It is not very often in ones lifetime, that you get elevated from one generation to the next. Unlike the grand families of yore, when it was "normal" for parents to have a multitude of children ranging from 30 to 2 running around them, todays scenario sees a far lesser number of cousins/siblings and by extension, a lesser number of nephews/nieces.
I must admit I'm not ready for a change in Generation. I'm too busy still growing up, silly for a person who'll touch 23 this December. I still find myself making some spectacular bloopers( such as calling women 3-4 years older than me "Aunty" ), and a few lesser ones( calling their husbands "Uncle" ). Having lived a highly sheltered existence, it is a rather refreshing yet strange experience watching the changes in my immediate family - my little cousins all growing up( they're bigger than me now. I wonder when the retribution will begin for all my, ahem, lessons in discipline ), the ones older than me are getting married, and most significantly, one of them just gave birth to a handsome, strapping young lad. And just to rub in the significance of the event, she sent me a snap of when we were little.
I'm going to have to get used to walking on the streets and getting called "Uncle" by the little kids. It's funny though, how my peers/elders believe I'm still childish, and how the youngsters in my family believe I'm all grown up. In languages like Hindi or Malayalam, there happen to be words that describe the age I'm in perfectly, say Bhaiyya or Chetta. Funnily enough, English doesn't seem to have an appropriate equivalent.
Enough about the old geezer, this is a tribute to Akshay Menon Pullat, the boy who pushed me up a generation.
The Proud Parents:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/7186/pict0176wq8.jpg
The Proud Uncle:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4171/pict0101aj5.jpg
The Proud Uncles: One had a bloody fever
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8241/akshaynikkimepz9.jpg
The Mother and Me:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/9411/dhanyamesmallwa9.jpg
Personal_
Monday 26 November, 2007
Monday 30 July, 2007
Can I sing?
After Adis( http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=2377501227096695570 ) highly flattering and cheeky testimonial on Orkut, I've been getting a few queries on the lines of "You sing??!!??". Well... I decided it was time to let the interested ones figure out for themselves where I lie on the scale between a Crow and a Cuckoo.
Disclaimer: Coldplay fans. Please do not lynch me. I love them too.
As part of the campus to corporate program in our Office( McAfee for those who don't know ), we were asked to come up with a "Song" summarizing what we'd learnt. Well, this is what I had to say. Please note that this footage is around 8 months old... you'll notice my hand is still intact.
Compositions_
Disclaimer: Coldplay fans. Please do not lynch me. I love them too.
As part of the campus to corporate program in our Office( McAfee for those who don't know ), we were asked to come up with a "Song" summarizing what we'd learnt. Well, this is what I had to say. Please note that this footage is around 8 months old... you'll notice my hand is still intact.
Compositions_
Friday 13 July, 2007
My Online E-Snips Playlist
E-Snips continues to amaze me... what a site :) !
Here's my playlist from the site. Try it out on your own blogs... this post is mostly for my own benefit though.
Fun Stuff_
Here's my playlist from the site. Try it out on your own blogs... this post is mostly for my own benefit though.
| Powered by eSnips.com |
Fun Stuff_
Wednesday 11 July, 2007
Pullart - Franco ( Initiation )
The second worthwhile bit of music to come out of the Pullart music factory. Once again, my thanks to esnips and Dance Ejay 7 for making this possible.
Song: Franco
Artist: Pullart
Album: Initiation
Year: 2007
Compositions_
Song: Franco
Artist: Pullart
Album: Initiation
Year: 2007
| Franco.mp3 |
Compositions_
Pullart - Boy Oh Boy ( Initiation )
This is the first bit of music from my "album" called Initiation. Thank you esnips, for hosting the file, and Dance Ejay 7, for helping me come up with some decent music. Enjoy the music, and praise is welcome.
Song: Boy Oh Boy
Artist: Pullart
Album: Initiation
Year: 2006
Compositions_
Song: Boy Oh Boy
Artist: Pullart
Album: Initiation
Year: 2006
| Boy Oh Boy.mp3 |
Compositions_
Tuesday 10 July, 2007
ATB - 9pm (Till I Come) - Ministry of Sound Trance Nation 31 mix
I first came across this beautiful DJ beat in a football game called "Premier League Stars 99". This is the remix of a Dance track that rocked the UK in the latter half of the 90's. Be patient, the best section is in the middle.
And by the way, in case you would like to Upload your creations, esnips looks very promising. I'll get some of my own compositions up there soon.
Fun Stuff_, Gaming_
And by the way, in case you would like to Upload your creations, esnips looks very promising. I'll get some of my own compositions up there soon.
| ATB - 9pm (Till I ... |
Fun Stuff_, Gaming_
Saturday 30 June, 2007
Configuring Bittorrent on the BSNL DSL Broadband Router
After finally getting broadband connectivity at home, I spent a couple of days configuring my router to get maximum efficiency for the bittorrent technology. I won't go into much detail as to how I much trial and error was involved in this... we'll go straight to the solution. There are hundreds of tutorials out there on port forwarding, this post will just give info on how to do port forwarding on the router mentioned below.
Connection: BSNL Home UL 900 ADSL2+
Router: Starcom UT300R2U
1) Get your hands on a bittorrent client. I'll explain the next few steps using the uTorrent client.
