Me, Myself and Kunal

Mumbai Indians "team" CLT20 2011 Champions

2011-10-12T19:21:00.000+05:30

Mumbai Indians (MI) "team" is the winner of Champions League T20 2011.

MI have been the most powerful team (on paper). They have very very good players like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga. But at the same time MI is the most unlikely team that does "team work". They mostly rely on tendulkars or pollards to deliver and win. They never relied on "the team".

But this time in CL, MI proved that tendulkars or pollards or symonds are not required to win, a team is required for a win.

"art of finishing the game"

2011-09-24T12:00:00.000+05:30

Blogging again after looooooooong time.. :)

So Shoaib Akhtar published a book entitled "Controversially Yours" and wrote everything that can make the book itself controversial and sell.

Amongst many claims he says Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid do not know the "art of finishing the game".

So what does "art of finishing the game" mean? The best person to answer this is Michael Bevan.

Dravid did it many times particularly under Ganguly.

But when it comes to Tendulkar he has not. He has scored many many runs. He almost won finished the game. The word "almost" makes the huge difference.

For eg: Consider the India vs Pakistan match in Chennai, 1999. Tendulkar almost won the game by scoring 137. He was out with India needing 17 runs to win and India lost by 12 runs.

People may argue that he is an opener in one day cricket. But the point is, even in one day cricket he has almost won the game. But the "almost" made the difference and India lost. Take a look at his 175 against aussies. He did all the hard work. No one can say that it was a bad innings but he didnt finish the game.

I am not doing Tendulkar bashing here. He has scored highest runs, he is one of the best but,

Being there, scoring the runs and finishing the match is known as the "art of finishing the game".

Dada is back

2011-05-06T11:46:00.000+05:30

You can love him, you can hate him, but you cant ignore him.

Warrior Prince Sourav Ganguly is back and joins Pune Warriors.

Its 50 for Sachin

2010-12-20T13:25:00.000+05:30

Congratulations to everyone. Sachin Tendulkar scored a half century of centuries in test cricket :)

Married :)

2010-07-06T13:05:00.000+05:30

On 29th May 2010..

How NOT to go America

2010-04-17T19:46:00.011+05:30

I had to go to San Francisco, California to attend Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit. I requested a conference invitation and they accepted it because of this. After that all I needed is Visa so that I can attend the event.

First thing you will need is HDFC Bank reciept so that you can fill a form for getting Visa. I got the HDFC receipt without and problems. The HDFC receipt takes 48 hours to activate. After 2 days I filled the from from their website and took interview appointment. My interview appointment was 18th March 2010. Before that we have to submit documents to VFS.

On Monday, 15th March I woke up around 6.00 AM. I got the 8.24 AM Churchgate train from Virar. Toooo much rush. Got a seat at Bandra but had to get up on Dadar so that I can get down at Mumbai Central. Got a cab from Mumbai Central and reached VFS application center to submit the documents. I showed them my documents. And we had the discussion:

Me: "My Interview appointment is on 18th, I need to submit my documents today"

Security: "Sir, you should have been here on Friday itself"

Me: "Why? I came here 3 days before my appointment. its written in your website"

Security: "You have to come here before 3 working days"

Me: "Ya. So? I am here 3 days before"

Security: "Tomorrow ( 16th March ) is Gudi Padwa and its not working day for us"

Me: "OK.. Now what?"

Security: "You are a No-Show applicant now. Read the procedure for No-Show applicants"

The procedure for No-Show applicants is given here. The No-Show applicants have to come after atleast two days after the scheduled interview appointment to reactive the HDFC receipt so that I can select new interview appointment.

So I went there on 20th April with my dad. Super rush again in train. Got a seat on Bandra again but again had to get up at Dadar. Got a cab at Mumbai Central and went to VFS Application centre again:

Me: "My interview was on 18th, I am a No-Show applicant and I want to reactivate the receipt"

Security: "You have to come after 2 days of your scheduled appointment. So you can come tomorrow"

I didnt speak much with them just came back home but learned one thing: "READ THINGS AND UNDERSTAND IT PROPERLY!!!".

