3 Months and its been awesome blogging

Though I have written loads in my blog and have enjoyed every bit of it, I have also felt down at times, when ppl u know and befriend cannot simply respect ur standpoint. Its alright to be against ur viewpoint but showing hatred to u fr ur viewpoint doesnt seem justified. I have as much as possible never tried to hurt any community or anyone in particular though same cannot be said abt others towards me in this bloggin episode of mine.

Wateva I have been happy with the response frm most of them, friends reltives etc. I dont know how much I will be able to blog with hectic fall sem startin tomm. Till then see ya.

Italy - The World Champions

Yes after more than a months action, it is Italy that is crowned for the fourth time as teh world champions. It was truly a great moment for Italian football which many predicted is on downtrend after its unceremonious exit in second round of teh last world cup. But in this world cup they came with purpose and with three draws and four wins and conceding just 2 goals in the whole tournament, they more than just deserved this championship title.

My favs and my bet fr title win Argentina didnt lose any match yet were eleiminated by penalty shootout by hosts Germany. Definitely one of teh most talented sides of this world cup, Argentina surely have great chance in the next world cup. Brazil disappointed by losing in quarters versus France yet it was one off day that unforunately costs them yet another world cup.



France definitely deserves a special mention in this world cup for their spirited comeback after all of them gave hope after their disappointing start to teh tournament but it was once again Zidane who proved that he can take the burden of france on his shoulders and take them as far as finals when a second round exit would have been what many expected from them. It was something special once again from zidane after 98 WC and he deserved his golden Ball award. Though also we shdnt forget his unwanted lose of temper in dying minutes of crucicial finals match it was somethin expecte dof zidane who by nature is very short tempered. If people blame him for the defeat in finals, people shd rember it was this very character tht was essential or teh difference between france finishing second or exiting in second round. Unfortunately for france this weakness or strength of zidane was exploied by clever strategists Italy.

Anyhow it was awesome one month of action and Italy turns winners in what was a very intersting WC. Sure next world cup would bring in more start more fanfare etc but that is long way to go, till then people can forget football as is the case with most of us especially who dont follow club matches and like watching international action rather.

Rahul Dravid - The Wall

Rahul Dravid - The Wall. Yes he is truly a wall who is so difficult to dislodge and would require some real character stuff from bowlers to get him out. One of the greatest Indian batsman of all time and the present No-1 Test Batsman in India and ofcourse one of the best in the world and also the present captain of the Indian one day and Test team. This man has done it all in his career spanning exactly a decade now.

When he started people admired his technical correctness and were quick to predict a long term in Indian cricket which ofcourse was proved little later after his one day debut in his debut test against England at Lords. He along with Ganguly formed a formidable pair and probably were instrumental in ending the careers of gifted players like Sanjay Manjrekar and Vinod Kambli. Indian team those times were very strong in home but very weak in away games which was proved time and again. Under Azharuddins reign India reached new levels in Test cricket by defeating a formidable English side 3-0 at home, winnning lankans at home and away. Also not to forget their many one day triumphs during those period. But the biggest concern was their performance abroab, especially outside subcontinent. Indian couldnt defeat the debutant sides like Zimbabwe or reentry side like South Africa in their away series. They also tasted big defeats in Australia and disastrous WC 1992. Though India did well to reach semis in WC 96, much more was expected from the home side and also it was at home.




In this backdrop and after a humiliating semifinal defeat against Sri lanka, India decided to completely revamp their side. Players like Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli, Manoj Prabhakar were all dropped from the side. Though Azhar was retained, he had lost much of his charisma by then and for the English tour India decided to blood in two young budding cricketers Dravid and Ganguly. Though Sachin had made his stand, the Indian batting looked very weak and playing their old side they were beaten and bruised in the first test with only Sachin battling the grounds. People had become restless and were accusing fingers and in this backdrop emerged two icons of which one (Ganguy) went on to become Indias most succesful captain, one of the all time best odi batsman and the most valuable cricketer India has produced. The other Rahul Dravid our article hero is the present skipper of the Indian team and all teh attributes I have given him earlier.

Dravid started the transition and probably he made more difference to Indian test team than did sachin, Sachin was more charismatic, poster boy character whereas Dravid was more result oriented. Though you dont see so many media hailing Dravid, he has better test average tahn Sachin, better captaincy record tahn sachin, better temperament tahn sachin, has won more matches than sachin. Last but not the least his match and series winning performance in the recently concluded West Indies tour proved it once again.



Dravids highligh in his test career has been his never say die attitude, his performance speaks volumes for his grand career. Who can forget his epic knock og 181 in Kolkata with laxma against Invisible aussie attack. Or his double hundred in series winning match against Pakistan. What about his two hundred in same test match record or his impeccable test average which I suppose is best for any Indian cricketer. Or his record of most double hundreds - 5, by an Indian. Right from his debut at Lords he has achieved things continuously and of you want me to pick one Indian cricketer for thsi great Indian Rennaissance in Test cricket in away games it would be rahul Dravid. Also he is quickest to 9000 test runs and am sure he has lots more to offer, I would put my money on dravid than sachin for most test runs in the world.

