I've heard of butchers slaughtering goats but not "Giants" slaughtering "Devils"

Oh Man, Oh Man, Oh Man... does this suck or WHAT! The very mighty Red Devils are slaughtered by Premiership club Chelsea. Come on United, It's not fair, you can't disappoint your fans that easily!

I didn't really expect United to win the Premiership. It was close to impossible because Chelsea needed one point to win and United were 10 points behind them. To all the United Fans: United played with great spirit until now. They always fall at the last hurdle. Today wasn't their day at all. I guess the Blues have proved themselves superior against all other Premiership teams from all angles. I only wish both of these teams had reached atleast the Semi Finals of the Champions League. United started of it's premiership campaign on a winning approach, unfortunately its momentum didn't last against the Champions of Europe. Personally I think this has been one of United's worst years even though they won the Carling Cup.

Chelsea- well you can't say much about them undoubtedly the best team in England. I think they have been a bit unfortunate when it comes to the Champions League. They tend to meet Barcelona each time in the Quarter Finals of the CL. Shouldn't the groupings be done in such a way so that all the top teams(league champions: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian) stay on course for later clashes? Although Chelsea's my second favorite to Manchester United, I think they've done a very good job this time and deserve the title this year also.

Off to sleep, or else I'll be sleeping through the day tomorrow. Personally I don't want that 'coz I'm gonna publish a minimum of two blogs tomorrow. 'Night. And do share your views about the Premiership (if any).

"Math is an attitude"

The very title of this post,"Math is an attitude" is from a really cool math site I found out a few days ago.

The very subject Math, it is pretty tough isn't it? well, for some of you. I'm not math crazy or anything, it's just that I lose concentration approximately after maybe 1 and 1/2 hrs of math and end up saying 2+2=5. It happens all the time. In my exams I go and mess up some small thing somewhere and almost every time end up losing about 10 marks in silly mistakes. That's Math for me.

Math is interesting sometimes. That is when I understand what I'm doing and I do it well. Only today, I gave a test and I've done the best in math( not because I love maths, it's because i pretty much ignore the other subjects: Typical me). I just don't like the geometry part of math because i keep messing it up. But I like learning how to do short cuts( I can't remember them for too long though). I suggest you visit the link below:
http://www.curiousmath.com/

I enjoy it a lot. The next time anyone comes online to chat with me, I'll be ready for a challenge. see you later, folks!

A Bugging Weekend

First I'm disappointed with the soccer results, next I'm thoroughly bugged! Couldn't watch the Chelsea-Liverpool FA Cup Semi Final encounter. The Cable operator must have had a fight with ESPN and Star Sports and there go my favorites- the two best sports channels on T.V. :'(. They had a fight at the right time too- they could have waited for at least a week or two but NO! It had to be now!!!)

Hopefully it'll come back before this Saturday. This week is packed with excitement: with the two top teams in the Premiership clashing. It's Manchester United vs. Chelsea. Here we've got Chelsea who's playing to win the EPL ( they're one point away) and there's Manchester United who's looking to delay or even spoil Mourinho's party. Hopefully Fergie's boys will delay old Mourinho.

Talking about United, Wayne Rooney won the PFA young player of the year award for the second consecutive time. I don't think there was much of a surprise there. He is definitely one of the best players in the world, considering he has won matches single handed for his Premiership club as well as his National team. But in the actual player of the year, I'm surprised Stevie G was voted player of the year. Even he was shocked- a double treat for him. Liverpool beat Chelsea en route to the FA Cup Final. He beat Lampard, Cole, Henry, Terry and Rooney to the award. Hmm..I thought either Lampard or Henry would get it considering the way they've played this season.

Anyway, none of this should hurt the way these two teams have been playing for the last few matches. It's either gonna totally go United's way or they get slaughtered by Chelsea. We just wait and watch I guess.

New Harry Potter Theories

Hey Everyone,

Good news: The Harry Potter book 7 theories section has opened up on the old and trusted Veritaserum. Don't stay without visiting it. It has of course got a few bizarre theories like Dumbledore having a horcrux and stuff, but the rest are pretty interesting.

How's this for a theory I made up? (It's pretty crazy and impossible- but i wanted to make something up!)
Hmm.. Dumbledore ISN'T actually dead. See, when Snape cast "Avada Kedavra" on Dumbledore, he didn't just drop dead like Cedric Diggory did in GoF. Instead, he was blown up in the air.
In precise words:
"Dumbledore was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight." (Pg-556, HP and the HBP)

So, could Snape have uttered some kind of counter curse that made dumbledore fly out of sight? I'm mystified at this. Some would think that maybe because Dumbledore is a more powerful wizard, he got blown off and Cedric didn't. I don't really think that's the case here. My opinion is Snape must have uttered SOME other Non- Verbal spell while casting the killing curse. If so Dumbledore maybe part alive, part dead.

