Man's best friend

This is one heck of a cute photograph!

Myopic view of cool, photo

European GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Alonso. I don't know if he deserved this win, but in the rain he was really quick. This is not just the last 2 laps but the first part as well.
2. Massa. Probably disappointed with the result. He should have won this. In hindsight, 8 points is not bad.
3. Webbo, DC and RBR. Amazing result for them! Kudos...

Losers

1. Kimi. I'm not sure what is it about Kimi and 'Ring. He just cannot win! This time, he didn't make it easy on himself. If he had not made the silly mistake entering the pits, Massa would have had to wait behind him. True, he didn't finish due to a mechanical problem, but atleast he wouldn't have come away looking a bit foolish.
2. Hamilton. I think he reminded everyone that he is actually a rookie this time around. Choosing the wrong tyre was a classic mistake. If he had been a little prudent, he would have been able to come away with a point or two. However, its amazing how he kept his wits around him when he ran into the gravel and was able to keep the engine running.
3. Barrichello. I'm making a point here. When he was at Ferrari, he and MS were nearly invincible in the Rain. MS has always been better than the rest in the rain, but RB also had a reputation of being able to "fly" in the rain. He did neither in this race. JB got upto 4th at one point! Where was RB?
4. Toyotas. Cologne is supposed to be just 50 kms away. Enough said.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, european, gp, winners, losers

2007 British GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Kimi. The way he hustled Hamilton in the first stint and blew past Alonso in the third was just amazing.
   
2. Alonso. He did the best he could, but the tyre strategy was surely wrong. If he had gone in with Soft Tyres in the third stint, he would not have lost over 6 seconds to Kimi on fresh tyres. He would have lost time, but it would have made Kimi's outlap very interesting. End of the day, this is what we expected - a Kimi Vs. Alonso battle. This time Kimi came on top
3. Kubica. Cool drive! Not only did he outqualify and finish higher than Quick Nick, he managed to hold back Massa for 14 laps in the end. That's really cool.
4. Honda. For once, they got it right (well... sort of) and got both cars in the top 10.

Losers

1. Webber. Well... I'm not sure what's the problem. Is it Red Bull's lack of reliability or is he just a bad luck magnet.
2. Williams. Really a poor result and that too in their home GP.
3. Toyota. I wasn't sure whether to put them here or in the Winners list. They did astonishingly well in qualifying but screwed it up completely in the race. So... Its the Loser's list.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, British, GP, Winners, Losers

Spaghetti in Tomato Basil sauce

I can make a mean Spaghetti in a Tomato Basil sauce!! Here's my recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 4 Tomatoes
2. Spaghetti sticks (or whatever they are called)
3. A little Basil (Tulsi)
   
4. A few cloves of garlic
5. Olive Oil
6. A little Mozzarella Cheese
   
7. A dash of Thyme
8. A dash of Parsley powder
   
9. A dash of freshly ground pepper
   
10. Salt to taste

Now on to the recipe

1. Take a pot of water and put about 1 teaspoon of salt in it. Put the spaghetti sticks in and cook over a light flame.
2. As the same time, take a large saucepan and pour some olive oil in it.
3. Heat the oil till it starts to get hot. Put finely chopped garlic into the olive oil and saute.
4. Throw in the Thyme, Parsley Powder and some of the finely chopped basil and continue to saute.
   
5. While the garlic is being sauted, cut 3 tomatoes into quarters. Put the tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic and rest of the Basil into a blender (a.k.a mixie) and make a fine puree.
6. By now the garlic would have started to go golden brown. Pour the puree into the saucepan.
7. Cut the remaining tomato into quarters and put it into the saucepan.
8. Keep the lid open and continue to cook the sauce.
9. At the same time keep checking on the spaghetti. Push down the sticks into the water and keep cooking until they soften.
10. Both the sauce and spaghetti take about 15-20 minutes to cook. The sauce will reduce from a watery puree to a thick red sauce.
11. Slice up a bit of the Mozzarella cheese into small cubes and put them into the sauce.
12. Stir the sauce to melt the cheese.
    
13. Drain the spaghetti from the water using a sieve.
14. Once the cheese has melted into the sauce put the spaghetti into the sauce and mix well.
15. Serve immediately!

