IMPOSSIBLE says I'M POSSIBLE

History Beckons...

This is an interesting article I read someplace and thought it must be here, coz it exactly tells what I feel too.. anyways..thanks marirs_mania for the post


When Rahul Dravid steps onto the manicured grass of the The Oval for the toss with Michael Vaughan on the morning of the third test, his legs might just be a bit shaky, hands a little colder and his lips pressed tighter than usual. He would know that this is perhaps India’s biggest day of reckoning since the do-or-die match against Sri Lanka in the world cup. The Men In Blue came out second best that day. The whole of India would be hoping the script is written differently this time. This is not just another ordinary test match in the cricketing calendar. A fortunate amalgam of past history and present circumstances leading into the match have made it a truly mouth watering prospect. For the Indians, at stake is a rare opportunity to shrug off the “Tigers at home, Lambs abroad” tag. For years, the Indians have dominated the opposition at home, but failed to reproduce that form abroad. Their test record will always come with that blemish of not being able to perform in conditions alien to them. Things though have begun to change recently. They drew their last test series’ against Australia, England and managed to win against West Indies. Is there a bright future to look forward to ? Or is the oasis on the horizon simply a mirage that deceives the eye? A victory or a draw in the third test match would go a long way in assuaging some of the wounds caused by the cliches regarding India's away performance strewn around by cricketing pundits time and time again whenever India performs. Yet, one is tempted not to be too carried away, for fear of being disappointed, yet again. India has managed to work itself into winning positions in away series in the past too, only to skittle away the hard-earned chance. Who can forget the almost unbelievable collapse on the 4th innings of the 5th test against West Indies? Or the way they threw away a golden chance of sealing the series on the second day of the third test against Australia in Melbourne, after being 334/4 at the end of the first day. More recently, it was in South Africa that the Indians fell flat after a great start. The English would be hoping history repeats itself, while the Indians would be hoping for some history to be created. The stage couldn’t have been set bigger. Both Rahul Dravid and Michael Vaughan would spend some restless nights, pondering over the impact this test match could have on their legacies as captains of their side. A win in this series could elevate Rahul Dravid to the position of India’s most successful away captain ever, a title he would desperately covet. Vaughan will know that he has to win this match at any cost. The English take fierce pride in defending their home record in tests in the last 6 years. Even the indomitable Australians tasted defeat in the 2005 Ashes. They wouldn’t want to let go of this record any time soon. They know they can come back from behind in the series to share honors. They have done it before, they know they can do it again. Apart from these usual suspects, what has added spice to this test match is the huge controversy surrounding the events of the second test. Jelly-beans thrown at the batsman, on-field spat between the players, a bowler accused of deliberately bowling a beamer, a keeper whose mouth behaved like a loose cannon, you name it, the test match had it all. Consequently there would be absolutely no love lost between the two teams. Neither would any quarter be given, nor would any quarter be asked for. When the players assemble for the pre-match handshakes, there would just that bit more needle amongst them, a quiet unease. Looks will convey what words would have otherwise wanted to send across. This is competitive test match at its best. For India, the focus will again be on its seamers. They have done outstandingly well so far in this series to put India in a position of dominance. The trio of Zaheer Khan , Sreesanth and RP Singh would be hoping to combine as a unit to put pressure on the English batting line-up , which has till now , flattered to deceive. The English batting has proven to surprisingly bottom weak, with late order collapses becoming a common feature. They would be hoping to reverse that trend. The Indian batting on the other hand, showed glimpses of its potential in the first innings of the second test, largely on the back of a superb opening partnership. They would want this form to continue. This test match series has provided some extremely competitive cricket so far. As a spectator, one can expect more of the same in the third test too. Sit back and enjoy some exhilarating test cricket. May the best team win !

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 2:17 PM 1 comments

Suicide... Is it?

Suicide, a simple solution to a complicated problem. When everything in life has turned against you, and life itself has faded to blackness, nothing else is better than becoming your own murder.

Life can look so black itself, and fears turn into never ending nightmares. The gun to the head or the rope to the neck seems minor, yet very affective.

