Adieuu....with tears 

ADIEU..

Life's chequered flag is finally waving in front of the great man who has seen more such flags in his life than any one has in the world of Formula one racing. But this flag has a difference from the eariler ones. The earlier ones were just signposts leading him on the way to racing immortality. This one is a sign that he's a mortal after all. And what a Mortal!!! I can undoubtedly say that a man like this would never again hold the steering wheel of any F1 Car. Men like this are born once in a millennium and we are all fortunate enough to be living in the same age as this colossus strode the F1 pantheon.

That 1st para was written just before I went to watch Schumi's last race. Now, am out of words to describe this driving genius. What more could one say of a man who started off his race from 10th position, maneouvered his way upto 5th position and then again dropped to the back of the grid to 17th place due to a tyre problem and from there racing all the way upto 4th position exhibiting a jaw dropping display of daredevil driving. It was Schumi at his best, giving one last shot at glory under enormous pressure. The way he cruised past the cars in front of him made me feel that he was actually lapping them. A drive so breathtaking, moves so unthinkable to the lesser mortals on the track, but he made it all look easy for us. This was one last gift from Schumi to his die hard fans. My heart really stopped when he squeezed past Raikkonen's Mclaren, through a space which looked like a pinhole to me. And believe me, if the race had 5 more laps, we would've seen him overtaking Alonso and taking the 2nd position. The last lap was a testimony to his 'fight until death' spirit- he set a lap record for the Interlagos circuit with that blazing lap. I can write in bold letters- NO ONE WILL DRIVE AN F1 CAR LIKE SCHUMI DID TODAY. This 4th place is far more sweeter than the numerous podium finishes he secured.

I've become used to watching Schumi and his red machine every weekend and now its hard to think of a weekend without him. He lighted up my sundays with the scorching sound of his scarlet Ferrari and his winning smile. He has provided me the inspirational spark when i was down and taught me to be level headed and motivated even if I am on top and has nothing more to achieve. His race today was a lesson to wannabe champions, not only in racing, but in this whole big race called life. He gave it his all even when he had nothing more to prove to anyone. I used to wonder where he drew all that motivation from when he kept on pushing the limits even after winning the championship 2 years back. Today I understood the reason- he never thinks he is the champion. He always tells his mind that there's more to achieve and what he have won until now is nothing. This enables him to raise the bar every time he puts on his helmet and enters the car.

Over the years, it has become difficult to separate the man from the machine. His ruthless efficiency is so machine-like that now I consider Schumi and his red Ferrari as one inseparable entity. And this is exactly what his critics have used to write against him. They consider him as an emotionless creature who will go to any lengths to win the race. They say that he's the unsportiest sportsperson. Even the new champion in the making Alonso had unkind words for him. But this is one allegation almost all champions had to bear with. Remember the immortal Sampras and the unbelievable Federer. True Champions will do all they could to win and Schumi did only that. He drove with all aggression and raw power whenever he came on the track. Why should he be thinking of his opponents when all he should be doing is to concentrate on his driving? Some prominent person connected with F1 was saying that the exit of Schumi is one of the best things to happen to F1. U got it really wrong man, this is one of the worst things that could ever happen to any sport, the exit of a champion who has grown beyond the sport. He's been the face of Formula 1 for more than a decade. He's the sole reason for millions of fans to flock to the arenas or sit glued to the television. He brings so much revenue to the sport. I want to see how many of these fans wil be there to watch F1 next year. Even am thinking whether to watch and if at all am watching, whom to support. Schumi was the reason why i started watching F1 regularly. Now I can't subsstitue anyone in his place as my favorite driver. I'll continue to support Ferrari, the team.

Schumi's greatness isn't limited to the racing tracks alone. He has donated large amounts to charity, most notable being the 45 million dollars that he donated to Tsunami relief. He's also involved in numerous other charity works. He's unlike other celebrities, who finds it cool to have a lot of wives. Schumi has been a loyal family man. He was never a regular feature in the glitzy n glamorous page 3 crowd, but has always preferred to appear in the last page, the sports page. A man with no airs of being such a superstar, but he comes across as a common man outside the tracks. He has utmost dedication to the sport. Remember his amazing performance just days after his mother died. Even coming to race in such a situation is in itself bravery and coupled with that he controlled his emotions and put in a wonderful driving performance as a parting gift to his dear mother. I would never forget the tears in his eyes after that race.