Also with exit of ganguly and sachin spending more time off field tahn on lately due to injuries, he has become the pivotal rock around which the Indian batting revolves. He has test average of 65 in away games, boy he is so gifted. Sadly no I think its hardwrk unlike Sachin for whiom things come so easily I think Dravid has put lots more efforts and deserves every bit of his achievements.



His one day record is nothing to shy away from. though initially he was criticized for being too slow for one day games, he proved very quickly taht he can adjust very well to this format as well by hitting string of high scores in one day circuit. Who can forget that he was the highest run getter in 1999 Wc or his prolific form in NZ tour of 1999. Also his commitment to the team was proved once agains when he kept wickets for India for a period of almost three years and still maintained hisgh one day average. He is instrumental in many Indian odi wins and laso his record partnership with first sourav in 1999 WC against Sl and then with sachin against NZ were also proof for his one day exploits.

In conclusion I think Dravid has been a huge difference to an Indian away batting from looking good to great. He has done more than enough to prove his claim his as one of India's greatest batsman and ofcourse as one of the most valuable cricketer India has ever produced. I salute to this great Indian cricket legend and whom if am not wrong can play another 5 years of international cricket before retirement such is his strength and he is no way towards the end and infact is at the peak of his career. Unlike sachin and ganguly who both seem to be more towards the end of their career this chap has loads of cricket left in him and which ofcourse means India can see loads of away victories from him. Until next time this is lomi signing off.

Review of 36 China Town

Watched this movie 2 weeks ago and was bit disappointed as abbas-mustan fan but happy overall to see a good hindi film. Especially seeing so many crappy movies released so tirelessly in hindi, this one was far better proposition to those. But the movie wasnt as gripping as abbas-mustans earlier works like humraaz, aitraaz or baazighar.

The story is pretty simple if u are used to watching thrillers which is also said to be copied from an american movie. A murder occurs, the murdere is identifies. As simple as that, thats how mystery movie works. Anyhow this movie was better in a sense that setup was different with casinos and Chinese influence etc but the other things remained same like a rich person is murdered for money ofcourse what else and then the mystery is unveiled.



Shahid kapur is yet to give a hit and this one does give him a minor one but still has a long way to go to take a film on his own shoulders. Ofcourse the hero of the movie is rather Akshaye Khanna who as in his previous abbas-mustan movies gives a stellar performance. Abbas-Mustan have always dished out good movies and this one for their standards wasnt all that great but was liek a not bad performance.

Kareena kapur after her villainous role in Aitraaz was back to normal bubbly gal role which ofcourse she executed pretty well. Others like paresh rawal, johnny lever were pretty professional and went abt their task without much effort. A good performance by I suppose a debutant called Rocky in the movie. A must watch if u are fed up of those sizzly stuffs and want some substance and arent tat patriotic to watch rang de or tat yash chopra fanatic to watch Fanaa.

No-2 and No-5 rank bow out - What a day??

What could be termed as the biggest upset day in the tournament, two pre match favourites in USA ranked fifth in world and czech republic ranked 2nd got eliminated in the first round of the FIFA WC. The two lower ranked teams, Ghana 48th rank and Italy 13th rank qualified. Noone in Fifa expected such a big upset considerin a huge gap in rankings tat USA and czech cud bow out so soon but tats the fate.

Seriously wat the heck are these FIFA rankings. Anyday Italy is better than US and czech and african nation are always powerhouse which is evident in this WC. Wats the meanin of these rankings i dont understand. Wateva USA and czech are ranked too high seems more sensible statement after seeing their matches tahn to say it was disappointing performances.

Anyhow such is the world, lets see for more actions in the latter matches of this WC. According to FIFA holland (3rd rank) are second favs to win the cup now and watmore Mexico third favs after these 2 big teams exits.

Sania Mirza - The Supergal.

Sania Mirza the name echoes around every Indian city u go nowadays. Every lil gal in her thrid std fouth std doesnt anymore get excited to see cricket rather they see tennis. They cheer fr none other than this hyderabadi toast called sania. The excitement she has created around the country is unparalleled and never seen before in Indian women sports History. Though PT Usha did create lots of hope, it remained just tht mere hope, never translatin to victories. But this gal is diff and she sure has come to stay in the circuit.

When she started playing tennis in her young age she was as much a aspiring tennis player as u or me but the fact tat she had it in her to go all the way to grandslams and even winning few of the ATP tournament is great. What more she is the current youth icon of India, Arjuna Awardee and the role model fr so many gals in India.



Her achievements in such a young age are enormous and she has all the time to go lot more distance. The fact wat makes her lot more diff frm wat sachin, sehwag, kapil, amritraj, leander, bhupathi or any other star has done is tat no other female sportsperson has done so much in Indian sports history and he has created a new rolemodel fr indian youth especially gls to look forward to. The fact tat she is hardly 19 makes it even more greater.