Oh, well- no one can be that sure while putting up theories because J.K.Rowling's the author. Who would have suspected that "Snivellus" Severus Snape a.k.a the Half-Blood Prince would put such an abrupt end to book 6. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what'll happen next!

Summer Holiday

This is not really a kind of "Holiday" as such but then, the name was catchy and so I've decided to tell you all about what I'm doing in my hols.

Yesterday was the first day I joined my tennis and yoga summer camps. I was pretty excited, no doubt. I did learn tennis in bbsr earlier for a month or so during my holidays but couldn't continue when school reopened. I'm going to a certain KSLTA stadium where the Bangalore Open was held. It wasn't too bad for a first day's experience. Well, I got a kind of shock when I saw our coach- A dark, threatening looking guy with a huge paunch. I didn't follow anything of what he said because he kept on uttering stuff in Kannada. I guess I was never good at my backhand, so I kept missing every single backhand I got. But of course, I didn't expect much because i was playing after so many days. There were lots of people like me who were new to the game, so i didn't feel that Out-Of-place. Anyway, on the whole the first day was enjoyable and hopefully I'll play better later on.

Coming on to the Yoga class, I enjoyed it a lot! There's a Yoga camp exclusively for kids which i attended. Some of the exercises I'm learning here are similar to those i learn in Odissi dance(Orissa's classical dance). So I didn't have much of a problem doing them. The yoga instructor was pretty pleased with me. Most of them were various forms of "Aasanas". The first one consisted of ten steps- all chanted in Sanskrit. Then we did the "Surya Namaskara" chanting "OM". There were all sorts of exercises in which we had to stretch our bodies like mad, but I was satisfied because I was able to do some hard ones pretty easily on my first day itself.

Of course we had to do deep inhaling and exhaling through out, during all the exercises, but in the end the instructor taught us the right way to do it and we spent 5 minutes in relaxation. We cleared our minds of all emotion, worries and then did gentle breathing exercises for 5 minutes. We were told to relax each and every muscle of our body. I found it really nice to spend some moments in peace. On the whole i liked it a lot, and hopefully they'll continue even after the summer hols!

The EPL

The EPL- If I wanted, I could fill up my whole blog with stuff about the EPL and bug my family and friends to death. But NO, I'll be a bit kinder and only post stuff about the EPL ONLY when necessary( it's not a promise).

To begin with I'm not in a good mood. So I'll be cursing my favorites every now and then (Can't help it!). Manchester United pretty much gave away it's title hope when it drew with underdogs Sunderland on Friday. Typical United: pretty much did the same thing last year too, giving away it's runner's up place to the Gunners. This time what United skipper Gary Neville said is right- United WILL fall short by just 2 or 3 points. But in the end its down to The Cup. Whether they lose by 1 point or 10, it doesnt make any difference.

Moving on to Chelsea- Best team in the Premiership, unfortunately could not reach the QFs of the UEFA CL 2005/06. It would have done them and United good- United would have won the Premiership, The Blues could have got glory in Europe. But no, that wouldn't happen. The Suckers in Red (Only for the time being) draw against a to-be-relegated team and dispose off any teensy-weensie hope of capturing the title. Good thing I didnt watch the match! I could do with a cheering charm now!

Oh well, looks like I can stay up till three with the excuse of watching Barcelona vs AC Milan coming up next week.. I sure am going to enjoy it provided of courseI finish off some CONFIDENTIAL stuff before going. I'll leave my friends guessing what this confidential thing is till May 3rd, 2006. It's still April so I might just want to pull your leg!

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code- hmm.. I read this book a few weeks ago and well,I won't really comment on it like adults do but I did like certain parts of it. Highly controversial book as everyone knows. It states that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdelene and they had kids. Not that I understood much of the Gospels and stuff like that. But I did like the whole book in the sense that it was full of codes and anagrams and other interesting things. As a matter of fact everyone is looking forward to the movie coming out in 2007 starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu.

Langdon and Neveu are experts at cracking codes (it's their job after all- a symbologist and a cryptographer!). I like the fibonacci sequence a lot and the divine proportion 1.618(PHI). Frankly I love any book with any code to crack, I love reading Artemis Fowl because he's such a code cracker. Coming back to The Da Vinci Code, I like the way Langdon and Neveu crack the bank account number: cracking the scrambled Fibbonacci sequence and there onwards. How they get the cryptex and how they get the codes right- SOFIA being the first pass (I remember that easily 'coz it is the name of my school). I liked all the other anagrams there too, the only two I know which are proper anagrams are:
O, Draconian Devil!
O, Lame Saint!

