Arasiyal'la Ithellam Sathaaranam Appa

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No Tamilian would have thought some time back that this would happen... Not so long ago, Sun TV would never air anti-Kalaignar news/propaganda... There was no place for Amma, Vaiko, others who voice against Kalaignar... But its all happening now... Last week I tuned to Sun TV and was not surprised to see Amma/ anti Kalaignar remarks in their news... As Koundamani(Comedian) amptly said in a Tamil movie "Arasiyal'la Ithellam Sathaaranam Appa"... Time and again this has proved to be true.... “There are no permanent allies or enemies in politics”

Kalaignar VS Sun TV

India Wins the inaugural Twenty20 worldcup

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Fitting end to what has been a great world cup. Unlike the poor One day world cup in the Caribbean early this year, this event showed lot of promise to cricket overall. With great crowd turnaround (might be because of two cricket powerhouses in terms of revenue for cricket in the final), great organization by SA cricket board, a tied game, drama as well (SA out of the world cup for just losing a single game), edge of the seat thriller final, everything was up to the expectations of the many. It has lived to the hype with which it has been launched and of course India winning the world cup...

Siva goes Rafting

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Posted by Picasa

Ah...atlast... the Twenty20 world cup not for Australia

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As I had already written about it... The least thing I wanted to see is Australia lifting this world cup. This exit made a dent on their monopoly in Cricket in recent times. Already 3 consecutive world cups in their coffers, this time atleast some other country will be lifting the cup. The irony is that the teams that were knocked out in the first round of the one day world cup, India and Pakistan are into the finals... We can see a crowded, equally contested world cup not like the one in Carib where it was a dull and one sided show with so less people on the stands...

It happens not only in India

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How many times we would have seen in Indian Cinemas... Whenever a bad guy was about to be arrested... he would end up in an intensive care faking some illness... I was watching CNN and the below news reminded of nothing else but :-) ... I feel sorry for him but I couldnt control my laugh...

"HOLLYWOOD - One of O.J. Simpson's alleged armed robbery victims has been rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday complaining of severe chest pains.

A source tells Web site TMZ.com, Fromong's "heart had stopped and had to be restarted."

The former football star was arrested on Sunday, following an armed raid at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Fromong claims he witnessed Simpson and five associates attempt to rob memorabilia items from collector Alfred Beardsley. "

From top of Mt.Tsukuba

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Here is a small video which I took from top of Mt.Tsukuba. Chk how misty it gets...


Help to Live

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I was watching Vijay TV over the weekend and by chance saw the program Neeya-Naana. Its basically a talk show and the weeks topic was "How Selfish are the current high earning middle class" and I really liked it. I can classify myself into that category.Even though I want to do something for the society I live in... I'm too lazy for that. Atleast we can help the others who are active in the wellness of the society. One such NGO is Help to Live. For the so called Software pros (like me) who always seem busy for everything, atleast we can contribute to them without leaving our seat/laptop. Just do a net transfer for whatever amount u wish to contribute.

Here's the link to the donation page Help to Live

Zimbabwe Stun Australia

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Ah... Atlast it happened... I dont want this worldcup also to go to Australia... With Australia winning the last 3 ODI worldcups I would like to see some other country take the inaugural Twebty20 world cup. Zimbabawe with the upset of this tournament has surely made a dent on the Australia's chances. Come on England, I would like to see Australia eliminated.

Aus - Zim Scorecard

Japanese Dictionary (Ninhon-go Dictionary wa)

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Here is the link to one free Japanese - English Dictionaries by Kyoto Tachibana Women's University.

http://cai4.tachibana-u.ac.jp/nihongo/WAEI2.ZIP

The winners of the ICC awards for the year 2006

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Cricketer of the Year Award - Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Test Player of the Year Award - Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)
ODI Player of the Year - Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Women's Cricketer of the Year - Jhulan Goswami (Ind)
Emerging Player of the Year - Shaun Tait (Aus)

Associate ODI Player of the Year - Thomas Odoyo (Ken)
Captain of the Year Award - Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Spirit of Cricket Award - Sri Lanka
Umpire of the Year Award - Simon Taufel

The World Test Team of the Year (in batting order) is:

