The tournament has just about started with not many surprises with most of the matches resulting as per predictions with the bigger teams getting wins under their belts and getting a good start in the cup with some brilliant individual performances both from bat and ball. But there was one match which blew our minds away. Yeah that’s right, it was the India England match at Bangalore (my place!!!). Personally i could no get to watch the match at the stadium as there was a lot of problems with tickets this time

After India got a big total on the board, people would have imagined that it was foregone conclusion for England, but wait they really did make a match out of it. They were cruising to victory and then things changed when all seemed lost for us and that was the most exciting part of the match, it was a cliffhanger!!

In the end arguably i can say it was fair result of a TIE, but definitely it was a catalyst bringing a spark to this World Cup campaign going into some serious business ahead in the coming days.

Lets wait and watch as the drama unfolds..

Go India!!!!

Well i had promised that i would blog again before the World Cup would end, well that did not happen as i did not get the time to actually blog during that period   There is a saying “Better Late than Never”, so i would like to share my thoughts on the world cup winning team Spain.

Well who would have thought Spain will win the World Cup after losing their first match to the gutsy Swiss, even though people were not happy with the defensive approach of Swiss. And there was a dubious record in the history books saying, ”No team in history has won the World Cup after losing the first match”. After this match the Spanish had their task cut out, win the remaining matches and advance to the next round. They did that by beating Honduras and Chile. There was one man who was taking them to victory and he was David Villa with some spectacular goals.

Then started the round of 16 against bitter rivals Portugal, who had amongst them Cristiano Ronaldo, but they denied him any opportunities and were patient in their build-ups and their patience paid off with Villa scoring the winning goal again. But i thought the match actually did not live up to the expectation of a classic match. By now England the team i was supporting were packing their bags to go back home. Now i was supporting Spain!!! Next up they had a relatively easy match up against Paraguay, this was again a low scoring affair with the score again ending up 1-0 to Spain, well but the match had its share of twists and turns with Paraguay getting a penalty and missing it and then Spain getting a penalty and they too missing it and finally Villa again to the rescue with the winning goal in the 83rd minute with a curling shot. It was a heart break for Paraguay and Oscar Cardozo who had earlier missed a penalty, had he scored things might have been different. So La Furia Roja had made it to the semis for the first time in all these years

Now comes Paul the Psychic Octopus into picture at this World Cup cause he had been predicting the World Cup results with 100% precision. He predicts Spain to beat Germany, now the German fans want some Octopus soup for dinner But wait Germany had been bulldozing almost everybody who came their way with Argentina and England facing their wrath. Spain took Paul’s prediction as a motivation i guess, as they came off the blocks quicker than the Germans in the all important match and were attacking from the word go, with repeated attempts on the German goal, finally got a goal from an unlikely player in Carlos Puyol, the lanky defender from Barcelona. Now the fans in Germany were on the lookout for Paul while the England fans were dancing coz after all he was from England and earlier Paul had  predicted Germany beating England, actually they did 4-1 !! .Well well Spain had advanced to the finals of the FIFA World cup 2010, their opponents where the Dutch who were no pushovers and had beaten the best like Brazil and Uruguay.

Now comes the big match for La Furia Roja, the defending European Champs who were tactically better compared to the Dutch and had more attacking players in Xavi and Iniesta, while the Dutch were depending on the duo of Sneijder and Robben to work their magic one last time. The match started in a very high tempo but those who saw the match will know that it was more a display of martial arts rather than football skills. Players were going down all over the pitch and English referee Howard Webb was flashing Yellow cards faster than a Bugatti Veyron The match was going still at 0-0 when Robben got a killer pass from Sneijder, he was one on one with Casillas but he hit it straight at Saint Iker, according to me the turning point of the match. At the other end too there were chances but no one was able to find the goal at the end of 90 minutes. Now came extra time, and the dirty tackles continued with more yellow cards coming from Webb. Then a key moment in the match when John Heitinga was booked a second time and got his marching orders from the referee, Spain had the upper hand now with a man’s advantage, they made full use of it and struck in the 116th minute with Iniesta slotting the ball past Stekelenburg after receiving a delightful pass from Cesc Fabregas. Then there was chaos with Dutch players surrounding the referee and protesting the goal thinking it was offside when it wasn’t. At last after 120 minutes the final whistle was heard and the Spanish players danced in joy with tears from both teams for different reasons.

