The New Divide - Petrol guys vs Diesel guys

After being divided by states, regions, languages, communities, wealth, haves and have nots (and what not) we now have a new divide sponsored by the government itself!. The petrol guys versus the diesel guys. I have been already laughed at by the diesel guys for owning a petrol car which, they sniggered, has already lost out 20% of its resale value. 'You poor petrol guys,' they laughed and sniggered. I did not know what to say except that I sharply said I had no intention of selling my car at a 20% discount now.

The diesel guys looked smug, happy that they have cars that run on cheap fuel that the government will not touch even if they have luxury cars. We petrol guys for no fault of ours have been singled out by the government and I suspect we are probably footing the bill for the diesel guys. In fact since most petrol is actually adulterated with kerosene as far as my knowledge goes, we are actually paying more (getting less petrol in the first place, getting more kerosene in the second place, and footing the kerosene subsidy as well - all in one litre of petrol!!)

Anyway, one of the diesel guys said 'you bloody tax payers, you petrol guys, serves you right!'. That was when I researched a bit and found that the petrol and diesel guys have completely different psychological profiles. The petrol guys are the low risk, government job types who like the soft purring cars as opposed to diesel cars which are somehow seen as beasts that one cannot handle. This petrol bunch is also seen as the tax paying guys by my apparently non-tex paying friends, who will not fight or resist (naturally a good bunch to impose price hikes upon) and who will at best stop going out or stopping selling their cars. They will be like people stuck in unhappy marriages - won't get out, won't get in. They will be there.

On the other hand the diesel car types are the ones who are aware and alive to opportunity. They will try new stuff and are not scared of handling the beasts. They will be the ones to wear new clothes, try new brands and stuff like that. They are the entrepreneurs, the let's-see-what-happens-later, I can handle it types. They are enterprising, are capable of raising loans unlike the petrol guys who fear loans. They are also the type who will get themselves diesel cars at prices that will be the cost of the petrol guy's house.

Anyway, as of now the government decided that petrol guys must bear it. They have cornered the right segment - the stoic, we will bear it all without a murmur crowd will keep paying or suffering until they die. The cars will remain at their homes, well polished and clean and started only so the battery does not die, and will go small distances with their families, once a week. Their fuel costs have gone up, their savings will come down, their reputations are now in tatters, their outings have reduced - in one stroke the government has discriminated wildly against this hapless segment who will now resort to ordering stuff online and watching Travel programs on television. (I also hear that some sensitive types are considering drastic action - like buying Idea 3G which seems to be the answer to all things - shove that phone into your car and it might run all the way to heaven!)

I suggest a Save the Petrol Car User Association. We cannot handle this kind of trauma, such discrimination from our secular government. What is secular about such discrimination? Nothing. They are outright discriminatory. It's written all over that we are petrol guys. We will be targeted by everyone based on our psycho profile. From petrol thieves to traders, parking wallas to traffic police,e everyone will now treat the petrol guys differently. We must do something now before it is too late.


But despite all this there is one great comfort. The diesel guy will always be second best. They can get subsidised all they want but they will never enjoy the one ride we petrol guys take on a Sunday, or at midnight (when we consume less petrol) as much. Ah, we petrol guys will enjoy every single metre of the ride from now on.

IPL Playoffs - Delhi Daredevils beats Itself

In the end it was Delhi daredevils that beat itself as it fought with all the demons in its head. If one felt that this game was about strategy and tactics and doing everything right, Delhi went the other way. They did not even do its normal things right. Facing a resurgent CSK was one but beating the demons in their head was another and sadly, the best team in the IPL, went down without a whimper, without a fight, showed no heart and simply fell apart. CSK walked all over it.

It must have started with the panic at Irfan Pathan's injury or so they lead us to believe. But Irfan Pathan is not so huge an all rounder that his absence should make them go into a tizzy. Even Morne Morkel could have hit those few sixes that Pathan does - provided he was backed well by his skipper. But they panicked, brought in a new all rounder in Andre Russel who is a decent bat and bowler but nothing match winning as a bowler - which is the key really. To compensate for his inclusion they dropped the leading wicket taker in the competition Morne Morkel and then brought in a rookie spinner Sunny Gupta who is playing his first game this season and sat out Shahbaz Nadeem. So far, suicidal you'd say. Viru, Warner, Mahela, Taylor, Naman, Venu, Negi, Umesh, Aaron, Morkel and Nadeem could have been the team. You at least had a decent bowling attack and batting till Morkel (No 8).

