My Love for Hyderabad

My Love for Hyderabad is further supported by the fact that I am putting all my money on Deccan Chargers for the IPL season-2 !!
I find DC, the most balanced team of this season. They have the likes of Gilchrist and Gibbs as opener, followed by Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma!! They have tournament best bowler RP Singh and Fidel Edwards along with magic spin of Pragyan Ojha.
Now the bad news, Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Smith will leave for their country after couple of matches. But no need to worry, Edwards would be replaced by Vaas or Bilakhia (young, tall fast bowler) and Dwayne Smith will be replaced by Andrew Symonds!!
Boy !!! That's one amazing squad...

My Love for my City: Indore

Adding to my previous blog on Indore, here I bring something more about Indore from my
memory:
Famous Personalities from Indore:

• Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore
• Great Singer & Actor Kishor Kumar was a student of Christian College Indore
• Famous comedian Jhonny Walker & handsome Salman Khan belong to Indore
• Rahul Dravid, C.K. Naidu & Mustaq Ali, the cricket legend of India also belong to Indore
• M.F.Hussain and N.S.Bendre famous painters spent some years in Indore
• Narendra Hirwani highest wicket taker in single test belongs to Indore

Indore at its best

• First City in INDIA to have IIM and IIT
• The famous Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM was started first in Indore, then spread to other cities of India.
• Indore is nicknamed as Mini Bombay because of similar lifestyles.
• First private telephone operator Bharati had entered in INDIA from INDORE only.
• 40 feet high idol at Bada Ganapati is the largest idol of Lord Ganesh in the world.
• Until the early 1990s, Bollywood movies were released on Thursdays in Indore and released elsewhere on Fridays.
• The gates of Lalbagh Palace, Indore, are a replica of the gates of Buckingham Palace in London. They were cast in England and then shipped to Indore.

Allah Rakkha...

It was another amazing journey for me. Late in the evening, after dinner I was in a normal Indian bus, going from Miraj to Mumbai. Incidentally this time we were boarding a non-AC bus, so after a long time I was going to feel the wind around. Though at the time of boarding I was worrying about heat, sound and dust. Like a normal routine it took so many stops before reaching highway. Everytime it stops there were no cribs at all as if everyone is comfortable with these routine stops. The passengers were enthrilled when the conductor Chhotu (I always wonder why a bus conductor is always a small boy named chhotu !!) put on the video player and the action packed movie Jung.
I was forced to take on an only simple MP3 player I have with limited number of songs in it. Slid one window to get more wind inside. Till this time I was being protective of not opening the window to get exhausted of dust etc. I pushed back my sit little bit, as much as it was possible! And then what happened would remain in my feelings forever.
Imagine a journey, only a moonlight with a continous refreshing cool wind. The wind moving the curtain of the bus haphazardly. It bounces my hair as it pass. Passing trees, farms, villages, vehicles outside the window and with all this magician Allah Rakha Rahman!!
Since my MP3 player was a normal one (am not very fond of gadgets) there were very few songs which I selected some days back. And to my surprise all were composed by this great musician!! My playlist had songs from
Jodha Akbar: Inhi lamhon ke daaman mein..., khwaja mere khwaja..., azeem-o-shaan shehenshaah...
Dilli-6: Rehna tu...
Guru: Ae Hairath-e-Ahiqui...and many more
After a long time I got time for music. I love this and thanks to the maestro A.R. Rahman. I believe he got the Oscar for all his work over the years but got 'international' recognition through slumdog.
A.R. Rahman - Jai Ho !!!!

A New Law

A new law is passed by which any Press Conference, Public meetings, Rallies would be considered holi! All the attendees have to keep their shoes out before entering the holi place. Sources close suggests this is to prevent current incidences when attendees are found showing shoes, sometimes throwing them to the dias.
Critics suggests that attendees should also be asked to tie their mouth with handkerchief or rope. Clearly harm is caused not only by shoes but by words as well.
I wonder in this fashion our parliaments should be totally frisked, even the furniture, carpet and mikes should be removed. It would look like old open-outcry exchanges!!

