Bye Bye Blogger!

Guys its been exactly 5 months I started blogging here in blogspot and its alvida time! I am leaving blogspot and joining WordPress!

Here's my new url: http://especiality.wordpress.com

Please change your bookmarks - see you all @ wordpress!
Happy blogging oops WordPressing!

Over and out,
RJ

The Expansionist Meme - Tagged!

Nova aka World tagged me with this meme and here's my response.

Please thoughtfully consider the following, and choose one item for each of the categories below. (Be sure to describe your reasons for choosing)

Q: One religious work from a non-familiar tradition you’ll read:
A: I think its called the "Tanakh". I always wanted to know and read about the Jewish tradition.

Q: One music video–that you like–from your “least likely to listen to’ genre:
A: Main Yahan Tu Wahaan - Baghban (Amitabh Bachchan sung the song) I don't like super slow emotional songs - but this one is an exception coz' 1) Amitabh Bachchan sang it 2) I like the whole idea of singing a song over the phone :D nice noo?

Q: A book from a genre you almost never read, that you have read, or you will read (promise!):
A: Andrew Tanenbaum - Operating Systems and Networking :D :P

Q: Somewhere you’d never thought to go on holiday/vacation, and why it might be fun to go there?
A: Andaman and Nicobar Islands - I think the whole island thg is exciting. Somewhere far yet close kinda thgy!

Q: A specific food you’ve never tried, but will because of this meme, honest!:
A: Mongolian cuisine - heard a lot about it, now I am gonna try it soon. (As soon as this weekend!)

Q: A sport or game you really hate, or haven’t tried yet, but are willing to give one more go:
A: I like all kinda sports and game. I haven't tried baseball and given a chance would love to play that game. I also want to play that girls game - where they throw somethg closing their eyes and have to jump and land in a specific spot. Dont know the name but it looks exciting!

Q: A style of dance you probably won’t try (we won’t make you promise on this one):
A: Cha cha Cha, a lot of foot work and I think I will screw up big time!

Q: A career job you don’t feel you’re suited for, and why:
A: I can never be a doctor/surgeon - I can't see flesh, blood etc and be cool about it.

Q: An item that’s “thinking out of the box’ for this meme that hadn’t been included:
A: Probably the "next question please" :P

Q: If there’s one thing in life you wanted to do, and will do because of this meme, what will it be?
A: Meet up with Nova and play foosball with her :D

I tag my blog fellas to mention one item they did that bought a smile on their face. I got up to give my seat to a pregnant lady in the train and I felt unusually happy about it and smiled the whole day :)

Keep smiling, keep writing and stay healthy,
~RJ

Parents day, everyday!

A new message arrived. My gmail inbox subject line reads "Looking for great father's day gift ideas? 40% on father's day hampers and free shipping to India." This is from one of those send-gifts-to-India portals. I start thinking what would be nice for my dad and it reminded me of mother's day which was about 4 weeks back.

Sunday, May 11, whoaa! I got up early to call up mom! She was super excited to hear my voice and as I finished hearing her stories in her mellifluous voice - I was super charged! And it's known that in our family of 4, my mother and me suffer from logorrhea - atleast that's what my dad and bro feel!

Excited I was, planned to treat myself some chocolate kiwi walnut fudge from Joann's Patiserrie
& cookies. As I drove past main street, I saw about 20 old people standing with some hoardings which I didn't read then and looked around to see what was happening. Everybody around were calm, doing their work in the regular fashion and not seem to be distracted as I was looking at that flock of old people. One of the hoarding caught my attention and it read, "I am just like your mother, will you not wish me for mother's day?"

I thought it was some kind of fund raising events for mother's day till I read the next hoarding. They all were standing below their so called home called "St. Patrick's Senior Living Center" (Read: Old Age Home). The second hoarding read "Adopt me, I will be like your father", third read "Am I that bad to be abandoned?", fourth read, "Can you be my child to me?" and probably a 12 more hoardings like that. Being an emotional enough person, I felt purblind for a while. The 'Maa' song from TZP added that little extra effect!

The oldies standing there are in hope of someone who could come and take them away not because the old age home treats them with cruelty but coz' they could lead a dignified life and prove themselves and to their children that they are not that bad to be abandoned. Some don't curse their kismet and are patiently waiting for their children to come and see them for mother's day!

I quickly called up my mom again and felt a million times better when I heard her say, "Enna ma achu?" ?( What happened dear?) and I replied back saying, "Nothing, just felt like talking a bit more!" Amidst my lachrymose feeling, I still had questions in my mind and one of them was, "How could somebody hate their parents so much to abandon them?"

I switch on the repeat mode in my ipod and listen to the "Maa" song again till I drive back home! ~RJ

Sarad ki kahani, ek nadaan ki zubaani!

A successful IPL season and it was Rajasthan Royals(RR) all way along. Frankly, I underestimated RR big time. A big Kolkata Knight Riders fan it's been disappointing to see they couldn't even make it to the semi-finals. The IPL is over, RR wins the inaugaural IPL. Life's getting boring, so what next? Let's step one step backward and figure out how it all started. My version of the IPL prelude.

Its called "Sarad ki kahani, ek nadaan ki zubaani!"

Sarad Paar: A top notch politician, chairman of the IPL organising committee. He's the big one and he wants all the moolah!

Nimbupaani: Supposedly, one of the world's richest beings around. 6 family members and 600 servants live together!

Rukruk Khan: He's numero one in the movie circuit. He's got the charm, the 6-packs and K-K-Karan!

Tendlya: He's numero one in the cricket arena. He's got the injury, the advertisements and the nails to bite!

Plus supporting cast - thanks to all!

Sarad is all upset with Sabhish Kandra(Owner of a television channel) because he entered the cricket world and is getting all the money and fame. Sarad decides to earn some black moolah using his idea and sketches out a plan overnight. He decides to call the top people from page 3 circuit after his thought - "Chailaa, maala suru karaaycha hota aani hyaani kelaa! Kaahi tari karaylaa havaa, gheto mi henchi barobar aani kapil chi pan maarto! Mee IPL suru karto"

He needs initial funds to execute the whole idea and calls up the "fund-man" Nimbupaani.

Tring tring...

Sarad: He-lo, kaise...se ho app sirji..hum-hein hein yaad rak-koko

Nimbupaani: Abe Sarad kabhi sudhrega, itnaa paisaa toh lutaa cricket se, muh ka operation nahi karvaaya ab tak, kanjus! Kya hua thik se muh kholke bol

Saarad: Woh chodo sir, paisa daalo, double karke detaa hu. You see double return in just 2 months sir!

Nimbupaani: Huh? Paise daalo double karegaa? Yeda samjhaa hai kya re. Saale, main idhar Chilaince mein baithe ande ubaal raha hoon?

Sarad: Sir, aap puri baat sunlo. IPL cha-alu karenge. Logon ko nangaa karenge, Rukruk Khan ko nachaayenge! Kaun-si te-am chahiy-e bolona??!!

Nimbupaani: Apna Tendlya chahiye mereko, bas team mein woh hua toh kaafi hai! Baaki semi-final aur finals apne ground mein hona chahiye!

Sarad: Thik hai, tikh hain sir, Mum-bai lelo aap

Nimbupaani: Haan, besttt! Anil bhi bahot udd raha hai aaj kal, mast jalegaa saala. 2 mahine mein 30crore ko 600crore maltab ek naya ghar!

Sarad : Ha-an, uss-kaa tu ten-shun mat le! (chailaa hyaala marathi yet naahi, malaa hindi yet naahi)

Nimbupaani: Tu apne muh ka kuch kar re, main jaa raha hu sone!!

Sarad : Haan sir, cheque bhej do aap. Bye.

So Nimbupaani decides to buy the Mumbai Indians, the city with the biggest corporates, big sponsors and ofcourse Tendlya!

Now, Sarad is nervous and calls Tendlya to update the story!

Tring tring...

Tendlya: Ailla..hello kon?

Sarad: Aga Anjali, Tendlya la phone de zaraa

Tendlya: Ailaa...Sarad kaka mi Tendlya-ach boltoy!! Team koni ghetli?

Sarad: nimbupaani ni!

Tendlya: Ailaa..changlaa zhaala..rakkam pakki karun taak tu..faayda zhaalaa pahije aaplaa!

Sarad: Faayda hoyel re..tulaa kaay vaatla!! Fukat naahi baslo mi ithe, tu jaasta kaalji nako karus! Tuzaa naav asnaar team madhe mag tulaa aadhi injure sangoon amhi baaki players na paathvu! Tu aaram kar aani te RMF cha deal madhey maaza percentage...

Tendlya: Ailaa.. ho denaar denaar! Injury mastaa, chaalel-chaalel!

Sarad: Chal aata Rukrukla fone laavto

Tendlya: Thik aahe, thevto aata!

Next up, Sarad Paar decides to call Rukruk Khan.
Tring tring...

Sarad: He-lo

Karan: Hello, you're speaking to Karan Johar in RRK's Mannat and...

Sarad: Abbe gud boy, coffee peelana kam kar aur RRK ko phone de saala apna hostgiri kab band karegaa kya maloom

Karan: *Sob* Aapko acche se baat karne nahi aati kya *sob* .......... RRK its for u!

RRK: Hello ?

Sarad: K-ya re, bhabie gh-ar pe nahi hai k-ya?

RRK: (background music playing - eeeehhhhhhh kantabehen) Kya hua bol sarad?

Sarad: Pai-saa kamaane-ka hai k-yaa ??

RRK: K-k-k-k-kaise???

Sarad: IPL chaalu karegaa .. ba-hot lut-egaa public ko..kya boltai tu?

