Is it a bird? Is it a rocket? No it is...

Michael Schumacher! Six years have gone by since that picture at the same location, but for sure he was flying high at Imola tonight. What a comeback and what a drive! Holding on a faster car behind might have been a hugh challenge for Alonso last year, but all of 40 laps, with everything from mid-corner breaking to spewing break dust and all of his 240 GP experience, Schumi reigned supreme. And with Alonso making the mistake by choosing the wrong corners to attack (Rivazza is supposed to be the best place to overtake - in the 950 degree tyre heat), trying variants at Variante Alta doesnt help! Anywayz, this was just a wake up call for the fair weather fans I suppose :P Some proclaim this as one of his best races, but for those knowledgeable few, it wouldnt come close to his heroics in 1996, when he won 4 races with a Ferrari that spewed everything from wings to engine covers to exhaust pipes. He controlled the race and the pace beautifully, and even visibly he was much better shape than an exhausted Alonso. Ofcourse, I couldnt reason out why Renault would opt to come before and not after Schumi's second stop, but Im sure Renault boss (Briatore) was the most relaxed man on the pit wall (trust me its fun pitting ur past vs present and enjoying experience prevail from the sidelines). Anywayz, hats off to Schumi!!! A champion, he was, and he is! Ferrari is still not the best, but a champion with a decent car is more than a handful, as Alonso would vow. For those who spit fire after Schumi's "inability" to overtake last year for 12 laps, atleast he gave it a shot! Anywayz, I do hope the Ferrari challenge starts here, rather than being a one-off like last year Imola. Bridgestone gotta lot to work at, but I do hope it rises upto the challenge. F1 is all about man and machine, and the man surely made up for the lack of pace of the machine today! Whatta man! Hail the meister!

I did wanna restrain myself from blogging before the end of my exams, but what the heck... as if I study.. anywayz, I am so full of pride now... and am glad, the first of my waitees has come to an end... Hope the rest follow soon!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Waitees

Its been a while since I rote anything, but as everything its got a reason.. I am in a phase of my life when everything is on hold... for something else to happen.. trying hard not to make into a deadlock situation!

I am waiting... for my blady masters projects to complete
I am waiting... for the masters exams to finish
I am waiting... to test my fitness in the corporate run
I am waiting... to resurrect my cricketting skills
I am waiting... for a special arrival
I am waiting... for a special friend's life to fall back into order
I am waiting... to talk to my friends which I have missed lately
I am waiting... for Schumi to take his first proper win in almost 1.5 yrs.
I am waiting... for the resurgence of Ferrari.
I am waiting... to own a BMW.
I am waiting... for a special relationship to begin.
I am waiting... to make sure all these waits end.

So wait, till the next post...

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

The Million Dollar Question

Seems like everyone has this kostin nowadays.. "The search has just begun!!!" - What is that mean. I would forgive people for thinking its about a gal at first, but even people close to me sometimes wonder.. Whats in a name? But I have a story to tell... so listen mite (yeah yeah, i love everything aussie after their defeat.. so cool!)

It all started when I landed in this country. How am I to know that my initials stands as a source for giggles here? So, during the orientation (aka ragging), I was christined RA. That nick, 7 yrs down the line, still is recognised in my university campus, which is quite a surprise in itself. Anywayz, it all started when I got my computer barely into the new millenium. My friend kindly 'volunteered' to fix my comp up for a humble token of a cigarette pack and a night of watching 'popular' movies on my flat screen monitor. When he was setting it up (and I knew nuts abt computers back then), he asked me to give a name for the computer. My instinct told me RA, but my creativity wanted to expand it. Expand, I did.. Thus it became Random Access. And ofcourse, it needed a computer description. I thot for a second to get a phrase with a bit of correlation. There it was.. "The search has just begun !!!". Whatever made me write those 2 things at the dead of the night made a lot of sense later on...

Random Access became hugely popular. It became the pen-name for my poetry as well. It gel-ed in nicely with the kind of carefree attitude that I seemed to possess. It became synonymous with my supposedly random poetry. It became the lifeline of the indian forum that we had. It became a source of inspiration. It became the talk of the university. But more was to come. I got to know about chatting and went into ICQ. There was only 4 Random Access at that time, but thanks to ICQ for giving a number than an unique id, I was able to keep my favorite. This nick alone was so popular among gals (I wonder why!) that a lot of gals added me into their lists. A lot of people were jealous of the fact, and some named me "ladies' man" just like Ms. V's latest nick for me :) I never imagined the nick was so powerful! Needless to say, its been with me for the last 7 yrs and I have kinda grown fond of it. It kinda gave me an identity that people were able to map to. As recently as today, I got a comment saying it ties in well to my memory prowess (or the lack of it).