If that set them hugely back, they won the toss and asked Chennai to bat first throwing all their strength of batting freely with big hitters like Sehwag, Warner, Naman, Mahela and Taylor into water. All possibilities of seizing early initiative vanished and of taking the Chennai attack to sword. Now they ensured they would bat under pressure, trying to score runs given away by a slightly blunted bowling attack, which held no fears really in terms of penetration - and certainly not on the Chennai wicket. Chennai would have thanked the gods for this opportunity and stepped in hoping for a 170 total and early Delhi wickets.

And then comes the beginning of what really ended it. Murali Vijay, elegant and destructive, has been out of rhythm all season and Chennai never really got off to a good start - something which Dhoni said was key to their success (a  good start!). Against all logic, Sehwag brings in a rookie off spinner Sunny Gupta, and Murali Vijay stepped down the track and lofted him straight down four and the another. That sealed it. Vijay started feeling good, Delhi knew it had made all the tactical errors it could have done. Now all it needed to do was get out of the hole it dug for itself. Even if they had opened their bowling with Umesh Yadav who is a tough customer on any day, he would have pushed Hussey and Vijay on the backfoot. But then after that Vijay just grew in strength. The bowling changes became even more thoughtless, fielding went to pieces and CSK, which never lets an opportunity go, nailed it.

It was unbelievable to see how Delhi fought those ghosts in its head. CSK finished off the game in style, winning by 86 runs, which is a huge margin. There is no room for the weak hearted, for the unprepared at this stage and Delhi rightfully had to go. It was a huge pity because they still had enough on that team to knock CSK out. If only they had a different captain, Mahela would have been my bet, or even Taylor, and used their strengths and resources better. But Delhi put all their strengths on the bench and 'hoped' that they would surprise everyone. Sadly they surprised themselves!

Onwards to the final then. CSK and KKR. I'd go with CSK for their no nonsense, less talk more action approach which puts less pressure on them. But for my own sake, I do hope KKR gives them a run for their money and who knows, even pushes them over. KKR has the strength and the mystery bowler who takes 4-15 in most games, Sunil Narine. The big weakness for me, Gambhir is prone to make certain temperamental decisions and is strategically weaker compared to Dhoni. Let us see what transpires.

CSK vs Delhi Daredevils - CSK is my bet

I have said it before and I say it again. There's some magic potion that MSD infects his team with and its called belief. Somehow they know when the time comes, they will pull it off. For just a while MSD looked jaded but he has got his familiar belief about him again and at just the right time. Will Delhi be able to pull it off against CSK? Tough I'd say.

Delhi will not go down without a fight. Sehwag will to his best to bat well and long and so will the rest of his awesome batting line up. But they will be up against a strategically superior and wily skipper and a bunch of confident, professionals who will keep surprising them every now and by the time they realise it, the match will be beyond their reach if they do not play this game strategically.  If Delhi goes in on past performances and hoping that things will work out and play without a plan, they are gone. But if they have a plan and preparation they have the firepower to surprise the CSK.

The only way they can get themselves into the game is to bat CSK out by getting a 200 plus. To do that Sehwag, Warner need to get off to dream starts, playing correct shots and avoiding traps set by Dhoni. Mahela needs to play till the end and the support cast needs to contribute. 200 would be a tough ask but then I would think that is the only way to pile up the pressure on the rather brittle CSK batting side. Sehwag needs to get his bowlers to bowl to a plan and to constantly be in touch with them to see they are on as per plan. Morkel, Umesh, Aaron need supportive captains as they are still not high on belief at this crunch level and Irfan Pathan needs to show the way with his bowling.

If Delhi Daredevils get their strategy right, it will be an interesting game. If they don't improve on strategy and tactics, they are as good as gone. Delhi to bat first and get 190-200 if it has to Delhi's way. If CSK bats first and gets 170, they should be through.

Thought for the Day - Do Everything Differently

What if we decided to do everything differently and not in the way we normally do. React differently I mean and do stuff. Like saying Yes to things we normally say No to and saying NO to things we normally say YES to. Small things of course and not stuff that kills you. Just enough to mess up the pattern in the mind.

Now what would you call that? I would call it loads of fun. Fun then, is probably not doing everything the same way and messing up the pattern once in a while - or rather - all the time.

It could also mess up several mental patterns in our head that give us certain outcomes in our lives. This could be one way of creating new outcomes, fun lives.

Old and Lost Pubs of Hyderabad

In the 1990s there was a sudden profusion of pubs in Hyderabad. I don't know why pubs made a sudden entry in Hyderabad then. Hyderabad was till then known for shady bars and restaurants of all sorts where guys generally went and guzzled till they passed out. The wine shops were all over the place and people normally were very serious about their drinking and did not want to mix their drinking with music and other distractions. The bars were made for conversation, for opening of hearts and for liquor to be consumed. No music, but the palli, chana kind of an atmosphere.

