There seems to be a big hue & cry about the December. Bloggers from all over the world seem to have their eye set on targets. The most common buzz seems to be the New year resolutions. Time to analysis the year gone by and then rectify it for the year ahead. I don’t know what to say about my own. As a sportsman I always had goals. In fact the first time I learned the importance of setting one was when I attended a Frank Tyson coaching camp. He was one of the fastest bowlers to have walked the grounds. The realization came very late to me though it wasn’t too late I would say. But there is problem about goals. Most people who set goals forget the basic point. To get to this we need to look at the goals from the grass route level. What are goals? They help us make routes which guide us to our destination. Say for instance I want to reach Sydney. First of all I have two options, air & water. And then I decide on taking up air since it saves time & cost comparatively to water. Then further more in that itself I have so many options. I can fly straight from Bombay to Sydney or can take a fly to Singapore & hence to Sydney, or to Malaysia & Sydney, or to Thailand & Sydney, or to Colombo & Sydney. Possibly even in these I may have myriad airlines which can take me through. But what do I know that I will have to reach Sydney & that’s my goal. So I take up some route which is very comfortable to me. But the point is people tend to think too much about the main goal that they seem to miss the small things such as routes. The routes you take are also very important to an individual since it helps you to reach your destination in a better way. So if we emphasis on the routes then it would be easy for us to reach our destination without getting lost whereas if we the other way around there is a possibility that we may get lost over the small things which will make us land in a big soup.More importantly goals have to be realistic. For example I can have a goal of trying to score maximum of seven hundreds in a first division season, that’s all. But if I think I will have to get hundreds in every single innings I bat it sounds a little insane and absurd, since I know what’s my capability. Moreover there is a law of averages which rules everything. Secondly goals have to be simple and performance oriented. Taking another example I can set goals like I want score this many runs and not I want to get selected for India, since the selection to any team is not certainly in our hands, only performance is. But plainly setting goals are very important. So go ahead and chalk them out. It maybe even be the simplest of things like I want to start wishing elders on road when I walk in the morning, but make sure that you do that. Some of my resolutions or goals as I may call it for this year are as follows:

1. Start doing sandyavandanam-sandi they call it in short.


2. Start training and reduce lots of weight. I have been putting on too much weight since I stopped playing professionally six months ago.


3. Finish both semesters at my business school with good grades.


4. Make as many friends as possible, start a big networking group.


5. Play cricket as seriously as possible.


6. Learn to sing better & play a carnatic instrument; maybe start reviving the mridangam classes.


7. Buy myself a digi-cam and learn the art of photography better, maybe try to master it to an extent.


8. Learn a software package in accounting which will help me to develop my own software for accounting queries and helps.


9. Take life to be simple & don’t expect it to be fair!!!


10. May be find or identify Maya in my life.

The previous post says it all, yes I had been in madras for rather long now. The prime reason which kept me away from bloggin was the oldest monitor of my grandpa which I didnt want to use. More importantly I had been roaming so much that my patti eventually turned around & told me that I look dark after coming back. The common feeling among my friends in Bangalore is that Madras is a pumping hot place with katpadis all over. They somehow dont explain the katpadi part of it. My assumption is that all tamilians are katpadis for them. Anyways this madras trip was the best part of my trips so far. I accept that each trip to any place is different & so s this one. This is wht I did:

1. Rain...rain go away Sunday. Metup with some bloggin friends. Vatsan picked me up & I was suprised to reach there in the first instance with all the rains & Valentino rossi's riding skills. An IKON almost took my right leg away. But with all this the meet went on very well. Somu, Prabha, myself & Vats had molaga bajji's, sundal, coffee & atlast dinner at a dhabha.

2. Caffenie Monday. Met with an OzIndian friend of mine. It was coffee all the way with a lunch at palimar.

3. School boy memories Tuesday. Went to my old school & was suprised that my teachers recognised me inspite of me not attending any classes. Was lying down in the school nets thinking abt those gud old-golden days in the evening. There were some tears too!

4. The day since I saw u wednesday. Went to Kanda Naal Mudhal with a friend of mine on the Wednesday. Really liked the movie for its touchy screenplay & reality crap.

