Life Etc Etc

The turn of the millennium signaled the business end of school for me. With the retirement of most of my favorites I no longer found the time to follow and watch tennis. But all of that was about to change with the comeback of a  hero  whom no one gave a chance. Goran Ivanisevic - The Wimbledon Champion <Courtesy: Wimbledon > 2001 Wimbledon I had just finished school when the 2001 Wimbledon Championships rolled in. I had plenty of time on hand but had no interest in the championships as Pete Sampras the defending champion was in ominous form and with all due respect to Sampras I had no interest seeing him lift the trophy once again. Two days into Wimbledon I was extremely surprised and thrilled to know that Ivanisevic was playing in the championships on a wild card . By that point Ivanisevic had almost retired with a recurring shoulder injury. If a slump in form and fitness wasn't enough his father's heart problem and sister's cancer diagnosis pushed him to the ...

2017 Australian Open is done and dusted. Roger Federer is once again the Australian Open Champion standing tall at the end of it all. The news headlines have been talking all week about what a great comeback this is from Federer. While I agreed with them, I couldn't help but go back in time to remember the comeback of comebacks . Yes, back in the day there was a comeback made by a man who was all but forgotten. He was a fighter, a champion and a hero for all seasons . He was Goran Ivanisevic . Goran Ivanisevic I hadn't started watching tennis yet when Goran Ivanisevic (Pronounced as ee-wan-is-a-witch ) burst onto the tennis scene as a precocious teenager. The year was 1990 and Goran stamped his presence on the Wimbledon Championships when he gave three time Wimbledon Champion, Boris Becker a real scare in the semis . The next time we heard about Goran was in the 1992 Wimbledon Championships. I had only just started watching tennis in 1992 but little did I know t...

2016 has been a banner year for social media apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram each trumping the other with exciting innovations to wow their respective user bases. As someone who dabbles in mobile apps here are 5 trends which I believe will revolutionize the world we live in the years going forward. Btw, I hope you like salt because you can only take the trends below with a pinch (Nah! I believe you need a bucket) of salt.  1. Facebook Stars : Move away Film Stars as Facebook Stars take center stage. In cricket, an all-rounder is someone with career stats of more than 2000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches. Similarly, a Facebook Star is someone with more than 1000 friends, whose every update receives a minimum of 300 likes and 100 comments. Facebook Stars are the traffic constables of the social media world, when they post something everything stops and even people who are fast asleep wake up to respond. What talent! What power! Wha...

New Year is upon us and this holiday season is the perfect time to sit back and relax with some exciting movies. Steven Spielberg's   Duel  is one such movie which can pump some life into a sagging evening or a drowsy afternoon. The Plot  Mild mannered and middle aged salesman David Mann ( Dennis Weaver ) is driving on a freeway in the California desert for a business trip. David is essentially non-combative and even his wife complains against his pacifist approach when he doesn't react after one of his acquaintances misbehaves with her. With a sensitive personal situation on hand, all David wants to do is finish the trip and get back home as early as possible. That's until he runs into the Truck. On a narrow two lane freeway the truck completely halts David's momentum. Recognizing that time is running out, David overtakes the truck only for the truck to overtake him again. The cycle repeats and soon the game of overtaking takes a nasty turn when the truck runs ...

Number 22 and I go a long way. Make no mistake I don't believe in either lucky numbers or numerology but several important events happened in my life on the 22nd and just when I make up my mind to dismiss all of it as a coincidence, 22 pops up out of nowhere to once again remind me of it's significance. But this blog is not about my affinity to or my experiences with number 22. September, 2016 was a tough month. I was saddled with multiple projects and really didn't have much of a breathing space. It was during the time that my sister nominated me for the 22 Day Push-up Challenge . I don't believe in taking up more than what I can chew but when your little sister pushes you forward for a noble cause, you don't have much of a choice. I was initially surprised that number 22 found it's way into my life again but was disturbed when I found that on average 22 war veterans were committing suicide in US everyday. Having lost some good friends to the malady of...

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the fifth largest city in India - Hyderabad lies KBR (Kasu Brahmananda Reddy) National Park . It's difficult to imagine a natural habitat in the center of a concrete jungle but that's exactly what KBR park is - an oasis in middle of an urban desert . One of Hyderabad's prized tourist attractions which in my opinion doesn't get the attention it deserves. The Entrance <Courtesy: Andhra Aroma > I don't remember when I first noticed the park but it soon became a sight which I couldn't miss during the course of my everyday commute to work. I always wondered what lay beyond the entrance but never found the time to check it out for myself until last year. But let me back up a bit, there's a back story to my first visit to the park. In my ' Count Your Blessings ' post, I talked about how a walk around my office building started a positive change in my life. That incident made ' walking ' ...

The Plot Stephen Glass ( Hayden Christensen ) is a star reporter at ' The New Republic '. Glass is famous for his entertaining articles and is extremely popular among the 'The New Republic' workforce for his genial and sensitive nature. Sky seems to be the limit for the young Glass who's preparing for a career in law when the first cracks appear . Glass' " Hack Heaven " article attracts an investigation from Forbes  prompting Glass' boss (the Lead Editor of the 'The New Republic')  Charles Lane ( Peter Sarsgaard ) to step in and verify the facts. Lane having been the editor for only a short while has the complex task of unraveling the truth by going after the highly popular Glass. What is the truth? Is Lane after the truth or after Glass? Who wins? Will Lane be able to save the reputation of the magazine? Watch Shattered Glass today to answer all these questions. Shattered Glass 2003: Hayden Christensen narrates his hacker story as ...