Prafulla Da...

I just can't believe that Prafulla Da is gone.....One of the nicest man I have known. His humility and generosity created such an aura that he often left us amazed. He was always calm and cheerful.Just the sight of him, brought smiles to everyone's faces. A man of few words with a magnanimous heart.....


A gem of a person, always helped others even strangers and I had never seen him have ill will towards anyone. I still remember the way he supported me, Ketan and others throughout our engineering days....those flash lessons and tricks.....PVR (His room) movies....Badminton doubles....Goal Keeping...network gaming...and above all the loveliest smile with hilarious Hindi one liners will always remain etched in my memories...

 A wonderful man....the world is not the same without you Dada.....

This was his last FB post and tells you everything about his spirit....."Enjoying life of patient in Max...sabko diwana bana de"

Love you Dada.......Rest in Peace......

Yuvi's 'The test of my life' strikes a chord

Just finished reading Yuvi's book, 'The test of my life' and my immediate compulsion to write about it should be attributed to the fact that I had received the copy this afternoon only and I have finished it almost on the trot. Its really compelling, may be love for cricket has role to play in it, but it is definitely more than that.

'Test of my life' is Yuvraj Singh's first book and its his personal account of his journey through cancer. It also reflects upon his personal life apart from cancer in a very succint and subtle way.

It is certainly not a bio graphy and also not one of those dark and despondent stories talking about the protagonist's plight and depression. It is a serious story but the Yuvraj way.

Yuvraj Singh is my favorite limited overs cricketer and for me he is one of those sportsmen who gives his best for the country everytime and after reading this tale of his, my faith in power of sports, humanity and God has accrued immensly. It is indeed an exceptional comeback and no matter what a few morons might have to say, YUVI deserves all the praise and so does each and every individual who stood by him.

Many so called 'Thinkers' suggested that it was no big deal for Yuvraj to fight cancer as he was a celebrity and the BCCI paid for the treatment. It was easy for Yuvraj Singh. Just wonder what kind of people are these freaks? To suggest that it would have been easy for a person to fight a disease which would have killed him in a few months had he not started with the treatment is absolutely devastating. Agreed that many needy people don't have access to good medical facilities, but that doesn't mean Yuvraj should have been left alone. He deserved everything that he got. Yuvi is a national hero, he has been man of the tournament in two world cups that India has won (U-19 WC and WC 2011) and was the best player according to many in the third one that India won. (T20 2007)

His battle and experience can turn out be an inspiration to many and maybe this awakening of his through his charity might make a difference in life of many common people who need access to better facilities. Wish the foundation success in its every endeavor.

Many pundits thought that Yuvi's comeback was emotional and too early but Yuvi came back with a bang.

I will never forget the six that he hit in Chennai of Daniel Vettori in his come back game. What a hit, many international players (And great pandits) can't do it even at full fitness forget about beating cancer and then doing it (And all that in a year's time).............YUVI rocks.....

 The sequences involving Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh are eye openers and makes you realize that these people are not mere cricketers. and they have a life beyond cricket......

A season defining(crushing) Red Card

This is from a Manchester United fan but certainly not from a Liverpool or a Chelsea hater. I love football and its ManU I love watching the most.

The start of the season in 2012 was incredible. The signing of RVP kick started a season full of expectations and also a season full of goals. Goals is what football is all about, in fact, Goals is what Life is all about. Riding on RVPs red hot scoring form, MU stormed their way in various competitions and by the end of Jan 2013 looked set for a double if not treble.


But the night of March 5, 2013 @ OLD TRAFFORD saw the BPL leaders crash out in a bizzare fashion. NANI was red carded in a flash when the Red Devils were on the top and a top team like Real Madrid pounced on the opportunity and sent MANU packing. To be honest, I was left dumbstruck after the red card and just can't imagine what the players might have gone through.

That  Red Card absolutely shattered the confidence of the team and since then MU haven't played with same intensity or drive. They couldn't close out a game against Chelsea after they were 2-0 up and also their PL outings have been quite banal.

Today they have been knocked out of the FA cup after another lacklusture performance and now they will have only a single trophy to show at the end of the season. What a sombre end to a season that started so delightfully. What an impactful send off was that.......

Still, kudos to Sir Alex and his team.

IPL 2013

The IPL juggernaut is about to begin and since the Indian cricket team has performed exceptionally well in the last series, there is a lot of expectation from the upcoming crickeTainment. There are many things to watch over the next couple of months but below are my Top 5 picks for this year's IPL:


1. Ricky Ponting leading Mumbai Indians: Before the IPL auction, no would have thought this in wildest of their dreams. Ricky Ponting leading a side which has Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. The MonkeyGate might have been burried with Andrew Symonds inclusion in MI side for previous IPLs but the grudge against Ponting is much more than that. From 2003 world cup Final slaying of Indian bowling to 'Claiming of grounded catches' in Sydney, Ricky Ponting  has always been there and it will be interesting to see how Mumbai crowd and the team react to the gamble taken  by the Ambanis.

2. The curious case of Virender Sehwag: Viru is one of the most audacious batsmen that the game has witnessed but he is equally nonchalant and carefree. Having being dropped from both, the ODI and the test team, this edition of IPL could be the make or break for Viru as it is hard to imagine Viru having the patience and the willingness to play the whole Indian domestic season with commitment and interest and then fight his way back into the Indian team. I think even might be betting on the IPL for his return to the Indian colours. Specs or no specs, Viru has to perform this time round.

3. The Politics: The Indian politics has no boundaries and logics. It is kind of universal and its usually the non culprit or lets the non involved party that pays the price. The exclusion of Sri Lankan cricketers from Chennai matches and the new demands of Mahastra to provide fund for the drought because the pitches and ground maitainenace uses water vidicates the point that sports is one of the favorite scapegoats of Indian Politics. These are certainly going to play a major role in influencing the results of certain IPL matches.

