Quiz Kops

Tata Crucible Campus Quiz '10 Prelims

2010-03-08T10:51:00.005+05:30

Dear All,

Attended TC Campus quiz y'day. Quiz was as usual mostly based on one word/one line asnwers and no fundas involved whatsoever. Wonder when the QM will start putting his ass to work and come up with some quality self researched questions. Quiz had lots of repeats and sitters, which is not worthy of the quiz of this magnitude. Alas for Below average quizzers like me these types of quizzes gives a feel good factor coz repeats are bound to come and difficulty level restricted to ET paper headlines. The Crowd demands it and the QM delivers!!!!!!!!

The Quiz was won again by IMT Ghaziabad for the 4th consecutive time. Other finalists were from IIT-DOMS, Sukh Dev College of Business Studies, IIFT and FMS. Cut off was around 12

Prelims Questions:

1. Which clothing company has Omini as their logo?

2. Miramax films is the art house film division of which company?

3. This person in many ways in news in India for the split in Family business. Name the Business Group?

4. Name Mira Nair’s Film Company for a 1989 movie?

5. World’s largest digital camera manufacturer?

6. Id the publishing company

7. Name the Indian hockey team sponsors?

8. Which Insurance company has Rock of Gibraltar in their logo?

9. Id Author

10. Ad for

11. Whose Campaign?

12. Samichlaus (Santa Claus) beer is manufactured in Zurich and which other country?

13. Claudia Schiffer first jeans advertisment?

14. Id this American Billionaire.

15. Which Pharmaceuticals company's name in latin means "New Skills"

16. Ad for?

17. Neck and Tie is a retail store in Airports, Which company runs it?

18. Parent Company of Random House?

19. Bird in the Swarowski Logo?

20. Id the Produer of this movie? (Song from Bachna ae Haseeno)

Answers

1. Kappa

2. Walt Disney

3. Bajaj

4. Mira Bai Films

5. Nokia

6. Harper Collins

7. Sahara

8. Prudential

9. Ayn Rand

10. UNICEF

11. PETA

12. Austria

13. Guess

14. Carl Icahn

15. Novartis

16. Boeing

17. Raymonds

18. Bertelsmann

19. Swan

20. Yash Raj

Tata Crucible 2009 - Delhi

2009-09-20T13:21:00.008+05:30

Hi all,

Posting on this blog exactly after an year. Attended the Delhi leg of Tata Crucible yesterday. Prelims of TC Delhi better than last year but lots of questions had Multiple options (Like Derek's Landmark) which kind of spoiled some questions.

Tata track won by TCS comprising of Anurag Krishna and Debabrata Malik

Accenture comprising Rohan Khanna and Sandeepan Choudhary won the Non-Tata track.

Questions from Prelims:

1. Which webcaster founded Sage Publications?

2. Which global bank has a program for graduates called "Explore", for middle level "Ascent" and for top level called as "Summit"?

3. The films Adina's Deck, Odd girl out and Shredderman Rules create awareness about which Internet phenomenon?

4. Which Grammy award winning singer owns restaurant "Destino", "Southern Hospital" and Tequila brand 901?

5. Identify the Author:

6. After whom is the annual prize given at the Sundance film festival for the best feature film with Science and Technology as a theme named after?

7. Which publication aim "to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward and an unworthy,timid,ignorance,obstructing our progress?

8. Which American TV network was founded by Cowell Paxon and Roy Speer and has its roots from a radio station forced to sell can openers on its radio?

9. Which Airline name means 'United' and has different classes like Diamond Zone, Pearl Zone and Coral Zone?

10. Identify the Logo

11. Which popular brand of bubblegum belongs to the Topps Company and packaged in red,white and blue colour scheme and it includes comic strips with the gum?

12. Which Govt of India enterprise founded in 1887 at Calcutta by two Scotsmen is the largest manufacturer of Steel barrels in India?

13. This creative technique was popularised by Advertising personality Alex Osborne in the book 'Applied Imagination '?

14. This company used to run TV ads trying to distinguish b/w similar sounding Good year tyre company saying "See the blimp up in the sky, we are the other guys"?

15. Identify this sports business personality?

16. IRCTC and Cox & Kings launched a company called Royal Indian Rail Tours. What is the Super Premium luxury train brand called?

17. Complete this famous Harry Truman quote - " Its _______ when your neighbour loses his job. Its _______ when you lose your job"?

18. The recently launched website "A space" modelled on Facebook is a social networking site for which category of people?

19. "Go humans Go" is a mega marketing campaign launched by which food major extending the virtues of its major products?

20. Which Sports good maker launched "Jukari fit to fly" workout concept with famous entertainment company "Cirque de Soleil"?

21. Which fashion brand launched Asia inspired fragrances Sultana, Maharani and Geisha?

22. Which economist wrote his first political thriller "Dead on time"?

23. Which Ad personality is the chairman of Finsbury Foods Plc and is a governor of the London School of Economics?

24. Ad Campaign?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUh4onz1FnI

25. Video Ad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puB3VryK5eg

Answers:

1. Tejeshwar Singh

2. UBS

3. Cyber Bullying/Ragging

4. Justin Timberlake

5. Amartya Sen

6. Alfred Sloan

7. The Economist

8. Home Shopping Network

9. Etihaad

10. Anheuser Busch

11. Bazooka

12. Balmer Lawrie & Co

13. Brain storming

14. Goodrich

15. Bernie Ecclestone

16. Maharaja Express

17. Recession and Depression

18. Espionage, Spies or Secret Agents

19. Quaker Oats

20. Reebok

21. Armani

22. Lord Meghnad Desai

23. Maurice Saatchi

24. Airtel DTH

25. Sahara Life Insurance

Tata Crucible Delhi Prelims

2008-09-15T23:09:00.009+05:30

Tata Crucible Delhi Prelims, September 13th 2008

Just attended the Delhi leg of Tata Crucible, prelims okish

Some of the questions have been copied from Pagal Guy. It's a shame that a National level Quiz Prelims is copied from an GK prep of MBA forum

here is the link u can check out for yourself

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/prep-resources/837-some-gk-questions.html

