CWG,10: A Test of Character for the Largest Democracy

If you want to kill a tree, don’t cut it, just curse it! The same seems to be happening with CWG.

Friends, successful completion of CWG is a must for INDIA’s image….there has been so much negative publicity about it….let’s support the games now, and for sure it doesn’t mean that we support the corruption involved with it!!!!

Exclusive Gifts for Solitary Reaper Readers!!!

Happy News for Solitary Reaper readers who also happen to be interested in pursuing their MBA.

Based on some of the articles on this blog, Stacy Blackman Consulting has decided to award two of my readers free copies of their book Branding Guide .
Worth USD 30, this book is a very useful resource on how to position yourself before the adcom. It includes some of the exercises that SBC go through with its admissions consulting clients when it begins working with them. I personally find it very useful on how to put forward your unique Brand before the Adcom.
So, if you are really interested in pursuing your MBA in near future and believe this book can help you, do leave your comments in not more than hundred words as to why do you think, this book can assist you in this process. Please do it before Wednesday so that I can get your copies ready by Thursday :)


Happy Reading!!

अमौसा का मेला

आज कुछ हिंदी ब्लोग्स पढ़ते पढ़ते हमारी नजर इस कविता पर पड़ी (http://ek-shaam-mere-naam.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_12.html) जिसने हमारे बचपन की मकर संक्रांति वाले मेले की याद ताजा कर दी ...

अमौसा का मेला : सुनिए एक मेले की कहानी स्व. कवि कैलाश गौतम की जुबानी !

भारत की ग्रामीण और कस्बाई संस्कृति में मेलों का एक प्रमुख स्थान है। और अगर वो मेला कुंभ जैसे मेले सा वृहद हो तो फिर उसका महत्त्व और भी बढ़ जाता है।
इस रचना की भाषा यूँ तो भोजपुरी है पर ये वो भोजपुरी नहीं जो भोजपुर इलाके (आरा बलिया छपरा के सटे इलाके) में बोली जाती है। दरअसल बनारस से इलाहाबाद की ओर बढ़ने से भोजपुरी बोलने के तरीके और कुछ शब्दों में बदलाव आ जाता है पर जो भोजपुरी की मिठास है वो वैसे ही बनी रहती है। तो आइए इस मिठास को महसूस करें कैलाश जी की आवाज़ में इस हँसाती गुदगुदाती कविता में



कि भक्ति के रंग में रंगल गाँव देखा
धरम में करम में सनल गाँव देखा
अगल में बगल में सगल गाँव देखा
अमौसा नहाये चलल गाँव देखा

एहू हाथे झोरा, ओहू हाथे झोरा
अ कान्ही पे बोरी, कपारे पे बोरा
अ कमरी में केहू, रजाई में केहू
अ कथरी में केहू, दुलाई में केहू
कि आजी रंगावत हईं गोड़ देखा
हँसत ह‍उवैं बब्बा तनी जोड़ देखा
घुँघुटवै से पूछै पतोहिया कि अ‍इया
गठरिया में अब का रखाई बत‍इहा
एहर ह‍उवै लुग्गा ओहर ह‍उवै पूड़ी
रमायन के लग्गे हौ मड़ुआ के ढूँढ़ी
ऊ चाउर अ चिउरा किनारे के ओरी
अ नयका चपलवा अचारे के ओरी

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

मचल ह‍उवै हल्ला चढ़ावा उतारा
खचाखच भरल रेलगाड़ी निहारा
एहर गुर्री-गुर्रा ओहर लोली-लोला
अ बिच्चे में ह‍उवै सराफत से बोला
चपायल है केहू, दबायल है केहू
अ घंटन से उप्पर टँगायल है केहू
केहू हक्का-बक्का केहू लाल-पीयर
केहू फनफनात ह‍उवै कीरा के नीयर
अ बप्पा रे बप्पा, अ द‍इया रे द‍इया
तनी हम्मैं आगे बढ़ै दे त भ‍इया
मगर केहू दर से टसकले न टसकै
टसकले न टसकै, मसकले न मसकै
छिड़ल हौ हिताई नताई के चरचा
पढ़ाई लिखाई कमाई के चरचा
दरोगा के बदली करावत हौ केहू
अ लग्गी से पानी पियावत हौ केहू

