Potpourri!

Arun Sarin, 53, the Chief executive of Vodafone- Britain’s much respected company has decided to step down this July. He has been in power for 5 years. He was solely responsible for acquiring the Hutchison Essar in India. Vodafone in India is one of the country’s leading companies in mobile networks. It is believed that share holders have lost hope on him, which made him take the decision. He was also the CEO of Vodafone United States and Asian Pacific region from June 1999 to April 2000. It is known that he was announced the most powerful person in Britain last April. The company recorded a prodigious growth from 12 crores to 26 crores under him. Victoria Kalov is expected to take up his job.

Hi guys its been a very long time since i have posted a post, so here it is another post of a game tat i have played. Well and by the way the university exams have been keepin all four of us a little away from blogging, so, only a few posts have been posted for nearly 2months.Well todays posts is abt the game called Project-IGI.Its FPS game(For non-gamers pls read this post!!!)

Well this game is pretty simple but not as simple as it looks in the first phase. Coz u will drop into a zone of enemies from where ur task is to steal a truck and safely get out of the entered compound. U wont be given preparation of any kind so u have remember all keys of impotant usage like use, binoculars, reload etc. No help sign will be displayed makin it tough for a opener!!!!But on the game the game seems quite nice and interesting to play coz u get on goin only with clues in and around ur area..

In Project IGI, you play the role of former British SAS agent David Jones. Mr. Jones is now a freelance operative who's into some pretty major, as the acronym states, infiltration jobs. The game centers around the capture of an arms dealer named Priboi, who has been selling bombs of the nuclear variety. The story isn't particularly great, nothing that hasn't been done before in any James Bond, or other spy movies. It was well put together, each progressive level brings you more information in a sort of follow the clue sort of path. The longer u play the game the longer u respect it and longer u will love it.The great parts of the game come wen u engage enemys in stealth and wen everybody is alerted!!!!

In this game you r given a wide range of weapons special gadgets to help u like the binoculars spotting enemies the well illustrated guidance map with great statistics such as showin real time movement of enemies so tat u can make ur move accordingly!!!The best weapons for long range shots ofcourse is the Sniper, for medium range its the AK-47, Minimi and Silenced MP5 and for short range its the Jackhammer and Shot Gun. Each mission comes with its own briefing session, mingled with your common action-movie oriented conversation. Occasionally, you get new instructions during a mission. Unfortunately, they are given to you as text during a heated firefight!!!!!Thankfully you can go through logs to find out what was said. Not all of the briefings are like this!!!They actually are supported with audio and visual data.

Some of the other extra features of the game are the intelligent AI enemies. They often try to sound the alarm and call more troops for a heating battle. Even tanks are designed so well u wont find it tat easy to get past them!!!!More over many missions including the first and last one has enemy cameras to detect motion of the player.If it sees the player then it beeps for few seconds and then sounds or activates the alarm after which u must try to turn the alarm off. If alarm is not turned off then infinite no of enemies emerge. Another key aspect of the game is the Hacking!!!!!With this hacking u can turn off cameras for few minutes and take them out and u can also reactivate the enemy's sentry guns to our control!!!!For hacking a camera or a sentry gun u have find the correct computer which controls the specific device.

So therefore this game gives u total entertaiment with action and a lot of stealth too!


Advantages:
*Almost everything from weapons to missions including the tanks and the AI(Artificial Intelligent computer enemies)

Disadvantages:
*U cant save the game as u like!!!!!U just have to complete the mission with a given life bar and ofcourse with the help of some medisyringes in the game, inorder to save you have to complete the whole mission!!! So if u fail in the last step u must start again the same mission!!!

Rating according to my view abt the game:8.3/10

Will be reviewing more......
Bladezz

Well, all this happened during our tour in college. It was an amazing and a thrilling incident for us. We just want to share with you people the story of how we fought death. Read it and just be thrilled!!!

