Aadhar Card: A mockery?

Came across this news which left me wondering whether I should laugh or worry about pathetic situation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dogs-trees-and-chairs-have-Aadhaar-cards/articleshow/20359001.cms

The news highlights the examples of incidences where in place of any person's face on Aadhar Card, pictures of a tree, dog or an empty chair had been put. Even under extremely flexible situation, I could understand a picture of an empty chair in place of person's face. By mistake a photo is clicked even before person sits in place and so an empty chair appearing.And then without giving any second thought, the same picture is put up on the card. But how can you put a picture of a dog or a tree in place of person's face. Where and how did you clicked that photo?

One thing I realized is the people who are working on processing these Aadhar cards are not really trained properly to carry out these procedures and neither are their instruments in that good working conditions. It is really difficult to find a single card with a decent photograph of the person. My mother recently managed to go through the procedure and when she showed me the photograph taken and printed on the receipt, it took me few minutes to recognize the photo and match it with mother's face. When she was asked to give the prints of her fingers in biometric, the instrument was not recording the prints even after trying many different  ways. Ultimately, some body suggested to put some Vaseline on her hands and then only her prints were recorded. Sure, she got through the act, but it must have affected the instrument and so the biometric process  of other people in line.

I am still wondering why are working on this new type of card. Every body now a days have PAN cards. Why not just make it more efficient to cover up all the things that Aadhar card will do. All ready PAN cards are taking care of all the financial activities of a person. Well that's just my view. I am not expert to understand the differences and necessities of separate cards for different purposes.  But when ever I manage to find the center for Aadhar card and sneak in the line to get my Aadhar card done, I will prefer to take my own photo.

How is your experience by the way?

Grenoble, France

IPL6 Teams - Winner and Runner

IPL final took place yesterday and Mumbai Indians won their first ever IPL title. With all the new updates coming about the involvement of  CSK chief being involved in the spot fixing racket, almost every body around for some reason were speculating MI to win this years title. And their win pretty much confirmed the speculations. Somehow IPL 6 ended on little lesser interesting note. Even the way yesterday's match progressed did not helped to think about it other way round. I was little disappointed with yesterday's match. Only thing that I found intact and more on its regular coarse was the way Dhoni stayed on the crease till the end trying to work out a difficult possibility of winning.

One thing on the other hand is sure. MI and CSK were the two deserving teams to fight for the Championship. Both the teams performed better than all others and stood as top two teams in the list. They played good cricket over the whole series. While CSK as always looked more consistent, MI after few initial losses regained their composure as Rohit Sharma wore the Captain's cap.

Runners in IPL 6- Chennai Super Kings

A lot is happening with CSK brand. Their Chief himself has been dragged in to spot fixing controversy and so has created negative impression about the team. If we talk only about Cricket team, I think CSK is one team that stands different from all others in the same way as Australia used to be few years back compared to other teams. CSK has always been consistent. It has managed to win IPL most number of times and also played maximum number of finals out of 6 played till date.  One good thing about the team is people can connect with the team, because it hasn't really changed in these years. Dhoni has always been the face of the team. A very mature, calm and positive attitude towards the game, are the qualities he brings on ground with him. He handles situations very well and never let pressure rule his mind. Under him, CSK really has flourished. He equally supported the young as well as old players in the team. On one side, Murali Vijay made his name while playing for CSK, an old player like Mike Hussey also got so many opportunities that he is an orange cap bearer. Other players like Raina, Bravo, Jadeja have been exceptionally consistent in their performance.  Though Badrinath could not keep up with his earlier performance this year, Dhoni showed faith in him. Ashwin made it large only because he got chance to perform in CSK and now a new bowler Mohit Sharma is on his way to knock the doors of India Cricket team. I think, even if CSK couldn't win this years title, every body would consider them champions. In spite of what's happening around, I consider this team in high standards under the able leadership of Dhoni. 

Winners in IPL 6 - Mumbai Indians

This team has always intrigued me. A team with all big guns but took 6 years to touch the trophy.

