Ooops! Did I say 13? I meant 11

In the last post, I said 13 teams have confirmed entry for the 2010 championship. It is actually 11 which includes the 10 teams currently racing and Prodrive which has also reportedly signed up.

Sorry for the error.

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

13 teams submit 2010 entry

The latest team to join the Formula 1 Circus next year is Prodrive. Prodrive was supposed to join in 2008 but did not. The proposed budget cap has persuaded them to join for the 2010 season. The Chairman David Richards says he expected the budget cap to be even lower.

So we have a new team next year, but will we have all 13 teams?

Yes, we most probably will. McLaren, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Renault, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso, Brawn GP and Force India have all signed up for the season. However, the teams have only signed up to the new season on the condition that they are able to operate on the basis of current technical regulations.

The official statement regarding next year's rules will be out on 12th June. There is speculation that the cap would be GBP 80 M in 2010 and 40 M in 2011.

Well, your guess is as good as mine till the 12th.

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

Williams suspended from teams’ association

Williams have been temporarily suspended from the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA). It follows Monday’s confirmation that Williams have lodged a formal entry for next year’s championship, despite the ongoing dispute between the teams and the FIA over the 2010 regulations.

“FOTA’s decision, although regrettable, is understandable,” said team principal Frank Williams after the news emerged from a meeting of team bosses in London on Wednesday. “However, as a racing team and a company whose only business is Formula One, with obligations to our partners and our employees, submitting our entry to next year’s championship was unquestionable.

via formula1.com

Haha! After what happened two days back, this was a natural outcome wasn't it?

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

100 of the Best Movie Lines in 200 Seconds

via bspcn.com

How cool is THIS?

It would have been the coolest without the background music though :-/

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Williams is the first official team for 2010 Championship

Between all the hullaballoo that half the teams are making against the £ 40 Million budget cap for the next season, Williams has gone ahead and lodged their entry for next year! The deadline for submission of their entries for all the teams is not until this friday.

Williams is saying that lodging a 2010 entry was merely a formality, as the team is contracted to both the FIA and Formula One Management to participate next season. In their latest letter to the FIA, the teams have requested that the existing 2009 technical rules be retained for next season, while the future framing of the Formula One regulations is considered further.

The team that has been the most vocal in the protest is obviously Ferrari, with their mulitmillion dollar budgets. Stefano Domenicali, the team principal said, “For sure the costs are something that all the teams are fully committed to work on, but as I said before the costs are related to the business of the teams. We know what we can invest, we know what we can do and I think this is something that the teams have to discuss internally and decide on their own what they can afford, to keep the value of Formula One at the standard that we know. It is something that we feel should not be imposed on us by someone else."

Have you heard of something called as 'Recession' Stefano? Seriously, read the papers!

Anyways, who would like to guess what the turn of events are going to be from here on?

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

Lords Of The Roads!

Enough has been said about ST buses and their quality (rather the lack of it) and how they give you a full body massage when you travel by one. Almost-enough has also been said about the need for the revival of the ST service by giving them more money and phasing out the old buses which have been running since the time the Elves left Middle Earth or Aragorn became King of Gondor or Bilbo and Frodo went with the Elves or the Age of Men began in Middle Earth……; I guess you get the drift. I don’t however think enough has been said about the men who drive these deathtraps. So, as a service to humanity and for the purpose of filling this yawning gap between the not-blamed-enough-drivers and the overly-blamed-buses-which-need-more-blame-in-any-case. (Please ignore the grammar)

I am going to use another reference (out of several) to Lord Of The Rings (LOTR). Tolkien, the author of LOTR, created this elaborate fantasy tale around 1938. The story has numerous characters which are part of different lineages, species, community or breed. Every group has something which is unique and special to them. Similarly, according to me, ST Bus Drivers (STBDs) belong to a community which was sired by a man who was the most intimidating mix of Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Loeb and Shrek a.k.a. Wayne Rooney. They drive fast (Schumacher), they drive quick (Loeb) and they generally don’t care about anything moving – including the one they are driving (Shrek a.k.a. Rooney). Now you would ask, what qualification do I possess to be commentating on STBDs? I, my dear imaginary readers, have traveled on ST Buses for more than a year when I used to commute between my home in Thane and my office – Directi – in Malad. Firstly, I should be given a bravery award for traveling in an ST Bus every single day for an entire year. Secondly, I have to be one of the luckiest men alive to have traveled in these buses so often and still be unhurt. Come to think of it, they are quite safe; the only damage I guess is long term due to the beating your nervous system takes. Finally, I think this is enough experience to commentate on STBDs.