5. Mandolin thursday. It was the bday of my mom so went to the temple with her though was standing outside. I still dont know if I am an athesist or thesist. In the evening went to Mandolin srinivas kutchery with patti & aunt. Loved every bit of the three hour show.

6. Nattiya friday. Met up with some of my old coaches during the years in madras & also went to a bharatanattiyam show with a friend in the evening.

7. Kalangal Saturday. Went to Chennai Snake Park with aunt. Suprised she didnt puke at the end of it. Met some of my best friends. Full peelings!!!

8. Taties madras. Was a hectic day rite from 2am in the morning with my uncle arriving from the US. Met some frnds through the day & the evening was filled with namaskarams & abhivadaye's for the adios.

This is for the information of the public that I learnt Bharatanattiyam, Mridangam & Casio for 5 years totally when I was in school. After I started playing cricket it was all over........

As the countdown marches as fast as it can, I seem too busy with my own set of things coming my way. There seems to be no stop over for the things that I can try to do. All that I could undergo in this world, the whole thing seemed to have followed me in this action packed week so far. Beggining from my dad being reporting to work in bangalore oops sorry bengaluru from this monday to getting struck in the traffic jam the very day for one eighty minutes for a meire 18 kms drive inside the city, everything seemed to have following me.

I am now very much looking forward to what maybe my last trip to madras before I depart from this country. I am looking forward in meeting few fellow bloggers & friends during this trip. There seems to be lot of guys who I have to say good bye to. The list is countless if I were to sit down & chalk it. Madras brings back lot of pleasent memories to me. I started playing this wonderful game of cricket there. Lot of things happened too fast in my life for me to stop the memontom of things from happening. Infact the there has been so many things which I realised only after that had happened. Yet I say that I am happy that something happened. I have spent my life in a dedicated way with a cause to get my upliftment in a specified area. Eventually you give in that dedicated effort to make sure that you live in your life with the sense of pride that you have achieved something. But when that area suddenly changes all that you can think of is to & make sure that, you keep countinuing this wondeful journey called LIFE!

It doesnt start just caz u read an old englishman commenting that this game is played by eleven fools & eleven thousand fools watch it. It doesnt start caz u see ur dad bringing home a new color tv set when you are in the second standard to watch a World Cup match which India loses. It doesnt start caz when you see Sachin Tendulkar the master batsman of your country belt Allan Donald the South African fast bowler for three sixes. It doesnt start caz you see your uncles talking about it every where with everyone. It doesnt start because every second second guy has an opinion on how kapil dev should have controlled sunil gavaskar. It doesnt start just caz you see your cousins going nuts about a bat & bowl, that they have a bet with their mothers to get them one, if they top the class. It doesnt start when you see the kids in your apartment break a few windows for which they get the shit belted from their pop's. You dont know when it comes & before you even realise that its up to nerves, its there & even you want to do the same thing.

So you also start doing the same thing. You say amma get me a bat for which she says the same thing, to top the class. Then you remember your cousins having new bats & balls, so you too agree for the bet. Once in your life you want to get to the top of the class. You strives as hard as ever & slog your a** off. But when the results are out you run to see the notice board where you find your name first. You jump in jubilation. All you remember now is that you want to smack the ball to the next street to tell the buddis there you have arrived. You run home after school as fast as you can to find a new bat labelled POWER on it. Then you remember your idol Sachin having played with the same bat. You ask your granny to prepare a cup of Boost, you have started drinking this ever since you saw ur idol do that. After the cup of boost you jump your compound to enter into the world of fantacy, according to you. You smack the tennis ball that came free with the Boost bootle all across the street. You dont want to get out since it may be just only once that you may get to hold that bat that day. You want to bat all the five overs that match was supposed to be played for. But apparently some one delivers a long hop which you try to wack out of the boundry line but end up getting caught just near the line. You wait for another oppurtunity to bat the same day, which doesnt turn up. You hear your mom screaming for you to return home to study, which at this point of time you hate to do. You bid adiue to your freinds promising them to return the next day at the same time who too are being pulled into their house's by their respective momies.

