Monday, May 30, 2005

Habi jabi....

Its a May afternoon turning to evening, its hot humid and unpleasant. And since yesterday i've been worried. I just finished reading Lord Of The Rings and now i don't have any other books to carry me thru the remaining 1 and a half month, or so it seems. I have to locate a good book as soon as possible or else i'll be blowing up more and more on our internet usage hourse and blog-hop incessantly as i've been doing all day long.

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Doesn't look like it'll rain today evening. The welcome kalboishakhi has become even more elusive. Last movie i saw was Bose The Forgotten Hero. Wasn't too bad, but wasn't that great either. But it was good to visit Nandan again. Everytime i go there somehow my faith is restored in the whole bangaliana thingy. Yes antel...yes yes i know.... rave and rant as you may but i think its nice that even today theres attachment people (bangalis) feel to the place. That's the surest sign that alls still well. And i'd rather have it that way. Anyways all things apart its a good place to go to with friends. Also doubles up as good place to sooth tired and thirsty eyes.

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Deja vu is an amazing thing. Today, while i was having doi-mach for lunch, the aamer-chaatni sent me into one of those deja-vu moments. The taste was exactly like the kaacha (unripe) mangoes we'd cut up, mix with oil, salt and dry in the sun to eat later on. It was way back when as a kid i'd stay in the IIMC campus, and had a lot of other friends. Summer vacations for us would be stealing mangoes from the million and one trees on campus. We'd sneak around and steal them. Then they'd be distributed amongst all of us. Most of it would be eaten up there and then. But at times i'd save up some and take it home. And then i'd cut it up, add salt, oil and leave it in the sun as instructed by dad. But the problem was i could never sit through this whole drying process; i'd sit beside the bowl with all the mango pieces in them and keep staring at them as if my glare would speed up the process. And intermittently while the process of glaring and drying was underway i'd eat up a few pieces just to taste and check how they were coming along. And before long it was all over.

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Well if you have the patience to read my last post , don't mistake me to be some sports journalist or something. I'm no way close to anything like that. I was so taken up emotionally by the match that i couldn't help myself. It was mostly out of an immense admiration for Steven Gerrard that grew exponentially through the match that i wrote the whole thing. Oh and yesterday i saw another emotinally draining incident. It was the European Grand Prix, Nurburgring. Kimi Raikonnen, my favourite over the last few GP's crashed out in the LAST lap!!! How dissapointing could that be. The front-right suspension had picked up some damage from a run into a chicane and kept vibrating like crazy. It was going to bust anytime but the cruelty of it all was that it happened in the last lap. And Kimi the race leader for 90% of the race couldn't even finish the race.

Now that is what i call sad.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Champions League Final, Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey...

No I wasn't there. I wasn't even closeby. Rather, like the majority of the people in the world i was cozying up in my couch, far far from the action that shook even my small drawing room. I have never seen such an amazing match in a looong looong while!

Liverpool vs AC Milan. It was a no-brainer right from the word go! AC Milan the thoroughbreads in European Cup Championships. 7 time champions pitted against a side which fared as only the 5th best team in the EPL, disallowed to even compete in the next years Champions League. The 50th European Cup Championships begun at 12 a.m. local time.

Even before you'd have settled in to your seats the scoresheets sang. Maldini at the ripe age of 36 years put Milan into the lead latching onto a free-kick directing it to the goal. Dudek had little chance, his sight gaurded by his defense and the Milan forwards as the ball suddenly appeared from behind the crowd of men in the "D" to hit the net. All this in the FIRST minute of the match! The blow was sure to fall but so soon I did not imagine.

Slowly but steadily as the 1st half kept growing, it became more and more clear. Milan were surely in their element. They defended successfully and managed to attack successfully too. While Liverpool could neither attack nor defend successfully. The difference seemed HUGE. Liver pool's man-to man marking was poor and the porous defense let in Andriy Shevchenko, European Player Of The Year, too many times for their own good. By 45 minutes to the horror of the Red fans, the scoreboard read Milan-3, Liverpool-0. It was pretty much over.

And then came the resurrection. Such a comeback, a Champions League Final has never witnessed in my lifetime. Within minutes of the second half, almost as if it were gift, Steven Gerrard jumped up from amidst a crowd of Milan defenders UNCHALLENGED (!), to head a ball floating in across the Milan goal, a cross from Riise. At that range a header from Gerrard is impossible for any goal-keeper. And the ball rightly found the net. The Reds were euphoric. Suddenly the clogged arteries loosened, the blood flowed easy now, the colour was back!