Results:

Tata Track

TCS represented by Debabratta Mallick and Akanksha Yohan

Non Tata Track:

1. NTPC - Sujit Varkey & KM Prashanth
2. Accenture - Rohan Khanna & Sandeepan Chaudhuri
3. HT Media Ltd - Arun Paul Alex & Ranjeet Varma

Other Finalists:
McCann Erickson - Ninad & Kausar
3i Infotech - Dr.Arvind Gupta & Harsh Priyadarshy
Mint - Sanjeev & Samanth

1. Who said "You aim for perfection, you will attain excellence.If you aim for excellence, you will go lower"

Ans:JRD Tata

2. What was the new name assumed by Anderson consulting?

Ans: Accenture

3. Ad for –Dabur

4. Which global shoe company is named after a American corn dish fed to pet dogs?

Ans: Hush Puppies

5. Italy’s Monte Paschi di Siene, established in 1472 has the distinction of being the oldest of its kind. What is it?

Ans: Bank

6. Which Indian packaging firm has taken over a firm called as “Propack” in China?

Ans: Essel

7. Which IT giant in India owns Maytas Infra?

Ans: Satyam

8. Which respected inventor, Electrical engineer, dubbed as the father of Physics, lived his last 10 years in 3327 of Hotel New Yorker?

Ans:Tesla

9. Which respected, learned institute has a stained glass window as its logo and the motto is “Nullius in verba” meaning “in the words of none”

Ans: Royal Society of London

10. Which great sportsman did Target corporation rope to launch program called “Start something” to guide students get life goals?

Ans: Tiger Woods

11. ID – Murali Devara

12. Which term used in trade union negotiations was coined by Beatrice Webb in 19^th century?

Ans: Collective bargaining

13. VFS Global is the first Indian company to be awarded contracts by Govt of India and is a subsidiary of which famous Zurich based Travel agent?

Ans: Kuoni Travel Group

14. Which tea manufacturer tied up with the Indian Railways, HPCL, BPCL and canteens of the Indian Army to supply Tea bags?

Ans: Duncan Tea

Logo – Religare

16. Which magazine is brought to India by Paprika Media owned by Smiti Ruia?

Ans: Time Out

17. Which game design house created the blockbuster first person shooter video Halo 3?

Ans: Bungie

18. The wife of which person wrote “Nostalgic Cuisine” and released it on his 75^th birthday?

Ans:Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, of Apollo Hospital

19. Union minister Kapil Sibal launched piousnetwork.com on Jan 16^th 2008 as an interactive website for info about what?

Ans: Professionals of Indian origin in USA

20. Which micro credit Institution founded by CS Ghosh in Hooghly district is second in forbes list of top micro finance institute in 2008 much above Grameen Bank?

Ans: Pearless

21. Which popular TV brand of mid 80’s is Dixon technologies trying to re launch and promote in tier 2 towns in the country

Ans: Weston

22. Which Indian management guru wrote the book “Chindia Rising” about the effect of China on Indian business?

Ans: Sheth Jagdish N

23. Prof Krishnan and who authored “The new age of Innovation”?

Ans: CK Prahalad

24. Ad for – Big Bazaar

25. Ad for – Virgin Mobiles

Tata Crucible Bangalore Round

2008-09-06T19:39:00.006+05:30

Tata Crucible Bangalore round, August 31st 2008

It gives me immense pleasure to say that one of my close friends Ajay Rao along with another known friend Nagaraj won the Tata Track Bangalore round.Congrats dude and ATB for the Finals

Results:

Tata Track

Tata Elxsi- Ajay RaoNagaraj Keshavmurthy
Titan- Tataghata Mukherjee & Harish Bhat
Titan – Shivaram & Lakshanya

Other Finalists:

Titan- Gaurav Kara & Yashwant Kumar

Tata Tea- Smitha & Ashok

Titan- Aditya Kejriwal & Sunil

Non Tata Track:

1. ITC - Thanmay Prusty & Anindiya Sen

2. Yahoo! - Ajay Kasargoad & Tejaswi Udupa

3. Oracle - Anantharam Vaidyanath & Rohan Balakrishnan

Other Finalists:
Ray + Keshavan - Aditya Jalan & Arvind Hegde

National Instruments - Abhishek Nag & Shilendra Bhattacharya

OnMobile - Nikhil Narayan & Rajesh Mohan

Questions and Answers courtesy

http://rohitnair.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/tata-crucible-corporate-2008-bangalore-review-prelims/

1) Which international voluntary organization was founded by the present French minister for foreign affairs Bernard Kouchner?

Ans: Doctors without borders

2) Which Indian was the richest man in the world in 1937 and appeared on the cover of Time magazine?

Ans: Nizam of Hyderabad

3) Ad Campaign

Ans: Happydent

4) Which legendary CEO owns a restaurant chain called Koo Koo Roo?

Ans: Lee Iacocca

5) Which television personality who in his early career did commercials for Doritos brand of chips is an automobile collector and writes a column in Popular Mechanics?

Ans: Jay Leno

6) ALFA Passenger, a new diesel powered three wheeler is by which company?

Ans: Mahindra

7) Which brand (foods) was sold by Marico to Good Food group of Denmark?

Ans: Sil Jam

8) Which auto major launched S80 sedan and XC90 SUV in the Indian market?

Ans: Volvo

9) Hello Money, an innovative mobile banking service was launched and promises to take convenience to a new level. Which bank has introduced this concept?

Ans: Barclays Bank

10) Accor, is in talks to create neighbourhood hotels under the naem Formulae-1 with which Indian group, famous in the retail space?

Ans: A V Birla Group

11) Photo

Ans: M Damodaran

12) Which is the first train to be branded as 'Airtel Rajdhani Express'? (i.e which city to Delhi)

Ans: Bangalore

13) Tara International, an affiliate of Bengal Enamel has planned Tiny and Titu. What are they?

Ans: Less than 1 lakh (Electric) cars

14) In the mid 40s I signed on for the Blue Books three month modelling course and was hired by Holga Steel (for some host party i think). Who am I?