I have lotz more to say about this amazing person. But am stopping here. My eyes are filled with tears[am not exaggerating] as i bid adieu to a man who has given me so much joy, so much inspiration and taught me some great lessons in life. SCHUMI...U R ONE OF A KIND...I bow my head before thee...
Now,lemme sing a song 4 him...this is my reworking of the famous Queen song ''We are the Champions''

Here goes the champion - my friends
And he kept on fighting - till the end
He is the championHe is the champion
No time for losers
'Cause here goes the champion - of the world

and i hope this would be his answer to us.....the original queen song....

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
and everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the champions -We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world

Formula one and my weekends never gonna be the same without dear SCHUMI....adieu, adios, arrivederci, auf wiedersehen, au revoir....GOOD BYE

with tears,your crusader Praveen

Justice!!!...at last!!!

Recently some of my readers were feeling that the crusader's main job is criticising others. He never says good things about anyone. Only Bad things catches his eyes. And after reading his posts, you get a bad feeling that all's not well with the world we live in. Sorry friends, its because plain hard truth is a bitter pill to swallow. And just because the truth sounds bad, there's no use in hiding it. Only if we speak it out, do we get a chance to try and change that for good.

ok,guys and gals, enough of preaching. Today am gonna praise someone atlast. Yes, u heard it right...am gonna praise the Indian judiciary, which has also bore the brunt of my criticism some months back. Chkout- Supreme Farce Of India

Today, the Delhi High court made a landmark judgement when they convicted Santosh Kumar Singh, accused of raping and killing law student Priyadarshini Mattoo in 1996. Its now worth remembering that the famed Indian judiciary acquitted this same man 7 years ago, even after having clear evidence against him. But the thing that the judiciary tried to correct itself is really heartening. But the main reason for this retrial and conviction is the unprecedented public outcry and the media pressure. U wudn't have forgotten the candle lit vigils and the numerous
petitions that were flying through cyberspace demanding justice for Priyadarshini. Its now becoming clear that culprits can no more hide behind the veil of high connections of their illustrious parents. The convicted man in the priyadarshini case , Santhosh Kumar Singh, is the son of a former IPS officer. Its everybody's knowledge that his acquittal 7 years back can be attributed more to that than anything else. But that was way back in 1999, when DD was still a source of news and 'A Generation was still sleeping'. Now, lets zoom back to 2006. We have close to 50 channels dedicated to news and obsessed with breaking news. Yes, they are ready to even kill an ailing leader when he's still alive[remember our own Kairali TV reporting Yasser Arafat dead 30 minutes before his actual death]. And their another obsession is the hidden camera, which terrorised a lot of our members of Parliament sometime back. But, above all they are fearless and are sure to raise a question when justice is not served. Now, everyone is asking ''DD who?''..Coupled with all these aggressive news channels, there's 'a generation awakened' by the sight of basanti, the colour of revolution. Now the judiciary cannot just shut their eyes and act like nothing has happened. Thats exactly why this verdict has happened. They had no other way, but to relent. Hope this happens with similar cases like Jessica Lal, where the evidences are as clear as the light of the day. If only, the judges had eyes to see beyond the darkness....lets hope this verdict sets a good precedent..All Hail the Indian Judiciary[Never even in my wildest dreams have i thought that I would say this]

I dedicate this post to all those who contributed even in a small way to make a difference in this case...to those who stood candle lit vigils, to those who signed online petitions and above all to the media who fearlessly stood by the side of justice.....

with love,
Your crusader Praveen

Hoo Haa India...Who Haa Pepsi...

