Memorable Moments of cricket in SSN I

The match was in the balance, Shiva who had bowled an excellent previous over had the ball. Sundar's team needed 10 off 12 balls. Prakash was the batsman. Shiva had spent eons setting up the field and started down the run up with utmost confidence, and the crowd (read five members) at his back. I was at square leg watching history in the making. Shiva bowled at a good length, and Prakash danced down the track, swiveled to face me and smacked the ball high up in the air in my direction.

I could only stand watch, with my mouth gaping as the ball sailed over me, over the boundary ropes, and way over the CSE Block roof, and was out of sight. Needless to say- the ball had disappeared over the tall CSE block and landed on its roof.

For moment, nothing happened. All eyes were glued on the CSE roof, as if waiting for the ball to come back all by itself. The next moment, pandemonium ensued. Everybody was running towards Shiva or Prakash, mostly Shiva to beat him up.

I could only watch and laugh knowingly, as I could understand how it would have felt to Shiva, already having been at the receiving end of a Sundar mauling a few matches. That over almost destroyed my career as a spin bowler.

Shiva was at a similar state now. Just the over before, he had been a hero. Now everyone was blaming him for the abandonment of the match- everyone believed the ball had been lost because of his poor bowling.
Prakash stood there, bemused at his own shot, and his power. It was to become his forte soon- power hitting. This was the moment that started it all. It is one of the most enduring moments of cricket in SSN.

A rare retort to George Bernard Shaw!

George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright has been the central subject of many an anecdote, which almost always end with Shaw retort. Rare, or perhaps even non-existent is the anecdote in which Shaw is in the receiving end of the retort.
But here's that rare moment:

"I'm enclosing two tickets to the first show of my new play. Bring a friend, if you have one" wrote Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill (then Prime Minister of England).

Back came the reply from Churchill to the searing attack by Shaw- "Cannot possily attend the first show. Will attend the second, if there is one!"

Shaw would have known, that he had (finally!) met his match!

Australia's answer to Kamal Hassan's Dasavatharam!

If you ever thought the Aussies were nothing more than a bunch of bullies (if you think that is ridiculous, you must watch cricket regularly to know otherwise) with no sense of art or culture- well think again, because good old Warney- the Spin Wizard, has become their new Mascot for his histrionics.

In the latest TV ad, Shane Warne plays the roles of his dad, mum and himself as their baby in this innovative take on Dasavatharam (of course, unintended)- but I guess he goes one step more than all our Indian actors, being cast as a baby as well. (Sorry I couldn't get pics of the baby!)

Well, he may not be the family man in real life (he is a divorced man), but he seems to say to the World- I am the family I need; I can be the mother, father and the baby! :-)

Look at this pic- doesn't he look like Satyaraj?

Here're some links to articles:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22732925-2,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22733144-661,00.html

Bikini Bandits: Crazy, yet effective

Leave it to the Danes to pull out the most crazy trick out of the box. The recent move by the RFSF (Rådet for større færdelssikkerhed-Danish commission for increasing road safety) to allow a trained gang of so called Bikini Bandits to patrol the roads has been greeted with an overwhelming response from motorists.

Surveys suggest a 30% decrease in the number of cars crossing the speed limit (of 50 km/h).

So who or what are these Bikini Bandits. They are a gang of trained volunteers who prowl the streets TOPLESS (yes, topless) holding up the sign-post indicating the speed limit.

No wonder any guy would slow down or even stop to look at the sign-post (and obviously the "pole" which is holding it). Although it has been a desperate effort, and has produced favourable results, it has evoked an equal amount of criticism, especially from the female community.

Motorists stopping to gaze at the Bandits' uncovered assets has brought traffic to a standstill sometimes, while the girls jiggling their bosoms doesn't make a pretty sight for the women (who they say find such sights in public "disgusting"). Not to mention the fate of parents who would've a long bout of explanation to their little kids, if the children happen to be witnesses.

Head Bandit Heidi Svendsen (in first picture) reckons all such talk is crap and that she "couldn't care less for what others have to say. People are starting to notice!". She then sidetracked to commenting on her team as being the best (well, are there more baby? Where then?) and that they'll continue to do their jobs with full passion- that is to make Denmark sit back and pay attention.

But, of course, one mustn't forget- the Danes never worry and have no great cares to cause them stress- they've always had a care-free attitude to all things in life and why should something as innocuous and trivial as this cause them to drain their nervous energy?

On the contrary, the move is very popular among (no marks for guessing) the men.

No wonder- The Danes are the happiest people in the world (survey results).

Imagine something like this in India to stop people from littering? Dust-Bin Bandits, anyone? ;-)

Here's the link for the video of a news item on The Speed Control Bikini Bandits (Warning: Explicit Content Viewer Discretion Advised):
http://speedbandits.dk/

The Story Behind the Eyes

Imagine if you got a pic like this on your screen out of nowhere. If its in the night, and after having read a story on the supernatural, its enough to scare your wits out of you.

Something like this happened to me last Friday.

I was listening to the preview of a song I was downloading through Limewire. Meanwhile, I decided to open some other applications. And I soon got engrossed working in those applications that I even forgot that the preview had run to completion. After finishing my work and closing those apps, imagine my amazement when I find two cold surreal eyes staring at me.

I was startled for a moment. Only then did I recognise that these eyes were from the visualizations of the Windows Media Player. The fact that I had not selected repeat mode meant that the visualization produced by the last note of the song was still active on the Now Playing screen.

Only then I remembered the song. I was suddenly fascinated by the different kinds of pics I could make by just playing the song (or any other song for that matter). But try what I may, I could never get back those eyes like this. Of course I had saved the pic for posterity the moment I saw it.

The song is Kaho Na Kaho from murder. I've the song that produced this visualization. I merely challenge you to produce pics like these.

September 2: The Curious Case of the lost Days

1752 became a standout year in history when the United Kingdom decided to adopt the Gregorian Calendar (as the Julian Calendar was found to be inaccurate) in all its colonies, as a direct consequence of the Calendar Act of 1750. So the day following Wednesday September 2nd 1752 was Thursday September 14th 1752.

(If u wanna check, try looking up http://tinyurl.com/3748h7)

Here's a screen shot of the page.

Not surprisingly, people went on strike demanding the "lost' days of their life. Come to think of it- people may have had deadlines for various jobs, and they would all be haywire now. Besides, what about all the engagements scheduled during the days swallowed? There may have been marriages, court trials, elections, harvests and what not planned on those days? While there's no evidence as to whether the government gave prior warning about this enactment (when I say prior, in this case, it must have been at least 6 months), it went a long way into ensuring the Tax payment was not compromised (Typical Government Stuff I guess!).

In the words of wiki:

The Kingdom of Great Britain and thereby the rest of the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 under the provisions of the Calendar Act 1750; by which time it was necessary to correct by eleven days (Wednesday, September 2, 1752 being followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752) to account for February 29, 1700 (Julian).

Whoa! All this hullabaloo for just ONE (1) day??

Crazy!