To be an STBD, one cannot acquire training or attend driving classes. After all, Legolas didn’t have to go to shooting school to learn to use the bow and arrow. They are born with this quality and eventually find their way to their throne, inside the grimy, dust covered red and brown colored bus. Just the way Aragorn eventually finds his way to Gondor and sits on his throne. STBDs are supposed to wear uniforms which are basically Khaki Shirts and Pants. They however think it is above their dignity to wear something like that, and you should not be surprised to find them driving shirtless; they do however wear white-as-snow vests to be fair to them. I am not sure if there are any rules regarding their footwear, but I am yet to see an STBD driving with anything on his feet.

These people are the masters of the beasts that they drive and their beasts in turn are the Lords of all such beasts. Much like Gandalf, who was the master of his horse Shadowfax – the Lord of Horses. Only they know the kind what gestures made by their arms and feet will incite what kind of response from their beast. All rules of automotive engineering are put to shame by these great Lords. Exactly the way in which The One Ring defied the laws of physics, making the wearer invisible. I am yet to see an STBD change gears by releasing/depressing the clutch (i.e. pressing it with the foot – ironically this is when the clutch is released or depressed). They just stop revving and bang the gear into its proper slot. I cannot imagine how a 1,000 year old vehicle can take that kind of beating; if only they made stuff like that now.

STBDs also control who gets onto their bus and who doesn’t. If they don’t like something about you, or your clothes are too nice and they are jealous, they just won’t stop for you at the bus stop. You can wave all you want and stand in the middle of the road if you want to, but they won’t stop if they don’t want you in. They have a very strict passenger selection process, so I have heard. Another brilliant piece of engineering on these beasts are the suspensions. I don’t know if they were intended to be so robust or it is just sheer luck that they last one whole day and beyond. The punishment they go through is equivalent to the punishment Smeagol was given by Sauron; and in his case, Smeagol relented during the torture. On the other hand, these suspensions I am sure are much stronger than those on the Hummer even. I don’t see how else it could take the torture dished out by the STBDs every single minute that they are at the helm.

I guess you would agree that these men are truely outstanding.

These Men are unlike any other.

They are the best of the best of the rest.

They are the Lords Of The Roads!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Coldplaying for the fans

I have written earlier about Coldplay; here and one in my old blog - here.

I still can't stop talking about them. I just love them too much for too many reasons. Again, I don't know how many are aware, but Coldplay is one of the few bands who are doing their bit for the environment as well. They realise that their live shows cause damage to the environment and they buy Carbon Offsets to try and reduce the damage. How can you not like a band like this one?

Apart from this, they made an awesome gesture recently by giving their latest album for free on their site. You can download the album Left Right Left Right Left here if you have already not done it. So what if the album is a recording of their Live Performance? It is still a great gesture.

About the album, I love the performances. The songs seem so different even though they are the same! The start to Clocks is awesome. The band knows that this is one of their most popular songs and were brilliant in playing it to the audience. Especially the ending of the song was a brilliant surprise. The same goes for Fix You. However, I have never loved Viva La Vida so much before. It just sounds SO much better in this album. All the songs are great like always, but these are the songs that stand out. When you have decided why you like a particular song, it just feels great when the band betters those reasons. Don't know if I am making sense, but I love them too much.

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Ferrari make a comeback and Force India miss out on a point

Yes, that was the story of the Race today.

As I mentioned in my last post and as has been mentioned by so many more people around the world, Jenson Button has a Schumacheresque quality to him. So it was not a surprise to see him win the 2009 Grand Prix de Monaco. Everyone knows that it is quite impossible to overtake at Monaco and the result proved that. However, there were more changes in the order from the start than there normally is.