Bangalore had its pubs and when we went there we visited them with wonder. The music, the ambience, the girls...ahh it was heavenly. The beer was chilled and came in pitchers and we got high and drunk on the music and the environment. Soon the first pubs came to Hyderabad and we cautiously made it to those pubs while still in college. We enjoyed the music, the beer and the fact that we could go there with girls and have a good time.

Many of the pubs have since shut down and I don't think I can recall most of them anyway but I will try. I am hoping to keep this list a pre-prohibition list so many of them are not here any loner. One or two may be post-prohibition as well but I would not know.

1) Barrel House: This one was near Amrutha Mall Somajiguda. Decent music, nice ambience and one could spend long hours chatting in it. We guys generally caught up here because it was closest to our homes, drank ourselves silly and got back.

2) 10 Downing Street: Before it made its appearance in the Lifestyle building the 10 Downing Street was in the cellar of Sapnalok before it got bombed out by the naxals. It was still one of the hippest places even then and I enjoyed going there before they started getting uppity about couples only and sandals only after which I stopped going there. One great memory of 10 D was that of Madhav paying with his credit card and when the waiter pointed out that there was no signature there, signing it instantly with a flourish! See, the signature is there now!

3) One Flight Down: Is it still around? In the ground floor of the hotel at Nampally it was almost a strictly guys only affair. One of those places where the bouncers did not let anyone dance in the aisles which I found rather funny. And it was only veg. They had a rock music kind of a theme. Used to pop into this place on lazy summer afternoons from work at the bank.

4) Black Cadillac: Now this was a funny kind of a pub with a neither here nor there ambience and huge murals painted on the walls. It was opposite GPO in Secunderabad if I am not mistaken. Never enjoyed it so much. Did not have a definite feel and energy to it.

5) Bier Keller: This pub located in Minerva Complex next to Sapnalok had a theme of a bombed out pub in Germany that got partially destroyed in the World War II or something like that. It had an awesome ambience, lovely food, lovely beer and great music. One of my favourites those days. I distinctly remember a private party that Naresh and ANu threw for a bunch of friends there.

6) The Oaken Cask: The best music was played by this guy if I remember right. It stood near the Basheerbagh chowrasta and I remember visiting it at 11 a.m. on a rainy day with Shobhs and they played heavenly music. Nice ambience, great service and good experience overall.

7) Pub near Golden Dragon (Beat Route!! Got the name after brainstorming with Naresh this morning): This pub had very hip interiors, decent music and was located on a mezzanine kind of a location near Golden Dragon. Can't remember the name but it was very popular and I think it was
well known for its music as well. What was it called now? Memories include a celebratory morning drink with Srinivas of ITW after I bought my first camera - a Kodak Kroma!

8) The Outswinger: This pub was part of the Baseraa hotel but despite the cricket based theme and cricket based interiors and menus I never really enjoyed it. I remember one massive celebration though - when MCC beat Sacred Heart in a low scoring game that was fully charged up. Chandra sponsored the drinks and it was one of the most remembered and happy celebrations ever.

9) The Escape: The pub in the Green Park Hotel was called the Escape if I am not mistaken and it was an okay-okay joint. I don't remember any great experiences, great food, great music. It was just conveniently close by and dark. The one thing I remember was meeting my scooter mechanic there and realising that India was changing.

10) Cloud Nine: This one was near the Rasoolpura crossroads opposite Anand theatre. It had an ordinary presence, normal music, regular crowd but what I remember most about it was its flat beer. I used to go but never liked it too much. One party I remember was thrown by the cricketers those days somewhere in the cellar. Now it's gone!

The Paradoxes of Our Lives - When we give up, we get

When we give up, we get.

We can try hard and want and kick and shout. But it is only when we give it up that we get it. We can take it, possess it by force but it will not satisfy us until we start giving it up. Until we keep a distance from it. Until we find the balance between wanting it and respecting it.

To get it, do all that you have to. But give it up in the mind.

Thought for the Day - 100% is actually taking a step back

100% is not giving 'more' really. It is more like stepping back a bit - and being more deliberate and conscious and intense. When we step back and become more aware we give 100%.

Normally when we think 100% we think we need frenzied and uncontrolled action or thought. We try to do too much and nothing works. It all seems pointless and self-defeating. Don't do too much. Step back. And choose to be deliberate and intense in the now.

When our act and thought are deliberate and controlled and purposeful, we are there. 100% is all about deliberate action, about intensity and about living in the now. Try it.