A lovely story

From Simple Truths...Enjoy it...

Labels: feelings

Keep in touch with those who care for you...

Celebration means...

Four friends. raining outside. Four glasses of Tea.


Celebration means...

Hundred bucks of petrol. A rusty old bike. And an open road.


Celebration means...
A hostel Tea. A hostel room. 12 a.m.

Celebration means...

3 old friends. 3 separate cities. 3 coffee mugs. 1 internet messenger.

Celebration means...
Rain on a hot tin roof. Pakodas deep-frying. Neighbours dropping in. A party.

Celebration means...
You and mom. A summer night. A bottle of coconut oil. A head massage.

You can spend
Hundreds on birthdays,
Thousands on festivals,
Hundreds of Thousands on weddings,
But to celebrate
All you have to do is spend your Time with your loved ones.

Labels: feelings

In my dreams

I had stayed up late to finish a book and watch cricket (until 2.30am). In my dream I met my grandmother and we walked around the countryside. It was the festival of lights and early evening time (if not late afternoon). The sky was cloudy but looked superb and I saw many people from various stages of my life around us. She asked me to get my camera and take shots of the lovely sky. I was being lazy...until she really pushed me. That's when I opened my eyes. 5.45am. I looked out of the window beside my bed. I was stunned. The sleep disappeared and I started taking a few shots without even getting up to steady the camera. That's when my conscience kicked my behind and asked me to get serious. I went to the balcony and shot a few more. I downloaded all to my PC and then went back to sleep...My grandmother appeared in my dreams after a few months...I wonder where she has been lately...but I am happy to see her again and what a special morning she shared with me! :-)
To read the reaction of my fellow photobloggers, click here.

Labels: dreams, feelings, hong kong, photoblog, Photography

A Sunday Well Spent and Some Super Sad News

It was a sunday morning when I headed down to a hospital for some charity work. It was not going to be a difficult project. Just go through a few wards and take pics. However, I found that one of my colleagues was going to use his hifi camera and flash. So I decided to not to use mine. The wards we did rounds were occupied by children suffering from cancer. The youngest of them was 6 months old baby and it was so happy to see us from behind the protection of 2 glass doors. It waved at us and we waved back. We could not go close to her because she ran the risk of contracting infections while she waited for her first bone marrow donor.
We also found a baby girl who has nobody in the entire world to call her own...it was so touching when I found that one of our colleagues had offered to do something for the baby if needed. I wish I could adopt it but HK laws will not allow me to do so. I had a good chat with another colleague and it looks promising - my joining the APR Philanthropy committee. Great!
The sad news of Amitav's father was delivered by Crow. It had happened on 8 April 2007 while he was still in transit trying his best to reach home before the worst happened. And as usual time played the villain while he was stuck midway...I called him and had a short chat. I wish I could be with him to comfort him at this unfortunate time. My prayers are for him and his family.
I have received the CDs from mom carrying my brother's marriage videos and photos...so watch this space for some of that stuff.
GL complained that I have not been writing my blog as frequently. That's true. I am busy with other stuff. I have finally got a plot for my first book...at least a vague idea about what it is going to be. Thank God!! But this is just the beginning.
I will write the book and movie reviews sometime soon. Probably this weekend if I don't go hiking...

Labels: charity work, feelings, friends

Minnows don't Meow - Why India needs to be kicked out @ prelims stage

Whoever called for the "minnows" to be excluded from the cricket world cup must be wetting his bed at night. The Bangladesh team have shown that they are not a minnow that meows but a Tiger that roars. Ireland has proven a point as well.

I am a die-hard cricket fan and a blind supporter of the Indian cricket team since the day I held my first plastic bat as a 3 year old.
My love for cricket has grown beyond my blind patriotic feelings for my national team. But after watching the game last night where Bangladesh beat India, I strongly feel that India will not progress beyond the prelims stage. And for the sake of the game, I wish they don't. Because only then we can have a deserving team from group B. The young, the inexperienced and the so called minnows.

These feelings are not negative, they are justified from watching what has been going on with Indian cricket for the past few months.

~ Take captaincy away from Dravid because:

Sehwag
The blind backing up of a terribly out of form Sehwag is a shame. How can someone sacrifice the chances of the country for personal liking? Sehwag may have a great past but his present form is too poor to carry him around with the national team when there are far too many deserving players knocking at the door. That Vengsarkar has openly accepted Dravid's hand in Sehwag's selection makes Dravid responsible for the entire affair. The focus is no longer on Sehwag, it is on Dravid. From now on, every time Sehwag plays, Dravid’s neck is on the line. What could have been done? Simple really! Just ask him to play lower down the order!!! Not open the batting!! His early fall puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team!! Can Dravid not see that?!!!
And if someone, who is out of their mind, argue that Sehwag can also serve as bowler may as well go and talk to Ramesh Powar about it.

Toss
Rule no.1 in any form of Cricket. When unsure (especially in this case, since it was a newer pitch), one should always put the opposition in to bat. Dravid’s reason for winning the toss and electing to bat was not only shocking but also stupid.

"I don't know if we can regret it," he said. "We could have just batted a lot better. The ball did seam around a lot more and for a bit longer than we had expected. The wicket had a pretty dry look about it."

It is quite clear that he underestimated Bangladesh and that he wanted to give “batting practice” to Sehwag at the top of the order.

Fielding
If Dravid is captain, he should lead by example. The catch he dropped did not really require him to fly like Jonty. It looked like a regulation catch. From the way Dravid moved around on the field, it was quite evident that he is not fit to play on the nation team. It was quite a sight to see Ganguly diving around even though he has always been declared as a terrible fielder. When Dada can do it, why not Dravid? Or does it mean that captain’s don’t dive?