2) Decide on a non-default port for your client. ISP's are attempting to strangle normal torrent ports, so using a non-default one will help. We'll refer to this number as PORT.
3) Access the router by typing in "192.168.1.1" on your browser. Enter "admin" and "admin" as your default credentials. If your password is non-default, you already know the device well, so I needn't explain what to do.
4) Ensure your PC has a static IP address. You can get its value using the ipconfig command on the Windows console. Let us assume it is 192.168.1.100 for now.
5) Go to the "NAT" option under "Advanced setup", type this IP into the text field, and click on save/apply.
6) Follow the path Advanced Setup->Security->IP Filtering->Incoming. Click on Add. Once the new page loads, follow the following instructions for each field:
Filter Name: uTorrent (or any other name - does not matter)
Protocol: Select "TCP/UDP" from the drop down menu.
Source IP Address: Leave blank
Source Subnet mask: Leave Blank
Source Port: Leave Blank
Destination IP Address: Enter the same IP here as you did in step 5.
Destination Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.255
Destination Port: Enter the PORT value here from step 2.
Click on save/apply and you're good to go.
Now configure the torrent client according to the tutorials for the same, and you'll have finished setting up the device.
Note: Save your router settings before and after you do this setup in two different files. Also, my device goes back to default settings when switched off and on again. You can use these backup files to restore it to a functional state.
Hope this was of help.
Bits, Bytes and Nibbles_
Connection: BSNL Home UL 900 ADSL2+
Router: Starcom UT300R2U
1) Get your hands on a bittorrent client. I'll explain the next few steps using the uTorrent client.
2) Decide on a non-default port for your client. ISP's are attempting to strangle normal torrent ports, so using a non-default one will help. We'll refer to this number as PORT.
3) Access the router by typing in "192.168.1.1" on your browser. Enter "admin" and "admin" as your default credentials. If your password is non-default, you already know the device well, so I needn't explain what to do.
4) Ensure your PC has a static IP address. You can get its value using the ipconfig command on the Windows console. Let us assume it is 192.168.1.100 for now.
5) Go to the "NAT" option under "Advanced setup", type this IP into the text field, and click on save/apply.
6) Follow the path Advanced Setup->Security->IP Filtering->Incoming. Click on Add. Once the new page loads, follow the following instructions for each field:
Filter Name: uTorrent (or any other name - does not matter)
Protocol: Select "TCP/UDP" from the drop down menu.
Source IP Address: Leave blank
Source Subnet mask: Leave Blank
Source Port: Leave Blank
Destination IP Address: Enter the same IP here as you did in step 5.
Destination Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.255
Destination Port: Enter the PORT value here from step 2.
Click on save/apply and you're good to go.
Now configure the torrent client according to the tutorials for the same, and you'll have finished setting up the device.
Note: Save your router settings before and after you do this setup in two different files. Also, my device goes back to default settings when switched off and on again. You can use these backup files to restore it to a functional state.
Hope this was of help.
Bits, Bytes and Nibbles_
Thursday 28 June, 2007
Superb Game Trailers: Hellgate - London
This game isn't out yet, but these trailers have been setting gamer curiosity alight across the globe. This is not exactly for the faint hearted. If you do not like animated blood and gore, don't press the play button.
Gaming_
Gaming_
Superb Game Trailers: Gears of War
This wasn't for the PC, but the trailer is worth mentioning. Superb background song - familiar to the fans of the movie Donnie Darko.
Gaming_
Gaming_
Superb Game Trailers: Warhammer - Mark of Chaos
As the topic claims, this game has some extremely atmospheric trailers. Youtube may not give full credit to their quality (pixels), but it sure as hell is the quickest source :) .
Gaming_
Gaming_
Monday 25 June, 2007
DIRT - The PC Rally Game
Here are the trailers for dirt, the recently released rally racing game.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
I'm trying to get my hands on this beauty. Hope my system can run this thing.
Gaming_
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
I'm trying to get my hands on this beauty. Hope my system can run this thing.
Gaming_
Wednesday 20 June, 2007
Accident Update - Phase III ( 26th March to 20th June 2007 )
Phase III : The Groin Flap Surgery
This particular phase (May 5th to June 15th) was, to put it simply, the most difficult phase I’ve had to go through in my entire life, and this includes the period immediately after the accident. The surgery was scheduled in early May, which meant it had been nearly three months since the accident, and the bravado and backs against the wall attitude I had managed to adopt was rapidly beginning to lose steam.
My skin graft was gradually beginning to take hold and the Physiotherapy was also improving the general state of my hand, even though progress could only be discerned after weeks of treatment. With a settled schedule to life, I was beginning to enter into a phase that can only be described as “Comfortably Numb”. The thin skin around my thumb stub though was continually breaking up, and this forced the doctor’s hand. He asked me to get admitted on the 4th of May, and I had to head to hospital for a surgery I wasn’t mentally prepared for.
A summary of the Groin Flap surgery is as follows; the thumb (in my case) is “plugged” into abdominal skin tissue. In other words, the doctors spent almost 6 hours making my thumb a part of the abdominal section of the body. This in effect meant that I wouldn’t be able to move an inch for 5 days or so, and that for an additional 16 days, the hand would remain fixed to my body.
