Bidding site

Hi,

This time I visited a Free gifts link. This is a link where 'after you become a member' you can play a simple game to win the Sweepstake. The game is pretty simple even for a first time user. The lowest 'unique' number entered will win the Cash prize. You may enter 0. But if another person enters 0, it is no longer unique. Quite an interesting game.

I like their billing method. The membership fee will be deducted in your mobile bill. Well, I really do't know how safe it is to give away such rights to such websites. In any case, people in US who are used to the casino culture may not find it that tough.

The membership fee is a bit costly. But, overall I like the UI design and the simplicity of the game :-)

Insurance site

Hi,

I was going through a life insurance link this time. Well, since I am in USA currently on business purpose, I thought I should choose one here. The site is decently user friendly but there is too much text for a first time user to go through. There is a form on the right hand side which when you fill out gives your insurance quote, but the website design needs a lot of work to make it "user-friendly".

I was once discussing the concept of structured data with a product manager at a reputed website company in India. You basically structure the data so that the search can be done in an organized fashion and also a first time user of the website knows where he needs to go for the information relevant to him/her. The above link may take a hint from this concept and add some structure to the data on their website.

The resultant page will be something where a user enters the site, you ask him/her a set of questions - What are you looking for? What is your age? Would you want to choose A or B and then at the end display the specific information that best matches the interests of the user. Well, just an idea and makes a lot of sense for insurance websites like this one. They do the same at the call centers to optimise the time a caller spends while trying to get assistance from their call center. Why not do the same on the websites to make the user's time spent more valuable?

Blogsvertise

Hi,

I like the title Blogsvertise chosen by this link. Although there is not much creativity involved - It is made from the two words - Blogs and Advertise - it conveys the meaning easily to anyone who hears of it for the first time. Although the site offers monetary benefits to the bloggers, they need to publicise their business in a much better manner. Basically, whosoever likes to earn money through this site should feel it is happening in a systematic manner and doesn't play around with the terms and conditions of the blog server they are using.

Neways, I have taken the task of going through some random websites and writing my reviews about them. How do you like the idea?

Cracker of a cricket match

Hi,

If an American finds the news of India winning a world cricket tournament interesting and sends a congratulation mail to his Indian colleagues, I am sure you should accept that Twenty20, the new format of cricket started with the same purpose, has been successful. I spoke to my American manager and he was all inquisitive about the kind of effect India-Pakistan matches have on the cricket fans. I am sure, I have sold the concept of cricket to him. All praise should go to ICC for introducing the format that binds people to the game.

Now coming to the match, I am a big believer in body language and other psychological factors that affect the result of a game, and since the toss, I could see that India, though nervous, had the belief that this was going to be their day. The way Dhoni spoke immediately after the toss showed that even 'captain courageous' could get nervous, but something in his voice conveyed that they were going to pull it through. Shoaib Malik tried to put on a casual tone dismissing any pressure India-Pakistan match can have on his team, but the tension that he had beneath the surface was evident.

India did not have the best of the starts, but Indian batsmen have matured in the way they are handling innings. They are no longer giving any importance to reputations and are believing in the age old wisdom of building partnerships. The partnership between Yuvraj and Gambhir was actually a good one. Though Yuvraj did not fire, Gambhir kept going and made sure that India had a good platform for a decent score. Rohit Sharma utilised this platform to push the scoreboard just beyond a respectable score. While Gambhir controlled his risky shots, Rohit Sharma impressed everyone with his cool head.

With the runs on the board, Dhoni's men always believed they had a chance and applied pressure the way they had done in the previous matches. After Azharuddin, I feel Dhoni is the only captain who has succeeded in pressurizing the opponent teams. I am not saying anything against Saurav or Dravid - they both were excellent captains, but their captaincy styles were different. Saurav and Dravid lead their teams by setting an example whereas Dhoni's style is that of bringing the best out of his mates and making the right tactical moves to put pressure on the opponent team.