And then FIFA President Sepp Blatter gave away the most coveted trophy in football to the Spanish Captain Iker Casillas and the world cup was coming to Spain soil for the first time!!

After 2 long months of oblivion, here I am back blogging. This time it’s not gonna be cricket like in my earlier posts,but its gonna be football, arguably the greatest game in the world. So let me write about the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Well talking on a personal front I can tell that im crazy about football, here is my chance to boast a bit about football which makes people go crazy.
Well just as the group stages have finished there were many surprises in the group stages with both the last years finalists knocked out, but trust me both had an aging team and they could do no good when it came to the pace of the other teams. As I am a Manchester United fan I am rightfully supporting England but they look far from the team they are capable of and if we are to make it big this time around, first hurdle is Germany who are a dangerous side with Klose and Podolski. But if Rooney decides to weave his magic, it’s all but done for the Germans. As far as the other teams go i feel Argentina will do good this time with the Messi-Maradona combo on offer, Spain no far behind even though they barely made it to round of 16.

But I am not one bit impressed with the FIFA draw system because as far as the current matchups go, we see Spain meeting Portugal and again we have England taking on Germany, so 2 good teams are out even before the quarter finals. But again fans are getting to watch good matchups at an earlier stage in the tournament.  I personally feel its gonna be Brazil,Argentina,Spain which are gonna get a long way. But wait Spain take on their bitter rivals Portugal who have amongst them the World’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo, leading from the front their captain. It is he who can change the fate of the match with his skills and playmaking abilities.

When it comes to football South Americans are right up there, as we have seen all of them have qualified for the round of 16 i.e Uruguay,Paraguay,Chile,Brazil and Argentina. They have struck a good rhythm in South Africa and its gonna be very difficult for the Europeans to outplay them.

I am hoping England does well, but again its gonna be really difficult. Hoping to write more before this football fever comes to an end.But whoever wins the cup, surely it would have been treat for everyone to watch this beautiful tournament.

First of all, you might be wondering what is a RIFF anyway!!! Well it is a musical phrase/chord progression which can be repeated several times during the course of a song. We generally associate RIFF’s with rock and jazz. and before we actually go on to the list, I must admit i have a bit of craze for music especially Rock and Metal, so i might be inclined towards talking about songs of those genre.

Well lets go from 10 to 1

10. Fear of The Dark by Iron Maiden

This one has to be one of the best guitar compilations put together by the band from Leyton,London. Personally its one of my favourite songs. Steve Harris..hats off for such a masterpiece with such cool lyrics and a very moody introduction! Bruce Dickson’s vocals backed by Smith and Murray intricate harmony guitars. Iron maiden rule!!

9. Plug in Baby by Muse

Another one of those super bands coming from UK, Muse front man Matt Bellamy is a modern-day guitar hero and it’s astonishing that Plug In Baby’s spiralling guitar line manages to pack such urgency and bite whilst cramming in so many damned notes. Surely one of the wildest riffs here by Muse from album Origin of Symmetry!!

8. Sad but True by Metallica

If you ever thought you will encounter a monster of a song,then here it is “Sad but True”, the riff at the intro is absolutely breathtaking. From 1991’s famous “Black Album” that earned Metallica their mainstream rock titans image. This was one of the best compilations by James Hetfield with that guitar riff which made people groove!!!

7. Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love by Van Halen

If you wanted some electric guitar then this is the right song to listen to which is not very heavy but still has a lasting impression. Eddie Van Halen is one of the many guitarist who revolutionised the electric guitar and the riffs in this song is one such example. This song would make the top 10 no matter who picks it!!!

6. Layla by Eric Clapton

Clapton the man!! his fingers are priceless, what a guitarist!! It’s a treat to listen to his amazing riffs and this one is right up there. Clapton shows the world how to play an acoustic guitar in this song with Duane Allman in perfect sync from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, released in December 1970.

Here come the top 5!!!

5. Back in Black by AC/DC

From the famous album by the same name released in 1980, this one got to be one of the best riffs by the band from Australia as a tribute to former singer Bon Scott. It’s got to be one of the greatest metal songs ever. This is easily one of the songs which people would remember AC/DC for and would play this riff on their guitars. Ahem! Cant get past Back In Black..

4. Enter Sandman by Metallica

Enter Metallica, Enter Sandman and thus Enter,ahem,their biggest hit….:) I mean you got to be insane to compose such a song with such urgency and the result is a Monster of a song!!! Kirk Hammett you beautiful piece of guitar in this song and  to back that up Hetfield on vocals is monstrous as always and Metallica have proved they are the heavyweights of rock once again with such riffs. Metallica are well and  truly one of best bands world has come across.

3. Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple

There is smoke everywhere ( not only on the water !!) as this riff heats everyone up and lasts a eternity in everyone’s memories. Wow what a song by Deep Purple and its their ultimate guitar anthem. I’m wondering how people come up with such wonderful riffs, i guess that’s why they are called “Legends”. From album Machine Head released in 1972 has to be best Hard Rock songs ever written!!

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

Now this song is what i call a absolute breathtaking crazy stuff. The starting riff by Cobain will remain in our minds for ever!!. Even though the legend is no more his legacy still lives on. From the album Nevermind released in 1991 ,this is one of the best riffs the grunge rock genre has seen. It really smells like Teen Spirit Take a bow Kurt Cobain!!!

And finally the numero uno!!!!

1. Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses

Show me one hardcore music fan who has not heard this song, it has got to be the best and one of the classics of all time. This would figure in anybody’s playlist of great riffs. I can listen to this song over and over again a million times!!! One of my personal favourites ( well il bet favourite of most!!). An interesting piece of info i found that  Slash’s iconic intro riff of this song started out as a prank in rehearsal, and it’s not even his favourite GN’R riff, but it’s a classic all the same. Sweet Child O’ Mine has amassed an incredible 21 million YouTube views and is one of the riffs you are most likely to hear played wrong in guitar shops the world over. How about that!!

Well outside the top 10 i want to add one more song, which is one of my personal favourites and its a song which took rock to a newer level.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday

From album American Idiot released in 2004 this one has come close to many of the songs above . I must say, this one is a unforgettable song and especially the introductory riff by Mike Dirnt which feels like a tender acoustic guitar coupled with Billie Joe’s melancholic and ever enthusiastic vocals take centre stage. This is one song which can easily get you singing along its meaningful verses.

P.S

I know that there are many more songs which can make it to the top 10 list .But I’m afraid these ten are the best that i could think of. Any suggestions and comments are most welcome

Today’s contest,wait a minute it was not a contest at all in the first place.It was more like some kids playing against professional cricketers. Time and again Kallis has proved why he should not be playing in the team,but still the team is very happy playing him against his will. And coming to today’s bowling performance (who is this Pankaj Singh?) and where on earth is Praveen Kumar?? It is difficult to understand what is going on here .We lost here by a huge margin while chasing and we are supposed to be the best chasers in this IPL!!

Now all over India people are busy doing the permutations and combinations on whether their team will make it to the semis when Mumbai sit pretty at the top. As of now 6 teams are doing battle for 3 spots. Well thanks to RCB they have still kept things open for the other 5 teams.

Well on a personal front i want RCB to get into the semis and dismantle Mumbai once and for all. But we have to wait and watch who will grab the 3 spots left. Two days it will be settled

Well done IPL 3!!

Writing this post when the Deccan Chargers are playing the Kolkata Knight Riders, in fact its playing live on my television right now. Its so exciting that IPL is back, let aside all the hype and stuff this is the real deal, T20 Cricket at its best. All the big names right here playing for the Indian Premier League Crown for 2010.

I am a Royal Challengers Bangalore fan obviously being a Bangalorean it would be a sin not to support Kumble and his boys. With all the talent in hand RBC is the team to watch out this time too. Last time i least expected them to reach the final after the first 6 results they managed. But Kumble back to captaincy and the team back to form they reached the final,but it was very disappointing that they did not win IPL 2009. Now that was about last year, coming to this year’s edition there are some bright new faces and talent in all the teams. So looking forward to version 3.0 of IPL Cricket.

Although i want RCB to win this time, more importantly i want good cricket which should be played in the right spirit. All the best to all the teams. Lets bring it on…IPL!!!

Schedule for IPL 2010

The hottest topic in town is none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ,what a player he is,time and again he proved that he is second to none. In the past scaling 200 would look like something very difficult but now that 200 was scored by the Little Master himself. I am disappointed that i could not get to see the Master’s innings at Gwalior the other day as i was stuck up at office with some work. But none the less we all witnessed something extraordinary.

I always thought if someone would break Saeed Anwar’s record of 194 then it would either be Virender Sehwag or Sachin. I was right, the God himself did break it. I saw the highlights of the match 3 times myself that day, the way he batted was absolutely breathtaking. The cuts, the drives, the pulls and delicate touches and scintillating sixes over the boundaries was amazing. Tell me one player in history who has achieved as much as the God has. He accounted for about 50percent of the runs out of the total in that knock of 200. This innings will be itched in the memory of all cricket fans especially the fans of God.