We were to Meenmutty falls on the 5^th of March where exactly this incident happened. People were having there best time at the falls. Besides Rajasekar and VJ were involved in measuring the depth with a stick (Note: They are professional swimmers). They found it to be very deep and had informed people. Unfortunately Navaneeth and me didn’t get it into our ears. Praveen, who is fond of waters rushed in posing for snaps. Navaneeth too joined. I was surprised to see Navaneeth in water. That reminded me the fun we had with Navaneeth at Marina swimming pool. They were in hip level deep, in the waters. Sriram (Bladezz) was handling the camera. He didn’t join us in the waters, just because of an incident at the same swimming pool. I came late and I got pulled in, to enjoy the beautiful falls. The area was rocky and slippery at places because of the algae. I changed my clothes and jumped in to join the three- Navaneeth, Rajasekar and Praveen. We were holding our shoulders together, unaware of the coming incident!!! Bladezz was to capture a video of us. He couldn’t get a correct position, so we were to move backwards as he (Bladezz) didn’t have space to move backwards. We were in a water level which was just below our chest. I was having Praveen on my left; Navaneeth on right who in turn had Rajasekar on his right. Bladezz was ready to start capturing us. Just at that time Praveen slightly tightened his grip on me. He was giving a close pose but I mistook him to play with me. I remembered what Praveen and Emerson and Rajasekar do to me when I am in the swimming pool. They usually lift me up and throw in the water. Wanting to release myself from his hold, I moved back inviting death not only to me but to other 3 too!!! When I moved back I didn’t found any ground or support to place my feet. The rock on which we were standing dropped suddenly by 90 degrees. I lost my balance and jus fell backwards into the water. Knowing that I was in danger I tried to hold Praveen and Navaneeth for support but unfortunately I pulled both of them into the waters. Navaneeth pulled in Rajasekar, result – we 4 were in the water. The place were we fell was around 8-9 feet deep. I and Navaneeth don’t know swimming. We four were struggling in the waters. Rajasekar somehow made it to the bank. He was safe now. Meanwhile Navaneeth had only 2 things going through his mind. He said if he was to die it was at this instant and if he was to get out of water then it was only with Praveen’s help. Navaneeth held Praveen tightly and attempted to come to the surface. But he slipped down. The second time he was on his shoulders but couldn’t make it. Praveen was struggling inside bearing himself and Navaneeth. Navaneeth gulped in water 5 times and he was just lucky enough to make it to the banks putting Praveen into more deep water. Then Praveen showed himself up and was safe. People said that he was very much scared of the incident after he was out. Though being a good swimmer he himself couldn’t make the situation better, because he was in water for nearly 10 seconds, bearing Navaneeth and the force of the water.

They were safe and people were glad but they just realized that I was still in water. I was pulled in by the water to a deeper place. Nutti had explained me the rules of Buoyancy after the tour. According to it, a person who falls in water can come to the surface just 3 times. Well I too came to the surface 3 times. I was in a horizontal position when I fell. The place where I slightly got control of myself was very deep-I could sense that. The first time I was surfaced I saw Navaneeth and the others on the banks, but unfortunately they didn’t see me. Aashik and Kishore had seen my head and they rushed in for help. The second time I came up I couldn’t see anything. Aashik said he saw my fingers this time. The water was light green when seen from inside. I went again into the water and tried to show my head to people for help, but it went in vain as only finger tips was visible. This time I was going down deeper than the second time and the water was turning dark. I didn’t know what to do at that moment. I closed my eyes just to drive any fear. I believed very strongly that I would be safe somehow. That gave some confidence and energy which really helped me that time. A few seconds later I felt the ground. I just realized that I was in deep trouble in the water. The place was surely some 12-15 feet deep. I was trying to surface but that was the 3^rd time, so I didn’t have any difficulty in moving up. But bad luck assisted me this time too. I was pulled again into water just before surfacing. Meanwhile my friends didn’t know where exactly I was in water. I was going deeper again. I touched the ground once again. This time I felt it more than 2 seconds. This urged me up. I thought I had to do some thing to save myself. I tried to push myself up, and I did come up. My junior in college, Jagdish, gave reasons for it. He said if a person in water had held his breath and if he waved his hand in the vertical direction (action), then the reaction would bring him up. Now back to the incident- I knew I was going up. I realized that this was my last chance. It made me lose hope slightly. Meanwhile my lungs were contracting pleading me to breathe in something. But I resisted it. That was a hard battle I had fought in my life. It was paining you know. My eyes went open wide in water because of that. When I was nearing the surface I saw a brown thing floating in the green water. I realized I was near the rock with the dead tree. I worked to reach the branch and caught it. It happened to be most happiest moment in my life.

