Apr 23
The post “Games we forgot” on hawkeye was one of those posts that you back to your childhood days and bring back fond memories. There are a lot of games mentioned in his post and i remembered having played many of those. If you can’t recollect any of the games mentioned below, check out his post.
Kings: I remember having played this game event until the end of high school. It is a fast paced game and i was good at it, as it required the person inside the circle (or whatever field) to be pretty athletic in avoiding the ball. Of course, I have had embarrassing moments in school when, out of over-enthusiasm, i do too many acrobatic stunts and end up with my pants torn in all the wrong places!
Chains: This game was very popular in my apartment, but only when the girls were also present. Contrary to other games in the same category, there was a great demand to become the catcher, because the catcher would first “choose” the girl who he wants to hold hands with, make her out and enjoy the rest of the game holding her hands!
French Cricket: This was played when we didn’t have the required strength to play a proper game of cricket. A good cricket player would have lot of fun in this kind of game, as it was almost impossible to get a good cricket player in this form of the game. The others, pity them, as they would be spending the entire time running to all parts of the “open” field, as there was rarely a n”end” to the field.
Hide n’ seek (Kannam M/Poochi): This was a standard game, but we used to play it on our terrace. Thinking of the places i used to hide in gives me the jitters now, as our terrace was the fourth floor and i used to climb on top of the tanks and even down the water pipes by the side of the building to the sunshades on the windows of the third floor flats.
Hand Tennis: The usual rules of tennis, except that the racquet is replaced by the palm. Our moms used to be the water-moms. The water was not for drinking, but for cooling the reddened palms.
Chalk Cricket: We used to play this at school, where a ruler replaced a bat and a chalk replaced a ball. The chalk (usually 1/2 a chalk) was placed vertically on the table (serving as a pitch) and it had to be flicked towards the batsman (which constitutes a delivery). We even had different scores based on which girl you managed to hit, ranging from +6 (the highest) to -2(the lowest). Few of the girls also knew this scoring system and we have had many an argument for the validity of the rating.
Unfortunately, the games which people (from the South) usually recollect are Goli (marbles) and Gilli-Danda, both of my which i have never played! I am sure that there are many more that i have played and forgotten and i hope that some blog post comes along the way which refreshes my memory.

written by Rajaram S

Apr 19
Way to go Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni and his men couldn’t expect a better start to the tournament. Though this defeat wasn’t as convincing as the way King Khan’s Knight riders smashed the Bangalore Royal Challengers, it was good enough to get the players into the groove for the rest of the tournament.
Mike Hussey showed the way for the Chennai Super Kings with a brilliant hundred. When the Punjab Kings were chasing and Kumar Snagakkara and James Hopes were having a partnership, things looked to be pretty even between the sides. But once hopes was dismissed, it was pretty easy for the Super Kings.
Great start Chennai Super Kings, keep it up. Vijay and Nayanthara will be proud of you! On the other hand, someone should teach Preity Zinta hot to cheer in cricket. The moves Preity Zinta were making would fit better in a boxing ring and not in a cricket stadium and it looked so artificial!

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written by Rajaram S

Apr 18
badly, very badly, in fact miserably! But, what can they do? Poor Vijay Mallya. When he purchased the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier league, I guess that he wouldn’t have had an idea that his iconic player in the twenty 20 matches, the player for whom he would have to pay the highest money, would have been Rahul Dravid, of all the cricketers!
Yes, Rahul Dravid is a good cricketer, but this is 20-20, not the bend-forward-show-the-full-face-front-foot-defence game! Even i wouldn’t have Rahul Dravid in my team for the Galli cricket 6 over matches! When the Bangalore team went in to bat today at the Chinnaswamy stadium, I almost fell off my sofa seeing Dravid and Wasim Jaffer walk out. What are the two test players doing in a wham-bham-thank-you-maam kind of game?
But Vijay Mallya, you have something to rejoice. There are lot of Bangloreans going to get drunk today with the sadness over this miserable loss and you can hope that they buy your liquor! You can also hope that Shah Rukh Khan and his Kolkata Knight riders will purchase your liquor in the party tonight.
I am obviously a supporter of Chennai Super Kings and i hope that the combined power of Dhoni, Muralidharan, Mathew Hayden and Fleming would be enough to crush the other teams.
Long live IPL, Long live Chennai Super Kings!

