Guts & Glory - US Open 2012

Hi All,

Had been away from active blogging, mainly due to work reasons. Had been trying to post but could not muster strength to come here and type anything meaningful though. 
Have actively watched US Open 2012 matches on t.v with family over the last week and have enjoyed the quality of tennis being played.

Victoria Azarenka vs. Serena Williams

The ladies singles finals was a superb competition of guts and temperament between Victoria Azarenka - the sweet looking Belorussian and the hard hitting Serena Williams. 

Before start of the match I thought that Serena would have it easy & would literally crush Victoria with her powerful ground strokes. But Victoria has other ideas, she replied stroke for stroke and took the second set. 

In the third set too, Victoria broke early and at 5/4 was serving for the match. Serena showed her true class and broke Victoria's serve and eventually took the match!!

Men's Final: Andy Murray vs.Novak Djokovic


The men's singles finals saw english-man Andy Murray pitted against a visibly tired Serb - Novak Djokovich in what was to be the longest ever US Open finals in the history of the tournament!!
Murray had to shrug off the "monkey" named Fred Perry off his back. Perry was the last Englishman to win a Grand Slam event (the United States Open), in 1936.

There really was nothing to choose between the two. Both were master-class in their own rights. Murray I thought had just that extra stamina to pull off a remarkable victory. Djokovic started to tire a lot and even his first serves deserted him in the last set. Djokovic  was unable to convert potential chances into winners and that meant Murray could reach for the corner shots and earn the passing shots.

In the end it was a gruelling battle of nerves and stamina. 
Well done Murray!! Entire UK would be partying hard for the coming fortnight for sure!!

That's it folks for now....shall keep posting regularly ;)

Lazy Day

Had a very lazy day today. Tired and sleepy because of insufficient sleep last night. Need to catch up on sleep tonight, else tomorrow would be the same story as well.

Time to move!!

Dreams from the past

Just remembered few very old dreams. Faintly they are as below:

1) Theatre in the middle of Mahim creek. few ppl are walking thru the swamp, whereas there is a chopper service too. while watching a movie a train too passes by. buying snacks in the interval is

is very difficult.

2) waterfall low down and you have to walk through rocks which are like a broken road.

Everyone walking down to take a glimpse of the waterfall.

Underground tunnel like a subway at the plinth of the waterfall. I find my family and am searching for others. Riding a cycle in the subway at the plinth of the waterfall to reach home.

MGPT is no more...R.I.P

Felt sad to know that C-DAC has discontinued MGPT (Machine Graded Programming Test) from its PGDST courses.

Without MGPT there would be no challenge left in NCST (C-DAC).

I clearly remember my days when on the day of MGPT we used to discuss data structures and algorithms ....and how to crack it. How to translate real-life problems into programs.

Then there was the dreaded "Parikshak" ...upon submitting the program, we used to eagerly await till the last 'Y'...and in some boundary conditions only the last one used to be 'X'

I remember, I was so thrilled when I cleared my 2nd MGPT as if conquered the world.

MGPT was what separated NCST from the masses...the very mention of NCST to any knowledgeable person used to

lead the conversation to MGPT and how tough it was.

When I joined NCST, I didn't know what programming was all about. MGPT made a novice like me (I'm sure many more would agree) into a programmer.

Sad that the powers that be @C-DAC have deleted() it from the program but it would still remain in memory of those who attempted it and chosen few like yours truly who CLEARED it!!

MGPT ...R.I.P

Princess Zinia turns 2

Our little pricess, Zinia, turned 2 years old yesterday the 22nd of April 2010. It seems like just few months ago that we had celebrated her 1st birthday!!! Time just flies. It'll be not far when she'll be all grown up.

Since it was a weekday, we decided to host a party at our new 9th floor pad in Pearl Horizon. Buildup to Zinia's bithday was very interesting. Whenever we used to ask Zinia about who would she invite to her b'day party, pat would come the reply "Saif bhai"... Gosh Zinia is so fond her cousins especially "Saif bhai". Me and Lubina would then reassure her that "yes" baba we'll definitely call Saif bhai. Zinia's Phoopho (aunty) would be sooo enthralled to know that Zinia wants her first guest to be Saif bhai!!!

Lubina had office that day. On her way back from site she picked up return gifts for everyone. At the party evening, we had games to indulge one and all. Passing the parcel was dished out first. All got engrossed in the game and the clock struck 10:00 PM. Zinia then cut her custom made mixed fruit cake with glee.

Next we played dumb charade. It was men v/s women. The result was a tie!!

Everyone feasted on delicious biryani !!! Zinia's 2nd birthday was such a success!!

May Almighty bless our Princess Zinia!! We sure have been blessed with a princess!!

Novocaine for the soul

This is my first post using Chrome extension BlogThis! hmm sounds cool, just highlight some text on a web-page and click on BlogThis!, the entire selection gets posted on blogger.com.

Back with a blip

Hmm, I'm back ...almost unnoticed.

As in the past, I'm back only upon being triggered. What trigger, u may ask. Well a good friend'o'mine wrote a post about thinking out of the box. About being content with the tide and the mundane. He's correct in saying so.

Most of us, including me, fall in that 98% category who rely on tried and tested patterns. We are indeed scared of losing our secure environs that we get comfortable in. The cosiness makes us non-enterprising, so to speak. You tend to think, I am doing well in the current situation, be it work place, the route we take to travel to office, the brands we wear, etc etc, so why disturb the set pattern (monotony is thy second name) . and also there is the fear of failure!!! this brings to the fore another reason of us not being open to change... that is fear of failure. Its like "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush".
Lets break this pattern, lets explore and free our minds of the cob-webs, mind-blocks, resistance to change. Lets discuss and bring about this change that we long for but are scared of!!!

So heres inviting all to make this change happen.

P.S: I used to be one never wanting to follow the normal trends or the routine during my swimming days. I used to be the one to set the trends, to break the mould, to try something innovative. I must admit that I was reasonably successful at it. My sporting achievements are a testimony. I hope I can emulate myself from now on.