It would be an understatement to mention that, in this state, I was counting the minutes going by. This would change eventually to hours, but it was like living life in slow motion. I cannot mention in words how indebted I am to my parents during this phase, when every simple action I did or had to do needed their active participation. I used to call them three times every night for some reason or the other, and without their patience and support during this phase, I would never have made it through. My memories of this period are beginning to fade, so I’m putting this down in words to remind myself never to forget what they’ve been through.
The toughest night during this Ordeal was the fifth night, when out of sheer desperation due to the heat and humidity, I asked my mother to use some powder on my back. A few seconds later, this powder, and a medicine I was having, combined to give me the worst attack of wheezing I’ve had in my life. Some emergency treatment by the nurse ensured I was able to breathe again after a few minutes, but my body swelled up to some pretty astonishing levels. This would completely leave me only after a week or so. I’ve been petrified of powder since. The coughing during the night also served to worsen the state of the wound round my abdomen.
Day 7 after the surgery saw the doctor coming into the room at 8 AM, and asking me to sit up and take a few steps. Only someone who’s been forced to lie motionless for a week can understand the extent of giddiness and tiredness that assailed me. But the sense of exhilaration at the change in status ensured the worst was behind me. After another five days of Hospital stay and physiotherapy (for walking), the doctor gave me the green signal to come home for a few days.
My time at home was largely uneventful except for the fact that I had to come and return by ambulance, and that my dressings were messy affairs conducted at home. My father had a weakness towards blood – he used to feel faint whenever he saw any. This surgery completely eliminated that particular weakness of his. Nearly five pillows adorned my bed, and I found myself regularly waking up at 6 in the morning, mostly because of a stiff back. After around two weeks after the surgery, I was able to sit up on an elevated seat (Television!) and a few days later, I could sit in front of the computer, an achievement that ensured the remaining days sped by.
The final two procedures of this phase meant I was admitted on the 29th of May and had surgeries on the 30th and the 2nd. My awkward position for the whole of May meant I had an extremely stiff right arm – something which still hasn’t let go completely. The surgery though was a success, and I have a rather weird looking bulbous enclosure over my thumb. This should become a little less weird over a period of three months. I have a huge scar near my abdomen, and this is unlikely to heal any time soon. Sigh, all this for one thirds of a thumb.
To conclude, I’ve begun to return to my older schedule of Physiotherapy and dressing every alternate day. The hand has very minimal dressing and anyone who comes around to meet me gets to see more or less the entire result of five months of treatment. It isn’t pretty but it looks a hell of a lot better than it did on the 1st of February. Also, I’m looking to get back to work at McAfee on the 2nd of July. It’s time to see whether my brain can compensate for the lack of one hand and whether I can contribute something meaningful immediately after a rusting period of five months. The next surgery is not scheduled for the near future, and after 9 visits to the Operating Theatre in a little over four months, I’m not too sorry about that.
Personal_
This particular phase (May 5th to June 15th) was, to put it simply, the most difficult phase I’ve had to go through in my entire life, and this includes the period immediately after the accident. The surgery was scheduled in early May, which meant it had been nearly three months since the accident, and the bravado and backs against the wall attitude I had managed to adopt was rapidly beginning to lose steam.
My skin graft was gradually beginning to take hold and the Physiotherapy was also improving the general state of my hand, even though progress could only be discerned after weeks of treatment. With a settled schedule to life, I was beginning to enter into a phase that can only be described as “Comfortably Numb”. The thin skin around my thumb stub though was continually breaking up, and this forced the doctor’s hand. He asked me to get admitted on the 4th of May, and I had to head to hospital for a surgery I wasn’t mentally prepared for.
A summary of the Groin Flap surgery is as follows; the thumb (in my case) is “plugged” into abdominal skin tissue. In other words, the doctors spent almost 6 hours making my thumb a part of the abdominal section of the body. This in effect meant that I wouldn’t be able to move an inch for 5 days or so, and that for an additional 16 days, the hand would remain fixed to my body.
It would be an understatement to mention that, in this state, I was counting the minutes going by. This would change eventually to hours, but it was like living life in slow motion. I cannot mention in words how indebted I am to my parents during this phase, when every simple action I did or had to do needed their active participation. I used to call them three times every night for some reason or the other, and without their patience and support during this phase, I would never have made it through. My memories of this period are beginning to fade, so I’m putting this down in words to remind myself never to forget what they’ve been through.
The toughest night during this Ordeal was the fifth night, when out of sheer desperation due to the heat and humidity, I asked my mother to use some powder on my back. A few seconds later, this powder, and a medicine I was having, combined to give me the worst attack of wheezing I’ve had in my life. Some emergency treatment by the nurse ensured I was able to breathe again after a few minutes, but my body swelled up to some pretty astonishing levels. This would completely leave me only after a week or so. I’ve been petrified of powder since. The coughing during the night also served to worsen the state of the wound round my abdomen.
