I'm Sorry, Mr. S.R.K. but that was a Cheap Publicity Stunt!

16th Aug,2009, 8am:A normal,socially aware Indian is in a holiday mood(thanks to the pleasant coincidence of Independence day preceded by Janmashtmi Holiday and succeeded by a Sunday). Sitting in his living room, he takes out the rubber band from the newspaper and unrolls it, only to be encountered by these headlines.





What would your reaction be? The natural answers would be anger, disgust, pain, patriotism, revenge and their synonyms but the most important one would be "Sympathy", wouldn't it? If you've read till this point I request you to go ahead and read the ENTIRE post because I have some evidence of backing up my views.

So, SRK, in his own words, was "frisked" at the Newark airport. I'm sure he meant it as a verb and the dictionary meaning for "frisk" as a verb goes like this:"the act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs". So, first of all, there's no big deal in anyone being "frisked" at an airport. We all are "frisked" before entering multiplexes, malls, Metro trains and, of course, airports,right? SRK has repeateadly alleged that it wasn't a normal "security check" but it was frisking. I'm not sure of his vocabulary level but my limited knowledge of it tells me that the security personnel are being paid to frisk passengers, aren't they? After all, they have to ensure that no one is carrying weapons or drugs with him.

Secondly, Mr. SRK alleges that the checking took more time than normal and the personnel deliberately made him wait for two hours. The reason for this was mentioned very briefly in one of the newspapers but most of them just carried SRK's side and they never bothered to get the entire picture. Now that the incident seems to have been forgotton by the media, I decided to do some research on the facts and here is what I came up with.

The real picture:

Mr. Shah Rukh Khan was detained at the airport because his baggage had not arrived due to the airline's fault. Hence, he was made to wait until it arrived and was checked. I read it somewhere that the airport officials have claimed that the period of detention was exactly 66 minutes. However, I'm not sure of that so let us assume that it was 2 hours, as came out in the papers. Can someone please tell me where the airport officials went wrong if they detained a person for 2 hours because of the fault of the airline? Obviously, they could not have let him walk away without the baggage and then check it later. The other point of contention is regarding the popularity of the icon. I would excuse a security officer in Newark in the U.S. if he doesn't recognize a person who is such an icon back in India (just like people in Holland didn't recognize Sachin Tendulkar on the streets when he went there for a 3 match series)and frankly, even if he did, he would still have gone through the entire security procedure. Hence, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Airport security for International flights is a major issue and sometimes we will have incidents such as frisking of former President APJ Abdul Kalam(more due to the negligence of government in pre-informing the alirline) or an SRK.

It is unjust for anyone to pass judgement on an entire community and the fact that 9/11 has really changed the way Muslims are being treated around the world is really sad. In an ideal world, it should not happen and everyone should be treated equally. The sad part is that suspects of all the major terrorists activities around the world, be it serial blasts in Delhi, in London, in Madrid or the 9/11 itself belong to the same community and that is the conundrum. This is one incident in the U.S. but it does happen day in and day out to the common Muslim here in India as well. And clearly, it'll never happen to SRK here coz everybody knows him. So, before blaming the U.S. we have to set our houses in order. That said, the best we can do is to cooperate with security people all around. There's nothing to fear when we are right and when we demand a terrorism free world, the least we can do is to cooperate with the security agencies around the world rather than crib and complain.

And, Mr. SRK wants to frisk Angelina Jolie when she comes to India.... its fine if he was joking but there won't be many who would see it purely as a joke and the message conveyed looks more like targeting people from the U.S. in return,which is not the best way to respond.

Out of this entire incident, SRK has managed to cash in on the patriotic mood of the nation in promoting his upcoming movie,which is based on the same topic(I don't even want to name it). No matter how much he keeps on saying the now-familiar pharases such as "I don't need publicity", "I don't need these things to promote my movie",etc, fact of the matter is that publicity always helps and there's no limit to it. How can we forget that this is the same actor who would go to T20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa wearing a black shirt engraved with "Om Shanti Om" in golden colours prior to release of his movie? He would keep taking on an Amitabh Bachchan at an award ceremony or make comments on Amar Singh, Salman Khan and anyone else for that matter.