When she won the hyderabad open the support fr her tremendous and I remeber seein most of her matche sin tat tournamnet when she was simply outstanding and left most of he ropponents in disarray. I wud love to see her in action again if possible. Her forehand were so god damn strong and unlike the feeble hands of indian women tat westerners know of.



Though there is a slight slip in her rankings, I expect her to come back with bang and probably win a grandslam which cud mark a great achievement not just fr women sport but fr the entire Indian sports History. So I end this article cheerin sania to go all the way in the upcomin wimbledon, sania Go get it!!

Who will win this Soccer WC?

Heyyy its soccer season again and what more we have the world's best teams competing for ultimate glory. Brazil as usual are the favourites.

Soccer WC is special because it is combination of all continent teams and u can see nations frm every corner of the world. My personal bet would be on Argentina. I favour Argentina to win this WC. Hey I know u have other views but lets see who wins. So I predict Argentina will win this WC 2006 and get their third WC. Brazil shd travel far but I expect them to lose in the crunch.

Wateva commenting on this WC so far, its been excitin so far and the biggest early upset as in teh last WC was caused by african nation. Last time it was senegal and this time it is Ghana. I expect ghana to move to second round though u donno wat wud happen in this funny game where teams like US are ranked fifth. I seriously saw them play in 2 match es and they were slightly better than Iran. Man these rankings are crap.

Also I am very much please with african nations display as they continued their good play frm last tournament but wud like to see more of them in future than just 5 teams. European teams have been doin well as expected too. Asians team except korea have disappointed again big time. I dont understand logic behind havin 4 North and central american teams, I dont think teams like trinidad and costa rica deserve a place in WC ahead of so many good african or even european teams.



As the Wc eneter excitin knockout rounds we will have excitin matchups and probably see the team with the best nerve than skill winnin each match. As this was evident in last WC when korea defeated both European stalwarts Spain and Italy which wasnt expected of them but such is the game that it brings out the best in u when u play in ur home turf.

I am signing off hopin to see lots more excitin matches in this WC and u also dont miss this as otherwise u will have to wait 4 years to see this action again.

Sehwag - the Most Daring

Sehwag, almost a household name in every cricket loving home in India. He is the latest Big sensation to hit the cricket world and Indian cricket in particular. Ofcourse Dhoni is also there but Sehwag is more like being proven performer over a longer time. In simple words I just cant stop myself frm watchin this wonder kid slashing every bowler out of park. He has no repect fr the bowlers reputation and as he says in one of his ads, look at the ball and hit on its merit, forget abt who is bowling.

Sehwag is one of those cricketers who cud have only dreamnt of playing fr India if it was seventies or eighties when cricket was more of rich man's sports. Now with more and more rural players playin fr India, the different Indian team is in fr store. Gone are those days when Indian team meant the team with no flair except fr sachin and a set of mediocre players put together frm every corner of country to form a so called team. Now we have a team tat truly represents with players frm both city and rural side and sehwag definitely holds limelight as far as rural cricketers go.



The thing abt sehwag as I have said in my title of post is He is the most daring. Dhoni comes a close second but sehwag harbhajan dhoni kaif yuvraj pathan are a league of their own. they are not those city type cricketers who worry abt who writes wat abt them. Also those who spend so much care in crafting their own milestones but when it comes to team, they are least bothered. Sehwag is the class of his own. I dont think any cricketr wud have guts to hit his triple century with six even when he was dismissed on 190's in the previous encounter by hittin a similar stroke. Such darin is unheard of Indian history.

Sehwags career started with everyone sayin he cud be the best one day player but as it turns out he is an average one day player but India's second best Test batsman not after sachin but after dravid., Accordin to me Sachin comes a distant fourth after dravid,sehwag and laxman. Sachin has been in horrible form of late especially in tests and sehwag has been in prolific form.

The fact I say sehwag is better batsman than sachin in tests at the moment is not just some folklore, I have stats to prove it. Sachin after 2003 WC averages 46 in tests whereas sehwag averages 56. The point is sachin has some horrible scores in the 26 tests tat he played in this period. His average is consolidated by his 241 in sydney and 248 in Dacca against bangladesh. Also he played a second fiddle 195 in multan with sehwag against pakistan. If those scores which excpet sydney innings which also was very much unsachin like are removed, his avergae will be in paltry twenties. Sachin fr sure wud admit tat this is his worst patch in tests and it must be accepted tat sehwag has capitalised a s a better batsman in this period.



