Entertainment

(n.) `entur’teynmunt:
An activity that entertains

(Listening to Pink Floyd – Lost for words …)

Wisdom

P-F1 rocks!!

My F-1 knowledge is GOOD! I scored 21/25 this quiz. Another superb page here.

Quake!

An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale (The US Geological Survey puts it at the worst in 40 years) with its epicenter in Aceh, Indonesia has caused havoc with collapsed buildings and the like. Tsunami (trains of harbor waves) have claimed thousands of lives in the area of South Asia, affecting Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and coastal regions of India (the worst hit being Tamil Nadu and the Andamans).

Miaow!

Chechi woke me up today morn with the news that the CAT results are out.

LOGIC & DATA INTERPRETATION		QUANTITATIVE		VERBAL			TOTAL
% SCORE	PERCENTILE	% SCORE	PERCENTILE	% SCORE	PERCENTILE			% SCORE	PERCENTILE
42.59	97.73	37.40	96.61	16.03	56.03			31.35	94.15

Yeah I know I screwed Verbal up majorly- I could attempt only 8 qs. Anyway its just as I’d expected! Got 94 %ile overall.. Considering this is my first time, I’m happy..

I think I stand a chance with prep, so I’m thinking of taking it seriously next time.. tho’ I’m still not so sure I really wanna do an MBA :p

Swades

I’ve fallen in love with a Hindi song after a long time. Its Yunhi Chala Chal Raahi..
Kailash Kher’s voice n’ singing are just outta this world! n’ the lyrics are superb too!!
Yeah, I actually understand ’em.. 😀

Yunhi chala, chal raahi   |   Kitni haseen hai ye duniya
Phool saare jamele, dekh phoolon ke mele   |   Badi rangeen hai duniya

Ye raasta hai keh raha ab mujhse   |   Milne ko hai koyi kahin ab tujhse

Dil ko hai kyun ye betaabi   |   Kis se mulaaqaat honi hai
Jis ka kabse armaan tha   |   Shaayad wahi baat honi hai

Yunhi chala, chal raahi
Jeevan gaadi hai samay paiya   |   Aansoon ki nadiya bhi hai
Khushiyon ki bagiya bhi hai   |   Rasta sab tera takke bhaiya

Dekho jidhar bhi in raahon mein   |   Rang pighalte hain nigaahon mein
Thhandi hawa hai thhandi chhaaon hai
Door woh jaane kiska gaaon hai   |   Baadal ye kaisa chhaaya
Dil ye kahaan le aaya   |   Sapna ye kya dikhlaaya hai mujhko

Har sapna sach lage, jo prem agan jale   |   Jo raah tu chale apne mann ki
Har pal ki seeb se moti hi tu chune   |   Jo sada tu sune apne mann ki

Mann apne ko kuch aise halka paaye   |   Jaise kandho pe rakha bhoj hat jaaye
Jaise bhola sa bachpan phirse aaye   |   Jaise barson mein koyi ganga nahaaye

Khul sa gaya hai ye mann   |   Khul sa gaya har bandhan
Jeevan ab lagta hai paawan mujhko

Jeevan mein preet hai, honton pe geet hai   |   Bas yehi jeet hai sun le raahi
Tu jis disha bhi jaa, tu pyaar hi loota   |   Tu deep hi jala, sun le raahi

Yunhi chala, chal raahi   |   Kaun ye mujhko pukaare
Nadiya pahaad jheel aur jharne, jangal aur waadi
In mein hai kiske ishaare

Spiked Me

spikeme
Originally uploaded by snkutty.

Thats what Anoop did to me a few weeks ago after he and Shaz shaped my goatee. Captured on Shabin’s 6600 🙂 Neat, huh!