SRK no longer the icon he used to be for me:I grew up watching and liking SRK movies and I've always been his fan. However, such acts from him in the recent past has maligned his image and I now see him as a conceited, arrogant egotist. Success has got to his head and one such incident was prior to the IPL when Sunil Gavaskar criticised the Kolkata Knight Riders' "multiple captaincy theory". SRK pitched in for his coach(which was justified) by saying that I would stand by the decision of Mr. Buchanan(again, hats off to you for showing faith in your coach prior to such an important tournament) and those who disagree with it can buy their own franchisees and implement their ideas on them(perfectly unjust). Probably he tried to show that he has got the money to buy a franchisee and Mr. Gavaskar hasn't. For your information, sir, the day Sunil Gavaskar wants to buy an IPL Franchisee he won't run short of financers. Why does he forget that his domain is movies and he should not interfere so vociferously in subjects out of that domain. And taking on someone of the stature of Gavaskar was really uncalled for. Lately, he has been projecting himself as the "good face" of Islam, which is again, a creditable act because not many people have had the time and guts to do that. Aamir Khan hasn't done badly at all in this industry and the reason I value the person so much is for the way in which he does his work and raises his voice when he needs to(The Narmada cause). I loved it when he had a banter at SRK regarding the name of his dog in his blog. May be it was undignified but when we talk of SRK, we no longer need to be dignified. This country has got its hands full of crisis at present and we don't need gimmicks like these from our revered stars to distract us, do we??

Driving Woes in Delhi

Driving a car has been one of my less ambitious and more practical childhood dreams (few others being flying the MIGs and SUKHOIs and taking on the Taliban on my own, bombarding the terrorist camps in Pakistan, captaining the Indian Cricket Team to a World Cup win, winning a Grand Master title in Chess, becoming a multi trillionaire.... ok ok.. billionaire and taking jibes at that school time crush of mine for turning me down........ let's come back to the original topic!). It got realised rather smoothly, as last summer I learnt the art and managed to negotiate my way to a permanent Driving License without any fuss, thanks to my father's contacts. A broken number plate, two scratches, 12 months and about 1500 kms later, I can say that I'm about as close to being a perfect driver as a normal person who doesn't harbour dreams of taking up driving as a profession can get. The saying that one is never happy with what he has been proved true for the zillionth time, as I don't want to pursue my "dream" any more, unless I'm being pursued by an elder and more powerful family member(which unfortunately all of them are) to pursue it! Obviously, there are reasons to it and this post is intended to uncover them to my non existent readers.

Negligent pedestrians: This breed can easily be found here, especially on comparatively cramped roads(which are at least 16 feet wide anyway!). The idea of sharing the road with anyone else doesn't amuse them one bit. No matter how loud, continuous and irritating the horn gets, these runts continue the stroll in their backyards. I met one such person about 7 hours ago, while on my way to the Sarojini Nagar market and that is when the idea for this post originated(at least the person did something constructive). My honkings fell on deaf ears, as he and his friend were walking side by side, arms on each others' shoulders, probably celebrating the legality of homosexuality when he was struck by the bonnet of a Santro(deliberately slowed down to 20-30 kmph) right behind his kneecaps and he barely managed to avoid falling on the ground. He tried to give me an "Angry young man" stare but before he could put up a look to back up that stare, I was shouting at him, questioning the existence of his ear-drums, fully aware that we were in "my area" and there would be shopkeepers to help me out if the intended war of words turns leads to something more physical. However, it did not get to that and the fellow stepped aside rather quietly. This was a surprising case because the pedestrian was a male. Normally it is the fairer sex of Delhi for which the words "ancestral property" and "roads" seem synonymous. When you cannot predict whether that speeding car or yourself would win the race while crossing the road, the protocol is to keep your eye on the car and change your plans mid way,if needed and keep crossing. However, the ladies/girls would simply turn their backs on you and start crossing, forcing you to do the entire thinking, i.e. calculating speeds, checking them out, calculating the probability of escaping alive if you dare hit them, etc, etc.