Now when you see the glimse of that text book which you have read half way through to prove a point that you can do anything for a bet, you are reminded of the match you played that evening. You start filling the circles of O's and the zeros with ink. You keep doing this till your dad returns from work & asks you few questions on the lessons that you have read that day. Now you give him a look & impression that this coming test you are going to score no more than the very Zero, after which you were after. When you have two pinches & one scar that you are going to get the shit belted of you for not doing your homework you realise that you need to get back to studies. You think the next day is yours & you will play the full five overs. Next day turns up & you keep doing the same thing. This goes on for a while till after your exams.

The last day of your exams you are delighted. All you can think about is how you can spend your time in the ground next to your house with all your friends playing. Then you get back home & have a glimse at your school diary just to see the home works you have been assigned for the holiday period. You get a shock of your life when you see you may have to spend more time doing these home works than having enugh time to play. You decide against doing this & you start discussuiong innovative ways to get the hell out of this. So you decide to assign all the homework in the last week of your holidays. You hear your granny shouting that your Boost is getting cold in the dinning table. You boost up your confidence by drinking that, after which you try to walk like your child hood idol to the ground with the bat on your shoulders giving an impression to all the on lookers that you are his duplicate. You spend all your time that you have on that ground or at the street where your house is located. You think you will not get troubled by your mom this time but you again hear the scream sharp at the same hour, but not from your mom though from the neighbouring aunty since you have crashed her bathroom window glasses. You run like crazy till no one can see you. You are filled with mud in your shoes or chappals, shirts, shorts & skin. The only way some one can recognise you is by looking at your bat & the words POWER. You hide your way to get into your house to see the same aunty having a chat with your mom.

So you are restricted & given a warning to reduce the amount of time you play outside. You are restricted to indoor cricket with your cousins, even that doesnt last for long since you break your granny's nose. Even for which you need to spend four days in the hospital looking after her. The holidays gets away too soon even before you can spend enough time in the ground. To your bad luck your best friend drops your new bat which costed 90 rupees into the wel by mistake. Since you cry before your freind for a mistake of your friend your parents decide to forgive you & send you to your other grand parents house. When you come back you suddenly realise that you have just 4 days for the school to reopen. You use all your innovative methods that you have developed all these while after conferring with your friends to get eventually caught by your teachers at school. Since you know them pretty well you get excused after given a warning. The next year starts & the same thing continues till your primary school ends.

The week gone by has been very different to me in different ways. The amount of people I have met or amoung the people who I am used to be with in the normal times itself, I feel different. Totally different, all the time of the year this is not the case. Infact I guess after all the time I have started bloggin this is the first post of mine which I have started to pen down without choosing a particular topic for this post. I just want to write whatever is going to come to my mind, rather heart. The day I was relieved rather the company was relieved after letting me off the job, I was asked to give a speach, very unsual. I was the youngest among the team & other gulli's-guys had about minimum of three years experience to back it up. All I said was one sentence-"Learn to think out of your brain & not off your heart". Somehow it made lot of difference to me whenever there was an instance. Sportsmen can never be non-emotional people. If at all you can consider me as one then you can say even I am emotional.

But whenever you tend to meet people from different spheres of life your opinion changes. I was very influenced by three of them because of whom you can read what I am writting now. Three different indivuduals, though I dont know two of them personally, have certainly made a difference to me. Lazy Geek, Dumbs & my uncle. My uncle since he got me into this blogosphere. LG just for the way he inspired people from the way his blog is. Dumbs just from the way he is or writes. I first time I reached LG's blog was an accident. I googled for pc sreerams films & then I was there bang in the Scribbles of a Lazy Geek. Dumbs was through LG's when I was checking his blogroll. More than anybody I think its Dumbs because of whom I begun to write something different. As my earlier blog said we have our own inimitabilities, this guy has his own style of putting up of things. Anjali & Roomies I would regard as the all time favourite posts I have read.