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written by Rajaram S

Feb 19
The auctions for the players to play in the different teams of the Indian Premier Legue (IPL) will be done today. It is expected to start at 11 am today (Feb 20). The auction is under the observation of many international auctioneers also, as it has an interesting format with various limitations.
  • There are a total of 77 players to be auctioned off.
  • Each owner has to spend a minimum of 3.3 Million USD and a maximum of 5 million USD on his/her team. This maximum cap is what that makes this auction interesting. You have to get into a lot of permutations and combinations to compose your team, much like playing fantasy cricket online.
  • bids up to $100,000 – in increments of $5,000, bids from $100,000 to $250,000 – in increments of $10,000, bids from $250,000 to $500,000 – in increments of $25,000, after this, no set increments.
  • Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Yuvraj will not be auctioned as they are icon players for their respective areas.
  • Each squad must have a minimum of 16 players per squad. This will include a maximum of 8 currently available foreign players per squad. Each team can have a maximum of 4 foreign players in the playing XI for each match.
  • The squad will also have to consist of a minimum 4 under 22 players from that area.

I shall keep updating as soon as the news come out!

The teams so far:

Anil Kumble Bangalore USD 500000
Jacques Kallis Bangalore USD 900000
Zaheer Khan Bangalore USD 450000
MS Dhoni Chennai USD 1,500,000
Muttiah Muralitharan Chennai USD 600,000
Jacob Oram Chennai USD 675000
Matthew Hayden Chennai USD 375000
Stephen Fleming Chennai USD 350000
Daniel Vettori Delhi USD 625000
Chris Gayle Delhi USD 800000
Shoaib Malik Delhi USD 500000
Mohammad Asif Delhi USD 650000
Adam Gilchrist Hyderabad USD 700,000
Andrew Symonds Hyderabad USD 1,300,000
Herschelle Gibbs Hyderabad USD 575000
Shahid Afridi Hyderabad USD 675000
Shane Warne Jaipur USD 450,000
Grame Smith Jaipur USD 455000
Younis Khan Jaipur USD 225000
Shoaib Akhtar Kolkata USD 425,000
Brendon McCullim Kolkata USD 700000
Ricky Ponting Kolkata USD 400000
Mahela Jayawardene Mohali USD 475,000
Kumar Sangakkara Mohali USD 750000
Brett Lee Mohali USD 900000
Sreesanth Mohali USD 625000
Sanath Jayasuriya Mumbai USD 975000
Harbhajan Singh Mumbai USD 850000

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written by Rajaram S

Feb 19
Oh! westerner, please understand this. We don’t speak Hindu, neither are Indians Hindis. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, but that doesn’t make us Hindis. A majority of Indians are Hindus (acc to the latest census) , but that doesn’t mean that we speak Hindu. We also don’t speak Indian, by the way!
I understand the situation that you are in, with the people of Spain speaking Spanish, people of Germany speaking German , the English speaking English and so on. But, we don’t ever ask you “Do you speak Christian?”, do we?
I am an Indian first and everything follows after. The religion i follow is Hinduism and you know what, i don’t speak Hindi! Not all Hindus speak Hindi. Similarly, not all Hindi speaking people are Hindus!
I am sure that you must now be in the exact situation you were in, before reading this post. But, the main idea was to convey the message that Hindu is a religion and Hindi is a language. Don’t mix these up.
But, why this post suddenly ? I have recently become a big fan of the Jeopardy Quiz Show shown on MBC 4 every morning. Yeah, this is not the same season as in the US but a rerun of old seasons, nevertheless, the topics are interesting and the questions, smart. One of the questions today morning was
Hindi faithful make regular pilgrimages to & bathe in this 1,560-mile river of Northern India.