Sehwags scores in the same period are prolific. No one can forget his 309 at multan which scripted one of the finest victories fr indian team in paki soil. Also his 195 at melbourne was breathtaking. Not to forget his recent 180 in teh ongoin test against Wi. Also who can forget his match winnin 155 in chennai against aussie attack. His 164 against SA, His 173 against pak in chandigarh or his 201 against same pak in bangalore. Or his unbeliveable 254 against pak in lahore. Not to forget his debut 155 against SA. Did I just metion tat sehwag scored three double tons in this period. Also four great 150+ knocks. the thing abt sehwag is he goes on after his century which is not seen among other players.

He has been simply outstandin fr India in test and has been average in one days, overall a priceless gift fr any team with also his offspin contributin some great things. Also he is avery good death bowler in odis especially when pressure is mountin. Who will forget his contribution with ball in ICC champions trophy 2002 semifinals against SA.

But plzzz dont think him as next indian captain. he is more like tht trump card tat any team wants. He is not a skipper by nature. Which is also evident by his low average in second innings of test. As everyone knows second innings is supposed to be more pressure oriented innings. He avergaes arnd 25 in tests in second innings. So he shd remain a great player and not a skipper which I believe will destroy his career.

Adios signing off and salutes to the most daring Veeru.

353 Hits and what more can I ask for?

353 hits in a day and what more can I ask for? I advertised my blog in 12, 13 groups but only buffalo univ group was so kind enud to popularize it. I am indebted to Prashant, raghuram and all others who chipped in so much fr me. Man.. I cudnt have got so many hits and popularity even with NY Times Ad.

Ppl say tht I was dickhead fr advertizing blog in group but who is complaining, I achieved my purpose. My english is so poor, who cares there were 147 unique visitors yesterday. Wow. Yahoo.com had direct 80 clicks frm their site. Boyyyy, how grateful am to these guys. Eventhough my Toefl is 293/300 and ppl in Univ at Buffalo give me grades even with my poor english, these guyz think otherwise, well who cares. Hey raghuram and prashant, keep it goin man, I cudnt have asked fr more frm u.

Also one more advice to all those UB group diehard lovers. One post of me was unwanted but u guys posted 20 odd unwanted messages, tat was the biggest joke. Also I have been in forum fr 3 years and I know its working pretty well. Either u have one admin and few mods or only one admin or no admin itself. Here in UB we have no admin itself. So it means its a free forum and anyone can post anything they want unless rebuked by admin. Then why the heck Mr X, Mr Y is so concerned abt the group. Plz mind ur own business.

Review of Pudupettai

Mmmmm I saw this movie pudupettai very recently and was taken aback by the amount of sex and violence tat this movie had in store fr me. It was non stop sex and violence and violence in particular. The logic is simple now in tamil cinema unline hindi where either sex or shahrukh sells. Here in tamil cinema only sex and violence sells. Hero is gotta be a rowdy. Okkk he can be a policeman, collector, officer but he is a rowdy inside. Like vikram says in saamy movie "Naan police ille da porrikki". It seems to have settled in very well. It wasnt as if these type of movies werent there in past but nowadays I see only these types of movies in tamil. There are some really good movies frm Mani Ratnam at times but they are white dots in a black paper.

Comin back to this pudupettai movie, wat message does director wnna convey to moviegoers. Tat violence is spread in Tamilnadu. Come on selvaraghavan. U are touted as next maniratnam or wateva. But this movie of urs just proved u cant go beyond sex and violence. Though there were certain scenes where u did good job in bringing out emotions and realism, it was expected of u after ur 3 hits. In simple words u disappointed a lot of them. The scene where Dhanush kills the gang leaders bro and escapes frm 100 odd ppl defies realism. Plzzz u can do anythin in cinema but dhanush killin a person with one shot. As they say in US, u gotta be kiddin. Wateva there were no grey shades in dhanush character like selvas heroes in his previous movies. Dhanush character in this movie was dark Black, full black tat there were just no white shades in him. I mean personally I dont think a person like tat can exist. If it exists atleast he cudnt be a gang leader. My personal opinion is whteva bad be a guy, once he gets money and respect. he tries to project himself as good even if he is not good. Tats my views.



Anyhow now comin back to recent tamil movies, wat the heck is goin on. Wher are those romantic movies, comedy movies or atleast those thrillers. Tamill cinema misses those type of directors. Someone in the calibre of Abbas Mustan who dishes out those classic thrillers now an then and makes hindi cinema different. tamil movies had those dramas as their plus point. Noone can forget the period where family movies used tod ominate tamil cinema. If u understand am referrrin, samassaram adhu minsaram. tat was heck of a movie frm Visu. But those types are very rare nowadays. Ppl just seem to be obssessed with rowdy movies in tamil.

Like I said before when a dircetor writes story wateva be the script, wateva be the role of the hero. he is rowdy fr sure. police aka rowdy. Collector aka Rowdy. may be ven student aka rowdy. Uhhhhh disgusting

Our Play Live on Google

Hey guyz,
The play frm Gilli Guyz is available live on Google fr viewers. More explainations are given in the play.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3079180028511851589
This is the url and also watch out fr details to know the credits.