Ans: Marilyn Monroe

15) Which Public-Private enterprise would the person in picture head (pic of Albert Bruener)?

Ans: Bangalore International Airport Limited

16) Which Indian fashion designers said 'We dont make garments, we make heirlooms'?

Ans: Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla

17) Which Hollywood superstar owns a production house 'play tone'?

Ans: Tom Hanks

18) Which Indian was elected to the board of aviation giant American Airlines?

Ans: Rajat Gupta

19) Which management guru explained synergy as 2 + 2 = 5?

Ans: Igor Ansoff

20) Which media conglomerate did Lowry Mays and Red McCombs found in 1972 and focuses only on radio?

Ans: Clear Channel Communications

21) Established by a British gentleman whose name it took in the year 1908. It was later managed by Dr M.N Mahadevan in 1955 . Which Bangalore 'landmark'?

Ans: Cash Pharmacy

22) Which Indian film director , who owns 'Sahyadri Films' once worked as an ad executive at Lintas?

Ans: Shyam Benegal

23) Which apparel compnay has a CSR initiative 'Being Family' that it has trademarked to help families who adopt children?

Ans: Jockey

24) Video ad- Bacardi

25) Video ad- Cisco

Tata Crucible - Pune Round

2008-08-29T01:24:00.004+05:30

Tata Crucible - Pune Round, August 24th 2008

Results:

Tata Track

Winners - TAL Manufacturing Solutions
Runners Up - TCS

Non Tata Track

Winners - Kotak Mahindra Bank (with 65 points)
Runners Up - BMC Software

1. Which sports goods company owns the range of products under the name Ballistic, Stealth, Atomic and Velocity?

2. What is brewed at six locations across India namely Mount Shivalik in Rajasthan, Impala Breweries in Goa, Mikal in Orissa, Iceberg in Bihar, SOM in Madhya Pradesh and Manav Breweries in UP?

3. Who sponsored the FairPlay award at this years IPL?

4. Which brand owned by N Ranga Rao and Sons was amidst a controversy for it's similarity to the logo of a prominent political party?

5. This company then (in 1852) was known as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. It started to produce a lever action pistol nicknamed the Volcanic Pistol (named by Scientific American because of the pistols incredible firepower and its rapid-fire capability). In 1986 it was sold to Tomkins plc of London England and subsequently in 2001 it was acquired by Saf-T-Hammer Corporation. This company was in news recently for the interest Indian Army showed.

6. Name this joint venture formed between Airtel and IFFCO aimed at providing a major boost to the Indian Agriculture sector

7. Who has been selected as a brand ambassador for Fly phones by Meridian Mobile. As mentioned by the company the person (male) reflects the brands chs of being a go-getter and aggressive

8. Which clothing company recently launched a brand of clothing for kids - OYO (On Your Own)?

9. By what name are the chain of specialty stores focused on selling health and beauty products launched by Dabur know as?

10. Which company (into the beverages industry speaking on a macro level) has ventured into the hospitality sector by launching The Serai, a hotel and a spa. This move demonstrates a new kind of busines concpet that the company has tapped into considering it's land bank.

11. Which company has recently launched its clothing line Probase. It also has two other brands in it's portfolio titled Genesis and Basis. (the name of the co. will remind you of a toys co.)

12. This print syndicate launched DailyINK, an online service which bills subscribers $15 annually. DailyINK makes available, on a web page and via email, more than 70 vintage and current comic strips, plus editorial cartoons. Name this company?

13. This entertainment company derives its name from a famous landmark in Vancouver. It is famous for producing the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which became the studio's highest grossing film.

14. Which company in India produces the Nightingale brand of diaries? (_____ Fine Arts)

15. TIME in 1952 described this as 'a short lived, satirical pulp'. What?

16. Which novelist and poet is featured on the bank notes issued by the Bank of Scotland?

17. This publishing house, part of the Random House is known for its 'Borzoi' trademark. Name it

18. Yahoo India recently launched a new concept in online search which collates and integrates the most relevant information from across the web onto a single visual search results page. Name the concept.

19. It was first mentioned by Mark Twain in 1872 in his novel 'Roughing It'. There was also an attempt to trademark it by a magazine known by the same name. However it was not allowed to do so. What is being referred to here?

20. Terrapin, is the children's imprint of _______ It has published six books, in association with JSW, to make children aware on climate change and the nature around them. Fill in the blank

21. Visual for Lenovo

22. Visual Y C Deveshwar

23. Visual Avon Cycle logo

24. Video SBI Ad (two old ladies traveling all the distance to wish their their old brother on his birthday. An ad highlighting the importance of relationships)

25. Video Camlin Marker (the famous ad depicting mourning in process and the village women trying to wipe off the bindi from the forehead of the "widow")

Tata Crucible - Panaji Round

2008-08-29T01:11:00.010+05:30

Tata Crucible Panaji Round, August 10th 2008

Results:

1.Savoire Faire- Harshavardhan & Rajeev
2. Synapse - Sirish & Maneesha Singh
3. Hindustan Unilever Limited - Sunil Singh & Rishek Alag

Other Finalists:
Splash Communications - Anirudha Sengupta & Anjali Sengupta
Beets India - Subrata & Ishwardas
Cajetan Vaz Branding Consulting- Cajetan Vaz & Shweta

1. Who wrote the words ''Satisfaction Guaranteed'' on the first Wal-Mart sign and said that they were the two most important words of his life? - Sam Walton

2. Which of these is the largest microfinance company in India – Sambandh or Bandhan? - Bandhan

3. Print ad - Shopper's Stop

4. Thyssenkrup is the world's largest manufacturer of auto parts. Which Indian company is the second-largest? Bharat Forge

5. Logo - VIP Luggage

6. Picture - Venu Srinivasan of TVS

7. Mirc Electronics recently witnessed a power struggle between Gulu Milchandani and his brother for control of the holding company of Mirc. What is the name of the holding company? - Guviso Holdings

8. The founder of which brand, now a part of P&G, once said, ''I have done more than anyone else to change the face of mankind''? – Gillette