I really appreciate the way Ambani's have handled this team. I never heard him putting any kind of pressure on the team and criticizing them for their performance as we saw happening with RCB or DC or KKR. The team was doing every thing right over the years but somewhere it never clicked enough to make it till the end. No doubt, the team was centered around Sachin. More than half of MI's popularity comes because of Sachin. After initially representing MI, he decided to pass it over to others and concentrate solely on his game. It worked for him but MI never had any able Captain to lead, After trying other players Pollock, Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting for Captains Cap, finally they seem to have settled down with Rohit Sharma. Rohit has really pulled it well and managed to make MI look a consistent team. Since his nomination as the Captain, the team has won most of the matches with almost a perfect record on their home pitch. I believe, the team is now secured at least with the Captain's position. Becoming Captain has some how helped Rohit also. His performance has improved many a folds. Indeed Captaincy pressure works well for some players. The team has a very strong batting line up going down till 9th position. The only problem is except for few like Dinesh Karthik, not every body tries to be consistent. On their day, they would win the game for the team, but one can  not be sure when that day rises.

I believe MI had one of the best bowling line up. With Mithcel Johnson and Malinga in the team, I believe, it could be the best pace attack to face. And with the inclusion of Pragyan Ojha, the spin attack got even better that earlier depended solely on Harbhajan Singh. MI even tried giving opportunity to upcoming bowlers and Batsman which is one good thing I have noticed with MI.  Players like Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayadu, Abhishek Nayar, Saurabh Tiwari were first introduced  by MI. Even now, new names like Aditya Tare, Rishi Dhawan, Dhaval Kulkarni are getting known because of MI. In addition to creating opportunities for young players, team has also tried to support activities of social cause that makes MI stands out from other teams. 

Over all, IPL 6 ended on a note which sounds mixed with positve as well as negative impressions. On one side, spot fixing issue has really blackened the face of the Cricket, but on the other side there are so many positive outcomes of this league which would help Indian Cricket in the long run. Somewhere, I got a feeling that mixture of glamour and Cricket hasn't gelled very well. Cricket is Gentleman's game and by adding glamour to it, has actually tried to spoil this gentleman image of the game. If the extent to which the glamour should be added with Cricket can be controlled, probably there will be lesser controversies coming in way of Cricket. Well that's just my speculation.

Mastricht, Netherlands

IPL6 Teams - Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals lost its way yesterday in the race of IPL. They lost their qualifying match for Finals to Mumbai Indians.

Rajasthan Royals is one team which always is considered underdogs. But it is the same team which slowly and quietly went up to the stage and lifted the cup in the very beginning season of IPL. Since then it has tried to perform on different levels. 

Though Shilpa Shetty is the face of the team, she hasn't been that upfront as Preety Zinta is for Kings XI Punjab. Earlier, Shane Warne was the Captain of the team who brought them glory by winning the cup. Now, the team is in the able hands of Rahul Dravid. 

Dravid has done a commendable job not only as a Captain but also as an opener for the team. He has totally changed his batting style and showed all that he can be equally aggressive as others but at the same time he did it by playing technical shots he is known for. He not only lead the team till qualifiers, but also gave opportunities to youngsters and others who other wise won't get chance to play at higher level.

I remember him giving an opportunity to a 41 year old guy Praveen Tambe  as a lead spinner. Surely, if Praveen was playing his first ever big match at 41, this was the biggest break he could ever get.  In contrast, RR introduced Sanju Samson to the world at the age of 18. Rahul not only allowed him to play but also gave full support to be a back bone of the middle order. No wonder, Sanju used the opportunity to become the youngest player to score a half century in IPL.

What I liked about the team is it is bringing up players who can play well at IPL levels but who also are technically sound in their game. Either you consider Sanju Samson or Ajinkya Rahane, they look good while playing technical shots, but they also maintain the required run rate in control.

And when these players get a support from big hitters like Shane Watson, Faulkner and Stuart Binny, their batting line starts look impenetrable. Brad Hodge and Kevon Cooper give the team that extra edge allowing the team to be among top fours.

The team on the other hand was very weak with the bowling attack. Except for Watson, there was no other big name to begin with. But addition of Faulkner brought some substance to the attack. The three black spots on the team Shreesanth, Chandila and Chavan all made a part of bowling attack. Their exit left the team with less options to plan their attack. And this is where team failed yesterday when they required some specialist spinners to control Mumbai Indians. As a result, team is out of the competition.

I believe the team has great potential to be a perfect team and it sets an example how a gentleman's game is supposed to played.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

IPL6 - Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad is the latest team which got knocked of the competition for IPL cup. In yesterday's eliminator match, Rajasthan Royals some how managed keep their challenge going by defeating Sunrisers in a low scoring match.