SRK: Arre waah! Idea mast hai re!! Idhar meri bhi lagi padi hai, yeh Akshay bahot footage khaata hai aaj kal! Aur tune Akshay ko koi bhi function mein bulaya naa-toh yaad rakh. Mein King Khan hoon kuch bhi kar sakta hoon mere films promote hone chahiye aur mujhe naachne bhi milna chahiye udhar

Sarad: Demand bahot karne lag-aa hai tu a-aj kal!!! Thik h-ai..dekh-ta hoon main kya kar saktaaa hu ....kaunsi team legaa? Mukesh ne Mumbai le li hain

RRK: Havrat saala.. kitna kamaayega!! Kolkatta de mujhe, Dada bhi form mein hai aur udhar ka public bhi yedaa hai, sab uthke aatein hai match dekhneko

Sarad: Th-ik ha-i , Kolkatta te-raa..

RRK: Ek kaam kar na, Ugly Zhinta ko bhi pucchh - nahi toh mere pe shak aayega sabko ki despo hai publicity ke liye karke!

Sarad : Abe paagal hai kya, uske paas kya hai, uski toh abhi koi film bhi nahi a-ati! Kaam karta hu, Fajitabh ko fone lagaata hu??!!

RRK: Sharad faaltugiri nahi chahiye haa! Main idhar paise de dekar King Khan bann raha hu aur tu usko mere saath kyo bhid raha hai?? Budda khajayegaa poore stadium ko aur mereko limelight nahi milegaa. Tu Ugly Zhinta ko lagaa, bombay dyeing leke baithi hai woh Nadia Mess ko yedia banaa!

Sarad : Abe Mumbai Dyeing bol, woh Aaj Kurkure aake gaadi fodega tera, aaj kal mar raha hai woh bhi publicity ke liye!

RRK: Sach baat bolu kya re sarad - jab usne Fajitabh ka ghar foda naa, main aur Chori bahut khush hua maloom. Saala kuch bhi bol lekin budde mein baat hai
Sarad : Ha-ha-ha.. *cough* Chal fone laga-ata hu Ugly Zhinta ko ..

RRK : Haan chal bye. K-k-k-karan where did u go?? (background music playing - eeeehhhhhhh kantabehen)

So this way, Nimbupaani buys Mumbai Indians, RRK buys the Kolkatta Knight Riders and Sarad convinces Ugly and Mess into buying Punjab!

It begins and voila! Its a success! Probably success is an understatement! When we think of that one thing that can surely be a bit, its either Bollywood or Cricket. And IPL gave us a perfect blend of the two. People were happy, and so were the team managers, players and our very own Sarad Paar. What it needs to be the IPL champ is not the celebrities, not the corporate houses but a good captain leading from the front and a blend of high-performing players. RR had it all! They deserved it!

Disclaimer : This should be taken lightly with a sense of humour. This is not to hurt anybody's feelings or sentiments. Any similarity of name, events, location is purely co-incidental. The author of this post has fully respect for Sharad Pawar, Subhash Chandra, Kapil Dev, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Amitabh Bacchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwariya Rai, Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia. Raj Thackery too!

P.S Thanks Neetu, Deval, Gauri & Altaf. Anubha - thanks for everything! You da best!

Paanch minute hain tumhare paas! Paanch minute!

5 minutes is 300 seconds - as if nobody knew!! These 300 seconds sometimes feel so long and sometimes just fades away even before you could react. I had tagged Anubha about her take on 5 minutes and here's her work. Isn't she the best and cute? Since I loved the topic so much I wanted to come up with my version of 5 minutes - hope you enjoy reading this too!

Ever wondered why this 5 minutes acts weirdly crazy on us? The extra 5 minutes of the morning sleep dismisses quickly leaving behind a not-so-rhythmic sound of the alarm clock. The buzzing never seems to happen when you are all geared up for a trek, a visit to a water park or a hill-station outing. Ever wondered why?

Read on: It's just not about the extra sleep, it's about a zillion things that the happens to us in the daily routine. It's 4:55PM, I am at work, absolutely seeing every second ticking away, but it doesnt't seem to end. This time, perhaps, the 300 seconds just decided to move at a pace of 3000 seconds! Phew! Earlier in the same day, it was my weekly status meeting and obviously I forgot to get my reports done. For my status meeting at 11AM I started to work on my report at 10:45AM and the 15 minutes just vanished. Aaargh!

Scene this - My friend is smiling and staring at the laptop. I asked him, "Dude, wassup? What are you smiling at?" He responds back, "Arre, woh aanewali hain 5 minute mein!!" He is over-joyous and is watiting for his girlfriend and they chat their weekend away to glory. I meet him almost at the end of the day and he shoots a statement, "Twas so quick yaar!!" (Damn, it was more than 8 hours!!)

5 minutes before a break during a lecture seem so long and the 5 minutes of the break seems shorter. 5 minutes of the flight delay when you plan to meet your girlfriend seem long and the 5 minutes while kissing her goodbye seems shorter.

Ever wondered why? How does these 5 minutes matter to you? Why?

Yet to understand the tale of 5 minutes,
~RJ

I want to be a girl!

Folks, before you start your thinking engines, this ain't any kind of a ribald humour neither am I promoting the sex change operation. But if there is another life that I could live, I want to be born as a girl! I have my own reasons and maybe this would get through your gates too.

One of the most important reasons I want to be a girl is the priviledge of giving birth to someone. Guys - all of you are also involved in the process but as always we do the easy thing and get out leaving the pain for them to suffer. I would love to see myself giving birth to someone and taking the onus to bear that pain for once. I know this could sound as a wacka cracken thought but in this age where fathers are killing daughters, children killing their parents, husbands killing wives, death tolls taking a top gear and all this happening mercilessly , I want to give birth to feel special, to feel that something and then hear someone say to me, "You did good, you were brave. He/She looks exactly like you". Whoa! I get the jitters!

Read on - I am not crazy! I feel a million percent that girls are smarter than guys in most of the aspects. Scene this: Our family of 4 finished lunch and we are all helping mom to put the used utensils in the sink. My mom tells my dad to transfer the left over dal to a smaller utensil so that she could clean the bigger one which she used to cook the dal. And what follows is super fun - my dad obviously picks a smaller utensil pours the dal into it just to find that its much smaller to hold everything. Mom gives him a stare and tells him in tamil, "aacha..oru vellai ki iru vellai acha" roughly meaning "Did you successfully manage to increase my workload 200%?". My dad is helplessly grinning. This is a comparison of a 30 years experienced, distinction graded Civil Engineer vs a metric passed woman!! My mom could say what would fit into what with her eyes closed - not because shes trained on household chores, because she's a woman and women are smarter! Let's just plainly accept it!

It's not only about a housemaker, consider an architect, an interior designer, a fashion designer, a choregrapher, a painter - I am sure their work is better than a male conterpart. The reason is women see colors, the way it should be seen, they see it with all liveliness. I would think one of the major reasons this happens is because they talk about others earrings, their dress, their hairstyle, neigbours furniture etc. Talking about these things invariably improves their creative mastery. Can you imagine a guy saying, "Dude, that's a nice tie-pin. I wanted to buy one like that for ages?"

Many of my friends complained that its the gossip that we can't handle. I am so sure that guys love all the gossip. The husbands like to hear from their wife about their neighbours job, trust me I have seen such cases. Once in the elevator, a guy telling his colleague, "Did Tanya file her divorce? She was screaming over the phone the other day, I think it was her husband." The other guy asks, "What was she saying?" If woman gossip, men gossip too!

Lets give them their space, its ok for them to talk about earrings, necklaces, scarves, shoe color, finger rings, lipsticks when you talk about X-box, PSP, BMW Z series, Ironman & cricket!!

We don't want to live in a planet where everybody think from their mind. We need people to think from their heart too and only they can do it. For those who think women can just take decisions thinking from heart, remember we have a political leader of a ruling party and the President of the nation as live examples.

I wanna be a girl and hail womanhood! (P.S I am not a feminist!)
~RJ

Note: All my guy friends I still love you and I am not gay! Feel happy that I can be your girlfriend in your next life! LOL!

Sweet smell of failure

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill

I normally don't like to paste articles from forwarded emails, new articles, internet sites etc. but this was special. KKR - Kolkata Knight Riders is not performing well in the 1st season of IPL and here's something that the team owner had to say to his guys.

SRK's SMS: "Story time boys... I told you if you keep losing you have to bear with my long, boring msgs.... This is your punishment.... Many times I have made movies which don't do well.... When I'm doing them, of course, I don't know they won't do well.... The story is written by somebody else and I just do my bit as an actor. But I have a way of dealing with flop stories, I try my best to keep my character in the film at a level that it makes a failed story also special for me....

I enjoy the work.... I make jokes about the failure.... And, of course, feel awful about it too.... So, right now, all of us have become part of a failed script... A bad IPL script.... Let's try and keep our characters worthy of still looking back at this story and remembering it as a special story becos we all worked very hard at this....

So, chin up and don't spoil yr character in the next two games.... Let's go out with a bang and not a whimper.... In films, we say u r only as good as yr last film.... So let's make the whole world know how good we r in the last (maybe not) two games...

Also, do ignore all this bit about Dada, me and John having issues.... It's a normal thing in the world.... People like to hit you when u r down.... So, we will be hit.... No stress.... It will make us stronger.... The only way to avoid this is to win.... That's one of the reasons why everybody likes to be a winner....

On the other hand, the beauty of failure is that it brings people together.... So, let's stick this out together.... You know me well enuff to know I am not the kind of owner who has issues with the team 'cos of losses... I am too much of a sport myself to get beaten by defeats.... Like you guys are.... Like Dada and John....

I am still trying to understand the code of conduct expected of me at the matches of the IPL.... ICC... etc.... After I understand it, I will decide whether to accept it or not.... Till such time, I will be with you guys at the hotel... in the meetings etc., but won't come for the matches.... So, please don't ever feel it is anything to do with us as a team....

I am as dedicated to my Knights as I am to my kids.... Only, I won't be coming to the class room till the headmaster's rules are understood by me.... I am a bit anti-establishment kind of a guy, so I apologise for this quirk to u all.... So, head's up.... Have a good match and let's make 200 runs tomorrow.... This 150 seems to not work any more."