9. Which country that became independent in 1946 was purchased by the US from Spain for $20 million? – Phillipines

10. Which country has recently started a TV channel called ‘Press TV’, the country’s first 24-hour English-language channel? – Iran

11. Which group owns the retail brands Food World, Books & Beyond and Music World? – RPG Group

12. Who replaced the legendary Meg Whitman as CEO of eBay recently? – John Donahoe

13. Lakme have tied up with which subsidiary of Henkel to use their products in their saloons? – Schwarzkopf

14. Whose frequent traveler programme is called Shubh Yatra? – Indian Railways

15. What kind of vehicles in India carry a CD licence plate? – Diplomatic vehicles, CD stands for Country Diplomat

16. Which hotel initially called itself the world’s first seven-star resort? – Burj Al Arab

17. TVC - D'Cold

18. TVC - Mirinda

Tata Crucible - Ahmedabad Round

2008-08-21T17:21:00.005+05:30

Tata Crucible - Ahmedabad round,August 19th 2008

1. Questa Software (Mumbai) - Manish Tandon & Amit Pandya
2. Vodafone (Ahmedabad) - Hemang Gharekhan & Sunil Singh Rana
3. Triton Communication (Ahmedabad) - Mahesh Manjawala & Mayur Rana

Other Finalists:
Thermax (Baroda) - Aanand SR & Venkatesh U Rao
Vodafone (Ahmedabad) - Susim Mohanty & Nikhil Soni
L & T (Baroda) - GP Singh & Chinmay Acharya

Prelims:

1. The french economist Lavre had in 1954 recommended the use of a Tax. This has been implemented in India in the last few years.. Which one?

VAT

2. Google has registered a Trade Mark on a sentence for which it pays a huge sum annually which?

"I'm feeling lucky"

3. AV of an Ad for Itchguard

4. He was born to Florence Spellman, an unwed mother at the age of 17. His adoptive father was a Jew who came from Ellis Island. He met his mother at the age of 48. Name this business tycoon.

"Larry 'Ellison'" of Oracle

5. Which is the most traded spice in the world in terms of Monetory Value? There is even an exchange for it

Pepper

6. Name the building in Mumbai being built on the lines of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (too long a question, but i got the gist). At least name the person connected with it.

Mukesh Ambani's complex

7. This management guru owns Green Island in Australia, Tessera in Italy, Reklusia in Bahamas. He was almost called to consult with the Indian cricket team.

Edward de Bono

8. This tea company started by Mel and Pat Zigler calls its Employees as Ministers, Customers as Citizens and Outlets as Embassies. Which?

Republic of Tea

9. ISIS is the longest running magazine in the world dedicated to which icon of music?

Bob Dylan

10. This Hotel, occupies the lower 37 floors of the Dubai Burj. Which? (Think fashion companies)

Arman

11. Identify Photo

(Harsh Goenka)

12 Rock and Roll Hall of fame commenced in 2001 a program to promote corporate bands. Owned by which publishing house (famous in the world of busines)?

Fortune

13. This publication, which bought Vogue to India in 2007 is now bringing the mens magazine GQ to India. Which?

Conde Nas publication

14. Godrej has tied up with the largest meat processor in the world for its poutry process. Name the company.

Tyson Foods

15. Identify Brand

Monte Carlo

16. What name has Bharti given to its small format retail stores

Easy Day

17. Who replaced Arun Sarin as CEO of Vodafone?

Vittorio Colao

18. Which famous economist said. "There is no art which one government learns of another fast than that of draining money from the pockets of the people"?

Adam Smith

19. Which Japanes company name literally means "The Rising Sun"

Hitachi

20. RL1854.com is an online bazaar for which business. This has happened in the very recent past.

Real Estate

21. ING appears as a sponsor with which F1 team

Renault

22. The deposed Thai premier Thaksin Sinawara owns which EPL team?

Manchester City

23. Investitsionno Kreditny Bank, a Russian Bank was acquired by which Indian Bank?

ICICI

24. Identify the product being advertised? (AV)

Crocin

25. Identify the product being advertised? (AV)

AIG

Landmark Quiz 08 Chennai

2008-08-17T21:41:00.001+05:30

Landmark Quiz 08 Chennai Prelims

1.Sportspersons from which sport have been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award the maximum number of times-four?

Ans:Shooting(Abhinav Bindra,Anjali Bhagwat,Rajyavardhan Rathore and Manavjit Singh Sandhu)

2.Which two countries apart from India celebrate their Independence Day on August 15th?

Ans:Bahrain and South Korea

3.The religious heads of a religion get their name because they “act as a “ford” across the “river of human misery”.”?

Ans:The Tirthankaras of Jainism

4.This African country had its name changed to its present one …after its independence.Its present name,in Shona language means ” “great houses of stone”.Which country?

Ans:Zimbabwe

5.What is the name given to a a tomb or monument erected in honour of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere?

(clue:it’s the name of a road in Chennai)

Ans:Cenotaph

6.Video-From a movie where a man’s eating a carrot and is talking to a woman.What was inspired from this?

Ans: Bugs Bunny

7.Audio-Kuselan’s theme music

8.Audio- Barack Obama reading from his book” Dreams from my father”

9.Audio-Identify the artist and the instrument

Ans:(dont rem the artist s name right),Instrument Balalaika

10.Who,apart from Arjuna,were the only two people to have listen to Bhagavad Gita directly from Lord Krishna?

Ans:Sanjaya and Hanuman(who’s on Arjuna s flag)

11.What object would u find on the top of the Wimbledon Men’s singles trophy?

Ans:A pineapple

12.Which Hans Christian Andersen tale begins thus: “There once was a woman who wanted so very much to have a tiny little child, but she did not know where to find one.”??

Ans:Thumbelina

13.Which website labels its movie reviews as “Certified Fresh”?

Ans:rottentomatoes.com

14. Scott Fahlman of the US,in September 1982,created which highly popular internet phenomenon?

Ans:The first smiley emoticon

15.Which modern word owes its origin from the Latin term for mask or character? (Other etymological details were given…but this is all I could recollect)?