Full Veg. All ingredients available in Bangalore, including the cheese, herbs and spaghetti. Since I don't cook meat at home, I have no clue on how to add meatballs to it.

Mama Mia!

Myopic view of cool, italian, spaghetti, recipe

F1 French GP 2007 Winners Losers

Winners

1. KR. He needed to win and he did. According to Massa KR was luckier with the backmarkers. I'm not sure about that. The last pitstop times for Massa and KR were 8 odd seconds vs. 7 odd seconds. When KR came out of the pits he was just ahead of Massa. So....
2. Ferrari. Big win after the American leg. Ferrari were eating McLaren dust in Montreal and Indy, here it was the other way around
3. Button. Wow! For once, I have something good to say about a Honda. Good to see him in the points
4. Fisi. Good result for Renault. Plus he managed to hold back Alonso.
5. BMW. Cool Strategy. Alonso and Hamilton may have overtook the BMWs on the track but they got one back by beating Alonso in the pits.

Losers

1. Alonso. Lost out big here. Its not how many points he gets that is important but how many he gets in relation of Hamilton that's of concern. Hamilton gained 4 points on Alonso here and now leads the WDC by 14 points. Plus he has 17 points over Massa and 22 points over Kimi.  That means if he loses 2 points to Massa every race from here,  Massa would just edge him by 1 point. Plus Kimi has to make sure that he beats Hamilton by 2 places every now and then. Alonso has is slightly easier, but he still needs to beat Hamilton in almost every race from here on.
2. RBR. Where were they this race?
   
3. Sato. After the highs in Montreal this was possibly his worst result
4. Rosberg. Bad luck to finish just out of the points.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, french, gp, winners, losers

2007 US GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Hamilton. Boy! This season is going to be good.
   
   
2. Alonso. He did try everything he could but couldn't get by. Nevertheless, the only difference between 1st and 2nd was qualifying on Sat. Alonso had more fuel and he qualified 2nd. That made all the difference.
3. KR. Some speed at all. It was an interesting strategy by him to go out on the hard compound tyres first up, but he really pulled it in after the second round of pitstops on the softer tyre. Had he managed to be a little closer to Massa in the first stint, we could have have seen him in third.
4. Massa. On the whole a good race.
5. Trulli. Great finish. Considering that Trulli is known for qualifying well and then driving backwards in the race, this result must be a confidence booster.
   
   

Losers

1. Ralf. I don't know if I should say it, but this looks like his last season in F1.
2. Hondas. Always on this list.
   
   

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, US, GP, Winners, Losers

Is Hamilton the next big thing?

Doctorvee has a great post on the Hamilton, Alonso and McLaren.



There's no doubt that the hype surrounding Hamilton is just that - Hype, but I'm not going to be betting against him. In my mind, based on current form, the two contenders to the title are Alonso and Hamilton. What makes it exciting is that they both race for the same team and have access to the same machinery.



1. Hamilton is a rookie. This really is his first year, and for a rookie to be leading the WDC its really amazing.

2. Hamilton's results have been really impressive. We cannot compare his results with Alonso's, Kimi's, or even Senna's for the simple reason that none of them ever got a chance with the best car on the grid in their very first season.

3. Alonso is super talented and a Double World Champion. Its foolish to write of Alonso. He won his championships with Schumacher still racing and that's amazing. Plus, it was on a competitive Ferrari.

4. Ferrari also have a great car, and he has managed to be on the podium 6 races out of 6 this year.



Another interesting thing to note is that only guys who managed to come into a team and assert themselves immediately were Senna and Schumacher. Senna won the world championship in his first year for McLaren. Schumacher did not win the world championship in his first year at Ferrari, but he had 3 amazing wins. However, unlike Schumacher, Senna has Prost as his teammate. Schumacher came to Ferrari as the undisputed No 1 with no team mate entrenched in the team. Senna came to McLaren when Prost had already won 2 championships for McLaren.



So, when we look at Kimi and Alonso in their new teams, its not surprising that they are taking their time to get the best of out of their new cars. If Alonso had still been in Renault, there's no doubt he would have done better than Fisi. Last year Alonso had more that double the points that Fisi had after 6 races (54 to 24). Assuming that the same trend would have continued, Alonso would have had atleast 26 points after 6 races this season in Renault. That would have tied him with Heidfeld on points and possibly 3rd or 4th in the championship.



