Idle musings

    I went with three friends at work to a jungle lodge this weekend.     It was a good break from the routine and I find now, after returning, that this was something necessary. A routine is good, but it is only when one breaks from it that one realises how stifling it can become. I understand the meaning of "comfort zone" in this sense now !     We left on Saturday morning. The local FM station played good hits to put us in a peppy mood for the trip. The road was good and we had brought cassettes of music that all of us liked. So, there was the well-engineered car, there were four men eagerly looking forward for an adventurous weekend and there was the road. It didn't get better than this !     The journey was fun. We were amazed at how helpful people are when we asked for directions. In fact, at one mofussil town, the traffic policeman walked across the road and told us the route.     It was past lunchtime wh...

THE MATCH - AND AFTER     After 7 years, there has been an Indian team touring Pakistan for a cricket series. The one day series got off to an eventful start. See http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2004/mar/13india.htm for details.     It was clear that the players felt the sense of the occasion. The Pakistani opening bowlers bowled far too many wides and no-balls, which would be discussed at length during the day by the cricket commentators. However, the Indian openers also felt the nerves, I thought. There was bravado in Sachin's shots, but a lot of it appeared put on. Sehwag was almost sedate in comparison, initially. The unconvincing opening made me feel that the bowlers could get an upper hand. In fact, Inzamam-ul-Haq said that had the bowlers been more disciplined, the moisture in the wicket might have caused more problems to the Indian batsmen. As it was, there were a couple of close shaves : a catch off a no ball and a dropped catch ; Sachin and Sehwag b...

    Today, I shopped at what I would say is our city's equivalent of a "Mom and Pop" store.     Flashback to 14 years ago, almost to the day, when we entered a newly constructed home, in what was then the outskirts of our city. It is customary to spend three nights in the new house. We settled down to spend the first of three nights in the new house. There wasn't any furniture in the house and the construction was not completed yet. So, there were quite a few things we missed in that time, whether it was a comfortable bed or tasty food. Still, whatever we lacked during those three days, it certainly wasn't mosquitoes !     After a terrible first night, we decided to scout around for mosquito repellants the next morning. In our search for shops, we found a small shop with the shopkeeper and a lady, presumably his wife, talking amiably to their customers. We found the mosquito repellants in another shop, but we returned to the new shop some da...

AN EXAMPLE OF THE VISION OF PRESIDENT DR. A. P. J. KALAM     I like to listen to FM radio when I am driving. Now, if I get to listen to a song I like when I am driving, I boost the volume up. It is not often that I find myself turning up the volume only to hear voices of radio jockeys or those in the advertisements speak. Yesterday, a song came on my favourite FM station that I did not like.     I changed stations immediately and heard a voice expressing a vision for the country that "kept me locked" to the station. In fact, while I drove, I was conscious that part of my attention was on the speech that I was listening to. It was with a conscious effort that I had to pay attention to the road ! What was the power of the voice and the vision that kept me engaged for nearly a quarter of an hour ?     The answer to that question lies in the date today : 26-January, Republic Day in India. This means yesterday was 25-Jan and the voice I heard was...

THE MINOR MISHAP I had a close shave on the roads tonight. As I opened the throttle of my bike, I noticed a moped swerving to the right on my left, coming from behind me. I had been aware that he was looking to overtake me and further slowed down to let the man in a hurry proceed. What I had not been aware of was the pillion rider. This gentleman (?) had a round, filled sack that can be best described as huge. The sack hit my bike, which wobbled and toppled over to one side. Even as I mentally cursed the driver, I was aware of shouts behind me and the screech of brakes. It was lucky that none of the vehicles were in full speed. I was also luckier that the vehicle behind me was a taxi. Taxi drivers, in my opinion, are used to any kind of interruptions. The taxi driver easily braked even as I and my bike toppled to one side. Dazed and a little panicky (but physically almost unscratched), I lifted the bike and put it into neutral. I faced a problem though : the bike still wouldn't mo...

    A BEAUTIFUL BOOK : THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING     I have finished reading a beautiful book, "The Fellowship of the Ring", part 1 of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. http://www.lordoftherings.net has more details.     When my friends and I saw the picture based on the book a year or so ago, we were none too impressed. A colleague I know mentioned that the picture does not do justice to the book - and that the book is far better. Having read it now, I can confirm that statement !     Tolkein, the author, explicitly states in the foreword that the story should not be interpreted as a metaphor. It was written around the time of the second world war and the parallel drawn then between the story at that age was naturally the war itself. Tolkein says it was his intention only to narrate an engaging story - and engaging, for me, it certainly is !     To those who have not read the book, the story in its essence is...

There were two test matches going on today. One involved India against Australia, in Brisbane. What was more interesting was the other test match in Galle, Sri Lanka ! It was an advertisement for test match cricket. If you want details, do see http://www-ind.cricket.org/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/ENG_IN_SL/SCORECARDS/ENG_SL_T1_02-06DEC2003.html England needed 323 in the last innings to win. England never threatened to look at the target seriously. Earlier, Sri Lanka had won the toss and batted first. Today, England were staring down the barrel of the gun as Chaminda Vaas got into the act first and then Muthaiah Muralitharan took over. 323 as a score to chase in the final innings was always going to be tough. However, there was an engrossing contest as their batsmen fought to the best of their ability to keep their wickets intact even as Murali wove a web of off breaks, top spinners and the occasional leg breaks. On the personal side, there was carpentry work going on in the afternoon at my hou...