Sunrisers Hyderabad is a new name in the competition. But the team is old. Its just the earlier Deccan Chargers team with a new owner from Sun group.

Deccan Charger was the second team to win IPL cup in season 2. Gilchrist brought the team together after a poor show in season I. Since then team has pretty much performed badly to an extent that the management decided not to retain any player and go for complete make over. In recent days, its either Sangakkara or Cameron White who represent the team. This season as Sunrisers, the team actually turned out to be a good and quiet team who slowly kept performing with out making anyhateadlines and sneaked into top four teams. 

Sangakkara played in few initial matches but later on it was White who represented the team. I really wonder what makes Sanga feel  he should not be among playing 11. He is a good player, with a potential to play according to the requirement of the situation. In contrast I don't really feel White is a Captain material. He plays once  in a while great inning but other wise I feel he fails to impress his team mates.

The team has found a good opening pair in the form of Dhawan and Parthiv. They really tried their best to give a good start to the team. Other than these, the team had Thesera Perrera who made himself useful every now and then. Rest of the batting squad was disappointing.

The team on the other hand had a very strong Bowling squad. In the Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, the team got a very good opening bowling pair. They really managed to put an incredible pressure on the opponent batsmen. The team had a strong spin attack with Amit Mishra as their trump card. Its just a bad luck that Sunrisers could not go beyond position four in the season. But the way the team pulled up and managed to reach top four in their first ever attempt is a big success. I believe if they decide to go ahead with pretty much same team squad, they will surely make it big in coming seasons.

Lake Geneva

IPL6 - Royal Challengers Bangalore

The fifth and final team which couldn't make it to the play offs is Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team is owned by Vijay Mallya. He is one force who seem to be dominating the way the team should work. In the initial days, as Rahul Dravid was a star player, he was the face of the team. But back then, Dravid was a test match player. It took him time to get acquainted with the ways twenty:twenty is played. Mallya don't seem to have patience. He immediately started firing on the ways the team is running and took some strong decisions. He tried to justify how his move to include Misbah-Ul-Haq towards the end of IPL-1 was able to bring some dignity back to team after a pity start.

Apparently some lessons were learnt from season 1 and when implemented, it brought success to the team in next seasons where the team was successful in qualifying for the play offs. They even managed to reach finals at occasions but were never able to be the ultimate winner. One  name that got associated with the team was Virat Kohli was a Captain in a making. After trying out many others for the position, finally this year they seem to have settled with Kohli. He has been leading from front. He is among the top run scorers in the league this year. But he seem to have some problem with keeping temperament. He got involved in a few on field arguments this year. One of them was with Gautam Gambhir while in the other he went ahead and tried confronting the spectators from Mumbai. If he is planning to be a leading contender for Captaincy of Indian Cricket team, then he better realize, he appears to Indian Cricket fans as an arrogant player who can't keep his emotions.

Although Kohli has made it large being team's Captain, the team is actually known because of another player called "Gayle Storm". I am wondering why Kolkota Knight Riders let Gayle go.  Since his entry in RCB, he has changed the way twenty:20 is played. I feel more than half of RCB's success rely on Gayle's shoulder. He is in totally different league than any other player ever in the game. People come to watch him hitting sixes irrespective of if they support RCB or not. I myself could not resist appreciating him while he was butchering my home team  Pune Warriors to make grand 175 runs.

Other than these, few more names from the team sometimes make appearance like AB Devilliers, Dilshan and Saurabh Tiwary, but they get restricted number of chances.

In bowling section, Zahir Khan was a big name. This year unfortunately he couldn't play because of injury. I guess its time for him to retire from Cricket. He has been injured for more time than he actually play any form of cricket. Muralidharan's inclusion in the team gave some support to the spin attack, but this year, he was little less favored. RP Singh  is other wise a big name in twenty:20. He is the leading bowler for the team. Unfortunately he seem to be loosing it over the year. His last ball noball ruining their chance against Chennai could have created suspicion in people's mind to be a fixed match. 

But two names are trying to make a name for themselves. Vinay Kumar and Jaydev Unadkat. Both the bowlers are impressive and turning out to be leaders in bowling section.