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

जेहर देखा ओहरैं बढ़त ह‍उवै मेला
अ सरगे के सीढ़ी चढ़त ह‍उवै मेला
बड़ी ह‍उवै साँसत न कहले कहाला
मूड़ैमूड़ सगरों न गिनले गिनाला
एही भीड़ में संत गिरहस्त देखा
सबै अपने अपने में हौ ब्यस्त देखा
अ टाई में केहू, टोपी में केहू
अ झूँसी में केहू, अलोपी में केहू
अखाड़न के संगत अ रंगत ई देखा
बिछल हौ हजारन के पंगत ई देखा
कहीं रासलीला कहीं परबचन हौ
कहीं गोष्ठी हौ कहीं पर भजन हौ
केहू बुढ़िया माई के कोरा उठावै
अ तिरबेनी म‍इया में गोता लगावै
कलपबास में घर क चिन्ता लगल हौ
कटल धान खरिहाने व‍इसै परल हौ

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

गुलब्बन के दुलहिन चलैं धीरे-धीरे
भरल नाव ज‍इसे नदी तीरे-तीरे
सजल देह ज‍इसे हो गौने का डोली
हँसी हौ बताशा शहद ह‍उवै बोली
अ देखेलीं ठोकर बचावैलीं धक्का
मनै मन छोहारा मनै मन मुनक्का
फुटेहरा नियर मुस्किया-मुस्किया के
निहारे लैं मेला सिहा के चिहा के
सबै देवी देवता मनावत चलैंलीं
अ नरियर पे नरियर चढ़ावत चलैलीं
किनारे से देखैं इशारे से बोलैं
कहीं गांठ जोड़ैं कहीं गांठ खोलैं
बड़े मन से मन्दिर में दरसन करैलीं
अ दूधे से शिवजी क अरघा भरैलीं
चढ़ावैं चढ़ावा अ गोठैं शिवाला
छुवल चाहे पिन्डी लटक नाहीं जाला

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

एही में चम्पा चमेली भेट‍इलीं
अ बचपन के दूनो सहेली भेंट‍इलीं
ई आपन सुनावैं ऊ आपन सुनावैं
दूनों आपन गहना गदेला गिनावैं
असो का बनवलू असो का गढ़वलू
तू जीजा के फोटो न अब तक पठवलू
न ई उन्हैं रोकैं न ऊ इन्हैं टोकैं
दूनौ अपने दुलहा क तारीफ झोकैं
हमैं अपनी सासू के पुतरी तू जान्या
अ हम्मैं ससुर जी के पगरी तू जान्या
शहरियों में पक्की देहतियो में पक्की
चलत ह‍उवै टेम्पो चलत ह‍उवै चक्की
मनैमन जरै अ गड़ै लगलीं दूनों
भयल तू-तू मैं-मैं लड़ै लगली दूनों
अ साधू छोड़ावैं सिपाही छोड़ावै
अ हलुवाई ज‍इसे कराही छोड़ावैं

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

कलौता के माई का झोरा हेरायल
अ बुद्धू का बड़का कटोरा हेरायल
टिकुलिया को माई टिकुलिया के जो है
बिजुलिया को माई बिजुलिया के जो है
मचल ह‍उवै मेला में सगरो ढुंढाई
चमेला का बाबू चमेला का माई
गुलबिया सभत्तर निहारत चलैले
मुरहुवा मुरहुवा पुकारत चलैले
अ छोटकी बिटिउवा के मारत चलैले
बिटिउवै पर गुस्सा उतारत चलैले

गोबरधन के सरहज किनारे भेंट‍इलीं
गोबरधन के संगे प‍उँड़ के नह‍इलीं
घरे चल ता पाहुन दही-गुड़ खियाइत
भतीजा भयल हौ भतीजा देखाइत
उहैं फेंक गठरी पर‍इलैं गोबरधन
न फिर-फिर देख‍इलैं धर‍इलैं गोबरधन

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

केहू शाल सुइटर दुशाला मोलावै
केहू बस अटैची के ताला मोलावै
केहू चायदानी पियाला मोलावै
सोठ‍उरा के केहू मसाला मोलावै
नुमाइस में जातैं बदल ग‍इलीं भ‍उजी
अ भ‍इया से आगे निकल ग‍इलीं भ‍उजी
आयल हिंडोला मचल ग‍इलीं भ‍उजी
अ देखतै डरामा उछल ग‍इलीं भ‍उजी
अ भ‍इया बेचारू जोड़त ह‍उवैं खरचा
भुल‍इले न भूलै पकौड़ी के मरचा
बिहाने कचहरी कचहरी के चिन्ता
बहिनिया का गौना मसहरी का चिन्ता
फटल ह‍उवै कुरता फटल ह‍उवै जूता
खलित्ता में खाली केराया के बूता
तबौ पीछे-पीछे चलत जात ह‍उवन
गदेरी में सुरती मलत जात ह‍उवन

अमौसा का मेला अमौसा का मेला...