WoRk-end

I’ve been really busy- guess I won’t be able to do justice to my blog like before.. The weekly release was due for delivery on Tue. We delayed it a bit ‘cuz I I found bugs here and there. Sant, my proj. partner, has taken complete ownership of the program which he’d written and the onus of rectifying the errors. The client wanted addl. features and allowed us to slip. On Friday, I left after 11 pm even tho’ Sant and I couldn’t make the release. By 11, the bloody thing wuz working perfectly on Linux, but when we ported it to FreeBSD, it screwed up. Some problem with the recovery from hash table. I left with Lazith n’ crashed out.. I realised today that Sant had spent Sat’day in office and made the release at night, with my name before his! Very sweet of him, I say! I’ve to shift priority now to understanding the intricacies of the code and exactly where the problem lay, instead of concentrating on learning TCP/IP and Tcl/Tk.

I woke up early on Sat’day- Viv n’ Ron had come over from college. I played b’ball, got back, took ’em to Elight for bfast, after which I accompanied ’em to Marathahalli- Each of us bought ourselves ACG floaters from Nike. I got mine for just Rs.910 thanks to my slow-moving size (UK 11 US 45). Wearing it at office today.. 🙂 We caught an auto to Palace Grounds (near Mekhri Circle), ‘cuz they wanted to go bungee jump. They’d come all the way for that! Well.. I let myself out at Ulsoor- Kicha’s place. Nelson’s back n’ he’s really thinned down! I got some superb new ringtones for my X100, viz themes of X-Files, MI-2, Terminator n’ Braveheart, Crawlin’ (Hoobastank), Roxette’s Vulnerable, SIMC n’ IMHBL, Children (R. Miles), WYWH (Floyd), SOS (S&G) n’ Video killed the Radio star. Sorry, I don’t have MMS enabled 😀

Y’day, I woke up at 9 to an sms from my childhood acquaintance Kuldeep, who asked me to catch him at the Ragamalika finals on Jaya TV. He sings incredbily well. He wuz the “Kalapratibha” of our year in the Yuvajanothsavam (Kerala Youth Festival) having bagged 1st prizes in Carnatic Vocal, Violin and Mrudangam! He rendered an amazing performance, which had Subbu open-mouthed. I wuz reminded of his showing at Saarang a coupla years ago where I pulled along Ravi, Harsha, Anjy et al for his Mrudangam and Carnatic Vocal renditions. He won 1st n’ 3rd resply and had us wonderstruck!

Well.. after that, I lazed around the whole day- slept more, n’ in the evening, went over to Anup’s ]Pankaj’s ABA pal] place. Snacked and got back to pick up OC and continued to Jayanagar 4th Block. OC n’ I got ticks for the 10.15 show of Swades at Swagath– It had my attention for all of 3.5 hrs. A must-see if ever there was one! Esply for the NRI-US junta. SRK for once caught my fancy- there’s none of his usual giggly, bubbly, emotional sh*t in this movie. He’s acted a very down-to-earth serious role as the movie deserved. Swades bears a resemblance to Lagaan, whch is understood- it being an Ashutosh Gowariker production. What really caught me out tho’, are A. R. Rahman’s music.. and Gayatri Joshi. She is.. in one word.. awesome!!!

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The Rise of Kimi Raikkonen

December 17, 2004

I lifted this off the McLaren website! :p

Kimi Räikkonen was acknowledged as a future great as soon as he burst onto the Formula 1 scene in 2001. The following year he reached the big time, stepping into countryman Mika Häkkinen’s shoes at Team McLaren Mercedes. Last year he showed his true potential as he challenged for the Drivers’ World Championship all the way to the final round.

Kimi’s rise to the top should serve as an inspiration to any aspiring driver. He made it despite not coming from a wealthy family or landing support from a major backer early in his career. He has progressed purely on talent, and by being in the right place when his results generated opportunities.

Despite his new found fame, Kimi’s feet remain firmly on the ground. He’s still close to his parents and the friends from back home that he made before he was a star. His home is in Switzerland, but he goes back to Finland whenever he can, and has a house not far from where he grew up.

Kimi inherited his love of speed from his family. However, his first exploits were actually on two wheels, rather than four.