Overall the team is otherwise very good but depends a lot on one person's performance, Chris Gayle. Without him and Kohli, team finds it difficult to get going. And what ever is left is taken by Devilliers. I believe if this team ever wins, it will only be one person's credit and it will never perform as a team.

Dew Drops

Learning French V: C'est tres bon

In this part, we will try to make use of some earlier lessons and also learn a few new words which you probably already know.
From earlier lesson, we know,

C'est = It is
Now, "Good"  in French is "Bon"

If we combine these two words, we get

"C'est bon"  which means "It is good"
You will hear French people using this a lot.

If you want to say, 'It is very good'
You say in French, "C'est tres bon".
So,we learn a new word here,
Tres = Very
Now if we combine this with words we learnt in previous lesson, we can make sentences like:

C'est tres comfortable = It is very comfortable
C'est acceptable = It is acceptable

Don't forget different pronunciation of words like 'comfortable' and 'acceptable' as discussed in previous lesson.

"Day" in French is "Jour"

So, if we you want to wish some body "Good Day", You would say, "Bon Jour".

Do you recollect hearing "Bon Jour" somewhere at some point of the time? Pretty sure, yes.

Now you know what does it mean. So, Use it.

Setting Sun and Home returning Bird: Ghar Aa Ja

Have a nice week end

Spot fixing revealed again : Are players really this dumb?

I was planning to write on some different topic today but the news flashing on TV at the moment compelled me to change it.  Since I have been actively writing about IPL, it is must for me to make a point on this. As the news are appearing on TV, three players of Rajasthan Royals  including Sreesanth have been arrested for Spot fixing. As is mentioned in the news, the police have very strong evidence to support the arrest of these players and there might be some more players including International ones who are involved in this crime.

Worst and most unexpected part of the news is that the three players involved belong to Rajasthan Royals headed by one of the sincere and decent players in Cricket, Rahul Dravid. Rajasthan Royals other wise have been among the top teams in the list of Fair play awards. These arrests have totally shattered their image in audience's eyes.

What makes me write this post is a question, whether players are really this dumb to get involved in such rackets or they are forced to do so probably by Underworld. After what happened recently with the three Pakistani players that finished the Cricket Career of involved players, I wonder how these upcoming players don't learn any lesson. What could be the reasons that make these players involved in such rackets. From where I stand I can see three reasons:

1) A greed to make some quick bucks with out taking any extra efforts.

2) Considering a probable end of their Cricket career, they try to make the best out of any opportunity they get.

3) Coming under pressure from Underworld trying to get a control over games.

If it is either of first two reasons, then I will call the player a real dumb. As the news suggest, Police has evidence of their communication on mobile and land line with these bookies and transaction details in their respective bank accounts. Really, are you this much dumb to leave such clear evidence behind? It only suggests that all upcoming players whether of Cricket or for any other game need to made aware not only of such threats around and also the ways it can be tracked. So, the players can either get smart enough not to get involved in these rackets or they better know that their crimes will ultimately be revealed at some point of the time.

If it is third reason, then I do not know how can it be sorted out. Big players can probably avoid this but these new and upcoming are really vulnerable. BCCI might have made arrangements to curb this problem but it might not be enough to protect these new and other wise inexperienced players.

Among the three names revealed, Sreesanth is a known name. He has represented India in many games. He comes with so much aggression on the field, that not only the opponent, but even his team mates get frustrated while controlling him. I wonder how he got involved in this fixing. Was it a fear of probably finishing Cricket career that made him take this erratic step or some other  reason. As news reveal, this issue finds connection with Underworld from Dubai and Karachi. So, there is a probability of such acts done under pressure.Other two players doesn't have experience have international cricket and probably its their inexperience that brought them to the doors of bookies.

I feel sorry for these players and for all those players who in some or other way are involved in such activities. I just hope other players now learn some lesson and this turn out be the last non sense act by players.

Aerial view of Paris in the night from Eiffel Tower

Paris in the night as seen from the top of  Eiffel Tower. The closest is  the river Siene (blogname running across it)  with a light covered bridge on it. Towards the center is the Arc de Triomphe and at the extreme left up in the photo, can be seen,  the spot light that begins right at the top of the Eiffel tower itself.