Button and Barrichelo finished 1-2 for Brawn and they were followed by both the Ferraris. So the story of the race is that Ferrari is closer than ever in this season to challenge for the top step of the Podium. Raikkonen drove a pretty clean race and if it was not for the start where Barichello overtook him, he would have challenged Button for victory.

The story of the race for me however was the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella. He just about missed out on a point which would meant more than a victory to Force India. Last year Sutil missed out on a point finish after Kimi crashed into him coming out of the Tunnel. But Fisichella drove a very competitive race gaining 4 places after starting 13th.

All in all, it still is not too late for the Ferraris to challenge the Brawns. McLaren doesn't seem to be into it yet. The team I am looking forward to is Force India with more upgrades coming in Turkey and Germany.

This is bound to get interesting!

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

Monaco brings some change in order! Finally!

A few seasons ago, if you missed qualifying, it didn't really matter that much. You anyways knew that Schumi would be at Pole with his team mate in the first two rows and the McLarens giving them company. History is repeating itself this season as well, but this time its the Brit Jenson Button!

However, Monaco has changed the order somewhat. Yes, Jenson Button is still on Pole, BUT, do I see a RED CAR next to him? Yes! It IS a Ferrari and the Scuderia Ferrari at that! Kimi Raikkonen has finally managed to get a Scuderia Ferrari into the front row, splitting the Brawn GP team mates. Whats more, his team mate Massa is not very far behind on the third row. Kimi however was looking good for Pole, and as he said after the qualifying, there is a much bigger difference between starting from first or second place at Monaco. He however HAS to be feeling better already. Chris Dyer, Ferrari's Chief Engineer summed it up by saying, “A great result for the team: two cars in the front three rows is a reward for all the work we’ve done. Kimi drove fantastically well, while Felipe was almost always in traffic, which prevented him from doing better. ............ The team and drivers worked really well in managing the situation and the credit for this result goes to them and everyone back at the factory who worked on preparing for this Grand Prix. ........ we will do our best to bring both cars home on the podium.”

At the other end of the grid meanwhile, there was another team rejoicing. Force India had finally managed to get BOTH their cars into Q2. They finally qualified 13th (GF) and 15th (AS) on the grid which is an excellent result for this team from India. I guess it helped that Dr. Mallya was away in South Africa to watch his IPL Franchise, Bangalore Royal Challengers, in the second Semi Final playing Chennai Super Kings. It is a very good result for this team and as Giancarlo Fisichella says, "For tomorrow I want to get to the end of the race and let's see - this is Monaco, you never know what can happen."

You want to make a guess?

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

The Green Flag!

I thought the best way to start off would be to summarise this season's standings:

Jenson Button    41

R Barrichello      27

S Vettel             23

M Webber         15.5

 

Posted via web from Countdown to the Indian Grand Prix

How desperate can you be to cut costs?

 

 

Posted via email from Aditya's Blog

Unfurl it!

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I am currently working at Patni Computer Systems Ltd as part of my Summer Project for my MBA course. One of the things that Patni is known for, apart from being one of the leading global providers of Information Technology services and business solutions (this from their website :P), is the awesome transportation service they provide their employees with. The transportation consists of a fleet of buses on contract which follow particular routes every single day. And when I say fleet of buses, I mean a fleet which can rival that of a small city's (say my home city Thane) Municipal Transport (TMT) service! OK I might be exaggerating a little bit, OK quite a bit, but you get the drift.

Once the day is over, it is fun to see two dozen buses, in the white and brown livery, leave all at the same and make their way out of SEEPZ one after another. I know what you are thinking, I was just ranting about their huge fleet of buses and now I am talking about only two dozen buses! Actually, they have close to 30 buses at their office in SEEPZ and similarly they have offices in two other locations in the city. So that works out to quite a lot of buses traversing quite a lot of routes.

The route I take from SEEPZ comes to Thane via Powai. This route passes through the flyover which goes right over the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) campus. I like this flyover a lot just for the way it has been made in between some of the buildings in the L&T campus. At this point, to my left comes the glass covered building of L&T Infotech; and finally I come to the core point I want to make.