Some might say suicide is always cluttering my mind. That might be the reason for my bleak poetry and suicidal centralized lyrics. Everything always turns to death. It seems like the easiest problem solver, so everyone thinks. With a mind full of darkness, fears, and sorrow, it's quite easy to think of nothing else...so therefore, my dark poetry based on suicide...

Haunt our souls with death...Torment our bodies with death...Finish life with death... I am drowning in my own tears, I am letting my emotions choke me to death, I am allowing my sorrows to hang me by my fears, I am listening to my thoughts as they poison my actions, I watch as my beliefs shatter my existence, I may be no more,I may fall with myself.

You might have lost your love, Left me hidden in your life, Refused to show me you still cared, And watched me die, Suicidal thoughts filled my head, But you’d never let me die, Now there is no one to stop me, As I think of ending this life, You might just catch me when I fall, may still Make me feel alive, But now you’re gone, And here come back my thoughts of suicide.

I don’t want to cry anymore, So please dry up my tears, I don’t want to run anymore, So please take away my fears, I’m tired of seeing this darkness, So please make me blind, I’m tired of seeing these chains and walls, So please break this confine, I’m sickened to hear your words, When you chose to tell me so, I’m sickened that you want me to fit, In your little content mold, I’m depressed to hear that you think you can help, When you know that isn’t true, I’m depressed to hear that everything’s fine, When I’m stuck and there’s nothing to do, So stop telling me all my tears will dry, Stop telling me lies, I don’t want to hear anything anymore, I can control my own life.

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 9:10 AM 1 comments

Team India, or India??

Well... hate to say this... don't may be want to talk abt this again... but yeah... i guess it is obvious.. and it is something, which I believe should have happened at some point of time... we neither had a bunch of world beaters, nor we had a team with attitude to win.... Yes... I guess, one thing that is very important to play any game is to have the attitude to win.. to take victories in their own stride and give them the importance they deserve. Having experienced this myself in a very simple intra IIT environment, I can clearly and safely make this argument.... I want to make this more of a diary entry than a blog site, coz it is more of my feelings, something that I feel is very important to document, in what ever relevant format possible... can't put an IEEE paper for this, can I? :P anyways, on a much more serious note... the team we had was a bunch of novice players... we had one experienced man, who did play for the insti, but the other 12 were novices... a lot of new comers... and some wounded men from previous battles.... The crux of the matter is a combination of these two is a very good combination.... redundancy at its best... or you might say I am short of words... but there is another point I'd like to emphasize here and that the word of the day is combination... yes.. you need a combination... combination of winners.... combination of men with attitude... combination of wounded men and young blood.... Winning the World Cup needs determination, attitude, killer-instinct and mental fitness besides the physical fitness and cricketing skills... well... yeah... team India lacked in this... but Bangladesh had it... so they won... and we lost... now what else can one argue about... But Is this going to affect any of us? Well... I dont think so... and I think it shouldn't... ppl burning houses... breaking walls of Dhoni... are we civilized men or what? Oooh India, come on... rise up.... let us be matured country... let us support these men... they, who gave it their best on the field more than once... they who have always had this pressure of a billion men on them... those billion men, who wanted team India to do well in the world cup... that country, which enjoys the country's victory... now that must also share the grief... we must also support these men.... some of them who are perhaps playing their last world cup... a very sad end, perhaps to their glorious careers... still remember as a child seeing Kumble bowl the windies out in the HERO cup final to win us a series at home... remember as a teenager Ganguly come down the track to smash pollock over point for a six... remember warne dancing to tendulkar's wishes at Sharjah... a 40 ball 84 for tendulkar in the first match as an opener, a player who has never looked back after that innings of his... they indeed need support... and its our job to support them... not to be selfish... one may say, they play for BCCI, played all this while for some bucks that was based on their contracts.... but yeah... more than those bucks... it was the motivation... of the 1 billion ppl.. that kept them going... i think we r overreating on this issue may be because we give much importance to this game. If u remember even france has to faced first round exit in last to last world cup. so its a game and we should take this defeat in professional manner. and one very important thing that we always forget to do is 'introspect'. we should try to learn from it.. then only we can survive in long... quoted from rediff this by a very sensible cricket fan... and truly in a very few words said well... so... i shall call it a day here... and lets hope Team India learns its lessons atleast by the time the next world cup comes to the sub-continent.. and hoping to have finished my PhD too by then.. :D :D

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 7:41 PM 0 comments

trip to NYC

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 10:37 AM 0 comments

India rising

Well... the title signifies what my aim is through this.. anyways, a recent article in the Economic times is the talk of the day today all across the world... Globally, this country called India, only about 60 years old is dictating terms to most of the developed economies in the world as to where and how to invest and prosper. Further details below... quoting the articles...

