Laila

“Laila, she is all set to hit us”, seeing this tweet from a friend of mine, I started wondering who is this Laila? . Later on I came to know Laila is a disastrous cyclone which is going to hit the costal regions of Andra and Tamil Nadu. Well now, I started getting curious on the naming conventions of these cyclone’s, earlier it was Isabel then Katrina now Laila. How do these horrendous cyclones get such beautiful names? This made me use, a software engineer’s first brain, yes, www.google.com. Though it was not a great idea to search in Google with the keyword “laila” , giving better keywords helped me reveal the entire secret behind these cyclone names and I found them worth sharing with you guys.

So here we go… It might not be known when the next cyclone will hit the northern Indian Ocean, but what is already known is its name - Bandu, and the one after that is Phet

Cyclones derive their names through a systematic procedure laid down by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). This started way back in 1970 when the WMO in Geneva asked some countries around the Pacific Ocean to prepare a list of names. The decision to name the cyclones in the Indian Ocean was taken at a meeting of WMO/ESCAP in 2000. They preferred local names to make it convenient for use.

Eight north Indian Ocean countries - Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand - have prepared a list of 64 names. Laila, which developed in the Indian Ocean off the Andhra Pradesh coast creating much havoc in the state, was named by Pakistan. The countries take turns in naming these cyclones. The last six were: Nisha (Bangladesh), Bijli (India), Aila (Maldives), Phyan (Myanmar), Ward (Oman) and the most recent being Laila (Pakistan). When a hurricane hits these countries, the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC), housed in the IMD office in New Delhi, picks up the name next on the list. The RSMC has been set up by the WMO for forecasting tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

I really wish Bandu is no where near…. :-)

Me Back

Yes ! ! I am back, after a long time. What worries most is my last post which also mention a gap in posting... now I am gonna keep posting.

Ya, its been real long I came online even in blog spot, cant even see a single post from Minu(someone's blog i follow closely), I was expecting a bundle of them from her. Are we all running out of topics. Nah ! ! quite have been happening around, the recent Pune terror, yet another ton from Sachin Tendulkar, the Telungana chaos, the Shiv sena bull shit etc etc.. Come on we are never short of topics, even if we are, cant we come up with something similar? :-)

An Issue Made Of Nothing

Well it has been long since I shouted... but I am sad about marking my return on this...
Just a while ago skimming through the tv channels one after the other, I saw that very familiar face of Burkha Dutt, in a bunch of people debating on the latest "Vandae mataram" controversy. It was a real shame to see people fighting with words on such a sensitive issue. A real issue made of nothing. And I really cant understand when these channels will show the maturity of neglecting or at least down showing such issues which can wound the minds of millions.
Well its nice that we don’t have the great Bankimchandra Chatterjee with us now to see we Indians divided and fighting on a song which at one point of time kept the people of our country united.

Yet Another Tall Auzzie Got Smaller

Yet another comedian, from the shelf of Australian cricketers. How many might have thought this 6 feet 3 inch former Australian coach will look so small one day, that too just for the sake of publicity for his up coming book. I really feel the Australian cricketers should revisit their marketing strategy when it comes to promoting their books, else they gonna kill their reputation of being great ambassadors of the game.

All these latest comments on the T20 format of cricket from Buchanan’s looks ridiculously pathetic when you consider the fact that, it all came from a person who has been an utter failure in this very format, for both Australia and Kolkatta Knight Riders. His remarks, on Tendulkar not being inventive has proved this mystery coach has to go a long way to at least understand the game of cricket.

If anyone is looking for an answer to the million-dollar question, "what happened to Australian cricket team in the last one year? What happened to their invincibility?" Mr John Buchanan is your answer.

Mr. Buchanan for your recent comments and for your upcoming book, we Indians have only two words to say, which I am reluctant to write here, just because I need to keep this space decent.

A Dream Come True

I still remember those days, late in the night holding my father’s hand, walking a fare distance to any of his friend’s house to watch the world cup football matches. Yes, at those days many didn’t had a T V. I was not more than 10 and didn’t know any big thing about the game, but to cheer when my boys rattle the nets. I used to enjoy the penalties more, guess that was much simple for my little brain to digest. Later my father got me a season ticket to a local club tournament, a month long tournament and I sat beside him and cheered for the team he was supporting. That was my first experience of a live football match. I don’t remember much about the matches, but my father always felt guilty about taking me to those matches. He recons I was a much better student before those tournaments, he believes it diverted my interest towards sports. And I remember, he used to mention this throughout, till the end of my studies, with his trademark emotional dialog “I spoiled you”. I always believed that was just an emotional blackmail to get my attention back to studies… come on I was never a good student :).