Day 7 after the surgery saw the doctor coming into the room at 8 AM, and asking me to sit up and take a few steps. Only someone who’s been forced to lie motionless for a week can understand the extent of giddiness and tiredness that assailed me. But the sense of exhilaration at the change in status ensured the worst was behind me. After another five days of Hospital stay and physiotherapy (for walking), the doctor gave me the green signal to come home for a few days.
My time at home was largely uneventful except for the fact that I had to come and return by ambulance, and that my dressings were messy affairs conducted at home. My father had a weakness towards blood – he used to feel faint whenever he saw any. This surgery completely eliminated that particular weakness of his. Nearly five pillows adorned my bed, and I found myself regularly waking up at 6 in the morning, mostly because of a stiff back. After around two weeks after the surgery, I was able to sit up on an elevated seat (Television!) and a few days later, I could sit in front of the computer, an achievement that ensured the remaining days sped by.
The final two procedures of this phase meant I was admitted on the 29th of May and had surgeries on the 30th and the 2nd. My awkward position for the whole of May meant I had an extremely stiff right arm – something which still hasn’t let go completely. The surgery though was a success, and I have a rather weird looking bulbous enclosure over my thumb. This should become a little less weird over a period of three months. I have a huge scar near my abdomen, and this is unlikely to heal any time soon. Sigh, all this for one thirds of a thumb.
To conclude, I’ve begun to return to my older schedule of Physiotherapy and dressing every alternate day. The hand has very minimal dressing and anyone who comes around to meet me gets to see more or less the entire result of five months of treatment. It isn’t pretty but it looks a hell of a lot better than it did on the 1st of February. Also, I’m looking to get back to work at McAfee on the 2nd of July. It’s time to see whether my brain can compensate for the lack of one hand and whether I can contribute something meaningful immediately after a rusting period of five months. The next surgery is not scheduled for the near future, and after 9 visits to the Operating Theatre in a little over four months, I’m not too sorry about that.
Personal_
Accident Update - Phase II ( 18th Feb to 26th March 2007 )
This is the text from the e-mail I sent out to my friends and family on the 26th of March.
Hi
It’s been a while since my first e-mail and this update is for those of you who are curious/anxious about the state of my hand almost two months since the accident.
Phase 1: Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas (affectionately referred to as Pseudomon) is a post operative infection so common that Word did not pop up a spell check error when I typed it in. Unfortunately for me, this extremely sturdy bacilli decided my hand was an excellent place to flourish in. Two weeks of vinegar dressings and antibiotics later, the infection was under control but continued to hang around until a fortnight or so before today. The result, the need for yet another skin graft surgery, and my left thigh happened to be the unwitting volunteer.
Phase 2: Skin Graft
I spent around a week in hospital during the first half of March, and had a couple of skin graft surgeries. The only points of note here are that Pseudomon was such a concern that I was given intravenous antibiotics twice a day, each of which were around 500 bucks, some pretty strong stuff. It worked, thankfully, and the grafts held firm for a 90% success rate. The doctors are happy, so I’m happy too.
Phase 3: Physiotherapy
I’ve been asked by the doctor to go for some preliminary Physiotherapy for a period of around three weeks so that my joints don’t get stiff and cause complications during the eventual, final physiotherapy period. I started last Thursday and have attended three sessions to date. I finally got to see my “hand” in all it’s glory; it isn’t pretty but there are signs that a recovery of around 40-50% of functionality is possible. Physiotherapy is a messy business, thanks to the state of the wounds on my hand, but I’m beginning to be able to trigger some miniscule movements in a couple of fingers. Slow, but gave me a hell of a lift.
Immediate Future:
The doctors tell me I’ll have atleast three more hospitalizations lasting around three months. If everything goes well, I’ll be able to begin the final physiotherapy then, and get back to work with one hand by July. All this is speculation, so I wouldn’t commit anything. The physiotherapy could continue well into 2008, a long story indeed. But since I’m pseudo-jobless and talkative, I’ll have plenty of time and motivation to keep you folks updated.
Regards
Personal_
Accident Update - Phase I ( 1st Feb to 18th Feb 2007 )
This is the text from the e-mail I sent out to my friends and family on the 18th of February.
Personal_
Hi
You probably already know this bit of news but I thought I’d give you an update from my perspective. Don’t know how to go about putting this in a sugar-coated manner, so I’ll be blunt.
I’ve had an accident – a pretty serious one. It involved a lorry, which passed over my right hand and dragged it a few feet. In the doctor’s words, the hand was in the state of a pulp. My wrist is unaffected but the palm and fingers were damaged beyond recognition. I believed at the moment that I’d lost my hand permanently, but subsequent surgeries and days of healing are beginning to improve the outlook.
The Accident:
The accident occurred at
The treatment:
I was taken to
Future?
This is my status right now. The general base of the hand has been reconstructed, though I’ve lost around 2/3rds of my thumb and have some issues with the little finger as well. Recovery is very much in progress, and the doctors are generally pleased with the healing so far. I’m back home for a while before the next procedure, the exact date of which will depend on the healing progress. I need to go every three days or so for a dressing right now, so making use of this lull in proceedings to get my left hand up to mark – this mail is my first big left handed text contribution, so I’m happy!
There is no timeframe yet for recovery nor a percentage of normalcy prediction from the doctor’s side yet – it is still way too early in the day to think of such numbers. When something of the sort pops up, I’ll update you.