Matthew Hayden (Aus) Michael Vaughan (Eng) Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain) Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Michael Hussey (Aus) Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wicketkeeper) Stuart Clark (Aus) Makhaya Ntini (SA) Mohammad Asif (Pak) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) 12th man: Zaheer Khan (Ind)

The World ODI Team of the Year (in batting order) is:

Matthew Hayden (Aus) Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain) Kevin Pietersen (Eng) Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) Jacques Kallis (SA) Mark Boucher (SA, wicketkeeper) Chaminda Vaas (SL) Shane Bond (NZ) Muttiah Muralidaran (SL) Glenn McGrath (Aus) 12th man: Michael Hussey (Aus)


Source: ICC

ICC Cricket awards for the year 2006-2007

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No surprise looking at the nominees, there is no one from then Indian men's
team nominated for any of the category in this years cricket awards. For the country boasting to have one of the best pool of cricketers, where cricket is considered a
religion... there are no excuses... Is it a problem with the BCCi or our cricketers approach towards cricket or is its money thats spoiling it... u never know...

Thanks to Jhulan Goswami for flying Indian flag high... I have never really followed womens cricket but really she made me proud...

Source: BBC

Emerging Player of the Year nominees:
Ravi Bopara (Eng)
Saqibul Hasan (Ban)
Shaun Tait (Aus)
Ross Taylor (NZ)


ODI Player of the Year nominees:
Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)


Test Player of the Year nominees:
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pkn)


Cricketer of the Year nominees:
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pkn)


Associate ODI Player of the Year nominees:
Ashish Bagai (Can)
Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)
Thomas Odoyo (Ken)
Steve Tikolo (Ken)


Women's Cricketer of the Year nominees:
Jhulan Goswami (Ind)
Lisa Sthalekar (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)


Umpire of the Year nominees:
Mark Benson
Steve Bucknor
Simon Taufel


Captain of the Year nominees:
Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)

Teams nominated for Spirit of Cricket Award:
Australia
Ireland
New Zealand
Sri Lanka

Japanese Podcasts (Nihongo Podcastu)

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One of the easiest way to learn Japanese is by listening to podcasts. You can sync it in ipod and listen to it when on the boring metros. Nowadays I do this. Here are some of the podcasts I listen to...

Japancast

J list

I'm going Japanese

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"Konichi Wa. Ogenki des ka"... For those who didnt understand, it means "Hello... How are u..."... haha... dont laugh at me... Im serious... Just started picking up some words through online courses and free podcasts (I dont have anything else to do ;))... From now I'll blog some of the sites which I visit daily for my Japanese lessons and the podcasts. Hope its useful to us as well...

My room in Tokyo

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My home for almost 4 months now... Its in Ningyocho on the Hibya/Asakusa Metro lines. Have got everything packed in this 24 sq.m room... Rent 240000 Yen... almost 80k INR...and thats really expensive for a room of this size...baaaaaaaadddd but...company provided acco only(that way its good)...

Billy Banks

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hahaha... What to say about him.... The most famous guy in Japan right now... Any channel you surf u might see him in one of the ads abt Billy Banks/Tae Bo. Most famous for his weight reduction exercise using boxing moves.
I have seen him more in TV than the Japanese Prime minister(Whats his name ???)


A tribute to him from Youtube.


Some guy inspired by Billy Banks

Hakone

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Getting there from Tokyo is pretty easy. Just buy a Hokone free pass from Shinjuku which is a round trip pass from Shinjuku back to Shinjuku all at 5500 Yen for adults and 2750 for kids. Take the Odakyu line from Shinjuku to Odawara and your day starts there. They provide English map along with the pass which lists all places of interest. Other way to get there is to take the Tokaido line from Tokyo station to Odawara and buy the pass at Odawara(4130 Yen/2070 Yen). One can easily spend a day visiting various parks/museums etc. Dont forget to have Black egg at Owakudari(Nothing special but just for fun).




Hakone Open air Museum
















Owakudani



Black Egg (Boiled in Natural Sulphur water)



Boiling Sulphur Water





Lake Aishi























Hokone Checkpoint







Ancient Cedar Avenue







Hokone Wild Grass Garden




Imperial Rest House









JR500 Shinkansen

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One of the fastest 500 series Shinkansen.


Much better pic available here