The answer to the above was obvious. “What is the Ganges?” But the point is, it is not the Hindi faithful who go there, but the Hindu faithful. How can such a reputed quiz show ask a question like this? But its ok, they are pardoned. They set thousands of questions, so one mistake can be ignored.

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written by Rajaram S

Feb 08
or to be more precise, a tamil wedding ceremony. Head over to Krishashok who took time off from doing jalsa and showing jilpa (not to be confused with Shilpa) to write an excellent article on Tamil Weddings. A must read!

written by Rajaram S

Jan 31
Now the issue is whether Harbhajan Singh said maaki (in Hindi) or monkey (in English) to Andrew Symonds. To the casual reader, this issue might see very trivial and not worth the exposure it is getting. But, there is lot more to it than is visible on the surface.

Harbhajan had indeed referred to Symonds as a monkey, but he wasn’t aware that this would be considered racist. So, his team of lawyers along with BCCI had decided to take the approach that Harbhajan had in fact referred to Symonds as a white monkey and not a black monkey, but the Indians didn’t know how the australian legal team would twist the case to a racism abuse. So, for the past two days they were investigating alternatives for their defense.

This somehow leaked to the media and they started talking about it on television. One person who was watching this felt that he could help the Indian team in this situation. He was Javed Akhtar, the noted bollywood lyricist and scriptwriter. He felt that he could help because he was so much into writing rap crap in english for bollywood movies, that he could definitely could come up with some alibi in English for Harbhajan.
So, Javed Akhtar started searching for homonyms for monkey in English. The only one he could come up with was mucky. But mucky meant dirty and australians would consider this more offensive than monkey as they were known for maintaining cleanliness by covering all the dirt on their faces with sun-screen lotion.
Then, out of the blue, an idea struck him. Why not look for a homonym in hindi? It was much easier to form words out of the given syllables. So, the first word he got was makki, meaning a fly. But, he didn’t want to use this, as he wanted to bring the australians down to earth and not on cloud nine like a fly. Javed was frustrated and the team working with him started swearing at Harbhajan, as he was the one responsible for all this mess.
Like all hindi speaking people, Javed started referring to all the relatives of Harbhajan as he started swearing. The moment he said “Saala Uske Maa Ki” , a BCCI member jumped up from his chair and shouted “Eureka, monkey mil gaya”. Then, Javed realised what he had said and jumped up in joy.
Thus, the indian defense panel decided to use “Maa Ki” as an alibi. And the rest is history…Harbhajan was not charged with racism as swearing at one’s mother or any other relative, in Australia was all in a day’s work for their citizens.
QED.

written by Rajaram S

Jan 10
If Harbhajan Singh had called Andrew Symonds a monkey, was he being racist? This actually depends on which monkey he was referring to, when he was referring to Symonds as a monkey. Was he referring to the White Faced monkey or the Black Spider monkey? We may never know. One thing is sure. He wasn’t definitely referring to Hanuman.

Did harbhajan Singh refer to andrew symonds as a white faced monkey? Did harbhajan Singh refer to andrew symonds as a black spider monkey?

So, why does it matter which monkey he was referring to. When i think about this, I get doubts as to what racism actually means.

A standard definition of racism:

  • The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
  • Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

I am confused! So, if race is the main concern behind racism, why does calling an australian a monkey amount to racism? Race is often equated to colour and looks, as different races do look different from each other. So, if you say to a black person: “You blacks don’t deserve any better” or if you say to a white person “You whites have got no brains”, then this is racism, at least from my understanding of racism, because you are insulting a black based on his black colour and similarly for the whites.

So, if calling a australian a monkey is racism, does that mean australians have more in common with monkeys than rest of the human beings. So, referring to them as monkeys would be insulting them because of this unfortunate similarity (as seen below). So, it actually didn’t matter whether Harbhajan was referring to either of the monkeys above, just calling him a monkey was enough. Case closed.