My apologies for the rant. I promise my follow up mails will be much more cheerful.
Take care and keep yourself safe.
Regards
Personal_
Magazine Article : The Barclays Bandwagon
Directly taken from an older blog:
This is the content of the article I submitted for my college magazine. Comments are invited :
The Barclays Bandwagon
Most revolutions are sparked off by an event of significance, in some cases a moment of pure magic, a script straight from the movies. On a cold night(26 May 1999, to be precise) at the Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain, a footballing fortress of legendary repute, a series of such events converged to result in what is remembered as one of the greatest footballing fightbacks of all time. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came up with the toe poke of a lifetime to set up a Manchester United Champions League Triumph, an astonished world was watching. In the now legendary words of the delirious commentator - " ... and Manchester United rule Europe. I don't believe it, but it's happened. They've come from one-nil down in stoppage time to beat Bayern Munich. And the Munich players are on their knees, they don't know what's hit them... MANCHESTER'S HIT THEM! ". Often referred to as "The Miracle of the Nou Camp", this match would have a massive impact on the mass appeal of the English game in Asia.
The English Premier League, as a phenomenon, has gripped most of South and South-East Asia over the last few years or so, thanks mostly to moments like the one above and ESPN-Star's superb live coverage of almost every minute of the action. From schools to colleges to workplaces, new heroes have emerged. Fixtures taking place in distant English cities like Liverpool, Manchester and London are arousing fiery passions in the hearts of both the young and old. Names such as Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have become part and parcel of any urban households vocabulary. Bars and Lounges find themselves jampacked during the weekends as Premiership Saturday and Super Sunday grace the television screens. Clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have a massive number of fans, veritable armies actually, rooting for them every time they step on to the hallowed turf of their respective grounds. Launched in 1992 to improve the standards of English Football at the highest level and take the game into the 21st century, the competition is now thriving, regularly attracting a global audience of over 570 million across 162 countries.
So, after analysing the giddy heights to which EPL fever has risen across Asia, we zoom in onto a narrow zone of interest, a college campus nestled snugly between the Western Ghats, a campus in football crazy Kerala, the National Institute of Technology, Calicut... know to some as the Calicut Regional Engineering College. The English Premier League is very much an "in-thing" down here as well. When I stepped into this campus a good four years back, I was an avid football fan, the EPL in particular. Four years down the line, I still am an avid fan. In fact, several times along the way, I've crossed the thin line separating a fan from a fanatic. On this journey, there have been a few moments when the magic of football has made me delirious with joy, a few others when I've been forced to pull the ample hair off my head by the bushels. I have not been alone in experiencing these moments of joy and sorrow, there exists a large community of diehard football fans here who have shared this journey with me.
Some of these EPL Weekenders have been at it for a pretty long time, veterans whose experices span a period of more than five years. But the majority are those who were initially attracted by the wild celebrations or protests of the veteran crowd in front of a common room television, and then entranced by the scintillating displays of skill by the masters of the game itself. Most of the old crowd are fans of the old guns in Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, but inductees over the last couple of years have tended to go the Chelsea way.
Every hostel has its own commom room and festive occassions but the focus of my analysis will be the D-Hostel common room whose strategic location, confluence of cultures and luxury seating facilities make it the mother of all "venues". The proceedings usually begin at around five in the evening on Saturdays and by seven on Sundays. People begin to flock to the room after their dinner, the early ones end up getting the cushioned seats, while the rest make themselves comfortable on the tiled floor. Matches involving the big four are usually the most attended, but others have a pretty good viewership as well. As John Dykes and his team of seasoned professional commentators go about doing an admirable job setting up a match, one can actually feel the anticipation and tension building up within the room. The first few minutes are the most nervy, the silence is usually heavy and eyes transfixed on the action. The matches are usually of a very high quality and moments of delight or despair aren't very hard to come by. Each match is like a 90 minute rollercoaster ride, with the resulting emotions being a heady feeling of euphoria or like a kick in the guts, depending on the result. Within a measley 15 minutes, the next match begins and the ride begins all over again. Ever wondered why some students look so exhausted on a Monday morning?
Even among such high quality matches, there exist a few that lie under the classics section, matches that caused massive turmoil among the lucky few that watched them. In the following section I've listed down some of these classics, a few matches that will continue to remain long in my memory.
( Disclaimer : I am an avid Manchester United fan. If the matches listed below seem to be heavily biased, well... that's because they are... )
1) Man Utd 1 - 1 Porto : The match when an 87th minute Costinha goal knocked United out of the Champions League. The match is also the one where Jose Mourinho, the "special" one, first appeared in the spotlight of world interest.
2) Man Utd 2 - 0 Arsenal : The match where Arsenal's 49 match unbeaten streak was brought to a screeching halt. Nistelrooy and Rooney on target in a match that resulted in United fans giving Arsenal fans several sleepless nights with their incessant taunts.
3) Arsenal 2 - 4 Man Utd : The reverse fixture, one of Uniteds all time great results. Effectively killed off Arsenal's title hopes and left United fans celebrating a remarkable match, probably the best EPL match on display in these four years.