After reading the book, keen to know more about the book and Leonardo's drawings I read the illustrated version and also watched the Bible Week shows on NatGeo- of course I didn't understand the whole of it so I bugged my brother by making him give me long explanations on the stuff written about "The Last Supper", "The Mona Lisa", "Madonna of the Rocks" and other pictures like that. I'd give the explanation but then I've gotta rush! More on The Code later!

Davis Cup report

Hey everyone, Am in Hyderabad right now and oh man- it is really sweltering over here. Went to the Charminar today, came back like a roasted nut!

I've been out of touch with the latest sports news, so I don't really know what has been happening. The only thing I know is about the Davis Cup- its tennis for those of you who didn't know. Well, let's see.. last year, US were sent off packing straight in the first round- the worst defeat they ever faced in a Davis Cup. But this year they have played much better and now are in the Semi Finals eliminating Chile 3-2.

Elsewhere the Aussies whitewashed Belarus 5-0, the Argentines sent defending champions Croatia packing and the Russians overcame the French setting up the Semi Final encounters. We can only wait and see what is going to happen. I somehow feel that this time the competition is pretty much even.

With a pretty consistent David Nalbandian and a very temperamental Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina could be this years surprise winners. USA with the pretty much out-of-form Andy Roddick and equally inconsistent but threatening James Blake, have a good chance too. Not to forget, Russia with Nikolay Davydenko and Dmitry Tursunov have a pretty good side too. The only people that look a bit off color are the Aussies. With Hewitt dropping to 10 in the ATP rankings and Wayne Arthurs( He's pretty old man!!), i don't think they have that good a chance as the others.

Anyways, it depends on the way the players play during the match- hopefully my faves will win( those who know me well know whom i would support!)
And I'm still feeling bugged with myself for not watching Arsenal vs Manchester United!

Manchester United vs Arsenal

Well, the biggest match in the champions league is over. Now comes the EPL- the most popular league in the world. It can't get better with the two biggest giants in the history of the EPL meet!

Manchester United vs Arsenal- you wouldnt know what is going to happen between the both of them. Well, i would describe them as the two most inconsistent teams on earth- though both have been performing well in recent times. Its the second time they are meeting this season, the first encounter being a goalless draw.

Its hard to tell who is going to win. Arsenal have a fair chance, its morale high after the Champions League wins over Real Madrid and Juventus whereas Manchester United have an even bigger chance with 9 premiership matches without a loss! Both have formidable defences, both have thundering strikers. Its all upto skill and nerve when its an encounter at such an important time of the premiership- United fighting for the Cup and Arsenal fighting to get into the top four. If United wins God knows how Chelsea might handle the situation- with the draw against the top two coming nearer and nearer!

Its definitely a match to look forward to( especially for me). I can stay up all night watching and enjoying it! Comments.. anyone?

Secret Keepers and their secrets (HP info)

I got this cool info from http://www.the-pensieve.org/
This question is from a F.A.Q poll. I found the question interesting and decided to post it on my blog.

What happens to a secret when the Secret-Keeper dies?

When a Secret-Keeper dies, their secret dies with them, or, to put it another way, the status of their secret will remain as it was at the moment of their death. Everybody in whom they confided will continue to know the hidden information, but nobody else.

The Fidelius Charm is:

"An immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it" (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

In other words, a secret (eg, the location of a family in hiding, like the Potters) is enchanted so that it is protected by a single Keeper (in our example, Peter Pettigrew, a.k.a. Wormtail). Thenceforth nobody else – not even the subjects of the secret themselves – can divulge the secret. Even if one of the Potters had been captured, force fed Veritaserum or placed under the Imperius Curse, they would not have been able to give away the whereabouts of the other two. The only people who ever knew their precise location were those whom Wormtail had told directly, but none of them would have been able to pass on the information.

The Match Report

Anyone who reads my blog everyday would think i am obsessed with soccer! Well i am sort of actually. So yesterday i claimed that i would stay uptill 3 and watch the match- i lived upto my claim.

So the match-where to start?
Well, i'll start saying Juventus are one of the most indisciplined teams(like Newcastle, but it is definitely superior to them). The whole match was full of fouls. Juventus started the Champions League with the team having the most red cards in the Champions League history. Yesterday it finished yet again with ten men!

One of Juventus' key players Pavel Nedved had just returned from suspension. He was given a Red Card yet again yesterday. Reduced to ten men in the second half Juventus attacked the Arsenal defence from all corners but it all went in vain! Arsenal Goallie Jens Lehmann made spectaculer saves to deny Juventus whatever momentum it had.

The match ended in a goalless draw.But for the first time in the history of the club, Arsenal managed to reach the Semi Finals of the UEFA Champions League. With a 2-0 aggregate, it set up a SF showdown with the Spanish club Villareal, surprise winners of the QF match against Inter Milan.