1000 Hits and Growing

Hey,
This is to inform you that officially I have crossed 1000 hits in my website and its growing teremedously. Another happy news is tat google has added my blog in their indexing. Also the Ads tat I am advertising at the top of screen has given me One dollar in money so far fr the click there. So lots of good news I suppose and hope fr lots more frm u. Once again thanks fr all ur support and do await lots more articles frm yours truly Lomi

The Topics fr future posts

Hey as a self advertisment and to keep u guys intersted, am posting topics of the posts tat I wish to write in future. This is in no necessary order and it is possible tat I will not be able to write many of them due to time constraint. Anyway these are the titles:

1) Does Islam Oppress Women?
2) A Tribute to my parents
3) Islam degrades marriage by allowing Polygamy!
4) Injustice in Indias popular MBA Forum
5) Are Brahmins Dalits of today? - asks Indian media
6) When will dalits get their rights?
7) Indian cricket team selection
8) Ganguly-Chappell Saga
9) Why Dravid eludes Indian media
10) Sachin - a poster boy frever.
11) Indian Olympic Squad - 1 medal every games
12) Paes/Bhupathi - Father of Indian Tennis
13) Indias chances in Cricket WC 2007
14) Football WC 2007
15) Islam Divorce law - The most crudest




16) Mohd Kaif - will media ever support him?
17) Irfan Pathan - A rise from Shambles
18) Sehwag - The most Daring
19) Dhoni - The latest sensation
20) Palestine - The most rude state
21) Hockey - Is it our national sport?
22) 15% not even one National Party - What are Muslims doing?
23) kashmir - Whose state is it anyway?
24) Freedom of Speech - How far can u go?
25) Muhammad Ali - What made him accept Islam

Do write ur comments on titles and ur level of excitement in reading abt these topics. I will love knowing ur opinion.

Thanks fr all ur support

Hey its been 11 days since I created this blog and I have got over 500 hits. I am happy and want ur continued support. Also dont forget to look at the comments section fr more info. Also if possible leave a comment as annonymous if u dont have blog. Leaving ur name at bottom wud help.

I want to make it clear tat all the posts are my own vies and in a free democratic country u are free to voice them. You are welcome to criticize, comment or praise my blogs. I dont mind any level or any amount of criticism as long a sits constructive and not vituperative. I have nothing against any community or ppl. I have something against some govts policies and some media bashing but I suppose am free to have them.

I wud look forward to ur continued support.

Adios.

CAT viewed as cricket game

This is the article that i wrote when I was preparing fr the mother of all exams called CAT. Abt roughly Nov 2004.

Cricket : Game :: Cat : Test

Yups this is a perfect analogy. mmmm now this start a some creative post from me. plzz respond about how u like it??

First up few comparisons between cricket terms to *CAT test. they are:

Balls bowled: questions thrown at you.
Bowlers used: The various areas u are tested (QA, VA/VR, DI etc)
Type of ball: type of question (tricky, easy,medium)
Fielders : Trapping you into wrong area or lets say wrong choice in cat.
Runs : Correct answers acheived by you.
Wickets : Negative marking
Overs : The each spell of concentration (may be equivalent to single page in the cat paper)
Spinners : English section
Pacers : Maths Section
Off spinner : VA /VR
Leg spinner : RC
Right arm Fast : Pure difficult qa question
Swing Bowler : LR
Right arm medium fast : DI

The situation here is. You are chasing ofcourse. so u only bat and u don bowl. The biggest catch in this game is there is no

set target. target is decided after you play the game. The balls here are 150(i.e 150 questions). that is 25 overs. (approx 25 pages). Now this sets up the game.

Venue : Ofcourse the mecca of cricket(ur test centre ofcourse)
Time : 10:30 am to 1:00 PM
Game starts at 11:00 am (a two hour game.)

25 overs will be bowled.(i.e 150 balls or rather say questions) theres one differnce here the bowler wont wait fr the batsman. the ball just keep coming. no telling that people are moving near the sidescreen(i.e ofcourse distractions in ur test).



Remember you play right handed always.(i.e you mark with your right hand (now how u decipher right is upto you.))
Now i will come to teh 5 bowlers in this test

1)Shoaib Akhthar ( a pure menancing fats bowler. now if u are following my post carefully. u shd have guessed akthar : QA questions)
2)Irfan Pathan (a King of swing andis ou LR questions)
3)Muralitharan (the wily fox is our VA/VR questions)
4)Shane Warne (the crafty spinner is RC questions)
5)Mcgrath (this guy is Steady and so he put his spell of DI questions on us)

Each of them can have any amount of overs. you donno the no of overs fr each or say no of balls. You don know which 2 bowlers will be combined to form one section or how many will be clubbed. This all sets fr something which is way ahead of world
challenge going to be organized by ICC next year. Now You dont represent any team. You dont have any specific wickets. You are the only batsman. There will be negative runs for every wicket you lose. Now the extent of that is unknown. Dont think easy balls means easy runs. one miscued shot and the fielders are there to catch every shot of urs.
coz here is the list of fielders in the team:

1) Ricky Ponting
2) Mohd Kaif
3) Dion Ebrahim
4) Yuvraj Singh
5) chandana

now the keeper is ofcourse Mr Gilchrist who can take any catch u think u can just edge past him fr 4 runs. (i.e ofcourse

guessing answers)

Now this is wat i make up come one guys tell me wat ya think abt it. I think is awesome. Now hows that fr creativity.