। आज फ़िर से उनकी याद आई है ।

Was browsing through my old files from college and then stumbled upon this poem of mine. Somehow, it went unnoticed without torturing you on this blog :) . So here it is :


आज फ़िर से उनकी याद आई है,
हृदय सरोवर के शांत जल में
पुनः कुछ हिलोरें उठ आईं हैं,
ये अंधेरा ये एकांत,
दोस्त से थे हो चले,
सहसा फिर से किसी ने
एक चिनगारी सी जलायी है
आज फ़िर से उनकी याद आई है ।

वो बातें उनकी,वो हँसी प्यारी
वो मीठी मुस्कान,वो नैन मतवारी
ज्युँ तपते जेठ के बाद फिर
सावन की बदरी छायी है,
आज फ़िर से उनकी याद आई है ।

यादों के बादल हैं और आँसुओं की बारिश
क्यों आ रहे फिर याद वो
क्यों धडकने फिर तेज हैं
साँसें फिर क्यों गरमाईं हैं
टुटे सपनों के इस बियावान में
साथी तो बस एक रुस्वाइ है
आज फ़िर से उनकी याद आई है ।

In the Hebrew Land

Shalom..Boker Tov..

Scene 1 (At Mumbai International Airport,while being grilled by security personnels,hereby referred to as SP)
SP : Who packed the stuffs for your trip
Me : Myself(Cant you see my marital status, I am single!!)
SP: When did you kept your luggage after packing?
Me : In the Room
SP : Was it left unattended?
Me : (Haan bolenge to chaar sawal aur,better tell no) No.
SP : How did u arrive to mumbai?
Me : In company cab
SP: Did you stop in between for tea\snacks?
Me : Yeah, we did
SP : Ok..so then the bag was left unattended?
Me : (ghuma fira ke ek hi sawaal) No the driver was there
SP : Was the driver aware that you are travelling to Israel?
Me : No, not at all
and many more...

Scene 2 :(While returning back to India at Ben Gurion International Airport)
To begin with same questions as above(Guess they have a list of questions to ask). Then :
SP : How do you pronounce your name?
Me : Its Ashutosh Dubey
SP : Whats your parents name?
Me : (Passpoort nahi dekha kya sab likha hai..)
SP : Okk..tell me one thing, whats the origin of your last name?
Me : (Now how do I explain the Dubey\dwivedis and the two vedas theory :P) It indicates ancient indian priest class.
SP : And the origin of your first name?
Me : (saala,hamara naam pe hi kyun?) It is the name of one of Indian Gods.
and many more blah blah..

Such arduous is the security process while moving in\out of Israel. The good thing is , I never had to open my check in luggage at the immigration. Perhpas they have the latest x-ray equipments, something which can reduce the queue size at Indian airports too.Humor apart, Israel has been a fun trip for me. while I am still at the airport waiting for the boarding, I can clearly recollect a few memories from the trip.

Office & Colleagues : It was great to see the faces of colleagues whom we talked on phone for past one year or so. The testing team for my development assignment stays mostly at Israel. So, for most of the time,we are on confrontational path. But it was pleasant to see their happy faces when we met.:)

Scooba Diving at Eilat : Wow, undoubtedly the best 30 minutes at Israel. This is one such experience, I wud like to have again and again. Watching the colouful marine life of red sea, colourful fishes,star fish and many other creatures in their natural set up was an excellent exp. We went about 7 meters deep into the sea and I saw things which till now I had seen on discovery only. Swimming with all the diving gears is such a easy thing and almost everyone can do it.

Jerusalem and Dead sea : Wow dead sea..you cant sink here, no matter how hard you try to. And moreover,the mud of dead sea is considered very good for skin so I was like rubbing those muds again and again on my body in the hope of getting a good\bright skin :). Also visiting Jerusalem for me was like visiting an ancient historical site. They have tried to keep the city in the same look as it was 2000 years ago. The market is Jerusalem was similar to what we find in say like Varanasi,Dwarka etc. The city holds a special international importance for being home to three important religions of the world. At the 'wailing wall' which is an important monumnet for Jews and is one of the boundaries of Al aqsa mosque, I found an foriegner and a Rabbi(Jewish Priests) arguing about religions. Felt like jumping into their discussion but had to drop the idea as my friends were waiting for me.


