Holiday!!!

One day to go until we fly to the US on holiday!!! yeah!!! it's our first holiday since March, when we went to South Africa as per earlier blog. Trouble is I can't see further than the 15 hour flight in tiny economy seats. Been trying to upgrade using our countless airmiles but there are no upgrade seats left - however there are loads of business class seats free it's just that they won't release them for the upgrades!!!

Even before that we will have the Jian-Zibaee v Sachdeva argument about when to leave for the airport. Now I'll admit that I'm a bit anal when it comes to going to airports. I like to get there well in advance so that there is no rush through the airport carrying bags and wearing layers so that you end up sweating profusely before getting on the plane. Plus, there are always times when the immigration and bag search queues are longer than normal. I suspect that this is especially true when flying to US (for example, you can't check in in-town in Hong Kong for US flights). So, our flight tomorrow is at 10.15 and already I am thinking that we need to leave the house at 6.45 a.m. It takes about an hour to get to the airport which already is cutting it fine, in my books. Okay, I admit it, I am secretly an airport nerd - I just love walking around an airport and especially going through the book stores and those moments when you just have nothing to do except for sit down, have a drink and read a book.

Anyway, I will be on holiday for the next 10 days or so, so blogging might be infrequent. I will definitely put some pictures up of Manu's wedding (and bachelor party!) in the New Year. Happy Christmas and New Year everybody!

The Perils of Internet Dating - Be Warned

This is a classic. I especially like the husband's reaction.

I predict a riot!

Ok, continuing on the musical theme (look it up!) following on from my earlier post regarding the fact that HK hadn't seen any riots for about 30 years, last night did indeed see the first riots for 30 years. Police used tear gas on supporters who, in true HK irony, were protected by the face masks which are left over from SARS.

Even odder than the riots was the sight of a number of grungy hippies walking around in the early evening - at university we would affectionately laugh at the "dog on a string" people hanging around Camden market and tube station who were not dissimilar in appearance. Usually the crowds in HK are pretty well dressed (especially in the Central/Wanchai district which is quite affluent and full of designer stores). Yesterday, I wanted to go to Wanchai to see the demonstrations but couldn't actually get there since it was closed off and the MTR (tube) stations were closed. I ended up walking from Admiralty back home and it quite surreal walking across the flyovers and highways which were absolutely clear of traffic save for police cars and trains of diplomats' limousines.

Stranger still was the Xmas square which has been installed in the square next to the Mandarin Oriental - you could almost hear the demonstrations from Wanchai in the background until they were drowned out by piped xmas music blasting out of the square. No-one was there of course, since everyone had been told to evacuate so it was kind of like xmas in a ghost town.

Central Hong Kong late last night (after everyone was evacuated) was absolutely silent without traffic or people - it was a weird but quite beautiful sight in its own way.

Only regret is that I didn't have a camera but I will try to dig up some pictures for later.

The Day the Music Died

It is a sad day in the Sachdeva-Jian-Zibaee household. The IPOD has finally succumbed and is on its way to IPOD heaven or hell. Since it has been a valuable companion on many long distance journeys - and usually lasted most of the plane journey from HK to UK (13 hours), I would like to think that it had done enough to get into heaven.

Arrgh! Xmas Party hangover!

Ok, it's official, I'm never drinking again... last night was our firm's xmas party which was held at the MandarinOriental. It was a good night but I am feeling very fragile today. Home at 430 am - Woke up at around 1230 - went to get something to eat and now back in bed.

luckily no plans for tonight - going to take it easy - watch a bit of tv drink lots of water and try to recover.

haven't had the energy to read the news so haven't got anything interesting to update you.

maybe post later - see ya!

Shhh...It's Cricket!

Ok, this is a cricket post/rant. The cricket infidels will just have to skip it. Saurav Ganguly, after scoring a perfectly respectable 39 and 40 in the last test match against Sri Lanka, has been dropped for the third one. It's a sad decline for SG who, in my view, has done more for Indian cricket in the past five years than Tendulkar and Dravid combined. Sure he may not have been the most talented batsman compared to those two but he had guts (doomed sometimes) and attitude and it is he alone who transformed India from a team that sometimes produced individual brilliance (but more often than not did not) to a team that consistently beat (or held their own) against the best in the world. India are now number 3 in the test rankings in no small part down to SG.