Let me be honest here, am not too creative actually speaking but somehow came up with this idea and have crafted out this in one nite. Juz feel i have to thank rediff.com fr giving me a great platform fr trying something new. And also wanna add that am having a shot at this cricket game. (now u can say what i mean here is ofcourse test)

MS in US

This is the article i wrote when i was studying in my prefinal yr of Btech and preparing fr GRE. Roughly arnd March 2004.

MS in US

So you want to do MS in US? Well then I hope that this article will be very useful to you. I actually want to bring about every procedure that has to be followed for getting into any top graduate school for doing masters in US. Well the fact that I myself haven’t been exposed to all this means that you cant just follow me as I might very well make few mistakes.

Why???? :

Well now this is the obvious question in everyone’s mind. Let me give my reasons:

1. Dream to pursue higher studies in the country where the latest technologies are developed or readily available. (man….how advanced are they?)


2. Higher standards of studies in US universities. (wonder when will I be sitting in those lecture halls)


3. The studies/courses are practical oriented and not just "learning by rote" studies followed in some universities in India. (if that was the case I wouldn’t be cutting classes)


4. Faculties in the USA are PhDs. They know their stuffs.(uhhhhh… hopefully not insulting)


5. To pursue higher research, USA provides the facilities for this to be possible. (One day I will find something…..)


6. To get the STAMP of education in USA. (hey man am a graduate from US)


7. To get a good high paying job.(The salary slip that I will envy)


8. To just get to the US by some means. (man….I wanna be there).

Where????

Ok wanna do masters in US but then there are so many schools there and which is the right one, where should I study? This is what we might be thinking now. Well at the end of this article is the NRC ranking for aerospace Engineering in 1991-1992 is given. That gives almost a rough idea of the top 32 universities in aerospace in US. Ok with this question of rankings also come another very important question which one can I afford? This is a tough one to answer but as a thumb rule we can say that public (state run) universities are cheaper than private ones. We will deal in detail about costs little later. Also climate plays an important role so after deciding the schools, it is a better idea to visit the college’s website and know in detail about other details of the college. The internet is the most powerful weapon for unlocking all the details about the college’s and of course this article was mostly framed from the information in the net.

How????

Ok now the previous two questions were dealt with little ease but this one needs quite a lengthy answer. Well since I wouldn’t like to waste much of space wasting explaining, I rather have given the lists of things to do starting from April month of your pre-final year:

April - June (of your 3rd year):

Decide on your field(s) in which you wish to apply.

Write a draft statement of purpose/personal statement.

Visit Internet to find university links and learn more about them.

Start browsing Web sites to graduate programs and college catalogs.

Schedule the required standardized tests.

July-September:

Take standardized tests. GRE and TOEFL.

Report your scores sensibly. You will be saving $ 96.

Meet with faculty members that you know to discuss your personal statement and learn about possible programs.

Request Application Forms from graduate schools.

Start writing to faculty members of Prospective graduate schools.

Begin to develop your personal timeline for the application process.

October – November:

Based on your GRE scores determine the schools to which you plan to apply.

Finish your timeline based on each institution's deadline and financial aid deadlines.

Complete your personal statement, adjusting it to meet each application's specific needs.

Order transcripts from all post-secondary institutions (If fall term grades are expected, then check with staff in the registrar's office to see if a transcript including fall term grades can be sent in time to meet the deadlines of programs to which you are applying).

Complete application forms (First, do a draft on a photocopy of the form).

Approach your faculty members for Recommendation letters. Give your faculty all the information that they will need to write recommendations for you for each of your application schools.

December/January:

Prepare your applications. Get your bank drafts. Report your GRE/TOEFL scores if you haven't done so earlier.

Mail applications. Even if deadlines are later, it is good to get the applications in early.

February – April:

Wait for your admissions.

Keep track of your application forms .Check your online status regularly.

If you do not get financial aid, then decide according to the situation.

If you have obtained more than one admission, try to make up your mind about which program you will join.

Reject other offers politely.

June – August:

Contact your program coordinator to get more information.

Write to your guide and learn more about his/her latest research interests.

Block your tickets early. (Shop around for a good offer!)

Shopping! Prepare to leave.

GRE/TOEFL:

These are the two exams you will have to write if you have to go to any graduate school in US. First preparing for TOEFL isn’t that tough and I will recommend you to take GRE first and take TOEFL later. The idea behind this strategy is that preparing the verbal section of GRE will itself equip to almost tackle TOEFL. The TOEFL also tests some things different from GRE like listening skills and grammar skills. Now let’s see how we deal with preparation for GRE.

