One year from the horrific attacks and the perpetrators still roam at large. India still remains a soft state, one very much vulnerable to attack.

My friend and one of the followers of this blog, remarked that India is the only country where all people hate each other. The Marathas are fighting with the north indians, the south indians look down upon the northies and vice versa. But despite all this problems, India continues to make progress and the largely young population of the country who fortunately remains above all this regional crap is standing up and making a difference which is a testimony to our socio-cultural and educational set-up.

Everyone of us as Indians should come together, forget our differences and take a moment to pay homage to the great men who put down their lives to bring back peace not only to Mumbai but to the whole nation and Indians all over the world. A great country needs our support.

2012 is another offering from disaster specialist director Roland Emmerich whose credits include Independence Day, Godzilla and the The Day after Tomorrow. So you know, it is leave your brains at home time, ignore character development and just enjoy the noise, the craziness and the mind-blowing CGI.

This time it is world annihilation due to solar flares. The first half of the movie is excellent and has everything that popcorn entertainment has to offer. Cities just falling off due to the movement of fault lines will leave you agape. But it is the second half where the movie starts to get boring and repetitive. And all the cliches that you expect also come hopping out with glee with the conscience stricken Americans saving the world yet again.

No one performance stays in the mind even though the movie runs for almost three hours. Watch the movie just for the spectacle of seeing a plane taking off from a runway crumbling behind it, ships being hit my massive tsunami waves and much more.

And the hero of millions completes 20 years in world cricket. Congrats Sachin on this scintillating achievement. Just the amount of articles that have been written on the guy is overwhelming. I won't waste time writing one more. Catch them at cricinfo by clicking below

http://www.cricinfo.com/sachinat20/content/site

India vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test Ahmedabad
Q. How does the little master play his first ball of his 3rd decade at the top?
A. Get to the pitch of the ball and caress it through the covers.

Good Omen......? Nope,he gets bowled two balls later while playing a poor shot. Gavaskar, praising the man for his form and feet movement , jinxes the Bombay Bomber. Uff :(

Today the world commemorated the Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in memory of those who died in WWI. During those years of war, Indian political leaders had stupidly allowed our citizens to fight for the British in Europe and elsewhere. In all 140,000 men from the British Indian Army served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totaled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World War I*. And all this show of loyalty to the empire, just because the Congress "expected" the goras to hand them self-governance. What a piece of trash. What were they thinking?

All of 91 years later, we still show our weakness in taking strong steps and continue to bow down to corruption, communalism and terrorism. Let us not forget the valor shown by our soldiers in war who have sacrificed so much dear to them so that we can enjoy what is dear to us. Let us mark the moment..

*Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Fighting_in_India

Next stop Bangalore/Bengaluru to meet Deepika Padukone. Ok ok alright...but close enough since I was meeting a schoolmate of hers. :)

Had heard a lot about the steady improvements of airports in India. After being impressed by the Mumbai Domestic Terminal, I expected the same for the Bengaluru Airport as well. And it did not disappoint.

Spacious, airy terminals, self-check in counters, uncomplicated design for departure gates and clear announcements. On the outside too, was a revelation with pretty landscaping, organized cab areas and bus lanes. BMTC operates air-conditioned Volvo buses into the city and we hopped onto one of them to make our way along the six-lane highway to the city-center.

I was in India for the past two weeks and the first sign that I had truly arrived arrived just a few minutes after we left the SVP Airport Ahmedabad - the Chai stall.

Among the great many differences between the American and Indian culture especially among college students , the biggest one is the "cutting" or cafe culture. Coffee or tea is sipped in a more closed or controlled setting in the States while the cart culture still largely caters to the Indian lifestyle. The photo on the left is of a tea stall in Ahmedabad, I clicked in the wee hours of the morning, just after I landed.

Before the days of CCD and Barista, there was(and still is) the roadside tea shop that were present at prime locations outside colleges. These tea stalls doubled up as the nukkad, provision store for tea, paan, cigarette, and quick snacks. This was the place for endless banter or to vent feelings about anything under the sun be it that screwed up test, the crazy professor, the latest babe in college, or some career advice. The ambience was the road and the traffic while the seats were one's own bike. The service was quick and friendly. And all this for a price way below at what one would pay at swanky malls or chic cafes.

Some of the stalls have even gone beyond their usual status and become the favorite hangout places of thousands like the famous Rituraj Maska Bun near the Gujarat University campus. The cafe culture might have swept India but it is time to give the street tea vendors their due respect for their great service to millions of budding engineers, managers and slackers (me..me..me).

India's most loved writer , Chetan Bhagat released his fourth offering 2 States , the story of my Marriage last month. Although I was terribly disappointed by his previous book - 3 mistakes, I am still a fan of his work. His new book as he claims is a fictionalized version of his own struggle to get married to the girl of his choice.

Krish and Ananya are 2 classmates in love at IIM-A but Krish is Punjabi and Ananya is a Tamilian. So obviously there is opposition to their marriage. But instead of taking the easy route of eloping, they decide to play turns in convincing each other's family and that's what the entire book is about.

The parameters for the north vs south clash are set up very early in the book and right at the beginning it moves with breakneck pace. But it settles down into a sweet although predictable family comedy with cultural differences emerging at the top of the jest pile.

About Chetan's characters, they seem to have grown mature. It is the first time since Five point Someone, you feel that you know something more about the narrator rather than half-baked characterizations in his previous two works. There are a lot of nostalgic well placed references to FPS as well. Minor characters too get good scope to display their displeasure at the proceedings. On the other hand though, some of his story lines do seem just mere extensions of his previous characters. Bad boss, newspaper savvy characters, south indian tendency to be bookworms etc. to name a few. Also the message he wants to get through about moving over our cultural differences and embracing people from all over India has been passed on a million times before without much progress. (Although that isn't Chetan's fault, firstly the north-south dilemma has been done to death. An east west , a Gujju-Bengali angle could have been an interesting premise). It begs the reason as to why to look for partners from a different clan when you know there is going to be confrontation.

All said and done, CB does a better job this time. The subtle observations and the clever one-liners are all there in this book, and slightly more depth in his writing makes it an enjoyable read. Ofcourse it is very bollywoodish in nature, and can be finished in one sitting as is the case with all his books. His critics will remain but one should review his book more from a humorist point of view rather than a literary one.

Rating : 3/5

Yesterday I watched Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar play one of his best ever innings in an ODI. It was all the more remarkable since it came in a chase of a mammoth 350 and against the numero uno team in the world. Unfortunately the other nincompoops in the team could not provide a fitting end to the match as India lost the match by a mere 3 runs in a thrilling encounter. It was once again like the 90s where the Master single handedly lead the team to an almost impossible victory. Take a bow Little Master, even after 20 years in international cricket , you still continue to astonish us with your strokeplay.

Australia lead the 7 match series 3-2.