IT Icon( well know for his contributions not just to IT in India but to society at large) without so much as confirming the allegations- all because the elections are round the corner and he seems to have exhausted all the other ways to gain more votes! The CM spends most of his time resolving differences in his coalition govt. And when he is not doing that he is making up for the atrociously stupid and ridiculous comments made by the Former PM who happens to be the icon in his coalition!
This is the govt which had no face when the capital was faced by 200 cms of rain for a week and the news channels were full of reports on Garden city-turned Garbage city reports!!!An exclusive by NDTV on Deve gowda Vs NRN- emphasized the pathetic state of politic(ian)s today. The talk show turned out to be a comedy! Instead of laughing at the illogical and contradictory statements made, one pities oneself for being led by such Leaders!- If today is so shaky, tomorrow is definitely going to be scary!As if the stories running within the state were not enough we have the Polcker report creating havoc at the National level! The Polcker report has proved again that politics is indeed filthy and has nothing more to it than a bunch of opportunists! The attack on one of the very respected cabinet member holding the office is only another opportunity for the opposition for the mud-slinging exercise! The best the opposition can come up with is to approach the President to advise the PM to sack his minister-- and all this when no one knows what was actually the content of the report -- all this when Russia, France and a few more have dismissed the report!!!
Having said all this, I am not even remotely suggesting that the foreign Minister might NOT be guilty! I am just disgusted by the way the entire thing is handled! It is really a sorry state of affairs-- a UN report alleges our Foreign Minister. And the first thought that comes to a common man is "who then is going to be the next foreign minister"! It is NOT to defend our leader- the attack on our govt! That is the amount of trust WE, the people have in our leaders! And we do not even feel the slightest guilt!Why should you when the Political leaders of today seem to be setting examples time and again -that it doesn’t matter what we as a country portray to the outside world. The only thing that matters is ELECTIONS!

Diwali-2005

Diwali this year was different!- It was Diwali at home(Kudremukh) after 8 years. Diwali had meant annual family re-union at grans place for a package celebration of deepawali, ayudh pooja and Tulsi Pooja for the last 8 years. This year we decided to make an exception-- Since KIOCL is officially closing down this Dec, we decided to celebrate Diwali in Kudremukh.

As I write this, memories of last year's diwali rush to remind me the stark contrast between then and now!I had a double diwali last year-- one at milwaukee and another at grans place!At milwaukee, the usual group got together to visit the temple and watch the fire-works there! we also had a diwali- party some time later! Luckily,I did not miss out on the family diwali celebs even last yr(though I was in milwaukee at the time) as my granma decided- Deepawali would be when "I" would be home--- So, we(the entire sriyaan family- spread accross India ) bunched up to have a grand winter diwali in Jan-(when I was on vacation)!

In comparison to last year,this diwali for me was slightly subdued! Mostly because my sis could not make it!But it was a pleasant! Woke up early, cleaned up the house, drew the rangoli, helped mom with preparing- "cheepae addae" and the pooja!. My ayudh entries for this year were-Laptop, ipod and INS23 Book!My Diwali this year was homely- cozy and less noisy!

But not many were as lucky!

It is sad how diwali for some people was totally ruined due to the blasts in Delhi!-- Human slaughter in the holy month of ramzaan- Jehad?..Is it what they still call it?
Everytime I put on the TV, gandhiji's talisman- some thing that used to appear after the preface in our school text book and something that made very little sense at that time, seems so very meaningful !!!

What is Happening in the world we live in? In the last 4 months, we have seen Earth quakes in J&K, rains in mumbai- catalysing the chain-crashes of human dwellings, rains in Bangalore-chennai- Cauvery which has always been the issue due to water scarcity-this time punished people with excess water! the rains in hyderabad- causing train accidents, blasts in delhi- ruining diwali and eid for the delhites- yeah the people fought back this attack of terrorism pretty bravely- but the fact of the existence of the parasites still remains !.. And not to forget tsunami here and Rita and Wilma in the US!.. - Is the world coming to an end?-are these the signs?