The "You Need to See Someone" List

I love disasters.
Something about them is very exciting.
The loss they cause is definitely saddening yet, they make me love nature even more.

Here are my top favorite disasters:


1. Tornadoes, they're lean, mean, dangerous and sexy.
The winds can reach up to 400kmph
and they can suck things just as good as gravity.
I wanna go to Tornado Alley, USA!













2. Cyclones/Hurricanes/Typhoons, the biggest, meanest and craziest thunderstorm around.

Katrina, Wilma, Irene, Wilma, Phyan, etc.

Given that they are usually named after women, it isn't surprising that they pack some real appeal.









3. Earthquakes, Shake things up and bring em' down.

Everyone likes a good shake!

Tectonic plates are the biggest, dynamic jigsaw puzzles around. Oh boy!














4. Avalanches, They're fast and cold. Flash freeze.

The only other (and worse) colder way to die is a Liquid Nitrogen bath.

5. Tsunamis, No one is surfing on this baby.

These are caused by #3 on the list.

Talk about a clean wash.







6. Fire, Because, burning stuff is cool.

















7. Volcanos

There is something really cool about the earth spewing
molten rock and metal onto the surface, while shooting toxic
pollutants into the atmosphere, which could stay there for years
and cause weather changes globally.










I dislike floods though. They're dirty and gooey and take an awful lot of time.

[PS- Now is when you suggest, "Dude, You should see someone!"]

That's the Way It is...

It's 4:00 AM now. I have a tut in four hours and most probably will have a test in it.
I decide to play one last game of FIFA and actually study and go without sleeping for that tut.
And then I sleep.

It's 2:00 PM now and I finally wake up. I'm hungry.
The mess is three floors and a whole hostel away.
My last meal, a Cheese Schezwan Masala Dosa was 12 hours back.
And I fall asleep again.

It's 5:00 PM. I'm hungry enough to get up.
I see the laundry bag full and I think, should I go eat first or should I go to the ShopCo first?
I'm running out of clothes.
I skip the ShopCo.
I have a Cheeze Wada Pav.

It's 9:00 PM. I've been on DC for a while now.
I think about having dinner.
The mess is three floors and a whole hostel away.
I continue spamming on mainchat.

It's 1:00 AM. I make it to the night canteen.
Its Cheese Schezwan Masala Dosa time.
Drowned with a few Lime juices.
And I get back for an energetic game of football.
I play FIFA on my laptop.

It's 4:00 AM now. I have a tut in four hours...
And I take lite...

While we were away...

It took a whole week to recuperate from the exams but now that its happened, it's time to look at what occurred worldwide meanwhile.

Novak Djokovic (a.k.a Tennis):

To begin with, having a post titled as XYZ - Part 1 means there should be a part two. But I'm not dedicating a whole other post now. Novak Djokovic won the US Open. And he did it by addressing some of the points in Part 1. The positive to take from that match is that Federer had match points against Djokovic again. Infact, Federer is the only person to have had match points against Nole this year (Nole having retired injured against Murray at Cincinnati... Poor Andy never get's the credit for anything). The conversion rate is only 20% but I guess it suggests that he does stand a chance of upsetting the Serbian of the year. If it can be stretched, then it can be said that Djokovic is under pressure against Federer.

Speaking of pressure, Rafael Nadal is under plenty. He said after the Wimbledon final that he thought this Nole level was not permanent. Now it sounds more like he was hoping. And despite him doing his best, he is falling short. He is not only losing bucket loads of ATP ranking points, but also quickly acquiring a steadily evening head-to-head against the Serb. Dominate a guy for three years and it gets undone in 10 months (6-0 this year, all in finals). That must hurt. Imagine then the spirit in him to bounce back in three days to win Davis Cup matches for his beloved Espana.

Now the Davis Cup tie between Australia and Switzerland showcased a lot of drama and excitement. Firstly, as expected, Federer won his singles. Secondly, as not expected, Wawrinka lost to Tomic and the Chris "who's-he?" Guccione - Hewitt pairing defeated the Beijing gold medalists. So when the deciding rubber between Hewitt and Wawrinka took place, it had plenty of eyeballs. The best of five setter went the distance and in the wee hours of Sunday, play stopped at 5-3 in the fifth set in favour of the Swiss. And when it resumed the next day, it ended in surprisingly swift six short points. The argument here is that when it was evident that both players were not letting up, shouldn't play have been suspended when both players were at par. The win puts Switzerland back into the World Group and will be joined by Japan (vs. India) and Canada. The final this year will feature Spain and Argentina.