4) Arsenal 0 - 0 Man Utd : The FA Cup final where Arsenal stole the cup from under United's noses through penalties after being completely outplayed over the 120 minutes of vintage United football.
5) Arsenal 2 - 2 Chelsea : Another classic that remains in memory for the sheer class of the displays by the two teams as well as Thierry Henry's audacious opportunistic goal.
6) Barcelona - Chelsea encounters : Two years, four matches and plenty of controversy. The encounters that had emotions riding on all time highs, a testament to the genius we know as Ronaldinho.
7) Man Utd 1 - 0 Chelsea : My best moment as a United fan after the FA Cup win at Wembley. Chelsea were shown to be fallible, they were human after all. Another unbeaten run, this time 39 matches, goes up in smoke at the Theatre of Dreams.
8) Liverpool 3 - 3 AC Milan : An unforgettable match where Liverpool stunned the world by overturning a 3-0 deficit and then went on to take the Champions League Trophy on penalties. The first English Club to win the trophy since the "Miracle at the Camp Nou".
Some of us take the EPL beyond our common rooms. Fantasy football fever is an ingenius concept that has helped in raising both viewership as well as the knowledge of a viewer with regard to the League. The concept is simple; on a fixed budget, build your own dream team and see how your selection does, and maybe even win the prizes on offer. The sheer amount of research some of my adversaries do to figure out the best selections is indicated by this simple statistic; http://fantasy.premierlague.com/ is among the most visited sites in our institute trailing only bigshots like google, orkut, yahoo and espnstar. Also, the volumes of enthusiasts turning up at the institute grounds in the evenings are steadily increasing, a cursory look at the football ground at around six in the evening will answer all doubters. The English Premier League has played a pretty important role in arousing their interests and getting them to make the daunting journey to the pebble filled ground where injuries are as commonplace as goals.
The EPL is here to stay, the EPL fanatics are going to be a part and parcel of our institute for a long time to come. It may not quite match up to the popularity of cricket yet, as demonstrated by the South Africa-Australia match, but it is a phenomenon that can no longer be relegated to the confines of the also rans. Salute the new Era in Sports Entertainment, say Ave to The Barclays Bandwagon.
- Arun C. Pullat
S8 CSE, MUFC forever.
Compositions_
This is the content of the article I submitted for my college magazine. Comments are invited :
The Barclays Bandwagon
Most revolutions are sparked off by an event of significance, in some cases a moment of pure magic, a script straight from the movies. On a cold night(26 May 1999, to be precise) at the Nou Camp, Barcelona, Spain, a footballing fortress of legendary repute, a series of such events converged to result in what is remembered as one of the greatest footballing fightbacks of all time. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came up with the toe poke of a lifetime to set up a Manchester United Champions League Triumph, an astonished world was watching. In the now legendary words of the delirious commentator - " ... and Manchester United rule Europe. I don't believe it, but it's happened. They've come from one-nil down in stoppage time to beat Bayern Munich. And the Munich players are on their knees, they don't know what's hit them... MANCHESTER'S HIT THEM! ". Often referred to as "The Miracle of the Nou Camp", this match would have a massive impact on the mass appeal of the English game in Asia.
The English Premier League, as a phenomenon, has gripped most of South and South-East Asia over the last few years or so, thanks mostly to moments like the one above and ESPN-Star's superb live coverage of almost every minute of the action. From schools to colleges to workplaces, new heroes have emerged. Fixtures taking place in distant English cities like Liverpool, Manchester and London are arousing fiery passions in the hearts of both the young and old. Names such as Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have become part and parcel of any urban households vocabulary. Bars and Lounges find themselves jampacked during the weekends as Premiership Saturday and Super Sunday grace the television screens. Clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have a massive number of fans, veritable armies actually, rooting for them every time they step on to the hallowed turf of their respective grounds. Launched in 1992 to improve the standards of English Football at the highest level and take the game into the 21st century, the competition is now thriving, regularly attracting a global audience of over 570 million across 162 countries.
So, after analysing the giddy heights to which EPL fever has risen across Asia, we zoom in onto a narrow zone of interest, a college campus nestled snugly between the Western Ghats, a campus in football crazy Kerala, the National Institute of Technology, Calicut... know to some as the Calicut Regional Engineering College. The English Premier League is very much an "in-thing" down here as well. When I stepped into this campus a good four years back, I was an avid football fan, the EPL in particular. Four years down the line, I still am an avid fan. In fact, several times along the way, I've crossed the thin line separating a fan from a fanatic. On this journey, there have been a few moments when the magic of football has made me delirious with joy, a few others when I've been forced to pull the ample hair off my head by the bushels. I have not been alone in experiencing these moments of joy and sorrow, there exists a large community of diehard football fans here who have shared this journey with me.
Some of these EPL Weekenders have been at it for a pretty long time, veterans whose experices span a period of more than five years. But the majority are those who were initially attracted by the wild celebrations or protests of the veteran crowd in front of a common room television, and then entranced by the scintillating displays of skill by the masters of the game itself. Most of the old crowd are fans of the old guns in Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, but inductees over the last couple of years have tended to go the Chelsea way.
