Porsche Unleashed

Ever since I played the Need for Speed PC game titled as above, I have been absolutely smitten by the legend that is Porsche. An incorrigible enthusiast for any machine that moves I already am and if you add to that the hype and worship filled words I have read about this car make in particular and you have landed yourself a certified fanatic. Consider this: Its the only sports car company in the world which is able to sustain an independent existence when all other heavyweights including Ferrari are bankrolled by big car conglomerates. While that might not mean much to a person with minimal interest in cars, it is the equivalent of Da Vinci painting only Mona Lisas and doing it regularly and efficiently enough to form a study case for successful business strategy.
Porsches with their distinctive slouching shape, impeccable quality and wild yet challenging nature (thats what the motor jounos always say) inhabit the highest regions of my universe of desires. And to get to whip a Porsche through the steely smooth Autobahn and then test its fabled handling in the twists and turns of the roads through the beautiful Black Forest region would be an experience worth selling my soul for. Stuttgart, Germany is the birthplace of the Porsche legend and stepping afoot that promised land is high on my list of priorities!

Go Gunners!!

Its a great start to the year in many ways but one of the primary reasons for me has to be the fact that Arsenal finished top of the EPL league table at the end of the past year. For the uninitiated, Arsenal is the name of a major English football club. Looking back for reasons why I should be supporting a club with which I couldn't POSSIBLY have any connection, I find a couple of substantial ones.
Number one has to be in a long time ago when I was seeking a path out of the intense torture of being an Indian cricket fan; seeking someone or something which I could relate to and for a change someone who actually won a match or two. Salvation came in the form of the "Invincibles", the awesome Arsenal team with Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg etc etc at their flowing best. In many ways, they were like the Indian cricket team spilling over with talent and yet playing abysmally on occasions. But they were on the right half in terms of win to loss percentages. Since then the age of Thierry Henry has come and gone, and now it seems that its time for Fabregas to don the mantle.

Reason number two for supporting them is that there is a zip and elan in their gameplay, unlike their arch rivals Man U who seem like a bunch of thugs out on a street fight. They are getting scrappy of late but I pray that it'll be only a passing phase at least under the eagle eye of coach Wenger. This team is my kind of hero. They fight fair and look good while doing it. Even loss is a gallant story to tell when they do not stoop to the theatrics that Cristiano Ronaldo and his ilk resort to with such disgusting regularity.

It's a New Year.... Again!!

Its the 1st of January again, a great day for me so far and I am tired of pessimistic people reminding me that its just another day. Well, the overpowering cynical part of me does insist that whatever they say is not far off from the truth but for the dreamer side of me it offers a welcome refuge. So 1st January is in all respects similar to 31st December except that I can slumber till late maximising the lack of the need to go to office. Actually speaking I always feel a little sorry for the year gone by 'coz in retrospect it never seems that bad!

The past year was generally kind to me; major achievements being - surviving on the job without any major foul-ups, and then of course working my butt off for this blog of mine that no one seems to care enough to leave a comment on. But its a winter afternoon with warm sunshine and I'd have to be suicidal to feel depressed in this kind of weather. My New Year resolution if it isn't obvious from this post is to be more positive and pleasant even about the s**t in my life. Being sharp, acidic and sadistic has its perverse pleasures, but I'll try and stick to being the good, hopelessly optimistic guy that I am, at least 10% of the time!