Next day woke up early again. Got the train around 7.30 AM. This time my friend Chetan was with me. As usual didnt get the seat until Bandra. Reached VFS application center at around 9.30 AM. Security allowed to get inside the application center. Went inside. A young lady at the counter took HDFC fee receipt and the passport from me. Tapped keyboard for sometime. and told me:

Lady: "Your receipt is re-activated. You can fill the form again to get new interview appointment again"

Happily went outside and discussed it with my friend. We decided we will goto some cybercafe and fill the form and submit the applications today itself. Went to cybercafe but didnt get any dates. Came back to home.

On 25th I saw interview dates were available. But the date was 15th April. And the event was from 14th April to 16th April. Something is better than nothing. Started filling the form. Fixed the appointment of date 15th. At the same time my friend checked the date for Hindi interview. 14th was available. I cancelled the appointment of 15th and fixed the date of 14th Hindi interview. Cool I had the interview dates now :) But I was going to miss first day of the event.

Next day again checked the VFS website. Dates for interview in English was available again. Me and my friend decided that we will cancel Hindi interview and fill again. So I filled the form and got the dates for interview appointment in English. But still I would have missed one day of an event even if I get my passport back on 14th itself. But again, Something is better than nothing.

I was still checking the VFS website to get earlier dates. On 28th, dates for appointment were available. Date for English appointment was 9th April. 9th was definately good for me. Wouldnt have missed any day of event :) So we started filling the form. But form was not accepted as I hadnt cancelled appointment of 14th. I cancelled the appointment for 14th and submitted the form again. But my HDFC receipt code was deactivated for 90 days!! Called VFS and they told me you can cancel appointment only twice :( Now I had nothing. My existing date was cancelled by me and wasnt able to book new appointment. I told this to my dad, my dad called my uncle to create a new HDFC receipt from HDFC at Borivli as I cant do that in Virar. He created the receipt and handed over it to my dad. But the receipt still needed 48 hours to activate.

Checked the dates on 31st. This time 8th April was available for English interview. But by the time I was filling the form dates were gone :( But 7th April was available for Hindi interview. Filled the form and got it :) Left the office at around 1.30 PM. This was first time I went to VFS application center and I got a seat from Virar :) My friend was with me. We reached VFS application center by 3.15 PM. But it was closed:

Me: "We want to submit documents. Why is it closed?"

Security: "We are open till 3.00 PM. Read the board"

Me: "But your call centers say you are open till 5.00 PM"

Security: "Its a call center which is open till 5.00 PM, not the office"

There was no point arguing. It was my mistake, I should have called them first.

Woke up early next day. Got the train of around 7.15 AM. Some generous group of people gave me a seat at Borivli :) Reached VFS application center. Submitted documents without any problems. They offered me some service. Using which I would canteen, bus service, would not have to stand in lines for interview. Had to pay Rs.250/- for it.

Woke up early again on 7th. It was my interview day. Was very tensed. I had the blessings of my parents, inlaws and wishes of my fiancee and my sister with me. My dad was with me. We reached the VFS application center at 9.30 AM and my interview time was 10.30 AM. They let me in at 9.45 AM. Went inside. Still very tensed. There was a canteen inside. Because of tension I didnt eat anything. After sometime we went in bus and reached American Consulate. Saw many people standing in lines there. It was so hot I wondered how were they standing. Because of the service all the people in the bus were allowed to enter the consulate without standing in lines. Went inside. Got a seat there. People went inside the cabin for interview and passed it. And the people who failed added more tension. What will it be? Yes or No?

After some time my number was called out. I went inside cabin. Interviewer was american guy. Very decent and very well dressed. He smiled:

Interviewer: "Hi"

Me: "Hello sir"

Interviewer: "You filled the form for Hindi interview. I was wondering why would you go to US when you cant speak english"

Me: "That not a problem sir. I had to choose Hindi because English dates were not available and I have to reach US by 14th."

Interviewer: "Do you mind continuing in English?"

Me: "No problem. We can continue"

Interviewer: "Alright. Why do you want to go to US?"

Me: "I have an invitation from the conference in San Francisco. Conference is Linux Collaboration Summit."

Interviewer: "Do you have sponsorship letter?"

I gave him a sponsorship letter.

Interviewer: "Who is paying for the trip?"

Me: "Linux Foundation is paying $500. I am paying the rest"

Interviewer: "But I dont see anything written about it in this document. Do you have anything that says this?"

Me: "No. I dont have anything. They just mailed me about it"

Interviewer: "Can you bring it?"

He gave me a paper and told me to come tomorrow.

