Q & A

I think I’m getting addicted to this Tagging business. Nevertheless it’s fun. There are couple more to come but we will leave it for some other day!

Here is one I chanced on at Reema’s Blog

1. Q: When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

A: I’m so sleepy!

2. Q: How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

A: AED 600

3. Q: What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?

A: Roar

4. Q: What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?

A: The Harry Potter Theme

5. Q: Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

A: There are only 2, one is MDH other is Mom(I just changed my phone yesterday)

6. Q: What are you wearing right now?

A: Apart from my formal office wear – my favourite Prada specs!

7. Q: Do you label yourself?

A: No, I don’t like to give people an inferiority complex;-)

8. Q: Name the brand of the shoes you currently own?

A: Formal – Catwalk, Casual – Pepper Tree , Vinci , Viss, Lush, Sports - Reebok

9. Q: Bright or Dark Room?

A: Bright! I’m shit scared of dark!

10. Q: What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?

A: I don’t know, I just chanced on her blog two days back. Of the first impression – interesting!

11. Q: What does your watch look like?

A: It’s a Longines – Round dial – Silver (MDH’s anniv gift)

12. Q: What were you doing at midnight last night?

A: Sleeping peacefully!

13. Q: What did your last text message you received on your cell say?

A: Message from my friend “yes me /mean agreed” after I wrote “you are mean” . Well we both are two of the same kind!

14. Q: What’s a word that you say a lot?

A: Crap

15. Q: Who told you he/she loved you last? (Please exclude spouse, family, children)

A: My school friend

16. Q: Last furry thing you touched?

A: My tiger Jennie and her cub –gabbar

17. Q: Favorite age you have been so far?

A: Age 15 – last year of school and it was special and fun. Life was so much less complicated.

18. Q: What was the last thing you said to someone?

A: ‘Take care’ to my bestest friend in USA after a 45 mins conversation!

19. Q: The last song you listened to?

A: Am listening to Chor Bazaari (the whole day today!)

20. Q: Where did you live in 1987?

A: At Worli, Mumbai

21. Q: Are you jealous of anyone?

A: Tons of people (Come on, I am human after all!)– in an admiring way!

22. Q: Is anyone jealous of you?

A: Yes for sure!

23. Q: Name three things that you have on you at all times?

A: My sarcasm, my wallet & my house-car keys

24. Q: What’s your favorite town/city?

A: Mumbai – Any doubts?

25. Q: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

A: In 2000, to my cousin brother – he was my only pen pal. (He passed away in 2001- I still have all the letters he wrote to me)

26. Q: Can you change the oil on a car?

A: Nope

27. Q: Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?

A: No idea

28. Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?

A: Yes, my neck and back!

29. Q: What is your current desktop picture?

A: My company’s official wall paper

30. Q: Have you been burnt by love?

A : Never

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Of Cricket and Childhood Crushes!

Circa 1992:

Friend 1 : So do you think he is cute?

She : That’s not why I like him

Friend 1 : So you do think he is cute?

She : I like his game, I like his batting technique

Friend 1 : But you really do think he is cute?

She : He is a good cricketer and has the potential to be a great one

Friend 1 : So why exactly are his close-up posters up in your room

She : Because I’m not able to get one with him batting

Friend 1 : So you do think he is cute!


Circa 1996:

Mumma : She has her finals tomorrow, why did you let her go for the match

Papa : She loves the game, let her enjoy. She would’ve been miserable and not studied at all if she was home

Mumma : You have to be little strict with her

Papa : And not let her see our future son-in-law bat? (laughs out loud)

Mumma : Now you don’t start and encourage her!

--------
Papa : So how was the match we enjoyed seeing our son-in-law bat

She : Papa please, he is already married. That’s embarrassing!

Papa : I know, but it is fun teasing my little girl!

----------------
Friend 1 : You actually bought his music cassette?????????

She : Yeah! I thought he has done a decent job

Friend 2 : If only he had done a better one at playing cricket!

She : He was just plain unlucky.

Friend 1&2 : Whatever

Friend 3 : He is okay but I think Kumble’s interview sounds the best

She : We’ll get to your crush later; first let’s listen to the cassette again

Friends 1, 2 & 3 : Do we have to go through this torture?

She : Yes!

Friend 1 : So you do think he is cute!


Circa 2002
Friend 1 : 10 years since you’ve had a crush on him, if you meet him today have you decided what you are going to say.

She : I’m going for A’s wedding , in case you forgot, he is the one who plays cricket now.

Friend 1 : Are you not hoping to get to see him at the wedding? But you have a god damn B- school interview in Pune tomorrow, don’t you think you should leave today?

She : There is no way I’m missing A’s wedding, are you crazy! I’m taking the midnight bus and will reach in the morning well in time!

At the reception

Mom : Did you see him? I think you should walk up to him and tell him that you are a huge fan of his.