Well, I agree that in the past year, his batting touch seemed to have disappeared and it was sensible to appoint Rahul Dravid as captain, it seems to me that he still has a lot to offer the Indian team - you could see it in the test match just played where he would walk up to the bowlers and give them a hint or two and they would respond with a wicket (e.g. his talking to Pathan on the 4th day). His batting wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad and it held together partnerships which were crucial in their own way. I don't really know what more is needed from him - and to replace him with Wasim Jaffer !!! - average of 29 - already tried and tested and dumped from the team - what is the point...

I've been following cricket for years, especially Indian cricket and Ganguly has got a special place in my cricket obsession. In 1996, Shadi and I went on our first weekend away together to Bristol and I remember having a midday nap in the hotel room watching the 2nd test between India and England at Lords. India were in a bit of trouble but Ganguly (on debut) came in and scored a magnificent century and I realised that SG could be a find for the future. He went on to score another century in his second match and did not look back. In 2000, when Sachin Tendulkar stepped down from the captaincy, SG was made captain. At that time, India were pathetice - Sachin was a genius but couldn't lead his players and his batting had suffered. SG took the worst job in India at the worst possible time. In 2005 we hardly remember how bad it was then with the match fixing scandal and the fact that India hardly won anything outside of India. The cricket team was rather like the Indian tennis players of old, the Amritrajs who, depsite being immensely talented, could never bring themselves to have the killer instinct. SG provided that for India and under him they won 21 test matches and (until the Ashes) India hvae been the only team to match Australia consistently in the past five years.

People often say that the Australian team is ruthless and they dropped Steve Waugh, perhaps the best captain ever. Well, maybe that's true but in 2004 in Sydney Steve Waugh played his last test match (against India) and the match was essentially a five day parade for him. The Aussies, although ruthless, knew what Waugh had contributed to the team and wanted to show him by a standing ovation. SG has got nothing.

This article says it all - ironically written by an English paper (you'd never find anything like this in Indian papers) - I guess it takes someone 'outside' to see SG's value.

To be honest it's put me off watching Indian cricket a bit, something which I never thought I'd say. Sure it's great to watch Sachin or Rahul in flow, but as an act of compelling theatre watching SG struggle against fast bowling and then smiting the spinners for sixes can't be beaten.

For the record, here are my favourite SG innings (not including his debut) - they are not just his centuries but matches where I thought it was a joy to watch him regardless of his score.

3rd match - India v England at Headingly 2002 - SG scores 128 completely unselfish runs in a bid to score quickly. Not just the runs but the final hour on the second day when SG and SRT were offered light and you could SG sneer at the umpire and say that he wanted to stay on - both then belted the bowlers around for about 100 runs in 10 overs. SG's 22 runs off Ashley Giles was a highlight. The Independent called it the "hour that will live forever".

Natwest Final - July 2002 - India v England - although Mohd Kaif and Yuvraj took India home, it wouldn't have been possible without the start given by SG and Virender Sehwag, SG outscoring Sehwag and quicker. 60 runs off 40 balls with some absolutely outrageous strokes.

India v Australia 2004 1st test - India replying to Australia's 474 were 4-2 losing Chopra and Dravid for 0. In came SG and immediately blasted two fours in a row. He took the game to the Aussies and even though he got out on 45 he made a statement through his batting.

There are others of course, like his 144 against Australia in Brisbane after coming in at 63-3, his 183 against Sri Lanka in Taunton in 1999 world cup or his three centuries in the 2003 world cup.

Anyway rant finished and I'll just say that it has left a sour taste in my mouth to see him dropped without a word.

update on WTO

Just an update on those brave Korean swimmers from the Guardian:

"But the Koreans used more humour than violence. Once they reached the protesters' containment zone, separated from the centre by a 100m stretch of water, they used protest flags as the walls for makeshift changing rooms, stripped off and donned their luminous lifejackets.

"My wife would kill me if she could see me," said one member of the Korean Peasants League. "I have no pants."

One after another they leapt off the 2m concrete embankment, plunged into the cold, polluted water, and then gasped chants: "Down, down WTO! Down, down USA!"
The foul water took its toll. Several of the older farmers had to be taken to hospital. Their condition is unknown. But these appear to have been the only casualties. Police used pepper spray on a crowd of several dozen protesters, but there were no reports of injuries."

Apparently, there hasn't been a riot in Hong Kong for about 40 years which might also explain the apparent cluelessness of the police in dealing with the possibility of violence.

WTO the hell!

