How did they do it ? : India vs Pak T-20 !

First goal for India must have been to make it to the next round by restricting the run-rate and stretching the Pak innings beyond 14.4 overs. It was as good a goal as winning. But not many were optimistic when India were tottering at 48-4 from 9 overs. But some good work from Uthappa, Dhoni and Pathan saw India reaching a respectable total. Well ! 141-9 from 20 overs was supposedly not good enough especially when the opposition was Pakistan who had the consistent Salman Butt, blazing Shoaib Malik and the devastating Afridi. India had no experienced bowler other than Agarkar and Harbhajan who were nowhere near their best in recent past. So the odds were heavily against India. Yet they were able to pull off a thriller and managed to keep their record of being unbeaten against Pakistan in world cup intact.


Pakistan looked vulnerable right from the beginning of their innings. RP Singh, Sreeshanth, Agarkar, Pathan and bhajji ; all of them managed to keep the run-rate below 6 till 17th over. Just when it seemed that India had clinched the match, came the devastating over by Agarkar who gave away 17 , leaving 12 required off the last over. Sreesanth gave away 10 of first four balls including two boundaries. It looked like India lost it miserably. Just then he managed a dot ball to Misbah-ul-haq. Now everyone was on his feet waiting for the last ball, with the scores tied. Sreesanth pitched it outside the off stump with a decent bounce and Misbah mistimed it and ran for the ONE run which was not to come. Sreesanth made no mistake in taking the bails off at the other end thus leaving every INDIAN in delight.( BITS common rooms were just one example. Everyone was shouting like anything. People were hugging each other and a few even danced.) So the match lived up to its typical reputation.


Since you can't leave it tied in a T-20 match, a bowl out was still in there. Everyone was again surprised when India gave away the list of its five bowlers : Sehwag, Uthappa, Harbhajan ( !!!) with Pathan and Sreesanth. Pakistan stuck to its regular five bowlers. But soon it became evident that Indians were a lot wiser. All three surprise selections did hit on target while their counterparts were nowhere near the stumps. Uthappa took a bow taking his hat off as he rattled the stumps and everyone went in a tizzy when Afridi missed it as a reply !!

So India proved to be a better side at the end. But a lot of questions remained unanswered.
1. Why could India not score big ?

2. Who should open ? Sehwag failure saga continues.

3. Can Dhoni return to his hitting days ?

4. Did India not miss the BIG THREE, especially the master blaster ?

5. India fielded better. When will they be best ?

6. Why didn't Pakistan hit right from the start ? Were they Helping Indian to get through [:D] ?

Anybody for answers ???

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Movie Review: Life mein kabhi kabhi

Got to watch it previous night. Good, in one word. Well ! let me explain a few things which make the movie stand out. A very fresh plot , at least for me because i haven't heard or seen this story in recent past. Then new comers as well as the experienced ones showed their acting skills quite well. Movie runs in a flashback. It is about a bunch of college friends who bet Rs 200/= to be the happiest among all of them ( notably 4). Movie shows the paths adopted by each one of them to get Money, Power and fame. But at the end everyone gets to know that whatever they did was of no use. They were nowhere near happiness. Aftab concludes with the definition of happiness," Happiness is nothing but the absence of sadness. If we are not unhappy, we automatically become happy."
So in short, a nice movie to watch with nice direction and great music. "Hum Khushi Ki Chah Mein" by Zubin Garg and others, is a terrific song at a very right moment in the movie, my favourite today :).

Rating: 7.5/10

6 companies..18 rounds of interviews and a Job !!

21 August: 11.55 pm -

They don't take you if you answer each and every question. If you are a girl, you can get a job even if you don't answer any." says dejected ranga. Then he suddenly says," Cisco results are out. You...Vishal ... Vishal gupta...right!! You made it to CISCO !!"
I exclaimed : "what!!". I didn't believe it. I was trying to confirm it with himanshu that i heard swagat, vaibhav etc shoutingto inform me. Nikhil came rushing thinking of being the first one to inform me. So Vishal finally got a job.