The mindless honkers: This breed is no less irritating than the previous one. The reason being that they think they can achieve something by honking at my car when even they can clearly see that there is absolutely NO WAY OUT of the jam/red light we're stuck in. I recently found a way of dealing with such people. I simply stick out my hand and indicate it to them to overtake me through the non existent space. It is my way of telling them, "Idiot, if you can see any space available, be my guest and take it."

The careless bikers/drivers: The rule of the traffic jungle is that there is more than a fair chance of you getting seriouly injured for no mistake of yours. One sudden lane change by the driver ahead of you is sufficient to bring down curtains on your healthy life and hence, this requires luck and emphasises the need for lane changes.

Hurried idiots causing and worsening jam situations: It will take some explaining.. imagine a 6 lane road, with 3 lanes meant for traversing either direction, separated only by a yellow line after the 3rd lane. Red light is on and cars start stacking up one behind the other in the three lanes. Now there will be one impatient idiot, who will cross the yellow line and take up the first position in the queue, hence blocking the lane meant for traffic coming from the other direction. In a matter of seconds, cars stack up behind this one and then there will be people thinking of occupying even the fifth lane!! This halts up traffic from the other direction and consequently everyone will be honking at everyone, including the person who started the whole thing! This will lead to the conditions mentioned above and there will be total chaos. "Money can't buy you brains" is perfectly examplified here. I do feel like walking up to such drivers and questioning their common sense, but somehow I've resisted till now.

PARKING WOES: The capital letters should be enough to mention its importance. I read some time back that lakhs of new cars hit the roads of New Delhi every year and it is no surprise that despite the efforts of the NDMC and MCD by building multi level parking lots, the problem keeps on sky rocketing. You are required to leave the keys of the car with the workers at parking lots and that does raise a few eyebrows. In fact, it surprises me that how can one trace the car, in the event of the parking lot guy running away with it?? I guess you can hold the concerned authority responsible for it(NDMC) in most of the cases but still, one should be able to do without these troubles.

I really hope The Almighty blesses the diseased people of Delhi with some common sense. That would want me to drive more.

Perfumes.. what's your type?

I was introduced to the world of perfumes by my brother and ever since, it's become quite a habit with me. I have been using Magnet, Ossa since time immemorial and I do not see any reasons to change it. I am not much into deodrants as when they combine with sweat after a few hours, the smell is virtually unbearable.

People are free to agree or disagree with it but the reality is that I am not even aware of all the latest brands that might be doing the rounds in the market. Talking about perfumes, there is one thing I would like to mention. Travelling in metros these days for my classes, I often happen to walk past ladies(or the other way around) with nauseating perfumes. I do not know what prompts them to continue using those but it is so much of a turn off. If someone can convince them to take opinions of their friends seriously, we can save a lot of human life in future!

I have gone shopping with my perfume crazy friends on a lot of occasions and they want to test the Scent out before buying it. The most troublesome part is when they ask you to smell a particular deo/perfume and ask how it is? To be honest, 90% of all perfume smell the same to me and a majority of the remaining 10% happens to be those nauseating ladies' perfumes, which I would not even classify in the "perfumes" category!

Un-tagging myself!

I was convinced that I had successfully evaded being tagged by Aditi , but that was only until two hours ago, when I got an e-mail notification telling me that I had been tagged. Not for a moment do I mean to sound unhappy and curse her. It's just that I wanted all to know how reluctant I am to be doing tags. But now that I've started, watch out!

So, this one is meant to be about "FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MYSELF." I would like to apologise for sounding arrogant or any other remotely synonymous adjective. Here I go:

