2010 : A Flashback

Hey Readers !

Here we are again at the end of an eventful year. Recalling some memories from the past. This is entirely based on my opinion and readers' opinions may certainly differ. Feel free to add or suggest anything.



BEST Moment:
The XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 held at Delhi and its record medals won by India


WORST Moments:

• Air India Flight 812 overshoots the Mangalore International Airport runway killing 158 people

• Pune Bombing at German Bakery

• Gyaneshwari Express train derailment in West Bengal ought to have been carried out by Maoists

DEFINING Moments:

• India launches its 2011 biometric census, the largest in the world

• Volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, disrupts air traffic across northern and Western Europe
  

• The Wikileaks exposure

• 2G Spectrum Scam

• Shashi Tharoor resigning as Minister

BEST Film (Bollywood):
Dabangg



BEST Film (Hollywood):
The Social Network



BEST Movie Sequel:
Toy Story 3



BEST Actor:
Leonardo Di Caprio (Shutter Island and Inception)



BEST Director:
Christopher Nolan (Inception)



BEST Song:

• Airplanes (B.o.B.) -- (English)

• Naav (Udaan) -- (Hindi)

BEST Sportsperson:

• Sebastian Vettel (Formula 1 : Youngest F1 World Champion)

• Sushil Kumar (Wrestling : World Champion)

• Saina Nehwal (Badminton: 3 Super Series, CWG Gold, World No. 2)

• Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket: First man ever to score a 200 in an ODI)

EMERGING Sportspersons:
The 4x400 Indian Women's relay team clinching Gold at CWG and Asiad


BEST Sporting Moments:

• India crushing Pakistan 4-1 at the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup

• Spain defeating Netherlands 1-0 in the finals of the Football World Cup 2010

• India at CWG 2010 Women's Discus 1-2-3

WORST Sporting Moment:
Spot-Fixing in Cricket


BEST TEAMS:

• Spanish Football Team (Football World Cup 2010 champions)

• Red Bull Racing (Formula 1: Driver's and Constructor's Title)

• Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho
  

BEST Indian ENTREPRENEUR:
Kumar Mangalam Birla



BEST Indian POLITICIAN:
Nitish Kumar (Pulling off a stunning electoral result in an underdeveloped state)



BEST in ENTERTAINMENT (Indian):
Vikramaditya Motwane (Director of Udaan)



CAR of the Year:
Bugatti Veyron



PERSON of the Year:
Julian Assange (Wikileaks Founder)



Cellphone of the Year:
iPhone 3GS



WORD of the Year:
Austerity



DISCOVERY of the Year:
Arsenic as a life form support.



The CHOSEN ONE of the Year:
Paul the 'Psychic' Octopus !



Phew ! Compiling this was tough !!!
Readers may differ in opinions and all such comments are welcome :)
See ya all in 2011 !!

Winter Break : Part I

Manipal - Mangalore - Chennai
10.12.2010

The day when Semester V officially ended. My exams had got over on the 8th itself, but I was waiting for my roomie to finish his exams, so we could leave on a legendary trip back home. His family had recently shifted to Gangtok, and so I had booked his ticket to Howrah. Anish, a Bosconian, would be accompanying us for the first time ever on our journey !

Last exam, Priyank had hardly studied anything, and instead of packing or studying, he had spent most of his time watching Coffee with Karan (or I think Koffee). Anyways, his exam ended at 5 in the evening, and he rushed to the room. We started packing everything in a haste. Literally, stuffing everything in the almirah. We had decided to meet at 6pm at TC. But obviously, time and tide waits for none, so we ended being late. After recharging Surdas' TATA Photon+, we reached TC at 6.30 only to find the Volvo full. So we decided to take the local bus.

It was drizzling and the weather was awesome. The bus started at almost 7pm, and the chilly breeze and the Kannada movie which they were showing in the bus was quite pleasant. The movie talked about a girl, a hero (his brother I think), and a villain. All kinds of animals were brought into it. Bullocks overturning bullock-carts, snakes killing the girl's father, and the lion who could be tamed so easily by the hero.


We reached Mangalore at 8.45pm and made our way to the Station, where the West Coast Express was standing on the platform waiting for us. Our coach was very far down the platform, and our coach was full of MITians. We settled down, used TATA Photon+ to update our Facebook status msg, and started playing FIFA after a while. I must admit I was delighted at winning a game against Priyank (I lost the series 1-4 though). We finally slept off after a family with quite a luggage barged into our coupe. Next day too we spent time playing Family Feud, FIFA and watching HIMYM on a friend's laptop.

The train arrived at Chennai Central at 3.15pm (No delay) and we had to wait for about 40 mins to keep the luggage in the cloak room. After keeping our luggage, we then argued with an auto wala to take us to Marina Beach. I was visiting Marina Beach for the first time after the Tsunami that tore apart the Bay of Bengal. We stayed there for a while, clicking photos and roaming around.

We then made our way to the Citi Centre, not far from the beach, where we refreshed ourselves, and roamed about the mall for 4 straight hours. We ate at the KFC and Pizza Hut and did some efficient window shopping. At about 9.30pm we reached the station, passing through Spencer's and Express Avenue. While seated in the station we spent time identifying logos and texts throughout the station. As soon as the platform announcement for Howrah Mail came, we collected our luggage from the cloak room, and made our way to platform number 8. The train finally left the next day at 0010 hrs (instead of 2340 hrs).


We met an awesome group of Biharis in our coupe, who were studying at JIPMER Medical College. Their stories were amazing. Time spent by like almost a whisker. We received lunch and dinner at Vizag and Bhubaneswar stations from Priyank's relatives. Home felt close. Next day we reached the Howrah station early at 0400 hrs. Anish dropped us at our home on way to his. Finally we had the comfort of home, the much awaited sleep that eluded us !

Winter Break : Part II was next.

Harry Potter 7.1

It's been 4 days since our classes got unofficially over, and we had been making plans to the Harry Potter 7.1 movie at Mangalore. If its Harry Potter, there's no stopping us. Call it kid-like, call it fantasy, call it childish, it is just Harry Potter, one of the best creations by any author.

Finally, after getting on a surprise Thursday chilly morning, I managed to wake up Rishabh and Priyank. Shramit who was already awake, got my msg sometime late, though he was ready. We had decided to catch the 0800 hrs Volvo to Mangalore. But our dear friend Samrat (Surdas) had challenged that we wouldn't even wake up. Beating him, we left for breakfast at Annapurna mess, and called up Shramit to reach KC immediately.

We managed to catch the 0830 hrs Volvo, and since end sems was round the corner, we had decided to spend the 1.30 hrs on bus studying something !! So each of us had a copy. None of us studied. All were too sleepy, and we dozed off. We reached Mangalore at 1015 hrs and rushed our way to Bharath Mall to get our Rs 80 tickets for the 1030 hrs show. We had done it !!!!!


The movie was pretty cool and it was a fantastic build up to Harry Potter 7.2 ! We got out and decided to storm Pizza Hut. The Pizzas were just amazingly awesome. I mean that. After a fantastic meal, we then caught the local bus to Manipal, and reached our hostel by 1630 hrs. After wasting the entire morning not studying (we do that everyday ;) ) we finally decided to study sometime.


A day full of excitement, soon to be followed by the gigantic end sem preparations. Phew ! It was one hell of a day !! Kudos to Priyank, Rishabh and Shramit for the trip, and to Samrat for challenging us ;)