IPL 6 Teams : Kings XI Punjab

Among the IPL teams, Kings XI Punjab is one team that never performed up to its real standards. Unlike other teams having a famous player being the face of team, Kings XI Punjab is known by the face of Preety Zinta. Every time there is a match of Kings XI, cameras keep searching her face. She is one enthusiastic person who always look optimistic.
A lot has changed with this team over six years. None of the big players stayed long with the team. In the initial days, Yuvraj Singh was one big name associated with the team. Back then, he was a big name in this format. He was the one who hit six sixes in the first ever twenty:20 world cup in South Africa. Obviously, there were lot of expectations from him and so the team. They even started well to say so. But over the time things started going wrong. First the team was in news because of some confusions and allegations over financial deals between the team owners and BCCI. Then, there were news of conflicts between the owner of the team and Yuvraj Singh that affected the team's performance. After the initial three years, Yuvraj Singh was allowed to leave the team. Almost  whole of the team was revamped. 

In the new set up, Gilchrist is acting as the Captain and Coach of the team. Gilchrist is actually pretty old by all standards to play the quickest form of Cricket. He has been struggling to score at ease, the way he used to do few years back. He hardly crossed score of 20 and thus turning more in to a burden than a help for the team. Still, at the age of 42, he manages to perform at much higher level than many of his younger colleagues. He is good with tactics and has been able to motivate his team to deliver at better level than usual. He seem to have respect in the team and of the owners which is big thing considering the kind of professional attitude these IPL teams carry.

David Hussey has been emerging as his successor in most of the games, now a days. He has been captaining the team in Gilchrist's absence.  But I doubt he is any good to lead the team. His plans some times are not just full of loop holes but they sometimes even appears like a joke to me. Like, once he himself tried to bowl the last over of the inning. Now, he is not a regular bowler and his bowling is just flat, simple and straight. Anybody must be able to score on his bowling. Half of his balls are full toss. He is also not doing any great in batting section. I am yet to remember any of his match winning knocks.
In contrast, Shaun Marsh is one player who looks good, consistent and sensible in the team. Though he did not played initial games in this season because of injury, he made up for them in recent games. He seem to be in good touch. Miller has been a good addition to the team. His knock against Bangalore was one great knock. He reminded Bangalore of the treatment their team Gayle's help gives to other team. But I feel he is a player of one great knock. I doubt he will produce any other similar knock. Kings XI also tried old time Pakistani player Azhar Mahmood. After initial glitz he vanished. There are some upcoming players who are making a mark once in while. I wonder what happened to Paul Valthaty. He shot to fame in one of the seasons and then hardly seen. I remember seeing him in one of the outings this season, and then he again disappeared.

Bowling section for the team seems very weak. Whole responsibility apparently lies with Praveen Kumar. He most of the times delivers fine but some time especially in death overs he also falls prey to Batsmen's rage. Other than him, there is Piyush Chawla. He doesn't impress me. He is sometime good but mostly seems pretty ordinary.  Then, there is Manpreet Gony and Awana. But they are also good on few occasions. There is no bowler in the team who will scare the batsman. I guess the team need to strengthen this side. Azhar Mahmood's inclusion initially tried to solve this issue but he seemed to be a temporary solution which couldn't last long.

I never kept high expectations from this team. But as is known about Punjab, this team plays with heart. They might not be good on paper, but if they decide and if its their day they can turn tables against any team, like they did for RCB few days back. Its always fun to watch Kings XI Punjabs matches. Just one condition, don't keep hopes with this team to win a game. 

Hamburg City Hall, Germany

Hero Splendor: Lage aisa, Family jaisa

One name that has existed very long in the world of motor cycles is Splendor. This name was getting bigger even before I started riding bike. And when it was time to buy my first bike, I knew and blindly believed only one name - Splendor. I used it for so many years. My relatives, friends, colleagues borrowed it from time to time, some times for short time and some time for time as long as an year. Every body always praised it. Every time it returned to me, it provided me the same service as it did at the time of beginning. It really felt like Splendor is a part of family and it helped to grow family relations with friends. A bike with little complaints and lots of advantages. Recently, I was surprised to see a commercial for a new version of Splendor and made me realize how long has this brand being running. Splendor ads have always been good. It always boast on its capability to serve a dependable vehicle. The recent commercial for Splendor is also fantastic. This time it actually tries to connect the bike with people by considering it as an integral part of family. The ad is fantastic and it actually captures some of your experiences like you every now and then forget the key and then your parents throw the key at you giving a dose over your forgetfulness. Or it always happens, especially with Splendor that you end up trying to unlock another Splendor than yours and kept wondering why the lock is not opening till you actually see your own Splendor standing besides you. Well, these are some of the moments from real life which have been beautifully captured in this commercial. What makes the commercial more interesting is the back ground music and beautiful lyrics that exactly suits and conveys the message in pin pointed fashion. Lyrics are pretty clear to under stand and are given here. ( I compared my own ear heard lyrics with lyrics given on this link to reducing the errors: http://www.hindisongslyrics.in/2012/11/hero-splendor-ad-song-lyrics-mp3.html#.UYyAeqJTCSo )