Recess

Tan tan tan tan…
That was the most awaited sound for eighty impatient ears sitting in the class. In our school “tiffin-break” was from 1055-1115. And the desperation starts little before 1030. Each minute felt like an hour. One can easily notice repeated turning of wrist to get a glimpse at time. There were few living faces sitting in the front row, which have no option but to listen to the figure teaching them. For rest, it is like a battlefield against time! Nothing left to do as the tiffin is already empty! It is a real fun to hide and sneak-in a bite when teacher turns back to the blackboard. And it is important to finish our lunch during the classes because we don’t want to waste our “Recess” time in eating at least!
Finally the battle ends, actually it’s a battle in which obviously everyday we win in the end! Only excitement is the toughness of it. As soon the bell hits tan tan tan no one waits for the final words of the guru. Ground gets flooded by all size. Within seconds the entire view of the school ground changes, the canteen boys doing their best to handle the peak hour of the business, seniors playing Football, Volley or Basket ball and juniors curiously watching and cheering each and every stunt. There are many small groups mocking teachers, teasing each other. All in all these 20 minutes were full of laughter and fun. The most refreshing time of the day!!
Over the years things changed and changed a lot! What we called Recess shrunk to small “break” in college. Sometimes we enjoyed a “free hour” between lectures to have a coffee or maggi or a smoke may be!
And now the time of Recess is totally lost from our lives. Only time out we take is for lunch, coffee or snacks. But it is lacking the fun and excitement. It is just a routine to follow. To really enjoy a “Recess Break” we have to “plan” beforehand.
It is more difficult to bring friends together from different places for a Recess. Moreover, recess can be linked to Recession more than what it really means.
I still want to hear the sound… tan tan tan tan when all my friends rush out of their offices!! Even though for small time but it would be most cherishing for all of us!!

Salute

This is my salute to bravery. Accolade for Fighting Spirit and Appraisal for Patience!!
When I read this amazingly written blog of my friend "Untitled", I really appreciated him from the bottom of my heart. He hit his low when he was about to hit his highest. He struggled, faught and finally is again on the verge of hitting his new high. I wish him all the best and lots of Good Wishes for his future !!!!
Here is the blog link again: http://aagarwal8.blogspot.com/2009/04/untitled.html

HomeLogue

What do you call a blog that writes about a travel experience: Travelogue, so what should we call a blog that writes one's home experience.....

Indore, I will introduce as a 'cute funny city'. People find fun in anything and everything here. My observation for Indorites over the years is that we Indorites are keen on making relations. 

If you are travelling alone in Indore train: The Avantika Express, definitely someone will start conversation and your whole journey will pass talking and eating! 

If you are first timer to a food joint, there would be plenty of people around to suggest you what to eat and what not to. And giving suggestions is what we are good, rather best at :-) An Indorite can give you suggestion on anything as remote as possible !! 

Hair cutting in Indore is not a short thing. First you have to wait for 15-20 minutes at least. And during this time you will get to hear a never ending debate (topics may vary) of free people around. While you are sitting at the hot seat you will get to know every information, from local MLA, water scarcity to the level of Osama's hiding! Election time is main season for Barbers, Panwaalas and Chaaiwaalas. 

Now I will tell you a normal schedule of an Indorite. Wake up in the morning normally between 7 to 8AM. Breakfast would be light : Poha and Jalebi !! Then Tea-Biscuit before lunch. Normal Lunch followed by snacks in the evening. That would be Samosa-Kachori at least. 

Indore is heaven for Food Lovers. The list is endless but some of which I relish are:

Sarafa (Food Chaupati): Chhole Tikiya, Hot Dog, Garadu, Gulab Jamun, Rabdi, Pattis, Sabudana Khichdi, Makhkhan Bada, Shikanji, Kulfi .. .. ..   ..  ..  .....