“My brother started in motocross when he was three and a half or something, when he couldn’t even ride a normal bike!,” Kimi recalls. “They put those stabilisers on the motorbike. Then when I was five, I started. They got him a bigger bike, and we were racing together on land around the house.

“My dad was a mechanic. He used to work for a guy whose son was doing go-karts, so we went to look one day. We bought one kart for me and my brother – I was seven or eight then. I started in local races, not really licensed, but just hobby racing. I was maybe 12 when I started proper racing, which was quite late. My brother raced karts until he stopped at 17 or something, and started to do more car racing.

“He wanted to go on because he was more interested in big cars and rally stuff. He’s also taller than me, so he was a bit too big for karts. I was always more interested in racing, while he was just doing it for fun.”

Kimi’s dad put everything he had into supporting his boys, and made huge sacrifices. “He used to do three jobs at the same time. He used to drive a taxi, and he worked for the government, driving a big machine that made the roads more smooth. And sometimes he used work on the door of a bar, throwing people out!”

At one stage he diverted funds from a planned refit of the bathroom into karting. That meant the family had to still make do with their old outside lavatory, although Kimi says it was no great hardship: “It’s true, but that’s normal for us in Finland…”

Soon Kimi was travelling all over Europe, enjoying considerable success. “The first time I raced outside Finland was 1993. I won the Scandinavian Championship, and it all started from there. One of my cousins was helping me to do the European Championship. The first year wasn’t very good. I had some races where I went fast, but I usually ended up somewhere outside of the circuit! But at least some people noticed. Then I started to get tyres for free, and all these things that start to help.”

His big break came when he was offered a drive by a man who had not only raced against the great Ayrton Senna in karts, but actually beat the Brazilian to the 1980 world title.

“I won a championship in Finland in 1997, and in 1998 a guy called Peter de Bruijn from Holland was planning to build up his own team, and he needed drivers. He said he would like me to drive for him – I was 17 or 18. I stopped school and moved to Holland to do racing.

“I was still paying my hotels and flights and things like that, but he paid most of the stuff. It was good, because otherwise I couldn’t really do karts, because we didn’t have money. We always struggled. Anyway that year I won two Finnish Championships, the Scandinavian championship, and I came second in Europe, so it was a good year for us.”

His success earned him a lot of attention. One man who saw the potential was former Formula 1 team boss Peter Collins, who had an eye for young talent. Through him Kimi met father and son team David and Steve Robertson. They had already helped Jenson Button up the ladder, and now they gave Kimi their management support as he made the move into cars.

“The first couple of tests I did were in Formula Ford, and then I went to race in Formula Renault. It was more fun because they didn’t slide so much and were quicker. But I only did a few races in 1999. In the first one I came third, the car broke down in one race, and I had an accident in another. The car wasn’t very good, so we stopped it.”

Aware that he wasn’t in a competitive situation, Kimi and the Robertsons decided to stop the programme and await another opportunity at the end of the year.

“I came back and did some go-kart racing – I did the Finnish Championship because I didn’t have anything else to do. I came second in that and in the Nordic Championship. I was just hanging around in Finland. People were giving me a hard time because so many drivers go to England and come back. It was hard doing nothing! Dave and Steve had promised that I was going back to race in the Winter Series in a good team, so I went there and won all the races.’

Kimi found the Manor team much more to his liking. He stayed for 2000, and duly dominated the championship.

“In 2000 the Formula Renault rules changed, and everybody had the same car. It was a much better championship, with brand new cars for everyone, and it was much more straightforward. There were 12 races, but I did only 10 because I won the championship before then. I won seven races and had seven pole positions, one second and two thirds.”

He makes it sound easy, but it was an awesome performance that really got him noticed. It was achieved despite the distraction of National Service, which is compulsory for young Finns.

“It was a little bit difficult, because I was in the army. I went in October 1999, and left in October 2000. I was flying backwards and forwards to Finland all the time. It was a pain! There was all this marching in the forest and camping and the normal stuff. They’re always shouting at you, so it’s not nice to be there.