All in all, Hamilton is good, but I feel he needs time to prove himself. Alonso and Kimi have had poor seasons so far, but not without reason. All this makes it an exciting season to watch.



Myopic view of f1, formula, alonso, hamilton, mclaren

2007 Canadian GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Lewis. First Win and he can only get better. At first I was not sure if he was just plain lucky or whether Alonso was taking his time to settle in at McLaren. Today's result showed that it is both these things plus real ability. Before the season began, it looked like a Kimi vs. Alonso season, but Lewis has put both of them in the shade. Cool!
2. Sato. He's the man. Overtook a McLaren, a Ferrari!
   
   
3. Heidfeld. The only other guy to have been unaffected by the Safety Cars. Great result
4. Wurz. Nice to see him on the podium.

Losers

1. Alonso. Lost out badly due to the Safety Car rule. I actually think the rule is a bit weird. If a car has run out of fuel, there's no way the driver will avoid pitting. But that's not where Alonso lost it. Its turn 1 that was the problem. However, he was really flying in the 2nd stint, and could have made up quite a few place had the extra safety car periods not come alone.
2. Kimi. 5th is really not acceptable, but he lost it when he had queue up behind Massa in the pits. That cost him atleast a few seconds and boom the rest of the race was ruinned.
3. Massa and Fisi. Considering that Kubica was patiently waiting at the end of the pitlane for the lights to go green, these guys were crazy. They just drove past him and earned themselves black flags. Weird!
4. Usual Honda. Yada yada yada.
   
   

Lucky to be Alive

1. Kubica. This has to be one of the biggest crashes I have seen in the last few years. It looks like he has only a sprained ankle and that's just amazing. He crashing at 180Mph and has just a sprained ankle? Jesus!

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, canada, gp, winners, losers

Thundering down the road

Had an interesting "race" with a Thunderbird today. He was really tearing up the road (a.k.a ripping) and I was on a 15 year old kinetic. Yet bangalore traffic is so bad that me and the kinetic with a top speed of 50 could easily keep up with a 350cc godzilla.



BWAHAHAHAHAHA!



Myopic view of bangalore, traffic

Hosur Road

Thankfully,  I don't work in Electronics City. It's not the place that's the problem but the connectivity between EC and Bangalore - Hosur Road. I do travel to EC once a week on work, but I avoid Hosur Road like the plague. Its the new NICE road that I take and it's really a timesaver. Except for a short bit, the road is complete.



For the rest of you, who do have to take Hosur Road, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA (evil laugh!). But hey, atleast we can make jokes about the commute right?



Myopic view of funny

Hmm?

link



Myopic view of funny

Dressing for Dinner

I just got back from having dinner at this nice little Italian place called Fiorano. The food was excellent, but there was something that struck me as unappetizing. There was this young family sitting at a table next to us. The mother was fairly well dressed and so was the little boy, but the father was wearing a faded, dull grey T-Shirt and Jeans that looked like he had just gotten out of bed. Now, this Italian place is an upmarket place (the food is really good), and so its unlikely that the man would have been too poor to buy some decent clothes.

A large family dropped into the restaurant as we were mid way through our meal. There too I found something really unusual. The women were well dressed, but the men were not. There were a couple of boys, probably around 9-12, who were dressed in dirty T-shirts and Jeans.

This got me thinking. Are we as a society, poor dressers? I had the opportunity to go to two separate weddings in rural Karnataka a couple of months back. In both places, I remember the men being really shabbily dressed. Most of them were in the worst possible cotton sarong's (aka Panchay) with the dirtiest towels drapped over their right shoulders. But as expected, most of the women were wearing their best silk saris!

The trend doesn't end with Rural Weddings. In almost every single wedding in Bangalore that I have been to, the male friends and collegues of the bride/groom have always turned in the worst possible clothes. In fact, its a given thing that only the groom, the fathers, the brothers and possibly an uncle or too, will be well dressed.