Who wouldn't want to work with a front-runner with such amazing sense of leadership? The message is motivational, inspirational & commanding. For folks who want to cavil this thought, we should just buy the fact that he's indeed the "King Khan".

Cheering for KKR,

~RJ

இது என்னுடைய முதல் தமிழ் கட்டுரை!!

சந்தீப் டேகு செய்ததினால் தான் இந்த கட்டுரையை நான் எழுதுகிறேன். என்னுடைய முதல் தமிழ் கட்டுரையை எழுதி போஸ்ட் பண்றதுக்கு எனக்கு ரொம்ப சந்தோஷமா இருக்கு. முதலில் சந்தீப், காயத்ரி, அனுபா மற்றும் வித்யா அவர்களை ப்ளாக்ல சந்திப்பதில் ரொம்ப சந்தோஷமா இருக்கு. இவர்கள் எல்லாருமே எனக்கு நல்ல நண்பர்கள் மற்றும் சிறந்த எழுத்தாளர்கள்.

அதிர வைக்கிற மாதிரி ஐடியா கொடுப்பதில் சந்தீப் பெரிய ஆளு!!!!

சில நாட்களாக நான் நிறைய கட்டுரைகள் படித்து அதனுடன் என்னுடைய கருத்துகளையும் பரிமாறி கொள்கிறேன். சில நாட்களாக நான் போஸ்ட் பண்ணுவது கொஞ்சம் கமி ஆயிடுச்சு. ஆனால் இப்பொழுது எனக்கு என்னுடைய தாய் மொழி தமிழில் எழுவதற்கு வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்ததினால் உற்சாகம் அடைந்து உள்ளேன்.

இது இல்லாமல் என்னுடைய இடுப்பு அளவு 36 இல் இருந்து 32 ஆகா குறைத்து உள்ளேன் என்னுடைய கடின உடற்பயிற்சியால். மற்றும் அதை 30 இல் இருந்து 31குள் குறைக்க முயற்சிக்கிறேன்.

இவ்வளவையும் நான் எழுதி ரொம்ப டயர்ட் ஆயிட்டேன். நிச்சயமா இத படிச்சு நீங்களும் டயர்ட் ஆயிருபீங்க :D

இதே போல எழுதி கொண்டும் சிரித்து கொண்டும் காலத்தை இன்பமாக அனுபவிப்போம்!!


P.S This is my mother tongue tamil. Sandeep this post is coming out just coz' you tagged :). Anybody who could decipher this piece of text would be a genius!! Waiting for all your comments and I tag Gayathri, Anubha, Vidhya - post something in your mother tongue!!

Ambi & Prithvi - thanks a ton for helping me get this act together :D

Chicken burrito with no chicken please!!

In about 2.5 years, I have travelled enough to observe the antics performed by our people in flights. An acrid debate would follow which believes this is just an exception of crowd - but it is indeed a larger exception. A bunch of aviophobic people packing the dhoklas, teplas and farsan get onto the bird. Believe me packing your teplas is not bad - it's indeed a good idea but we also need to understand and respect the culture of the visiting nation.

I would like to share my experience during my flight from JFK to BOM. I was busy enjoying the movie Hera Pheri after my dinner. The smiling Punjabi family next to me was loud to the extent that the sound scale was over a 100 decibel and it could penetrate my headphones to the ear drums. The head of the family wanted to come out(he was seated in a center seat) for his bio-break (10th time in 4 hours!!). I decided to do some stretching, given no choice but to get up from my aisle seat. There was some space close to the emergency exit door and I decided to stand there for sometime till my Punjabi neighbour could get it. He decided to join me and started talking about his kids, their American wives, specifically the Black American wife of the younger son, bad service in the flight almost everything when I patiently waited for him to finish and get back to his seat which would allow me enjoy my rest of the movie. By this time, an air hostess passed by and shes asked us, "Sir, would you like some ice-cream?" I said, "No, thanks". My dear Punjabi friend replied, "Oye, ice-cream ko chod, beer-sheer hojaye!". She just smiled and walked away.

Now this is not the only problem we carry on our backs. We start to believe that for the hefty sum we paid for the economy class we should get all that's available. The so called whites look down upon Asians for many reasons - lack of hygiene, lack of dressing sense, loud talking, rushing for no reason, no patience, anger, uncool attitude, too much involvement in other people's life and the list goes on.

We all need to also understand that we as Indian travellers, Indian software engineers, Indian doctors, Indian shop-keepers in a foreign land are brand ambassadors of India and at all times should be proud to represent our country at par with others. A bit of decency, a bit of awareness of the other culture is very important during travelling and living in a different nation.

Another funny incident that shook me was when I went to this Mexican joint called "Taco-Bell" with one of my vegetarian friend. She was quick enough to tell "A chicken burrito with no chicken please!!". My reaction was, "What??!" and she smiled and said "Chalta hain!". The "chalta hain" is a killer word!

We can either think and improve ourselves or learn from others. The other option is to say, "Saala desi, yahan aake bhi sudregaa nahi!!"

Keep smiling, keep posting!
~RJ

The "R" in my life

As a kid, I couldn't pronounce the alphabet "R", instead of R it would be Ya. For instance, Ram would be Yam. This happened till the 10th grade. I was thinking about one funny incident that happened when I was in my 6th or 7th class. My mom told me to get bread from the shop close to our house.

So I am at this shop called Sai-Krupa and ask him, "bhaiyya, bread dona". He ignores me and I again ask him, "bhaiyya, bhaiyya bread dona". This time around he gets irritated and gives me a blade. 7'0 clock blade. I was like, "bhaiyya, yeh nahi..bread chahiye" and he replies saying, "yehi blade hain humhare paas".

I am totally embarassed and point my finger towards the bread and tell him, "woh chahiye Wibbs ka bread". He angrily replied, "toh bread bolona...blade kya hain". I was sadly thinking to myself - "kitne time bola...samaj mein nahi aaya aapko". Similarly, I used to fear that nobody should ask me my name. My name is Bharathiraja. Let me be frank and tell you, when people asked me my name i used to say "Bhayathiyaja". There's no take away from this post, I remembered this incident today so thought of sharing it with you guys!!

Keep yeading and keep yolling...oops..keep reading and keep rolling!!
~RJ

That's my bro - featured!!

Check this out! He used the camera and he's featured. It's a short post about the yet to be launched Mahindra Ingenio. It's featured in cubi[CC]apacity - the Indian Automobile Arena.

This is what an iPhone can do :)
~RJ

Break the ice or wait till it melts!

[Based on a true life story] :D

Kurty told me the other day over some conversation that it was difficult for him to break the ice, but once he does he can sail in pretty smoothly. What about me? Do I have the same problem? - Phew! I think I have that problem too! It's called breaking the ice & sometimes it can also be called breaking the face. One quick inputs from my wannabe rockstar friend was pick-up lines. I feel pick-up lines with all those add-ons don't work. I asked him a few examples of pick-up lines and here's what he had to say - it's just a few of his whole lot!

Did the sun come out or did you just smile at me?

You see my buddy there? He wants to know if you think I'm cute, smart and sexy

Do you have a map? (She says: No, why?) Because I keep getting lost in your eyes

If you were a tear in my eye, I would not cry for fear of losing you

The last time I saw you, I was dreaming

Funny isn't it? Later I realised I could find all of these in the web. My friend has a book full of pick-up lines and he carries them all the time. Ok - I just made this one. Pick-up lines can be funny but it's not encouraging for the girl. The least she could do is smile or the worst she would do is slap! You don't want to be there in either of the scenarios.

So what else can one do? Maybe a smile. Just a plain smile. I have tried this and many times what followed was ignorance. Some girls can be rude or they just wanna make you look funny. She might give you the worst look as if you did something disgusting. Some sweet girls smile back and others smile at everybody claiming to have a sweet smiling face - you want to stay away from those. My take on a smile is - A smile might work sometimes only, you should try it once!

The safest bet is to be yourself. Just move your ass and start a striking conversation. A conversation should follow after being enough observant. What she wears? what she holds? Is she a gadget(ipods,cell phones, portable dvd players) freak or she reads a lot? All this would just help you start a conversation with her. Now when you start a conversation, try not to kill the conversation. Ask her a question for which she has to explain the answer and not finish up by saying yes or no. Do you love to read? Vs You are a reading freak, how come you can read all the time?

It's easier said than done. All I know is it's more harder than you imagine it would be to start a conversation. A bit of confidence might show you a way.

Being punched on the face a numerous times, signing out in dysphoria!!
~RJ

Special thanks to Divya aka Sheval, Shveta, Neets & Kurt!

Will you "dowry" me!!??!

Believe me or not folks, but eavesdropping is poppin! You learn how happy you are when you listen a sad story, realize how lucky you are when you listen about a fateful destiny, makes you feel richer when you hear a poor speak and sometimes eavesdropping gives a bit more!

Location: Newark Penn Station
Scene: Waiting for the 5:49PM South Amboy Local train. A boy gets super excited meeting his friend after a long time (I am guessing the "long time" bit of it)

Boy: Hey felli
Girl: Andy, hii!! how have you been?
Andy: I am doing well Sherry! I tried to call you up in the morning today

(Both look very Indian and for some reason I was inquisitive to know their real names. Andy gets a phone call and he answers saying "Anand here" & Sherry still has her work I.D hanging around her neck which read Sherin Yeleswarapu)

Sherin: My flight was delayed by few hours so got in a bit late
Anand: So, how did it all go?
Sherin: The market is down these days, so the trip wasn't very fruitful
Anand: What do you mean?
Sherin: Dude, the stocks are soaring high and our family can't afford it. Moreover, its against my ethics to pay and get married
Anand: Oh! it still exists, I mean..uhmmm..is it still a practise?
Sherin: Yea! ask me about it, an engineer is worth a five hundred thousand, a doctor costs around the same, a lawyer is a ten hundred thousand, double the figures for a US degree.
Anand: Aww..thats sad!! Btw who marries a lawyer - just kiddin Sherin!
Sherin: (smiles) Do they want a girl or her money? Its really sad.

