INDIA WINS WORLD CUP 2011...Almost..Just one more hurdle to cross...

So I spend the entire day watching cricket that specifically means the INDIA v/s PAKISTAN semifinal sitting at home. But wait sitting will be a wrong word explaining what ever the hell i do while watching a match. There are times when i stand, jump and pace in front of the tv. There are also times so nerve wrecking that i wish i could change the channel...just touch the remote to end it all, can't make myself do that too! Also there has to be something or the other to be nibbling on because fingernails are a limited resource.

I Have had my conviction about INDIA winning this semifinal right from the start. The main reason is because its against Pakistan. We have never lost a world cup match against it so why this time. Its Pakistan for heavens sake the country,we hate, the people we despise however godlike the Indian is he/she will never want to lose a cricket match against it. Its not in us Indians to even think of Pak winning.

We have our issues political or not that make us more than rivals. We had the bitter partition, the bickering about Kashmir, the terrorist attacks the Kargil war and so much more. We have had a history that even every history book reiterates time an again. it is because of this history and the present non communication that led to our PM attending this match or partially attending it. No one knows about the conclusion of the meeting with PAK PM Gilani or if there was any breakthrough in that as well. maybe it was just two oldies having a day out sorting their troubles.Mr.Gandhi enjoyed a day off too...i guess the people he helps day in and day out missed him as well, or maybe they got a day of freedom from the man and his big media entourage. and yeah Aamir Khan makes his cameo too...he didn't need to analyse so much today with his hand on his chin, our players knew what they were doing. Many well known faces there but those were just addons.

the actual drama unfolded on the field. with India making a measly score of 260 at Mohali where the pitch is fast the stakes were all the more high. Great bowling attack by PAK in the first innings with Wasab taking 5 wickets. the most heart rendering moment was when Sachin was almost Lbdw'd. But as they say he leads a charmed life and the charms sure worked their way out, with 4 of the catches dropped.Suresh Raina played a good innings at the end.

so when its PAK's chance to bat the INDIAN bowlers are on fire. Wickets fell one after another and luck favoured M.S Dhoni as the team he selected today worked its way out. With each of India's spinners and seamers getting 2 wickets each its all out. PAK out of the country across the border. Shahid afridi deserves a mention for being the true gentlemen that he is. India's fielding was great for the day with no mistakes...very one on high alert because'' Izzat ka sawaal hai''....

The day ends with INDIA'S triumph, hard work paying off, INDIA finally getting the chance where it wanted to see itself since 1983, getting a chance to win the most coveted, prestigious and honoured cup the WORLD CUP. Its been trying and falling short in its efforts since many years, but i don't think that will be d case this year. Its against SRILANKA who are playing good, its not easy and never has been for any team especially INDIA this year...they have cut through the cake, its on the home ground turf just short of a match like d case of the cake ready to be eaten just near the mouth, now its about time cake needs to be enjoyed and the sweetness of victory is what awaits INDIA on SATURDAY..!!!!

ADENIUM...the pursuit...the reward

My craze to have an Adenium (for those who don't know its a plant with beautiful flowers also known as the Desert Rose) started after visiting my native place wherein looking at my aunt's garden I realised that oh my god this is something I should do, something very rewarding. So after procuring a small Adenium plant from a nursery there in calcutta, and by small I mean size of my palm, I brought it all the way to mumbai by train. I don't know under what behest of resons it didn't grow, it was the same with a few leaves and I prayed that it would grow and branch out and stuff but it never happened. Thus about a year passed by uneventful. Once during the summers it completely shrivelled up (I wasn't taking very good care of it,was I?), my mom was about to throw it away when I stopped her and replanted it. It survived and again grew a few leaves and its life and mine returned to normal.