Atop this building, every single day, in the evening twilight, I see two men getting down a hoisted Indian Flag, the Tricolor, the Orange-White-Green, fluttering in the wind! And it is one of the most awesome sights I witness. And before I know, a smile comes to my face. I wish more companies would hoist a flag. It is not just about having the Flag atop your building, it is about the emotion behind it. It is about telling everyone, that we are an Indian company and we are proud of it. If it were upto me, I would not only put up the flag and tell the guards to hoist it and get it down every day (which L&T does), I would give this PRIVILEGE to a different person every day. Imagine the precedent one would be setting by doing this. I understand that things like you having the building for yourself and other such issues come up, but they are too trivial.

Taking this a little broader, I don't think there are enough Flags around anyways. Flags to us have become a symbol of the Independence and the Republic days only. I have bought myself a small cloth Indian Flag that I am really proud of. I know there are many issues attached to this, the fact that by law, you cannot hoist a Flag unless you have permission. But I remember a few years back when someone was arrested for hoisting the Flag at his residence and he defended himself and won at the Supreme Court! There some absolutely valid reasons for this law, but there has to be some leeway given in this regard.

For now however, I guess atleast the corporates should Unfurl it!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Need more reasons to love Top Gear?

I don't know how many people know about this, maybe many do, but Top Gear uses almost FIFTY audio tracks on an average for ONE episode!

This goes to show the extent to which they go to just to make it that much better. A single piece of video (a car test or a task) uses almost fifteen tracks, some for just a few seconds. If there is any particular track you heard in an episode and wondered where it came from, you can check it up here - http://is.gd/Bp3m

Not that I needed this reason, but I can't help but love it even more now (if that is possible)!

I have said it a lot of times, this show is not just about cars. It is about british comedy, awesome locales, brilliant film making, superb music and while they are at it, they talk about absolutely breathtaking cars as well. Now THIS is complete entertainment!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

How to pick a video game system

via bspcn.com

Haha!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Can you sum up life in 42 seconds?

via vimeo.com

This is brilliant!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

A reply to Mr. Aviraj Singh Saluja

Dear Mr. Aviraj Singh Saluja,

I am deeply humbled by your praise for me and thank you for your wishes.

I agree with you that this country does deserve the stablest of Governments and the most honest of Leaders and I hope with all my heart that we are able to give this country what it deserves. However, it saddens me to know that you have no expectations from me or my Government. It is sad that you have lost all expectations.

You say you had expectations after I had been elected as the Prime Minister in 2004. However, I went through the election records and saw that you did not vote in the 2004 election yourself. I am not saying you have no right to have expectations, but it is your foremost duty to vote and be a part of the most basic of democratic exercise. You say you were happy that I was the Prime Minister, but you had nothing to do with me becoming the Prime Minister. I can easily say that you do not deserve anything in return, however, I will never say that.

You talk about the last 5 years as if that is all it takes to turn-around a vast and expansive country like ours and make life better for the common man. I cannot entirely blame you for having lost all expectations. But what expectations do you have? Are these expectations same as that of the all the other people in this country? You Sir, are one of the 7.1% of the elite population who use the internet. I again can't blame you for being a part of such an elite crowd, as one of my Government's responsibilty is also to make sure every person gets benefit of the internet revolution. However, there are more pressing matters than making sure that the common man gets his share of the WWW. It is not incorrect to compare our governance and systems to those of a superpower like the USA, it is however unfair to compare a 62 year youngster with a 232 year old veteran.

It is encouraging to see that you so deeply believe in the power of Goodness. I assure you that this victory will not make us complacent, it is rather a form of encouragement for us, a show of faith from the people. My enthusiasm will never deter; and as far as the things I personally wished to do for the country are concerned, I assure you that the seeds were already sown 5 years ago. Being from the urban middle-class, you would surely agree that Rome was not built in a day.

You believe that you speak for a large majority of the urban middle-class; I believe that you also voted for the same large majority of the urban middle-class. You also seem to forget that 70% of this country's population resides in the "non-urban" areas and therefore it is essential for me to concentrate close to 70% of my efforts in serving them.