Anyways, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan took crucial wickets for India and the match was almost over before Misbah showed some real guts. Again it was Irfan and RP that pulled back the game with 2 important wickets. Dhoni's decision to give the ball to Joginder Sharma in the final over can be debated till the end of this milennium but the only thing the decision shows is 'Dhoni knows tactics'. It definitely was a surprise for Misbah and he was tempted to go for an uncoventional shot and failed miserably.

The post match euphoria was evident the most in Harbhajan Singh's actions. The way he was shouting and the way he was jumping and dancing just showed how much the victory meant to India. The last catch taken by Sreesanth set the nation on fire. Deepthi and I could not believe it for a second, particularly after witnessing Misbah's batting, and we both were jumping for the next 5 minutes. The tournament has costed me a lot of mobile bill, as I was constantly on phone with my Dad and Vivek Chauhan discussing every wicket, every sixer. Never in my life have I enjoyed a cricket tournament this much. Hope to see more of such tournaments and more wins for India. Chak De...

Indians get past the chokers

Hi,

I liked Sunil Gavasakar's song at the end of the Thursday match between India and South Africa - 'Chak De, Chak De India! Choke De Choke De South Africa!'

So very true. India batted like men and bowled superbly (except for the umpteen wides given away) and fielded like lions and made sure there was no chance they could not qualify. South Africa never ever believed they could even qualify to the semis (let alone winning against India).

The comment made by Dhoni, "The team believed that they can beat SA even on a pitch as tough as the Kingsmead's and the belief got them through" and the comment made by Shastri, "SA have always looked at the figure 126 rather than the figure 154 and believed that there was a possibility of them getting knocked out. That belief did them in" sum up the mood in the two camps.

I also liked the comment made by Graeme Smith, "We seem to be inventing ways to get ourselves knocked out of World Cup tournaments". I actually felt sympathetic towards the SA camp when they started panicking to qualify for the semi finals. But at the end of it, there is just one statement you can make. THEY DID NOT DESERVE A SEMI FINAL BERTH.

I had watched all the world cup exits of SA:
1. 1992 - Only their 1999 exit was as tragic as the 1992 one. In the semi final encounter against England, their target was revised from 22 runs to win in 13 balls to 22 runs to win in 1 ball - by a stupid rain rule.
2. 1996 - SA having won all their league matches was on a song only to face wounded Windies in the quarter finals. West Indies, having suffered a humiliating loss in the hands of the Kenyans, gave it all they had to defeat the South Africans. Lara's 111 in the match was a world class innings.
3. 1999 - The tragic exit where SA almost scraped it through with Klusener in deadly form. His 2 boundaries off the first 2 balls of the last over just rocketed past the fielders who stood helpless and then Aussies tightened the field to get Donald run out and a first ever tie in a semi final match in the World Cup took Aussies through because they were rated better than SA in the Super Six stage.
4. 2003 - None was as stupid as the 2003 exit where they mis-read the Duckworth Lewis system and ended up with a tie (which knocked them out). Boucher playing a defensive shot off the last ball will make him grimace at himself every morning when he wakes up from sleep.

True that the players' psyche gets affected due to such losses. But the fact remains - If they can't play under pressure they can't win the world cup.

A match to learn from

Hi,

The India Vs New Zealand match in the Super Eights was a match for the Indian cricketers to learn from their mistakes. Firstly, Dhoni has to realise that Agarkar is not the best bowler to be reserved for the final overs. I understand that during the early overs, he is getting tempted to use the spinners and other slow bowlers which is leaving him with Agarkar as the only option towards the end. But in this match, Dhoni had 2 overs of Pathan left and still he opted for Agarkar.

My sympathies are with Dhoni because he expected him to bowl with the same economy after yielding somewhere around 15 runs in his first 2 overs. Same with Yuvraj. Yuvraj is a kind of bowler who can be given only 1 or 2 overs just to break partnerships. He cannot bowl better than that. The batting lacked the maturity after an explosive start given by the openers. Batsmen just had to stay there to get runs, but they panicked.