Preparation for GRE:

First I will suggest few materials for preparations, they are as follows:

1. Barrons' Guide for the GRE - For Verbal prep only. Please buy the present edition.


2. CDs for computer based testing ( I would suggest Kaplan, Powerprep and Princeton Review)


3. Question papers, Verbal & Analytical exercises by Kaplan, Princeton, Peterson’s etc


4. Norman Lewis: How to build a better vocabulary & Rosenblum - These books can be used to strengthen your verbal skills.

Now since I hope that you can work out the schedule by yourself, I am not giving much detail about how to go about your preparations. But I can tell you that at least six months of continued preparations is required for cracking the GRE. First you can start by reading a vocabulary building book like the Norman Lewis one and then slowly go about going through the word lists of Barron’s. Well it’s a hectic work going through those unheard words but then its worth that hard work. Then finally one thing which is also widely accepted in GRE is that only way to improve your scores drastically is to improve your vocabulary.

Structure of GRE:

Going through any of the books on GRE will tell you more details regarding it like the system of scoring. First I can tell you that its not a paper based test and computer adaptive test (CAT). I can tell you simply that it adapts accordingly i.e. gives you the next question depending upon how you answered the previous questions. GRE has three sections: Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical writing sections. Quantitative section is easiest of the three for us and all it requires is not to be over confident, that’s all. Verbal section is the toughest and requires all the hard work that I prescribed you earlier. Writing section is something for which you cant do much as it is inborn talent in you. The only thing you can avoid is spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes etc Though GRE actually test you on your analyzing skills. The scores for each sections are : Verbal = 800, Quantitative = 800. Writing = 6 point scale. That doesn’t mean that writing isn’t important. All three sections scores are equally distributed. For engineering students quantitative is the most important section. Going through any of the books will give more details regarding these sections.

Conclusion:

I think that is good enough exposure for a novice at education in US. I haven’t dealt about the costs, financial aids, SOPS, recommendation letters, GRE in details etc since I suppose this being a general essay I need not be that exhaustive. Then I would like to conclude hoping that every reader of this article benefited something out of this. If anyone wants me to write another article on other particular topics of “MS in US” then it will be my pleasure to do the same.

TNPCEE saga..

This article i wrote abt 1 yr ago when TNPCEE saga was really on and ppl were discussin like whether there will be TNPCEE exam at all after our great amma had done all tat usual hoolah boolah she is famous fr.

TNPCEE Saga

Mmmmm the exam fr which i broke my head and enede up getting a coveted seat in aeronautical engineering program of madras institute of tech, chennai. Man that was awesome fr me. I loved that pattern where almost every skill of urs was tested. You had to be a mugger cum hard worker to get thro that 200 marks of board exam. And it was not all, u also shd have that craftiness to get the required marks in entrance as well. Come on guys out there tell me which other entrance exam was so complete in making. I think TNPCEE testing was one such entrance exam. I scored abt 286 on 300 and was ranker around 1800's. And ofcourse i loved every bit of it.

I had no problems with it. Neither did my friend from my school or any in my city. So then why is this system being scrapped so asks any chennai lad walking down the street. The answer they get is very difficult to digest fr two reasons, one it means their uture has been toyed with by some so called politicans and also that they were not all informed abt this earlier, now thats totally unfair, brutal anddoenst deserve any justification.

Now wat does our beloved amma say, she says that it benefits rural students. Now let me talk frm rural students angle. Also let me tell u guys abt my knowledge on rural students of tamilnadu. During my TNPCEE time there was this same system but unlike last year for one special year in tamilnadu engineering entrance history there was 25% rural quota for the first as well as for the last time. This was history, as far as i remembre there was no people or student opposing this (i mean city lads) but ofcourse no city lad cud digest it. Now having said this, wat this meant was 25% of my college were rural ppl plus some more as well. Thus I have interacted this fellows and wud share my experience.



First case, a guy whose dad is nothing but cycle pucture shop owner, he has two sons both get thro using rural quota to this prestigious institution. One was senior to me by a year(that year there was 15% rural quota) and other my set. Both get placed in well to do companies (ofcourse are earning arnd 20k per month each)

Second case, his dad a farmer, hasnt seen more than some 2 or 3k in whole now earns 22 k in MNC called IBM.

Third case, a guy whose dad isnt even alive and is now very happy earning and saving his money fr his mom.

Now these were very few of the so many cases that I did observe in my own college, there shd so many hundered cases elsewhere as well. Now at that very moment I felt these quotas were justified but then I also saw hundred cases where students struggled cudnt speak more than two words of english, studied in tamil medium schools and were struggling. They always kept disance from city lads and also many eneded up struggling to find jobs but eventually did get some job or the other.