Ans:Persona

16.James Conolly was the first ever Olympic Gold medallist.For which discipline did he get the gold?

Ans:Triple Jump

17.In Buddhism,what are included in the included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka,containing literature concerning the previous births of Buddha?

Ans:The Jatakas

18.Pic of Amazon s ebook reader….Kindle

19.Pic of the Red Panda ,also called Firefox

20.Video…Connect Pirates of the Caribbean with Haunted House

Ans:Both are rides in Disneyland

21.In 1987, there was a project to save the Silent Valley in Kerala.Which animal was used as the mascot (if that’s the right word) for this project?

Ans: The lion-tailed Macaque

22.Video from Qayamat se Qayamat Tak..Idenify the child artist

Ans:Imran Khan

23.Which 94-year building in Chennai was used by Annie Besant , is now facing demolition?

Ans: Gokhale Hall

24.Which novel in 1902 rose to the top of the Bestseller lists, thus becoming the first ever detective novel to do so?

Ans: The Hound of Baskervilles

25.Who was declared the patron saint of Delhi in 1857, when any Catholic in the town was stoned to death?

Ans: St.Stephen

26.The bob cut, a style which was created in 1909 by a hairdresser named Antoine,was inspired by whom?

Ans:Joan of Arc

27.Which other team,apart from Manchester United,Arsenal and Chelsea has won the English Premier League?

Ans:Blackburn Rovers

28.What syndrome was first observed in the 1980s,when it turned out that people who had traveled long distances by airplane were at an increased risk for thrombosis, especially deep venous thrombosis and its main complication, pulmonary embolism?

Ans:Economy Class Syndrome

29.Antrix Corp is the marketing arm of which Indian organization?

Ans:ISRO(Antrix comes from the Sanskrit root “Antariksh” which means “Space”)

30.Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s nickname came because of the regiment he served over a long period of time..What was it?

Ans:Sam ‘Bahadur’(he served the Gurkha regiment)

31.In Geometry,what is the name given to an egg-shaped figure?

Ans:Oval(ovum in latin means egg….ellipse was what mot people guessed!)

32.Pic of Ilavazhagi,the world carrom champ

33.What weapon, used in the future in Armies,was first written about in the novel “Daring Adventures in Elephant Land”?

Ans: TASER(Tom A Swift’s Electric Rifle)

34.Pic(s)-A german architect firm has been awarded the rights to construct which building and has proposed the following plans(as shown in the pics)?

Ans:The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly complex

35.What word gets its origin from France,where it was “used to describe anything which brought luck to a household”?(again…couldn’t recollect the minute ety details from the quiz)

Ans:Mascot

36.What geographical feature is the Shiv Ling at Amarnath an example of?

Ans:Stalagmite

37.According to The Economist,which is the toughest management school in the world to get into?

Ans:IIM-Ahmedabad

38.Which Tamil word,meaning “to avoid doing work” gets its origins from the British Army where retired officials where called so?

Ans: OB (adikkaradhu)…gets its origin from OB , which stood for “Off Beat” in the British Army

39.Vinobha Bhave described which period in Indian History as Anushasan Parva or “Time for Discipline”?

Ans: The Emergency period in 1975

Tata Crucible - Jaipur Round

2008-08-13T13:35:00.004+05:30

Tata Crucible Jaipur Round, August 12th

1- Which British retailer launched 'Look Behind the label' campaign in 2006?

Options- Harrods/Marks & Spencer

Ans- Marks & Spencer

2- Inspired by success of Disneyland- Angus wyne started these amusement parks in 1961- NYSE ticker SIX?

Ans- Six Flags

3- Print ad- TATA motors (Ace) – Chota Hathi campaign

4- Which Real estate company replaced Dr Reddys lab from sensex in November 2007?

Ans- DLF

5- With which organization Mira Nair launched AIDS JAGO & 4 films to be made by 4 different directors?

Ans- Bill & Melinda Gates foundation

6- British newspaper published on Sunday started a campaign to help elderly people 'Dignity at Home'? options- Sun/Observer

Ans- Observer

7- Which International organization launched a game 'Food Force'- to help plan delivery of food to starving people?

Ans- World Food Programme

8- 'Sambhav' is a calling card form which company?

Ans- Vodafone

9- Prince Al Waheed is the first individual to order this product from Airbus?

Ans- A380

10- Which food product company started 1ltr for 10 ltr of drinking water programme in Africa? Options- Danone/Parle/ Coca Cola

Ans- Danone

11- Pic – K V Kamath

12- Which south Indian Actor owns production co. Leukos started in 2007?

Ans- R. Madhavan

13- Which character has been appointed as Japan's first anime ambassador?

Option – Pokemon/Doremon

Ans- Doremon

14- Which auto giant calls it fuel efficient models as 'Blue motion'?

Ans- Volkswagen

15- Logo – Nestle

16- Which product first made by Joseph Lawrence & Jordon Lambert as a medicine in 1879 is now available in flavors like original, fresh, cool mint, natural?

Ans- Listerine- Mouth Wash

17- Which Wrigley Brand first made during reign of King George 3 was sold as 'orginal celeberated curiosuly' strong mints?

Ans- Altoid

18- Maria Sharapova signed a lifetime endorsement deal with whom? Options – Prince Sports/Yonex

Ans- Prince Sports

19- Video ad - Alpenliebe

20- Video ad – BSNL

Tata Crucible - Hyderabad Round

2008-08-11T13:38:00.002+05:30

Tata Crucible Hyderabad Round, August 9th 2008

Winners:

TATA TRACK
TCS-Nishit ganatra and Manjit

NoN-TATA
Google

Prelims:

1.Shapporjee Pallonji has a VIP account with which cement company?

ans- ACC

2.Omaxe India has launched a fitness initiative featuring which sportsperson?

ans-Leander Paes.

3.Print-Ad--(a lady posing and saying some times I want to have it for 5-6 times a day)

ans--AXE.

4.Which apparell company recently adopted a tagline "Good Looking Rascal"

ans--John Miller.

5.Wihch Indian company recently launched a key-board which has a support for regional languages?

ans--EduComp.

