Cold November Rains!

It is raining in the month of November, but these rains are just bad as they'll just bring out the heat and spread some more diseases. The rain did bring some pleasant breeze but the Electricity Department people just keep playing their old dirty tricks (every time it rains the electricity the gone) that really sucks. This department does not realise anything, there are no Humans in this Department at all. The lights go off at any hell timings, even 12 at night time, for more than 6-7 hours a day.

I believe that in India all this will never change, the government has always exploited people in this similar manner and will still continue to do so. Wonder when will all this end, matters just keep on getting worse. I mean the trains are late, there is water shortage, electricity problems, just how much will a common man face?

Formula 1: End Of An Amazing Season, 2009

Just to know how much things have changed in formula 1, one has to be its fan right from the beginning. First of all, my congratulations to Jenson Button and Brawn-Mercedes for the fantastic showdown all season, though personally I did want Rubens Barrichello to win, but that did not really happen. Button was indeed fantastic and deserved to win, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel also did a fantastic job for the Red Bull Racing-Renault too, going beyond and saving the best for last with .

So, the drivers' standings finished as bellow:

1. Jenson Button - 95

2. Sebastian Vettel - 84

3. Rubens Barrichello - 77

4. Mark Webber - 69.5

5. Lewis Hamilton - 49

6. Kimi Räikkönen - 48

7. Nico Rosberg - 34.5

8. Jarno Trulli - 32.5

9. Fernando Alonso - 26

10. Timo Glock - 24

11. Felipe Massa - 22

12. Heikki Kovalainen - 22

13. Nick Heidfeld - 19

14. Robert Kubica - 17

15. Giancarlo Fisichella - 8

16. Sebastien Buemi - 6

17. Adrian Sutil - 5

18. Kamui Kobayashi - 3

19. Sebastien Bourdais - 2

20. Kazuki Nakajima - 0

21. Nelsinho Piquet - 0

22. Vitantonio Liuzzi - 0

23. Romain Grosjean - 0

24. Jaime Alguersuari - 0

25. Luca Badoer - 0

And, the construction standings finished as bellow:

1. Brawn-Mercedes - 172

2. RBR-Renault - 153.5

3. McLaren-Mercedes - 71

4. Ferrari - 70

5. Toyota - 59.5

6. BMW Sauber - 36

7. Williams-Toyota - 34.5

8. Renault - 26

9. Force India-Mercedes - 13

10. STR-Ferrari - 8

And as you can see, every one scored some points but the debutions Brawn-Mercedes clearly standing atop with 172 championship points.

And next year, there are going to be 19 races, and the season is going to get over by mid November. With new teams lines up, Lotus makes a comeback, hope its going to be another action packed GP racing as this year, 2010 (Twenty Ten).

Top 100 Tracks According To HT!

On the 23rd of October, 2009, Hindusthan Times, in it's special supplement, HT café gave, an article listing "Mumbai's Favourite Playlist" giving a line up of top 100 English tracks that have been playing in the city (and perhaps in India's other metropolises too). I don't know how far would one agree with this list but the list had some of the all time great English Songs ever, agreed.

Here is the line up: (according to htcafé 23rd October, 2009)

1) Summer Of '69 - Bryan Adams

2) Hotel California - Eagles

3) November Rain / Sweet Child Of Mine - Guns 'N' Roses

4) Winds Of Change - Scorpions

5) Zombie - Cranberries

6) Brick In The Wall - Pink Floyd

7) Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton

8) YMCA - The Village People

9) Roadhouse Blues - The Doors

10) American Pie - Don McLean

11) That Thing You Do - Fountains Of Wayne

12) Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

13) Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple

14) I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

15) It's My Life - Bon Jovi

16) Loosing My Religion - REM

17) We Will Rock You - Queen (mistakenly printed 'Def Leppard' in htcafé)