There are many more and it wont be possible to recount all of them..Overall, I am finishing this middle east trip on a plesant note(As well as the blog, because its time to board the flight..).
take care..wish me a happy flight..

Sachin,Cricket & IPL..

Sachin : A Human God !!



I dont like it when we 'dehumanise' a person as human as Sachin. I have been a sachin fan from the time I started following cricket. I was his supporter when there were many dissenting voice against the master specially when he was going through a bad captaincy phase.There were times when World Tel was considering to back out from endorsement agreement involving sachin . Now I can hear almost everyone praising Sachin and comparing him to god. Please, the real beauty lies in appreciating Sachin's achievements from a human angle.Because, that is when he inspires you,me and all others. Lets consider Sachin a human and then you will realise how much hard work and dedication he has put into to reach where he is now. Hail Sachin, the legend, the champion and above all a great HUMAN!!!

IPL : Interested Parties

Modi : I believe, he is involved deeply into the money making from IPL. His behaviour is more or less on expected lines.nothing interesting to mention here.

Sharad Pawar : He knows that this controversy somewhere rubs his collars too. Thats why his statements so far have been very calculated. I believe , he'll save Modi for his own sake.

Shashank Manohar : He dislike for Modi is not a well kept secret.

SRK, Preity Zinta, Mallya & Shilpa Setty : Modi was making a good amount of money for them too.He was giving them enough screen space to enhance their personal\professional brands. They know that once he is out, they'll have to work it out all over again. Money makes the best friends, a proven fact :).

Congress : They had to sacrifice a well respected International diplomat due to this controversy. The government will go all guns blazing against Modi and everyone else. All of the government machinery is in action and will definitely give the party and the government an edge on any negotiation table, be it with the alliance partners or the oppostion.

BJP : Vasundhara Raje's association with Modi is well known. Thats why BJP has not been as vocal on this as it would have been otherwise.

Tharoor : I believe in his innocence. But he is still inexperienced in the murky world of Indian Politics. This episode should be a good learning for him

Lalu : He is opposing IPL only because his son could not get a birth from Delhi Daredevils team

Naxal Menace

Some of my earliest memories while growing up are those of my villagers carrying rifles on their back and preparing for their imminent fight against the naxals. Our village was one of the first targets of the Naxals in the region. It was way back in 92-93 and these were still the early days of Naxal terror.
I remember two fierce encounters between Naxals and my villagers and that includes my family members too. So, I can't keep myself from expressing views on the current war that PC has launched against them.
One of the encounters is still afresh in my mind, I used to study in 4th std at the village school and with 100 odd strength of the school, all students knew each other quite well. One day, I saw one of my classmates (who belonged to basti where mostly labour class families lived) holding a pamphlet and on reading, I cud see the name of my great grand father on it. Probably, the naxals came to that basti last night and distributed these pamphlets. Dadaji was asked to handover a large part of his land holdings to this naxal group or face dire consequences. In the lunch, I took this pamphlet to him, reading the contents to him. He was 90 year old then and I was amazed why they would target such an old guy. Later, on growing up, I realized dadaji was merely symbolizing those who holded bigger plots of land and hence was the choosen one :) .

After sometime, I dont really remember how much, it was the harvest season of paddy crops and I was playing in the khalihan alongwith my friends when we heard some gun shots. The sounds were coming from across the canal flowing by, it was at this place that most of our harvested paddy was kept. Naxals had declared a war on us, they came in huge numbers and planned to take away the harvest. Man, what a moment it was, I could see the whole village up in arms against them. I never saw such a unity in my village apart from those times.A long encounter, probably for 6-7 hours followed, resulting in the death of one of the Naxals. There were a dozen policemen too,but they happened to be mute spectators as they neither had the will nor the fire power to take on the might of Naxalites. Finally, the naxalites backed off, gradually they dispersed in the night after the death of one of their colleagues.

The positive outcome of this encounter was that during the dreadful era of 96-97 when almost whole of Bihar (at that time Jharkhand too was a part of Bihar) was burning under the terror of Maoists,PWG and Ranvir Sena, our village and neighbouring areas enjoyed total peace. Atleast there were no killings on this account.