6.Which business group recently opened a World knowledge and research center based in Mumbai?

ans--Hinduja Group.

7.Which US president used to work as a model for magazines like 'Living' and 'Cosmopolitan'?

ans--Gerald Ford.

8.Which was the first Indian movie of which Singapore Airlines bought rights to broadcast it in the plane?
ans-- Sivaji the Boss.

9.RADS is a defence company belonging to which country?
ans--ISRAEL.

10.SET ALIVE is the new horse in the stable of which Indian Business Personality?
ans--VIJAY MALLYA.

11.'Uday' and 'Kiran' are initiatives started by which global giant in India?
ans--PHILLIPS

12.Logo of Walkman.

13.a question related to FANTA and its 4 imaginary mascots.

14.Full form of IPCC.

15.Established in 1895 this organisation was set up as a non-governmental non profit organisation.
ans--CII.

16.'Better Pizza through quality and innovation"
ans--PIZZA CORNER.

17.a question related to a cosmetic company
ans--Lancome.

18.GE,OSRAM,PHILIPS had controlled this product's sale....

ans--Electric Bulb.

19.Pic of Raghav Bahl from CNBC-TV18....a sponsor question mind it.

20.About whom did Sunday Times said This "brand" is Tom Cruise,Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood combined into one?

ans--Amitabh Bachchan.

21.A TV ad where a mother bathes her baby...
Johnson n Johnson baby soap.

22.A TV ad where an old-couple close windows..
Saint Gobain.

Tata Crucible - Kochi Round

2008-08-11T13:31:00.006+05:30

Tata Crucible - Kochi Round,August 5th 2008

Results:
Won By: Malayala Manorama
2)IOC
3)Citi Bank
4)Idea
5)FACT
6)V-guard

Prelims:
1) Which company launched the rice variety Arize Dhani- a rice variety that is resistant to bacteria?

2) Who heads the committee for financial inclusion?

3) Look and Identify the brand- There was hulk and a golden arch in the background.

4) India, Brazil and Vietnam are under alliance for which commodity? Options are Pepper & Cashew

5) 3 states have started e-processing of land records Ap,Tamilnadu, Haryana. Which is the 4th one?

6) Which small hosiery company from Ludhiana owns the brand Monte Carlo?

7) Which newspaper was the first in India to distribute by Air?

8) Which management consulting firm contributed to the development of OR,Word processing and the setup of Nasdaq

9) Which ad personality played the character Bindusara in the movie Asoka? Padmasee or Dacuna?

10) Which company famous for its tractor business is now also into CSR activities, good earth education and Dr. Shroff hospitals?

11) Identify the picture- It was Shiv Nadar

12) Which world event broadcasted by ESPN was started by Tom Moore in Texas in 1968?

13) After which Jewellery and and watch maker is the European horse race?

14) Which P&G brand name was taken from a Cincinnati telephone directory because of its pleasing sound?

15) Identify the Co. from brand logo- First flight

16) Which toy made my rainbow crafts has a 2 word name? First word 4 letters and 2nd word of 3 letters?

17) Which financial service giant also invests heavily in cricket?

18) Which financial institution produces beige book 8 times a year?

19) Who heads the 6th pay commission?

20) Which bank associated with RREEF has entered the Indian market in Apr'08? ( I don't quite remember how the question was framed)

21) Ashish Chordia has recently been approached by which airline? Net Jets,Silk Air or Sabina?

22) Active card control has been introduced by which bank? BOA or city bank?

23) Which bank as per its centenary celebrations introduced biometric ATm for rural markets?

24) An ad- Identify the computer ancillary brand- Moser Baer

25) Identify the detergent brand from this Ad- Rin

Tata Crucible - Coimbatore Round

2008-08-11T13:19:00.002+05:30

Tata Crucible - Coimbatore Round, August 3rd 2008

Results:

1. Infosys - Karthik Ramdas & Harkirat Singh
2. S. Bansali & Associates - Sheilendra Bhansali & Priya Bhansali
3. Robert Bosch - Praveen Kumar & Rahul Narayanan

Other Finalists:

The Chennai Silks - Arul Saravanan & Yogesh
Corporate Media Men Advt Pvt Ltd- Md.Zufair & Murgeshan
EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd - N.Valliappan & C.Venkatesan

Prelims not available

Premier League Team of the year

2008-06-05T17:01:00.008+05:30

As a football fan we always get frustrated when u don't get to see the players u want in the team.Composition and formation of the side is subjected to intense scrutiny both by Media and fans.The Manager always is under pressure to pick players;whether to play a winning combination or try out new players in a different formation.These decisions are not easy to make and involves a lot of confidence and trust on that particular formation and the players.It's best left to the managers to decide and a good Manager is one whose gambles pays off around 75% of the time.In football sometimes a moment of brilliance can win u a match.

So when i decided to name the Premier League team of the year i was very much confused,with 20 teams and more than 400 players to look at.What formation you want to see your team play also matters.In the process you are gonna miss out few good players.For example if u choose an attacking formation then a holding mid-fielder becomes a necessity.If you have a good defensive unit then having two strikers upfront makes sense.Likewise there are 'n' number of things to consider which depends on formation which in turn depends on the players u select.

The few important things i had in my mind before thinking about the formation was the highlights of the year;The top four teams' central defenders,Ronaldo (personally i didn't want to include him), Torres-Gerrard partnership.When i decided on these things it made sense to have a single striker, which was Torres, and Gerrard behind him.Gerrard by his standards didn't have a great year but his understanding with Torres was fantastic and that is the reason he's in the team rather than just for being my favourite player.I have tried put in a team with players who were the best in their positions rather than on emotional context, in which case i wouldn't have had Ronaldo in the team.Anyways here goes my team

Goal Keeper - David James (Portsmouth)

David James' started to make strides even before the season started,helping Portsmouth to victory over Liverpool in the pre-season Barclays Asia Trophy 2007 saving two penalties in the ensuing shoot-out.He was outstanding throughout the season;both in reclaiming his England place and winning an FA Cup winners' medal at the third attempt.