Is andrew symonds a monkey?

Not exactly. I am still confused. In fact, most of the Indians are confused. Indians are used to complaining against racism whichever part of the world they go. Indians are stuck between the so called whites and the blacks. Being white is considered superior in Europe and other western countries and being black is superior in Africa and other parts of the world, but where does that put us? We don’t fit anywhere. In ayia napa here in Cyprus (supposedly the clubbing capital of the world), whites are welcomed for their cash and blacks are welcomed for their party-atmosphere creating capabilities, but we indians are considered good for computer-related jobs only. But,we have one advantage that the whites and blacks don’t have. We can be racially discriminated against in the lands of both the whites and the blacks!

In my opinion, Indians are the most racist in the world. We practice racism on a day-to-day basis, the most prominent being the north india-south india divide. okay, the east indians also complain, but that is more of a geographical racsim, so we shall leave them aside. North Indians are fair and south indians are dark, so ? Actually, the only people who can “practice” such racism in India are the Kashmiris! They are fair! Everyone else in india is dark compared to them. When i joined BITS Pilani, there were many girls from Kashmir in my batch. They would have been the perfect candidates for “Fair and lovely” not the pyts from bollywood.

I started off with Australian monkeys and went on a totally different track to kashmiri beauties. I am confused!

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written by Rajaram S

Jan 10
Okay, the bajaj one is more than 1 lakh, but it is targeting the same segment as the Tato Nano/Jeh. So, i guess that it is okay to bring them together.
tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car tata nano hamara bajaj lite small 1 lakh car
Tata and Bajaj are making it easier for the common man to purchase a car now. When a bike costs 50,000 Rupees, who wouldn’t like to go for a cosier option by paying another 50,000 rupees. This move by Tata and Bajaj has lot of implications:
  • The Indian cities would now definitely feature of every edition of “The Amazing Race”, “The crazy Race” or whatever new series the american channels can think of. Even now, it is fashionable for people to show a segment where a foreigner is shown driving on the Indian roads. Now with the Tata Nanos and Bajaj Lites replacing all the motorcycles, more mayhem is assured on our roads which translates into more dollars from all the foreign tv shows coming to India.
  • It is said that 1 in every 5 mile of the highways in USA was built straight so that it could be used as a landing strip in times of war. The Indian government was very impressed by this concept that they “customised” it a bit and implemented here. On the Indian roads, 1 in every 5 km is pot-hole free so that people can use that part to stand on when the other sections gets filled up with water during excessive rains. The other 4 kms were designed so to stop any advancing armies which don’t have the capabilities to negotiate such obstructions.
  • With respect to the last sentence of the previous point, Pakistan and China have already placed orders for thousands of Tata Nanos and Bajaj Lites, which are cheap options for their armies to use when invading our country as these vehicles are built for Indian roads.
  • Demand for land of a particular type has sky-rocketed after these announcements. No one even wants a petrol bunk to be allotted to them now. All of them are now crazy after allocation of parking lots, as soon, every tom, dick and harry in India will be driving around in small cars.

So, the small cars are not only stirring the Indian media, but the media of other countries are also getting interested. Tata and Bajaj, a good move!

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written by Rajaram S

Jan 04
If you haven’t yet checked out the prelims questions of Chakde India Quiz, then you can do so at this link.

Posted below are the questions/answers from the final.

