Race 3 - Albert Park April 1 - 2

Manoj
1. Kimi
2. Button
3. Massa (thoooo!)

Me
1. Alonso
2. kimi
3. button

Arjun
1. kimi
2. schumi
3. Alonso

Sepang , Renault continue where they left ; So does kimi

Two races down and i've still not blogged on season 2k6! A stark contrast to the suffocating deluge on season 2005. Season 2006 is expected to be one of the most competitive seasons in the recent times. But nothing much has actually changed. Still alonso reigns supreme. Renault are invincible and are providing a lesson or two in matching reliablity and performance. Kimi still grapples with an inexplicable phenomenon of not being able to go for that win because of issues totally out of his control. And button still finds a win elusive. But there are also some important differences compared to the previous season.

For one, Schumi looks more competitive. But one will have to wait for other circuits to see how competitive the ferraris are. Massa is performing remarkably well although at times his drive not the smoothest around - locking up, skidding , and nearly taking out alonso by braking very late in a desperate attempt to overtake him. He beat schumi fair and square in sepang. Dont call that bad strategy. Schumi had enough fuel to take him to finish but his ultra fast charge through the field burnt everything up and he had to make one final pit stop visit. But even otherwise ferraris pit stops were not the usual picture perfect ones we are used to seeing. There were moments of little clumsiness. On the other hand, renault seem to go wrong no where. Pit stop strategies are perfect and the pit stops themselves are a tutorship in perfection akin to the ferrari ones we were used to seeing.

Mclaren continue to experience the kimi conundrum. At least kimi cant blame them for sepang. Of course, klien too refuses to accept the blame which i find very unpolite. His teammate meanwhile could have read a little novel on his way to the fourth place. His race was so incident free that no one even noticed a maclaren rolling into the fourth place. He is doing the job a second driver well although it seems like he has predetermined not to attack. It could also be a case of Mclaren's lack of performance. Still a bit of fight would have been good. Talking of racing spirit, Sato for once was in the screens for the right reasons. Super aguri screamed through to victory in a clash between the minnows. And he put in a few interesting clashes on his way to completion. If there is anyone with more than a point to prove its Sato.

Meanwh Nico was still in GP2 mode as the showers of praise following the bahrain drive perhaps got to his head and he tried to run his teammate out of the race. Of course, both ended up out of the race dude to failures. But i am sure they wouldn't exactly be buddies on track from now on. Nico, its time u moved on to F1.

Honda is not exactly brimming with glee either. For one, they are still nowhere near matching the renault's pace but more importantly barri is having a torrid time. The adjusting process he is going through might just cost Honda some very valuable points. This was expected to be the best team mate war of the season but it has dissapointed. However the best team mate war seems to be building up between the renault pair of fisichella and Alonso. After the 'accidental' double fuelling alonso was left down at 7th in qualifying while fisi grabbed a good pole. But Alonso's charge through the mess at the start was something of a spectacle. In the first few seconds he was running in the third place behind button. On the other hand starting from pole, light on fuel and with a brand new engine fisi had a perfect race to the finish. It will be interesting to see whats happens next to alonso. Any more accidental screw ups. Strategies that keep him behind fisi? But alonso is driving a perfect race nowadays. Agreed that he has a great car but then his drive is perfect and pushes and eases to perfection. He is the best in terms of thinking on the track after Schumi.

So Australia beckons everyone. Renaults are on a high. Mclaren will love to improve performance and so will ferrari and honda. Will be interesting to see who the victors will be going by the first two races.

Two races down and i've still not blogged on season 2k6! A stark contrast to the suffocating deluge on season 2005. Season 2006 is expected to be one of the most competitive seasons in the recent times. But nothing much has actually changed. Still alonso reigns supreme. Renault are invincible and are providing a lesson or two in matching reliablity and performance. Kimi still grapples with an inexplicable phenomenon of not being able to go for that win because of issues totally out of his control. And button still finds a win elusive. But there are also some important differences compared to the previous season.

For one, Schumi looks more competitive. But one will have to wait for other circuits to see how competitive the ferraris are. Massa is performing remarkably well although at times his drive not the smoothest around - locking up, skidding , and nearly taking out alonso by braking very late in a desperate attempt to overtake him. He beat schumi fair and square in sepang. Dont call that bad strategy. Schumi had enough fuel to take him to finish but his ultra fast charge through the field burnt everything up and he had to make one final pit stop visit. But even otherwise ferraris pit stops were not the usual picture perfect ones we are used to seeing. There were moments of little clumsiness. On the other hand, renault seem to go wrong no where. Pit stop strategies are perfect and the pit stops themselves are a tutorship in perfection akin to the ferrari ones we were used to seeing.