When Sambhar 2 Sydney was officially launched there were many blogs I went to & commented. The blogs I started visiting regurlary were magnus astrum's, jazz, vishitra's, vatsan's, RA's & many more. Even now I make sure I keep going to these blogs everyday. But the concept of bloglines has made things very easy for me. More than anything it has made me lazy I should say, maybe a lazy sambhar :P. I eventually visited few of the best blogs which I liked in the process. Anti's I m no superman & Hawkeyeview's Lighting strikes everyday have been my long time favourite among these. Then later came in blogs like Ferrari, Niravs Reflections of a pensive mind, Vikrams Kural whoz now Whoosh, Divyas blog & many more to name. But when you can meet them personally up close & personal, its nothing like it.

As I had mentioned in the previous post of mine I will be meeting a few bloggers, I met up with Ferrai today for lunch. A vodka followed by a pizza was tremendous while listening to Rang De Basanti & talking about all thats popping up from your brain. Name the topic, I think we spoke about that, offcourse certainly the ones which we liked talking. Random access was an awesome company sharing his views on the topic. Thought he left early due to his inability to spend time only with us since the whole world want to gain access to this random man, after the first season, we went ahead for lunch. The lunch was at the Pizza Hut, a bargain meal for two. So coming back to the whole thing again I feel different today sitting down & penning these things, since the more people you meet the whole ideology of things tend to change quite a lot. As hawkeye says we have influenced so much by the world of advertising that we tend to forget that life is actually quite simple if you begin to enjoy the simple things of it!

Bangalore! Idhu enntha oor--- Bangalore! in Kaoundamani style didnt welcome with its arms wide open. I stayed in a hostel for more than 6 months. I would say the worst period in my life. There was nothing better in that school which offered me full scholarship for my tenth standard except for few chicks, before even I gottta know them I had to escape from the school. I had passed tenth standard. Hurray yeh I passed tenth standard. Now this time onwards the guys influence in my life started caz this is when I started playing 'fulla'. And to top that I got admitted into a guys college. So wherever I went there were boys, guys, men, little elder men, little elder than little elder men, thats all. The worst thing was we didnt even have any ladies lecturers, there was one & she resigned! I begun to wonder if I would loose the affliation towards gujjili's but luckily it didnt happen that way.

I realised that when I got attracted to two angels. Lets name them twin angels but they were just sisters. Two of my best friends. One is married & the other again I dont even know if she is alive. We spent so much time off together. These gals were a relief to me after the boys college. This was the first time I had a close friend as a gal. Its fun to have one with all the mamis in ur colony starring at us each time we walk across in the roads. Both of our parents were more than happy, I mean they treated them as their own kids. All the time we spent in each of our houses. The warmth of both the families was shown with both the sides wanting to have a male or a female child which was apparently reflected in their behaviours. Again it was like a spark, short lived yet enjoyed it to the core.

Then came two racals in my life. One amit & other kiran. Different kind of friends. Not usual like the rest of the crowd. Infact I should say I have never had two friends who have the same qualities. Kiran a total joker in his won ways. From the way he tries to impress chicks while taking his dog for a walk to washing his car he has his own style. And yeah he gets his own rewards by all the muniyamma's looking at him. Amit again as I said a different guy with his motive of trying to impress a gal with his looks. There are two of my best friends & will remain as to be all throughout my life.In between lots of guys came & went. Not many sticked on since the game of cricket is like that. Its not alone because of the cricket, I am like that. Socialise & Network are two of the most important traits in my life I would say. Just a small 'Hi!' is an usual stuff to me. I walk across a guy in the road & I would enventually say hello to him. Thats the way I am & to top that one total oatha otta vaai!

College, I need to write about this. A Cricket team is like a battalion. If I spend twenty minutes in sports department some hundreds guys want to play for the college cricket team. Cricket in India is like that so cant help it. Offcourse even my college team had a dozen jokers. The university team was also always filled with my college guys & so as state and city teams. I think the whole meerut episode reflects that anyways.So guess will stop with this when it comes to writting about my college friends.

Now the blogging world has got me some awesome guys to meet. The first blogger I met was Jagan. Extra- ordinary dude!. Then the next one is Random Access, one of those brains. I am gonna meet lotsa of them this weekend. Ferrari, Vikki, Shyam & Vatsan.

Lets see whts the world has in store for me!