4.  New team(s) should make it to the knock outs: For the sake of competition and for the sake of geniune cricket fans, this IPL should not be about CSK, RCB, MI and DD. Some other team, maybe a PWI or Sunrisers Hyderabad should compete for the honors in the end.

5. Unearthing of a new cricket talent: IPL has always unearthed a hidden talent time and again. Be it a Shaun Marsh or a Shane Watson, the platform works in its cpacity to bring the fringe players into the fray. Lets see if this year we find someone....maybe...Unmukt Chand...


Your comments and views are welcome......

Sachin's incredible feat

I was willing to write a post on Rahul Dravid's retirement first but I just couldn't stop myself from writing about Sachin Tendulkar's mind boggling record of 100 international hundreds. The whole world specially the media had been waiting for it for a long time and finally the humungous feat has been achieved.

The magical moment was followed by a lot of criticism of Sachin and there were never ending talks of Sachin being a selfish player and that he should retire to give way to youngsters…..I must admit that the only thing that comes to mind is BULLSH!T

Here is a man who has been a great ambassador for the game and the country for two decades….a man who single handedly carried the Indian team through out the 90s……..a man who has been a fabulous player in all the world cups that India has done well in……..a man who has been a role model for people all over the world…...a man who has had his feet, elbow, shoulder and fingers operated……And above all a man who has shouldered the hopes of a billion people for two decades……and instead of bestowing him with best of the honors we are criticizing one of the most humble and exceptional sportsman the world has ever seen…its disheartening and disrespectful.

Sachin's achievements are unparalleled and no one can take those away from him. He has been an inspiration to people from various domains and not just cricket and for the kinds of things that he has done for India, no gesture of appreciation is enough. He is the best person to decide about his future and all this talk of him blocking a youngster is rubbish because he has been India's most prolific scorer over the past three years..check this out….and World Cup 2015 is a long way away at the moment and the major concern with Indian cricket is to find right pool of bowlers…even Bangladesh smashed us all over the park…..

Why can't we just enjoy this amazing achievement by a fellow Indian? This is not about 100th hundred its about 100 hundreds….a journey of 22+ years…..

Hats off to Sachin…..The most complete cricketer the world has seen….

What you need to get started with iOS development

iOS is one of the leading and arguably the most advanced mobile platform in the world. Apple has invested a lot in it and continues to reap benefits out of it.

When Apple first opened the gates for the developers, it just took off. And after these many years, Apple can certainly boast of a bulging and ever accruing app store.

So how does one get started to be part of this Apple juggernaut ? 

Well, if you have decided to get on with iOS development for iPhone/iPod/iPad apps, you should be ready to spend some cash just to write a cool Hello World app !  as most of the things from Apple are proprietary and there are no freebies.

So here is what all you need:

1. Mac OS and intel based PC : Many would say that there are ways to develop iOS apps on windows machine but I won't suggest you to do that because the whole process is really painstaking and there are chances that you might not achieve what you had thought of at the outset. 

The development IDE and all the softwares needed for the development and the testing require an intel based mac machine and there is no running away from this fact. So rather than writing code on some windows machine using a sdk like DragonFly and then uploading the code to get the build, its better to get your hands on an intel based Mac machine. You can buy a macbook or a mac computer depending on your budget and plans. The Mac Mini starts from $699.

If budget is really a constraint, you can opt for refurbished machines available on the mac store or find a second hand machine from eBay. This can certainly bring down the cost.

2. Apple iOS Developer Program : To get access to the tools and also to code, test and deploy your apps to the app store you would need to register for Apple's iOS developer program which costs you $99 a year. Once you are a registered with the program, you can download the latest iOS sdk required to develop iOS apps for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The IDE provided by Apple is Xcode. One can download the sdk with Xcode only so you should be ready to download around 5 GB of data before even getting started.

The documentation from Apple is good to start with and there are plethora of tutorials available on the web.

3. iOS device : Although, Xcode comes with all the simulators, you would need to test the app on real devices before submitting it to the app store. The device needed depends on the  type of the application being developed and thus you would need to have access to an iPhone or an iPod Touch or an iPad or all three of them. 

The developer program allows you to perform ad hoc testing on selected devices ( Max 100) to understand how the application performs in a real environment.

Once you are done with your testing and satisfied with the results, you can submit the app to the app store for approval and if everything goes right, your app would be up and running on the Apple app store.

That's it. I hope this throws some light on getting started with iOS development.

Please do leave a comment if you see a wrong piece of information or if you feel that I have missed out on something crucial.

Happy coding !

A twitchy dilemma

A ten year old boy serves tea on all floors of our office building. He works all day and gets paid Rs 2000 per month for  his efforts. Today we talked to him at length only to find out that he doesn't want to work (which is quite natural considering his tender age). He has a brother (younger or elder I don't know) and his parents in his family.

The boy has joined a new school now which would engage him from 12 - 5 P.M. everyday and would continue with his job from 5 P.M - 11 P.M.

We asked him to quit his job and concentrate on his studies and playing. We agreed to help him out by giving him his salary amount as well without having to work. This would help him to take care of his expenses and also would keep him away from the work which he doesn't like.

I somehow could not convince myself that this was the right way to go about it. I have a feeling  that his move of ours might jolt his personal life and his relationship with his parents, brother and everyone associated to him. This philanthropy of ours might help him to get free time but would it necessarily be a good change in his life? We debated over this at length at our office and couldn't reach a conclusion.

Now I sought opinion of all the readers for a deeper analysis of this problem and the possible solutions. May be you can suggest a better way of going about this or even not going about this.

What all can be done?