iRohit.com

So Nadal’s not playing. That was very disappointing news to many of his fans, including me. We are not going to see another classic. It was totally shocking to see him losing to Soderling. I for one think, it was a combination of the worst performance by Nadal on clay and Soderling playing his best tennis. Roger though, made the best of it, and that’s exactly what a champion does. He did deserve the career grand slam. It would have been a lot sweeter if he had won it against Nadal, but I guess he would more than glad to win it against Soderling. He spared the world his tears.

So with no Nadal, this Wimbledon is Rogers to win. And that will take him past Pete. And being a Sampras fan, it’s really sad to see his record being broken, but since it will be Roger, I guess it’s not that bad.

Also, this Wimbledon and the French Open make us realize what a privilege it was to see the two of them go at it for 4 years back to back on the clay of Roland Garros and the grass of Wimbledon.

So will they be there next year to slug it out? I hope so. I still think there are few more twist in that rivalry.

Incase you are a globe trotting blogoholic, and also have fair interest in the movies and the oscar and were wondering who is this guy A R Rahman, you have stumbled upon the right place. He is a Indian genius who composes music for the indian film industry. Most of us just go total fida over his compositons. I have put together a list of my favourites by the movie names, which proved to be quite a task. The list includes only his work for the Bollywood. There is a general notion that his work for the south indian film industry is even better.

1. Rangeela

2. Roja

3. Rang De Basanti

4. Swades

5. Slumdog Millionaire

6. Yuva

8. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

9. Saathiya

10. Lagaan

11. Bombay

12. Dil Se

If you are ‘resourceful’ types, you will find his music on the web courtesy the rippers.

Recently at a meeting at Googleplex

Google worker 1: Googlers. How do we make more money in this economic downturn?

Google worker 2: How about we target mobile users with ads?

Google worker 1: Don’t we do that already?

Google worker 2: Do we? I was thinking… pushing ads based on their location…

Google worker 1: Hmm, tell me more…

Google worker 2: We can tempt them into installing an app so that we can know their location

Google worker 1: Isn’t that invasion of privacy

Google worker 2: Not unless marketing puts a positive spin on it.

Google worker 3: We could say it will help then to track their loved ones… we could start with children. Every parent would love that. Next we will have jealous, suspicious spouses… and finally everybody

Google worker 1: Genius… and we will fit into our ‘Don’t be evil’ culture and make it free!

Google worker 1: Let’s christen this Google Latitude!

Google worker 1,2,3: $$$

So America and the world gets a new leader tomorrow. It will be historic day no doubt.

To me, it’s also frightening how high profile Obama has become. He has achieved iconic status, and he is yet to step into the office. People seem to believe that he has come kind of magic wand… akin to Harry Potter, that he will swing, whisper a spell and make all the troubles of the American people go away the moment he steps foot into the White House. I find it surprising how humans can rally around a person or how a single person can rally such masses of people and be their only ray of hope in these gloomy times. Truly, the human emotion of hope can reach inexplicable heights.

I wonder how it will be when Obama, who promised so much, will actually get down to work, and be no different than his predecessor. Obama is not super man, super intelligent; he is just a beautiful orator. His policies will come from his team, who my guess is, no smarter than Bush’s. Infact he probably would not have even penned his speech on the day of inauguration.

Tomorrow, for me is going to be just another media hyped spectacle, which will probably bring a cheer to the people all around the world, after which they will get back to the life of economic hardships, hunger, conflicts.

As the world draws it curtain on the most wretched year in terms of economy, lets look back at some of the people, event that defined new directions for many. This is a sort of continuation of a series of post that I had last year.

Let me begin with the most recent one, Barrack Obama, the man who is a symbol that humans have finally begun to recognize the individual beneath the color of the skin. I must confess that I didn’t think it was possible, deep down I anticipated that the Bradley effect would come into play. But it didn’t. I think my fear is more because of me being an Indian, where race, religion, caste are a major segregators in the society. The individual comes later. In India, the politicians draw overt advantages by playing these cards.