I got onto my 5:49 train with a powerful thought - Do they want a girl or her money? Very true, isn't it? I was wondering how the attitude of a selfish and a selfless mind works. A selfless mind who will leave her parents & family for you, cook food for you, change her last name to yours, accept your habits & mannerisms and many more against a selfish mind who needs all this and money for just getting married!!

Folks, its marriage, so let's keep it simple! Love for love, trust for trust and compromise for compromise! Let money not intervene our decision of loving or marrying somebody. At the same time gals, if your father wants to gift the son-in-law something huge expensive - we all really love such care! Lol!

Love thy would-be,
~RJ

Just say "No"

I am always amidst funny incidents. The other day at the train station a beggar (if I can call so) or an extensively money deprived man walked up to me and my friends and said, "Guys, I have to get till Linden. I have 5 dollars and need 2 bucks." Ahem - I am new to this country, I don't know how they treat such people here, should I say no, run away from there, smile at him or stay put-a thought that suddenly irrupted into the conscious mind.

I chose to play safe and just nodded my head in an disapproving fashion(READ: Indian fashion), Shai turned his face, so did the other guys standing along. He vociferated, "Guys, just say no! Don't turn your heads the other way". At that moment I felt I should have given him the 2 bucks!! A white man (No - this is not a racist term here, a white man is called "a white man") smiled at me and said, "Did you see that beggar with a f***ing attitude? You ask money and you showing such huge starry attitude". Phew! I felt a bit relieved! I took the train back home and was thinking to myself, the beggar made a point. If I had no interest of giving him 2 bucks I shouldn't have ignored his question, rather I should have said, No!

I also think its probably more to the Indians, we take it so personally when we have to say no. It's not that we lack assertiveness, we just feel its necessary to meet everybody's expectations. When asked one of my friends, he said, "I feel guilty when I say no" - trust me one of the smart workers at work.

Saying no at work, to your boss, to your relatives, to your parents, to relationships-both which work and don't work, sometimes to beggars should not be difficult. Also with saying no comes the fact of accepting "no" as an answer.

Say no without feeling guilty, say no with confidence.
~RJ

Do you have children?

Folks, I am gonna be writing more frequently now - I promise. I have been busy watching IPL and reading "The Reluctant Fundamendalist" by Mohsin Hamid. I have also started studying again and it feels good to be doing something different than the usual.

I wanted to share an interesting conversation that happened during my recent kickboxing class - Damn! I was so confused!

Xena, a japanese girl, petite & strong has been training for 3 years or more. We were engaged in our regular kickboxing drills wherein at one point you just stay out waiting for the other guys to complete their drill. She started talking to me in the class of more than 10 people. I was a regular and picked up the moves pretty well, pretty soon - maybe she kinda liked my determination! I am not being pompous.

Xena: hey, your moves are good & too soon
Me: hey..thanks a ton! Your kicks look powerful too. I am Raj and u..?
Xena: (smiling) I am Xena. Yeah! I am surviving
Me: You taking the class on Thursdays too?
Xena: No, I have a late class and I hate my school
Me: (smiling) You sure do. I work and I like it, moreover, this class and tennis keeps me refreshing
Xena: Not that I am a ubbie, it's just that I hate the long commute. Again, I have no choice as my daughter learns dancing in Jersey City.
Me: Daughter??..!! (Here's where I start getting confused & my confusion never ends. Remember folks, I told you she was petite, looked between 18-22)
Xena: Yeah, she keeps me on my toes
Me: How old is she?
Xena: The elder one is 15 and the younger one is 11
Me: (about to faint) Ok ----I had no other choice but to respond as if I expected the answer---- nice, should be fun
Xena: Do you have children?
Me: No, I am not married yet
Xena: (confused) Yea, but do you have children?
Me: (confused to the core) No (by this time my mind was completely shambolic)

I walk away from that place with a confused look and asking myself, "Do I have children? - damn".

Thats when I remembered my friend telling me when I first entered America. He said, RJ always remember 2 things. First, don't forget the cross streets when you street park you car. Secondly, if somebody asks you "do you have children?" doesn't mean you have to be married!! It is highly possible that a girl might say, "these are my kids and they are living with my boyfriend. I am not married yet."

This is kinda difficult for me to digest because my culture back home in India teaches me to get married and only then have kids. I ain't complaining about the American culture, I understand they have been following this for ages and the Indian culture maybe anal for them. I am just not comfortable with these questions because I can't answer them. Lol!

I am Indian by birth, I understand, I respect & follow my culture. I respect all the other cultures in the world too. If you happen to be in the States and face such a question, be prepared to answer!!

Over & out.
~RJ

Whoaa! Indian Premier League

I have been off for a while now coz' IPL is addictive. Indian Premier League is a 3 hour high action packed cricket game and I have been hooked on to it day-in & day-out. It's also a combination of bollywood and cricket - two big jank in India. Even though SRK might deny and say "it's purely cricket", there is some sense of bollywood attached to IPL.

My bet is on KKR - Kolkata Knight Riders! I am a Knight Rider!
Long Live IPL, long live cricket! I will be on my writing spree soon!

~RJ

Whose land is it anyway?

I was born in Srivilliputtur, Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu. Due to my dad's work which shifted to a new location, we quickly packed our bags and moved to Jamshedpur, Bihar where I did my pre-schooling. We relocated to Mumbai in the late 80s coz' my dad got transferred to Mumbai. My dad also spent many months working in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan & Delhi. My question is which state do I belong now? I always felt I am an Indian. The recent Raj Thackerey furore has alarmed me to an extent that, I feel very controversial saying I was born in Tamil Nadu but raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Thank God we don't need a passport and visa to travel to the different states in India. We can kill the issue saying it's a political gimmick, but that's not the solution. A similar incident happened with the Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka & Tamil Nadu - whose water is it anyway? I can see a day when I have to carry oxygen cylinders to different states coz' I won't be allowed to breathe the air that belongs to that state.

Ironic to the incidents happening these days, I started feeling I learnt the wrong pledge in school which states, "India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.....". Maybe we should have different pledges for different states. Mine would go this way, "Maharashtra is my state in India, all the water and air in Maharastra belongs to me and I won't share it with anybody. I would also not be involved in any good deeds happening outside Maharashtra". Mr. Raj Thackerey, give us a break!!

My friend who hails from Singapore feels, India is a menagerie of hospitable people living together, respecting each others religions, languages, race and feelings. The feeling is mutual for my friend living in United States. When outsiders talk so highly about our country why do we prove them wrong with our immature thoughts? I strongly feel Indianness is in my blood, I believe the phrase "unity in diversity" evolved after experiencing a feeling called India.

Finally, I would like to state that, "Mujhe na states ke naam sunayi dete hain, na dikhayi dete hain. Sirf ek naam sunayi deta hai I-N-D-I-A" :)

Proud to be an Indian!
~RJ

Show me the money!

One of my friends signature has a line after his name & coordinates which reads "I look at Forbes 100 richest men, if I am not there, I go to work". Out of curiosity, I asked him, "Do you really mean it? to which he replied, "If I am not there, I would feel I haven't achieved enough?" I left from that place thinking to myself, "Is money that important in life, that sombody thinks it as a goal to be achieved?"

As usual, I started reading through bulletins, talking to friends, read almost everything on how people perceive the importance of money. I came across a quote which goes like this - "When you have all the money in the world, you fail to recognize youself & when you have no money with you others fail to recognize you!" - anonymous. Now this quote strikes a balance between the importance of money & perhaps, other things. Other things could be family, friends, work, health etc. I asked my friends 2 different questions.

1) Does money make you happy? - the responses were in negation when pitted against family, friends etc.



2) Does money make you unhappy? (Does the financial problems concern you? is the right way of interpreting this question)- A firm "yes" came out as an answer from most of my friends. Out of the 10 folks I spoke to all prioritized (most important - important) in the order of family, friends and money. Nobody said money is not important :). My dear friend Kurt believed family+friends+money = peace. I couldn't agree more!

Let's not get lost in the process of earning money that we forget ourselves, our family and friends. Money can buy everything but happiness.

Earn enough, spend sensibly, care more, he happy!
~RJ

Promises to make!

I wanted to make two promises after too much complaints from all you guys.

1 - I will keep my posts smaller, so no long posts from now on :)
2 - I'm no Guru and so I won't be preachy (or preachy-pox!!)

It's all. Keep reading and appreciate all your valuable comments.

Quick note on life after death. I always wondered what happens to life after death. What remains? what goes? who stays? who runs? what happens to the mind & who will cry when you die? Surprisingly, I found this book in Crossword, with the same title. Who will cry when you die by Robin Sharma is one of those reads which inspires you, motivates you to do more, makes you feel energetic! It's a self-help book, so all you fiction folks stay away! A line to remember from this wonderful book.

When I was growing up, my father said something to me I will never forget, "Son, when you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice"
-Robin Sharma, Who will cry when you die?

Folks, if you get a chance grab this book. It's quiet an interesting read. I am working on my next short, non-preachy post, ciao soon!

Let's live "our" life,
~RJ

In dino...

It's all about loving yourself in the first place. Reading all posts by my preachy-pox friend makes me think just that. It's really strange how things fall in place once you start loving yourself. You start caring about everyone and everything around you, you start observing things that you generally wouldn't, you start doing simple things, which you otherwise wouldn't have done and these are the things that make you feel better, not because what you did was huge, but because such a seemingly simple thing still made a world of difference to someone.

I am keeping this post abstract for a simple reason that many of you would have started having these experiences after having read the earlier posts that my dear buddy has put on board and that you all would personalize this post by including your own experiences between the lines.

Signing off with a few lines from a song that is one of my favorites!!