U wouldn't have missed this war cry like ad song. An ad lined up with stars from bollywood as well as the whole men in blue team. Do we need a US MNC to tell us to love India? And i would've forgiven if it was any other company. Here was an international giant which is famous for depleting India's ground water reserves and then giving us pesticides to drink in return. Do we need such a company to tell us about our motherland? Ok, agreed.. its their own business strategy. Afterll, they are here to sell...

But, wait...Why so many stars in that ad? It saddens me to watch the country's top movie and sports stars competing with each other to show their spirit. Will any of these stars please tell me how much money is enough for them. Doesn't anyone of them have a commitment towards the people of this country, to the soceity which they are also a part of? Or are they living in a cocoon of their own to miss all these controversy surrounding the cola giant. Haven't they seen the anti cola war led by the poor people in Plachimada and elsewhere? Are these celebrities really so insensitive to the feelings of the common man, who made them what they are today...and am really sad to say that the list of celebrities endorsing pepsi and coke includes my own idols Sachin, Aamir, Amitabh, SRK....hmmm....I feel sorry for them and to the millions of people who worship them, including myself.

Now am really beginning to believe that these celebrities are very much self centered. They don't even spare a thought before they endorse a product. The little kids who worship them will drink these pesticide filled colas just because their heroes said so. Don't these stars realise that they are feeding poison to these little fans of theirs? Am sure thay don't realise as of now...or so i like to believe... because even if they don't love me or you, i do love them...and is really sad about what they are doing.....If any of them is reading this[ha ha haaaa...as if they don't have any other job], plz withdraw from your cola contract for this poor fan.....

Once again to the Cola giants... We, know how to love our country and we have enough slogans here to show our patriotic spirit...we don't need your hoohaa thing, it feels like some jungle song 4 me.....maybe the celebrities will sing for the money...but for us, the common people of India, what matters is pride and self respect...and don't xpect an Indian with those to join what you call your blue billion...I challenge you to try and make it atleast a blue 100...But am still thinking...whose billion is it anyway..... hoo haa...aaya indiaa... jaaaooo pepsiii

whooo haaaaaa
your crusader Praveen

ROCKERS UNITEEEE

08/10/06..Note down this date. This day is gonna be a momentous one in the history of Trivandrum. A day which is going to change the face of the capital city as a true destination of rock music. Trivandrum has always been considered an ultra orthodox city not suited for stuff like rock. There are even rumours that the elders here associate rock musicians with sex and drugs[well, is thr any truth in tht...he he....i donnow]. Even now you maybe frowned upon by some people here if u say you are playing with a rock band or that you are a rock fan. And when we perform here for shows, what we get is pure ganamela sound system. The sound system guy don't even know the difference between bass guitar and lead guitar. For him, the distorted sound of the guitar is some unwanted noise within the amps and he would promptly be pulling down the volume. And when u start playing, you would be expecting headbangers at the front creating a mosh out there. But barring a few guys, what you get is an unresponsive crowd who will sit and stare blankly at you. Seeing that, whatever spirit you had in your mind will slowly drain away. And, if you are fortunate enough there would be the hip hop loving 'kewl' gals booing at you...ok enuf is enuf...Now its time for a change...

And thats exactly why i asked you to note down that date. This day marks a new beginning for us, trivadrumite rockers and rock fans. Today morning, TVM rockers met up at the museum grounds. It was really an enjoyable meeting. Its always a pleasure to meet people share the same thoughts as you, people who share a common love..a love for the pounding thrash of metals and the sound of the distorted guitar. Just as i thought about it, it struck me that dhwani may have served as a cause in uniting us all. What all we blame about that fest, i think this is one good thing that happened because of it. Beacuse, it is there at dhwani that we realised the problems that a rock band in TVM have to face. We realised the importance of being there for each other, not as competitors , but to help each other out. And moreover, we realised that we need to unite..and thus we united.... We have put forward some really great plans to be implemented in the near future. Am not revealing those here, as of now.... lets wait and see...

