Despite the gloom of the earthquake in kashmir, the deluge in chennai and rest of south India, the average Indian is consoling himself with the following thought:Aged 32, he is back to his best!! Yes I am talking about the great man himself... Sachin is back!!
That enthusiasm, that excitement in those watchful eyes reveal it all. He seems to be carrying new found confidence on him wherever he goes. I don'tknow what is the relation he has developed with me and a billion other people over the past 16 years (and counting!!) but he is able to bring a smile to our faces every single time when he walks out there and makes his bat do the talking. He makes us all proud of the fact the fact that we are Indians. For the past few months cricket had taken a backseat in the lives of most Indians. I had stopped watching the game, atlhtough I kept track of the ashes. The ganguly -chappell drama further drew me away from the sport. But lo!! The first ODi against Sri Lanka and the buzz is back again!! Why?? The answer is simple: Sachin is BACK!! India wins!! A few days later, at Mohali the carnage continues, and people are asking ... "Is he actually 33? Playing like when he was 16.." The newspapers are out with headlines like " Indian juggernaut is on its way"and "team India can do no wrong". Amidst all this pomp and jubilation(its festive season,DIWALI TIME!!!) , a man sitting at home in kolkata watching the drama unfolding, must be wondering,"mera number kabh aiyega??"
HAPPY DIWALI EVERYONE!!!
lets all celebrate the return of a champion!!!

The biggest techfest in the country just got over...Yes shaastra 2005, a student organised fest, having the ISO 9001 stamp, just got over. As usual the hype that is created evry year around the events at shaastra is tremendous thanks to the PR courtesy the HINDU and aother media partners. But after the event is over i am wondering what all the hype was about..
Ok fine, agreed that this year the bascule bridge project that was taken up by the students of IITM was completed succesfully but apart from that there was little to look forward to over the 4 days at Shaaastra, and this me an IITian speaking ....
the thing that bugged me the most was the ignobel prizes, an event aimed to be rip off on the actual paper presentation(which by the wway was scrapped this year..!!!!). For god's sake this is techfest , not a Saarang were entertainment is the ultimate aim!! shaastra is one of the few techfests in the country which is catered to the needs of the undergraduates exclusively. It gives them a platform to come out with their ideas and present them for further analysis.
But scrapping the paper presentation and encouraging the ignobel prizes , i am not sure whether
what the organisers are thinking..
whatever it is a drastic rethink in strategy is needed so that Shaastra truly is what it claims to be!