Theory of Objectivism
My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. - Ayn Rand
when I read this for the first time, I thought, this is exactly how I wanted to live, whether I live that way or not, is a different issue.

Know there'd be a lot of you calling this nonsense, but this nonsense is wht made biggest sense to me and you need to read more of this to understand... I have been selfish all through my life and never regretted that, in fact, after reading The Fountain Head, take pride in having been one.

Met a Rand-ian
Most of you who've known me a little closely in the last few years would know how big a fan of Ayn Rand I've become. In fact, I've stopped reading novels after that, nothing was as interesting and meaningful as an Ayn Rand's.
Thanks to Rapi, I came across another of those Rand fans, Vijay. He has a blog comparing Rand and (Mani)Ratnam characters... hmmmmm.... nice observations...
If any of you there reads novels, but haven't read any of Rand's, you have really missed something

Business of being jobless!!!
Honestly, have nothing to blog again ;) Was jus' making my usual clicks and found nothing anywhere, save rapi's crozyblog...
I have been coming to the lab even on weekends, never missed a day and fill whole lot of sectors on my disk with crap.
Happened to watch ab tak chappan and The Others y'day. Hmmm, nice movies...
Now, totally bored... don't have the littlest motivation to work on thesis... My prof probly knew me so well that he said i can't graduate in summer!!! All that I"ve been doing is picking bones with ppl....
One of the topics is somewhat interesting. Does South Africa really have a good cricket team??? I mean, good enough to beat the current INDIA?
My opinion on this...
1) Herschelle Gibbs - In fact, he's one of the best players in the world. Would love to watch him bat, comes right behind Sachin and Lara in my list, even the latter fails to make it great _watching_ sometimes...
2) Graeme Smith - Before I say anything, just look at this '24 2171 277 58.67 7 5 3 1/9 61.66 0 26 0'. This after all the turmoil in SA cricket and this guy becoming a captain, which I thought wasn't wise at all. Another great player in the annals of the game...
Honestly, the real good SA batting, I felt, starts and ends with these two
3) Jacques Rudolph - Hmmmm.... Very Very impressive performance so far. A double century in his debut and the comments on his style show him to be a good player. Have to watch him bat... Could probably be another thorn in the indian flesh, but given that he's already had a lot of success, its not him who shd make it :D
4) Gary Kirsten - I know he's retired and won't play the india series... But, think he's another over-rated player like our Javagal Srinath... Never been as graceful as a leftie ought2be... Anyways, who's going to take his place? Will Dippennaar be brought back? Well, don't think he can be as effective, though might be a good fit here
5) Martin Van Jaarsveld - Another excellent start to a career, will be a gross mistake for me to comment on him, as I've never seen him bat... Here's the person that could trouble India.
6) Jacques Kallis - 1354 runs in the last 12 tests, 78 test matches and an average of 54+, 163 test wickets, is there a better all-rounder to wear his shoes? But, I still feel, he's another of those bits-and-pieces players, like they've had Jhonty Rhodes, Nicky Boje, Daryl Cullinan, etc. They revolutionalised cricket with their exemplary fielding, but now that all other countries have taken that leaf from the SA cricket chapter, they are left behind looking for those quality batsmen and bowlers. I know my this opinion could be grossly wrong, still... Kallis is an asset to a team, but, I still wouldn't want him in my team for the longer version
7) Mark Boucher - Well, do they have anyone else??? Still, an average of around 30 isn't bad for a wicket keeper, you can't have all Gilchrists after all. Plus, his experience will always count, so, not a bad option at this position, still, can he be counted when the team really needs???
8) Shaun Maclean Pollock - A batting average of 33 and bowling average of 21.5. 339 wickets and close to 3000 runs. Is he another of those greatest all rounders the game has ever produced?? Bowling with Donald, Ntini and Nel, my answer is NO. I still remember matches when batsmen go behind him only because they can't spot Ntini and Nel and Donald's deliveries, which obviously makes him a great wicket taker. His batting average is impressive, but 29 not outs and only 2 centuries.... He will have his share, but not a threat, atleast not anymore... Dravid and Co shd read him well
9) Nicky Boje - This fellow has troubled us in tests... His 85 in Bangalore being highest... Call him a batsman??? Well, this time this fellow shdn't score a total of 85, going by the current bowling standards
10) Makhya Ntini - Here comes the real threat. This guy's awesome, one of the best bowlers today... Might not take a lot of wickets, but he'd be the one to trouble most batsmen world over... Need to see him off
11) Andre Nel - Another quicky that cud be kindofa problem. Not an extraordinary average, not too many wickets, but could be a pain with just his speed. And he's no Shoaib Akhtar to lose his cool and isn't playing for such a team where he's to shoulder it all... That way, deserves the respect, but shouldn't be a very big trouble if handled properly

