F1 2008 Australian GP

It was jus 5 months back that we saw the last race but it really seems like a decade has passed. Was really looking forward for the 2008 series to begin - the excitement factors being Alonso returning to Renault and India been represented in the big event by Kingfisher (Force india). Force india looked promising during the test drives at barcelona and spain - not that i expected them to finish in the top 3 but was hoping that they have a good start.

The first race was the australian grand prix - the race starting was good with hamilton taking off from the pole position but it was disappointing to see Force India's Fisichella getting knocked out in the first corner itself. It was not a good week for ferrari for sure - massa had a spin in the first lap and he lost a couple of positions. Raikkonen as usual exhibited his magnificent driving skills - he started 16th and by the mid of the race he was 3rd - he gave a tough time to Kovalainen but it was sheer bad luck when he was not able to control his car after overtaking Kovalainen - felt bad for him but this is F1 - a second loss of concentration can cause a lot of damage!!!

The race was action packed and only 7 cars completed the race. Hamilton's drive was almost unnoticed in the race (he built a lead and was way ahead) - McLaren really deserved a win here out at the Australian GP - would have been good if they had a one-two. It was nice to see BMW and Toyota on the podium. Though renault (Alonso) did not leave a big impact in the first race, they are sure to come back with a bang in the future races (Alonso started 12th and finished 4th and he did a brilliant job while overtaking ferrari and Mclaren)

A memorable race and a good way to start the 2008 GP - looking forward

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

Got this as a forward message - good one

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

I want you to know one thing.
You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon,
at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals,
were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly you forget me do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners that passes through my life,
and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots,
remember that on that day, at that hour,
I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land.

Face to face meet with a man i adore

It was way back in 2001 - i was in my final year of engineering and we had our department symposium "prodigy" scheduled in the month of February 02. It was the final year's responsibilty to conduct the event. we all debated as to who should be the chief guest for the event - we finally decided that it would be a great honour to have Dr.Abdul kalam preside over the event. At that point of time, he had retired from DRDO and he was a faculty at Anna university. So Jaggu and i took the responsibilty of going doen to Chennai to invite him for the symposium.

Little did we know at that point of time about the formality of fixing up an appointment before visiting - Jaggu and i landed up in Anna university and we directly went to his office. We managed to speak our way past the security and met his secretary. Dr.Kalam was not there in the office and we were asked to come back in the afternoon. When we returned in the afternoon, his secretary was not sure if we could meet him that day (we were to return back to trichy that night). We guys had almost given up all hope and were about to leave. All of a sudden, Dr.Abdul Kalam steps out of his room to say something to the secretary and he notices us sitting there. He asked the secretary as to who we were and as soon as he knew we were students from REC, he came down to us and spoke to us. He was a man down to earth and he listened to us patiently. He politely declined to preside over the function - we did not achieve our goal of getting him to REC but we were happy that we were able to shake hands with the undisputed leader of the indian misslie program who breather life into Agni And Prithvi :)

This is one memorable meeting which i would carry to my grave

ATM - Alltime Torture Movie

Decided to watch some movie over the net - the usual website tamilblood was not available - the next option was videodhuniya and there were two latest movies available - Azhagiya tamil mazhgan and Bheema. A few freiends told me earlier that bheema is not worth watching so decided to watch the "illaya thalapathi" in action.

ATM - Vijay gets introduced in his usual style with a competition followed by a song - this reminded me of Gilli and a number of other movies- when will he change this style!!! Shreya's introduction is another comedy where she feeds the ants and they have graphics to show the ant walking away with the food. The first half is filled with the usual concept of the guy and girl falling in love. The reason for Shreya to fall in love with vijay lacks creativity - well, they need a reason for the heroine to fall in love with the hero and voila - the director came up with that real stupid reason and the way she proposes to him - how dumb. They than start getting the approval of the parents - i started snoring by the time they got the green flag from one and all!!!

In the second half the second vijay makes an entry - he looks really cool in the introduction scene. The fake guy moves in and makes everyone - including the actual guys friends, lover and parents believe that he is the real guy - Excuse me - pls do not tell me that the actual guy has scripted his min to min biography in a diary and the fake guy just picks up everything and makes everyone believe it. The first half is really slow and the second half lacks logic in each and every scene (well - it is too much to expect logic from movies but still...). Shreya as usual looks good :)

Comedy track has also failed miserably in the movie. The real comedy in that movie was the climax - the way the bad guy jus realizes his mistakes and walks into namitha's hands- Heights!!!

Prague

Landed in prague on the 3rd afternoon - first thing that stuck me was the cold weather - It was 30 degree celsius at bangalore and at prague it was 3. Coming to prague office was like a home-coming - it was really nice to see the Prague colleagues after 4 months and there were a lot of stories to catch up on :)