  1. The name of which Indian deity has made its way into the English language and has come to mean “a massive inexorable force or object that crushes whatever is in its path”? Ans: Juggernaut from Lord Jagannath
  2. At which popular religious destination in India can you find Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula? Ans: Rishikesh
  3. Which character in Hindu mythology got his name from his pot shaped head? Ans: Ghatotkacha
  4. Which Indian musical instrument’s name when translated into English means Royal Flute? Ans: Shehnai
  5. What was the new lifeline introduced in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) 2 apart from the three which were already present? Ans: Flip the question
  6. Who along with Batukeshwar Dutt was arrested in 1929 for throwing bombs in the Central Assembly at New Delhi? Ans: Bhagat Singh
  7. Of what’s English translation is this the first line. “Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India’s destiny” Ans: Jana Gana Mana
  8. On March 16,2005, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty on all counts by a Canadian court. What crime were they accused of? Ans: Air India Kanishka Bombing
  9. On 14th January every year, during the Makar Sankranti, what international festival is held at Ahmedabad? Ans: International Kite Festival
  10. Oh, Creator of the universe! We meditate upon thy supreme splendor. May thy radiant power illuminate our intellects, destroy our sins, and guide us in the right direction.” What is the significance of the above prayer? Ans: Gayatri Mantra
  11. Identify the character. Ans: Shikari Shambu
  12. Her mother’s name is Bonnie Pandya, a Slovenian American. She is the second person of Slovenian descent to be sent to space. She apparently likes Samosas! Who? Ans: Sunita Williams
  13. Originally introduced from India, it is the word for an open portico or light roofed gallery extending along the front of a dwelling or other building, and erected chiefly as a protection or shelter from the sun or rain. What word? Ans: Verandah
  14. What started initially in 1984 between Esplanade and Bhavanipur, now covers a distance of 16.84 kilometers for Dumdum in the north to TollyGanj in the south? Ans: Kolkata Metro
  15. Which famous jewel’s name means “mountain of light”? Ans: Kohinoor
  16. Kiron Kher had an unique credit in the titles of “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”. For what? Ans: Credit for title-writing, as she suggested the title. “Title Suggested By”
  17. What is full form of T.T.E as in the guy who checks the tickets on our trains. Ans: Travelling Ticket Examiner
  18. In August 1990, in a test match between India and England at Manchester, Sachin won the man of the match award. He was presented the award by X. The next day, the Manchester Police issued a warning notice to X and also said that they would not consider this as a serious offense just because of the situation this time. What was the warning issued? Ans: A bottle was champagne was given as the man of the match award and sachin was a minor then. It is legally forbidden to give alcohol to a minor.
  19. Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict, Ian Watkins, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed, Cleo Rocos, Jo O’Meara, Jade Goody, Carole Malone, Leo Sayer Day, Jackiey Budden, Ken Russell Day, Donny Tourette and? Ans: Shilpa Shetty (Big Brother Celebrity Series)
  20. What does the W/L sign seen on Indian Railway tracks indicate? Ans: Whistle For level Crossing
  21. Connect Pavo cristatus, Panthera Tigris, Mangifera indica and Nelumba nucifera. Ans: All are National Symbols. Peacock, Tiger, Mango and Lotus
  22. Complete the list: Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Brihadeshwara Temple in Thanjavur, Arunachaleshwara Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Golden Temple in Amritsar, Bahubali Gommateshwara Statue in Shravanabelagola, Mahabalipuram near Chennai, Lotus Temple in New Delhi, Ranakpur Jain Temple and _________. Ans: Taj Mahal. The list of all Indian monuments which appeared in the original list of the new seven wonders
  23. What is the planet Rahu responsible for, according to Hindy Mythology? Ans: Responsible for causing Solar eclipses
  24. Identify the product for which this print ad was prepared. Ans: Fevicol
  25. This message from the Mumbai Police was put on something and placed randomly on the roads of Mumbai. What was it placed on? Ans: 1 Rupee coin