Now, all my conclusions come from what the current Indian team looks like. They should be in a position to beat SA, though the series could be close, very close in fact. Biggest problem being, there's no one person you need to attack. Safest would be to get rid of the two danger men, Gibbs and Smith and hold to all half-chances. Wouldn't want to see this team losing to SA.
The other team ahead of us in the table, England, the whole world knows that they don't deserve to be where they are...
I know it doesn't end here, have lots more to write, but enough for the day... managed to kill some time ;)

PINCHES OF KNOWLEDGE
Happened to write the (most prbly) last exam of my life... This one was a real pain in the neck, literally and otherwise, was 8 hours and had to be in school for more than 9 hours :(. This revived (apart from a bursty friendship for preparation) my memory of some of my school days, when I was a very very very (there won't be enough space for me to write all the 'very's) poor student (don't ask me how good I am today, when I can atleast fool and get fooled with the 'intellect' tag).
Two things I can't forget (1) I was tweaked by my social science teacher for saying 'I itself' (yes, very stupid english, but I was in my 4/5th std then I guess and was really poor till around 9/10th), and (2) by my physics teacher for saying 'Area is a scalar' and this was in my 9th, mahn, I don't think anybody in the class knew the right answer :(
The worst of all I had was when my Math (the only subject I was really good in, believe me, I used to be among the toppers more often) teacher said that cliched 'nee maadu meikka thaan laayakku' and when I was said I'dn't be let write the Board Exams :O before around 96 people (my stupid principal, who was the then math teacher of mine, broke his hand and this fella had to teach math for me, to my misfortune, this guy happened to be my father's schoolmate :( ). Now it all seems funny.. not one of those teachers, my relatives, in fact not even my father thought I'd go on to do an engineering (hehe, in fact, i myself never thot i'd)... now, my great mind has been ruined by education, not one of those has been of use to me, save the few thousands I made between 2000 and 2002... But, y'day, when I wrote this exam, all those seemed to make sense, what with most of my answers recollected from my 11, 12th phy, chem knowledge and my BE communication stuff. Not, that I'll clear this exam, still, I happened to brush up all those stuff and remind myself that I AM AN ENGINEER now!!!!

obVSly...