Though Liverpool's Pepe Reina won the Golden Gloves for most clean sheets in a season, he was almost ever-present in a side which broke the club record for most clean sheets in a season. He was rewarded with a nomination for the PFA player of the year and was the only goalkeeper and only player outside the "big four" to have been nominated.

Other Contenders - Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Petr Cech (Chelsea)

Right back - Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)

Sagna is a versatile French defender acquired from Auxerre. Though he is predominantly a right-back, can play centre-back, left-back and in midfield. He impressed right from game one and made the right-back position his own displacing the already established Emmanuel Eboué.The March 23rd return game against Chelsea was a mixed one for him, he scored his first goal for Arsenal to give a 1-0 lead for them however he went off injured before Chelsea came back to win the game 2-1.The Injury kept him out of the rest of the season including the all important Champions League quarter final against Liverpool, which Arsenal eventually lost.
At the end of the season, he was named in the PFA's Team of the Year.

Other Contenders - Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Wes Brown (Man Utd)

Central Defender - Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)

Carvalho has been one of the most consistent performers for Chelsea this year and this was duly recognised and he was voted by his fellow Chelsea colleagues as Chelseas Players Player Of The Year for 2008. To be the best player in the club which has lots of high quality players itself is an achievement. His performances stand out especially coz he has been superb in all the important matches against top players be it against Ronaldo, Tevez,Torres or Adebayor.He has been rock solid in that position and was outstanding when Terry was injured.He recently made his 100th appearance for the club in a 2-1 win against Manchester United.

Central Defender - Rio Ferdinand ( Man Utd)

No comments

Other Contenders - Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), John Terry (Chelsea)

Left back - Gaël Clichy (Arsenal)

Clichy became the first choice left back at Arsenal after Ashley Cole left for Chelsea in 2006.Since then he has established himself in the star studded Arsenal line up.He is one of the most attacking full backs in the premier league and often overlaps the left mid fielder and join in with the attack.He is also sound in defense and his electrifying pace and energy gives him the ability to dispossess the attacker of the ball at the first opportunity possible He is the only Arsenal player to have played in every Premier League match in the 2007-08 season so far, and is known affectionately by Arsenal fans as "Mr Consistent"

Other Contenders - Patrice Evra (Man Utd), Joleon Lescott (Everton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea)

Holding Midfileder - Javier Mascherano (Liverpool)

Javier Mascherano is seen as one of, if not the best defensive midfield player in the world due to solid and eye catching performances. He is quickly becoming a fan-favourite at Anfield, as he is referred to as "Tommy" - a popular Liverpudlian name. Claude Makelele provides the benchmark in this position but Mascherano is quicker, is as good a tackler and is much younger. And as his confidence improved towards the end of the season, he proved himself an increasingly confident passer of the ball.He also notched up his first goal for the club with a ferocious 25 yard strike against Reading.

Other Contenders - Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal)

Central Midfielder - Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)

The hallmark of any great player is having time and space and he has that ability in abundance. Finding half a yard under pressure is a quality you cannot buy - and Fabregas has it more than anyone.He has also got the vision when he gets the ball and knows exactly what to do.He started the season well, chalking up goals and assists along the way and was instrumental in keeping Arsenal at the top of the league table for most of the season.He was crowned the PFA's young player of the year award and named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Central Midfielder and Captain - Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

As a captain, Gerrard has led through example and commitment and is the type of player a footballer would follow anywhere.He brings Fernando Torres to life because he can play that killer pass.Gerrard started the season on a bang by securing Liverpool three valuable points after scoring a curling free kick into the top-right corner from 25 yards out at the 87th minute.Gerrard scored in nearly every game during November and by scoring in the away Champions League tie against Olympic Marseille he became the first Liverpool player since John Aldridge in 1989 to score in 7 games in a row.He ended the season with an incredible 22 goals which is very high for a midfielder and was also selected for the PFA Team of the year for the fifth year in a row and sixth overall.

Other Contenders - Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Right Winger - Christiano Ronaldo (Man Utd)

No comments

Left Winger - Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Ashley is young, inexperienced but consistently good. He scored nine goals and 17 assists - only Fabregas has got more assists than that - and he has got great ball delivery too.He started the 2007-08 season well, receiving several Man of the match awards. The good start was highlighted by his callup to the England Squad.Young was included in the PFA team of the year, and apart from Portsmouth's David James, he was the other player who did not come from any of the 'Big Four' to make it into the best XI of the season.

Other Contenders - Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Joe Cole (Chelsea), David Bentley (Balckburn)

Forward - Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Torres has taken the Premier league by storm by firing in 24 goals in the season to finish joint 2nd in the race for golden boot.In the process he became the most prolific foreign goal scorer ever in a debut season in England eclipsing Ruud van Nistelrooy's 23 goals.His runs are very smooth, his movement effortless and the way he links up with Steven Gerrard was awesome.Torres' positional play,which appears completely instinctive, is superb and this has helped his team mates to pass at will and still find him.He has taken the pressure from Gerrard by consistently scoring match winning goals

Other Contenders - Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn)

PS: As a matter of principle i don't want to either talk or comment on Man Utd players

Hype, Hooplah and Success

2008-06-03T10:04:00.017+05:30

It was ironic that after all the hype around Mullah and Glamour Quotient of teams the IPL ended on a 'Royal' Note with the least spent,least hyped and the least fancied Rajasthan Royals winning the Inaugural IPL.Praises showered on Warne and his boys from all parts of the cricketing world for their feat, the same critics had dismissed the Royals much before they had even even set foot on the pitch.The tournament was a success commercially as well as for the Quality of Cricket played.It was a launch pad for lots of unknown Indian players and boy didn't they show their class when the chips were down.From Yusuf Pathan, who btw got a call for National Duties through his exploits in the IPL, to young Goswani all got their share of chances and they all grabbed it to make their presence felt.Not just Indians but also young players from other countries also showcased their talent in the tournament and some players like Marsh stamped their authority on the tournament by winning the Orange cap for being the top scorer.