The next second I found that it was only a broken stick. That was the most hardest moment in my life. This time I lost all hope and did nothing to come up. My mind went flashing pictures of my mom, dad and my sisters and friends. Well, I even remembered that we had to catch the train that evening; in time. Well, jokes apart. I realized death was nearing me. I couldn’t resist more. Suddenly I saw a hand pulling me. I thought I had reached the place where I had fall and my friends were trying to save me. But I lost grip and again went down. Again someone pulled me up; this time I realized that it was my friend Rajasekar who had jumped in to rescue me. I hold him round his waist, but the same time I lost my consciousness. Few seconds later I regained it. But I couldn’t see anything because I was having a virtual problem that time. I couldn’t even move. As I dint move, I was floating in water. This scared many lives. They thought that I was dead. Rajasekar struggled hard to take me to the banks. Realizing this Nutti, Navaneeth and Praveen formed a Chain structure in the water. They pulled me and Rajasekar to safety. Nutti laid me in his lap. I sensed all these but I couldn’t see or move that time. The virtual problem I had was that my eyes still felt like its being flushed with water. Nutti and Rajasekar slapped, punched me at the back. People confirmed that I was dead. But the two were still trying out their best on me which made me normal and raise my hand. Wow!!! My friends were relieved seeing me alive(See the pic near). Yes I am alive. Well I still couldn’t believe. Thousand mile smile on my face!!! Well I saw everyone again. Nutti said he got terrified on seeing my eyes. Of course it must be, because 40 seconds in water is not a child’s play you know. I was told that Rajasekar broke the stick he had to measure the depth, and threw it in water to find where I was. Luckily he had thrown the stick where I was exactly in water. When I caught the stick, he got my position and jumped in water and brought me to land. Tons of thanks to you Rajasekar. And thanks to Emerson, Praveen and Rajasekar for teaching me on how to hold breath in water (At the swimming pool). Thanks to Nutti and Navaneeth for their helping hands. Thanks to Amarnath who shed tears for me. Thanks to Aashik and Kishore for rushing in to help despite of their fall. Thanks to all other friends there who must have really prayed for me. I just realized that I said “Hello” to death, but heard it reply back “Bye, my son. Not now. Meet you another time”.

I won’t forget this incident ever in my life. It was a great day to me and others. I was reborn. I realized the importance of swimming that time. Friends please learn swimming because some day somehow it will help u. You might save yourself or save some other life.

Am a great fan of “AJITH” and I want to say his dialogue now – “I am back”.

The first picture shows Rajasekar and the stick he used(Encircled).

The second picture shows where we were standing (Encircled with Red color) and where i was inside water (Encircled with Blue color).

The third picture shows me at the right end realising wat happened while others are seen happy tat i am Back!!!

(Left to Right)- Rajasekar,Emerson,Navaneeth,Prabhakaran(me),Praveen,Nutti,Sriram and Ganesh.

Read our experiences during our tour- College Tour

The most striking feature of this movie is that no time has been wasted in the cliched romance scenes between the protagonist and his lady love... To be precise its hard to notice any female casting in the film (please be clear that Im not a chauvinist but I appreciate the avoidance of unnecessary casting which retards the screenplay!)...

Owen Wilson, playing the lead guy is introduced as a frustrated young Navigator(one who helps the pilot during flight) who wants to quit the navy! A series of interesting events unfold and eventually our hero is more than willing to honor his commitment to the motherland! Though the entire movie is interesting, I was particularly astounded by two scenes .... the first is our hero's escape from the rebels by hiding under dead bodies after falling into a mass grave and the second one is the shot at a deserted factory were mines blow off sequentially after one of Burnette's pursuers steps on the wire!

The creators have tried best to make people aware of the situation prevailing in bosnia... and have also used the movie as a tool to exhibit American might (as all American war movies do)... Though certain parts of the climax are far too unbelievable, the stunning scenes during the course of the movie make up for the minor lapses at the end!

Gene Hackman makes his presence strongly felt with a smooth performance. The locations too are really good!

This flick is surely worth investing your time!

Though war glorification doesnt interest me much, I was spellbound by this particular movie! Its really difficult to come across such quality movies often.
The move is a tribute to the Russian sniper hero Vasily Zaytsev and his exploits during the 2nd WW. From the narrow survival after a suicidal charge against the Germans to becoming a legendary sniper... the film displays a splendid sketch of the development phases of this soldier... The warfare is shown to get worse due to the personal rivalry between Stalin and Hitler and hence each camp goes overboard to chart out strategies to fox their rivals...