18) We Didn't Start The Fire - Billy Joel

19) Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd

20) Every Breathe You Take - The Police

21) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones

22) Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

23) La Bamba - Los Lobos

24) Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor

25) Dancing In The Dark – Bruce Springsteen

26) Pretty Women - Roy Orbison

27) I Want To Break Free - Queen

28) Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

29) More Than Words - Extreme

30) Staying Alive - Bee Gees

31) Sacrifice - Elton John

32) Beat It - Michael Jackson

33) Sultana Of Swing - Dire Straits

34) Don't Speak - No Doubt

35) Everybody Hearts - REM

36) We Are The Champions - Queen

37) Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

38) Free Fallin' - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

39) Thriller - Michael Jackson

40) La Bamba - Ritchie Valens

41) Paradise (Original title: "Another Day In Paradise") - Phil Collins

42) With Or Without You - U2

43) What's Going On - For Non-Blondes

44) Cecilia - Simon And Garfunkel

45) Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin

46) River Of Dreams - Billy Joel

47) You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

48) Jeremy - Perl Jam

49) Sweet Dreams - Eurhythmics

50) Mama I'm Coming Home - Ozzie Osbourne

51) Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynrd

52) La Isla Bonita - Modonna

53) I Feel Good - James Brown

54) What If God Was One Of Us - Joan Osbourne

55) I Will Do Anything For Love - Meatloaf

56) Simply The Best - Tina Turner

57) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cindy Lauper

58) Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles

59) Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

60) Leaving On a Jet Plane - John Denver

61) Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice

62) California Dreaming - Mamas And Papas

63) Proud Mary - CCR

64) What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

65) Right Here Waiting For You - Richard Marx

66) D.I.S.C.O. - Ottawan

67) Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh

68) Riders On The Storm - The Doors

69) Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley

70) Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye

71) Imagine - John Lennon

72) Where The Streets Have No Name - U2

73) Take It Easy - Eagles

74) I Want It That Away - Backstreet Boys

75) Bittersweet Symphony - Verve

76) Living On The Edge - Aerosmith

77) Lean On Me - Bill Withers

78) Wonderwall - Oasis

79) Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

80) Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

81) Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

82) Uptown Girl - Billie Joel

83) Highway To Hell - AC/DC

84) I Love Rock And Roll - Joan Jett

85) Like A Prayer - Madonna

86) Love Is All Around - The Troggs

87) Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane

88) Smooth Operator - Sade

89) Unchained Melody - Air Supply

90) Light My Fire - The Doors

91) Gimme Hope, Joanna - Eddy Grant

92) Black Or White - Michael Jackson

93) Mama Mia - ABBA

94) Red Red Wine - UB40

95) I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder

96) Always - Bon Jovi

97) Words - Boyzone

98) Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers

99) Heaven - Bryan Adams

100) Gangsters Paradise - Coolio

This list has some of the most outstanding songs ever, but I certainly won't rely on the list, sorry, but I beg to differ...

Sometimes... Dreams Can Come True!

11th October, 2009, we (I, my brother - Malcolm, and my cousin brother - Pradeep) went on a trip to Igatpuri to see our aunt who is there (she's a nun there). It came up suddenly and to me it was a great thing because I badly need an outing.

So we set our journey from the Vasai - Jalgaon S.T. (State Transport) Bus, thankfully my brother had reserved the seats or else we would have to have stood all through the long journey. Sitting right at the end we were pretty excited about the journey, clicking pictures from our digi-cam, chatting, laughing and enjoying our bus ride. The driver too was some sort of a sport, we joked that he was a pretty nicely 'drifting' the bus through the Ghats in the grand Ferrari (we call the ol' S.T. Bus a 'Ferrari'). The greenery was amazing and specially the Ghats, the old bridges, it was all so beautiful.

On reaching Igatpuri, we had to walk a little bit more to reach the convent, when we reached the convent; our aunt greeted us with a warm smile happy to see us after a very long time. It (the convent) was so very simple looking yet so beautiful, after all it had a very grand mountainous view to it.

The saddest part was that we only had a very little time to stay; we had to catch the bus to Vasai. But aunty said that the bus now would be too crowded and we won't get a place to sit in the crown, so we decided to go by rail.

We took a jeep to the Kasara Station, from there to Dombevali, from Dombevali to Diva, and then caught the Diva - Vasai Train to get back home.

It was an amazing journey, loved it, I had a great experience. I always wanted to travel in the Diva - Vasai Train, got my chance, wanted to see Igatpuri, so, went there, wanted an outing, got it... but would love to enjoy the same for more than just one day - you know!

Steps Forward And Steps Backward

You always took steps forward to reach a desired destination, to fulfill your goals, to reach a point where you think you're really gong to be 'satisfied'. But then there were times when you had to pull up, taking your steps backwards. It was tough initially but then you realised that it was a part of a game, a game called life.

Life comes to us with many options or ways, but it's up to us to choose which one is the best one for us. At times we choose the wrong ones, and then we have to come backwards to choose another option. But at times all those options are just ways, and within those options there lies our ultimate goals.

We may choose any option, all these options or ways leas us to only one direction, at times we fail to see. What we do not realise, failure is just a stepping stone to success, we keep on saying that but tend to forget it easily.

The truth I feel is that every option, every way we choose is the correct one, once we fail in the same, we get another chance to overcome the past errors we made. And it is this way we can reach where we always dream of. There are many who got through against all odds and made it to the top, even though the kept laughing at them or cursing them, they did not budge, they kept on walking their way. And then there were those who felt like changing their ways every time they faced hardships, these were the one who suffered in the end, these were the ones who felt incomplete.

So what are you thinking now? All life needs is a few steps forward, then even a few backwards, to reach a desire called 'satisfaction'.