When I looked around in the dictionary this afternoon for the meaning of the word FRIEND I found "one who is on good terms with & loves another". That's not too bad for a definition, doesn't it? But if you ask me personally I would say friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… it has no survival value, rather is one of those things that gives value for survival. Do you know anybody living in this world without friends- at least I don't know anyone so far & guess will not come across one my entire life. Oh ya, there may be few exceptions though-must be a real psycho.

I have also had a bunch of them from time to time. I think this post will be about all those guys & gujjili's who I have been gud friends with. Let me start with the childhood days. My first official friend was a guy named Suresh Balaji, I dont even know if he is alive today. After few years down the lane when I was in my tenth I think his sister was crowned Ms.Chennai. At that point of time I wished I had stayed in touch. I am talking abt a time when I was in my LKG & UKG ( I had told u, I have a long memory!). Three years when I was in delhi I didnt even have any boy friends, I was surrounded by gals, yeah! shy is coming actually to reveal this but yeah I was surrounded by gals of all ages. From my classmates to class teachers, Kusuma to kuppa kari, Anushka to Anamika. I was always the play ful guy who has the ability to get to the top of the class but will or have never done that, atleast thats what my marks card would say.

After I came back from Delhi, when I made my entry into the world of madras again Suresh Balaji was still there in the same apartment where we owned ours. So it was fun time again. A lot of cricket means a lot of windows broken! Bad Uncles & Aunties would have all the balls ( I mean cricket, tennis, rubber, footbal, etc etc) in their homes, enugh to open a Balls Shop! (:P). That was their only way to take revenge, thats all that they knew. In the process few went on to become my friends in the mode of convencing them to get back the balls. That period was also influenced by lot of people surrounding me. I like being amoung people regardless of the age factor, to top that if they are members of the opposite sex, please god some body stop me!.

And then the best period of my life came. Santhome High School here I come. The moment I stepped inside this phenominal school I felt the adreline rush through my veins. I got a sports admission. My best friends during this period were two guys Bharath Kumar & Srinivasa Raghavan. Bharath is now working in madras & Cheena is up in BITS pilani porrukifying & topping his class. Yeh both were cricketers too & we went to play for Tamil Nadu together till I stepped out. Let me tell you some thing abt Santhome life & the kind of students we had especially our batch. Rather I prefer penning an incident.

My roll number falls behind a guy called Deepak Jain & his is after Bharath kumars. (To avoid the confusion my pet name was BUNTY & thats the way cricketers in madras still know me, anyways thats my favourite pet name too) So this was the time of the examination. I guess it was the history exams. Settu (deepak) as we would call him was as usual scratching his head for an answer. So he thought to ask bharath (not me), out of all people in the world. Bharath luckily knew that answer. After ten minutes while the process of helping him he burst out laughing in the examination hall. I was astronished & so were everyone. It was time & we rushed outside to find out what happened. The conversation started like me asking bharath the reason for the laughter. He replied saying that the answer to whatever settu asked was Treaty of Versailles. So I said whats wrong in that. He told that after he told him the answer, since he couldnt show his paper, Settu asked "Dei Versailles spelling solluda?". I burst out laughing. First of all this guy has all the balls (literal sense!) in the whole world to copy in Santhome examination where if you get caught they would rip your ass or knuckles open & on top of that he wants to know the spelling!

Santhome was lots of fun. From the hindi teacher who made us pass only if we went to his tutions to the Brother who gave us soft drinks everytime we visited his office. The time we spent in my house cutting classes in the name of practice to the beach runs every saturday everything was fun. The practice seasons were the best. My coach would make us run the number of rounds around the ground depending on the number of the bus he came in (27 rounds for say 27 C, dont ask me wht will he do for the C), everything was so enjoyable. Offcourse it wasnt funny to run 27 rounds!

Then all of a sudden the day came where I had to leave all this. I was holding the trophy for the Best Schoolboy cricketer of the year presented by TNCA in one hand & in the other hand my bags to move to a different land all of a sudden. Then.....

as usual do i need 2 say it....to be continued!!!

What do see now if you glare at the computer monitor from your usual position? Mr.Angry on the left & Ms.Calm on the right. Now walk back a few steps & check it out. You would be amazed to see Mr.Angry on the right & Ms.Calm on the left!!!

Can you beat that?