The sniper deployed by the German forces proves to be too smart for our hero.... Honestly I was more influenced by the German sniper Erwin Konig who is aptly portrayed by Ed Harris! Most part of the movie showcases the personal rivalry between the two and their thirst to outsmart one another.....

Their guile and wit keep the movie on the fast lane while Rachel Weisz makes sure theres enough spice! Vasily's heroics become legendary and is used to boost the morale of the Russian camp.... Theres an interesting love triangle and its easy to guess the eventual pair.... The movie definitely makes u realize that a marksman's job is not just a cakewalk.... Though you know whos going to triumph eventually.... the cunning rivalry between the two snipers is worth a watch... The gruesome atmosphere of a battle field is genuinely felt and is really hard to forget!
The movie ends with the announcement that he Germans have retreated and the Russians have emerged triumphant. Stalingrad was awarded the title Hero City in 1945.

Vasily was not a born hero, he was made!!!

At last Chennai put a full stop to their continuous losses which started with Delhi, hope they permanently never lose as they tasted success against Delhi yesterday. Delhi started well for the first 4 overs a with Sehwag’s hard struck boundaries. Goni wonderful Yorker outwitted Sehwags’s cleverness putting his straight off stump to a slanting position. This invited A B de Villiers only to see his leg stump dead by Morkel’s delivery. Then the match shifted momentum completely towards Delhi as both the left handers- Ghambir and Dhawan played an awesome innings gathering 121 for the third wicket which is a record partnership. Then the duo got out in the last overs, but Dinesh karthick with few fours took his team to a good total of 187. Chennai who haven’t got a good opening so far after Hayden left, seemed to lose the match. Dhoni had made changes in the batting order moving Vidyut a place up as an opener and replacing Patel with Kapugedera. The openers performed well charging Chennai with a run rate above 10. Vidyut left in the seventh over contributing 40. It was Stephen Flemings turn to rock now with Dhoni. Fleming was at his best driving boundaries but the match shifted its favour towards Delhi when Fleming was out followed by Raina dismissal. Then Morkel smashed Delhi bringing Chennai back to the game. He crushed Sehwag over which read 6,6,6,4,0,1. This was the turning point but Morkel was run out the next over. This increased pulse rates which was further increased by Dhoni’s fall. Kapugedera fell in the next ball making it still more difficult for a win.Chennai was in a miserable situation needing 15 runs from the last over. It was Goni who did the magic smashing a six and a four of two balls with a wide from Shoab Malik proving Sehwag’s decision wrong to give the ball to him. He took a single of the next ball. Badrinath ran for a two the next ball. Shoab’s experience made him deliver a good ball for the fifth leaving both the teams in a critical stage wherein Chennai needed I to win from 1 ball. Badrinath lofted the last delivery, luckily the catch was dropped. Alas Chennai had won its game. The thrilling win would surely have given much needed confidence and hopes to the team and I am sure they would continue in the success.

We were in our final semester of our Engineering course and had are exams done on the 6^th of May. This was the reason on why we were out of blogging, but as our exams are over now and youcan expect good posts from us. Hope we are good engineers though we have only enough theory in our minds and no practical studies. We are just glad that we have tons of holidays- hmmm… we had not been given much holidays during our college days. Now we are free birds now, but we miss our college life as it happenedto be the most beautiful and exiting phase of our life. The fun we had in college with our friends is always terrific and we are certain that we are the same wherever we are. And now its time for roaming and playing and blogging. So do visit us frequently to just get shared about various stuffs.

Do you want to know the answers for questions such as “Why friends are for?” and “What is called true love?” - Well this picture will answer you for sure. It’s a rare picture which I had in my mail. The picture depicts the true love he has and his friend helping him for it. Another cute picture but good enough to steal our hearts!!!

Freeing myself from the hectic studies , I went to Adyar Gate this Sunday for lunch. I went with my dad, he was involved in business talks with his business partners. I had learnt on how to make dealings with people. Was just awestruck by the big deal my dad got. Fried prawn and fried cauliflower (not gobi) were served as starters. They tasted too good that I gulped in two plates each. Met my friend Preetha there, who was there with here family for lunch. Cine stars Vishal and Shreya Reddy were spotted. I took my plate to dump in food, selected some- mutton biriyani being one of them.The mutton biriyani tasted bad, bad enough to make me emetic. The other dishes tasted too good, but in the end it was a bad afternoon for me. I dint get any sleep. Kept rolling on bed because of the stomach upset. Hmmm…!!! Just giving a caution to those who go to Adyar Gate- Beware of the Mutton Biriyani!!!!