The second part of my online signature ("The search has just begun") was just instinctive, but something I have grown to love and respect. This talks a lot abt me and the way I am too. I, like a true saggi, is driven my curiosity to wander out there in search of knowledge. Many times I have been stumped by the fact that there are so many things out there in this world to be learnt that 24 hrs aint enuf in a day. And there is just no limit to the depth of knowledge that you can acquire. This kinda explains the fact that I am probably a jack of all trades, but the master of none. I also realised that its the fact of life, that there is always a search.. both inside and outside of us, that keeps us going.. in pursuit of the unknown. This has really made my signature meaningful, so I decided to stick on. To add spice, I sometimes tie down my sign to the context (esp in my poems, if u have noticed). And contrary to expectations, the search never ends, as the end of one quest is merely a beginning of another!

So there u go.. now gimme those million dollars ;)

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Fate

"Its fate.." is what we get to hear a lot of times.. from ur family, friends and even us... now what is fate?

Fate is our friend... We dont know fate till we are in the stage where we run around. Fate plays games with us. We always want to prove ourself against fate and make us the winners. However, we lose almost all the time. This might make some of us disillusioned. We elevate fate to be the invincibles and most of us just give up on our prowess to wrest the advantage from it. However, some of us take defeat on our shoulders and keep improving with every game. We may not master the game, neither understand our opponent, but we can keep improving our skills. There comes the time when the odd victory stares at us. And what do we do? We attribute it to LUCK :P

So in other words, all of us are inherently self-abstracting.. we dont want credit for our victories nor blame for our failures. We want other entities to suffer. Do u realise the invaluable friendship that fate brings to our lives and how we conveniently blame it for everything? A true friend is one who gives unto thee without expecting anything in return. They even shoulder ur ill spat but still continue to be with u and guide u along the right path, however hard or harsh their words might seem! Embrace fate, acknowledge reality and live ur life! Then u will be surprised tht u can take almost anything that fate seems to throw at us and whack it for a six!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Shame on us!

I have always been a proud Indian. And I have always respected women and gals for what they are. A lot of my guy friends think of me as an online casanova, but I guess only those gals who I have interacted with, who can give the right answer. Anywayz, coming to the point, I have been totally disgusted and depressed the last week or so, when I have come across a series of posts like this and this triggered by the Blank Noise Project. Trust me, I have never been as ashamed of my country and fellow brothers like what I did recently. I wudnt like to bypass the serious issue by saying I am the goody goody guy and others are to blame. I believe responsibility lies with all of us, even though only a sparse few might be causing these disgusting acts. I wud have been even ashamed to bring up these posts to public, but this attitude, I realised through those authors, is what has been preventing the scale of this social evil to seem lesser than what it actually is. And looking at the alarming rate at which I hear girls say "yes" to the simple question posed (and I havent heard one "no" till now) is making me freak out. Worse still, its almost always followed by the casual after-comment "Its so common, why are u making a fuss out of it now". This nonchalant reply completely bewilders me and sends a chill down my spine, thinking of gals, young and old, prone to the vested interests of, shame on us, men. I dont believe in reporting things and keeping quiet. The next time I see any person doing such "roadside romeo" tactics (pi, if u ever read this, doesnt refer to u da), I am gonna take it up personally, irrespective of the consequences. After all, India is a land where a woman is treated more than God! And I will do my best to make it stay that way. And those guys whom I know who are already on the wrong side of things, better beware. I cant take an insult on my motherland, and every woman who makes up my motherland, so better think twice before crossing the line with a gal!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

Mother of all Games !!!

This is by far the most spectacular game I have witnessed... I am happy that I kinda pushed 3-4 people into watching it as well... If you have missed out, u sure have missed out an opportunity of a lifetime buddy! Anywayz, it was totally engrossing and nailbiting than anything else I have ever witnessed. Trust me, I am a die hard fan of South Africa from today (except ofcourse when they play India), but they were just too good. Amazing is an unpretentious understatement for their game. The sheer mammoth total (not often do u see 870 runs in a one day game!) followed my blistering attack and counterattacks, the setbacks, the fightbacks... juz too good. To be honest, there can be only one winner, and thankfully it was the team that deserved it (unlike the World cup campaigns - the 22 runs in 1 ball fallacy and the tie win, for those who know what I am talkin about). That they beat Australia is an icing on the cake. Just too good !!! Screw those baskets who kept bleating that South Africa have never won a series against them.. This was just the kind of statement that cricket is all about. No kings or pawns. Its all about how good u r on that day... And South Africa, dented by Pollock's absense, really meant business, atleast in the latter half of the match!

Even though I only followed the scores online, thank god I got to follow it live !!! Whatta match! You only witness these things once in a life (like watchin the Schumi massacre in 2004) and this is definitely one of them! Hats off South Africa! You juz did it!

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!

You made my day!

Somethings do make our day special.. Ofcourse, here is my top 10 (no no not a tag..please...) that brought a smile to me recently... no rating.. just numbers...

1. Seeing J after a long time.
2. Ms. A's prayers inspite of her personal tribulations
3. A mention by sukku
4. Preethi taking away WV.. yeah word verification, ur ardent fan has ditched u.
5. Ms. V reaching 100 posts.
6. Me getting my dream job sort of.
7. A chance to resurrect my cricketing career with my new company
8. A chance to see and hear APJ AK
9. Got to meet up with an old skool mate.
10. When I finally got my first Java component working

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!