  26. There are 5 of these labs at different locations. The largest lab consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring various parameters. Each is a fixed and ‘focused’ tool. The largest instrument here is 90 feet high and has its shadow carefully plotted. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur. The Accuracy of the largest instrument measuring time is about two seconds. Ans: Jantar Mantar
  27. The proposed name for this institution was ‘Imperial university’ which was not selected. The Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone in 1911. How do we know it today? Ans: Indian Institute of Science
  28. When asked ‘Why are you so sure that the first man, Adam, was an Indian?’, he replied ‘Who else will stand beside a naked woman and eat an apple?’. Who? Ans : Osho
  29. In the Ramayana, Vishwamitra takes Rama and lakshmana with him to slay the demoness Tataka. During the course of the Journey, they often slept on the banks of Sarayu river. Vishvamitra did something to wake Rama up every morning before dawn so that he can do his rites. What did he do? Ans: He composed and sang the Suprabadam
  30. According to the legends the Gods & Goddesses pleaded with Lord Brahma to create another ‘Veda’ which would be simpler for the common man to understand. Lord Brahma created the ‘Panchamaveda’, an essence of the four other vedas. It is believed he has taken ‘Pathya’(words) from the ‘Rigveda’, ‘Abhinaya’ (gesture) from ‘Samaveda’ & ‘Rasa’(sentiment & emotional element) from the ‘Atharvaveda’. After creating this he gave it to Sage Bharatha & asked him to popularise this on Earth. What did this lead to? Ans: Bharatnatyam
  31. What was carried in a third class compartment numbered 2949 to Triveni, Allahabad on February 12, 1948? Ans: Ashes of Gandhi
  32. The members of the Muduvar tribe, which inhabits the mountain ranges around Valparai (Tamil Nadu) and Munnar (Kerala) in the Western Ghats, have a unique method for calculating their ages. What is it? Ans: They calculate their age with the blossoming of the Kurinji flower, which blooms only once every 12 years
  33. Bulgar, Gansu, Taklamakan Desert, Kashgar, Kokand, Karakum Desert, Merv. Which music band? Ans: Silk Route
  34. Who is missing? Ans: Zakir Hussain
  35. In an economic times article which was talking about business and marketing opportunities in India, there was a statement “There are three main religions in India. Hinduism, Islam and ____”. Which was the third that they mentioned ? Ans: Cricket
  36. What is the name given to the class of tourist trains modeled on the “Palace On Wheels” but meant to serve tourists with a budget? Ans: Village on Wheels
  37. Manoj Singh Naruka became a celebrity (for the wrong reasons) last week because of his Orkut community. What was his community’s name? Ans: I hate Mayawati
  38. Which famous politician played the role of Santa Claus at Beur Jail in Patna during the Christmas celebrations in 1998? Ans: Laloo Yadav
  39. In Hindi it is called Saunf what is it called in English? Ans: Fennel Seeds
  40. It is the national game of Bangladesh, and the state game of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh in India. Ans: Kabaddi
  41. Which company is the manufacturer of the 155mm FH-77 B howitzer artillery system?Ans: Bofors
  42. Which tree takes its name from the caste of merchants who often conducted meetings under these trees in the marketplace?Ans: Banyan from Baniya

Special Topics: Cricket

1) Who was the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team for the twenty20 world cup? Ans: Yuvraj
2) What is the contribution of Paul Hawkins to the world of cricket? Ans: Hawk Eye
3) Amay Khurasia had an unique claim fame in the 1999 world cup held in England. What? Ans: Didn’t play a single match

Special Topics: Indian Mythology

1) Ten warriors survived the Kurukshetra war. Satyaki, Yuyutsu, Ashwathama, Kritavarma,Kripacharya were five of them. Who were the other five? Ans: Pandavas
2) Who is on the Flag of Arjuna? Ans: Hanuman
3) The 100 Kaurava brothers had one sister. Name her!Ans: Dushala

Special Topics: History

1) Which company manufactured the rifles whose “greased” cartridges was one of the factors leading to the 1857 revolution? Ans: Enfield
2) Which Indian King was the first to use rockets in warfare? Ans: Tipu Sultan
3) Which famous Indian king was called Sandracottus by the Greeks? Ans: Chandragupta Maurya

Hope you enjoyed this quiz. You can find hundreds of other quizzes on my quiz page. If you want your quiz blog/site listed on that, just drop in a mail.

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written by Rajaram S

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