For the government, I believe , they should have acted much before. Its been here for two decades and could have been stopped by exercising a proper mix of force and developmental activities. I dont totally buy the lack of development theory as is being propagated by some of the Maoist empathisers. Its true that poor people are found in large numbers in such groups, but its because they get easily influenced. They are exposed a perfectly oiled machinery of maoist brain wash with audio,video and literature.
Those who are sympathising with Maoists (read Arundhati Roy and co) are doing no service to the nation. Nepal is already paying the price of not taking these insurgents seriously and it should be a lesson enough for us.

In ISM for a Day

During last week, I was back to my alma mater, ISM.I was unable to visit ISM during convocation, so it was long overdue. It was a nostalgic moment, starting with the train itself (GD), I was back in time to the days when I used to be a ISM student.

Moving on the rickshaw into the ISM campus, I could identify some familiar faces, a few teachers (though as usual I tried not to be recognised ), a couple of research assistants who helped me during practical exams(I wish to say thanx to them :), but just waved my hands ) and obviously quite a many juniors.

Though, it was a bit hectic , I enjoyed every bit of it. With familiar juniors around, hours were flowing by like seconds. On top of this, add the party on Sapphire roof top and I was truly reliving my student days.

Then, it was great to see FFI growing into such a robust organisation. Starting from a single room and a single computer, the organisation has came a long way. To mention a few of the achievements, we have caterred to more than 350 blood request in the last year, conuselling is underway for a massive 10,000 students of government schools, approximately 50 students have benefitted from the IT literacy project in this semester only. This number is supplemented by inmates of Dhanbad prison who have received IT education from FFI. The youngest of all FFI initiatives,Escape is doing a great service to kids by helping them with communication skills. I saw a few videos of Escape and was awestuck by the presentations of Escape students.However, the thing which makes FFI truly unique is besides benefitting the community, it exposes volunteers to a host of leadership and organisational challenges very early in their career, even before their formal career starts. Such volunteers can be an asset for any organization in the professional arena.


On interaction with volunteers, I realised how closely they are aware of the problems of the society, be it the blood bank situation in dhanbad or the issues they faced while interacting with the school kids. The credit of all the success must go to the ground volunteers who are putting in their extremely valuable time and efforts for the benefit of community. Some are working tirelessly infront of the computers trying to make their students understand MS-Office and Internet Explorer, some are braving the heat & dust to reach the students of government schools and help them take a informed decision about their career and some are saving the lives of poor patients by fecilitating easy blood supply to them free of cost. Infact its the dedication of volunteers which inspires me to keep working for FFI.

Overall, with 100 plus volunteer strength of FFI, the organisation is looking positively into the future. Now we are in the process of executing our expansion plans which include a new centre in Jamshedpur under the leadership of some equally dedicated individuals whom I met during ISM trip. The other cities where our expansion plans are in conceptual stage include Patna, Pune and Noida. With the experience and expertise of three years to back us, we are confident of our success in future endeavours.

Too Hard to Resist..

Some things are highly tempting and addictive, but none more than gambling and you just have to visit a Casino to believe me. I went to one,called Crown Entertainment Plaza,quite a big one. To be honest,such a thing you only get to watch in Bond movies until you come to places like these.

It was huge,it takes almost 30 minutes to walk from one extreme to another.Open 24*7,one can find every type of human species gambling over here , black, white, asian, african, adolescent, old aged, hot ones and some others not so hot.I guess, its not for making money that people come here, they just come here because they have to.Its an addiction, more tempting than say alcohol or even a hot chick. Senile people seemed glued to television like gambling machines,holding dollar coins in a plastic cup shaped container on one hand and a sparkling wine on the other,it seemed a perfect pass time for them. The figures on the screens read like credit (means the dollar coins those screens have eatem away) 300.20 and Win $52.20 . They say a lot :).

But the more thrilling and tempting form of gambling was taking place on those tables with traditional card games and fortune wheels.It really was incredible,the gamblers came with girls, orderred a wine, took out a few hundred dollars,bought chips with those bills and the game begins.