This is one commercial to look out for and revive those old days when your bike was your partner in every crime. 

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Maa ki duaa hai tu, Papa ki fatkaar hai

Ek maa ka beta hai, Ek shararti yaar hai

Sagon se bhi sagaa hai tu, Apna parivaar hai

Aaj aur kal dono humne, Tere saath dekhe hain

Tu chale jab saath toh, Khushi ke thikaane milte hain

Sagon se bhi sagaa hai tu, Apna parivaar hai

Jis gali me mud jaoon, Bas tera hi deedar hai

Hai zindagi ka hero hai, Woh tujhpe jo sawaar hai

Karodon nain kiya aisa bharosa, Splendor bana family jaisa

One touch power start,

APDV engine aur alloy wheels ke sath,

Jo duniya ki no.1 bike chune, yahi kahe,

Sagon se bhi sagaa hai tu, Apna parivaar hai

-------------------

A cloudy evening in Delft, Netherlands

IPL6 teams: Kolkota Knight Riders

Six years back, when IPL started, one team I was looking forward to, wished to follow and be a fan was Kolkota Knight Riders. The reason is obvious,  Saurav Ganguly. I was a die hard fan of Ganguly. He represents fight back attitude anyone should have. And somewhere I used to like Shahrukh Khan, the way he created his place in Bollywood, which usually is governed by few Families, starting right from scratch as a TV actor. So, when these two forces decided to come together, I had no reason to say no to KKR. I started routing for this team. 

The team even started with a bang back then with Brendon Mccullum hitting 158 runs leaving Bangalore no place to survive. Over the time, things started changing. A few loss in close matches and every body started questioning Ganguly. By the time second season of IPL arrived, Buchanan's famous four captain theory started making rounds and Ganguly was replaced by Mccullum. That season, KKR become more famous not because of its game but because of a blog by fake IPL player who surely created lot of tension in KKR circle. 

After a dismal performance in second season, Ganguly returned as Captain of KKR for third season. This season turned out to be a good one as the team managed to reach up to  14 points but couldn't make it to next round just because of relatively poor run rate.

As Ganguly was out of KKR after this season, the team one of its fans, me.

Since then, Gambhir has been a face of the team. He has succeeded in taking the team till the end and grab the IPL cup in the fifth season. But over all I don't enjoy watching this team's game anymore. Gambhir is an aggressive player. He guides the team from the front and has pretty much succeeded in creating a confidence in the team. But somewhere down the line, the team has also collected a sense of arrogance. The team mostly appear with a arrogant face. It hardly does well in Fair game list. It is known more for other reasons than Cricket, may it then be the controversies surrounding the owner Shahrukh Khan, or the altercations involving Gambhir and Kohli or Bisla, Gambhir vs Watson, Dravid.  Yesterday, I was little surprised to see other wise cool Jacques Kallis involved in heated argument with the Umpire himself over a mankad wicket.

Coming back to team's performance. The team at present has some big names like Gambhir, Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan and Mccullum. Last year Gambhir and Kallis were in good form that resulted in winning the trophy. This year none of them including the above two have shown any good performance. Except for one or two games, their performance has been dismal. Team doesn't look like a team. There is a lot people expect from Pathan in tournaments like 20:20. But he apparently is going from worse to worst. Yesterday's his presence on the field had started appearing funny at times. His misfieldings, wrong directional return throws made me think, does he even fit in the format anymore? Eoin Morgan on the other hand has been performing fine. His exceptional catch on the boundary and presence of mind the other day was phenomenal.