In dino....dil mera....mujhse hai...keh raha...
tu......khwaab saja...tu......jee le zara...
Hai tujhse bhi ijaazat, karle tu bhi mohabbat...

-Praf.

Buoyant Spirits

I have been doing a lot of new things these days - I eat healthy, hit the gym, take the kickboxing sessions, practice tennis, write blogs and realised that I am more peppy. I could only wish that this insouciant behaviour is more blessed till end of this year and for years to come :). I am happy, perky and feel good. I sure have my one-off days but looking at those numbers I am content. So hows does one feel good or bad? What makes me say "I am feeling good today" or "I am a bit low"? After being bit observant, I have listed down a few things that might help some of you and I would like to know what you folks feel. Friends have also suggested their views on this topic. (Thanks guys, much appreciated!) All we are concerned about is the "feeling good" part; who anyways cares about "feeling low"? Feeling good solely depends on doing things for oneself, doing things for loved ones & people in general and doing things for the society. The later two makes you feel good by itself. I wil try and write about these three phases to achieve a non-blue funk state of mind!

It's about onself, it's about others, it's about the society & it's about feeling good!

The working week is all about not enough sleep so you promise yourself to sleep like a maniac on saturdays & sundays. Ironically, most of the saturdays I get up at 6am just to hear a digital dolby effect of an irritating tune. Ahh...I realised, it's my roommate Shank snoring in the next room. Shank dude wait till the next kickboxing session! So here I am, saturday morning, 6am, up & lively as a bouncing ball. I browse through the address book of my cell phone and find names of friends to whom I haven't spoken in ages. I start calling everybody and we chat about everything we had missed out and this I do till I reach the last name on the address book. Sometimes I thank, sometimes I ask them to forgive me, sometimes I speak about the weird dreams, and sometimes silence speaks everything. By the end of this exercise, you feel good that you got connected to your friends from school, college, tuitions, guitar classes etc. Trust me guys it helps. For those "not-much-speaking types" call me, I will do the talking :)

Talking about sleep and getting up reminded me of something which I find quiet funny in the later part of the day. I make sure to look at my face as soon as I get up. As convenient as it could get, there's a mirror right across my bed. So as I get up, I face the mirror - how cool is that! I try different hairstyles and think to myself, "damn, I am smart!" (Yes, sometimes at 5am when I sleep a bit early) I don't want to change this habit coz' feel it kinda' boosts me in some way. C'mon let's accept it, who doesnt want to look good? Look good to feel good.

The other simplest and proven way to feel good is to shop. Yes, even after the damage you would be happy. Shop for gadgets, clothes, things of your interest. You can always pamper youself! Shopping can nerf the bulge on the back pocket but will surely bring a smile on your face.

The other day, Ruben was a bit sad and low and constantly kept saying, "Why it has to happen to me? & Why me always?". I didn't know what to say and just stayed there with her for coffee. Our common friend, Aila dropped in a bit later and after listening to Ruben, told her something which I felt was motivating and inspiring. She said, "Instead of asking yourself why me?, ask what did I learn? How should I find a solution?" (I reacted in a way that I wanted to say the same thing..heh :)..but...) It was then I realised, asking a "Why me?" was very simple but wont give you a solution, rather ask "What did I learn?". Ruben felt better in no time and I felt good coz' I learnt something I could use in the future. Thanks Aila.

How many of us think not being rich enough is a major cause for not feeling good? According to a survey, 60% feel the moolah is not enough for us to achieve the materialistic things we crave for. Let me infuse a statement I read in the internet, a statement that tells us everything. “There are still around 1 billion people living at the margins of survival on less than US$1 a day, with 2.6 billion (40 percent of the world’s population) living on less than US$2 a day.” Food, an ingredient for survival is still inaccessible for 40-50% of the population. Do we still think not being rich is a cause for not feeling good? For once, let's feed one poor person who cannot afford to buy his meal. The feeling is nonpareil. Try it once and I am sure it will be inculcated as a habit.

Ah..buying food reminds me of charity. Charity is such a noble thing to do, I have always wondered, are people scared of loosing all money by involving in charity? Folks - it's not gambling! Charity needs a big heart and not all the money in the world. Let me share a thought - let's give 1% of what we have. Just 1%. So if I earn $100 every month, I will give $1 to the needy. Hows that? On a larger scale, a person earning $10000 every month would give $100. The needy may be old-age homes, orphanages, the gate-keepers kid etc. Let's help them. Its not much for good feeling - many pay the doctors for it!

We all tip the waiter in the restaurants. Sometimes willingly, sometimes forcefully :), sometimes as a routine. Ever thought about complimenting the chef who cooked your food? How good the person would feel when you tell him, "Buddy, you just rocked; I haven't had such a dinner in ages and your food reminded me of my mom's food". That smile on the chef's face is a million pats on your back. The chef would just say "Thank you" and continue with his work to serve the
next customer. You would drive all the way back feeling good.

Few other small things that I would like to mention is plant a tree on your birthday or on all occasions, vote - it's your duty, love one and all, smile at strangers, guys - respect girls & their emotions, offer a place to sit to the old, pregnant women, women with a child on her arms, donate blood, fight against injustice. Most of these items mentioned may be duties you should do, but if you never got started, it's never too late.

Last but not the least and the most important, be a good son and a good daughter to your parents. Call your dad today and say, "Thank you dad for all the million things you did and never asked to pay back, thanks for all the million times you waved to me with care while dropping me at school, thanks for all the million times you just held me and walked in the park talking to me about how to lead a dignified life. Thanks dad for everything", and your mom, "Maa, first things first, thanks for the food, thanks for sacrificing your dreams so that I could achieve mine, thanks for keeping a million secrets and not leaking them to dad coz' you never wanted him to scold me, thanks for staying the entire night up when I was down with fever & thank you for all the love and trust you showered upon me when I made a mistake, when I failed to succeed and when I reached heights, thanks for everything my sweetest mom". Folks after this phone call the feeling is as if you touched the moon. Believe me or not, words cannot describe this feeling, emotions fail too. Its something else - yet to be described in the dictionary!

Let philanthropy be a routine! Peace, love & empathy - Remember Kurt Cobain :)
~RJ

English Premier League Weekend Report - 30th March

Well folks another round of fixtures have passed in the EPL and we sure have a title race thats most likely to go down to the wire and our first relegation casualty from the EPL being Derby County.

Manchester United consolidated their position at the top of the table with a crushing 4-0 demolition of the hapless Aston Villa. Cristiano Ronaldo got the ball rolling with his customary goal in the 18th minute of play with a stunning back flick that surely has to go down as one of the most audacious efforts on goal. What more can this precocious Portuguese magician come up with? 35 goals from 35 starts! And that too for a midfield player. Looks like we will all run out of superlatives fairly soon if he continues to maintain this sort of devastating form. Ronaldo then turned provider in the 33rd minute with peach of a cross from the right wing that Carlos Tevez made no mistake in burying in the back of the net. At this point it was vintage Manchester United who were threatening each time they came forward. Aston Villa to their credit had a few forays at the Manchester United defence but by far and large were absolutely over run by the red machine.

The second half carried on the same vein as Man Utd powered forward in search of the 3rd killer goal and duly got in the 53rd minuted when another piece exquisite skill created the opening for Wayne Rooney to round the goal and score his first goal in six games. The relief of getting over this mini scoring drought in his face was there for all to see. All Man Utd fans will now be hoping that this is the beginning of an avalanche of goals from the England striker to fire the red devils to glory in both the EPL and the champions league. However it was Cristiano Ronaldo with an audacious flick that split 2 Aston Villa defenders paving the way for Rooney.
Rooney again got into the scoresheet in the 70th with a simple tap in after great work again from Ronaldo from the flanks.

At this point it was just damage limitation for Aston Villa and how they were grateful that the score ended just 4-0 where it could have been much worse.

Manchester United now sit comfortably on 76 points 5 clear of Chelsea who again maintained their challenge with a dull 1-0 win against an unlucky Middlesborough side who hit the woodwork 3 times in the second half. Ricardo Carvalho scored a rare goal in the 6th minute and that was all a lacklustre chelsea could muster. However yet again Avram Grant's team have proved that despite not playing well, they are effective enough to get a result when it matters.

Arsenal arguably produced the performance of the weekend to stay in the title race with an astonishing come from behind victory against a shell shocked Bolton who let slip a 2-0 half time lead to lose 3-2. The way that Arsenal pulled this result was all the more exciting as they were down to 10 men, Alou Diaby sent off for dangerous challenge on El Hadj Diouf. William Gallas Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas in the last minute of play got the goals as Arsene Wenger's exciting young team proved that they were no pushovers. It was truly a wonderful performance coupled with grit and determination in adverse conditions. So Kudos to Arsenal!!!!!!!!
For Bolton, it sends them deeper into relegation trouble and boss Gary Megson might be well advised to start preparing for life outside the top flight next season.

Liverpool strengthen their grip on 4th place with 1-0 win over merseyside neighbours Everton in a highly charged merseyside derby. Fernando Torres scoring early in the 7th minute to give beliguered boss Rafa Benitez a much needed respite after the debacle against Manchester United a week earlier. One needs to just wonder where this Liverpool side would be if not for the goals of Torres and midfield genius of Steve Gerrad. With a team full of international quality, how they have not put up a challenge for the title is a mind blowing mystery.In any case the result was much needed as they are now strong favourites to land the final champions league position.

At the bottom of the table, Derby County became the first side to get relegated from EPL when they could only muster a 2-2 draw with fellow strugglers Fulham. The draw meant that it was mathematically impossible for Derby to escape the drop with 4th from bottom Birmingham also winning. With just 11 points all season they are 19 points behind Birmingham City with just 18 points to play for from the remaining 6 matches.

