Sachin crosses 15000 Runs!!!

"The Master", "The King", "The Hero", "The Superstar", "The one and only" SR Tendulkar added a new feather to his cap( and what a colorful cap it is!!!!) by becoming the first player in ODI history to cross 15000 runs mark.

For a person of Tendulkar's stature, all these records are trivial. He plays for his country and plays for it to win. But records like this are like an antidote for the venomous comments he receives every day throughout his career. At least for some time in the present future, he may relax and just concentrate on his batting, not worrying what some X or Y or Z will be talking about his game.

As Tendulkar himself said "It is their job to have opinions. When I hold a cricket bat in my hand it's a far tougher and bigger job. That is what I will concentrate on."

I just wish he continues to help India win more games and in the process achieve more and more records.

Rahul Dravid, India's captain: "It's a phenomenal achievement - for someone who has played so long to be so consistent. It's incredible. Not only do you need skill; you need a lot of mental strength and fortitude to do what he's done, to have that hunger over such a long period of time and go on scoring runs and find new challenges.

"I think he's achieved everything he ever wants to achieve in this game, but it's about motivating himself and trying to do his best for the team and ensure we win games. It's great to see."


Varun, The Greatest fan of Sachin: "Dude, you rock!!!"

Good Bye Mr. Tony Blair

After 10 years of stay at 10, Downing Street, Mr. Tony Blair handed over the prime ministerial position to Mr. Gordan Brown. He will continue to serve as middle east envoy on behalf of the UN, EU, US and Russia.

Best of luck for his future endeavors.

A very beautiful song!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2TpXiDG494

INDY F1 trip 2007

F1 is a always a great experience...lots and lots of people, lots of sun and hence lots of beer...and in the end its lots of fun.

The whole plan was made just 10 days before the race.. When I was lamenting that I couldn't go to the race this year because of lack of company, KLN and prasanna suggested that they are in fact interested in watching the race and might join me for the trip. We just needed one or two more persons, so that the entire trip expense could be shared by four or five. Finally after much persuasion Gunjan agreed to come with us. So tickets were bought for four of us and plan was cast such that we would leave Manhattan on Sunday early AM so that we would be there for the race day.

Then the whole scenario changed when we came to know that "sivaji" is being screened at St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. So we decided we will leave Manhattan on saturday morning, reach St. Louis, watch the movie and then proceed to Indianapolis.

So on Saturday, everything were on line, not because we were going for the race, but because we were going to watch the movie. It was a six hour drive and we just took one 5 min break in between. We reached St. Louis 30 mins before the movie actually started. But it was an awesome experience standing in line to get inside the theater, reminding me of the glorious chennai days!!!!

After the movie, we waited at the airport for KLN, who was with his parents at KC airport till 4.30 PM. He then drove from KC to St. Louis and parked his car and got in with us. So our actual trip started from STL airport at around 6.30 PM.

We decided it might not be a fair idea for us to drive all the way to Indy without taking a break. Help came to us from Florence, KY as always. And as always, We reached their house in the wee- hours of sunday morning. We had great food (Dinner!!!), some beer and went to sleep.

Within 2 hours, alarm rang from all sides and all angles. We got up, had typical Indian breakfast (it's been eons since I had Idly- sambhar in the morning!!!!) and we started our trip to Indianapolis. As we were near the speedway, we could witness a typical carnival atmosphere.

part II of the trip experience later......

Welcome Sam Alexis Woods!!!

Courtesy: www. golf.com

Trip Across Midwest

A month ago....one fine evening, I got a call from my sister saying "varun, this summer you really have to be there for our annual get-together"....It was hard to say "No", after me skipping last year's annual event. So I said "Yes", not knowing what my actual plan was....

After contemplating for a long time...whether to fly to Indianapolis or to take a 8 hour road-trip...I decided I will drive..(It's been quite some time that I had taken a road trip)...

The plan became complicated after my brother's friend wanted me to visit North Carolina.Me driving for 14 hours, alone, continuously is (always) difficult...(not impossible..but difficult)...

Then my seemingly impossible task of coaxing sushanth and prasanna to accompany me to the trip bore fruition. The arithmetic became slightly more complicated with gunjan wanting to go to Ames, Iowa to visit her sister. So the final equation looked like: Manhattan- Ames, Iowa- Florence, KY- Smokeys, TN- NC and for the return trip the equation is NC- Manhattan, KS.

And all we had was 3 days for the entire trip.....

We started our trip on the friday afternoon, drove 6 hours to Ames, IA, dropped Gunjan and then started our 2 leg of the trip to KY....We drove across Illinois, Indiana and then finally we were at florence the next morning. The whole crew were ready for the third leg of the trip by the time we arrived. So we decided we wont sleep(Honestly, we didn't have much time to sleep either!!!) and after a gruelling 6-7 hours drive we reached Smokey's and checked ourselves in a beautiful cabin. (I never hated driving before but for a second that thought flashed my mind!!!)

Within no-time we found sushanth falling asleep. Prasanna and I decided to wait till the dinner was served..and Voila...the waiting paid off...we had an amazing dinner after a long..long time. After our dinner, off we went to sleep...Sleeping never felt sweeter ....after a long, long sleepless driving, it was something we desperately wanted...

The next day, we visited smokey's, had a great time, got stuck in the weekend traffic , took the cable car, drove all the way to florence, KY....all in a single day...(BTW, the NC trip was shelved after the first 3 legs of the trip....)

We were given a separate room in my sister's home- hoping we wont disturb anyone the next morning when we left their place...We got up at 6AM, took a shower and had some breakfast and said goodbye to almost all of them (How on the earth are people getting up so early??!!)and found ourselves in a too-familiar position- "driving for 16 hours NON- STOP".

Return trip was actually quite easy- with sushanth, prasanna and myself sharing the time behind the wheel and from Ames, IA it was Gunjan's turn....

We reached manhattan at around 1AM, monday morning. It took me 2 full days to recover from the trip tiredness. But it was one hell of a experience for me....

Summer 2007

It was a great summer till now.....All I did was to sleep and to travel....(people sleep to relax from their hectic schedule...me on the other hand had to take some break in between my sleep schedule!!!)