During the monsoons this year I left it outside, thinking what the hell could ever happen and I am sorry but completely forgot about it. My mom woke me up one morning and told me all my plants are dead (meaning my Adenim and some Euphorbia mili), coz I didn't bring them in during the rains. I first thought it was a joke, really nothing could never kill it! Then reality struck me and teary eyed I sat up my bed, ran outside to see there was nothing left. My mind racing what the hell should I do? There was nothing that could reincarnate them or something. So i took the help of my friend in need and otherwise the internet and started looking up plant nurseries. Nothing came up,except one in Bandra, gave a call there to find they were out of stock. Losing all hope I realised to get one I have to go all the way to calcutta. So better to wait it out.

With my green fingers itching again to procure some plants at least, on my way back home from college I visited one nursery and got 2 beautiful hanging plants (although they are not hung up), decided to come back again to get some flowering ones too. When i visited it back that week and while barganing the price, I decided to scan through it again and then lo and behold I saw it, it was a foot high Adenium, so the nursery wala told me all about where he gets it from and stuff and I am thanking whoever gave me this beautiful suprise. I got the plant home and scanned through various blogs for its proper care, watered it regularly. I always thought that God knows if it will ever bloom what will be the color? and then leave out all that it will have when its supposed to, atleast I have it.

While watering my plant once i saw a few bud like structures at one of the branches, i couldn't believe it and after further inspection realised its the truth, I was so damn happy on top of the world. Adenium blossoms are very lucky and bring in prosperity as some say...but I knew that day, when u want anything with your whole heart and would do anything to get it, you'll get it and how...!

Below are a few pictures of my Adenium plant in full bloom...

Books ...books..n even more BOOKS..

Books are like fuel to my imagination. they probe me to construct their universe and live in it, they let me be in the story and  view it first hand.Being an engineering student studying is only during PL as everyone knows, for those who don't know wat it is( its a PREPARATORY LEAVE granted by colleges before the exams). So that gives me a lot of spare time to read. I am not the kind of reader who has to be accompanied by some book or the other all the damn time, nor like the travelling readers,the ones who dont have any time to afford except, Travelling time. I am the one who if driven by the story has to see its end...and dat could very well be at 4.30 a.m. If the story dosen't excite me I am not compelled to finish it.

I am always in a search of a good book...always..yeah and dat could be an ebook. About ebooks, traditional book enthusiasts consider it as an electronic bane, they could question it like," wats the point? if u don't have a book in your hands, if u hav to glued to the screen, it's just like TV". but i can contradict it partly by saying that buying books is a costly affair, and u might as well read rather than watching TV. Yeah there are libraries and book exchange shops but if your impatient and have the patience to sit and read glued to the screen, and u really wanna read, you might as well do it.Who cares? Yeah you might get an eye power but that's our own business isn't it. Also I would like to assure you that after hours of ebook reading on my comp and mobile(yeah it has a read mainac software to read ebooks) I haven't gotten spectacles as of now. But I do detest the current audiobook craze and I hate audiobooks as well, books are meant to read they are not fairytales to be heard while going to sleep.

I am a huge fiction fan, non-fiction is not my cup of tea, however I love a good biography any day, night whatever. I haven't counted how many books i've read till date (if you do count, i guess you could have an OCD or you might just love maths...pun intended) but yeah  I do have a favourite. No its not the cliched Twilight although i've read all 4 of them but I guess Bella isn't all that fortunate with all the attention seeking business going on, next you might think Harry Potter...i've read all of HP books, all 7, a huge huge fan of the series but not my favourite. 

My favourite is somewhat more closer to reality its ''WE THE LIVING'' by AYN RAND. I know of crazy book readers who havn't even heard of it at all....but it sure is a treat! Filled to the core with so much passion from the writer that it completely encaptures your senses. Ayn Rand was born a Russian and with communism penetrating its roots into the society there was no where to escape it. She fled away to the U.S where this became the base plot for We the living, her first novel. Though its written way back, its characters can be identified with. All the three main characters Kira,Leo and Andrei are driven with very basic urge to be free. However freedom in this context is different for each individual. This urge with overdriven love and hatred makes the book, one to reckon with. I am not goin to divulge the plot because I never do That. How much ever you prod or plead I hate to ruin the experience for others.