Newcastle eased their relegation fears considerbly with a thumping 4-1 win away at Tottenham Hotspurs for whom the wheels have come off of late after their Carling Cup Win. Darrent Bent gave Spurs an early lead but right on half time Nicky Butt equalised for the magpies. Newcastle came out during the 2nd half like men possessed and scored early when Geremi curled in a sublime free kick from the edge of the box. Further goals from Michael Owen and Obefemi Martins provided Kevin Keegan with hos first back to back win since taking charge in January. King Kev's attacking philosophy seems like its beginning to reap dividends as Newcastle are 9 points of clear of 17th places Birmingham City. Is Kevin Keegan on his way to creating another team similar to the 90s when the magpies were easily the toast of the premiership with their all action style attacking football? For entertainment sake, lets hope so.

Well, another week of thrills and spills have gone by in the EPL. Hope you enjoyed this bulletin and Watch out for this space for reports on the coming weekends' matches.

Ciao for now
Sporty Shank

Popping the question

Sometimes I think it's so diffcult for some people to pop the question. They try, try till they get married to someone else :) Yea, proposing a girl is difficult, nervous but it's the man who can add that bit of elegance by the way he is proposing. Not that women don't propose - but I think it has to be the man who makes the first move.

I am not adding a "how to propose a girl?" post - there are too many such stuff to read all over the internet, it's just a sweet dream that I would like to share with all my reading mates. There are two characters in this story: Mark & Shannon.
Mark and Shannon have been good friends for over an year and Mark has developed his "be-besides-me-for-a-lifetime" feelings for Shannon. Nobody knows what Shannon thinks about Mark. Does she like Mark? Does she hate him? Is he just a good friend? Is he smart enough to be a life partner? Nobody knows the answers to all these except Shannon. Shannon is sweet (all girls are sweet:) aren't they?), she's witty, she's beautiful, she's jovial, she's practical and she's the best!

Mark is flamboyant, Shannon is sober, he thinks from his mind, she thinks from her heart, he loves Shannon and she....??!! (Mark & Shannon live in Paris and he is permanently going to shift to Sydney to open his restaurant business). He thinks this is the best match for him, nobody could understand him as she could and is desparate to pop the question. He wants to propose her but is very nervous and is not sure if he would lose a perfect friend in Shanon.

Mark couldn't wait any longer and decides that he's just gonna be himself and ask Shannon. Here's how the whole incident takes place. Mark is pensive, tensed & his nerves are taut with anxiety. Can he pull it off?
(Mark & Shannon on their way to work, Shannon reading "Men are from mars, Women are from venus - John Gray" & Mark is "not" listening to his ipod - hes just got the earplugs on!!)

Mark: Shannon, hi
Shannon: (smiles) hmm..Hey Markie, ssup?
Mark: Shan, actually..hmm..you are looking very beautiful as always, wanted to tell you that..I..
Shannon: (cutting Mark) Thanks Markie, and you too are looking smart my cutie boy
Mark: (thinking to himself - cutie boy, is that a good sign or not) Well Shan, thanks,I had a dream we got married..hehe..(trying to be humorous)
Shannon: hmmm...(as in no reaction)
Mark: If we get married, just think, do you mind settling down in Sydney for like 10 years or something? and we have a house...I mean home there? (mark thinking, this is it, shit!!)
Shannon: No, I don't mind
Mark: Do you mind if we don't have kids the first three years coz' we would be busy in our new business and...
Shannon: No, I don't mind
Mark: So you mind I loving you all the time?
Shannon: Hmm...I don't mind
Mark: Wow!!.You are the best & I don't mind too (Mark is confident now) Will you mind taking a day off to roam about, shop, dine out, watch a movie?
Shannon: I won't mind
Mark: Do you mind getting married to me?
(pause...everybody stops talking & start looking at Shannon & waiting for her response...)
Shannon: (smiles) No Mark, I don't mind

For that day, Mark felt everybody had a smile on their face for them, Shannon had this thing in her eyes which said "I am yours, Mark - take care of me". Mark smiled and gave back a reaction which said "I love you more than anything else and will keep loving you till the end".

(Mark & Shannon are in Sydney now, parents of two healthy kids, Sarah & Jason, living happily and looking after their kids & restaurant business)

Guys, let's not make it difficult for ourselves and our sweet ones! Let's keep it simple yet elegant and add grace to the occasion by being ourself. Remember a quick tip - the lady is more precious and important that the gift, doesn't matter if you buy a $10k ring but cannot charm her. Popping the question is an important chapter in our love life - let's not screw it. Love always!

Let there be love in the air
~RJ

Boredom to freedom

This post is a result of numerous discussions, brain-storming sessions, casual conversations, personal experiences all put together. I realized that people repine over the apathy towards life all the while, to a result, most of my conversations started this way:

Me: Dude, wassup?
Person on the phone: Ahh, the usual boring stuff buddy
Me: ??..!! hmm

Should I accede to my inner thought that all my friends were the most boring people on this planet? I am sure that’s not true, these are the people I look upon when I am having a low day – the most full of life guys! (Thanks!). Past few days I have been thinking what is boredom? How is boredom caused? What is the cure to boredom? I am no boredom doctor so I started having conversations with my colleagues, friends over a cup of coffee, which helped a lot because everybody had a different perspective to the way they looked at boredom, their views, their activities etc.

Let’s have a look at the responses that friends gave me when asked when they get bored - No work in office, loneliness, unhealthy conversations, repetitive work, staying at home, mundane discussions, irrelevant meetings, no television, no internet, daily routine, lack of attention from loved ones, waiting for somebody beyond the said time etc.

For one of my friends it was very boring to sleep. He prefers to sleep only because his body needs it, otherwise he feels that’s the most boring activity ever. Given a chance he would like to learn something new, cultivate a hobby or do something creative. Sleeping is just another thing for him – wow! My other cute friend said she hates to eat dinner! LOL!

Professional work plays an important part – no work, repetitive work, too much work etc all leads to boredom. (Damn! How can no work lead to boredom? I am waiting for such a day! ..kiddin’ folks, I know how it feels)

Another important aspect is the nature and the personality of the person. During the exercise of chatting with people, I also realized that the lack of artistic interests can lead no boredom. Sources say that 5 of 10 people don’t have any hobbies, 4 of 10 people do not read, 7 of 10 people do not cultivate interest for a new activity, 6 of 10 people are lazy to follow the same routing for more than 5 months. Phew, exhaustive study!

Making friends, watching movies, surfing the internet, long phone conversations, reading news, observing people & their characteristics, diary writing, spending time with oneself, observing nature, listening to music, youtube, talking to somebody full of life, play sports, keeping fit, watching tv, long rides were the replies when asked about activities people do or prefer to do to kill boredom.

So where are we going making these assumptions & doing such analysis? The goal is, within ourselves we should never feel that we are bored! How sickening it can be that we have a million thousand things to learn and do and we still feel that we are bored. I attended one “happy life” sessions in my office where the speaker told this unique stuff which I never thought of. When we are bored we call up friends to feel better – did we ever realize that when we are ourselves this boring, how will our friend/s enjoy our company?

My friends formed new, never-read, personal, not patented definitions of boredom and I am gonna list all of those here for us to pick the one that suits us and say to ourselves - I am never going to be bored again in life – come what may!

#1 - Applying mind and efforts fully and not achieving the set expectations can lead to boredom - we might do something very interestingly, full of heart but never succeed in achieving the set expectations. This will lead to boredom.
#2 - Applying mind and efforts fully and achieving the set expectations can lead to boredom - a true example of office work! What if we are forced to do something??..!!
#3 - Boredom = useless time + lazy mind
#4 - Boredom is a temporary craving that develops when you don’t find an activity of interest – simple definition, yet true! The next big thing for all of us is finding our own area of interest and spending sometime to inculcate that as a habit or hobby!
#5 - Boredom = when I am doing some stuff; my mind is working on it & my heart says WTF are u doing?? Get a life dude!! – LOL, only kurt can do this!
#6 - Boredom is a prolonged phase of noninterest, monotonous activities to be done without motivation
#7 - Boredom is sitting idle and sitting idle is boring – Sweet thing!

And they did not end there – they gave me the cure also, so here ya go,

#a -make somebody smile, make them happy in turn makes u feel better! – this can kill boredom (Q is can you make the other person happy when you are bored?)
#b - develop a constructive hobby
#c - change to a constant routine
#d – refresh good old memories with oneself and with friends
#e - chat with loved ones
#f - boredom is a state of mind, controlling ur mind can kill boredom
#g – try to do things that u feel like doing and not forced to do

Folks – this is just an attempt so that we can live in a world where people around us and ourselves start feeling that there is nothing called as boring or boredom. Lets make everything interesting! Watsaya?

stay fit, speak your mind & be a charmer!
~RJ

P.S. I know the post is a bit long but boring is such a thing - what can I do? :)

Here I am!!

Well...since Kickboxing seems to be the flavor of the season, I took the privilege of getting myself kicked around during my photo shoot!!

I am currently on a sabbatical of sorts...far away from things that people generally bother themselves with!!

I welcome myself to this blog...It is still some time away when I would be able to post regularly, but you'd see a little of me here and there... Signing off from a quote from someone who is my role model...

"Me? I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly… stupid."

Bindaas bol (Speak your mind!)

My lunch mate Chaitanya shared a story, which I found quiet interesting and somehow made a mark deep inside me. I would love to share the story with the same passion he did, but not everybody is Chait :). Thanks for sharing buddy!

A Salty Ending

Long ago in some far away place lived a king and his two sons. The king ruled many kingdoms and had been thinking deeply which son would take over the kingdoms after him. He asked them a simple question, "What or who is most important to you in life?" The elder son doesn't want to take any chances and obviously making the king happy, replies "My father - I can't live without you and you are the most important person in my life". The king is super excited and expects the same from the younger son. The younger child without wasting any time further time added, "Dad, its the salt that is most important for me". This reply from the young prince discommodes the king and he decides to take severe action. The severe action ended in an exile from the kingdom for the younger prince. The ego of the king was hurt to an extent that people were stopped from buying, selling, using or even speaking about salt.