Every hostel has its own commom room and festive occassions but the focus of my analysis will be the D-Hostel common room whose strategic location, confluence of cultures and luxury seating facilities make it the mother of all "venues". The proceedings usually begin at around five in the evening on Saturdays and by seven on Sundays. People begin to flock to the room after their dinner, the early ones end up getting the cushioned seats, while the rest make themselves comfortable on the tiled floor. Matches involving the big four are usually the most attended, but others have a pretty good viewership as well. As John Dykes and his team of seasoned professional commentators go about doing an admirable job setting up a match, one can actually feel the anticipation and tension building up within the room. The first few minutes are the most nervy, the silence is usually heavy and eyes transfixed on the action. The matches are usually of a very high quality and moments of delight or despair aren't very hard to come by. Each match is like a 90 minute rollercoaster ride, with the resulting emotions being a heady feeling of euphoria or like a kick in the guts, depending on the result. Within a measley 15 minutes, the next match begins and the ride begins all over again. Ever wondered why some students look so exhausted on a Monday morning?
Even among such high quality matches, there exist a few that lie under the classics section, matches that caused massive turmoil among the lucky few that watched them. In the following section I've listed down some of these classics, a few matches that will continue to remain long in my memory.
( Disclaimer : I am an avid Manchester United fan. If the matches listed below seem to be heavily biased, well... that's because they are... )
1) Man Utd 1 - 1 Porto : The match when an 87th minute Costinha goal knocked United out of the Champions League. The match is also the one where Jose Mourinho, the "special" one, first appeared in the spotlight of world interest.
2) Man Utd 2 - 0 Arsenal : The match where Arsenal's 49 match unbeaten streak was brought to a screeching halt. Nistelrooy and Rooney on target in a match that resulted in United fans giving Arsenal fans several sleepless nights with their incessant taunts.
3) Arsenal 2 - 4 Man Utd : The reverse fixture, one of Uniteds all time great results. Effectively killed off Arsenal's title hopes and left United fans celebrating a remarkable match, probably the best EPL match on display in these four years.
4) Arsenal 0 - 0 Man Utd : The FA Cup final where Arsenal stole the cup from under United's noses through penalties after being completely outplayed over the 120 minutes of vintage United football.
5) Arsenal 2 - 2 Chelsea : Another classic that remains in memory for the sheer class of the displays by the two teams as well as Thierry Henry's audacious opportunistic goal.
6) Barcelona - Chelsea encounters : Two years, four matches and plenty of controversy. The encounters that had emotions riding on all time highs, a testament to the genius we know as Ronaldinho.
7) Man Utd 1 - 0 Chelsea : My best moment as a United fan after the FA Cup win at Wembley. Chelsea were shown to be fallible, they were human after all. Another unbeaten run, this time 39 matches, goes up in smoke at the Theatre of Dreams.
8) Liverpool 3 - 3 AC Milan : An unforgettable match where Liverpool stunned the world by overturning a 3-0 deficit and then went on to take the Champions League Trophy on penalties. The first English Club to win the trophy since the "Miracle at the Camp Nou".
Some of us take the EPL beyond our common rooms. Fantasy football fever is an ingenius concept that has helped in raising both viewership as well as the knowledge of a viewer with regard to the League. The concept is simple; on a fixed budget, build your own dream team and see how your selection does, and maybe even win the prizes on offer. The sheer amount of research some of my adversaries do to figure out the best selections is indicated by this simple statistic; http://fantasy.premierlague.com/ is among the most visited sites in our institute trailing only bigshots like google, orkut, yahoo and espnstar. Also, the volumes of enthusiasts turning up at the institute grounds in the evenings are steadily increasing, a cursory look at the football ground at around six in the evening will answer all doubters. The English Premier League has played a pretty important role in arousing their interests and getting them to make the daunting journey to the pebble filled ground where injuries are as commonplace as goals.
The EPL is here to stay, the EPL fanatics are going to be a part and parcel of our institute for a long time to come. It may not quite match up to the popularity of cricket yet, as demonstrated by the South Africa-Australia match, but it is a phenomenon that can no longer be relegated to the confines of the also rans. Salute the new Era in Sports Entertainment, say Ave to The Barclays Bandwagon.
- Arun C. Pullat
S8 CSE, MUFC forever.
Compositions_
FOSS@NITC 2006 - It's over
Directly taken from an old blog:
Tonight was a strange night. I haven't felt this sad or empty in a long while. One and a half months of intensive work has finally come to an end, FOSS@NITC's second edition has come and gone by and all that remains are the memories and hopefully a few inspired souls. The event on a whole can be counted as a reasonable success, the speakers were very good, no serious organisational problems popped up and the delegates that turned up were a fairly interested group. So why was I feeling this depressed... this is probably what it feels like to be sentimental, and being sentimental is not something I'm very familiar with.
The speakers, as I stated above, were all very good... they had a great vibe going on among themselves and with us as well. They were a young bunch determined to make the most of their weekend off and hopefully they had a good time down here at NITC, we did our best to ensure they had the most convenient of stays. We'll find out soon, their blogs will be updated in a few days, and we'll see how we figure in them.