And Dinesh Karthik was a culprit in the match. He had dropped the catch of Jacob Oram when New Zealand were batting. Then, he got Dhoni run out and he himself tried to hit too much off Vittori who was bowling amazingly well that too the immediate ball after he got dropped (the last ball of Vittori's spell) - he committed too many blunders and looks like he is praised by everyone because he looks athletic. True he looks athletic and saves some runs in the field once in a while, but he lacks some basic skills to play longer for India. Let us hope he learns soon and the team too learns after its mistakes in the match.

Whhatt...a....mmatchhhh...

Hi,

The Twenty20 match between India and Pakistan was one of the best cricket matches I have ever watched. Not that, great quality cricket was played, but the match had all the ingredients of a box office thriller. The first ever tie in the T20 world cup and the tiebreaker in the form of 'Bowl Out' was amazing to watch. And the fact that India won the 'Bowl Out' comprehensively was even more satisfying. It was good to note that Indian team was prepared for the 'Bowl Out' and Sehwag, Bhajji and Uthappa are among the best candidates for the same eventuality. I believe no other team would have done this much homework on "Bowl Out'.

Anyways, the match was gripping from the beginning till the end. Although India lost 4 early wickets owing to a superb spell by Asif, Indian batsmen had never given up. It was good to see them play the entire quota of 20 overs and make as many runs as were possible on the pitch owing to the bad weather conditions. The bowling was good and despite some loose balls by Bhajji and Agarkar in the end, it was impeccable. It is time the Mumbai selectors stop pushing Agarkar into the team. He has done enough damage and has proved to be a match winner for the opponent teams. I personally used to be a fan of his bowling as he was a wonderful wicket-taker. But he is too expensive a bowler to be retained in T20. Irfan Pathan who is bowling wonderfully wasn't kept back for the last overs in a match which had all the signs of having a thrilling finish. Anyways, the last 2 balls bowled by Sreesanth were gr8 under pressure and Dhoni's cool head was easily seen in the attitude of the Indian team. Now that India is in the Super Eights, it is time to let the best players be included in the playing eleven.

Pakis need to rethink their strategy

Pakistan almost lost the match yesterday at least in spirit. But unlike Australia, they did some very good damage control and thanks to Afridi won the match by a comfortable margin.

When Ravi Shastri interviewed the Paki coach Geoff Lawson, he said their strategy was to keep Afridi towards the end who could then accelerate the scroring. Mr.Coach, you got it all wrong. If you had thought Afridi was just an accelerator, in yesterday's match he disproved it.

He is a mad mad hitter. Send him at the top of the order and you will see the difference. Imagine, if Afridi had made the same 22 in the first 2 overs, Paki score would have been some 37 at the end of 2 overs and Scottish bowlers would have been in a disarray and would have bowled defensively trying to save as many runs as possible. But since no batsmen from Pak took the initiative, they started aggressive and Paki batsmen could never really flex their muscles. Well, in after thought, it all looks so obvious. All said and done, Pakistan held its nerves and just did what was enough to beat the Scots.

On the other hand, Australia were in a daze. They never realised that the match was rapidly slipping out of their hands. I am sure the likes of Sunil Gavaskar will now have broad smiles on their faces. I somehow feel Australia has a really tough task against the English. England has very well groomed T20 players thanks to their county tournaments and would fight till the very last ball with Australia. We will have to wait and watch!