King, Prince and the Pawn
If I had been silent after the thumping victory in Multan, it was because what happened in Lahore was expected. But, things have changed big-time for Indian Cricket now, we have the problem of too many. Kaif and Badani sitting out, Zaheer Khan, Nehra and Agarkar fighting for a place and what with Ganguly, the captain, has to be in the team only for his captaincy, and would always be blamed as the closest-to-worst performer in the squad!!!
With the century in Lahore, Yuvraj is poking and pricking the brains of the team management. Chopra has brought in biggest success and done the opener's job best of them all in the last few years, with due apologies to Sadagoppan Ramesh. Sourav Ganguly, the most successful Indian captain (arguably) ever, has just had two back-to-back centuries (100* vs NZ at Ahmedabad, 144 vs Aus at Brisbane) and can definitely not be dropped. With the phenomenal success Laxman, Dravid and Sehwag have achieved from the moment they started playing 5-dayers in Australia, nobody can even question anybody else for their spots. Sachin, he would always carry the best-player tag and has had a great 2004 and no reason can ever be devised for dropping him. Parthiv Patel, a budding and, more importantly, learning wicket keeper, only potential opening in this team. With 3 pace bowlers and Kumble/Bhajji (if he makes a comeback), that portion of the team is not to be looked at for the time being, though there would be doubts as to which 3 of the pacemen need to play.
Now, looking at batting, the only solution appears to be leaving out Chopra. The opener has, till the beginning of the second innings at Lahore, had a combined average of 75+ with Sehwag. And Yuvraj isn't an opener, but who cares? Yuvi plays pace pretty well and the same complaint was made about Viru, who has now shown, its just your ability to score runs that's important and not the way you do that. So, roping in Yuvi as an opener wouldn't be a great mistake, if not as anything else, atleast as an experiment, except that it would be grossly unfair on Chopra, who has done nothing wrong to lose his place, not even an injury, as was the case with Ramesh. Why should we take Ganguly in the team for granted? Well, lots of questions will pop and almost all of them answered. Everyone knows he has to be there and can't be taken out despite his, relative, non-performance. That leaves with Y'raj and Sehwag walking in to open at Rawalpindi. Well, that's a thrilling option, imagine if they click, that would be the pair that would pulverize and demoralise even the best bowling attack in the world. And I have more often felt, Y'raj is kinda insecure against the spinners and lot more comfortable facing pace. So, to accommodate the king and doing justice to the prince who has jus' saved the face of the team, its Chopra, who has to be pawned... Sorry dude, Life isn't always fair, you've done your job the best possible way, but now, the pink slip is coming your way...
obVSly...

Saluting a Genius
If any of you had no interest in crosswords and don't intend to develop one, please don't read further...
I have seldom liked being a member of any of these e-groups, but this one that Rapi forced me to join, has really been great... And this one person (Chaturvasi) has never failed to impress me... Pasting the solution to today's crozy... Itsn't all about solving everything there, even I manage to do that once in a while, but, the analysis is what its all about... Read further

I find that the crossword today is not only a little difficult but
also quite entertaining, with many clues evoking nice images and
employing good anagram signals, homophone indicators and so on. I am
devoting some time to write notes on across clues. Hope this is found
useful.

Across

1 One who might be expected to go through volumes (8) BOOKWORM
Cryptic definition

5 The boy is coming on a vessel — a Chinese one (6) SAMPAN Sam-pan
Vessel is first used in the sense of kitchen utensil. In the
definition "a Chinese one", vessel refers to boat

9 Poison — new variety — one pours out in a measure (7) ENVENOM
Poison is noun in the surface sense (that is, what the clue sentence
means when you just read it and before you proceed to work out the
answer) but it is also a verb and the answer envenom is a verb. Anag
of n v one in en (which means measure, more strictly a printing
measure)

10 Distraught blonde catches a man (3,4) OLD BEAN (man, fellow). a
inserted in anag of blonde Evokes the picture of boy-catches-girl, or
rather the other way about

11 Its whistle promises a cosy afternoon (3,6) TEA KETTLE Cryptic def

12 Article exposed by Tau is asafoetida (5) THING T-hing

13 Said to employ sheepish flock (4) EWES (sheep in plural) homophone
of use (employ)

14 Filled with wonder over a dud note's circulation (9) ASTOUNDED
anag of a dud note's Again, the clue evokes a plausible situation.

17 Kill white ant invading North Arcot (9) TERMINATE NA in termite
Invading is a good container signal

19 Almost out of bed? Here's Italian wine! (4) ASTI r cut off from
astir(out of bed) Evokes the picture of a drink being offered to
someone who starts the day with a drink

23 Wallace the novelist, for one (5) EDGAR (not Irving)

24 You may chill out with this (4,5) ICED DRINK (one may consider
iced water, but never fill in the answers until you're sure!)

25 Singing vaguely and absent-mindedly (7) LILTING

26 Old boy's remedy is unknown (7) OBSCURE OB's-cure

27 The most judicious is dumped in a nasty stew (6) WISEST is in anag
of stew. Is dumped in is a good container signal.

28 Doctor said, "Done." The throat complaint is still there! (8)
ADENOIDS. Anag of said done. Doctor is a noun in the surface sense.
But it is also a verb, meaning to chop and change and it is in this
sense that it is an anag signal.

C. Vasi



Have nothing much to blog these days... Take care guys..
obVSly...