Path to the semifinals: Group E

With England kicked out of the World Twenty20 tournament, now the contest is among SA, NZ and India. NZ has a W/L ticket, SA has an RAC - almost through to semifinals unless it does something haphazardly to kick itself out of the tournament. NZ can just wait and watch. It should hope for India to lose the match or win convincingly against SA, in the first case India will be kicked out and in the second case SA will be kicked out based on NRR.

India will have to go for the tatkal, as a win in today's match will get a conformed berth in the Semis. This is the current scenario. NZ has an NRR of 0.05. SA, even if it loses to India, has to ensure that its NRR after the last match of Super-Eight does not fall below 0.05. Till now it has scored 312 in 39.1 overs and has given 288 in 40 overs. So, it comes down to

If India bats first and wins, and 'x' and 'y' are the scores of SA and India, then SA has to ensure

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (288 + y) / 60 >= 0.05

Or, if SA bats first and makes 'x' runs, and India finally wins in 'k' overs, it has to ensure,

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (289 + x) / (40 + k) >= 0.05

And if India loses, SA upgrades the W/L ticket of NZ to a conformed one and books a hassle-free air ticket for India to head home. This post had been written yesterday by this time, and in an eagerness to watch the match, had forgotten to post it.

Sivaji

Sivaji
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Sivaji Trailer released!! Have the flash version here.

Got the news yesterday itself from Filbert and Avyukta. At office, when I tried opening the flash and mpg links in megashare as given by Filbert, could not download the entire content. Only some 20 seconds of data got downloaded. The first task coming home was to download the trailers and watch. But there was some problem with the IE, and it could not play the flash format. I did not intend to watch the "mpg" file format as Filbert recommended the flash version is of better quality. So downloaded the flash player, which also did not fix the problem. Lost hopes with IE, went to Mozilla, downloaded the flash plug-ins for that browser. It also failed to play. Finally, I tried the "Brahmastra" -- Restarting the computer. Yes, It worked!

Rajini, as usual, looks young. I would have already watched the trailer some 4 times. Movie seems to be nicely packed with theme, action, stunts and excellent BGMs. There are some awesome scenes: 1. Rajini dodging an attack simultaneouslycatching a chewing-gum. 2. Signing in both the hands 3. The way he brings the revolver from one hand to another around
the neck. Too good!

All I say is get ready for the big-show. Sivaji count-down starts!!

Photo Courtesy : www.galatta.com

Wayanad Pics

These are some of the scenic pics taken in Wayanad. More pics here

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This is just a check message. Just to see how the photo upload from picasa works. Seems like good!

Wayanad-Bike-Car-Trip

Marvellous Road

Just like that, 11 of us from our office started on our bikes and car to Wayanad, an adventurous trip. We took 6 bikes and my car. The most unbelievable part was that we planned leave Bangalore on Sat. morning by 4:00 am, and really left at 4:30 am itself. We reached Mysore by 7:15 itself. Most of the way, the speedometer showed over 100 kmph. Had breakfast in mysore and Reached Gundulupet around 10:30 am and reached the initial destination Sultan Battery around 12 noon. Ok, I should not say "destination" as there was none such. We were always on the road travelling from one place to another. While going from Gundulupet to Sultan Battery, the jungle stretch is too good.

In all we visited 5 places in Wayanad
1. Jain temple
2. Edakal caves
3. Another dilapidated temple (on the way from Panamaram to Kuruva islands)
4. Kuruva islands
5. Muthunga wildlife sanctuary.

Edakkal cave is amazing. It is believed to have formed out of earthquake before some 6000 years and inside you will find inscriptions by stone-age people. It is like two big rocks on either sides balancing another one on the top. It is very chill inside the caves. Just to experience that, you wont repent trekking for about 1.5 kms.

One more thing worthy to mention is the road to Kalpetta (the one that you see on the image). On either sides, you see the tea plantations and the road is excellently maintained. It is like you love driving and driving in those roads.

One more experience which had taken me in amazement is when a middle aged lady residing in one of no-so-high-profile houses near the roadside exchanged "welcome" when I said "thank-you" for her voluntary-offering of a bottle of paana-thanni (mud-ka water)

Kodaikanal - Place for Summer

The Lake

This summer, surprisingly visited the cool location. The most interesting part was my car driving up and down the Kodaikanal hill. Got some expertise in the hill driving too. Actually it is more thrilling to drive down hill than to climb.

There are some good places to visit in Kodaikanal like Pine forest, Guna cave(but it is properly fenced and you will not get the same picture as you saw in Guna movie), Pillar rocks etc. We missed something called cocus walk. Boating would have been a fun, had the rain not played the spoilsport. You get bi-cycle for Rs10/hour and can go around the lake, downhill and enjoy riding. I did feel difficulties in riding a bicycle almost after 3 years. The last time I was regularly using it was when I had Hero Impact in college. Seems like I have become a full time software engineer.