Mclaren continue to experience the kimi conundrum. At least kimi cant blame them for sepang. Of course, klien too refuses to accept the blame which i find very unpolite. His teammate meanwhile could have read a little novel on his way to the fourth place. His race was so incident free that no one even noticed a maclaren rolling into the fourth place. He is doing the job a second driver well although it seems like he has predetermined not to attack. It could also be a case of Mclaren's lack of performance. Still a bit of fight would have been good. Talking of racing spirit, Sato for once was in the screens for the right reasons. Super aguri screamed through to victory in a clash between the minnows. And he put in a few interesting clashes on his way to completion. If there is anyone with more than a point to prove its Sato.

Meanwh Nico was still in GP2 mode as the showers of praise following the bahrain drive perhaps got to his head and he tried to run his teammate out of the race. Of course, both ended up out of the race dude to failures. But i am sure they wouldn't exactly be buddies on track from now on. Nico, its time u moved on to F1.

Honda is not exactly brimming with glee either. For one, they are still nowhere near matching the renault's pace but more importantly barri is having a torrid time. The adjusting process he is going through might just cost Honda some very valuable points. This was expected to be the best team mate war of the season but it has dissapointed. However the best team mate war seems to be building up between the renault pair of fisichella and Alonso. After the 'accidental' double fuelling alonso was left down at 7th in qualifying while fisi grabbed a good pole. But Alonso's charge through the mess at the start was something of a spectacle. In the first few seconds he was running in the third place behind button. On the other hand starting from pole, light on fuel and with a brand new engine fisi had a perfect race to the finish. It will be interesting to see whats happens next to alonso. Any more accidental screw ups. Strategies that keep him behind fisi? But alonso is driving a perfect race nowadays. Agreed that he has a great car but then his drive is perfect and pushes and eases to perfection. He is the best in terms of thinking on the track after Schumi.

So Australia beckons everyone. Renaults are on a high. Mclaren will love to improve performance and so will ferrari and honda. Will be interesting to see who the victors will be going by the first two races.

Nostalgia?

Here is a forward i received...

From Chukku Kaapi to Cappuccino
This blog was written because I was left with no work to do after coming back from Café Coffee day today. I always feel that blogs are written by people who have nothing else to do, but write blogs. And blogs are written for people who have nothing else to do, but read blogs. So if you have nothing else to do, continue reading.

Café Coffee Days in my life!!! I can't believe it. Six, seven years back I would never have imagined that such a day would occur in my life. Café Coffee day is supposed to be a place where high class people who didn't know how to spend the money they had, go. But now I am there... I have changed a lot since my school days.

As I said in my previous post, I never talked in English till the end of my 12th standard. May be in my primary school we talked in English a little bit... (Since girls were there in my primary school we used to talk in English... Mostly it was the "You go girl." "Miss this boy no... he is stealing my pencil miss" and "Miss this boy is pinching me miss" type of pathetic English.). Till I went to college, I never read an English newspaper. I never knew who Sidney Sheldon was. I never saw English movies. "Star movies" was considered adult material at home. I never talked to a girl. I don't feel that I missed anything...But still because I didn't have such experiences, I had to adjust a lot when I traveled beyond Cornigela, my place.

Born in Cornigela, an ordinary conservative town, even Chennai took a lot of time for me to adjust. My home town was too cool. You could watch movies for 15 Rs. in an AC theatre. You get the best food at lowest prices. You can drink water wherever you want and it doesn't affect you. Girls never wear T-shirts or Jeans. You can see girls in half-sarees. And there were a lot more things that were cool to me...My first costly experience as far as I can remember was my first Pizza.

In my 12th standard holidays I had my first Pizza. We, a group of 5 friends went to a bakery. It was around 7 p.m at night. We ordered our first Pizza (only one because it costed so much - 20Rs!!!). As the Pizza arrived one of the guys started using his hand to take out a piece. "Ley" ....The others shouted... "asingam pannatheylae. Fork kudupaanga"... We got 5 forks for eating one Pizza. Everybody tried taking out a piece with the fork. Nobody was successful. Stupid forks... As we were trying different methods, two girls came in, and took the table adjacent to ours. They seemed to be from the so called high class families in Cornigela. They ordered a Pizza. We were still trying to eat ours. Their Pizza arrived in their table. Unable to find a solution, we looked at them for one. One of the girls took out a piece with her hand and started eating it. Damn stupids we were!!! But what do we do now?? We can't go back to the hand-intake method... We are brave!!! Luckily for us the power went off... Forks were put down and everybody started picking a piece with the hand. Our sole aim- finish it off before power comes back!!! Unlucky for us, power came back immediately... We had a piece each in our hands... The girls started laughing... People around us realizing what had happened too joined them...We promised we would never eat Pizzas again. But we all did.