Salt was condemned from being used in any food preparation. The king was very austere about the decision and his subjects and the people of the kingdom were antagonized by this move. Nobody had the audacity to face the king and get exonerated from the act of eating saltess food. Months later, even the king started realising that food without salt is like fasting everyday and called off the brutal rule. As a matter of fact, the younger son was brought back from exile and the king announced that he would be the next ruler for boldly speaking his mind and not just replying to make his father happy.

Moral: Making someone feel happy is a good deed but speaking your mind is ultra important.(Chait narrated the story over our discussion whether a particular dish was salty - but gave me an outlook to think)

My friend keeps telling me "Do you want to hear what you like or should I say what I feel?" This makes one feel that you would wish the reply to both parts should be same but not necessarily. She speaks her mind with ultimate ease and thats the way to be! One of my other "politically-correct-replies" friend would never let me improve because to make me happy he would always tell me things I would like to hear.

Have you ever faced this situation at work where you knew a solution to a problem but hesitated to share it with the team? hesitated to answer in school/college/classes knowing the answer? hesitated to stop someone doing something wrong? hesitated to speak your mind? Many of us think and believe that "bindaas bolna" means hurting others feeling. Speaking for oneself shows the confidence and potrays your opinion of thought. Dont shy away from situations - if your crush comes and tells you that you look rocking today - don't just blush away, instead reply back saying, always! :) Confidence is the key - you have to believe in yourself for others to believe in you.

A simple tip is talking all by yourself looking at the mirror - sounds weird but this helps a lot. As a child, I couldn't say the alphabet "r" - to the extent that I asked for a loaf of bread in a grocery shop nearby and he gave a pack of shaving blades - for him my bread sounded blades!!!! The mirror habit helped me say the alphabet "r" correctly. Folks - maintain eye contact, stand straight and walk with confidence and I am sure you will speak your mind, not minding what the other person thinks.

The combination of your idea and thought process might be as good as others or even better, so let's share it, you may reach heights you never dreamt of. Before I leave here's a mantra of life to cherish and follow - I am gonna speak my mind today & stay healthy!!

~RJ

How "sporty" can you get?

It was a nice sunny afternoon while I was driving yesterday afternoon and decided I should play an outdoor game as I had been off from field/court games due to chilly winter backed with occasional snow, wind & rains. With the recent fitness fever that has taken over me, it surely has to be a game which burns a plethora of calories. I have been playing cricket since childhood and decided to try something different, something new, something tennis! Yeah! The idle "Fed" in me woke up yesterday with a zeal, superabundance enthusiasm and I headed straight to the nearest Modell's to pick up my Wilsons'.

I have wondered many times that its been 24 years and what games have I actually tried and played & I wished I could have played. This is it; its time and I am gonna try it, I believed (maybe I am trying to connect the dots!). It's never late for anything and sports is a habit I had to inculcate in my daily routine. I can imagine 25 years down the lane, my child would ask me to play with him/her and I would want to be energetic more than ever. No one would love to hear their kid say with chagrin, "Ahh, my dad can't!" That comment or thought just irks me.

Tennis is a very technical game unless someone like Nadal who can play with a rhythm and style of his own and be the best at it. The 1st lessons were very important and my trainer was our very own "sporty shank" cum "wtf roomie" cum "author @ the-connexion" has played a bit of tennis and was there to give me the basic beginners' tips. (Believe me it helped!)

So here I am, at the Woodbridge Public Garden which consists of a small kids play area, 3 tennis courts, a big lush green lawn and a baseball ground. Holding the tennis racquet like a cricket bat and constantly hitting on the net vexed me initially. As I played more rounds of forehand practice, I learnt that controlling the speed of the ball is as important as the placement. Having said that, my trainer also very keenly taught me that footwork in tennis is more important than in cricket :)

To my astonishment, I gradually got the knack of controlling the ball speed, placement and also the footwork pretty well that being my first day. The alacrity to better every movement only increased with time. By the end of first day practice session I had learnt to hold the racquet, place the ball on the other side and run enough to give myself room to hit the ball. Ahem..I'm impressed with my performance!

I was reading about tennis in various bulletins and articles and learnt a few things which I would like to share with all my reading mates. Sources say that, tennis players scored higher in vigor, optimism and self-esteem while scoring lower in depression, anger, confusion, anxiety and tension than other athletes and non-athletes. Just playing it one day, I could feel that its not all about physical strength, it required tactful thinking and alertness. We all know tactical thinking will help you grow your brain and we would never get older :) Who wants to get older anyways?

Moreover my dearest reading mates, tennis burns calories! Yippie, so you have a sport you can play that I am sure you will enjoy the most plus burn calories - double bonanza! I am gonna get sporty and I hope all of you grab your racquets and just hit! For that matter just play any sport - playing sports is platinum. Period.

All my smoking folks, you shouldn't try sports - you never know you might just die panting on the ground. Quit today - stay fit!

Happy reading guys, think & stay healthy,
~RJ

English Premier League Weekend Report - 23rd March

Well folks the weekend's fixtures have just ended and what a Super Sunday it has turned out to be. Manchester United strengthened their grip on the English Premier League title with a resounding 3-0 win at home against a Liverpool team for whom the EPL title remains elusive. Chelsea meanwhile leapfrogged Arsenal into 2nd place with a 2-1 win over the Gunners to close the gap to 5 points on ManUtd thus dealing a major blow to the Arsenal's hopes of securing the title.

Manchester United dominated proceedings from the beginning and could have gone ahead as early as the 9th minute of play when Wayne Rooney was put through with a defence pass from Anderson. However the England hitman's poor form infront of goal continued as he fluffed his chance. From then on it was just one way traffic as rooney as well as ronaldo came close to giving Man Utd the lead. Liverpool briefly threatened when a Steven Gerrard long range effort took a deflection and just went over the bar. On 34 minutes though the Red Devils took the lead courtesy of the unlikeliest of goal scorers in Wes Brown who headed in a Wayne Rooney cross.
Things went bad to worse for Liverpool when Javier Mascherano was red carded for dissent. The second half began in the same pattern with Man Utd dominating possession and Liverpool soaking it all up aiming to hit on the counter attack. However the Liverpool attacks and in particular Fernando Torres were expertly shut out of the game by the Man Utd defence marshalled by Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Chances were created with relative ease but wasteful finishing from Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo still gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope of snatching something from the game. On 79 minutes though the game was killed off when Cristiano Ronaldo rose highest to head home a corner from substitute Nani. By now the Anfield were deflated and just 2 minutes conceded a third through a superb strike from just on the edge of the penalty box by Nani. There was huge euphoria among the old trafford faithful and on this sort of form who can stop them?

The answer was provided by chelsea who staged a remarkable comeback from a goal down to defeat Arsenal. Didier Drogba was the hero scoring twice late in the game to cancel out Bacary Sagna's opener from Fabregas corner kick. How the wheels have come off for Arsenal. Just a month ago they were 5 points clear at the top and odds on favorites. Now they sit 3rd ,6 points behind Man Utd.

Easter Sunday fixtures over the years has produced so many twists in the EPL and it has been no different this time. We have seen Liverpool slip out of the reckoning and Arsenal's hopes take a major bashing. Chelsea's boring yet effective game has yet again reaped dividends as they now are the biigest challengers to Manchester United. Though there are 7 games to go a 5 point lead for Man Utd is by no means a comfortable lead. Sir Alex and team have to still play Arsenal at home and travel to chelsea which for sure would go a long way to determining the destiny of the title. An intriguing end to the season thus beckons. Will Manchester United successfully retain their title or will either chelsea and Arsenal sneak in? Lets just wait and see as the events unfold over the next 7 weeks.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Newcastle finally got their first win under Kevin Keegan with a 2-0 win over Fulham who are deeply rooted in a relegation struggle. Michael Owen and Mark Viduka got the goals to ease their own relegation fears. Fulham now face an uphill struggle to survive as they have now fallen 4 points away from safety as Birmingham now sit in 17th place on 27 poins while Fulham are deeply rooted in 19th spot on 23 points.

Sunderland though have moved slightly clear of the relegation positions with 1-0 win over Aston Villa. They now sit on 30 points.

It now seems like Derby and Fulham are doomed with Bolton and Birmingham battling to avoid the drop.

Well folks another week has gone by in the EPL with lots of thrills and spills. As usual i will bringing you the latest scores and comments from next weeks' matches so watch out for it

Ciao for now
Sporty Shank

Water - lets just save it

A new author on the block. Its me - Brinda. You will all get to know me a bit better with time for now lets talk about something I was thinking enroute to office. Water - something that is required to quench your thirst and is priceless! wow!

The best things in life are priceless, be it rain, smell of the wetmud, sunset, moon, dew, the much wanted zephyr to make the mood fine,our best friends, the 02 (Read: oxygen) and the not so required CO2(Read: carbon-di-oxide) all of these are priceless, yet much needed. Do we really value the priceless that is so easily available?

For instance, yesterday was World Water Day (22nd March) - ahem, how many of us really knew? Let us take a moment to ask ourselves a question -Do I save water? What if there is no water coming from all my taps because unnecessarily over-using? Will my kids have water to use or I am using their share as well? This is when I know we all are thinking about the the continuous running tap while we all lazily brush our teeth. There will be a day when we or the coming generations pay a high pricefor water. So all my reading mates Save Water - Save Life!! Lets make the world a peaceful, healthy living family. All the smokers (Read: hate you) reading, you guys have an extra fair task, Save Air, Save the enviroment, kids have perhaps starting learning in schools that "AIR HAS A SMELL AND IT SMELLS TOBACCO".