1. Upbringing and moral values: I was born in a middle class family in Patna, Bihar and spent 16 years of my life there before my family moved and settled in Delhi. I am proud to say that I possess the best of both the cultures and I can't thank my parents enough for that.And now I can say that we're more into the upper middle class but thanks to The Almighty, none of us are too showy about it. I firmly remain footed on ground, I say my prayers regularly and thank God before each and every meal I eat. I've been lucky enough to be brought up by parents who taught me the importance of self respect and honesty, parents who still belive that if you are good to others, God will see to it that you're all right. And yes, a lot of the credit for my Nanaji, with whom I spent the most formative years of my life(years 1 to 4). Unfortunately, he left us forever two months back.
2. Diverse interests(sports, reading,etc):I am interested in a lot of things, including reading, cricket,music, interviews, chess, football, newspapers, writing, watching television, travelling and yes, studying used to be on the list till the first half of this decade too! I know others see these hobbies of mine as a waste of time but I know how much I have learnt from these experiences and I take a great deal of pride in it, irrespective of what others think.
3. Typing speed: This might look out of place in all these goody goody stuff that I've written but trust me, typing while looking at the keyboard is a real headache. I thank myself for the effort I put in right after my tenth boards and now I'm at a stage where I can EASILY clock more than 60 words per minute and when I'm really into it, it goes over 90 :)
4. NEVER SAY DIE ATTITUDE:I uncovered this aspect of my character in the last four years that I spent in Manipal, trying to negotiate a degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering. In an attempt to gain sympathy,let me tell you that it is considered a 5-yr branch, as in the olden days hardly anyone managed to clear it in the stipulated 4 years without missing out on the college masti. I did not want to miss out on the enjoyment of college days so I knew I was in for something serious. There have been times when I've had to cover a 300 page book 12 hours before the end semester examinations and those were the same troublesome topics that fetched me 2 or 3 marks out of 20(repeatedly) in the internal examinations. There have been countless such papers but I have managed to come through the degree without failing in any subject. I know that's no big achievement when you look at it from outside, but if you consider the amount of time and effort I have put in, it's really worth appreciation. There are papers that professors have taught for over 50 hours in the classroom and I've cleared them by putting in about 10 hours in the entire semester :). Apart form academics, I've realized that there's an exceptional sense of cool in me in all situations. Be it while arguing with my elder brother or parents, be it the time when we just came to know about Nanaji's death and no one had a clue how we were to proceed with things or be it the times when people laugh at you about your academics or stuff like that. I quietly say it in my mind that "My day will come whenever I put in the effort" and I still belive it. I never lose my temper or shout at anyone out of angst. I guess playing chess has helped me evolve as a human being.
5. Analytical ability:I am able to sit down and analyze a practical problem and then decide upon which is the best possible measure to be taken, rather than shouting in a panic situation and spreading panic.And, what more proof than the fact that I can proudly boast of an IQ of over 125, after taking tests on various websites.Given that a normal person has IQ of 100, it's not too bad, is it??

Whoa... so much of bragging about myself ends this tag. Thanks Aditi, for tagging me, as I had never sat down and thought about my positive qualities so much!

A Week of Mixed Emotions

Mission weight loss continues: It started on 13th April and despite the unlucky date to start it on, I have surprised everyone at home(none more than myself) with the regularity of it. I have not skipped it for a single day and now the limbs are getting to normal. I don't know how many of you have experienced it but if you play/exercise heavily after a long gap, the following days turn out to be a nightmare. All the imaginable joints and muscles in your body start aching like anything. For the best part of the week gone by, I felt as if someone had pumped a good 5 kg of Iron into both my thighs and shoulders. The entire body was feeling so very heavy but thankfully I stuck to the routine and now it is much better.

Two days back I proudly announced to my elder brother that I have hit 50 sit ups in a day, in 3 segments(25+15+10). It was then that the old IMA trainee in him woke up and asked me to show how I had been doing them. He showed me the "correct" way of doing it and the next day my 3 segments of sit ups had the count 15+8+3 !!

All in all, the exercising part is good and now I am addicted to it.


My N-73 roars back to life-This was the best part of the week. Normally I am not extravagant but when it came to buying a new mobile last July, I wanted it to be the best possible thing. I begged to my parents for increasing(nearly doubling) the upper limit set by them so that I could go for the nokia N-73. I had made enough money from my blog so I was confident of affording the phone, which is what I actually did.
Here is a short account of how I ruined it. I was hell bent on getting it repaired but some logistical obstruction(read money) or the other(read time) kept on popping up and I was not able to get it sorted out. The minimum requirement for the repairing was a four figure amount and I did not want to bother my parents with it. I decided to make some more money out of my blog apart from taking up a few sponsored posts and thanks to
this website, I was able to earn enough and get my phone repaired. That mobile and my wristwatch(gifted recently from bhaiya-bhabhi on my birthday) are my two most loved possessions and I can't really put to words how happy I felt on 17th April, the day I got it repaired.