The other clubs that reached the SF are Italian Giants AC Milan and Spanish Champs Barcelona. AC Milan with a 3-1 win against Lyon and Barcelona with a 2-0 win over Benfica have set up one of the greatest matches in the history of the Champions League.

Well, it seems to me that this time the race for the cup is going to have a nailbiting finish. Looking forward to all these matches- more posts later!!

Asnl vs Juve- II

Yaay!!
Its finally here - Arsenal vs Juventus - the second leg. I am going to stay up all night to watch it. It will be interesting to see how Thierre Henry and Dennis Bergkamp tackle Juventus' defence. And this time it is definite- Arsenal has the edge with a 2-0 win in the first leg. Besides, Juventus have injury problems.The return of one man cannot turn the game after all. So Nedved won't be of much use.

We'll see what happens anyway. Don't forget the match is on tonight at 12 a.m- keep yourself wide awake and don't miss the action!

Oh, and by the way I'll update my blog before I go to sleep at 3 a.m.!!

Owen cuts it fine for WC

Imagine if Owen hadn't been playing for England in the World Cup. It would have been terrible! When he had been playing really well, Real Madrid kept him on the bench, and now after the transfer to Newcastle the guy broke his foot. How unfortunate!
His foot seems to be getting ok and at the right time too: With his National and Premiership club struggling to win matches. He'll play just 1 match for Newcastle before the World Cup.

Talking about the WC-it's almost there. I can't wait for it. Of course, BRAZIL and ARGENTINA are my favorites but hopefully England, Germany and France can do something too.But first I'm looking forward to the Arsenal Vs Juventus Champions League QF second leg match on Thurs at 2400 hrs. It is Going to be the best match of 2006... and I'm going to stay up all night to watch it! My advice : DO NOT miss it.

Australian GP- F1

Alonso wins the Bahrain Grand Prix.. Alonso comes second in the Malaysian GP... Alonso wins the Australian GP....Youngest F1 champ may force Schumi into retirement....Schumacher is too old...Schumacher can't win anything!

Man!! How many more times will these headlines come out in the papers or on T.V? Where are the others? There's Raikonnen, Button, Montoya... but all you see is ALONSO. Personally I don't think Alonso is that good a champ. OK, he won a championship. What's soo great about that? There are far superior drivers who aren't winning. So what exactly is Alonso doing to win so many GPs?

My personal opinion is that Renault are making better engines and have better tyres than Ferrari. Well then why should that stop Raikonnen from winning? Well that beats me... if any one has any theories on this I would be glad to hear them because I think Raikonnen ought to have won the Championship last year!

A visit to Coorg

Hey everyone!I'm back- after a long weekend.Now , before i start telling you about my journey to coorg, i'll let you know that i was not too enthusiastic through out.. so not too many exciting sentences in between! Coorg is 4-5 hours away from Bangalore. It was supposed to be cold but it was sooo sultry and hot! Summer I guess- anyway there were lots of lessons I learnt over there.

There are always two parts of everything - the good part and the bad part(Logical).

First comes the bad part: the Roads. I never knew roads could be as bad as they were. Well a back ache for mum or dad understandable, but a backache and neckache for me-absurd, unheard of!

Now for the good part- the scenery through out was AWESOME and I say u must taste their food if at all you visit Coorg. (I didn't eat much though-i am finicky!).First we went to the Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary. We were supposed to see Tigers and Leopards- but what do we land up seeing? A couple of deer, bison and elephants. My logic after this visit is simple-why spend time at a wildlife sanctuary when you could see animals crossing the road on your way home??

The next day we went to Madikeri, a hill station nearby. Here the scenery was really nice and we visited a certain Abbey waterfalls. These falls are from 70 ft high( not that impressive and not recommended on my list!!). The weather was pretty sultry there-after doing this we went to Raja's seat. It is a viewing area on a hill top. From here you could get a view of the whole of Madikeri and its surroundings.

In the afternoon, we went to the Tibetan village at Bylakuppe about 20 kms away. It was really cool! The statue of Buddha, Rinpoche and Buddha Amitayus were all 60 ft + high- made of copper plated with gold. It was the most colorful temple I've ever seen. Called the Golden Temple attached to it were monasteries and a whole lot of smaller and less important temples.After spending some time and buying some authentic Tibetan stuff from there we went to the Dubare Elephant Camp. We were allowed to touch the elephants and see them having a bath.We went across a rocky patch with a stream flowing through to get to the other side of the camp. In the end we landed up getting totally wet!

In the last hours of our stay at the bungalow, we took a plantation trek where we saw loads of coffee, pepper, cardamom, ginger and orange plants.. it was an interesting experience on the whole. I think people should visit such places more often and see the lifestyle of different people. Well on one condition maybe.... the roads better be good!!!!( I know I can't do anything about it)