The organizing team was awesome, especially the IEEE team which has probably the most dedicated bunch of executives in our college at the moment(Amar, Malani, Sreekanth, Thomas... you guys rock). Given one more year, they can make massive leaps within the college, they only need to think big. Others, the CSI and CSEA teams had a few exceptional individuals, folks who simply did not know when to stop working( PR, KK, Girish, Sreedal and others). And finally, my final year friends, the ones I'd got into this logistical and organizational quagmire - Faiz, Varghese, Haynes, Ranjit, MP, Ajay, Salih, Siby... thank you. You folks were my pillars of strength through these last few days. There were times when everything seemed to be going too fast... but you guys were always there to provide help, my Band of Brothers. No words can compensate for your all that you've done, so will some Shree Krishna Sweets Mysore Pa do?
The delegates were my biggest disappointment. Not quality, the students that came from a number of colleges spread across Kerala were a revelation to me, I did not know FOSS had such a widespread appeal across Kerala. But such students are few and far between as demonstrated by the turnout from our very own National Institute of Technology Calicut. One statement from my bewildered friend Ranjit (Registration Team Head) will do - " Our lads hurt the event the most. Out of the first 30 odd students from our college to register online, only one actually turned up... ". The online registration procedure had deceived us into optimism, the organizers for next year are likely to be more circumspect. For a premier technical institute in Kerala, the engineers seem to be a little too laidback and self-satisfied for my comfort, any more laidback and they're likely to be horizontal. The forum, or platform if you wish, was put up for the sake of these students, but how is an event supposed to succeed when its main target audience decides their priorities lean towards more mundane occurrences. This college needs a shake up, a wake up call from the students side, or else the effects of declining standards will further hurt its already diminishing reputation. Placements are not everything... in fact placements are the easy part. A Placement Centric policy can only destroy any motivation on a students side to try something new, something unconventional. It will only kill the desire to think outside the box. It will kill the culture of innovation, of discovery... and finally, of self belief.
I wanted to leave a lasting legacy with FOSS. This institute was one I entered with a whole lot of dreams. The culture in this place has doused my fires of revolution, but the embers still burn dimly inside me. I still have a few days in this place and I'm not going to leave silently into the horizon.... and I won't be leaving alone.
Bits, Bytes and Nibbles_
Tonight was a strange night. I haven't felt this sad or empty in a long while. One and a half months of intensive work has finally come to an end, FOSS@NITC's second edition has come and gone by and all that remains are the memories and hopefully a few inspired souls. The event on a whole can be counted as a reasonable success, the speakers were very good, no serious organisational problems popped up and the delegates that turned up were a fairly interested group. So why was I feeling this depressed... this is probably what it feels like to be sentimental, and being sentimental is not something I'm very familiar with.
The speakers, as I stated above, were all very good... they had a great vibe going on among themselves and with us as well. They were a young bunch determined to make the most of their weekend off and hopefully they had a good time down here at NITC, we did our best to ensure they had the most convenient of stays. We'll find out soon, their blogs will be updated in a few days, and we'll see how we figure in them.
The organizing team was awesome, especially the IEEE team which has probably the most dedicated bunch of executives in our college at the moment(Amar, Malani, Sreekanth, Thomas... you guys rock). Given one more year, they can make massive leaps within the college, they only need to think big. Others, the CSI and CSEA teams had a few exceptional individuals, folks who simply did not know when to stop working( PR, KK, Girish, Sreedal and others). And finally, my final year friends, the ones I'd got into this logistical and organizational quagmire - Faiz, Varghese, Haynes, Ranjit, MP, Ajay, Salih, Siby... thank you. You folks were my pillars of strength through these last few days. There were times when everything seemed to be going too fast... but you guys were always there to provide help, my Band of Brothers. No words can compensate for your all that you've done, so will some Shree Krishna Sweets Mysore Pa do?
The delegates were my biggest disappointment. Not quality, the students that came from a number of colleges spread across Kerala were a revelation to me, I did not know FOSS had such a widespread appeal across Kerala. But such students are few and far between as demonstrated by the turnout from our very own National Institute of Technology Calicut. One statement from my bewildered friend Ranjit (Registration Team Head) will do - " Our lads hurt the event the most. Out of the first 30 odd students from our college to register online, only one actually turned up... ". The online registration procedure had deceived us into optimism, the organizers for next year are likely to be more circumspect. For a premier technical institute in Kerala, the engineers seem to be a little too laidback and self-satisfied for my comfort, any more laidback and they're likely to be horizontal. The forum, or platform if you wish, was put up for the sake of these students, but how is an event supposed to succeed when its main target audience decides their priorities lean towards more mundane occurrences. This college needs a shake up, a wake up call from the students side, or else the effects of declining standards will further hurt its already diminishing reputation. Placements are not everything... in fact placements are the easy part. A Placement Centric policy can only destroy any motivation on a students side to try something new, something unconventional. It will only kill the desire to think outside the box. It will kill the culture of innovation, of discovery... and finally, of self belief.
I wanted to leave a lasting legacy with FOSS. This institute was one I entered with a whole lot of dreams. The culture in this place has doused my fires of revolution, but the embers still burn dimly inside me. I still have a few days in this place and I'm not going to leave silently into the horizon.... and I won't be leaving alone.
Bits, Bytes and Nibbles_
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