Any way I have no regrets… days passed by; we had our own TV sets and satellite channels, which gave access to International football. Those international players, whom we got to see once in 4 years, start appearing every year in different leagues and tournaments. The flavor of EPL, Spanish league and champions league added variety to each and every followers of football in India. And all those days whenever I used to see the lights of David Becham or Roberto Carlos playing, I used to dream of a day I see them playing live.

Two months back, I informed my father, about my official trip to Manchester. And when I called him the day after, he mentioned a dream he had, in which I was wearing those winter outfits and watching an English Premier League match. “Try to see one if possible” he reminded me moments before boarding the flight. But all those went to drain when I checked out the EPL ticket rates and when I enquired about the difficulties in getting one.

But the football god came in the name of Edmund Wall, a colleague of mine, and a die-hard Manchester united fan, offered two EPL tickets for the Manchester United vs Tottenham match in the Old Trafford. The tickets were still expensive but the Master Card ‘priceless’ add, helped my friend Esh, and me make a decision. They were much more than 2 tickets for us. Thanks a ton Ed.

Wow! Me standing with another 75,000 people in the massive Man U Home of Dreams, watching Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Ronnie, Carlos Taves, Ferdinand, Lennon, Robbie Keen and many many more playing right in front of my eyes. Even the die-hard Liverpool and Steven Gerrad fan inside me couldn’t stop me cheering for Man U. Its beyond my skills to write down here what I felt at that moment. Even the great Shakesphere would have found it tough with his thee and thae.

Bloody Hell that’s what you call a dream come true… the only thing missing was my father cheering next to me, boy I would have loved his presence…

The so-called "CHANGE"

Yet another general election, within few days we will see a mixture of new and old faces, who will dictate the terms and condition for the coming five years. But one thing for sure, like the Americans we Indians don’t expect a Change, when we peep in to those voting machine no name will be convincing enough to bring a change, different from what the Americans saw, "Barack Hussein Obama",

Whether Obama is capable enough to bring the so-called CHANGE still remains a million dollar question. Today is the 100th day for Mr. Obama, in the white house. I know it’s too early to write a killer review on his days at work. But still lets look back, what this change maker have changed.

Well not that bad, he has switched his army from Iraq to Afghanistan; He shook hands with age-old enemies like Russia, Vietnam, and Iran. Now he doesn’t need any Osama to create panic in his cities, that’s taken care by his Air Force One. His G-Summit trip to London was a whole bunch of changes. Starting from the route he took from the guesthouse to Westminster, keeping the Germans away from the summit.
The first lady didn’t step an inch back when it came to supporting her husband, she managed to change the portfolio of Buckingham palace by hugging the queen and breaking the dress code.

At times I feel its better, not to have a name with a rock star image while going to the polling station, as my friend, Hashim’s IM status message says “Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be least disappointing”
So without the so called “CHANGE” Mantra in their mind, I am sure majority of the neutral voters in India, like me will do something, that we have been doing for ages, don’t cast our votes in favor of a political party but cast them against a party.

Pissed Off in London

Sunday 12th April 2009 in London around 17:34 GMT:
That was a dread full decision of mine to go to the London Victoria Coach Station loo, As I moved ahead in the queue.. I was stopped by a wonderful looking machine which said 50 pens to move further. I reached my pocket and put a 50 Pens coin (as cool as I put a 50 Paisa coin anywhere in India) and I went ahead

As in when I started the process, suddenly the Currency Conversion calculator inside my brain ( something that always gets activated automatically when an Indian lands in any forgien sand) started giving me High alerts like a fire brigade and the following calculations started flashing in front of my eyes

50 Pens = Half a Pound
1 Pound = 76 Indian Rupees
so 50 Pens = 76/2 = 38 Indian Rupees

38 RS ! ! ! ! ! ! Rs for a pee, @##$$**
And this was haunting me through out my journey back from london to manchester until I got my share of smile when I told myself "Good, I did this in UK not in Kuwait"