As if suddenly buyoed by new spirit and life Liverpool were transformed. Riding on a high from a goal by their inspirational captain Gerrard, their attack seemed more lethal now. A loose ball found Vladmir Smicer feet, well far from the goal, Smicer unleashed a canon of his feet. The ball keeping low bore down into Milans goal through a crowd of defenders and forwards, into the right corner of Dida's fortress. The Liverpool lads were on song. The Liverpool forwards worked over time, the score was still 3-2. And in the raids that followed Gerrard suddenly found himself right in front of the goal mouth with none other than Dida to beat. But before he could seal the comeback Gattuso pulled him down. The penalty was awarded. And even here drama did not desert. Alonso fired into the bottom left corner of the goal only to have the 6 feet 6 inches keeper, Dida block the shot. The bounced back out, in that heart wrenching moment Alonso could have only breathed fire as he rushed in lashing the rebounding ball back into the goal. The comeback was complete. Within 15 minutes Liverpool had laid to rest the ghosts that would have haunted them forever.

From then on the match was pretty evenly balanced out with both a distraught Milan, and a euphoric but cautious Liverpool, taking unsuccessful atempts at each others goals. The match went into extra time and went forward without much event even after 15 minutes each a half of extra time. Penalties was all it was down to. And with the absolutely fidgety and nervy Dudek, Liverpool i believed had the minimum of chances.

Since fate decides everything, it was something no one could have prevented. In the most unorthodox show of goal-keeping i saw Dudek triumph over Dida. His spiritual dance before each of Milans penalties seemed to unnerve the penalty takers enough. Serginho shot the ball way over the goal. Pirlo and Shevchenko of all people missed to end a most memorable Champions League final in Liverpools favour.

Monday, May 16, 2005

love in space...

Joe Satriani played to audiences here in Cal. yesterday 15th May, and it was breathtaking. I didn't have a ticket all right, but i was determined that i'd go and atleast feel the guys presence. I called Bishwayon and it was his idea that even if we were outside we'd definitely be able to hear him. The trademark dreamy light sequences mixed with magical tunes on his guitar completed the evening of magic. I guess there's nothing more you can do with a guitar than the stuff he can. If theres complete harmony between any two things, then its gotta be Joe Sat and his guitar.

It was heavenly sitting there listening to him play. He played Summer Song, some stuff from Crystal Planet, Rubina... Watching somone LIVE, infact to the same music which you hear on the computer is a mindblowing experience. The very thought that the guy you swoon to after getting a little tipsy is actually out there in front of playing the stuff he plays best....is a killer one.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

summer time bluz...

My urge to write has outrun my ideas. Just can't think of ANYthing. Well am enjoying a much deserved layoff from college. In the middle (rather not quite yet) of the blistering summers which only a tropical country resident can identify with. Yes Calcuta is bad enough. But, hell, never had so much of "peace" in mah life. You know these kind of vacations are rare to come by. You wake up late, breakfast is ready. Watch TV until noon, have lunch, surf the net, sleep, TV, dinner, read'in(to) sleep. And the whole process repeats itself. The sequence needs changing for a bit of variety. The thing that sustains you is that you keep making plans of doing something useful and worthwhile and daydreaming about how worthwhile it shall be, keeps you ticking.

Yes it could be called an absolute waste of time. I often feel that. Its kind of a paradoxical thing. You want to take time out and relax, and when you do that you feel like you could actually use the free time and do something useful. Hobbies I guess are the things that plug this gap. Things that you do in your free time= hobbies.

My house is like almost on a beach considering the amount of breeze that blows almost every summer evening. Its so lovely! Cold breeze on a summers evening is nearest thing to a heavenly experience anyone can get.

Well I’m planning a trip to the hills. It’s the time for my annual yearly pilgrimage: summer vacations. Was planning on the Sandakphu but people advised me against it since apparently rains there during this time of the year. That and the other deterrent being the lack of a travel mate has probably put off the Sandakphu trek for good. I mean I have my friends who’re along with me also participate in this annual ritual. But they aren’t into trekking, and well a 3 day (!!) trek… hell no way! So instead I was looking for alternative destinations and I think I’ve found a few. West Sikkim seems to be very promising, right at the base of Kanchenjongha: Yuksom and Pelling are the places. Though I’d rather prefer Yuksom. It’s further off and more remote.

Mountains are my favourite destinations because they’re (I believe) more mysterious. You can easily get lost on a mountain, you can explore for your own by taking the next dirt path running up the side of the hill. You walk along the path and come across a small gumpha. Or some villagers hut. Or some local kids playing, and they’d ask you about the plains and about Shah Rukh Khan’s latest movie.

Beaches are only fun as long as you don’t get bored of bathing in the waters. And after that the fun’s over, yes you may go shop and get yourself some souvenirs, like those made of shells and stuff at the evening bazaar on the beach that’s lit up with hissing gas lights.

This is the way things are holding up at present. Hope they don’t change much.