(Now there are similar chuapattis in many places in Indore) 

Guru Kripa Restaraunt: GuruKripa is a Restaraunt in the heart of Indore. It shows that Indore's heart is very close to its stomach. Its a place with amazing veg food and your bill will never cross Rs. 30-40 per head, without compromising ambience. So thats heaven for every class!! 

56 Market: Another Food joint!! 

and believe me this list is never ending...

Indore city has well specified markets for all needs. We have cloth market, Bartan bazaar - names suggesting their utilities, khajuri bazaar for books, sarafa for jewellary, Marothia for daily needs. 

Their is so much happening in Indore recently. So many malls coming up now. Roads are improving. Construction everywhere! In my recent visit I saw, every other road is blocked for work. But we Indorites never crib. We never make big issues for anything. We dont panick when there is water scarcity, we dont fight when Avantika Express halts for an hour just on the outskirts of Indore! We dont care when our sitting MP for 25 years now is never given an important portfolio in cabinet. We are happy in our life... Eat and Have Fun !!! 

IPL in SA

Remember my earlier article on IPL fighters!! 

That same IPL is now NRIPL (Non Resident Indian Premier League). So that leaves Kapil Dev's ICL only Residing Indian Cricket  League. Now the biggest irony is IPL is moving out of India because of security issues during elections and it is moving to a place where elections are exactly co-inciding with the IPL schedule. Yes, SA is helding its general elections in April, 2009. Check here. Agreed that elections in India is much much bigger issue, being the worlds largest democracy! But still for that we have more security personnel, much much bigger force. Seems like this was one more reason for chosing SA :-) 

Formula-1 (Introduction)

Over the span of couple of years I have added many of my friends to the fan-list of world's most thrilling, exciting and fastest sport: Formula-1. Now I want to add more to the sport I love the most (being an Indian it’s a surprise that I like F-1 more than Cricket!) I came across so many friends who like to watch race but because of unaware of rules and pattern one tends to loose interest. I would take you to a ride of F-1 starting from basics to more technicalities and to some amazing facts to develop more interest.

2009 championship:  

• There will be 17 races in this season; first race race is on 29th March at Australia. 
• There are 10 teams; each team puts 2 drivers for the race.
• Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Toyota, Toro Rosso, Renault, Red Bull, Brawn, BMW Sauber, Force India are the teams. 
• A Race weekend includes 2 practice sessions on Friday, One practice session on Saturday and a Qualifying round. Race takes place on Sunday.
• Practice sessions is for the driver to get accustomed to the circuit, conditions, try their tyres etc.

Qualifying takes place in 3 phases: Q1,Q2 and Q3.

•  In the first qualifying session all cars run in the allocated time of normally 15-20 minutes. Best 16 cars qualify for the second qualifying whereas rest of the cars start from the grid at last (in order of the time they clocked in first qualifying) 
•  In the second qualifying 16 cars run trying to come in top 10 to qualify for Q2. Last 6 cars are placed according to their times. 
• In the last qualifying session final grid for the race is decided. Driver who gets best time starts from the front or what is called pole position.
• Cars cant refuel after the qualifying till the race. This is an important strategy point for the teams to fuel their car accordingly. If they fuel light and get pole position then they have a trade off as they have to pit early for filling fuel early in the race. 

Raceday

• Cars start from their position. 
• They have to take a pit stop to fill fuel and change tyres. 
• Winner gets 10 points and then the order is 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point for the eighth position. 
• At the end of season, i.e. after all 17 races are completed, Champion is decided on the basis of maximum points.

Plan ahead...

We(me and my wife Dhanashree)have started our photo blog:
http://dhanashreepuneet.blogspot.com/
We'll daily present few pictures taken by us.

This week would be Formula-1 special with the season's first race just a week away. I will try and explain the game for the beginners, thrills involved and rules for those who want to know about the game.

After that a week long holiday. Will update on that amazing break very soon.