There is not much that I can take from your letter, but not because it does not have anything to give, but because I already know what my people expect from me. Please do not lose hope in the power the voice of a twenty-something has, this country is soon going to be run by the same people. For now, for today, I have been given the responsibilty to lead this country because I am the best we have as you say and not because I am ideal. The next five years Mr. Saluja, I will try my best to live upto your hope and other's expectations.

Wish you the best when you go to America in July.

Faithfully,

Dr. Singh.

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

IT is my desitny?

I have never been a person who believed in destiny. I never wanted to believe that certain things in my life have already been decided. It somehow makes me feel uncomfortable. However, I am being made to rethink.

As quite a few of my imaginary readers would know, after finishing my Junior College, I started doing my graduation degree in Engineering (IT). Yes, I thought I want to be a Software Engineer. But almost all of you know that I am not one! Halfway through my graduation, I realised I *don't* want to be an engineer. I dropped out and finished my graduation in Management (BMS). I have always been a tech freak and staying updated with technology is one of my passions (This was the logic behind becoming a Software Engineer).

I graduated in Management and specialised in Finance in my final year. Although I was certain that I wanted to make a career in Marketing. Taking Finance was my way to show myself what I would have to do rest of my life if I did opt for a career in Finance. It worked out for me. I sat for placements, I did get a good job in Marketing and I did do very well at the job. The job in question here though, was (yes, you guessed it) at an IT company! But I really didn't mind it, I really like this field remember? The company was Directi, which is a great company to work for. I was working for their business unit called Logicboxes and had absolutely brilliant, young, like-minded people working around me. All in all, an awesome learning experience.

Having worked there for a year, I knew I had to study more and secured admission at K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (SIMSR) for an MBA, specialising in Marketing. I am having a great time doing my MBA and through my first year. MBA demands you to do a summer project at any organisation, in the two months between the first and the seond year. Again I sat for placements, I did get a job in Marketing and hopefully will do very well again at this job. The job in question here again, (yes, you guessed it) is at an IT firm! This time however, it is at a bigger company called Patni Computer Systems Ltd. and this one usually competes with the Infosys', the TCS' and the Wipros of the world. So a bigger company and hopefully better too, but still in IT!

So inspite of avoiding being a Software Engineer, am I destined to work for IT?

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

What an idea!

via youtube.com

I LOVE this AD! I know people are now in love with the zoozoos, but this was a brilliant ad. It was the start of the "What an idea sirjee!" campaign with Abhishek Bachchan and he has been brilliant in every ad.

I was telling someone recently that the brilliance of Abhishek Bachchan's acting is in his expressions and due to the lack of distraction in ads (there is normally only one person in the frame at a time), you just cannot miss his expressions. No wonder Ram Gopal Verma did justice to the Bachchan's in the Sarkar movies with the awesome closeups.

Everything said, lookout for the guy next to Abhishek at the end of the ad, he is simply awesome!

P.S. Sorry for the poor quality of the video :)

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

A sucky year of Sports for me :(

Let me see,

1. Real Madrid won nothing

2. Federer won nothing

3. India lost again in Hockey

4. Ferrari is winning nothing

5. Lost all hopes from Kimi

6. Mumbai Indians just lost again when they should have won!

Waiting for the T20 World Cup now...

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Playing it Cool...

It does not matter that poeple don't know what Genre they belong to.

It does not matter if all their songs sound similar to the critic.

It does not matter if they are not similar to any band.

It does not matter that they are similar to too many bands.

It does not matter that they cannot be called rock.

It does matter that people don't know what Genre they belong to.

It does matter that each of their songs are unique to their fan.

It does matter that they are not similar to any band.

It does matter that they cannot be called anything.

It does matter that they were born and met each other and decided to play music.

It does matter that they are the coolest band on earth.

It does matter that they are Coldplay.

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

I have moved :)

Yes, my dear imaginary readers. I have officially moved to Posterous. However, Blogger will still be update via Posterous!

