Books, Media and Internet

They have been tremendous entertainers and good pals for me during this long n slightly boring vacation.

Books - Though i love books, i need healthy n crowded environment to read books..like television should be occupied by some one and internet by other. Thus, i will be left with only option and not dark/alone. I cannot read on travel as well.

Book#1 "3 Mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat: An Indian Novel. Story was localized to Ahmedabad. 3 lead characters of the book were scripted very well and are interesting. Australia tour and Climax were very much filmy and takes you away from book. Fate cannot be called a mistake, It is a poor justification to the title. Strong characters and localization doesn't stand strong before mistakes made in the book.

Book#2 "Kane and Abel" by Geffrey Archer: Its a big book contrary to earlier book. It takes a while to make it gripping because the very child hood doesn't interest me. Second stage of the book picks up the pace and makes it too interesting to keep the book away for a while. War episodes and love story (which brings quick ending) doesn't really justify their presence and weakens the 400 pages narration a little. To summarize, a very well narrated book.

Book#3 "Associate" by John Grisham: "Gripping" and "Clean" Novel. Anticipating interesting move, you will flip pages till the end just to realize that there would be no filmy climax in real world. It was so good being in a big law firm and handling shady part.

Book#4: "One Billion Customers" by James McGregor: China. China is the focus and viewers getting some business knowledge on China is the end goal. "China is the neighboring country". I have more knowledge than this fact now. My extract is: "China is a super power", "China will destroy itself one day" and "i hate China". Very interesting book.

Book#5: "Five Point Some one" by Chetan Bhagat: One word "Excellent". Any Indian student can easily replace him with one of the 3 IITians. There are few books, which you tend to complete every time but couldn't for some reasons. This is one such book for me. I tried to start it many times, but couldn't. But this time, book was a gift from stranger for dropping him at airport when he needed much. All the lost impression with "3 Mistakes of my life" is gained back and prompted me to purchase "One night @ Call center"

Book#6: "Other side of Mid night" by Sidney Sheldon: Revenge, Love and Hate. Tale of two women, one betrayed by family n boy friend, who takes strange path to get her love back. Another wonderful virgin, who thinks a lot about wonderful men and gets trapped by a play boy. Every chapter has its own steamy bed room scene you would love and then an interesting twist. A good book.

Now started "Client" by John Grisham, which should be followed by "Street Lawyer" by JG and then by "One night @ Call center" and "Fifth estate" by Jeffrey Archer.

In media, IPL and Hungama TV (kids channel) were most watched.

Internet: Lot of activity on facebook. Farmville occupied first half and poker the second. Also finding some new friends in poker. Now in twitter as well (Following a lot)..

Braboure Stadium, Mumbai

So making it clear, i am not writing about stadium..Its about my visit to stadium.

Though not the oldest in India, i visited "one of the oldest" stadium in India yesterday. Stadium got decent seating capacity with old kinda infrastructure.

So the fight was between Mumbai Indians(MI) and Delhi Dare Devils(DD), an IPL T20 match. Really not interested in supporting any team, But Delhi losing will open chances for Deccan + match in Mumbai + Sachin Tendulkar...Something to cheer MI...

Got to know on April 12th 11 PM that we got tickets for this fight next day. But will have to collect tickets at 11 AM next day. So me, bhabhi, nephew and niece started from Pune around 8:30 AM, will be joined by my brother in Mumbai.

My brother asked me to call "Robin Singh", coach of MI and collect tickets. Oh yea, remotely my contact. My brother's friend helped us get these tickets and contact. I called Robin and inquired. Later i was stuck thinking, should i add "sir" tail to his name. After all, he represented India and now helping us. I can think of no better qualification. I was about to get tickets from Robin Singh Sir, but traffic thirsty Mumbai roads, you must have your own chopper flight to plan things.

So i got tickets from reception of Trident hotel leading to "missing opportunity" of meeting Robin.

Now its 4 PM and match and match started. I was waiting to pick my brother, who started 150 minutes prior from a place "15 minutes" away from stadium. 15:150 sucks any time.

Finally there he iz, now we have to deposit his baggage back in our taxi. So i asked my brother to take my niece in and i took baggage back to our taxi. You cannot curse roads every time, Its your right to get stuck in traffic. So curse yourself and contribute to some illnesses in such situation.

When i entered stadium, it was strategic time out and Sachin was playing. So thought enuf lucky. So break over, got that whistling music instrument to cheer Sachin. I dont know if bowler took my encouragement, he got Sachin the very 2nd ball after i entered. Dont know whats wrong with bowlers some times.

Got to settle with Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary for some time. IPL turned into ranji match now. Finally Delhi managed few wickets and Pollard joined Duminy. Now IPL is back and action is back. We needed it. My nephew and niece dancing on chairs along with crowd, though some times cry for unknown reasons.

Thanks to Dinesh Karthik, who made it worse for Delhi. A thumping win for Mumbai. Mumbaikars had enough fun with the performance. But wth is that match...no tight fight, Sachin didn't play, not my team..Just that kids enjoyed the match.

Cheer Leaders were good though :P, But wth is this Cheer Leading concept...Dancers will be dead by the first quarter of the match. IPL is nothing but series of wickets and boundaries. something happens for every 4 balls on average. Bloody owners wanted show up at every stage. I pity cheer leaders though they should be earning decent money. And crowd, they are always charged, dont know how.