IPL 2 - The Passion is back:The IPL started two days back and honestly, I was not really looking forward to it. I even missed a major part of the games on the first day but seeing Rajasthan Royals crumble to the spin of Anil Kumble was a great sight. Rahul Dravid's half century in the same game was equally impressive and that gave me an impression that this time round, there would be a fairer contest, as the bowlers are getting help from the South African pitches, something that was missing in India last year. The opening day was good enough to get my Delhi Daredevils T-Shirt on for the next day and the team didn't disappoint, giving over rated Punjab the battering they deserved(but somehow escaped) last year. All in all, I'm back in the IPL mould and that win covered up for Manchester United's semi final loss to Everton last night.

Getting rid of those THREADS:You can't keep everyone happy in life and there are times when you have to take a stand. I am an egoistic person and even if you're my friend, there's only "x" number of times I would compromise on my BIG ego to mend our relations. I decided a few days back that I had had enough of "friendship" with this person and in this "friendship" that lasted less than two years, I felt cheated. I have been trying to break free of the threads that surround all of us and hopefully this is the first step. I do feel a bit sad after having refused "any possibility of future communication" with the person but then, that is how I am. Once I take a decision, whether right or wrong, I stand by it.So, arrogant as I might sound, I have cut out the risk of deservedly expecting a birthday wish from someone and then not getting it.Time is a great healer and I'm sure in the coming days I will learn to move into the same loneliness that has been my faithful companion all these years.

All in all, life's been going fine and the only concern for me now is to get my mid term training report approved, signed, sealed and then sent to my college.Once that is done, I'll be busy preparing the industrial training report and then the final report of my last semester project. How I wish I was doing my project with someone who could do all this work for me..

Indian Politics plunges to new lows this election season

I have never been a fan of politics and I never cared to know what the manifesto of the parties were going to be like, what promises they make and how many of them they actually keep. Politics for me has always been a pond full of mud where the person who has got the perfect balance of having the least corrupted image survives. I would never care for the front page of a newspaper unless it had news related to cricket or football and I hated news channels.

However, all this changed five years ago, when I cast a vote for the first time in my life and luckily, it was about a month after attaining the voting age. All four members of our family went together for the voting and surprisingly, it was the first time my parents and my elder brother were casting votes, making me the youngest voter of my family :)

It's not a film script so I would not say that I started following politics very closely after that but I felt there was a need to keep an eye on what the leaders of the country were upto. These days, when I don't have much work to do, television is the best medium to kill time and since I do not follow the music channels or the daily soaps religiously, it leaves me with little choice other than the news to watch.

So much of a prelude for what?? Read on...

I am sure all of us have, by chance or choice, followed the methods adopted by the political parties to lure the voters by all means, fair or unfair. I expected this campaigning season to be no different but sadly, it was. What was expected to be another two months laden with allegations, counter allegations, mud slinging and making and breaking of friendships has turned into something much filthier. The candidates have started using foul language on national television, in an effort to pull down others.

It all started with Varun Gandhi's famous hate speech in which he made no secret of his way of dealing with people of a particular community.

After that it was Lalu Yadav's turn to speak his mind about his preferred way of punishing him and no surprises, both were hauled up by the Election Commission.

Mr. Narendra Modihas been trying desperately to project himself as a National Leader ever since the Vajpayee Government was formed and then the Godhra issue just added to his cause. Thus, he, along with Mr. Advani, jumped into the campaigning by criticizing the Congress Party for being old!! I mean, what prevents these people from thinking sensibly before they make such speeches?

Priynaka Gandhi gave him a very apt answer, asking openly to the journalists that,

"Kya main apko boodhi lagti hoon? Mujhe nahi pata Modi ji aur Advani ji ke dekhne ka kya nazariya hai"

This reply has kept him mum for the past few days and I really appreciate the lady for the way she carries herself and distances herself from active politics, restricting her participation only for the campaigning purpose.

The BJP - Congress rivalry has gone on and on but the good part is that they do not use any vulgar language against each other.


