Crossed 10000 page views. Yay!

And yea, am in Shanghai for five days now. Starting today. 2 degrees in the afternoon. Negative in the night. I just might see snow, for the first time in my life :D

Ashfield (n.): Fridge fossils. Perishable items that have ‘perished’ long ago and have life growing on them, and are discovered by accident when you run out of shelf space.

Targus (n.): Holidays that fall on weekends. (!@#$).

(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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You know one of those moments where a word, a phrase, a photo or even a smell takes you years back, into the days long forgotten. That is what happened with me today.

http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981003/27651124.html

Harish Narayanan of Ruia College won the under-21 rapid chess championship conducted by Gokuldham Chess Club at Bhavan’s College today. In the final round Harish beat L Jerome of Bhavan’s in 26 moves scoring 6.5 out of a possible seven points.

WINNERS: 1 Harish Narayanan (6.5 pts) won by toss; 2 D Ravi Shankar (6.5); V Kartik (5.5); 4 Ajit Nair (5.5); 5 Janvian Rodrigues (5). Best player: L Jerome (u-18); Devendra R Sathe (u-16).

and another one: http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980904/24750914.html

This was in 1998. Ten fricking years ago. It has been ages since I’ve even touched a chess board, let alone play or win any tournament. But as I was reading these, they brought back fond memories, of a wonderful interest, interesting battles, strategies, brilliancies, competition, patience, preparation and pursuit of the mindsport at professional levels.

Incidentally I also happened to find online, the person who came second in that tournament (the aforementioned Ravi Shankar) today. He even remembers that I had a winning position, what kind of ending we played (Rook and Pawn) and what have been the results of our other chess encounters! Wish I had such a memory.

It was a wonderful time. Chess taught me a lot about concentration and patience, and as a child I understood what strategy and planning was about, along with short term tactics and combinations. I lived in the world of King’s Gambit, Sicilian Defense, Double Check, Discovered Attack, Ruy Lopez, Lucena Position, Bobby Fischer et al. There was a time when I played with, and was good friends with Sasikiran, who is now a well known GM in India. I have seen many upcoming stars as child prodigies, and been coached by many stalwarts of the Indian chess scene. Chess also took me to many towns of Maharashtra (Satara, Sangli, Jalgaon, Nasik, Pune, Bhusawal, Kolhapur, Solapur. All of these places have wonderful and amusing memories I associate with them.) and many towns in India. Thanks to my mom, and her Luna Moped, I toured all of Chennai and its chess tournaments.

Memories: When I beat a national champion and didn’t realize it because I came late and didn’t see the pairing list. When I made my first solo trip out of Mumbai in class 7, and found a teary-eyed mom waiting outside my dorm the next day ( :) I still remember that). When I cried my eyes out in class 4 since I didn’t with the first tournament I ever played in. When I was on a winning streak and found the only winning combination in the whole Rook ending about 12 moves down the line. The first time I blundered my queen. My 9 hour game in my first nationals at Calicut (that ended in a draw). Blind Chess and Simul Chess and Supply Chess. Long chess sessions at the Mylapore house in Chennai with Ravi Mama (my coach) and my chess partner Deepak. My first ever chess lesson about how to checkmate an opponents King with two Rooks. My first ever pan-India event prize. My Sangli tournament trip for ten days where all I carried was Rs.800 in cash. Skipping school, and even final exams to play tournaments. Beating my senior sports secretary on first day of college in KJ Somaiya, playing blind :)

Many more such instances, but am unable to recollect as of now. Need the help of my old friends to remind me of the wonderful times that we had, with the Game of Kings.

(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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Single guys cant find love. Lovers cant commit. The committed cant marry. The married cant love. The married and in love cant be happy because someone else is more satisfied. The satisfied cant let go of the past because they were hurt. The hurt cant love because they are afraid…… We surpass ourselves in finding something to worry about!