Reserve Bank of India governor YV Reddy on Saturday proposed a cautious approach for opening up the capital account and allowing global competition. “Considering that we have been under a controlled regime for so long, some sectors need more time to catch up with this pace of development,” the RBI governor said, delivering the diamond jubilee lecture at Osmania University.

Dr Reddy said India would not be affected by global imbalances as it maintained a proper savings to investments ratio. “In countries like the US and China, a wide gap exists between savings and investments and it could lead to future economic shake-ups. But, this will not affect our growth prospects,” he said.

In order to ensure stable growth, he said, India should focus on competitiveness. “We can no longer control external sectors like we did during 1950s to 1980s. We should produce quality products and should be in a position to compete internationally,” he said.

Talking about current account deficit, he said, it should be adjusted against remittances. “Though economists are arguing that current account deficit should not be over 2% of the GDP, if one adjusts it with remittances it can go up to 4% of the GDP,” he added.

Later, speaking about rural banking at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, he lamented at the fact that micro finance institutions were mostly operational in states with well-developed banking systems.


The RBI governor said the failure of the organised credit system in extending credit has led to excessive dependence on informal sources usually at exorbitant interest rates. “This is at the root of farmer distress reflected in excessive indebtedness,” he said.

Quoting from the 11th Plan document, he said, interest rates in micro finance sector had to be significantly higher than the banking sector as their operating cost was higher. “It is important to remember that most MFIs charge rates, which are much lower than what is charged by moneylenders,” he pointed out.

In an interesting engagement, the RBI governor was also the chief guest at the launch of The Long Reverie of Partha Sarma authored by C Sriram, son of Irda chairman CS Rao.


Well... I guess this is just the start of something big to come our way... it makes us not only proud, but also cautious of the fact that we may have to face many more problems in the future. But for the moment though, lets sit back and enjoy... :)

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 12:41 PM 0 comments

Indian Cricket... Whats happend to it????

Wasim Akram has been Pakistan's no. 1 fast bowler for quite some time and he exactly knows what india needs... He kinda agrees with me on getting back Daada and laxman into the squad... clearly, the batsmen we have currently show no promise other than the captain himself, how now is injured and the wicket keeper... anyways... this is what wasim had to say....

With the South African tour turning out to be a nightmare for India, Pakistan's cricketing legend Wasim Akram on Monday said the team's batting and bowling performance were below par for the first time in five years and suggested that Sachin Tendulkar should show the same aggression in his approach as West Indian genius Brian Lara.

"Your (India's) batting is looking below average; they are looking out of it. For the first time in last five years, the year since I retired, I am seeing an Indian batting line-up below par," Akram said after India once again surrendered abjectly to South Africa in the third ODI in Cape Town on Sunday.

Referring to the slump in Sachin's form in the last two ODIs, Akram said the Master Blaster seems to have "gone into a shell" and lacked the attacking mode.

"I have been watching Sachin. He has achieved everything. Now he should be toying around the bowling like Lara does. People say he has responsibility but so has Lara.

"Sachin should come out and play his shots, especially in one-day cricket. When he goes back in his shell, leaving deliveries outside the off stump, then the bowler gets to him. When Lara comes, it is totally opposite. He looks for two or three balls and he then starts playing everywhere," he said.

The former Pakistani fast bowler said he has noticed that Tendulkar in the last one year or so had been conscious about correct technique as reflected in his decision to leave the ball outside the off stump.

"Tendulkar I have noticed in the last year or two that he is very conscious when he comes out to bat. He wants to be proper, leaves the ball around," Akram said.

Akram juxtaposed Sachin's aggressive batting in the previous World Cup in South Africa and his present style to drive home his contention about a certain tentativeness in the approach of the Mumbai batting maestro.