Trip to Araku Valley

Hi,

Araku – If you have not heard of the name, let me try to use my pen to describe the beautiful mountainous area near Vizag. Dad, Mom, Deepthi and I attended my cousin’s wedding and were happy to catch up with many close relatives some of whom I had not met for years. The plan was to travel back home the same day until Deepthi proposed a trip to the Araku valley area to spend a nice day. It was easy for her to convince me and Mom, but Dad put up a strong fight having got tired of back-to-back journeys. But then, I always had confidence in Deepthi’s persuasive skills. Deepthi not only made him agree to the trip but also managed to get a booking at one of the jungle resorts in Araku valley region. She booked a ‘Wooden Log Hut’ accommodation for the four of us at the ‘Jungle Bells’ resort in the village named ‘Tyada’. Hold on if you want to know more about the jungle resort and the feel of the tribal culture we had experienced there.

So, the four of us set off from Vizag in a train that started early morning. The rail journey was one of the best I had - through tunnels that took us into the heart of the Eastern Ghats. Although I hadn’t kept a count of the number of tunnels, I could hear the 9 year old kid sitting nearby yelling at the top of her voice, “50”. We came across several beautiful lush green valleys and chill waterfalls that shone in the early morning sun.

We got down at the station ‘Borra Guhalu’ meaning ‘Borra Caves’ and walked down the railway tracks and then off them to get to the entrance of the caves. On a board that was hanging at the entrance, there was a description of the history of the ‘Borra Caves’ and also the scientific explanation of the formation of caves in the mountains. The name ‘Borra’ is a telugu and oriya word meaning hole and the caves have been named so as – ‘years ago when a cow fell off the mountains into a huge hole, the caves were discovered’. Legend says that the cow had fell through the caves into the river flowing at the bottom of the hills and came out alive. That had triggered the belief that there was something divine attached to the caves. The river was named ‘Gosthani’ river. Gosthani translates to cow’s udder.

The scientific reason for the formation of the caves seems to be the flow of water for years together through mountains breaching the rocks (something of that sort). Several structures of stalagmite (or was it limestone – plz bear with my feeble brains) have been formed inside the caves due to the settling down of the dripping liquids into various shapes. These structures have triggered the imagination of the people who believed that idols of various Gods have been formed naturally inside the caves.

After reading the description, we walked down the entrance of the caves. It was a beautiful sight. The hole at the top through which the sunlight beamed would have triggered the imagination of writers like Enid Blyton. We hired a guide who took us through the caves showing us various structures which have been imagined to be Lord Shiva, Parvati, etc. And then he pointed us towards certain dangerous locations inside the caves where a lot of honey combs resided (2, 3 people who ventured in there never returned. And then he showed us the top of the caves which was black (ash-like) in colour and told us they were all bats. Deepthi asked him, “I hope the bats won’t attack us”. He assured us they won’t. Some of the structures there seemed to have got the black ash like colour due to the bats (probably some deposits from the bats which he did not want to talk about).

Then, he showed us a place at the top of the cave where there were some idols people worshipped. We walked up there and realized that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Getting down was far difficult because a small slip would have costed us our lives. We came back to the entrance of the caves all exhausted because of the hiking. On the way back, he showed us various locations inside the caves where famous movies – ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari’, ‘Guna’ and ‘Jamba Lakidi Pamba’ were shot. If I were in the production team of those movies, I would have lost 10 Kgs by the time the shooting had finished. We came out with huge satisfied smiles on our faces. Deepthi was all smiles as she knew everyone was thankful of her. It was not all over yet.

We took a jeep to ‘Tyada’ where we had booked a room in a jungle cottage. It was a hilly road and we reached there in 40 minutes. ‘Jungle Bells’ was a nice resort with several wooden cottages built on the lush green hills. We had to climb to our cottage ‘the Wooden Log Hut’ – a wooden hut-shaped accommodation mounted on logs which were planted into the hill. There was a balcony and 2 rooms with attached bathrooms. We finished our lunch and had a nice afternoon nap all tired from the hiking. We were in for a surprise when we went down to the jungle restaurant in the evening for tea. The tribal women were about to perform the tribal dance ‘Dhimsa’ in an area just next to the restaurant. I finished my tea and was all set with my digicam to capture the tribal dance. Some men came and lighted a fire and to my surprise were heating the ‘dhol’ in the fire. Deepthi said heating the ‘dhol’ would help them produce louder beats out of it. The tribal women walked in, all of surprisingly same height. They were wearing saris in the tribal fashion (tucked into the blouse).