DAY 4:

It was the last day of the tour and it happened to be the most memorable day for me. Awaiting another day of great pleasure and experience we were all set to our next spot-The Meenmutty Falls. This is the most spelt falls at Wayanad after the Soochipura. We have heard this falls to be dangerous. We have heard from other friends that the way to this falls is very hard to track, infact you could get lost. The day started great on hearing India’s win over the CB series defeating Australia 2-0 in the finals. We had a nice breakfast – Bread with butter and Jam and Dosai with Chutney and Sambar. This unlimited food costed just 30 bucks and was pretty enough that it served all stomachs for the whole day. We took the route which we went on our previous day to Edacal Caves. The falls was 18 kms from Edacal caves. That day's fun started in the van itself. I was dozing on the way and just realized that i fell on Jaquiline mam. I had to ask sorry to her all the way :). Our vehicles were parked at the main road. We had to walk 4 kms from the main road to reach the falls. The path was pretty tough to go. But we have to appreciate the Kerala govt. for preserving this area. We hired a guide for 200 bucks just to lead us to the falls. We went pur way crossing by Coffee and Tea plantations. The scene was amazing. We didn’t find any dry leaves, though the period we visited was at summer. We understood what nature was. The place was very quite and you could just have the feel that you were on an adventure trip with Jeff Corwin. As we proceeded we found the path to be sloping down. The path was slippery, making all of us to move with great care. The place soon turned out to go dark as Teak tress obstructed the sunlight from falling. Pepper and cardamom were planted for the first 1.5 kms. We have cross the forest range which was very dense. The path had plants which were as tall as us. Breathing fresh air we had our greatest experience on trekking in a forest area. Surely is Kerala “God’s own Country”. The path suddenly sloped more downwards; we had to rely on each other for moving. We had to catch hold of trees and stones to gain grip. Emerson was the cameraman for that day. It was fun watching GK moving hard. But besides his features, this man was strong enough to cross all stuffs without any help. ATM raced ahead above all with ease, his composure the secret behind him. It was again a day of comedy show by the girls especially from Mythili and Vishnupriya. Two spots on the way were very dangerous. One place just slipped down with no supports and if you had slipped on it then you got to roll for few metres. The other place can just bear only one person at a time. There was no land beneath us. A small rock served as a bridge; we had to cross its help. Just a slip can seriously injure a person. We could hear the noise of the water falling. We were near the falls. We moved on and finally reached. The falls was huge. We were able to get a clear view of it. Actually we were on the second tier. The falls totally had 3 tiers. The 2^nd tier was the biggest and the deepest of all. We had to climb down rocks to reach its foot. The falls looked undiscovered. We were very energetic and dropped our clothes for a swim in the little pond made by the falls (I don’t know swimming-it’s another fact). Aashik met his first slip of the tour. He wiped off the algae completely that were on the rocks. His white pants turned green but he had helped Kishore who also slipped on the same place; but dint wet his pants. VJ was at his best outfits- Blue underpants. This man was enjoying to his maximum, it dint last long for him. He tore his underpants. He had to wear another one he brought as spare. That was the greatest comedy of the day. A tragedy too happened. I would write about it in detail in my next post. We had a great time in water. The falls was quaint in appearance. It was time and we had to leave the place. The return journey was difficult, as we had to ascend. At one spot Vishnupriya blocked nearly 7-10 people, the reason was that she was afraid to climb up a steep slope. It was Srikanth who gave courage to her. She finally decided to come up and it was me and Kaushik who had our nerves tight in the end. We had to quench our thirst here and there. We finally reached the main road. We had to reach Calicut at 17.00 hours to catch our train. The drivers flew their way and we reached the station at 17.10 hours. Calicut was 110 kms from Wayanad. The train arrived at 17.30 sharp. We got in and it started in 5 minutes. We had memorable moments in the train just mocking people and playing cards. We reached Chennai safely the next day at 5.30 in the morning and left the station with a heavy heart because that was the last tour of our college life.

Click below to view..

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3....How we escaped Death!!