Take a quick look at our politicians. Kurtas for the men may be the norm, but the sight of shaded and dull kurtas is just sickening. Yet, I am yet to spot a lady politician wear anything other than the choicest saris and with hair never out of place. I remember a story on NDTV where the camera follows various netas hot on the campaign trail. There was this one story where the camera followed Sushma Swaraj. When asked, what is the toughest part of the roadtrip, she said, it is the lack of time to attend to her sartorial needs!

I'm often berated by Eva for dressing badly when we go out, but there's hardly ever an occasion where she has dressed badly when we have gone out. In fact, even if it is to my grandmom's (or her granny's) place, she dresses up a bit more than I do. At dinner tonight, I was wearing a pair of Jeans (a newish one :-)), but had a "good" shirt on. I don't think I was under dressed.

Our women dress up well, but we men don't. So, I don't think we are poor dressers as a society. Its just that our men are slobs! Its also not that the concept of dressing well when going out is alien to our society. Women do it all the time, but men just don't seem to care. I think this is why dress code that some companies impose makes sense. We really need to be told to dress appropriately.

Its time we improved our sense of clothes and paid attention to ourselves. While the proverb, never judge a book by its cover, may be true, Clothes Make the Man.

Myopic view of culture

Ambulances and Traffic Jams

I saw something interesting on the way to work today. Ejipura Junction on the Koramangala-Indiranagar Link Road is always a mess. Getting pass the traffic lights takes up atleast 10 minutes.



I was on my bike (rather it was Eva's :-), and I was waiting for the signal towards Indiranagar to turn green. The opposite side had just turned red when an ambulance arrived from Indiranagar. This being Eijipura, the ambulance was stuck behind atleast 10-20 cars. Just when I thought that the ambulance will now have to wait for a couple of minutes (unfortunately), something astonishing happened. The traffic cop at the junction, quickly turned off the traffic lights, and let the Indiranagar traffic to continue to Koramanagala.



The ambulance passed within a minute and hopefully the time saved was enough to save the life of the person inside.



Bangalore does not have advanced traffic control systems to prioritize ambulances and other emergency vehicles. I have seen a number of ambulances stuck at traffic lights or behind slow moving traffic. The cop really showed some good old fashioned common sense and did his job beautifully.



Good to see some humanity in the city and that the Bangalore of old (with its quintessential charm, hospitable people and charming manners) is still lurking under the "swalpa-adjust-maddi" attitude that overpowers the city today.



Myopic view of bangalore

Tyre Puncture Rum Pum

I went to see a movie at PVR today - Ta Ra Rum Pum. Both Eva and I agreed that the movie sucked! After seeing the movie, I'm confused about what the movie was about.



Was it a racing movie? If so, it does not even demonstrate the basics of racing. The racing scenes were contrived and were totally B.S. Firstly, except for demolition derby or the wacky races, there is no way one can "take out" a competitor by just raming into him. Secondly, stock racing cars don't go about overtaking other cars as if they are standing still. Thirdly, being in the pit crew is really a tough job not the namby pampy stuff shown. A good racing movie focuses on real racing, for the excitment in that is pretty much unmatched in any other sport.



Was it a movie about revenge? Nope. The "villians" were pretty ordinary, almost cartoonish, and one could hardly connect with them. Plus the revenge part of it lasted about 20 seconds.



Was it a movie about a daughter defying here father and choose her beau? That part of the movie was just rubbish. The subplot about Rani and her father was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the movie. Just one small subplot about a dad preaching "I told you so" and a daughter fighting back tears and upholding her husband's honour. Give me a break...



Was it about encouraging people to save for the future? Perhaps, but it was quite clear. The movie starts off with a girl's voice extolling the happy-go-lucky attitude that her father has, but it does quite end that way.



Towards the end, I got the impression that it was possibly a kids' movie. There's even a song and dance with animated bears (poorly drawn and with wooden expressions). God! If this was a kids' movie then it was pathetic. Kids' movies are so much better. This was just rubbish.



Overall, the actors looked tired. Javed Jaffery was unfunny, Rani was distracted and Saif was just puppy eyed.

If not anything, Bollywood movies make up for pathetic stories and huge plot holes with excellent music, great cinematography. Unfortunately, other than the title song, the rest of the songs are hardly upto scratch, and the camera work was professional but not memorable. I want my money back!!!