5 of the Best

The European football season is drawing to a climax. Over the course of the season, there have been many players who have caught the eye with some scintillating performances for their respective teams. Some are the usual suspects while there a few new kids who have exploded onto the scene. Here are 5 of my picks.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Without doubt the Outstanding footballer in Europe this season. A sure bet for the Footballer of the Year award in England for the 2nd straight year and if he leads Portugal to glory in the European Championships in the Summer, the European Player of the Year and the World Player of the Year awards beckon. He has illuminated fans with some breathtaking performances for Manchester United and i dare say has single handedly taken Manchester United to the top of the EPL with 33 goals this season. A staggering goal return considering the fact that he is not an Out and Out striker. Defences have been torn to shreds, goalkeepers just have had no answer to the unique brand of free kicks of this portuguese magician. Footballers usually do not hit peak form till 26 or 27 years of age. If he can produce form like this at 23 , one can only imagine what he would be at the peak of his powers. Frightening thought for defenders indeed.

Karim Benzema

Relatively unknown to footballing world before this season, he has made the entire football fraternity take notice of his wonderful ability this season with 26 league goals in the French First Division for club Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon in short). He is touted next big thing in French Football and is tipped for greatness following in the footsteps of his illustrious compatriots,
Henry,Zidane and Platini. A product of the Olympique Lyonnais youth academy, he is equipped with a combination of raw physical strength coupled with exquisite ball skills that has made him such a nightmare for defences in not just the French League but in the European Champions League. Versatility is the main strength for this young forward who is adapt at peforming in all forward positions, either as an out and out striker or in the left or the right wing. At 20 he is already a regular in the french national setup keeping out the likes of the more accomplished David Trezeguet from the team. These qualities have alerted major European Clubs who are willing to break the bank to land one of the hottest properties in European and World Football.


Lionel Messi

The next Diego Maradona, he is labelled. Tough footsteps to follow but who can argue with these comparisons. Aged 19 and already the 2nd best footballer in the world behind the brillinat brazalian Kaka, he is a regular starter in the Barcelona team in the Spanish League, he has become the fulcrum or the heartbeat of the team even eclipsing more established stars like the great Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto and Henry. Blessed with blistering pace and phenomenal ball skills, Messi has left opponents for dead with his artistry with the ball. So who can question the comparisons made with the kegendary Diego Maradona who has himself declared Messi as his heir apparent.

Cesc Fabregas

Another extremely gifted footballer to really make an impact this season with his club Arsenal. Just 19,Fàbregas functions mostly as a playmaker and his main asset is his passing range. As one of the most coveted young talents in the game today, he has been described as being a vital part of Arsenal's first team, bringing vision, creativity and selflessness to Arsenal's intricate passing game, and displaying maturity that belies his age.In set pieces, he is one of the first-choice coner kick and free kick takers in the team. Also a regular in the Spanish national team, he is seen as key to Spain's chances of glory in the European Cup during the summer.

Francesco Totti

The grand old man in my list at 31, the great italian has battled back from below par performances in recent seasons to regain his best form this season and was just recently voted the Italian Footballer of the Year for the record 5th time scoring 27 goals for his club side Roma in the Italian Serie A who are still in the running for the Italian Championship and have qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League due to Totti's brilliant form. His performances not just for his club but also for Italy is seen as key to success in the European Cup during the summer of 2008. Brilliant on the ball with a keen eye for the killer pass, defences have been bamboozled by the sheer accuracy of his passing and sharpness in front of goal. My tip to be nominated as one of the top 3 footballers in Europe for 2008.

Well folks these 5 wonderful footballers have really made an impact in view this season. If anyone has another players in mind, do drop a comment. Thats it for now, keep watching this space for more.

Ciao for now
Sporty Shank

Can't wait for the weight!!

Some quick updates before I chat with my friends who are anxiously waiting to solve nettlesome "cant wait for the weight" syndrome.

1. I attended my second kick-boxing classes yesterday and for a neophyte my jabs and upper-cuts were super fast and super-rhythmic. Shank and me are very ebullient on the kb day! Also reminds me of the new Indian peng :)

2. This post is coming up a bit late coz' I have been busy adding a new link to "the-connexion" (work in progress) - its gonna be called "Poetic Arcana". This page would mainly focus on the arty side of all of us. To kickstart this page, I would be posting all of my lyrics/poems written to not accomplish the dreams of a wannabe rockstar during my college days, not so long ago. (anybody interested to be an author on this page send me a quick note)

3. We have two new authors politicio & kurt. Politicio as the name goes is all about politics. I have known this author personally for more than a year now and I am sure we would have some wonderful postings on US politics and occasionally other topics. Kurt is our in-house commenter but has agreed to post some soccer, F1 bulletin. An ardent Chelsea fan, it would be some fun to read his soccer bulletin vs. Sporty Shanks' (MANU follower) Ahem! all the soccer fun here!!

Thanks for your contribution fellas & welcome to "the-connexion"

Sagar has been asking me questions like "Yaar, weight badane ke liye kya karoon? kuch uske baare mein likhna" (Dude, how do I gain more weight? Write something about it.) This has been a common question among my many "blow & fly" looking friends. Over a recent coffee conversation, Shveta told me, "I have been eating like hell these days - everything from MacCheese to burgers to za - nothing really works on me. Why is that?" On the other hand, folks like Ashok live by the mantra - Eat till you gain!! Grrr..too callow!

Gaining weight is the goal. I believe, a goal starts with a desire, the desire translates into a long term commitment and eventually advances into action. Trust me folks, gaining weight is as tough and painful a process as loosing weight. Its not faster and definitely not an overnight process.

Let's jolt down the answer to the most common question? "Whatever I eat I am still thin - why?". Firstly, ask a question to yourself: Am I thin? Or do I feel I am thin? - Do I have numbers which say that or am I genuinely under-weight? Often, this is a confusion.

The key ingredient to weight gain is adding calories. Put in a habit of looking at the nutrition facts and importantly the calorie numbers. We are just adding calories to our diet and not fat calories. Another misconception people believe in is consuming lot of fatty foods will help them gain weight. NO - it helps in gaining fat and cholestrol and these items are a big NO NO.
Count in the calories you consume today and start by adding 500 more to it.

Its a gradual process & its gonna be a gradual increase. Carbohydrates are rich in calories and we should make sure our daily diet is consumption of 70% carbs, 20% protiens, 10% fats. The plan is to add the right weight without adding fat calories. (Shveta - somebody busting your chops!)
Another tip would be to change the 3 regular meals & 1 snack routine to 6 smaller meals and 2 snack routine. One of my trainers told my friend when asked about gaining weight - keep munching the right food at the wrong time too!!

Do not stuff up consuming non-caloric drinks e.g. diet coke etc. Last but not the least, the myth is if I workout I would stay thinner - bullshit! Exercise is a must at all times, all ages. Just remember to consume more calories than you burn. (You guys can eat almost everything - make sure you dont add fats)

All you thin folks, eat heavy at all times is the mantra. Dont stress out too much - laze around!!

And my smoking friends - happy early death! Quit today - isn't it shameful to be taken over a habit?

Stay healthy guys,
~RJ

Manchester United 3 points clear at the top of the table while Chelsea stumble

Manchester United today went 3 points clear of Arsenal with an efficient 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. Cristiano Ronaldo once again proved the difference with an absolute masterclass of a performance capping it off with 2 goals taking his tally to 33 this season, thus breaking the record of 32 goals set by George Best in 1968 for most goals scored by a midfield player in a season.

Manchester United dominated the early proceedings and went ahead as early as the 7th minute when Ronaldo smashed the ball to the top corner of the net after ball ran loss in the penalty box. It took the Portuguese wizard just a further 12 minutes to increase his tally and his team's lead with magnificient free kick that had Bolton keeper Ali Al Habsi just staring in awe. From then on it was cruise control and despite the fact that there were no additions to the scoreline, it was a comfortable night for the champions as they now seize the initiative at a pivotal part of the season. This was achieved with a changed squad. Sir Alex Ferguson made 7 changes to the team that defeated Derby County over the weekend with Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Park Ji Sung, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick all rested. With this many star names rested, the manner of their victory today is an ominous sign for the rest of the teams and sets them up perfectly for the battle ahead against Liverpool on Sunday. Come On You Reds!!!!!!!!!

Chelsea on the other hand suffered a crucial set back in their quest for the title squandering a 3-1 lead and ended up drawing 4-4 in thrilling contest at White Hart Lane. Didier Drogba gave Chelsea the lead with a trade mark header as early as the 2nd minute. Tottenham equalised in 12th minute through Jonathan Woodgate of a corner. From then on chelsea seized the initiative and on 20 minutes, Michael Essien was put through brilliantly by Joe Cole and calmly slotted past Paul Robinson for Chelsea to take the lead.

Chelsea scored again soon after half time when the magnificient Joe Cole scoring in the 52nd minute. The contest should have been over but the new found resilience of Tottenham under new boss Juande Ramos was displayed again as they rallied on and were duly rewarded when Dimitar Berbatov reduced the deficit with a looping header past Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini.

But Spurs' all-out attacking approach paid off with 15 minutes left when Keane's corner fell to the giant Huddlestone, who fired a superb left foot drive beyond Cudicini.

Spurs sensed an unlikely victory, but Chelsea responded in style and the inspirational Joe Cole put them back in front in the 80th minute, shrugging off another weak tackle from Chimbonda to beat Robinson emphatically.

There was another twist after 88 minutes when a long clearance hit Ricardo Carvalho on the back and Keane reacted quickly to curl a 20-yard shot past Cudicini.

And in a grandstand finish, Cudicini produced a wonder save from Berbatov when the Bulgarian looked poised to cap a magnificent match with the winner as the two teams shared the spoils.

Chelsea now sit in 3rd place on 65 points 5 behind leaders behind Manchester United. This really sets up an interesting Super Sunday, anything other than a win over Arsenal would be a fatal blow to their title aspirations.

So advantage Manchester United for now as we move into the critical Super Sunday matches. With so many twists taking place this season, who would bet against another occuring come Sunday. Let us all sit back and watch the events unfold.

Ciao for now.
Sporty Shank