Could I ever replace !

It has been 6 months since I am out of college. It has been a mixed bag feeling, though I am happy to be in a place where I wanted to be in, I left a lot of things behind me, in search of unexplored waters of life ! In this quest of new things, I really miss quite a lot of things. My life has never been the same with out them, specially my friends from college !

I really miss ...
The business news and the pink papers
The early morning lectures
The shairis of Kumar Gaurav
The melodious songs of Vineet
The evangelical talks of Astha
Stern and never give up arguments of Khobragade
The "group" presentations
The fun of solving the cases
The numbers filled Deshpande sir classes
The debates and discussions in the classrooms and away
The lectures of Gods in the class rooms
The colors in the campus
The birth day celebrations
The exam fever and the night outs
The last minute entries in to the college gate
Drishty and the preparations for it
The never ending talks in the auditorium
The Chicken lollypops and the feast after the HR meets
The lab sessions of Prantosh baba
Dilip Bhav's vada pav
The xerox materials before the exam days
The struggle for the requisitions
The trading tips and gyaan of Sandeep bhai !
The economic times quizzes
The news hour and mind boggling cases of Ramashastry sir
The helmet rules and the red/black lists
The placement season fever and the preparations
The unending examination spree !
The puzzling and confusing rules
The last moment goofups
The temple and the library
The campus gossip
The internship projects
The DJ nights and the fun
The Diwali crackers and the Pongal payasam
The least understood Jr. Bala sir's Finance lectures !
The winter breakfasts in the urban cafe lawns
The World cup matches on the big screen
The long bike rides to Lonavala with friends
… and much more beyond what can be put on this !

A tribute to one of my favourite writers

Peter Roebuck for me was an equivalent of god at writing articles on cricket and whenever I read his master pieces, I relished them and revelled at the thought process of the best cricket writer.

He was much more than a cricket writer; he was the voice of cricket – He was very vocal, yet lucid with his views, he was assertive yet rationale with the perspective. Frank and blatant some times. Every piece of his is a lesson in cricket and cricket writing. He was a cricket intellect to the core and his passion towards the game was absolute. He never indulged in jingoism and his emotions were unadulterated towards the great game; rather the only affection he seemed to have was cricket.

With a cricketing brain like none, Roebuck had the forte over the English language at his command and combined with the proficiency of the game, Roebuck actually created magic with every sentence he wrote.

For me there is no single favorite piece of cricket literature written by him, but plenty. Every new article of his was just a tad better than the previous one.

Through his writing I learned (or still learning) why is it important for a sports scribe to be unbiased and how to view the game not as a casual observer, but as a bull-headed critic. He was a writer with no holds bar approach when it came to his perspective, his views or his ideas. He was never diplomatically correct because he never tried to be in that position.

His pieces on Glenn McGrath, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman would make an average baseball loving American fall in love with these legends of cricket. Reading about his idea of Test cricket would make the idea of ODI and T20 cricket pitiful.

His was a voice to reckon with and his take on cricket was like a holy grail. He was not only shrewd but was downright witty and entertaining.

I am deeply saddened by the death of Peter Roebuck but he will live through his articles and would be remembered as one of the greatest cricket writers ever. Rest in Peace Peter.

Bryan Adams

I got back from the Bryan Adams concert. It wasn't bad. We kept walking all the way up to the entrance and lucky we were, to walk right in! But my friends choked when security checked their cameras and told them no cameras were allowed at the venue - huh ! I am yet to discover the security reason behind it. Why do they allow certain mobiles with cameras and not SLRs ? Strange!. 

Great night, we were far from the stage but we could see him and the band really well. The highlight for me was when he said My name is Bryan. Here I am'. He took off his song 'Here I Am' from that point – The crowd was excited when he just stringed through our ears the first tune of “Summer of 69” everyone got into it and was loud and singing and dancing. Played all the hits “Baby you are gone”, “18 till I die” and some new tunes as well. Bryan Adams singing songs that you and me would have listened more than million times but still listening those songs from Bryan is for sure to get goose bumps.It gave me a great feeling to sing along to the hits from the 90's. The stage was a constant flurry of excitement and completely into the aura of rock music.

The sky was sparkling with beautiful stars here and there and a huge round shining moon. Bryan was standing under the cool and beautiful gray shiny sky and entertaining the crowd. His voice roared through the miles in the air and I was totally in trance watching the sky, the star, the moon and the rock star, watching him singing, the whole sight was mesmerizing.

Hey Stars! What’s special today? Why are you shining too much? Stop! Isn’t it too much for my small eyes, huh I know they never listened to me. Just I could see another me in them with full packed excitement; All the way they were brilliance, twinkle, glint, radiance, and sparkling along with the rock star Bryan. All the more Bryan asked a lady to come on to the stage to sing along. She made her day! Lucky she. She took home T shirts signed by Bryan to her friends as well. Wow! The entire picture was food to the eyes and music to the ears. He sang around 20 songs including “Let’s make a night to remember”, “Please forgive me”, “How do ya feel tonight” “Running to you”- but it was not enough for all of us.

The crowd was kept in a constant trance and was simply electrifying. Bryan kept the pep talk on and trying to communicate to the audience. His light-heartedness was infectious. He has such a unique way of captivating and relating to his audience. I think after this astonishing experience, I now see Bryan Adams with even more respect than I did before. I could see that Bryan Adams’ impact on me and I hold the piece of evidence, that even when you climb the highest ladder of success, you can still remain grounded in your sense of reality. My eyes kept filled with plenty of colorful wonder as the music played on. The hyperactive guitarist scott, who was never at a standstill, wore a path in the floor running back and forth. The light works kept me craving for more.

Everywhere excitement, I noticed that there were bouncers, security guards and traffic policemen posted on every nook and corner. However, they could not do much to stop the madness. Thank God nothing of that sort happened. Bryan said Thanks and goodnight twice asked the crowd to go home but all of us were not ready to leave him. He left his guitar down and stood for a sec looking at the crowd. That was really fun to watch him the way he was teasing his fans. After he gave two more songs and signed off himself saying - Its fantastic night! Good night! God bless. The mood was ecstatic and upbeat throughout the show. I enjoyed every moment of the show and shouted madly . It proved to be a big treat for all the fans of Bryan Adams.

What a start of 2011 year! Hearing Bryan sing live was the experience of a lifetime. The concert was one of the most electrifying and enjoyable moments of my life. It was better than MLTR concert which I attended couple of years back in Bangalore. Rahman's rain concert is still the best for me ! The feeling of being in a world of rock music was just amazing. The event was worth the experience which I will remember for days to come.