On Bowling front, the team looks little loose. Though they have some strong bowlers in the team but apparently they are not being used properly. I was  hypnotized when Bret Lee bowled out Unmukt Chand on the first ball of IPL season 6. The sheer speed and accuracy of Lee's ball was mesmerizing. But later on Bret Lee simply disappeared in air. He hardly is playing any game. Other trump card Sunil Narain apparently has lost some of this shine this season. He hasn't remained that economical  as he was last year. Though he is among leading wicket takers, but he isn't any more scary for batsmen. Balaji is another bowler who tries to make impression every now and then. Some times it works, other times its the same old story.

Over all the team is good but has some where lost its shine this year. The team is not trying hard enough together and prefer to rely on solo performance of individual players. 

Destination @ distance

Learning French IV : Possible, Comfortable

If I write two words Possible and Comfortable, would you find it difficult to connect to them. Surely not.  You might be surprised to know, these words also appear in french dictionary carrying the same meaning as in English.This brings us to today's topic of discussion, " Similarity between English and French language". If you are pretty much familiar with English language, you will find it much easier to learn and understand French. If you try to read something written in French, with little efforts you might actually succeed in understanding the complete meaning. In short, if you know English, you already have learnt 60% of French.

If the history is to be believed, English is a mixed language (Check the video at the end to know more) made out of the combination of mainly Anglo-Saxon and French. Naturally, word knowledge gained from English will act as a stepping stone while learning French.

So, where does these two languages differ. The difference appears when you try to hear them. If one knows English and he tries to hear French, I doubt he will be able to understand  more than 10 words in the whole conversation although he knows most of words spoken. As it is said, "English is all French, but badly pronounced". Its the way of pronunciation, that separates French from English, making it one of the sweetest language to hear. Even if you don't understand French, you won't mind to hear it as it falls so sweet on your ears.

For example, in French 'i' is pronounced as 'e'. As a result, the word "possible" in french is pronounced as "poss"+"e"+"ble". You would need to use Google translator to understand the pronunciation of "ble" that appears in the end of word "possible". Here, 'b' and 'l' in "ble" need to pronounced together with less of 'b' and more of 'l'.

On similar lines, 'a' is pronounced as 'aa'. So, words like "comfortable" are pronounced as 'comfort'+'aa'+'ble'. If you get these pronunciations correct, you have made your life easier by 60% while roaming around in France.

Enjoy this embedded video to know to making of English.

All these videos in origin are available at
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes?track=378501f80b

Statue of Liberty @ Luxembourg Garden, Paris

Statue of Liberty: a bronze model used by sculpture Auguste Bartholdi as a preparatory work for the statue in New York. Read more about replicas of Statue of liberty here

IPL6 teams: Delhi Dare Devils

At present this team stands at eighth position in IPL-6. Nobody would have expected such a poor performance from this team. It has performed much better in earlier seasons of IPL. If I remember correct, this team stood among top four teams in some of the earlier seasons of IPL. So, this times run is little surprising for me. 

There are four strong pillars of this team. Sehwag, Pietersen, Jayawardhane and Warner. All these players are capable of turning the game on their own on their day. Pietersen unfortunately has not been active this season due to injury. Sehwag has kind of lost his touch completely. There used to be a kind of aura around him that itself was enough to reduce bowler's confidence to half even before the game begins. He was in the league of Gayle and Dhoni. But that is not the case any more. He seems too easy for any bowler now  a days. It seems sometimes as if he is doing the duty of visiting the pitch and throw some shots here and there. Except one knock of 95 he has not shown any glimpse of real Sehwag we know  in this season. Jaywardhane on the other hand is known to be steady player who anchors the inning and drives it till the end. Well he is not that off from his character even this season, but some how he looses it some where half way and it is not enough. I am not sure about what Warner is up to. His presence on pitch is pretty much negligible and I don't remember him contributing. Is he even in team in all the outings? I am not sure.

Other than these four big names, there are some other known names linked to the team. Like Irfan Pathan. I guess he is trying his best to give good performance both as a bowler as well as a batsman. He is paying back every penny Daredevils spent on him. I am glad he got his swing back though on speed clock he still seem to be struggling. But doesn't matter, he is proving quite economical and also a wicket taker at the same time. His inclusion in the Indian squad is a good sign.

Another name that is famous around is Unmukt Chand. I am not sure if he deserves this much fame for so little performance he has given. Other than captaining the under 19  team that made every body aware of him, I have not seen any real performance by him. But he is in every another ad, taunting seniors, picking Pietersen's girl and what not.  