In short: http://www.adityakandala.com is still the URL but it will get you to Posterous. The URL for the blogger page is http://adityathinking.blogspot.com just in case :P

I shall soon transfer all my old posts to Posterous with the help of the good people (Sachin & Gary) at Posterous.

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

Foreign Rip-Offs Cooler Than The Hollywood Originals from Cracked.com

The American Original:

In his 1978 Film, Superman apprehends those who commit crimes. The love of Lois Lane helps the superpowered Kryptonian maintain his humanity.

The Foreign Rip-Off:

In this Bollywood extravaganza, Superman and Indian Lois Lane (a.k.a. Indian Spiderwoman) use the power of dance to commit crimes against humanity.

Why It's Better:

To be fair, Dariya Dil isn't an Indian Superman movie at all (the only plot synopsis we could find online said it was a romantic comedy about tax evasion or something). But nonetheless, we dig its freaky take on the Superman mythos.

www.cracked.com/articleimages/dan/knockoffs/superman2.jpg" />

The problem with the American Superman is he's basically a god trapped in the mind of a crossing guard. His M.O. for crime prevention is hovering above the ground, arms crossed with an exasperated frown on his face. Come on! We're talking about Superman here, continents shift when he yawns and oceans boil when he farts in the tub. But it's wasted on a guy who has the personality of a mannequin.

www.cracked.com/articleimages/dan/knockoffs/superman3.jpg" />
Why is that happening?

The Indian Superman has no such hang-ups. He'll dance like no one's watching. He'll canoodle with his girl at 5,000 feet. And--at the 2:33 mark--he'll use his superbreath to blow a criminal at the force of escape velocity into the vacuum of space, where the perp will orbit the Earth as a frozen corpse for decades. In short, Indian Superman just does not give a fuck.

via cracked.com

This is one of the funniest things I have read on Cracked.com!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

I am planning to move

Well, it's not that kind of moving where I would need to call a truck and get all the heavy stuff in and rearrange and reorganize; OK, I will be doing the latter part.

Here's the thing, I have been using Blogger since I started and I thought it was pretty cool. But now I am being persuaded to move to Posterous by none other than Mr. Paape. Now for some time, I am going to be posting at both the blogs. As any blogger should, I am going to let my readers (imaginary though they might be) decide.

So please do me a favour and post your preference as a comment (HAHAHA, I am actually going to get comments!). Finally, depending on your preference and how I find my experience at Posterous, I shall migrate accordingly. So do you want to make this Mumbai or Shanghai?

Looking forward!

Posted via web from Aditya's Blog

True Friendship :)

Source: http://is.gd/y0Ez

Mumbaites making Mumbai Shanghai

In an unprecedented initiative, the citizens of Mumbai have taken upon themselves to make sure that Mumbai becomes Shanghai.

Over the past few years, the promise that every administrator made was to convert Mumbai into Shanghai. All this while, these have just remained promises. But now, the citizens of the Maximum City have resolved that they will not let the ineptitude and inefficiency of the administrators discourage them. The people have now taken matters into their own hands.

The citizens know that Rome was not built in a day and this applies to Shanghai too. The masses have realised that one of the major things that differentiates both the countries is the Government by itself. More importantly, the way in which the Government is formed. The people of Shanghai have absolutely no say in who governs them. This seems to work for them. The citizens of Mumbai are trying to do that as well. Atleast 57% of Mumbai is trying their best.

If one looks at the trend in detail, one can see that this has been an attempt since more than a decade now. The voter turnout dipped to a low of 41.43 percent in 1991, but climbed to 45.90 percent in 1996 and 50.26 percent in 1998. The figure again nosedived to 44.86 percent in 1999 and then touched 47.15 percent in 2004 showing that people who do not want the progress of the city and this country still vote. But this year more have adopted the progressive mindset and decided to not vote, bringing the voter turnout to a whopping 41.24%!

This strategy was noticed by various NGOs, the media and various celebrities. They realised that they will be strangled and have no freedom at all if Mumbai becomes Shanghai and selfishly released campaigns encouraging people to vote. But finally, we, the people prevailed. The day is now not far when we can proudly say we are similar to Shanghai atleast in one aspect!