Those who attended today's meeting are as follows.... Nikhil, Raja, Basil and Pappu from 'K.OS'... Praveen from 'Stoneage'[hehee...myself]....Alex,Arjun,Anand and Vivek from 'Soulburn'...Clifford,Rajiv,Sujay,Henry, Sriram and Rohit from 'Black Pool'...Vivian and Rahul from 'Rocksault'.....and atlast, the great Nithin bhai and Arun MegaDutt....

so...lemme add thtt cliched sentence heree....well begun is half done...he heee

with love,
Your Crusader Praveen

DHWANI N CET SUCKS

Dhwani, the inter collegiate cultural fest conducted by CET was notable by its immense number of participants and vareity of the programs dished out. But, Its 'sad but true' that the Dhwani organisers were a bunch of losers...especially the main convenor Deepak benny.... here is a man whose main job is to help out and guide the participants... but this guy was the perfect xample of how an event organiser shud never behave like.... he created one or othr problem with almost all the rock bands which came to play thrr.... first of all, he had a tiff with 'Stoneage' and 'K.OS', saying tht 2 bands from one college are not allowed... he was talking at length about how he go only according to the rule book... then, y did they bend the rules by not going for a prelims round?.... He told that there would be some problems with the points distributuon to our college if he allowed both of us to play. But we said-'man, we don't want your points. We just want to perform. Don't award our college any points even if we win any prizes'. Still, he remained 'like a stone', sticking to his stand. We even thought of boycotting Dhwani and after several rounds of negotiations, in which our college team leader Sabareesh played a stellar role, they allowed us to play....

Their next target was soulburn...the band comprising of members from CET, Law colege and MBT... here, the bloody rule they put forward was that all members of the band should be from same collegee...c'mon man, is this a ballet troupe or something...a rock band happens wen a group of men sharing some common ideologies and attitudes join together... we don't team up as a band after asking-'dude, which college are u from'.... for a band, even language or country barriers doesn't matter...bcos we speak the language of music... this is an age when even indian and pakistani men jam together and form bands.... so, our respected CETian was there insisting on all us to be from the same college.....i felt like kicking the pulp outta his a** at that moment... Then he came with his friends and asked Arjun,the guitarist of Soulburn[a CETian himself] . ..''do u want to play''...in a threatening voice, as if arjun's there to kill somebody... Why don't these guys just understand that we all came there to help to make their own show a grand success? Instead, they beahved to us like we were their arch enemies. Atlast, they disqualified 'soulburn'. They played in the end, not as part of the competition...Ok, now i thought its all over...

But, more was to come on the last day... RAGE, the best rock band ever to come out of Trivandrum started the proceedings of the evening. Before that we had to endure a 'boring-like-hell' valedictory function, punctuated with some rubbish speeches. Now, Rage were rocking the capacity crowd out there. We, the rockers, were in the mood, banging our heads and screaming. But the CETians themselves were hell bent on spoling the spirit by singing 'Thithithaara Thithithey' and screams of 'stop it ****** '....Have u ever seen anywhere this rare scene of the hosts themselves insulting the guests? And to top it all, they allowed RAGE to play only 4 songs. Here was a band playing the metal anthems just like the original versions and rocking the whole crowd, but the organisers just wanted to stop the show. I raise both my middle fingers to them....DHWANI AND CET SUCKSSSSSSSSS....

Now i know, why this festival didn't happen for the last 2 years...Now I know, why strings din't come... This guy might have asked them their id cards. Maybe disqualified them because they weren't from the same college... KEEP UP THE SPIRIT CETians....U SUCK BIGTIMEEEEE.....As a kind of protest we all wore our participation cards just above our pant zippers....I think u all got what we meant by that, right?...Hope things clear up the next year and may the truth dawn up on the bloody head of the filthy organisers.....I RAISE BOTH MY MIDDLE FINGERS AGAIN...........DHWANIIIIIIIIIIIII...OH DHWANIIIIIIIIII....U SUCKKKKKKKKKKK

NB- I removed certain parts of this article after my good friends objected to the explicit language. I vow that i would never use too much explicit language in my future blog posts.[But i still do reserve myself the liberty to use an occcasional explicit word so that i could convey how much i feel about a particular issue]

Awaiting your valuable comments
with anger,
your crusader Praveen