Their Bowling squad is also good. With the likes of Umesh Yadav and Morkel, they should actually be controlling the game. But that doesn't seem to be the case. And sometimes I am not sure what makes them tilt in favor of Ashish Nehra. He has been in lot more of outings than I expect for him.

Overall Delhi Daredevils is a good team which actually deserves to be in the league of winners. But this time with all the players off color, it appears like a bunch of big names with intention of making no impression. Among all, I feel bad about Sehwag, who seems to be on his way to retirement. I hope he comes out of this bad patch and start showing his true colors. 

Andaman

Tatasky: for hard working Indians

Here comes one of the longest ads in the history of Indian Television. Tatasky has started airing a series of new ads with a background of jail as a theme of the ads. This ad has a bunch of prisoners from other countries who try to escape from jail considering India-Pakistan match as a most suitable time to escape. As the commercial begins, no body gets any clue whether it is a commercial or snaps from some movie. Although it tries to show an Indian jail as a background, people find it difficult to accept since our imagination of Indian jails is totally different. As the ad progresses, people start getting the theme behind it where a bunch of foreign criminals are coming together and making a plan to escape from jail. One will be surprised to see the kind of details ad captures to convince people about the planning. One the night of jail break, the kind of stunts these criminals do while running from the jail gives an impression of some Hollywood jail break scene. Even Bollywood jail break scenes won't match them..

Towards the end all the criminals are caught running and one of those ask the Jailer "What kind of -Indians don't watch Indian-Pakistan match" gets the answer "A hard working Indian". It then introduces Tatasky  which allows people to save the programs they love to watch but don't get time to watch it. This way they can give priority to their duties and can enjoy their favorite programs in their free time with out any hassles.

This is a fantastic ad and has been planned very skill fully. It has a power to grip you for more than  3 minutes and slowly reveals the product that convinces people. After showing complete ad for first few days, now the ad time has been reduced and so it might loose the overall affect. So, in case you want to watch this complete ad, it is available here:

The Berlin Cathedral and the Fernsehturm

The Berlin Cathedral and the Fernsehturm

Iron Man 3

Watched Iron man 3.

Before going for movie I went through few reviews. It has received lot of positive reviews everywhere, with ratings between 3 and 4  out of 5. Naturally, expectations were high. Besides, I am a big fan of Iron man series. Its first movie, making of Iron man is one of my favorites.

Movie begins on a positive note giving a background of the upcoming story and linking Tony Stark to it. It goes on to show new developments that Tony Stark is adding to the quiver of Iron man. The story sails smoothly on the support of fantastic visual effects, witty nature of Tony Stark, humorous conversations and otherwise damsel in distress Pepper Potts turning superhero scenes more than once by different means. The room size 3-D visualization(within the movie) of brain is awesome and cool.So, if you are planning a fun weekend watching a movie, I would recommend Iron man 3. If you need one more reason to watch this movie, this probably is the last movie in the Iron man series. Why? Go check yourself.

But there are few disappointments too.

For the first time, I found Iron man vulnerable and pathetic in the whole movie. I hardly found him confidently controlling the situation. Even Pepper Potts turning Iron man (or woman) or Superhero by other means looked more promising than Iron man.That's not something one expects in this series.

The Mandarin character played by Ben Kingsley could have been real and not just a dummy. It could have been more promising had they kept the character in its skin. By giving a twist to his character, they really disappointed me.

Opposition this time to Iron man comes basically from the people with some mutation. If you keep the associated science aside, you have already seen a lot of such adaptations in X-men series or Fantastic four series. I was not impressed. 

It is shown that Iron man tries to understand the mutation but he doesn't come up with a concrete solution on how to control these people. Lack of strategy to defeat the mutated army is another reason for disappointment. Well calling his own Iron man army was a strategy, but a general one against any big attack, not specific. That made Iron man look vulnerable and pathetic.

In spite of all these reasons, Iron man 3 is a watchable movie. Unlike me, if you do not follow all the super hero or mutation based, or magical power based movies, then, you would surely enjoy. If I compare the ending of Iron man series (which apparently ends with this movie) with Dark Knight series, I feel Iron man has been treated in better fashion. 

So, do watch Iron man 3 and write back your view about the movie here.

Peeping Sun