Ramazan bodes well for Pak

In the ongoing Twenty20 cricket world cup Pakistan have now beaten
both the world cup finalists(SL and Aus) in a row. These wins coincide
with the festivities of Ramadan. Pak seems to be benefiting from the early adoption
of Twenty20 at the domestic level. They have held 3 contests thus
far, less than only England(5) and SAF(4).

Pakistan's wins come as a much needed freshener for the cricket world,
bored and numbed with the monotony of Oz supremacy. Let's ravel
in as long as it lasts. Hope Bob is enjoying it too...

20% discount on books and NCERT online

Having moved to Noida, one thing I miss about Bangalore is the flat 20% discount on books.
Premier book shop and Blossoms on Church Street used to offer it without asking.
Same was true for Tata Book House in IISc.
But here in Noida, I don't yet know of any such shop. Do you?

On a different note, some time ago I came to know about NCERT's course material
online. It's a commendable feature with one problem though. One can't download
a book in one shot. One has to download every chapter separately.

If one wants to download it slightly faster, here are some file lists which one can
use with wget(wget -i fileList).

SRK in Chak De

Much has been said about Shahrukh Khan's performance
in Chak De India. I have to agree it is a fine one
but only as compared to Shahrukh's previous
appearances.

It is hard not to imagine how Aamir Khan would have
done it. And he would have done it much better.
No second thoughts on that one.

SRK didn't go over the top in this movie but he
didn't have the required intensity for an emotionally
battered coach.

In my opinion he was outshone by many actors
in the movie itself. Chitrashi Rawat(Komal Chautala),
Shilpa Shukla(Bindia Naik),Javed Khan(Sukhlal) and
Anjan Srivastav(Tripathi Ji) did far better. As far
as emotions are concerned the Dahi-Chawal dialogue
between Bindia and Sukhlal was the highlight
of the movie.

From the fun point of view players' registration
scene and antics of Chautala were the core of the
movie.

Anyway, nitty-gritties apart, it is a must watch.

Hats off to Bishnois !!

It is common in India for celebrities to commit a crime and
to get away with it by buying the witnesses. But not so for
Salman Khan, poor chap. He was caught hunting in a Bishnoi
territory. Bishnois are a community who religiously guard
trees and wild animals and have laid down their lives in
past doing the same.

Salman Khan was in trouble in another case of rash driving
in Mumbai, in which case the witness has gone missing(no surprises here).

But in Jodhpur he is up against Bishnois, who have the
political backing and near zero possibility of being
sold out to money.

Salman, you are in trouble.