Maybe, it is possible, that if Argentina win this time, then one of their players Juan Martin Del Potro goes on a similar rampaging run as one of the winners of last years Davis Cup.

The Men in black-and-blue:

The multicolored banner competes directly  with the now defunct Kochi franchise.

Indian players concluded a hapless, winless, injury-ridden and inspiration deprived tour of England as they prepared for the Champions League T20. The likes of Harbhajan Singh even opted out of the ODI series in England to mentally and physically recollect themselves for the World Cup of T20 leagues. However, debutantes Kolkata and veterans Mumbai will have to do without their batting mainstays, Gambir and Sachin respectively. On the other hand, Rahul Dravid, who performed so brilliantly in England, finds himself free again due to his team not having qualified for this event. This event promises heavy viewership as every player from each team was made to sign a contract stating they will not run away from the grounds. Ravi Shastri is even being paid to shoot "tracer-bullets" every over, irrespective of there being a boundary or not. The Indian public has even started a game where they try to guess which team is from which country.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi,
One of the finest.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, one of the finest batsman and captains of his era and highly respected figure in Indian cricket passed away recently. MAK was not only a great cricketer and a gentleman, but also one of the mentors of Indian cricket. They say he taught the team to play to win, and not just play to draw. May his soul rest in peace.

Greetings from Papplay:

Papplay is the eight-legged, bubblegum pink mascot of Waves, the cultural festival of BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus. Well, technically its Papple. But Papplay is more in sync with the tagline and so...

Check out the Website here: http://www.bits-waves.org/

[PS- Do go to: Events(the surfboard) -> Quiz and check it out]

Papplay, the Wada-Pav eating, dhoti-suit wearing, Satchmo listening mollusc

The Prime Time Show of Tennis - 1

You see, I'm not in the best of spirits when Roger Federer loses a match in a Grand Slam. It's no good if the slam is Wimbledon and it only gets worse that he lost from a two sets to love lead. And so naturally, I wouldn't be seen talking about it. But I still want to write on this blog so I tactfully skirt around the issue like this. But given recent events, my spirits seem to have lifted enough to bring that episode out and compare it what just happened.

Of the many records he has set in his career, the 178-0 stat after winning the first two sets is not the most monumental one of them. For instance, it doesn't compare with the 23 straight semi-final or better performance he accomplished starting Wimbledon 2004, or the 285 weeks he spent at the No. 1 spot. But its tells everyone that Federer is certainly one of the best home stretch performers. So when Tsonga snapped that streak, it must've raised doubts. When Federer goes two sets to love up, it doesn't necessarily mean he is going to win. Even more so when you consider that Federer did not stop playing well, just that the opponent started playing much better. Another thing which people started pointing out was that most of Federer's recent grand slam losses have come against players who hit the ball hard. And when I say hard, I mean rip the fluff out type hard. Berdych, Soderling and Tsonga all do that. The same guys who he would've beaten two years back in surprisingly short straights, were bombing him with unplayables and getting results. Perhaps the time had come when he was getting passed by younger, bulkier models.

The excitement in the build up to the US Open quarter-final had several contributors. No one must have failed to notice that both were drawn in the same quarter. And no one expected either to fall anywhere less. And Tsonga's recent demolition of Roger in Montreal was still fresh in everyone's minds. (People generally do not forget important Wimbledon matches) Both players lived up to their seeding and set up the clash too. And then even nature contributed by washing out a couple of days of play, just to give enough time for all the press and tongues to set the anticipation to impossible heights.
The match wasn't of the same level as Wimbledon. But one thing was pretty much in plain sight. Federer was out hitting Tsonga and except for a few more errors, things were 2007 Roger-esque. Funnily enough, by winning this match, Federer has setup an even more talked about and highly wanted semi-final with Novak Djokovic.

The top four have made it to semi-finals yet again in a major and the peak of men's tennis certainly looks good. I'd recommend you keep your schedule free at 2130hrs IST on this Saturday.