Anyways, so Obama is the man of the moment. The media ran the images of Jesse Jackson in tears, but I guess many more blacks, especially who have lived to segregation upto the mid 1900’s we shed a few more tears when Obama will take up the podium and deliver his State of the Union. A black defining the path the US will take, now that will be epic!

Obama is a good communicator, he speeches have that feel good factor, the punch lines, but whether he will surpass Bill Clinton as the best orator remains to be seen. After the euphoria, Barrack inherits the presidency at the worst possible time, the war in the middle east, the relations with Iran-N Korea are ‘bad’. Russians are trying to asserts themselves more coupled with the fact that the US dominance on the geo-political world is on the decline. And ofcourse, the economy is, well, dead!

2008 may have been his year… the next four are what will define him…

This one is long coming.

Last two weeks has hopefully shaken every Indian to the core. The siege of Mumbai for days has asked the most uncomfortable questions to all the people who believe in the idea that is India. I say an idea because India is a place for all humans to be equal and to prosper. To live and to grow. The reality of India is quite different. An Indian today is a hindu or a muslim or a christian. He is than a brahmin or a scheduled cast or an OBC. He is than a maharashtrian or a bihari or tamil. He is than rich or poor. And finally he is an Indian. The only matter of consequence is whether he will vote for you. That’s what an Indian is to the politicians for India.

Few things changed a couple of weeks back, or atleast I like to believe so. Call me naive, but I am hopeful. The last few shots of Hemant Karkare donning the bullet proof vest just before going to battle to salvage the idea of India make me. The Indian does exists. And the count is becoming more prominent now. Two weeks later, as the NDTV runs their tribute every now and then, I still try to imagine how Hemant, Kamte, Salaskar, Sandeep must have felt as they began their campaign to salvage the idea of India must have felt. But I know, there is no way I will ever know that. I am a bystander, I accept whatever is dished out to me, I complain about the system, yet I have done nothing pro active to change it. I have become comfortably numb. But things have to change. Blogging is one medium. But that’s not the end. Enough is enough is the common man’s movement that has started.

The media has brought out the imbecility that exists in our politicians, whether it the home minister’s comment, or the lipstick comment or the dog comment. The aam admi has heard & seen it and is disgusted. Let’s see if we are still shameless enough to vote these nalayaks back into power. Therein will lay the real test. I was pretty outspoken in my own little way about what I thought of our now ex, good-for-nothing Home Minister Shivraj Patil. But these are extra ordinary time. Heads have to roll. Infact I would demand that the PM step down. This may seem a bit extreme, but the accountability for the sheer mess the whole intelligence system that tackle the cross border terrorism is, demands some introspection in the pmo’s office. If his home minister, intelligence system could not protect the innocent mumbaikers, then he should own up to it. But I guess the sad part is that there seems to be no one who is charismatic enough to lead the nation right now in the Congress.

As the visuals of the nightmare is played countless time on by the media that looks to feed upon such tragedies and sensationalisation of these, the visuals of the gun battles, grenade explosions, the commando air drops, the gunshots, the faces of the family that lost a hero, compels the viewer to pause and take cognizance of the times we live in and appreciate the courage shown by the Mumbai Police, the NSG, the MACROS as they without any reservation entered the conflict zones to save lives and the idea that is India.

I am sure that this will not be the end of such tragedies, but hopefully the process to take actions to prevent them from occurring has begun. The first step being electing the right people atleast this time around.

Its, in a way appropriate, that on the occassion of Gandhi Jayanti(read International Day of Non-Violence) US decides that the nuclear power would do more good to the people of India, lighting up their houses, instead of fearing it’s use for building WMD’s.

My first facebook app. I_WANT_ONE lets you tell all your friend what you want this holiday season. Go ahead, give it a try.. Also know what your friends want.

So 31k+ for just a cell phone… noways!

People must realise that iPhone is a success in the US because it combined iPod and itunes with a cellular service and not the other way around. People liked the idea that their portable music player could also be used to make a call, send a text message… check voicemail… check email.. surf the net.