Tablet Wars…

Gone are the days when a person was stuck in his house, office or a shady cyber-café to be able to access the internet. In the age where being connected to the internet means being connected to the world, technology has to ascertain that a person no matter where should stay connected. Laptops and smartphones have had a big role in making this a reality, but a recent trend in the market is all set to try and make them obsolete.

Apple ipad the trend setter

Apple’s iPad, much like many of Apple’s other products, set a new trend in the market for Tablet Pcs. A tablet personal computer (tablet PC) is a portable personal computer equipped with a touch screen as a primary input device and designed to be operated and owned by an individual. The term was made popular as a concept presented by Microsoft in 2001.

A person can use a tablet as a miniature version of laptop or a larger version of a smartphone. You can surf the internet, listen to music, watch videos, use the office tools or just play games on it. Being connected to either the Android store or the Apple store, gives you options to customise your tablet according to your need. Tablets use 3G or Wi-Fi to stay connected and boast of decent battery power and thus are the ideal device to carry with you when travelling.

Though not the perfect piece of hardware by any standards, iPad still was a huge success selling 3 million in just 80 days. It has since then sold more than 14 million devices and this is largely because of the absence of any kind of competition. Though in 2010 other tablets were introduced, iPad still managed to garner 75 percent of the market share in the tablet market.

The competition though has just got tougher with the introduction of two heavyweights; iPad’s successor the Apple iPad2 and Motorola Xoom.  Both incredibly powerful and boasting configurations which are way ahead of the rest of the pack, they are two of the most-awaited gadgets. With other options becoming available like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab series, HTC’s Flyer, BlackBerry’s PlayBook, Viewsonic’s ViewPad 7 and Olivetti’s Olipad among others, this is surely a very exciting time.

There is certainly a buzz going on in the market and companies are eager to cash in on this changing trend in computing. But only time will tell if tablets prove to be a technological revolution or merely a ripple-effect in the ever-changing world of computing technology.

When the Belly Rules the Mind...

As far as I can remember the one question that I have always pestered my mother with is: “What’s there to eat?” No matter how much I have eaten or how stuffed I am, just before the next meal time I would find myself standing at the entrance of the kitchen looking at my mother cooking and then finally asking the question. I have asked her the question so many times that if I were to die before a meal time, my tombstone would read, ‘Passed away without knowing what was being cooked.” In order to avoid such a scenario I am trying to do certain good deeds which will come in use when it is my time to go. I would love to go on a full stomach.

George Bernard Shaw once said that there is no love sincerer than the love of food and I absolutely agree with him. I have always loved food. I mean who doesn’t? I come from a country where the easiest way to make a person happy is to serve him a scrumptious meal. Once he is done eating, he won’t ask you for anything else. I’m no different, as I love everything about food. I love the smell of it which incidentally I find better than the fragrance of any perfume in the world, I love the way it satisfies you, I love the fact that a person is always spoilt for choice when he has to choose what to eat and obviously I love to eat. It is my parent’s genes and God’s grace that have kept me slim (if not fit) no matter how much I eat.

 But what has actually surprised me is just how much I love to cook. Being the epitome of laziness, I am surprised just how much I am willing to persevere to in order make that perfect dish. I am not saying I am a great cook, good maybe, but not great. I have never learnt to cook and the only knowledge I had of cooking was when I was getting certain basic lessons from my mother before coming to the UK. But I guess all those years of standing at the entrance of the kitchen and peeking at mother cooking must have ingrained these cooking skills into me at some subconscious level.

I still remember the first meal that I cooked after coming to the UK. When I began to cook, somehow I just knew what to do next and ended up cooking a meal that even my flatmates loved. That just spurred me on. I love to try new dishes, be it eating or trying to make them. I scour the net in search of new dishes to make or just add ingredients to make certain dishes taste a tad different. I have come to love cooking so much that it has become a way of unwinding after a long day. Cooking and then eating a meal that has been well made just takes away all the tiredness and then I go back to being at my best; lazy. The one thing that I hate about cooking though is cleaning afterwards. I just hate doing the dishes and after cooking every meal I wish that we had a dishwasher in our flat. Oh well, I guess one cannot get everything one wishes for in life.

Below are the pictures of the dishes that I have cooked so far. It is not much, but when you look at them and then at me, you will wonder where it all goes. Please don't mind the quality of the photos, most of the times I am just so hungry to sit still and click a good photo. Enjoy!!

Pasta with Meat

Veg Fajitas with Cheese

Cholle with Roti & Raita

Spaghetti & Meatballs!

Aalu ke Paronthe

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Vegetable Pulau with Chicken Gravy

Chicken Dopiaza and Roti

India; World Cup 2011 Winners?

People in fourteen countries will be united in praying for and supporting those 11 men who will be carrying the hopes and pride of their respective nations. As I start to write this blog, there is only a day, nine hours and four minutes left for the greatest spectacle in cricket to begin; the Cricket World Cup. Returning to the subcontinent after 15 years, the 10^th edition of this cricketing extravaganza is sure to be the biggest and the best till date.

