Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Holi 'Just Another' Day...!!

You know, if the date today was 27th March 1998 and I was in Allahabad instead of Delhi, I would have painted the town Red/Blue/Green/Magenta (That’s rite.. I said Magenta as well...)

The reason being that I was amidst an awesome group of people who were willing to act like complete idiots just for the sake of it... Dad was still serving that time.. We lived in these amazing Defence colonies with tons of fun at every nook and corner... there were people always ready to be freaking out as there was always someone or the other who was thinking on the lines of "Freakrazy"...

That’s one of the many many many things that my Defence background gave me and I'm proud to have it.. I can say without any regrets that I've had an astonishing childhood... Probably the best that a Child can ask for... Full of adventure... Without fear... Never saying "never" to anything that might drop the hint of having a tinge of crazy... Always trying new things... And BEST OF ALL... Always having this "venturesome" group to just Lose It.. :)

Holi back in the day was just another occasion to have fun with my Defence Brats... I remember the "strategy meet" that we used to have a day before about how to best position ourselves in the bushes so that we can ambush the on-goers in the best possible manner... We used to prepare charts with full fledged attack plans... throwing maneuvers... Artillery inspection.... and god knows what naught... After all, we did have that "Defence" blood brooding inside all of us just waiting to come out and blow the freaking crap out of others...

I remember this one time in particular when I was at that tender age of "hating" any and all girls around me... (I guess Puberty was just about to kick in.. :O ).. But anyways, I remember that time in particular because I stayed up all night a day before Holi just to get my stuff right... And by stuff I mean all the armament for a full-scale ambuscade... I made water balloons.. Some filled with water and some filled with Egg Yolk.. I prepped up my Steel Customized Pichkari.. 'Twas customized in the sense that I had this bucket that I used to hang on my back like a backpack and a pipe coming out of it that I could connect to my Pichkari and "Reload" without the need to actually find a source of water... (Yeah... I was that much into Holi back Then..)

So anyway, On Holi morning, my friends and I get together and go through all the final planning related to the bushwhack we had planned for the Girls... Come to think about it now, I can’t believe the details that we covered just to ensure that we encompassed all the "Rules of Engagement"... We made plans to go after the "weaker" section in the Girls fraternity... No "Man" was supposed to be left behind just in case the Girls too had a plan of their own... We made plans to cover each other's back... We decided that we would head out in groups of two... This gave us the leverage to implement the "attack-and-reload" phenomenon... That meant while one of us would be engaged in firing off the Pichkari, the other would be reloading his Pichkari for a second round of attacks...  

All in all.. Those were awesome days... Unlike now... I don’t know what exactly has changed now, but I do know that things are definitely not the same... I know for a fact that I DONT have a group that indulges in "Freakrazy" like me... I know that I don’t have the backing that I need... I don’t have group that is willing to act like complete idiots just because one of us wanted to see how that feels like…  I don’t have a group that would be willing to break the windows of a vacant house with Cosco balls just because we wanted to experience the effect of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance music (That was Awesome BTW).. I know that I'm not in my childhood anymore and I need to act like grown-ups, but Boo-Freakin-Hoo... Why Should I? I had a wonderful childhood, kind of like the one that I intend to give my Kid as well... So why shouldn't I be a Kid at Heart?

Well... Can’t answer that I guess... It’s all Destiny... We just need to keep walking with out heads down... It’s like a journey... If we stand still, we get nowhere... If we run too fast, we amplify the risk of falling down... Hence, we just need to walk... Walk with our heads down without thinking about heavy stuff...

Kinda Sucks Doesn't it?

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sepang Spite…!!


After some delirious drama at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, Red Bull’s German driver Sebastian Vettel came out on top by piping his own teammate Mark Webber for the prestigious victory.

The Malaysian Grand Prix promised to deliver a remarkable showdown of driving skills for two reasons – One, the passion of the racing fans heading into only the second race of the season, and Two, all the drama surrounding the use of “intermediate” tyres during qualifying..

Its been quite some time that I have seen something like all 22 (or 24 in some cases) drivers using intermediate tyres at the start…

After Adrian Sutil rocked Q1 and Q2 a day before by using medium compound tyres, the use of the intermediate came into play because the Sepang Rain Gods showed their ugly faces..

Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, who was second fastest in qualifying yesterday, started in 2nd place for the first time since Bahrain GP 2010 and was rightfully being termed as the Renaissance Man…

But, the whole “Comeback” was shattered when Webber began his awesome racing maneuvers.. Right from the start when the five red lights went off, Webber was on the offense when he challenged the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa..

The Weber-Alonso Fiasco saw Webber move from 5th into 3rd in the first lap itself and then finally to 2nd after a hard fought battle with the Spaniard.. Alonso had his front wing clipped, which eventually gave up on Lap 2, therefore allowing Webber to move into 2nd.

After 5 laps, Red Bull’s “tyre change” gamble seemed to pay rich dividends when Vettel straight away went for the medium compound tyres.. The track temperature at that time seemed to coming up with time and therefore the change was implemented..

The Red bull strategy was followed by all the teams almost instantly, which led to a “traffic jam” like situation in the pits..

Speaking of pit stops, there was one team in particular that seemed to have a horrible day there – None other that Sahara Force India..

Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta’s pit stops were complete disasters as the India-based team were having all sorts of problems with the hydraulics..

Due to these tyre changing fiascos, Force India’s Malaysian adventure just went from horrible to absolutely devastating as it forced both drivers to retire early..

 In fact, it seemed as if all the action on the circuit was less on the track and more in the pits… Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton even went to the extent to head into his old team McLaren’s pits by mistake… Classic move Lewis… Telling them who’s the boss.. J

On the other hand, Australian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikonen and McLaren’s latest recruit Sergio Perez seemed to be having their own mini battles at the wee end of the grid as at first they were fighting for 9th-10th position and later for the 6th-7th spot..

While the “Iceman” was confident that he would win that battle, Massa had other plans to implement.. The Ferrari driver took full advantage of the Kimi-Perez duel when he overtook both of them to move into 6th in Lap 50…

Another driver who had luck really pulling him down was McLaren’s Jenson Button,who at one time was even leading the race... The only thing that was not in his favor was the fact that he had one pit stop lesser that everyone else..

Before McLaren could even think about “planning” a gamble for Button to finish the race with his worn out medium compound tyres, Webber took the lead from Button on Lap 35..

That promptly forced Button to head into the pits one lap later and change his tyres.. However, disaster struck Button’s already horror-struck luck when his cars stalled right after moving out… It was “race-over” for the Briton..

Meanwhile, Vettel’s combo of fuel saving and DRS helped him overtake Hamlton on Lap 38 and therefore the triple world champion proved that the Briton still has a long way to go before he adjusts with his new team..

Red Bull and Mark Webber seemed to have everything under full control when on lap 45 an impeccable pit stop by the Australian proved the same.. Webber headed into the pits with a 20 second lead over his comrade and a perfect 20 second pit stop allowed his to come out of the Pit right where he left off… In front of Vettel…

Finally on Lap 46, Vettel moved into the lead by using his DRS to perfection.. Webber, who did everything he could to hold his ground, was completely outclassed by the German’s skillful moves..

After overtaking, Vettel said, “Come On Mate, This is Silly…”

All in all, the Malaysian Grand Prix was quite synonymous to being “team wars” with Vettel vs Webber (Battle for 1st) and Rosberg vs Hamilton (Battle for 3rd)..