Ah, finally...a win!

India win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup by beating Pakistan in a close match!! This would be India's first win in a major tournament since the ODI World Cup final back in 1983.


A jubilant Indian team.


Indian skipper MS Dhoni celebrates after the dismissal of the last Pakistani wicket (of Misbah-ul-Haq) on Monday. India won the Twenty20 World Cup by 5 runs.


The flags of both teams are paraded by the "boundary edge dancers" before the start of play. I thought that the dancing was a lame version of cheerleading although you have got to admit that the Indian "dancers" do appear much easier on the eye than the Pakistani "dancers" :)

Good morning!

Song: Althota Boopathi
Album: Youth
Language: Tamil

Message in a bottle?

So I am pretty sure that I have plenty of algae growth in the water bottle I use at the office. So far I've had two of my colleagues ask me, "But...why is it green?", with a frankly baffled look on their faces (it was kind of cute...the way one of the ladies asked that question).

Le bouteille.

Anyway...

Personally I have not had any problems drinking from this bottle for close to 2 years now. I've instinctively seen the algae growth more as a safety sign than anything else...until the second colleague posed the afore-mentioned question this morning. Now I am wondering if I should be worried. The research I've done on this so far indicates that, as long as I feel good and can perform well, I should be fine with algae in my bottle. Other sources warn that one should always keep water containers clean with this cleaning method or that because of the dangers posed by toxic algae.

The problem with living in the "modern" age is that sometimes one has too much information to process (sigh).

So money does have a color

The BBC has an article today entitled Swiss citizenship system 'racist'. According to the article, those communities, where applicants for citizenship reside in, are the ones responsible for voting as to whether those applicants can become citizens.

Here is an extract from the article:

"Switzerland's Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination, recommends far-reaching changes.
...
...
It criticises the practice of allowing members of a community to vote on an individual's citizenship application.
...
...
Muslims and people from the Balkans and Africa are the most likely to be rejected, the report points out."


I like the Swiss...well, at least Roger Federer.

When I go to Switzerland I expect to see Roger Federer and the alps. When I go to India, I expect to see...cows on the road and homo sapien families of 24. So I wouldn't want a Swiss or anyone else to easily become a citizen of India either. India has a specific identity and just letting in anyone might affect that. I mean it just won't be India anymore. Hmmm...wait a minute! On second thoughts maybe it doesn't matter. Even if you transplant all of Switzerland's 7.4 million citizens amongst India's 1 billion, I have a feeling India will somehow retain her identity. Still I can see why the Swiss, living in such a small state, feel the way they do about their identity.

Anyway, there can only be one United States...

Original article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6992670.stm

The Millionaire Next Door (A brief book review)

I mostly read non-fiction these days. Usually I stick to travelogues and historical accounts that generally are about the North Atlantic and, well, History. This year I made a point of starting to read business books.

"The Millionaire Next Door" isn't a book on business. It provides outstanding insight into how one should manage his or her personal finances through frugal spending. The authors aren't talking about investing in stocks. That is not the intention of the book. The key here is the word frugal. We live in a "high consumption" society and the temptation to spend on unnecessary items is way too high.

Using ample evidence (real life cases and consulting with millionaires), the authors drive home the point that a high income earner will not necessarily become a millionaire...and that guy driving the gleaming new Ferrari may not have enough to retire comfortably. Some of what the authors say may seem repetitive but their message works. They talk about everything from spoiled rich kids who have never managed to escape the influence of their parents to the tactics employed by those wealthy people when shopping for used cars.

My own spending habits (since I've finished reading the book) 3 months ago have changed considerably...for the better, I am sure. Because of its easy to understand format (the authors use plain English and no math), this book would make an interesting enough read for teenagers about to finish high school.

The Millionaire Next Door (Paperback) by Thomas J. Stanley (Author), William D. Danko (Author).

Pardon my cynicism again but...

There are regulations as to what one can wear to work in government offices in India. Perfectly normal. What are workers but wayward bees without regulations?

It is also equally normal for some Hindu men to wear a tilak or a red dot on their foreheads. Apparently one man has come under fire (well, almost) for wearing a tilak to his office as that is against regulations in that agency. He is protesting in terms of religious right and the fact that he has been wearing the til for the past 30 years.

The full article is here.

What caught my attention was the following statement he made:

"It has religious sentiment for me and if somebody goes on harassing me on this pretext I'll have no option but to commit suicide."

I say harass the motherf*cker! India does not need people with that attitude...especially since I am not there anymore.

Having said that, I have to say that the regulation to disallow people from wearing the til is a stupid one. It is not practical to enforce in a country of a billion people (most of whom stick to tradition with the resilience of a mouse's asshair) and would be a waste of management's time.

Pardon my cynicism but...

People go missing all the time. So why are this couple suddenly receiving the attention of the "world's media"?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6983007.stm

"...the couple were granted a brief audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome..."

Bah!

Anyone know how many people have been killed in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood in the last six months? Check out the stats here.

We were a-singin'

So I took last week off from the office. Hung out mostly around Revere beach, my roofdeck and the public pool across from my apartment building in the North End. But I did go to Singing beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea a couple of times including once on Thursday with David. Although the weather was beautiful both times, the water was cold!





Notable events included a seagull pinching a small bag of chips from under my nose while David was away in the water.