It is an approx 20 km ride around the hills where you can cover all the above places. And near the lake, there is Bryant Park which is full of different colorful flowers. Nice place to spend time. There is Silver Cascade on the way uphill to Kodaikanal

Best strategy would be to reach Kodaikanal in the evening(around 3), go around for boating and Bryant park, have some shopping of spices/oils if you need, towards the night and start the next day early, take a guided tour. You can get more information in the hotels about the tour plan and places to visit.

Before buying anything, it is always better to ask in atleast 4 different shops. In our general experience, we found that the woolen blankets, oils were cheaper in Kodaikanal. But for getting oils and spices, it is better to go to the government outlets.

Potential Yeman

I was on the National Highway 7 driving my Santro from Bangalore to Rasipuram on Friday night, when the water bottle that I kept on my dashboard slipped suddenly due to some turn or bump on the road.  It went under the pedals.  I noticed when it fell, but for a minute, I did not actually care.  Then I thought what if it goes under the brake pedal and blocks it from pressing against.  I decided to take that out, applied brakes, lowered the speed, tried lowering the gears that's when I  realized I could not apply clutch.  But somehow managed to bring it to neutral and stopped the car on the road-side.  If it had got under the brake-pedal instead of clutch, probably I would not have posted this now.

Srirangapatna

Dhariya Doulat Bagh
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Planned a visit to Mysore last saturday. Due to time and health constraints, after visiting Srirangapatna, came back home. But, Srirangapatna alone is worth one full-day visit. What you see is Dhariya Doulat Bagh which was Tipu's Summer place now converted to a museum.
First I should say about the road from Bangalore, except for some 5 km stretch scattered in-between, the road is very good. Srirangapatna is on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, roughly 10 km before Mysore. On the way, there is a Kamat hotel at Lokkurichi(at about 50th km from Bangalore) after crossing Bidadi and Ramanagara. A good choice for break-fast. Otherwise, I heard there are some good eating places in Maddur.
Here is a list of places to see in and around Mysore and Srirangapatna.

Srirangapatna Temple
Very similar to our Srirangam temple in Trichy. Infact Srirangapatna itself is an island in Cauvery river just like Srirangam.
Timings : 7:00 am to 1:00 pm and from evening 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Car parking : Rs 20)

Dariya Daulat Bagh
Timings : 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (Free car parking). Has lush green fields and shadowy trees.

Tipu's Gumbaz
Timings : 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (Car parking : Rs 20). Again a huge place, nice gardens. The buildings are proofs for excellent Mughal architecture. Built by Tipu himself for his mother, seems he also had deserved and reserved a place for him too.

Sangam
Timings : till 7:30 pm. This is a place Cauvery meets two other rivers, whose names I forgot. Not a great place in the non-season if there is less water.

Ranganthittu
Speciality : Birds. Season : June to October. Boating is also available here. Timings : 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. This is at a distance of about 5 km from Srirangapatna.

Palmuri falls - 6km from Ranganthittu. Timinsg might be in line with others.

Brindavan Gardens
Everyone knows what it is famous for. But it is closed temporarily due to Kavei-issue. Best time to enter is evening 5:00 o'clock. Entry is not allowed beyond 6:00 pm.

At Mysore, one can visit the Palace and the Zoo, both open between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm. If you get hold of any person in Infosys Mysore, the campus there should be in your must-see list.

Chamundi hills
About 16 km from Mysore in a different route (not the one towards Bangalore or Brindavan gardens). Speciality : Devi Temple, Timings : Morning 8:00 to Evening 8:00

More photos

SNIFT

Santro Xing
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Yes, I need to introduce my friend... SNIFT (my Hyundai Santro Xing). I coined this name for him today, with whatever data you see in his pose. He is with me from Jul 21, 2006. But never had time to introduce. Now crossed over 4000 kms, he has been very kind to me, though on the first day itself I hurt him trying my heroics in giving him a shadowy shelter in a narrow space between a tree and an Accent.

Options

Sorry folks, if you had come to get something about the derivatives in share market, for that I would like you to visit Tamilnithi.

This is about options in life. At every moment in life we are faced with some or other kind of options. And after scrutinizing all, we choose one and later repent for what we have chosen. We always want to better ourselves or in better terms, want to better our neighbours. We tend to think we have enough resources, but the problem is in utilizing them properly. At any point, there will always be a person doing better than us. We think of undoing our chosen option, but in real life the ctrl-z rarely works. It finally comes down to "want more, learn more, enjoy more" and in all these we lose our happiness and try to find them in the desire to get more and more, in the process, losing whatever is remaining too. Contentment is the key word which is missing these days. More you need, more your time put on business, more your business owns you, less you find time chilling out, less you listen(or better to put "communicate") to your inner-self, less you find time to search your real passion, end up in an while(1).

See the other post related to this by me.

Another come back

Yes!  Back to blogging again.  But this time I hope playing consistent stint.  Everytime in the past when I attempted, I did with the same motto, but failed.  As the case with mutual funds, past performances are not indicative of the future performance.  Arunram, get going!

தமிழில் ஓர் attempt

மொதோ மொறையா தமிழ்ல ஒரு ப்ளாக் எழுதிப் பார்ப்போம். நல்லாவே இருக்கே!! higopi.com க்கு என் நன்றிகள்.