The temptation was too hard for us to resist ,and ultimately we gave in. We analysed a particular game (or tried to) which has big wheels moving and eventually the wheel will stop with the pointer pointing to some number on the wheel. The one who has placed his on that number will get multiples of his money while others placing bets on other number will loose.Suppose,you placed a bet on 11, if fortunately,the pointer points to 11, you get 11 times of the money you bet upon.The higher number meant higher multiples but lesser occurences and hence higher risk.After a really long observation and analysis,we concluded that placing bets on 5 and 3 for at least 4 times is almost sure to bring profits. The probability theory I read for CAT did helped :).
So we placed bets :), the attendent signalled 'No More Bets' and wheels (of fortune) moved.It was 5,hurray we won..in the first,second and so on..I guess, this is what they call it beginners luck.So say after 6 bets, we were already in 100% profit. But gambling had already started playing on our minds and one of my friend placing the bets decided to take some risks. We deviated from our agreed principle of sticking to 5 and 3 only,and he placed bet on 23, We lost, then we placed on 11 and again we lost. The beginners luck seemed to have deserted us so soon :) .Very soon we were back to square one,with no profit ,no loss we decided to stop placing the bets. We did, but as I say,its highly tempting
and one of the friends agains decided to play :). This time he sticked to 5 and 3 principle and he was in profits. Seemed we had found a secret.After a comfortable profit,he decided to skip the game. It was already 3 in the morning and we decided to move to our hotel.Though, I wasn't gambling(for some very very different reasons) and was merely being part of the team of my friends who were gambling, I must say that many a times the temptation to give it a try was too impulsive to resist.I can just imagine about those regular to the place,how hard it must be for them to walk away from the place.

Before,completing this piece, I would like to leave you with some lines which were everywhere in the casino warning gamblers not to overdo things..


In the End,the Machines will win..

The only thing you can controle in this game is yourself..

Dont chase your losses,walk away..

Set yourself a limit and stick to it...

At Last Some Sense..

Needless to say, I am very happy the way RSS and Rahul Gandhi have criticised the anti North-Indian campaign being run in Maharashtra.
In India, at the moment only the two power blocs remain, one is Congress running the government and the other is RSS who can script a regime change in the largest opposition party without even a murmur.
The fact that both these blocs have came out openly on this issue is evident of the fact that the political system of India is very strong. Long Live democracy!!!
I believe it was more important for RSS to come out considering that their headquarter is based in Nagpur,Maharashtra and BJP-sena have a political alliance in the state.
If it would have been any other organisation, I am 200% sure that sena-mns would have
made it difficult for the organisation to function in Maharashtra.But this time they too know that RSS is not an ordinary organisation. The commitment of RSS workers is undoubted and the organisation is based on very very strong principles.
To put it simply, I am happy.
Back in Melbourne, I am enjoying my stay fully :). No updates for this weekend because I was in office this weekend :) . A few more friends have arrived from India and we might plan for some outing this weekend. The biggest hurdle we are facing is the lack of a car driver among us who also has a Driving Licence. :(.
Hopefully we'll find one..

The Australian Summer..

It's been almost two weeks over here in Melbourne and I feel more relaxed now as compared to the first few days when I was adjusting my biological clocks according to the new timings. 5:30 hours ahead of India,which meant I had to sleep early and wake early.
On weekdays,its mostly the office and then when in the room,its the time to catch up with friends online and phone calls.On weekends,I have been trying to move out and explore melbourne more.
First weekend, began in style.On friday, I catched up with an online friend of mine who was interested in astrology. A drive to melborune suburbs,thai dinner and then some high speed driving across the formula one track :),thats how the the day winded.

saturday : I heard that the Indian Tennis Player Somdev Dev varman was having his qualifying match at Melbourne Park. I went there,all alone. Why? Because I knew no one would give a damn to a qualifying match and hence I decided to go alone and support my fellow country man. However,he lost :(. neways, I made two new friends in Venkatesh and Sandeep (both from AP) who were a big tennis Fan :).

Next day, I came to know that Federer was organising a Exhibition match for Haiti Quake victims.I thought it was a golden chance to have a glimpse of all the tennis bigwigs. I asked a few more friends(I knew they would be interested) and we headed to Rod Laver Arena. Man, I must tell you it was a awesome event. 100% dollar vasool :).All the top players, Federer,Nadal,Hewitt,Serena williams,Andy Roddick etc were there and entertaining the crowd.

This weekend, I met another online friend, a buddhist from Siberia,very much interested in Indian Culture and arts. The whole day passed strolling on melbourne streets,visiting museums,gardens and galleries with this friend.Finally spent the evening at a Suraj sir's place(Mech,2k4) . I played some games there and since it was my first encounter with motion sensor games, I was completely bowled over by the experience. May be I'll purchase something like this back in India. I mean, if you are playing a tennis game,your hands should move as if you are holding a racket :). Its a good exercise too.

Planning for a beach visit tomorrow morning. The weather is expected to be HOT tomorrow and I too am expecting a similar crowd ;) .Keep watching this space for more.Till then take care, bbye..