She : Are you sure mumma????? Are you my real mom? You hated it when I used to put up his posters in my room

Mom : I still hate that but I know you have adored him, you must tell him

She : He will think I’m crazy

Mom : That’s ok, you can’t hide facts for long

She : Are you my mom at all? Anyways

Slowly steadily she approached him
She :Hi Mr. M, I’m a huge huge fan of yours since I started watching cricket. You were fantastic. I had to tell you this since long, thanks and bye.

And she ran, ran for her life and disappeared from the long wedding queue so that he would not notice her again! What the ^&*$ was she thinking behaving like a teen at 22, an age where her friends were searching for a groom to get married and some were even ready to be moms!

Crushes are embarrassing things. Sigh! Now she knew exactly how it felt like those millions girls who adore cricketers and find them cute!

Growing up with cricket has been a crazy joy ride; it has become an integral part of her life, her oxygen if you may say. The crazy little crush forms a teeny weeny cute memory of her journey with the game. At that point it seemed so embarrassing that she could not tell anyone about it, today she can laugh her heart out at her stupidity and even invite others to do so by putting it up on her blog!

Yeah, as I have mentioned in my Facebook tag on “25 not so random things about me”
“Sanjay Manjrekar was my first serious crush in school and I still blush when my friends recall those days”

P.S:
Absolutely everyone I know has taken my case on this crush of mine, from my friends, my family and my parents. Papa especially loved teasing me! I was recalling this with an old school friend of mine and we thought it would be interesting to relive those memories; which is why this blog post turned up!!

War between Equals - Ashes 2009

As the Ashes commenced this year, I was having a discussion with my Cricket buddies Tugga and PK (who by the way are an absolute authority over this game) as to who stood a chance this year to win the Ashes. A common conclusion was that this was a war between equals – not in terms of strengths but weaknesses.

In my 15 years of watching this game I haven’t seen an Aussie team this weak in terms of grit, talent, sporting spirit and strategy. Ponting is by far the worst captain I’ve seen. He is lost without the talented Gilly, Warne, McGrath, Langer & Hayden. I’ve not doubts on his credentials as a batsman, but he has serious flaws as a captain. He is not sporting enough to accept defeat, he is not brave enough to accept his side’s weakness, he fails to instill any kind of discipline in his team and he himself being such a sore loser is passing on that quality to his team. I’ve been an ardent supporter of the Aussie team since the days of Allan Border and the respect only increased when Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh ran this outfit. That is steadily vanishing with displays of Ponting’s Team, in terms of the game they play and the way they play it. His team sorely misses the stalwarts who hailed from Tugga’s school and kept the side in balance.

Apart from a Clarke and Ponting himself , I cannot see a person who can turn the match around. I’ve watched very little of the new Aussie players in action but of the little I’ve seen I do not see this class coming of age soon.

England for long has been a weak test outfit but the one under Michael Vaughan showed some signs of improvement with some overseas wins and the much watched Ashes 2005 win. Flintoff and Pietersen could pave their way into any world outfit and are match-winners in their own right; making all the difference in my opinion to the English outfit.
If the same side were to play a South African or the Indian team they would struggle. But playing a weak Aussie side gives them all the edge to play it at equal levels and give themselves a chance to regain the Ashes.

There was this interesting article that PK passed on where Michael Artherton compared the two sides man-to-man and I agreed with most.

This is probably the first time that I’ll be supporting the Poms whole-heartedly against an Aussie team. I enjoyed the 2005 series and shifted my loyalties between both teams, but that was purely for the way both teams displayed outstanding cricket; not because I did not like the Aussie team. It was delight for a cricket lover and I can recall every moment of that series.

This time around it’s different and I’m hoping England wins this one. They have sustained the edge as of now. The 1-wicket draw in the first test at Cardiff set the tone for the series where the Poms have begun to believe that they can get this one right while Aussies are being shaken time and again by whom they thought were the lesser teams.

In the last 2 years they have played a total of 23 matches: Won 11, Lost 7 and Drawn -5. That is still a decent record but of the 11 wins – 6 are against the much weaker test teams SL/WI/NZ while Eng (1-0) & Ind (3-2) lead the Aussies in terms of total wins and SA tied with them at 3 wins each. The Aussies are losing more often than before and that is definitely a good sign for other teams and test cricket as well.

I’ve not seen a ball being bowled in this match and hence the shortened version on what I thought of the match. I thought England played exceedingly well to thwart the Aussies and put them under pressure. I full support Strauss’s decision of not enforcing the follow-on, not many teams have dared after the most influential innings of the decade.

Any smart captain would opt the safer way out rather than dig his own grave at the start of the Ashes and plunge his team to further depths. I read in the cricinfo bulletin about Australia’s aspiration for a world record chase. 526 is any day an improbable target considering in the last decade only 6 times have teams won chasing 340 up , the maximum being 418.
With 5 wickets gone on day 4 for 128, not even half the target on board; expecting Australia to chase this one was expecting a wee bit too much or alleviating the Aussie batsmen to heights they are currently not capable of.

