Free But lonely

I was recently moved to a new project along with a friend of mine. We were duly allocated cubicles and systems to work on. We were even given idea about what modules we were assigned and the kind of work expected. But as fate would have it, the system I was put in doesn’t connect to the company network, thereby making the term “working” redundant. I am currently going through documents which are outdated and my client says he hasn’t come up with the requirements for my module so far. So what am I supposed to do now? Is there any protocol which specifically talks about what needs to be done in this situation? Some one should come up with these protocols. Come on! some one should have already gone through this. Anyway, now the question in everyone’s mind is, why am I cribbing when I should be happy that I am in utopia. Hang on. Well, the guy who joined with me was given a system which is working and is already busy with meetings starting early as 8am. He is given a huge chunk of documents which he should know before he starts working in his module. Now sketch this scenario in mind two adjacent cubicles one guy drowned in his computer reading documents and shooting weird business doubts at people whenever they come in and the adjacent guy sitting with his iPOD and looking at the some vague document, same page, same paragraph throughout the day. The worst part is my computer doesn’t even connect to the internet because of this stupid network not working in my comp ALONE. Well to be frank it is great to be without any work and great not to have any BAD surprises coming every morning, but when you are without a proper company to enjoy these, take it from me, the situation is really boring and irritating. People around you are always busy, walking around with some purpose while you stare at the monitor thinking what you can do next to kill time and why you alone are the “CHOSEN ONE”.

Well at least I spent the last 15mins writing this!

What are the Odds?

When one of my friends wanted a document attested by a notary, I tagged along as one of the witness "signature" to that office. When he was busy with the notary, i felt thirsty and wanted a cup of water. I strolled to the nearest water cooler. On that eventful day i filled my cup with ice cold water and was about to take a sip when my cell phone rang. During a massive effort to retrieve that phone from my jean packet, the water cup in my other hand slipped -- hit the cooler -- and the water splashed on my jean. The area of wreck was from my jean zip to my right thigh. I wore a light blue jean and it was really tight. Adding to that i wore a really short shirt .. Oh ok ok... all my shirts look small on me nowadays as i have outgrown all my old "LENGTHY" shirts, anyways my shirt hardly covered this spill. I think you can imagine how this spill would have looked on my light blue jean and with a short shirt to cover it, it had embarrassment written all over it. I didnt know what to do, but I laughed for the next 30secs. You can call me psycho/stupid/imbecile etc for doing this, but how often do these comical situations happen to someone. So the first thought in my mind was what would i do if this had happened to any of my friend. So i had a hearty 30 sec laugh but still i had to address this impending doom. At first i thought i will splash the other side of my jean also and really make it look like a splash. But i wasnt sure about my skill set in this. I didnt want to make it worse. So i tucked out my shirt and put on a small hunch so as to make the shirt long enough to cover this disaster. But i can tell you it hardly covered it and i couldnt come up with any other idea then. I didnt have a choice so I ensured that i walked right behind my friend with a hunch and survived my way back to my work desk, though he was really puzzled on why i didnt walk alongside him. Well who cares about him ... My single question is What are the odds for such a thing to happen?

The Australian Pair

Bowling has always been an art only few have mastered over the years in Cricket. The windies Lloyd era bowlers are a different genre altogether. They not only bowled to the batsmen, they also terrorized, intimidated, dominated them. In the current era where everything in cricket is favoring the batsmen, good bowlers are a rare species to find. I think I can consciously leave Pakistani bowlers out of this, i will never understand how they manufacture/produce/create good bowlers at will. But Australians should consider themselves lucky to have got 2 such species to play for them. Warne and McGrath OFCOURSE!

Warne is one of the geniuses cricket has ever produced. He reinvented the art of leg spin. The control, the guile and the variety he got into his leg spin is simply amazing. He made people wonder "Can a cricket ball do so many things?". Every ball he bowls is pure entertainment for the viewer, Wicket Keeper and OFCOURSE the batsman! Can someone ever forget the ball bowled to Gibbs in the WC' 99 Semifinals? How many times have we got up early in the morning in India just to watch this bowler weave his magic around the batsmen. It is so mesmerizing that you want this guy to keep bowling over after over. The Drift he produced in the ball kept asking questions at the batsmen. More than everything he had control over the spinning ball when bowling a leg spin! What more can you ask? Test cricket will miss his magic and the "Bowling Shane" shout from Adam Gilchrist.

Patience pays. McGrath couldnt have exemplified this term more. The pinpoint accuracy and the consistency, every cricket bowlers crave for came natural to him. The bounce and seam movement he achieved with cricket ball was amazing. May be Lara or Atherton can tell more on this. This man could make the most technically brilliant batsman doubt his footwork and shot selection. The probing length and the most awkward line in an around off-stump undid most batsmen. Australia will surely miss the services of this Accurate fast bowling machine.

Test cricket will never be the same without these great performers. The next time Australia takes field without these stalwarts, I am sure to miss McGrath and Warne. Watching bowling has never been so interesting when these two bowl in tandem. May be these retirements are the only solace for England in this Ashes Whitewash. I still believe 2005 Ashes is a one time BLIP in cricket history and we read too much into that.

Apple Computers Inc .. Oh Ok OK ... Apple Inc

Apple has dropped the "Computers" term from its name. They dont want even their name to restrict them to one particular segment. Fair enough as the innovation mela at Apple continues. They have taken the sole responsibility to produce cool and trendy gadgets I believe. In 2001 we had the chance to witness the iPod redefine or rejuvenate, as i may put, the entire "Music Listening" experience. There were Mp3 players before iPod but none of them captured the market as this one did. It was a different feel altogether with the click wheel.Now in 2007 they have come up with this 'iPhone'(the name till now). I was totally impressed by the looks of the phone. I also got to see videos where Steve Jobs demo-ed its working. That is one fine piece of gadget I would like to own. In my opinion it defines the term "cool". When Apple, Google and Yahoo join forces I want Microsoft to give a run for their money with a 'Zune 360' or a 'Zune 2008' :-), hope they have something spectacular up their sleeve to impress us. I am ready to wait.

Count me IN

Finally i have also set foot into this vast BLOG community. I just required a small push from one of my friends. I don't know whether he really meant it, but as usual i took his inadvertent remark seriously.
This simple concept of expressing your thoughts without considering what others might think about the same thing, really impresses me. It is like shouting out loud in a group meeting, "I don't give a Damn about what you guys think. But I think ...". With an increasing number of people starting to blog, i think we are not far off from this becoming one amongst SSN(I have got to show off i live in America, ofcourse),Ration Card, Voters identity, PAN etc etc. Not long before you are denied a VISA/I-94 because you don't have a Blog, so all the BLOG-LESS, do create one fast, i cant be more hypocritical! Just a precedent to what is gonna follow in the coming days.