This week is WTO week in Hong Kong. The papers are full of pictures of demonstrators and the security has been beefed up, Hong Kong style. That means that all of the entrances to my office building, apart from the main entrance, have been closed. The main entrance has ominous signs of "you will be asked to show ID" and "you will have your bags searched". Third day coming in through that entrance without showing ID or having my bag searched or even seeing any body whose role it might be to do those things. All that they've done, basically, is to make sure everyone goes through the same entrance, providing a theoretically bigger target than normal... Oh well, I don't think Hong Kong understands security in the same way as US/UK and other nations do. My personal theory is that the 'evil-doers' need Hong Kong as a bastion of capitalism and corporate freedom to move their money around - so any strike at HK would be disastrous for them.

The WTO protests are also a bit tamer than seen in other cities around the world. This could also have something to do with the fact that HK has done amazingly well from free trade (and indeed almost owes its existence to it. The main protestors are those who have come from abroad, and the Korean militants are getting much play. For an example of how the Koreans demonstrate, see this picture. If you ask me they are doing themselves damage by swimming in the HK harbour - I don't know how many even made it to shore, but those who did will doubtless find strange things growing on their bodies soon enough!!!

The main problem of the WTO in HK is that HK is pretty small (at least the island part) so that the distance from the main financial district (Central) and the Convention Centre (the bird like building in the photograph) in Wanchai is very small (a 15/20 minute walk) and that Wanchai is one of the main nightlife areas in HK (known for its 'girly' bars as well as more respectable joints). I haven't been there yet in the evening to see the effect the WTO is having on the bars/restaurants but may check it out tonight or tomorrow so will post later on. Since the Wanchai bars are a major source of revenue, I suspect that they will be fairly well protected from the demonstrators or that the bars are offering some sort of promotion to anyone who can prove themselves to be a bona fide demonstrator (something like an anti-globalisation happy hour). Watch this space...

Interesting Site

check out this site - it has a good round up of news articles - primarily leaning towards the left, sometimes almost precipitously.

IPOD IDIOT

One of the dangerous things about having all of your music collection on one small machine is that if you lose it the collection is lost - especially if, like me, the music you put on your IPOD is a mix of music on various computers and laptops.

That's what happened to me this morning - a regular monday morning on the bus, trying to play my IPOD but noticed that it was simply forwarding to the next song without playing anything - continuous forwarding!! I re-set the IPOD using the same reset button I have used for the past two and a half years when something iffy went on with the IPOD - safely reset I turned it back on to find that all of my songs were missing - there were literally no songs on my IPOD - that is a desastre!!! going to have to go back and re burn all my cd's and re transfer onto my IPOD!!!! unless anyone can give me a handy idea for a shortcut

some photos from our trip to south africa - all taken from a digital camera

Wednesday Morning Musings

I have been working like a donkey for the past few days and strangely time seems to be going quickly. I guess it's good that the India - Sri Lanka match was pretty much rained off as I didn't miss much anyway.

Anyway, I've got a few moments to post what is only my second posting on this blog - I know I've been slack. Hong Kong is very cold right now. By that I mean that it is getting down to about 12 degrees celsius, which may not sound cold but is freezing when no flat has central (or any) heating. In some ways it's good because I get to make use of my overcoat which otherwise languishes in my office wishing it were used more. It also gives us good practice for our trip to NY this Christmas, where it is going to be much much colder. Not having been in temperatures less than about 10 degrees for some time now, that is going to be a shock!

My brother is getting married on New Year's Eve and that is the one shining light at the end of the tunnel after a frankly crappy year. Actually, the beginning of the year wasn't that bad. In March, Shadi and I went to a friend's wedding (Pete and Anabel Kettle) in South Africa. That was amazing - they had it in a safari in Ulusaba which, as you'll see from the website is simply superb- of course much better in real life... In fact, I think that was probably the highlight of the year for us, cos it went steadily downhill after that.

My father passed away on 21 August this year after two years of fighting against acute myeloid leukemia. It is difficult to put down in words how traumatic this year has been and especially in the months before he passed. But now, more than 3 months later, the lingering thoughts are not of dad in hospital, with tubes and wires and various machines hooked up to him, but rather of all the times we enjoyed life with him - and there were many. My brother sent round this article which I thought really hit the nail on the head about how it feels to lose someone so important to you.

Right now, I am just counting down the days until 2006 starts and am looking to assign this year to the dustbin and re-start. As a perfect metaphor, my brother is getting married on new year's eve, which while technically still in 2005 is as near enough to a fresh start as you can get. It is my brother's second wedding so it is a fresh start in more ways than one. His fiancee is absolutely lovely and brings with her a great family so things are starting to look up already.

It will be second multicultural marriage in our family, he Hindu, she Catholic - the first being mine, me Hindu, she (technically) muslim (or as she likes to say "mueslis").