Strauss led the way in the first innings and I was quite disappointed that the Brits had only managed 425 when they were at one stage 255/2. Nevertheless the bowlers made up with Anderson starring in the first and Flintoff completing his first fiver in 2 years aided by Swann. I cannot fathom why Flintoff is quitting test cricket but will continue to play ODIs and T20. That will make up for another blog post.
I heard Swann bowled quite beautifully and will catch up the highlights later in the day. Until the next one, England enjoy this one, but not too much because there are still 3 tests to go! Aussies can and will fight back. (I hope so too, at the end I’m a true cricket lover at heart and there is nothing more one wants than a hard fought battle between equals) The battle is won but the war is not yet over lest the Poms forget that!

Go England Go. I’m keen to read Ponting’s reactions now!

And to end, Dubai’s cable service is split into 2 program options– E-Pehla and Orbit Showtime. I’ve subscribed to E-Pehla Silver which is a sports packageespecially for cricket and now the Ashes are being telecast on Orbit. I cannot subscribe to both simultaneously, so you can imagine my frustration currently! I hate following the game on the internet. I cannot comment on how well or badly the teams played as I cannot see them play live. And if you cannot watch a match live, then you are pretty much banking on the opinion of others and building your analysis of the game on someone else’s view point. As a huge fan of the game and someone who loves to have an opinion on the game, it can get increasingly irritating! Either ways I’ll try to catch some glimpses on the net and put in my own views!

Hope you all are as glued in as I am!

The 5 Best Things The Boy Has Done For Me

When I first started blogging in 2005 I was an active blogger. I would pick up interesting tit-bits regularly and put them up, cricket was definitely mentioned on my blog, and so were some random articles. The thoughts just flew. However since my move to Dubai, I am unable to devote much time to this space and surf different blogs, leave my comments and interact with interesting bloggers. (Trust me the interactions help a lot.)

Of late after getting back to the blogosphere, I’m discovering a whole new list of interesting bloggers. I’ve not yet managed to comment on all their posts but continue to visit them regularly. As I said I’m little devoid of original thoughts right now. Hence, when I saw this tag on OJ’s blog , I thought I would give it a shot. If you like it , do take it up!

5 best things the boy has done for me

1. Proposed Marriage and confessed his love:

All those who’ve known me are aware of the tough nut that I’m. I’m fiercely independent, extremely opinionated, forthright, and in-your-face person. I’m not an easy going person at all. I did not even believe in the concept called love! No wonder when he popped the question, everyone including my mom, my uncle-aunt, my sis, my best friends, reconfirmed with him if he was in his senses and knew what he was getting into! Apparently he did and he carries with him all their blessings and sympathies which have helped us in 6 years of a wonderful relationship.

As for me I thank god every day for making him pop the question. I did have a crush on him in college, but because of my stupid ego and inane fundae, I would’ve never confronted him and lost my chance for ever! He pretty much ensures that till date he reminds me of my foolishness:-)

2. Made best friends with my best friends

My friends are an important part of my life. They have seen me through the worst times and been there whenever I needed them. They have been my inspiration and I feel blessed having them in my life. There are a few close ones who will always be top priority in my life no matter what. I was not sure how he would accept that but I’m simply amazed as to how my closest friends have developed a bond with him. He is no longer their friend’s husband but their own friend. The ones dearest to me are dearest to him now. I have my favourites and am not the same with one and all but he on the other hand embraces each one with equal care and attention.

3. Makes the best tea in the world every day

Heads straight to the kitchen after freshening up and serves me a hot cup of tea every single day. He has taken sometime to do it but now it’s a routine. Though I constantly yell at him for not helping me around and never express my happiness over the little things he does on his own; his tea does make up for a tiring day at work and home

4. The London Surprise

Read about it here! I’m awful at giving surprises but he manages to spring one every time! This stands at the top. My friends think I can never match this one and I know I can’t! My girlfriends have given their husbands a torrid time after learning about this and my guy-friends ensure that I pass on the curses to him for setting such high-standards. They curse themselves no less for sharing it with their wives!
(There are tons more – All my birthdays & our anniversaries, Calvin and Hobbes -10 Anniv book , The God’s VCDs etc. Every little love of mine thought about and catered to, just to see a smile on my face! As I said the one above deserved a special mention as it stands high up on the list of millions!)

5. The Gentle Touch

Every single night, without fail he will gently tap my forehead till I’m fast asleep. Ensure I’m comfortable under the quilt and then go to sleep. Every single day, he thinks I don’t notice. I do and I’m miserable when he takes off on his business trips or heads home on family visits (when I can’t make it with him thanks to work:-( )

P.S: Yeah I love him, I don’t express or say it often but I seriously do!!!

Me = 3.78 Earth:-((

Here is an interesting link that my friend has put up on her blog. I’ve got in touch with her ages after we left school. She is a research scientist who puts up some unusual science and technology discoveries/inventions on her blog. If you are looking for some intellectual fodder, hers is the blog to visit!


Though I don’t comment often on her blog, every article she puts up enriches your knowledge and here is one person who really cares about Planet Earth.

So I thought I’d take this quiz up and try alter my lifestyle to do my bit. Apparently I’m not yet doing my bit practically. This is not a good score:-(((((((
I suggest you all try it out.