The Indian team apart from the carrying the huge expectations of a billion people at home will also be carrying the tag of favourites as they enter the World Cup. It is maybe for the first time since the World Cups began, that India is being considered as strong contenders to win. It is hardly surprising considering India is ranked first and second in tests and ODIs respectively. They also go to the World Cup on the back of a strong season where they hardly lost any series home or away.

The closest rivals this time will be the South Africans and the Sri Lankans, but with one of them still battling the tag of ‘chokers’, the only real competitor to India will be the Sri Lankans. The champions Australia are on a decline like the West Indies of the 80's and are a mere shadow of their real selves. Though England had a brilliant Ashes victory and Pakistan are on a revival, they are highly inconsistent. New Zealand are resilient but are still trying to find a right combination for their team and while West Indies and Bangladesh can spring the occasional surprise, they are hardly what we call challenges. Though it is a bit harsh, but the rest of the teams will be more like spectators than competitors.

Captain Cool

Certainly under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team has shrugged off all its stereotypical problems like bad fielding and poor form away from home and have become a force to be reckoned with. Under his leadership the team has constantly evolved until now, when they have finally found a winning combination.

On the batting front, with openers like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who complement each other so well, more often than not the team gets off to a flying start. Sehwag goes on a rampage from ball one, while Gambhir holds the fort on the other side, slowly building an inning. They are followed by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar who in his last World Cup looks anything but old. Looking at his performances over the last season or so, it won’t be far from the truth if it is said that he is in his best form ever.

The top order is followed by a very formidable middle order comprising of the young and versatile Virat Kohli, who has been a revelation be it when he is batting or on the field stopping a ball. Then there is the swashbuckling southpaw Yuvraj Singh, who on his day can destroy any kind of bowling attack on any kind of pitch. He is followed by another southpaw Suresh Raina who is a very valuable asset to have in the middle order. The captain comes in next and according to what the situation demands; he can either play a blistering innings like the one he played against the Kiwis in the warm-up match or hold the fort with a constructive innings. Last in the middle order is the hard-hitting Yusuf Pathan who can hit the ball out of any stadium in the world.

The lower order batsmen though never known for their batting prowess, have shown time and again that they too can contribute valuable runs whenever given a chance. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan have contributed a lot of runs very low down the order and have won a couple of matches for India too. Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and Ravi Ashwin too can be handy on their day.

to win again?

On the bowling front Zaheer and Nehra have spearheaded the attack and even on good batting surfaces have given some very decent performances. Munaf with his very tight line and length can slow the rate of scoring at any given point of the match. But the real strength of this Indian bowling line up is spin with Harbhajan Singh leading the attack and a choice of Ashwin and Chawla to follow him. The spin attack also consists of part-time bowlers like Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan who do a very decent job in the middle overs.

Under the captaincy of the cool headed Dhoni, the amount of resources at his disposal, the home advantage for most of the games and the tremendous fan support wherever they play, India has a strong chance of bringing home this World Cup. I wish the team Good Luck and only wish that I was back home so I could have gone to the Wankhede Stadium to the see the finals. Go India!!!!

To Say or not to Say...

Oxford dictionary defines the term 'Communication' as a way to convey or transmit an emotion or feeling to another. Man being a social animal, communication is in his very nature and something without which he cannot live or function in a society. Over the years it is only the means of communication that have changed and not its definition. 

First, man started communicating using sign languages. As he evolved he went on to use complex words to communicate, both verbally and symbolically.  Communication was revolutionised when the telephone was invented. From then on communication has evolved with leaps and bounds. With the invention of satellite, communication across the globe became accessible and with the development of the internet, communicating across the globe became a reality for almost every human on the planet. Today its not very uncommon for a person sitting at one corner of the world to talk to a person at the other corner as if he or she is sitting in the other room. I personally do it when I talk to my family or friends back in India. 

Yet with considerable knowledge about technologies and being a human myself, I have always been told that I am really bad at communicating with others. They say communicating is an art and I am as knowledgeable of it as Bush was of Osama's hideout.

Be it family, friends, someone special or relatives, everyone at some point of time have complained about my communication or rather about the lack of it. I have had to face firings, disappointed friends, angry friends, a failed relationship and much more due to it. When I went home for vacations, I spent most of my time with friends and didn't contact any family friends or relatives. This didn't go down well with my parents. I also only spent time with a very few friends, thus angering the others whom I didn't even contact. Due to this, and I kid you not; I have a fatwa declared in my name by a friend for if and when I go back to India. Bet even Salman Rushdie would be proud of me!

What is really funny (or not) is that I know about all this but somehow I have not been able to overcome this problem. I have faced endless lectures from my friends, read articles about it and my parents have tried their best, but to no avail. There is no denying the fact that over the years I have massively improved on my flaw, but there is still a long way to go. Communicating is still hard-work for me and being a lazy-ass, I see quite a rocky road ahead. Wonder what I have in store for me....