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March 18th 2007 will always be etched in the memory of cricket lovers from across the world. Less than 24 hours after Pakistan’s exit from the World Cup at the hands of Ireland, Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room in Jamaica and was pronounced DOA (Dead on Arrival) on being taken to hospital.

I can never forget the look on Woolmer’s face after Pakistan’s loss to Ireland. It looked as if he would shatter into a billion pieces if touched or spoken to. The manner in which he packed his gift to World Cricket, the laptop, it seemed that life would never be the same again for him. Indeed not only did life change, he lost it altogether.

Continue reading “Did Pakistan's World Cup Exit Hasten Woolmer's Demise?”

I managed to get hold of a Windows Vista RTM DVD in December 2006 much before the official release date of January 30th, 2007. I was so excited that I sat up late one night to install it on my Lenovo 8823 3AQ desktop. The installation was slick and fast, taking just 20 minuses to install. But this is where the feeling of excitement turned into one of despair. As I discovered, Windows Vista had turned my Pentium IV powered desktop into something similar to one using a Celeron processor. Not to mention, the graphics sucked big time, the awesome Aero and Flip3D features just weren’t there, which was fair enough as my system didn’t have either an AGP card or an AGP slot which I could have used to insert one. Lenovo had taken Intel’s 865 chipset and removed few slots (including AGP) to bring down the price.

Anyway, after shedding a bucket full of tears, I removed Vista and reinstalled Windows XP, hoping that soon enough I would get a new board, a high-end graphics card (hopefully nVidia), and more RAM (the Lenovo system came with a paltry 512 MB.)

Continue reading “A Bitter Sweet Transition to Windows Vista”

The Indian cricket team has always done its bit to encourage teams from weaker cricket playing countries. They have the ability to lower the level of their game to meet that of their weaker opponents, thereby giving them a fair chance to win. This is exactly what has happened in its first match of the Cricket World Cup 2007. Compared to India, Bangladesh is worse than a Ranji team. Our Sachin Tendulkar alone has amassed more runs than the entire Bangladesh team put together.

Continue reading “Men in Blue Beaten Black and Blue”

Today when I set out on my regular act of googling for blogs that expressed my feelings about the pathetic quality of life in Hyderabad, I came across Suresh’ blog. Suresh who likes “Riding Bike! Especially in highways!” has taken great pains to express his views about the driving skills – or rather the lack of – of Hyderabadis. I totally agree with him, a large majority of the people here think they own the road and treat anyone who’s traveling in a smaller vehicle, or worse is on foot, is insignificant and dispensable. I have a zillion instances to support my claim but don’t expect me to express even one of them here because even the thought of it makes my blood burn.

Continue reading “From Bullock Carts to Automobiles in a Decade”

Before 2006, the date April 16th was like any other day for Tina and I. Neither of us had any memories (bitter or sweet) to remember it by. But on last April 16th, we made one of the smartest decisions of our lives — we got engaged!

Actually why wait till next month to celebrate? Today, i.e. 15th March is the 11-month anniversary of our engagement! So do we party and drink ourselves silly? No because since our return from our trip up North, Tina and I have become “rounder” than ever before so we’ll be at home and having some dal and vegetables. Maybe, just maybe we might go out for ice cream.