The first change in lifestyle for me occurred in Chennai. Chennai was completely different. Watching a movie for Rs.40 was a one time life experience for most people in my village. I had to adapt to such things since I had to be a part of the group. Otherwise you feel let out. My habits started changing. For example, you look into the glass before drinking water to check whether it is clean. I went to my first Coffee Pub in Chennai. I remember saying some time back "Loosu paya thaan Coffee publa poi mukkaa manineram wait panni oru black coffeeya 50 Ruba kaasu kuduthu kudippaan" - I did it...

If Chennai was difficult for me, how easy would be an MBA school? I was dumbstruck with the culture... The Hi's and the fundoo English speaking guys were all a great change, though I had expected it. There is a sense of hollowness when you say a Hi to somebody here. In Cornigela a smile was enough to say what you feel. There is real sense of belonging in a smile. I miss it - a smile without a Hi.

Here is an example to show how my family mindset is different from the mindset here. At the end of the first term when I went home, I showed quite a few photographs to my parents. In one photograph there was a guy who had his arms around a girl's shoulder. My mother asked me whether they were in love. I said "No". But even today she doesn't believe me. She still feels that they are in love!!! If only she comes here(...

The mind works mechanically here - after you crack a joke you do what they call high fives!!! When you meet a person you ask something like "What's up buddy?"- Only God knows how you are supposed to answer for such a question!!! You say "Excuse me" after a sneeze - What big mistake have you made to say that?? When you are ready to sacrifice ethics for grades and see even your closest friend as a competitor in group discussions, how much difference will that Excuse me make? Pretty difficult to adjust!!!

Even Café Coffee Days and costly dinners sometimes hurt. Daily my father takes a bus to reach home from his office because taking an auto would cost him Rs.30. He walks a kilometer daily from the bus stop to my house. When I think of that and the fact that I am spending Rs.50 for a Chocolate Fantasy, I feel uneasy. Definitely it is not a matter of money. The fact is that I somewhere in my heart feel that this is not really who I am...The fact that I have changed a lot hurts... I want to be the same myself, but I am unable to do so.

Started listing down a few things that have changed in my life. The left column is a list of things that were part of my life before I entered college. And the right are those that I came to know/were a part of my after I entered college.

I wish I go back to school and be the same guy I was. I know I can't. But I want to do it and live the same life all again.

Leo da Mirci once said, "I love what I do because I do only what I love".

If only following something is as simple as saying something!!!

My take?

I come back to my room in despondence after an RMD class and find this mail in my inbox. Another one of those forwards, oozing out nostalgia and making the mordern urban lifestyle look like hell. I could so easily have escaped into this surrealism of reflecting on the days gone by; innocence lost and simple pleasures abstained. But instead i sat down to write a blog post. Yes, i am one of those jobless individuals who write blogs targeting similar species. To begin with, childhood always seems so much fun; full of new things to discover, a world to explore, simple joy to be gained out of the most ridiculous acts and moments of pure ecstasy. No wonder we go nostalgic and would give anything to warp time and get back to those carefree days. But were they really carefree? You had fears even then, you had worries and you had pain. Of course, on hindsight after an experience of more than 20 years in this unforgiving world they pale into atomic insignificance. You feared the dark, you were afraid of your maths teacher or whoever it was, you hated going to school (i did), you worried about crossing the street that had a growling dog prowling and you were terrified when you did something wrong like breaking a vase. Then they were mortal fears. They tore you apart with terror and agony.

My point is simple. Enjoy life as you experience it. The past always looks so much full of fun and innocence. But in leaning too much into it you might just miss the pleasures that life throws you now. I still savour insignificant moments like in college me and karthi used to stop by a potti kadai to buy lays and cool drinks on our way home every evening like a ritual or when me and kandha created our first presentation ( a review of the film kushi ;)). I still remember the elation and joy when it poured cats and dogs in coimbatore and our school got cancelled or the first time i met paddu at karthi's house when it was dusk and i had accompanied him from college. But then i also enjoyed the tasty food at dhaba express i had in chennai with paddu last year or the bloody mary i had with arjun a couple of weeks back at residency or the numerous post cs escapades to boomerang poring over the menu on what to eat or the unlimited beer at cts annual day. To me all of them were fun - total and complete. Either kalan or pizza, pal ice or choco chip, afghan food or dosai, i enjoyed all these moments equally and would continue to do so. So no regrets in growing up!

Trust Mclaren to rev it up!

Just when it seemed that the plot was secure and the story finalised, Mclaren gave that final jolt that twisted the drama out of shape and cluttered the slowly building expectations. Kimi scorched the tracks at valencia sending shock waves through the other teams and possibly causing a panic reaction. Mclaren have been good on pace but have been frequently outpaced by renault and honda during testing. And when it appeared that they were not the favourites , at least for the early part of the season, kimi set a time so far ahead as to completely throw all predictions into disarray. So my predictions for sakhir 1. kimi , 2. alonso 3. schumi may after all come true atleast partially...lets wait and watch