His 147 ball 200 included fours and 3 sixes of which the straight bat shots he played were the best. Undoubtedly he is the best player Cricket has ever seen to have taken the field. How can we forget his innings against Australia at Chennai where he helped us chase that mammoth total in the 4th innings. And also that innings of 175 against the same Australians, even though we lost the match we all saw what he was capable of.

Recollecting the memories of this match, which i was actually following at office through cricbuzz, i was growing restless with Dhoni not giving the strike to the little master but i felt he was just delaying the inevitable which was bound to happen. And finally he reached that magical mark in the final over. I also felt that had MSD given more of the strike to Sachin he got have got more than what he actually ended up with. Nevertheless he did get to that milestone much to the delight of all the Indians.

Take a Bow!!!  Sachin “God” Tendulkar…….

As we all know, Tigers are the pride of our nation,but in the past decade it is very heartbreaking to witness the number of tigers in the wild go down from about 40,000 at the fall of the 20th century to now a vey shocking less than 1500. This number is so small that if we dont act quickly tigers in India will be a thing of the past

Tiger species is unlike any other compared to its other Cat species, it is very charming and beautiful creature. These tigers play a major role in preserving the ecosystem of our planet. This particular predator is at the top of the food chain and helps maintain a balance of the ecosystem of the forest. But it is very sad to see that this species is fast dying away. It is time for us to stand up and do something that will help to increse these shocking figures.

We can be a responsible person and contribute to this issue by spreading the word about the tiger population and increase the awareness among people, also whenever you go out as a tourist to the wild think about those animals and do not disturb the wild environment. We can also use less timber and paper which would help in conserving the forests and hence these animals. It’s my humble request to everyone that wake up now else tomorrow when you wake up Tigers will be gone forever.

Think once ” What have we done to help them”, its never too late….

Now, it was a saturday morning which is a blessing for people like me who are software professionals as we could relax and have fun at home.But my friend had other ideas,he messaged me around 11am and tells me to get ready so that we can watch avatar.This was a last minute plan and we browsed through the internet and found that show was at 2-55pm at INOX in Garuda Mall.But we both knew that getting tickets was next to impossible.But we wanted to giv a try and  left home. We reached garuda and as expected didnt get the tickets SOLD OUT was the board…

Now, a quick change of direction, we headed to MG road where fame shankarnag was playing the same movie at 5-30pm. Luckily this time we got 2 gold class tickets (i seriosuly dont know what these classes mean) and now we had 4 full hours to spend before the show. And wait,we were hungry so headed out to Nagarjuna hotel (amazing biryani,trust me !) and finished lunch there. Then we roamed around in Brigade and shopped for a while then had snacks at McDonalds and headed back to theater in time.

Once we reached it,we had to pay advance for those 3D googles(they were definitely one of its kind..lol) and settled down in the theater.Then started the epic movie,well for the initial minutes of the movie,people were busy cleaning the glass and few kids complaining to their parents about the glass .Finally me and my friend settled in as the movie was taking us on a ride through Pandora. Well personally i felt the movie was pretty decent and i must say that the animations are brilliant. I liked the floating mountains concept,which was really breathtaking. It was something new which most of us never expected and hence the movie clicked. Seriously hats off to James Cameroon. My personal rating of the movie would be about 4.5 out of 5.

The next day,i had managed to download 3 idiots the previous night. So i thought i should watch it since it had a lot of media attention, the movie was kind of OK ,but not great like many people told me. The songs were pretty good (especially the lines “Give me some sunshine,Give me some Rain…..”) and ofcourse Aamir’s acting was brilliant and even Kareena was decent.The story line i thought was not exactly related to the book,but it had parts taken from it. But anyways it was a OK movie according to me.

So folks,watch both movies as there is lot of excitement awaiting you!

I am back to where i belong Bangalore. Bangalore the place to be Well i finished my stint in Mysore and am back here as i got my posting right here in namma bangalore and i am looking forward to working here only. As the new year beckons the weather here is absolutely amazing with a calm breeze during the evenings.

Well at home i am sitting by the window enjoying this lovely weather, got few movies which i have to watch then from monday gotta get back to work. Anyway i am hoping work would be awesome and the new year 2010 too.

Here is me wishing everyone…

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010