"I remember the game in Centurion during the last World Cup when Sachin was in a mood to dominate. If I bowled up, he would come on the front foot; I pitch short and he would be punching it through. That's when I get worried," Akram said.

"When Abdul Razzaq dropped him, I told him he has dropped the match not Sachin. I know what the wicket was doing, there was no swing and he wanted to punch every delivery. But when he is defending and blocking every delivery, I would know that unless I bowl a really bad one, I would be on top of him."

Akram was highly critical of the quality of India's overall batting in the current tour and suggested the inclusion V V S Laxman and Sourav Ganguly in the team.

"Everybody looks average. They (the batsmen) are not even coming behind the ball. Your team is inexperienced; bowling too. It appears in shambles. Five years ago we used to say winning against India in India is impossible. It is totally opposite now. Your batsmen never used to get out," he said.

"There is no aggression, no passion. Body language is not positive. It seems they are praying Allah kare tour khatm ho (God! End this tour soon)," he said.

Akram believes the selectors should have followed the "horses for courses" philosophy and bring Laxman and Ganguly for such an important tour.

"You have dropped key players; Ganguly and Laxman are missing. Please ignore them if somebody is better than them. But if you want the World Cup, this is the tour to practice and experiment," he advised.

Akram lashed out against the Indian medium-fast bowlers including Irfan Pathan who was once his prot�g�.

"Look at your bowlers. Agarkar is average, so is Irfan. Munaf Patel looks like 124 and not 24 years old to me. The way he was bowling the second spell in the second game, somebody should tell him with such performance he would be dropped," Akram said.

He said Pathan's action has gone bad and he is not using his front arm at all.

"His action has gone bad. He is not using his front arm at all. He is not pivoting and coming sideways. He has three or four major issues with his bowling. It can only be told by a bowling coach," Akram said.

He said Indian coach Greg Chappell can only show Pathan certain things about bowling. "But somebody has to tell him the finer points," he said.

Akram appeared disappointed that Pathan did not come up to him to seek his advice to improve his bowling.

"I am here but he hasn't come up to me. If I am struggling, I will go up to anyone. I spoke to Marshall, Hadlee, Kapil everyone," he said, adding that "Irfan wouldn't learn unless and until he asks people around. I am not going to go to him."

Well... I really hope the indian selectors realise this and get back Daada and Laxman into the side.... then our batting line up will really improve... I also feel the need to play Kumble more often in the one day side. My Batting Eleven is as follows

Sachin
Sehwag
Laxman
Ganguly
Dravid
Dhoni
Pathan
Agarkar
Harbhajan
Kumble
Sreesanth

I am sure most of you wil agree to me, and for me, this is a match winning line up for sure, even without the services of Yuvraj Singh, who has been really gud till he got injured.......

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 8:08 PM 0 comments

The Wheel of Mis-fortune

Well... as I sit in my lab trying to introspect as to why things have gone they way they have gone today, Here I am typing this out... for the better of me, or so I think....

So... anyways, as i said... or may be I dint... but yeah... it was a forgetful day today... to actually start with India losing yet again to SA badly without much fight absolutely. Anyways, as the match ended and I was certainly hungry and wanted some Indian food badly. So, I set off on this mission to search for potential seniors with cars, who could accompany us to the resturant and give us a ride in their car, for the nearest resturant was like 8-10 miles away. Since today was potentially a bad day, no senior was interested in going plus they were busy with finishing work for the upcoming week. But couple of my frens and me were pretty desperate to eat in this Indian resturant. So, we had this very wild idea of taking the bus to that place. Well, I call it wild because, Albuquerque's public transport system sucks. We have a bus like every half hour on the busiest of busy roads and its more like once an hour on an average. We had to board two buses and reach the resturant.