Having said all this, people might think I side rural quota, my answer is yes and no. yes fr the moment not just in tamilnadu but also whole india and ofcourse I dont mean have it in every damn college, have it only in some top 50 engg colleges in India. Reason was ofcourse mentioned above. For a city lad an engg degree frm top rated college in country means a difference either only to him or his family whereas fr a rural quota ppl it means a difference to his whole village. Thats wat wud transform this nation into a force to reckon with and that wat we need as well. We dont need CEO's and business tycoons to be working in US rather we needto see that there is not a single soul who sleeps hungry in this country.



But also I said NO to the question coz wat i eventually want my government to do is not to just give them quotas but build it up slowly in 5 to 10 years such that in that time, the rural students are able to beat the heck out of thsi city lads without any quotas. Give them facilities. I know thousands of rural students who didn have house to study, didn have power like u guys, didn have bed to sleep after the hard studied day. Give them these facilities plus the lecturers as well. I don say all this is not there but u know how much it is and even what is there is nothing but eyewash. Wat we need is ingle minded purpose to transform these people frm rural into something totally classy.

Ok these all might sound bit jazzy not practical but i believe its very much one and if i was given a chance to be the CM of this state that wud be the foremost idea in my mind. Coz as gandhiji said india lives in villages. Another thing is we always are selfish but tats okkkk as long as u are in ur family but once u come out u gotta think as an indian and not as a family man.

I have given loads of suggestions as well as my thoughts on this issue and now coming back to real issue, I believe if at all u wanna help rural whether its fr votes or fr real symphathy, the better system was the one which was during my year (remember there is 0% rural quota fr last 2 years as well as this year). This wud mean 25% rural ppl will face the real world and that wud also mean they will come out of their villages and face the music and understand what is what. I know a rural guy who didn know how computer looked like when he entered in first year and now he can write C programs that cud mock mocrosoft paint software. Ahhhh tats a development. I know u guys wud lose some coveted seat but my suggestion is there is more happiness in giving than taking. Also these rural quota shdnt apply to mkore than top 20 or 30 colleges otherwise there is no meaning in it. Coz tats where the real development is.

The Movies like RDB

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mmmmmm saw this movie. Was another in tht great list of patriotic movies, i have seen in like say past 5 years. The list goes like this:
1)Yuva
2)Swades
3) RDB
4)Mudhalvan aka Nayak

All these movies had somethin in common if one had cared to noticed. It was all abt contemporary youth. In all these movies the hero was youth, the youth power. What the youth can achieve blah blah. mmmmmm now the interstin part, am the youth of this great nation called india so after watching all these movies do i replicate the hero of the movie. Now i watched the RDB the latest among these list and find it more appropriate especially in first half to what the youth of our nation is thinking. The youth of our nation is least bothered abt anything tat is happenin in our country like india. There is no Nayak like journalist youth (when i say no its mostly) who cares so much abt nation. There is no yuva like youth who wants to enter politics inspite of all the hoolah boolah(okkk exception is lok paritran). There is no swades like youth who gives up his fortune in a dreamland called US and comes back to serve his motherland. (again exception is lok paritran ppl).




But teh majority if not all of our youth is pretty much like RDB first half and are least bothered abt nation and think in terms of wat nation has done to them and not in lincoln's lines of wat u have done to nation. (also pardon my sms lingo, tats how my most writings will be). They need tat spark reminiscent of teh RDB to change to youth of RDB second half

Now some recent happenings in my daily life. After watching these 4 movies, especially after RDB, I got inspired to write somethin in those lines and so struck an idea in my mind, let me make a drama of this script and present it to again the youth of nation. Difference being am studyin in US and the youth to which am showin this, atleast most of them have come to find some fortune in US and don wanna even dream abt goin back to india. So I decide to show them the situation replica of my own univ (Annai Univ). I show how the youth becomes the VC fr one day and changes the happening of univ in one day so tat the foreign ppl start comin to this univ fr studies. http://uploadfile.putfile.com/videos/13610594041.wmv Here u say glimpses of my play.

The response fr this play of mine was mixed, ofcourse there were usual great actin, great coordination etc which pleased me. I didn hear anythin in lines of great concept, but will it happen. U were jokin werent u? Most of them knew it was just play and boy they have seen so many movies in same fervour and very well accept tat these things sound good in movies but in reality are least practical.

Now i end this first real post of me wonderin is it really hypothetical and all dreamy or these things tat we see in movies is really possible??? still dreaming........

Hi there

This is Asad Ahmed R doing masters in Aerospace engg at SUNY-UB, NewYork. Wanted to do blogging and have tried once or before as well but wanted to do start afresh and with a bit of difference so here am again. Basically vist me on orkut if u need more info on me and my friends and my life etc. Basically am planning to write loads and loads of stuffs, wateva comes in my mind. I suppose i have many good points and i can write on varied topics as well. So lets see how many of u like my posts coz my views are mostly controversial but i think it is quite conclusive as well.