Courtesy: Harrycool.com forward's!

So he finally arrived. Mr.Rajagopalan RA has arrived in Bangalore & I am looking forward to our next meeting. This morning infact just two hours back I greeted him at the airport & he was no different than the man whom I saw in the photo which he sent me. Infact I got so confused then, I went chasing another guy who looked similar to that of him & found that stranger disappear. When I turned around I saw the smile & the scream "Dei Sambhar!". Then I was sure this is the very guy for whom I have been waitting for half an hour. Yes the flight was delaiyed & he proclaims to have sent me an sms so that I can get up a bit late. But unfortunately the sms arrived after he arrived. May god bless the mobile phone operators whoever it is!

Drove him down to the place (Ms.J vaazhga!) where he would be staying for the next two days, infact till tomorrow night, after which he is going to shift into a hotel room, which I have booked bang opposite to the Forum mall. If incase he's lucky he might get the very room which the guy showed me whose windows are bang oppsite to the Forums entrance. If he gets that room then bangalore wont have any water scarcity for the next two years I suppose.

Happy jollufying RA!!!

Raw materials needed:
1. Kabuli Channa
2. 2 Tomatoes
3. 2 Onions
4. Small piece of Ginger
5. Little garlic paste
6. 1 Spoon of Sambhar podi
7. 3/4 Tsp Salt
8. 1/2 Tsp Sugar
9. Oil
10. Kadugu/ Mustard

Soak the channa the previous day of the preparation in water with a pimch of soda uppu. On the day use the pressure cooker to boil the channa nicely with the h2o ratio of 1:2 (2 h2o). While this is happening heat the oil up first & test it with Kadugu. Once its starts bursting pour in RM 2 to 8. After its fried nicely pour the boiled channa into the solution. After grinding the masala solution for sometime Channa Masala is available for consumption. Channa Masala is at the discretion of the pertinent human being (:P).

Get channa masalaed!!!
Filtered by sambhar....

Raw materials needed (:P)
1. 1 glass rice
2. 1/4 glass Moong Dal/Payantham Paruppu
3. 1: 4 ratio H2O ( 4 h2o)
4. 1/4 TspManja podi/Turmeric powder
5. 1/2 Tsp Uppu/Salt
6. 1/4 Tsp Pepper/Mulagu
7. 1/4 Tsp Jeera/Jeeragam

Follow 1 to 4 steps & after the pressure cooker is opened follow the nxt few steps. For RM 6 & 7 do the thalichukotting method (:P). Make sure you dont leave the pressure cooker on for more than 5 sounds.

Get pongalled!!!
Filtered by sambhar....

A different side dish for chappathi!

1.Oil 5 Tsps
2.3 Onions
3.2 Tomatoes
4.Few chillies
5.Kadugu/Mustard
6.Channa Dal
7.1 Tsp Salt

Pour oil in the Kadai & heat it up. After sometime put the Mustard/Kadugu in it, once it starts bursting then put the Channa dal/Kalla paruppu. Heat it up for sometime till the dal turns little reddish. After that put the tomatoes & Onions & mix it. After 10 mins you have a wonderful & simple side dish ready. You can use the salt depending on the taste.

Get sambharred!!!
Filtered by sambhar....

Can you keep me away from blogging? The answer is no, if at all you wouldn't have guessed it by now. The last few days in my life have been exceptionally busy. After running around for sometime I thought let me spare some time in disturbing the blogosphere also with something new that has happened in my life. Though my trip is almost just less than two months away the sense of leaving the home is almost shapping up like a big ball now. I am atlast beginning to feel that way from the time I bought home a monster suitcase a 32 inch one. I went out shopping for it with my aunt (whoz my cuz age & I cal her akka). As far as today is concerned the tickets have been booked, my passport is come back after the stamping is been done & the shopping is almost begun for the long journey.

A Beautiful mind has really inspired me. I have never seeen the movie before Yday. It inspired me so(with an extra 'o') much to buy myself an autobiography of John Nash. I also happened to buy the CATCH 22 book along with this. I have heard lots about this book which I guess I should start reading in sometime next week.

Let see what December turns out to be?

Get sambharred!!!
Filtered by sambhar....