This was the time when a totally unheard of Candidate from BSP, Mr. Akhilesh Das, came into the fray. The person joined BSP after parting from Congress about an year ago and here are some of the lines that he used (which reflect his family background and his mindset) to criticise Mr. Amar Singh's inclusion of film stars to his party:

" Amar Singh ji Nafisa Ali ko le aaye hain. Unki film line mein itni hi chalti hai to Aishwarya Rai ko hi le aate. Hum bhi itne boodhe nahi hain, hamara bhi mann laga rehta.
By virtue of her marriage Nafisa’s full name should be Nafisa Sodhi and not Ali since her husband is a Sodhi; but of course that depends on what relationship she has with her husband. Pata nahi pati hain bhi ki nahi, woh to hum hi keh rahe hain.”

I mean, what depths can these leaders scale in their bid to attain power? I would like to leave you with this and I hope there are no more of these quotes in the months to come. It has really brought shame to the entire country.

About Birthday, aftermath of chess and losing weight!

The gap since my last post has been eventful, to say the least and I had planned at least 3 posts during this time and here I am... writing a post that I had not planned for at all!

Birthday:After the chess tournament in which I underperformed to an extent, it was my birthday to take over the spotlight for a day or two. It came just two days after the tournament and somewhere in my mind I had thought of gifting myself one of the 6 awards from the tournament that were for the taking for the unrated players. Nothing of that sort materialized and I spent the two days leading up to my birthday on a very low note, not going around much, not studying, not blogging, not playing chess and not joking around with bhaiya and bhabhi.

The family members were quick to realise this and they planned a mini party for my birthday and as a prelude to that,I was taken to the Lajpat Nagar market to choose a new wrist watch, which bhabhi had promised me some time ago. I chose one form the Casio Edifice Chronograph Series and I must admit, costly as it was, it went a long way in pepping me up.


I had not paid any attention to my mobile because of my low mood that day and I missed dozens of calls, the maximum of them from Omveer, who even mailed me to enquire what I was up to the whole day. It was in the evening, after the usual cake-cutting mini-ceremony that I got the best birthday gift. Weekend was approaching and bhaiya and dad had 3 days holiday on the trot. Bhaiya kept pressurising dad about how badly we needed a break from the usual routine, hinting at a short trip to somewhere. Nainital, Shimla and Jaipur were shortlisted as the options and we finally zeroed in on Jaipur and Ajmer, despite the weather conditions, as we had never ventured in the Western Part of the country. It turned out to be an excellent trip and it deserves a separate post with pictures(it was one of the posts that I had planned). Hopefully I'd be able to put up an account of that trip very soon.

It felt nice to get calls from the 4 genuine friends that I've made in manipal.Given my quiet nature, combined with my growing interest in chess, I could not spend as much time with them as I would have liked in my final semester there and I still feel guilty about this. I think they know me well enough now and have accepted this as a part of my nature. The paradox is that I realise it now,when it is too late and those days would never come back. Proud to have friends like Omveer,APS, Sagar and Anubhav( in no particular order of preference).

NTPC exam...almost missed:Yesterday I was done with the NTPC exam and how I reached the examination centre is another story(the second blog post that I had planned). In short, I reached the venue at 9.55, 15 minutes after the "NO ENTRY" time and somehow managed to get in and put up a decent enough performance in the test.

The Interesting Part - A pleasant change in lifestyle: I have become used to taking taunts from bhabhi and mummy about my bulging tummy and I never paid much attention to it. I do admit being overweight but it is only about 2-3 kgs. I wished to wait and watch for a few weeks and if it gets out of control, then I'd have done something about it. But, when my mamaji commented something along the same lines a few days back, I really gave it a serious thought. He is a person I respect a lot because of his discipline and the lifestyle that he commands as a Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army so when he says something, you are better off taking it seriously. I immediately checked up my height to weight ration in the Body Mass Index chart and my BMI came out to be 24.

The key to the chart read:

19 - 23: Healthy
24 - 29: Overweight
30 - 35: Obese
35+ In danger of dozens of diseases related to heart, liver, etc.


The conclusion was that I had just entered the "overweight" category which was not alarming enough for me to rush into doing something. However, when you have difficulty putting on a 34 waist jeans, you know things are not all that well. That was the moment that I decided to "lose weight" and as I did some research on it over the net, I changed my priority to "burning fat", as the two things are vastly different. The second one is more of a permanent and healthy option.