Bang on time, the music started and the 13 women holding each other at the waists started moving in an amazingly synchronized fashion. I was not tired of watching them dancing the same steps for about an hour. Each time after going around the stage twice, they would all gather in a circle screaming in a high pitch voice. The dance was a treat to watch except for some 5 minutes in the middle when one of the crazy guests got on to the stage and danced rather awfully causing annoyance to the tribals. He was soon pulled out of the stage and the tribals danced merrily leaving us with a taste of their culture and lifestyle. After the dance, we 4 finished our dinner and went back to our cottage. Dad and Mom went into their room, but Deepthi and I decided to enjoy the moment by dancing like the tribals. Hearing our footsteps, Dad and Mom came out and immediately Mom joined the party. The 3 of us held each other by the waists and danced like the tribal women for about 15 minutes on the balcony. It was truly a great moment I will remember for years to come, the 3 of us just hopping around merrily holding each other’s waists. Dad got a bit conscious to dance but he sure was helping us with the choreography and was a good audience.

With thousand watt smiles we went back into our rooms and had the best sleep of our lives. We got up early morning the next day and set off in a bus to reach Vizag from where we caught a train to Rajahmundry and reached home at about 3 PM. This surely was one of the best places I have ever visited. So when are you going to visit ‘Araku Valley’?

Dravid should step out...

Hi,

Dravid's decisions have so far been pathetic to say the least about them. To start with, his decision to not enforce follow on in the Oval Test was one of the worst and most timid decisions taken by any captain of any national cricket team. What kind of message are you sending across to your players and your nation? That you can't even take a gamble to increase your lead in the test series? It all reflects the attitude of the India batsmen. Indian batsmen have long forgotten their natural game and are just playing to satisfy their critics. Sachin no longer would clear the field in the initial Powerplay overs as he is afraid that the moron sports news reader of some stupid channel 'Aaj Kal' or whatever would term it as lack of responsibility on his part. Saurav only plays to stay long enough at crease because he wants to re-cement his place in the team. Although Dravid cannot be blamed completely for the batsmen's attitude, his decisions reflect the insecurities of the Indian batting line-up. They all know they were stars at a certain point of time and the public expectations of their performance are huge. That is the very reason why they do not want to take any risks and play their natural instinctive game.

The bowling department's attitude is even worse. They know that the media, the fans and everyone know the lack of discipline of Indian bowlers and so they do not want to try anything new. They have got used to the blasting they receive after every defeat of the Indian cricket team. Instead of trying to rise to the levels of the International best bowlers, they keep getting satisfied with the fact that they are better than other Indian bowlers. That way, Kapil Dev, according to me was a great bowler. He always set his own standards and tried to better them every time. Indian bowling department has never recovered after the departure of the likes of Bedi, Prasanna, Kapil Dev and others. Javagal Srinath had always been a moderate bowler who would do nothing spectacular but would do enough to avoid any blame.

Are we playing cricket to avoid blame game? Do we not have a dream as a nation - to win the world cup, to be the best team in the world. Anyways, coming back to Dravid's case, his decision to field first with a team whose batsmen shivered to the likes of Anderson, Stuart Broad and who else (I can't even remember the names of some of those inexperienced bowlers). How could such batsmen have chased any total? And the worst part is his defense at the end of the match. He blames it all on the bowlers and the fielders. Well, if that department has been crippled for a decade now, as a captain you could have taken a decision that would help India win. Dravid still is a good Test captain inspite of his bad decision at Oval. He has the stature to lead the team through tough times and the determination to get the best performance out in trying conditions. In ODIs, India needs a more agile captain with a quick thinking brain under his hat.