It all started when i got a call from the search giant for a telephonic interview after giving up all hopes for it. I was scheduled to be interviewd two days later. I tried studying a few things and the time came. I got a call sharp at 2. I did decent enough. And a day later we came to know that i too made it to the second short list with 25 other guys.
The next day the employers were on campus. I faced three face to face rounds with kind of expected questions and did reasonably well in the first two rounds while i think, i don't want to talk about the third and the last one. And as expected i didn't make it to the final list.
So the count was 4.

I didn't make it to the shortlist of the next two- one, the most known company in the IT industry and the other- highest paying on campus in IT field. But it was not the end of the world !!The very next day i made it to the database giant's shortlist of candidates. Interview started two hour late than the scheduled time.In the meantime i got to know that i made it to yet another short list- Interview was scheduled at 1. Then started the big day- probably the most hectic in my entire life. When i just either waited outside or interviewed with sharp minds. At the end of the day i felt satisfied and hoped to make it to the final lists as i thought i had done a good job. Mind you, COUNT WAS 12 by now.
But as they say... once in a blue moon, again ?? yes ! I didn't make it to either of the lists again. I didn't lose hope and kept trying. The next day was the day to remember. I wrote the apti cum technical test with least of interest but still I GOT SHORTLISTED AGAIN. The joy was shortlived as I came to know that interview was all about a topic which we never paid attention to. Anyways, i faced two rounds and i'll discuss later how i handled the interviewrs but at 11.55 my wingie informed me that i had made it to the netwoking giant's Final List. So it sorts of happened again with me. I got yet another thing which i was least interested in or i must say which i least desired for. This is fate , this is destiny. I accept it with all true heart and hope it turns out to be as great as anything else could have been.

COUNT IS STILL 15, Got Job too... but what about the other three rounds !! Watch out.

Just Before PsentiSen Began: 28th July, 2007

This is not so usual for Bits,Pilani to face long powercuts. So it came as surprise to us(the old ones) and shock to the parents of newly admitted Bitsians. While trying to cope with hot and humid pilani night, most of them thought this is what their son/daughter was supposed to face for the next four/five years. BITS officials were having a hard time to push through such an embarrassing situation.
Between we old ones knew, this was not going to last much longer and hence were trying to find a way out to enjoy. At 10 we decided to look out for some place to hang out. And imagine where did we land up !! Four of us took benches (of redi) outside Vishwkarma Bhawan to get some REST ! Sooner we realised that they were too narrow to serve the purpose. I suggested we move to Patel Chowk (or say Shankar chowk) to have a SLEEP. Idea was welcomed by all as we quickly moved there but we never moved there to sleep of course. We were quite usually enjoying such an unusual situation and hence rounds of laughter went on till we realised that it was 2 at night. You might agree, sleeping on a chouraha ( Circle) which is at heart of the place is not usual. Finally two of us (not me) went to sleep and other two tried the same but failed. Then me and Aman decided to walk to Nutan to have a 'Morning Tea' since it was 4.45 A.M. We thought we'll come and wake the other two since the morning walkers were passing by. But when we returned they had already left. Then both of us also decided to have a little sleep in rooms. (as electricity supply was normal since 2 A.M.)
But it was definitly another memorable night at BITS and a perfect start to leisured PsentiSem.

Predictions Come True: Team India Does it !

So,it gives me great pleasure to state that my analysis of Team India didn't go wrong as they knocked England off in the second test match at Trent Bridge. And of course, they did it in style, taking bullying head on( the pink jelly beans incident, aggressive sreesanth) yet defeating them authoritatively. But as the newspaper analysts say, Indians have a very bad tendancy of losing the advantage overseas. Future will tell whether they can defy all odds to emerge winner just after 1986 , last time India won on English grounds. Let me predict once again, they can do it and yes, They will do it this time around.
Cheers !!