Myopic view of movie, review

Is it really over and done with?

I think the only way the Aussies can loose a World Cup Match is if they play the World Cup in Australia. The "host's jinx" has prevented the West Indies from even reaching the Semi's and it was business as usual with Australia winning the World Cup.

I was the only one backing the Australian team at work. From day India got kicked out, most people were supporting Sri Lanka, South Africa or New Zealand. In the end it was interesting that RSA, SL, NZ and AUS were the four semi finalists.

A lot of people were hoping for either a SA vs. NZ or a SA vs. SL final. If that had been the case then it would have been a real shock. Since the last 5 world cups a South Asian team has always made the Final, and in the last 4 world cups, Aus has reached the Finals. I think this is a sign of times. Cricket is really strong in Aus, South Asia, and South Africa. RSA has never performed to their potential and that's why its not such a surprise to see a Aus vs. SL final.

I really love the way Gilchrist plays his cricket, far more than anyone else in the Aus team. He comes across a guy who plays cricket in the right spirit. I remember a couple of instances, where he has "walked" before the Umpire ruled him out. Combine that with his batting and his safe hands behind the wicket, he surely must be counted as one of the best all-rounders of all time. I saw his entire 149 in the Final. Breathtaking!

In the end, Aus are deserving winners and I'm happy that I backed the right team :-)

Myopic view of cricket

Where is it?

I read this post about a restaurant called Potluck Cafe and decided to go there for lunch. Since the blog said that it was on Bannerughatta road it made it all the more easy. I had planned to go to Electronics City today (on work) and decide to sample the food at this place. What made it really attractive was the supposed price (15-20 bucks for some Dal) and its quality.

Since the blog didn't mention where it's located, I tried to google it. All the results talked of a different place where, I don't think we can get even water for 15-20 bucks :-)

Update: New post with directions! Maybe I'll try it soon

Myopic view of food, bangalore

April Showers

Thank God, its raining!

April Showers are really amazing. The extreme heat of the day, followed by a sudden downpour. Aha!

More than me, my collection of potted plants are happy!

Moving away from the Lillies to Jasmine. Well, I'm cheating a bit here. The Jasmine grows on the fence, and so, its really not part of my collection. Nevertheless a great couple of pics taken by Eva.

We have put some plants in a corner. Its really come out well.

and finally some more closeups

Myopic view of cool, garden

Guide to identifying F1 fans

Linksheaven has a funny list on how to identify different f1 fans. Going by the Ferrari and McLaren fans I know, the description is pretty accurate!



Myopic view of f1, formula1, funny

Bahrain 2007 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Massa. After the Malaysian disaster, to come and win is really nice. Did everything right this weekend. Pole to Victory
2. Hamilton. He's getting stronger each race. It will be interesting to see what he does in Spain, considering that Alonso would be desperate to win there.
3. Heidfeld. Great move on Alonso! He then held on for a good finish - fourth
4. DC, Webber and RBR. They were faster than the rest for quite a while. Considering that DC started from the back of the grid, it was really good. Too bad they couldn't finish. DC hasn't finish a race yet this season!
   
   

Losers

1. Alonso. He really lost out here. Not only did he struggle to keep up with Hamilton, once Kimi got past after the pitstops, he couldn't hold on against Heidfeld.
   
   
2. Ralf. Considering that Trulli got home 2 points, held off Fisi in the end, you would expect Ralf to have been close by. He was nowhere near. Did he even finish? 17th?

Myopic view of f1, formula1, bahrain, 2007, gp, winners, losers

More on Ads

Continuing on a bit more on ads.. I just saw a new ad by Pepsi on TV.



Their last ad had about half the cricket team in it and it was a bit ironic to watch considering that the Indian Team did pretty badly. What made it worse was its catchphrase - "If you do, you win" (loosely translated from Hindi). What made it even worse was the morphing of some of the players scowling to a Tiger Roaring. LOL!!!



From there to the latest ad, is the real change. Going with the latest mantra (ala Greg Chappell) that the team needs younger players, this ad talks about 14 year olds dreaming about winning the world cup next time round.



Time will tell.



Myopic view of cricket, pepsi