So, my day now starts at 6 am with a 2 km jog to the IIT grounds, where I do a variety of cardio exercises, push ups, sit ups, short sprints,etc, in sync with the advice that I got from a "Mylot friend" of mine here on the net. I return home really tired at 7.30,freshen up have a short breakfast( having 5 short meals a day is critical element in speeding up metabolism that eventually burns fat .... whatever that means!), go through the newspapers and by 9 a.m. (which used to be the time I got up from sleep until a week ago) I feel so fresh in the mind. Now I have time on my side. I can do a lot of things throughout the day and still have time left in the evening to go for another 30 minute walk. Its amazing how systematic I have become.

Now I even want to study some time during the day because I have so much time left after watching T.V, going through the chess e books, playing online chess, replying to mails, earning a bit of money online and yes, I now have time for blogging too!

I really hope I stick to this regime for a few weeks at the very least.

Chess Diary: Concluding part

So, it all ended yesterday. My first tournament ended on a disappointing note for me, as I lost the last round to a player named Sanjay Gupta, rating 1749. It has started getting more and more frustrating, the way I fail to win games against sub 1900 players. I got three chances to do that in this tournament and I failed in all three, securing an ugly draw in one of them.

The irritating thing is that it is not that they are playing well to win. It is more a case of a blunder from me which costs me the game. After six rounds, I had scored 1.5 points out of a possible 6 and I was looking down the barrel. I aimed to win all five games to end up with a respectable score. I almost succeeded, as I won four on the trot but the loss in the last game is haunting me and I suppose it will continue to haunt me for quite some time. It was similar to the loss I incurred in our Inter MAHE championship against Swarup, the captian of the Kasturba Medical College, where I had blundered after having him on the mat for the first 20 odd moves. No wonder, I lost out on the prize by half a point and that is what I can't forget.

All in all, finishing with 5.5 points out of 11 was an average performance, if not bad and there were a lot of lessons to be learnt. I know my game better and I hope to prepare well for the next tournament, the one in Amity scheduled for mid May. My FIDE rating performance is 1588, which is way below the minimum I expected, i.e. 1700. I am not reading too much into it as of now because it is not my rating. If I improve my game in the next month or so, I am sure I would start with a 1700+ rating. I met a lot of people and made a lot of friends there, of all age groups. It is a pleasure to see children of 7-15 years of age play phenomenal chess and beating people of their parents and grandfather's age!

It is so very true that defeats teach you more than the wins. I never analyzed my game but now I will. Thankfully I have found some very helpful people there who have told me about the method to be adopted and hopefully I would put up a better show against the next 5 rated players that I meet.

The entire tournament was a pleasure, met a lot of people and I hope to learn in the future from the players like Saket, Saveson, Siddharth, Sanjay, Surendra and many more(ohh.. I didn't notice that all of the names start with S!!).

Chess Diary - Part 3

Day 5:Round 7:I did not write much about yesterday's two rounds because I lost in both of them to unrated players. I won't say I played badly but I should have put up a better fight and analyzed the game closely. I think the fact that the players were unrated filled me up with overconfidence and I paid a heavy price for it, losing both the games. And yeah, today I was too focussed on my games so I didn't care which table my friends were playing on in the hall. And after playing a hard fought game that lasted around 4 hours, I did not have the energy left in me to search anyone so I decided to return home.

Today I went in with a sense of urgency. I had analyzed my game yesterday and found out the deficiencies and blunders. Sometimes you make a seemingly harmless move and it costs you the game! I did not believe in it earlier but I had seen it yesterday. Hence, I reached the venue at 3.55 pm, went to check the pairings (and for a change, saw only my table number, rather than the usual days on which I see "everybody's" table and opponents). I was drawn against Vaibhav Varma ( he mentioned it to me specifically that he is a Varma and not Verma) who was unrated. After the two shattering defeats to unrated players yesterday, I was so much down on confidence that I hardly paid attention to his rating. Only while entering his name in the scoresheet did I ask him that.