Body Language
When you are the captain of a national team, and you are in a tight spot at least make an effort to show that you are thinking positive (even though you may not)!! You can just cheer loudly, pat each other; walk with your shoulders and head held high!! The picture of a defeated leader is not a good example. It affects everybody else in the team.
There was no aggression at all. Forget aggression, where is assertiveness?

Field Placements
There were gaps everywhere. It was shocking to see huge gaps in the milking area of most batsmen. When you see a batsman is hitting consistently around an area and through the gaps, you should be wise enough to revise the placements. It is a reactive approach and it does work especially when you have not done your homework on the opposition.

Batting
To say that the spinners were really turning the ball would be the best joke in the world. The ball was simply not turning! And the balls were being bowled at schoolboy speeds. And yet the wall crumbled! Dravid should go back to domestic cricket and spend enough time with Powar and others to learn how to play spin.

Yes, Mr.Dravid, you can go ahead and blame the entire world for not having played enough cricket at a high level to criticize you or your team.

:-P

Others? Yes, quite a few actually.
Fielding ~ Horribly lethargic.
Catching ~ Ordinary
Bowling ~ Brainless.

That the bowlers did their best is beyond doubt. However, I want to know what Guru Greg has actually told the fast bowlers to do, when the batsmen start advancing down the pitch.
Batsmen give the charge, because they want to dominate. They give the charge because they want to play the ball as a full toss. They give the charge because they want to give themselves more width to hit. They give the charge because they want to dominate.
What should the bowler do in this situation? The most favoured action is to bang the ball in short. So that it reduces the length and bounces the ball steeply at the batsman. What to you do when this fails? In other words, what happens when the batsman knows what you are going to do? What do you do when he cleverly and brutally dispatches the ball out of the field? Think. I wonder how these bowlers got selected to play at international level if they don’t know the answer to that.
You try different options!! Rule no.1 – Do not repeat.
What do you do if the batsman is giving you the charge?
~ YORK HIM, FOR GOD’S SAKE. YORK HIM!
~ BOWL AT HIS BODY. GIVE HIM NO ROOM.
~ BOWL A BEAMER AT HIM. PUT THE FEAR OF GOD IN HIM.
I have not played cricket at a very high level. But I know these things. And you are playing at international level. Where is your brain?!

TOO MUCH HOPE
There is just too much of hope around these days. People still expect India to win the next two games and at a better run rate than Bangladesh. They hope to see India in Super 8’s.

Yeah, with this kind of team, captain and show - HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Well, at least it takes the pressure off me. From now I can watch the game as a lover does. For indeed it is a once in 4 years tournament with its own charm. And I want to put the HK$2016 to good use without having to fold my hands and pray with my heart in my mouth for every game that India plays…You have lost one fan in this world cup.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket World Cup 2007, feelings

www.whereismylife.com/getitallbackontrackagain

After a stressful surprise 2 day training, we headed for an evening at NEWAY CEO. There were some new faces with us this time. I think I was going back there after a few months! With hardly any time to practise, I picked some Mandarin songs...mostly Lee Hom, some David Tao and one Eason Chan. Although AC made a few videos of my singing, I sincerely hope and honestly pray that they do not make it to the youtube!! At least not without proper editing...by me!!
I met SL, DL and GL after so many months!! It was so great just seeing them that I didn't even feel like singing until 1 hour was over!
The food looked quite deadly to me...I was afraid I would fall sick like everytime I go there...so I kept myself restricted to fruits and hot honey-lemon drinks only. I was so hungry after we finished that I bought some 小笼包 from 7 Eleven.
After the evening was over and we were waiting to go back home...I asked GL about his mom's health. I was shocked to know that she passed away last September. The awkwardness of the mis-timed question was nothing in comparision to the pain I felt at that moment and even now. I actually have tears in my eyes while writing this. So many times I have been over to there place and she had taken care of me...I consider GL as a very good friend right from 2002 when we shared the same office corner. I am sure he feels the same about me. But I was not there beside him when such a big tragedy struck his family. It was during the ITS project time when I was flying up and down to Sydney for work. I just let my life take the backseat and work drive! I left the people who are important to me to drift beyond the small sphere that I live in now...thanks to all the work and the busy stuff related to it. This is not the life I want. This is so wrong. GL is a strong guy and I am too. I will pick up from here and drive. I will not let work override my personal life. Work is like a rubber ball, it will bounce back...personal life is like glass, it will shatter into pieces if you let it fall too many times...sounds like cliche but is very true...I miss those days when I could stay over at GL's place the night before we hiked like crazy...watch football with his friends...go hiking...playstation games that I always lost...mangoes...his Indian neighbour with a mixed baby...his ancient PC...elephant leg photographs...his fish tank with the huge yellow fishes that were so intelligent...I just want to say one thing to him. I am sorry, G. I am really sorry and I won't let this happen again.
Oh God, I miss my life so much!
It's close to V-Day and CNY. I am going to attend a 3-hour photography course tomorrow night. I am looking forward to it. I hope there are few students so that we can interact more in the given time. :-) Then on Tuesday, I need to sneak out to buy many bunches of roses...different colours...I want to deck my home with roses. hehehe. It's Nicole's bday on Thursday. I met their family yesterday when we went out looking for the balcony door in Tsuen Wan. She has done well in her recent exams. CNY CNY CNY...all the red packets are ready...well, almost...Still need find some time to buy clothes for Ah-bit and his Grandmom. And my fridge is empty...Got to go out and get food...
We were planning to go to Singapore but postponed it...may be in July...in my birth month...:-))
Hmm...This is going to be a very busy week...I better tie up my shoelaces...
By the way...Blogger has done a great job by adding the Labels feature!!

Labels: CNY, feelings, karaoke