Thursday, January 25, 2007

100 things to do before I die

Ok, this is October end and this is public review :)

1. Make sure my son grows up to be an independant, honest and gentle person.
[October 07] He is a very mischievous indivual right now with pretty strong likes and dislikes. And very demanding one also. Can not even tell whether I am on a right track on this one :(

2. Enable him to dream about his career without any restrictions and educate him to make it reality

3. Go on a very long trek alongwith only him and nobody else
[October 07] Long walk, solitary.ha ha. Only dream about it buddy. But managed to go on a long ride with wifey though :)

4. Make sure everybody at home is independant and busy contributing his worth to society and himself. Pallavi gets a job
[October 07] Hmm. Not even trying anything in this direction right now. Does not even know how to start.

5. Dada ia doing something regular out of house
[October 07] Hmm. Not even trying anything in this direction right now. Does not even know how to start.

6. Aai is working (maybe helping dada)
[October 07] Hmm. Not even trying anything in this direction right now. Does not even know how to start.

7. Make sure there is always love, work against all the prejudices/people which comes in the way.
[October 07] Honestly tried this seldom. When I am actually into all this, this is too murky. And like a lot of other thing, there is no end to it. So a very bad commitment to write in all.

8. Maintain nutrality without being aloof and disinterested.
[October 07]Ditto. A tight rope walk indeed.

9. Adopt a cute girl.
[October 07] Need to get motivated and really serious about this. This thing is not going to work by consensus.

10. Be part of kernel development team.
[October 07] Ok.TS, pretty near to the kernel team. Slow but on right track.

11. Involve in Apple kernel developement somewhere down the line.
[October 07] Dream on.

12. Contribute to *bsd source code whenever it becomes legally possible.
[October 07] Dream on.

13. Visit Himalays (Nepal)
[October 07] Not a hugh thing. Will do it anytime.

14. Read complete Victor Hugo /Ernst Hemingway/Dostovesky
[October 07] Losing the habit of reading and hence writing. Such a simple thing but going backwords on this one :(

15. visit all the places mentioned in the above works
[October 07] Dream on.

16. Act in at least one shakespeare drama
[October 07] Dream on.

17. Learn to play tennis,football
[October 07] 1/3 done already. But again depends on the definition of " learn".

18. Bowl with speed more than 80miles per hour.
[October 07] Dream on. Seious long running injuries preventing from doing so.

19. Own a beautiful house
[October 07] Dream on. Will hand it down to my son most proibably.

20. Own a four wheeler
[October 07] Wiithin next two years.

21. Go on a holiday for more than a month at least once in two years
[October 07] Will do :)

22. Change company/groups at least once in three years.
[October 07] Group changed by default.

23. Learn any of the skills which take you off the ground (flying/gliding/paragliding)
[October 07] Dream on. Not anywhere related

24. Donate minimum 3% of earnings annually
[October 07] Dream on. Should do. One of the most doable thing which is not done.

25. Talk to minimum 20 people in a week.
[October 07] Dream on. Totally forgot about this one. Should start a private talk meter :)

26. Make new friends, give them more than you take from them.
[October 07] Dream on. Forgot about this one.

27. Learn to drive a four wheeler.
[October 07] If I buy, I will learn :)

28. Everyday see the moon and the stars.
[October 07] Did for the period of 2 weeks. Restart.


29. Reduce and maintain weight less than 70 kg always
[October 07] Dream on. Second most doable thing which is not done.

30. Learn how to play the flute
[October 07] Dream on. Not tried anything in this direction at all.

31. Learn how to cook and try to cook your own food at least twice a week
[October 07] Dream on. Start from this week.

32. Wash and iron your own clothes at least thrice a week.
[October 07] Dream on. Start from this week.

33. Study and teach physics and maths
[October 07] Dream on. Trying for MS in CS. Can be called a good start.

34. Pursue further education in s/w
[October 07] Dream on. Trying for MS in CS. Can be called a good start.

35. Learn at least one foreign language completely (french/japanese)
[October 07] Dream on.

36. Learn Telugu
[October 07] Dream on. Can be started at any point of time.

37. Take everybody (Pallavi, Ojas, aai and dada) on a foreign trip
[October 07] Will do.

38. Walk more than50 kms per week
[October 07] Ran more than 50 kms for two weeks before heels gave up. Earned me a lifelong injury most probably.

39. Spend more than 1000 rs every two months on buying new books
[October 07] Doing so till now.

One addition:
40. Masters before 35 years of age, doctorate before 40 :)

Sunday, January 21, 2007

reargard action .. slow and steady does it again ...

Just had the honour of watching part of Inzi's and complete Hussy's innings played during the last two days. They were very different from each other in terms of strategies.

Hussy, on one hand, definitely believed in the tailender at the other end to somhow survive the short balls (and did Flintoff batter Lee with hailstorm of them!! nad Lee not for the first time in his career, hung on with his nails, first winced and then smiled at the blows, jumped on anything with width, what a charactor, what a charactor). Hussy at the other end, scratched and fidgeted, nudged singles around, ran like hell to make some of them twos, shelved all the risky shots and looked like he somehow will drag the dead australian horse across the winning line if he is lucky. But actually he was just patiently waiting for his time to come. He first blunted the English attack, tamed them and then ruled them. Then came out the gorgeous cover drives. If there ever will be an book called "Idiot's guide to tame the ballers and win a lost one day game", Bevan-Hussy will write it. I seriously think such a book is in private circulation: Yuvraj and Kaif seemed to have read a chaptor of it on that astounding day at Lord's ages ago. But they promptly forgot the lesson.


Inzy on the other hand was not so gifted in his friends. Paki tail did wag a lot in the first test but history, even if it repeats itself, does not do so so frequently. He lorded over five balls per over. Finding boundaries and denying himself any singles. This is the alternative way to the Idiot's guide, it took out the weak point, i.e. the tail-ender out of the equation and hence the position was strengthened.

Coming back to our Lord's(and Maharaja's?) of dead pitches, Our confidence is suddenly buoyed by the media jumboree. I am not saying we will lose badly. We may still beat the hell out of the Windies. Our Master Blasters,Maharajas and Dhonis may still butcher the ballers, take them to the washers. But I would like our boys to fight in minimum one readgard, dig deep, prowl in trenches and slowly push back the marauders, dethrone the pretenders. Ek baar yaar, sirf ek baar Lords ho jaaye aur ek baar ...