Interviewer: "I want you to bring some proof that they are paying you $500 and the reason why are they calling you and also an employment proof that you are working here in India"

Me: "Sure. I will get it tomorrow"

So it was not Yes and not even No. Went to office got the employment documents. Also mailed Jennifer Cloer of Linux Foundation to mail me documents regarding this. Took the documents with me and went to VFS office next day.

Next day I was standing in a queue from 9.00 AM. The security guys took all documents and passport from me and gave me a token. I entered the consulate at 11.00 AM. Got a seat. Tensed. Now it was 2.00 PM and I was very frustrated now. My token number was called atlast at around 2.15 PM. Inside the cabin saw the same guy. He was reading my documents:

Interviewer: "Thank you for bringing this documents. And sorry I had to call you again, I just wanted to make sure you are the person you claim and you are employed here"

Me: "No problem sir"

He started tapping on keyboard. I asked him:

Me: "Sir, do you need anything else?"

Interviewer: "No. This is it. Your visa is approved"

Me: "Thank you sir :) :) :)"

Interviewer: "Today is 8th. You will get visa on monday (11 April). So plan your trip accordingly :)"

Me: "Thank you sir :) :) :)"

Left from the consulate called my family, inlaws, my fiancee, my sister that I got Visa. Everyone was happy :) Also took Cathay Pacific Airlines tickets for Monday.

Reached home and dad told me get the passport tomorrow (9th April) itself if possible.

Went to VFS next day. But my Visa wasnt arrived. So now I had to go on Monday (11th April).

Passports are returned after 5.00 PM. Reached there on time. It was 5.00 PM. But the security was surrounded with almost 50 people. I thought "Now what?".

Me: "I want to get passport today"

Security: "Sir, we are not returning any passports today due to technical failure"

Me: "I have todays tickets!!!!"

I showed him todays tickets.

Security: "We cant do anything. American consulate has to send it here. They havent sent it today. And it may take 1 week"

After 1 week means after the event. Thats it. No hopes now. Went home. Cancelled the tickets.

Sourav Ganguly vs Sachin Tendulkar

2010-03-31T11:25:00.001+05:30

Indians are divided into three categories:

1. People who dont care about cricket and are not interested in it. Its a waste of time according to them.

2. People who are cricket fans and are a fan of Sachin Tendulkar.

3. People who are cricket fans and are a fan of Sourav Ganguly.

I belong to the category 3 :) I am die hard fan of Sourav Ganguly.

I am writing this post because of intense debates with my friends who try to defend Sachin Tendulkar and I try to defend Sourav Ganguly. For me, Sourav Ganguly is the person who changed Indian Cricket. He taught India to win. Ofcourse he is no way near the class of Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to batting. But Sachin is no way near the class of Ganguly when it comes to captaincy.

I know this is never ending debate. But I enjoy it :)

Nokia N900

2010-03-30T17:33:00.005+05:30

Thanks to the guys at WOMWorld/Nokia for being very kind to send me a Nokia N900 for two weeks.

I have also bought Nokia N900 just before arrival of the device from WOMWorld :)

One of the reasons I like this phone because it a Linux based phone. Its not only phone, its mobile computer :)

It doesnt took me long to get used to the used to the Phone. Nice UI, WIFI, 32 GB memory :)

One of the best I saw for the first time on the phone is X-Terminal :)

Above image is taken from: http://mynokiablog.com/2009/12/08/my-mini-n900-review-loaded-with-screenshots/

First thing I did after using basic applications is install Easy Debian. A nice procedure to install Easy Debian is given here. Now I can use PHP and MySQL on phone :)

Overall the Phone is good. Huge repository, nice applications. One thing I was worried about after buying a phone was using Maemo 6 on it. But Nokia and Intel merged Maemo and Moblin project to create Meego. But Meego will be running on N900 :)

Sketch application in N900 is awesome :)

Following 2 images are made by my fiancee:

Save Trees

Scenery

And these three images are created by Advin (designer at Raw Engineering):

Scenery

Car

Why doesnt she love me?

Footers in all three were added by Advin using Photoshop.

The phone was with my fiancee for a week and she had to say this:
1. Awesome Camera
2. Battery should have been better :D

Namaste

2010-03-30T17:08:00.002+05:30

Hello All,
This is my first blog post.
This blog will be about Computers, Sports, Cooking, etc :)

I also have a blog at: http://bharatikunal.wordpress.com