But since, we were desperate, we took off on this mission to getting to this Indian resturant for the Afternoon buffet. We started off at 12:30PM, knowing very well that the buffet closes by 2:30PM, so we had two hours to reach the place and finish eating. Anyways, our first bus came in no time and we were very happy that the travel had started off well. We reached the next bus stop (where we had to get down and wait for another bus) in like 15min. After that, we realised that we had to wait like 20 min for the next bus. So, we had this wild idea of actually walking down the road and then reach a certain busstop on the road by 20min, so that the bus eventually turns up there and also with the idea of making us more hungry to eat more indian food. Well, we did walk... walk.... walk... and finally reached a busstop, when we thought it was enough and then started waiting for the bus. (This road was potentially, not a very busy road and so the bus frequency was once an hour) So, as we waited till like 01:30(that was like half and hour after we had got down).. the bus finally arrived.... and to our horror... DIDN'T STOP at the bus stop.... guess why... because we had stood about 10 feet away from the board that said 'BUS STOP' and the driver assumed that there was no one in the stop and continued on his mission.

I was f**kin pissed off... not knowing wat to do now... had come all the way to eat... and I had like another 2(¹/₂) miles to go. We dint even have the energy (and ofcourse no time as well) to walk and reach the place. So, sadly, we returned home, taking the bus in the other direction. Near by, we stopped at our usual hangout place, had a pizza and went back home and slept(we were kinda very tired, you see after that marathon for absolutely nothing)

I just gotup like half an hour back and have started re-typing my term paper because some virus has apparently deleted all the files from the department hard disk, where all my files were stored. Well... On this kind of a day, a sunday, when people actually relax for the week ahead, here I am.... sloggin off, burning my midnight oil for absolutely no mistake of mine....

Well.. two things I want to point out about the USA here, which I never expected... Very bad public transport facilities and a server without a fire wall... oh my god... hopefully, this will be cleared off and we should get some good work done in the coming days....................

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 8:03 PM 0 comments

The Road to Employment (Part II)

Thus started my never ending(or thats what I'd thought) journey for a JOB. Well, Its not always a bed of roses, you see.. You gotta deal with the thorns sometime or the other. So, Its Saarang time and was very busy with most of my ticket saleswork, there by letting quite a few companies go. This was the golden age for the wing. Two out of the three Ashwin's managed to get placed. Jumper got placed in PWC, while Khatta in GLOBAL ANALYTICS. This was on Choreo night 25thJan 2006. The entire Saarang was merry, peaceful, fun-filled and also had its serious elemnt for me for I was a co-ord taking care of the tickets. Saarang ended on 29th, and thus restarted my quest for a JOB. Samsung came on 30th, took away most of the left over elec junta. I didn't sit for it assuming it was a software kind job, only to realise lately that it did have an hardware section. But, I did sit for COSMIC CIRCUITS the next day. The test was peaceful, was the only Btech to get throught the test and then went to the interview. Interview was good, was able to answer all their questions. I wanted that JOB desperately and I knew, if they had to take somebody, it would be me. But, cosmic was more that what I imagined. It took nobody... can you believe it?? I was shattered that day, imagining how bad my luck was. Apparently, they wanted someone very enthu about Analog Circuits to actually take the job. One really hopes there is someone for their job. Then, as usual every day, make this holy trip to the placement office, check for companies... I was getting restless, especially looking at all junta around me getting placed and me, the lone person left... Then came KLA TENCOR some genmaax company, which tried to put hazaar pseud in all its instruments it made... the people never ever had a clear understanding of a particular subject.. they expected ppl to know things from a bird's eye point of view.. something lacking in me... and as the fate rode the horse like it has been doing all these days, i was once again let lose and thrown into the sea of disaster... one disaster after another... i guess i was immune to it now.. and i kept making the holytrip again and again... somehow, the IITM placement office was not a very lucky place for me.. all my interviews here fluncked.... so, the change of place did it all... This company called CHARTERED SEMICONDUCTORS had come before offering a handsome salary in terms of Indian Rupees... was supposedly a FAB... and guess what, me best suited for devices... obviously was their best choice... my interview was at Tnagar... so the place also made a difference... and finally after a real rough patch... I DID IT... I GOT A JOB..... I was very happy... went everyplace to cheer... jumped up and down... went all the way... this side and that side... and finally I was very happy... happy all the way... But will I take the Job, will some university sweep me off my feet? lets see what happens... but for now... I'm very happy :)

posted by ASHWIN KRISHNAN @ 6:54 PM 1 comments