... is that you never know whom to cheer for! Both are so likeable and so brilliant; Federer, a match short of being joint number 1 in the all-time Grand Slam list and Nadal already at his best Australian Open performance.

Before we go there though, what a tiring semi-final that was to watch between Nadal and Verdasco: 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7 and 6-4! Even the last game was played with as much brute force and power as the first. I was cheering for the underdog Verdasco, screaming something incomprehensible in Spanish which I later found out means, "Fernando, do you know Spanish, Fernando!" The wife subtly raised an eyebrow in the hope that there was no repeat of the Wimbledon finals of 2008 where a neighbour came checking on us to see if we were having a medical emergency. Anyway, what a match! Almost as great as the Wimbledon final last year, but not quite. I loved how Alan Wilkins of Star Sports described it (although he gets a tad repetitive sometimes) - there was nothing semi about this match.

For my big bwadder's sake who often confuses himself with the former World no 1, I hope that the five hour marathon has taken something out of Rafa, but for my wife's strange friend who for some stranger reason calls Nadal 'Chimpion', I hope the king of clay does well. What this means, however, is that there will be no more loud Espanol from me on Sunday.

P.S: My prediction - Roger. Yours? Leave a comment.
Update: Wah!

Akshay Kumar today shocked all and sundry at the Padma Shri awards ceremony by saying that he didn't deserve the award and Aamir Khan was the rightful recipient. "It's a hard to, youknow, deserve credit for not mine righteously", he grunted. He went on to spout, "This years in the IPL also, when Delhi Daredevils win we plan to give the award to Aamir Khan. Unggh."

On a completely unrelated note, he said, "I will never make another Chandni Chowk to China. I'm apologize to Shekhar Suman that I made him apologize." Incidentally, this statement elicited tremendous applause.

When reminded that Aamir Khan had already won the award , Akki retorted with an emotional "Arrggh" and leapt on to the roof. Apparently, he was promoting his upcoming film Kambakth Ishq where he plays a stuntman.

That's one chocolate bar that went to straight to the butt!

Original ad here.

Ad-parodying notwithstanding, the anchor and his constant repetition of the brand name are extremely irritating. Obviously the idea here is to try to enhance brand recall for a new launch, but there are better ways to do that than chant 'Bournville' incessantly. The visual effects of the giant bird are smooth, but fail to make up for the ad's inconsistent sense of humor (see-sawing between bizarre and simple) and complete lack of depth. On every level, one is left feeling like there's something incomplete about it.

What is really disappointing is the fact that Cadbury has a legacy of great commercials. Bournville is a premium brand and we should have seen something that was a notch above their best, not some clueless moron hogging screen space.

Grammar lesson of the day:

Best-ever
–adjective [bɛst/ˈɛvər]
1. Indication of peaking during careers; not best-ever

© ICC Rankers Association

Don't believe me? Read this scary story. Seems to be sponsored by PETA.

Sometimes you see a trailer of a movie and just know that it's going to be a flop.

Having said that, I just know that I'm going to watch 'Victory'. Expectations from a movie couldn't get lower... well maybe they could. Love Story 2050. Shudder.

What are people thinking!

Didn't anyone see the signs?

You're supposed to click on India Uncut in the thingy below. Now! And 24 hours later too. Go!!

[Update: Poll is now closed and some foul play seems to have been the case. Now we await the results.]

[Final Update: http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/thanks-for-voting/]

There's nothing funny about the Satyam episode if you're an employee of the company. As an ex-employee, my heart goes out to all my ex-colleagues and friends still employed with Satyam. You are in our prayers.

A simple list of tasks to get someone's complete postal address:

1. Wish they have DishTV.
2. Use your OWN login to get into the DishTV portal. You can also create one from here: http://www.dishtv.in/subaccess/default.aspx
3. Enter victim's cell phone number / VC number.
4. Ta-da! The next page displays their complete postal address!

Easy, no? How's THAT for privacy?

The vacation is over. But there are a few memories that need to be preserved. As and when they occur to the brain. For now, we present:

Memory one - Paper Sudoku man

In a country where people were obsessed with PSP's, mobiles and all things electronic, it was surprising to find a fellow train passenger playing Sudoku using pen and paper. This man of Chinese origin had scribbled over almost every page in his notebook and was on the verge of setting some sort of record when a seat behind him was vacated. He moved in to sit next to another, much older Chinese gentleman who was without electronic device or game. And then came the moment that had me and wife laughing for the next half an hour. The older man asked manual-Sudoku guy, "What's the time in China?".

Just like that. Out of the blue.

He asked with such sincerity that any Indian would have been obliged to answer. "What's the time in China?", the words were repeated, this time with frenzied pantomiming. The man who was visibly shaken out of his gaming reverie simply blinked at the older man like tears were about to come pouring out. He gaped for five or ten seconds. After which he eked out, "I don't know." He could no longer continue the Sudoku solving.

The train stared at the two weird, laughing Indians.

I'm back from vacation. Time to switch the out-of-office message off. Sample this:


Large presence in the center would be me. @ the reverse bungee at Clarke's Quay, Singapore.

Back to the routine now. No more octopus balls, shark fin soup, and fried raw oysters for snacks. No evening time Tiger beers by Clarke's Quay. Heck, no beers in public.

At home, it's business as usual: fog in Delhi, Income tax bribery case in Bangalore, burning buses in Kolkata and the union government 'pressurizing' neighbours. It's good to be home.

Blogging may be shaken out of it's holiday stupor. Let's hope.