“There was a special place if you were at a high level in some sport, so you got it more easy. I think for 70 days you could be at your races, and if you did well you got some extra days – maybe one day for a race win.

I was away for 100 days, so I needed to stay two or three weeks longer or something. But because the new guys were coming in they didn’t care what we did, so we just played computer games and did nothing!’

Even before his army career was over Kimi got his first taste of Formula 1. Despite his limited experience, he landed a test with Sauber. At first nobody expected it to lead to a full time drive, but Kimi immediately impressed the Swiss team.

“Basically I had only one full season in cars, and it went quite quickly. I guess I had people behind me helping, and sometimes you just need to be in the right place at the right time. I had a good test. I guess it helped because Dave and Steve made sure I didn’t just have 20 laps. I got three days on my first test, so at least I got used to it.

“Then I got the second test at Jerez in Spain, and they said they were interested to do the contract. Everybody was just waiting to see if I’d get the Formula 1 superlicence or not. It changed a lot, because suddenly everyone was interested.”

The world was watching Kimi when he made his debut in Melbourne in March 2001. How could this kid straight out of Formula Renault step into a Formula 1 car?

He showed that Peter Sauber’s judgement was sound by finishing an astonishing sixth. In fact he barely put a foot wrong the whole season, finishing as high as fourth in Austria and Canada, and fifth at Silverstone. His total of nine points earned him 10th in the World Championship.

“The car was good, and I had some good races. The start of the year was a little bit difficult, and then I had quite a few retirements, engine, gearbox, and one time the steering wheel came off at San Marino! But then I had a few good results, which was nice. I didn’t really have any accidents, so it was a good year, and I had a close battle with [team-mate] Nick Heidfeld, which was good also for the team.”

Even before the end of the season Kimi had made the next step. He landed a fulltime Team McLaren Mercedes seat for 2002, effectively replacing his friend Mika Häkkinen, who was considering his future. Kimi had met McLaren Group Chairman and CEO Ron Dennis at a party as early as June, but discussions did not became serious until later on.

“First we thought it was for testing, but we were not interested in that, but then [Ron] said he would like to have me as a race driver. It all depended on what happened with the contract with Sauber and all those things. In the end everybody was happy, and everybody got something. When I was younger, McLaren was always winning and I was thinking it would be nice to drive for the team one day, because they’re doing so well.”

Kimi finished third first time out with the team in Australia, and never looked back. He was also third at the Nürburgring and Suzuka, but his best performance was undoubtedly at Magny-Cours in the Mobil 1 French Grand Prix. He was on course for victory when a late mistake on oil dropped him to second place.

The first win finally came in Malaysia in 2003, and but for an engine problem he should also have won at the Nürburgring. His consistent podium finishes – he had seven second places – demonstrated that he could mount a title challenge.

“For sure Team McLaren Mercedes is always going to be one of the top teams,” he says. “They know how to win and how to develop a good car.

Kimi won again in Belgian in 2004 and secured second places in Britain and in Brazil, where he had an exciting race long battle with new team mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Kimi is still only 25, and has plenty of time on his side. Will his chance come in 2005?

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Yours truly

December 17, 2004

Just went to the NaNoBlogMo site and discovered they’ve listed mine too. It seems Rabbi is coming to Planet-M today at 6. I just hope my project release is made today, so that I can go. Wanna fall at his feet! Btw, I’ll be coming to office tomorrow also, to practise b’ball! Anoop’s going home today ‘cuz his sis’ unwell.. I need to clean my bike. After OC took it, its got scratches (hopefully delible) on the fuel tank. I hate ppl being irresponsible.. GoodPic has come from Chen to meet Peeresh. The last few days have seen me n’ Lazith gelling very well together, probly ‘cuz of the co. we give each other during the late hrs spent at office.. I leave after 9 these days! :p

[Listening to Fuzon – Mora Saiyaan…]

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