I was playing white so there was the usual opening that I feel comfortable with. I missed a good move on the 3rd move itself. It did not lose anything but I could have gained a vital advantage. The game went on to take an unusual course from the beginning and somehow I felt comfortable with it. The reason is that most of the players memorize the openings and they know what to play against what attack. I am not a player trained by coaches and all so I feel it quite difficult to memorize them. Hence, my opening is weak. I missed an opportunity or two in the middlegame as well but I had got an advantage of two pawns and was confident of winning in the endgame. However, the winning move did not strike me at the right time and I almost threw away a win, when I worked out an apparently silly move which would be winning for me.
My opponent was taking at least 15 minutes for each move after the 35th move or so. He offered me a draw on the 40th move and only then I realized that if I did not play carefully I would throw away a win.I refused the draw because after losing 3 games on the trot, I could not afford another loss and finally, when I made the 55th move he could not find any escape route and offered to shake hands, which means that the player resigns. It is a pleasure to see this gesture from your opponent and shaking hands after winning the game and saying "well played" is like rubbing salt into his wounds. It felt good to win after 48 hours and I hope I would do well tomorrow as well. I really need to!

Chess Diary - Part 2

Day 3, Round 4:

I went in for today's game full of energy, as I was overjoyed with both the results yesterday. I relaxed a lot through the day and reached the venue just five minutes before time. I straightaway rushed to check the pairings.

Table 67:Preetika Tayal vs Jayant Shekhar

This is what was written on the board. Hmm.. so for the first time in my life I'll be playing against a girl.. good enough! I have always believed that girls seriously lack intellect and I thought I would have a pretty decent game. However, I had missed one thing, i.e. her International rating, which was 1857. I have beaten players with 1900+ rating but I cannot treat it as my par rating right now so I knew that she would be a tough opponent. And for those who would think that I started thinking about "other things" the moment I saw a girl's name need to think again. The fact is that every participant pays a minimum of Rs 1500 as entry fee for this tournament and there is far too much at stake for me so I could not afford to get distracted.

The girl has just entered the 10th standard in APJ, Pitampura and after the first 10 moves or so, I was surprisingly very happy with my position. I had to play the black pieces and my opening is weak. For a change, it was me who was attacking her and she spent whole of the first part of the game defending.

I was starting to tire after the 20th move and that is when I made a silly mistake, which put me down a full piece,i.e. 3 points. And after that it just got worse and I resigned the game on 26th move. It was a good lesson for me and I repeated a mistake pointed out by my friend cum coach Akram Baig, i.e. I do not castle.

I hope I will not repeat this mistake for the games now onwards and I cannot afford to make mistakes like this any more.

However, it's not just about chess these days
I was really sad as I shook hands with my opponent and was walking out of the playing hall, when I walked across table no 109. A girl,(name removed coz it didn't go down well with few ppl) ,was playing her game with a boy having a good rating and she had an advantage in the game. Now, if at all you are thinking as to how I knew the name of the girl, read on to get the answer. In these tournaments, a list is put up outside the playing hall, listing clearly the name of the players with their ratings, points and the table numbers.

However, that did not change my disappointment and I decided to head back to the metro station and then to home. My misfortune didn't relent there either and as I entered the platform, a train left. I checked the information bar and found that the next train would be after 4 minutes, which is a long time, by metro standards. I was roaming to and fro on the station and the usual "bird watching" activity that one is expected to undergo in such a situation did not attract me, as I was far too disappointed after losing the game. Just as I turned back, I found the girl of table 109 on the same station! I went to her to find out about the result of the game. I straightaway walked across her, she recognized me and we started talking about our games, our standings, our points and all that. The game of chess is such that you can go on and on discussing about it and you would not finish.The initial 4 minute wait was now reduced to none and the announcement for the train's arrival broke the conversation for a minute.

So, what about you?Are you in school or college? That question hit me like anything. Here I am, 3 months away from being an engineer and she still doubts if I am a school student!! I attributed this to the unique quality of brainlessness that only a girl can possess and answered in a somewhat stern voice, "I will complete my engineering in June." This answer had probably the same effect on her that her question had on me and she wasted no time in cutting her tongue between her teeth for a moment. Then the unwantable happened.. Rajiv Chowk station was there and she got down. I could have taken the same route but I resisted and we exchanged best of luck wishes before parting.