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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5th January 2008. I’m still sleepy, groggy and quite irritable at 6 frickin’ o’clock in the morning. But what to do. Four hundred sing dollars can buy me a ticket only in good old Air India, and they can put me only on a 7.45 AM flight to Singapore. After canceling the flight that I originally booked, that is.

Did I tell you that BOTH my flights, to Bombay and back, were canceled? Not canceled as in, “Sir, we are so sorry, but due to uncontrollable circumstances, we had to cancel your flight. We apologize for this inconvenience and we shall make it up to you in whichever way possible. Can we give you options so that you can pick one that is most convenient for you?”. Canceled as in, “Both your flights have been canceled. You leave on 18th. I can’t tell you when I can offer you a return flight. Maybe you want to think about catching a bus, or swimming back or something”. I pay for a direct flight to Bombay, which is canceled. Then I take a flight that has a connecting flight at Delhi, and all Bombay passengers miss the connecting flight at Delhi because the Singapore-Delhi flight is late. Quite a fairy-tale trip, I must say, with sugar, cream and cherry on top.

Anyways. Back to the groggy Saturday morning at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport. After having driven for nine straight hours the previous day (Andheri, Chembur, Ghatkopar. You get the picture), I have a running nose and some bad perspective. All I want is a comfortable seat where I can stretch my legs, make a humble request to the air-hostess to disturb me for no reason on earth (or in the sky) and doze off. I wait in the queue for an hour, get to the check-in counter and happily hand over my ticket while the lady at the counter happily issues me the boarding pass.

And then she says, “Sir, are you aware that this flight will leave at 4.30 PM?”

You know those situations where you are so mind-numbed that you can’t decide whether to shout out aloud, to swear every obscenity you ever learnt, or to kill someone. Well, this wasn’t one of those situations. I very vividly wanted to do all three.

If I was aware that the flight would leave at 4.30 PM, would I be standing there at 6 AM like a jackass with my luggage and a teary-eyed mom outside? They did not have my Bombay number so they couldn’t inform me earlier, but this question about my prior awareness of the situation was, well, lets say, fishing for ‘compliments’.

Then I am told I would be paid taxi fare or hotel charges. I take the taxi fare, spend half an hour to get a pre-paid taxi and head home. And near Powai while I’m thinking, “Fuck all this. I’ll go home and get some rest”, the taxi breaks down.

Then I take a rick, go home, sleep, have lunch, come back to Airport (which is a mere 24 Kilometers away from home), and finally board the plane.

Now for the best part.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your Captain Speaking. Welcome aboard flight yada yada yada.

We apologize for the delay. It was due to uncontrollable circumstances that our incoming flight was late. It is beyond our control, and beyond my control as an individual, you see. And let me bring your attention to the flight crew. They are here to help you in every way possible. But see, it is just a crew of 4 for about 180 passengers. That makes it about…hmm..err.. 45 passengers to a crew member.

To give you an idea, it’s like having 45 guests at your residency whom you have to tend to and entertain for four to five hours. It is not an easy task, you know. So please be considerate while asking for help and placing your requests. Thank you for your cooperation, and I shall keep you updated on our flight details after takeoff…”

Thankfully I was bound to the seat by the seatbelt, else would’ve fallen off and did the proverbial ‘rolling on the floor with laughter’. The announcement is not verbatim as I don’t recall the entire two minute monologue, but I make this up not!

So much for flight cancellations and quirky flight captains.

(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Last week has been screwy, and I expect it to be more so in the coming weeks. Until end of Jan. Too many things happening at the same time, no vent to creativity, no sleep. Bad combo.

In the meanwhile, saw Ratatouille, Taare Zameen Par; Met with the coolest Singaporean Ms. Pey Ying and discussed her arbit trip to Shanghai. Went to a jazz night that sucked ass. Ate at Annalakshmi. The week pretty much sauntered away while I was watching dazed, too busy to comprehend.

But then :)

Some good changes. Been learning a lot about the business and the way it works. And the way we make it happen. Nice!