There were lots of action from McCullum's blitzkrieg to the last ball finish in the final on the field, Harbhajan slapping Sreesanth to Vijay Mallaya sacking Charu Sharma.There was drama unfolding everyday and the Indian audience were craving for more.I was suprised myself coz i watched almost all the matches and didn't get bored as such.Come 8 o'clock and i was in front of the TV and getting excited about the match in spite of the lackluster show 'Extra Innings' by Sony, whether playing the fantasy league or just the diversity/glamour in the teams glued me to the idiot box i don't know.

The inaugural edition of the IPL has had everything - shiny uniforms and big money, controversy and comedy, dancing girls and dancing down the track. And, lest we forget, lots and lots of big hitting. We take a quick look back at how the top four teams fared.

Rajasthan Royals

Owner(s) - Emerging Media, Lachlan Murdoch, Suresh Chellaram

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach - Shane Warne
High Performance Coach and Psychologist - Jeremy Snape
Physiotherapist - John Gloster
Assistant Coach - Harish Joshi
Director Of Coaching - Darren Berry

Standings - Winners

Star performers - Shane Warne (c), Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvir, Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja

At the start of the tournament, the Rajasthan Royals, the cheapest franchise at US$67 million, were being penalised for under-bidding during the auctions, and were ridiculed by everbody as the team lacked star power and impact players.The mauling by Delhi in their first match further strengthened everybody's opinion.All that changed once the tournament got underway and the man responsible and rightly credited for the change was Shane Warne.

Warne's man-management skills and his ability to bring out the best in his troops by assigning roles to each of them proved a master class.Slowly and steadily players like Watson and Pathan put their hands up and fashioned wins for the team.The arrival of Smith strengthened the batting as well as giving stability at the top.After the first phase ended Rajasthan were on top with 5 wins and two losses.

If it was Watson and Jadeja who architected the win against Mohali in the second match, it was Warne's turn to be hero against Deccan Chargers in the third match when he hit 17 runs off Symonds' last over to script a famous win.Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson continued to sizzle in most of the matches with both bat and ball.In their 5th match against Kolkata Knightriders Warne threw unknown Goan captain Swapnil Asnodkar into the ring and the lad didn't disappoint with a hard hitting match winning performance.Tanvir also responded with the best T20 figures against Chennai.By the time the first phase was over the nucleus of the team was identified and roles given to each other so much so that a player of the caliber of Younis Khan got only few games.The second phase was much easier for the Royals with the team winning virtually every match and discovering new heroes like Niraj Patel who guided the team when the chips were down.The Indian bowling contingent of Munaf Patel and Siddharth Trivedi also played their part without much fuss.

Most Runs (200+):

Shane Watson - 472 (15)
Graeme Smith - 441 (11)
Yusuf Pathan - 435 (16)
Swapnil Asnodkar - 311 (9)

Most Wickets (10+):

Sohail Tanvir - 22 (11)
Shane Warne - 19 (15)
Shane Watson - 17 (15)
Munaf Patel - 14 (15)
Siddharth Trivedi - 13 (15)

Chennai Super Kings

Owner - India Cements Ltd

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach - Kepler Wessels
Physiotherapist - Tommy Simsek
Physical Trainer - Gregory King

Standings - Runners up

Star Performers - Suresh Raina,Manpreet Gony,MS Dhoni,Albie Morkel,Matthew Hayden,Michael Hussey,Balaji,Makhaya Ntini

Chennai Super Kings had a solid start to their campaign with four consecutive wins.But the departure of their foreign recruits Hayden, Hussey and Oram resulted in three consecutive losses which dented their chances.They regrouped with Morkel and Ntini playing key roles and had to wait for the win in the final league match against the Deccan Chargers to ensure their progress into the semi-finals and eliminate the Mumbai Indians.

Suresh Raina was the star performer while Manpreet Gony was the surprise package.

Most Runs (200+):

Suresh Raina - 421 (16)
MS Dhoni - 414 (16)
Parthiv Patel - 302 (13)
Albie Morkel - 241 (13)

Most Wickets (10+):

Albie Morkel - 17 (13)
Manpreet Gony - 17(16)
L Balaji - 11 (9)
Muralitharan - 11 (15)

Kings XI Punjab:

Owner(s) - Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul & Mohit Burman

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach - Tom Moody
Assistant Head Coach - Trevor Penney
Physiotherapist - Patrick Farhart

Standings - Semi-Finalists

Star Performers - Shaun Marsh, Sreesanth, Sangakkara, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Brett Lee

Kings XI Punjab after all the hype wrt to team and owners started slowly by losing the first two games but gained momentum as the tournament progressed though they lost Brett Lee and Katich after 4 matches.Moody got his ex team mate Geoff Marsh's son Shaun Marsh to the team and he didn't disappoint by bagging the Orange Cap.Shaun Marsh was arguably the find of the tournament.He finished the tournament the highest run scorer with an average of 68.44 and a strike rate of 139.68 in 11 innings. His innings included 1 century and 5 half-centuries.

Their Maverick Captain Yuvraj Singh had a somewhat mixed tournament and didn't stamp his authority.The bowling dept was powered by the Indian duo of Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth.Sreesanth was again under the scanner after he was allegedly slapped by Harbhajan Singh in the third match and his baby-like-cry was witnessed by millions on tv.Since that incidence his maturity was there for everybody to see and at various points of time held the purple cap also.

After the loss in the first two matches the team won 9 of its next 10 matches, clinching a birth in the semi-final.Their run in the tournament came to an end with a comprehensive 9 wicket loss to the Chennai Super Kings.

Most Runs (200+):

Shaun Marsh - 616 (11)
Kumar Snagakkara - 320 (10)
Yuvraj Singh - 299 (15)
James Hopes -211 (11)

Most Wickets (10+):

S Sreesanth - 19 (15)
Piyush Chawla - 17 (15)
Irfan Pathan - 15 (14)
VRV Singh - 11 (13)

Delhi Daredevils:

Owners - GMR group

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach - Greg Shipperd
Physiotherapist - Manuel Poblador
Bowling Consultant - Dennis Lillee

Standings - Semi-Finalists

Star Performers - Gautham Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Glen McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Yo Mahesh, Amit Mishra

Delhi Daredevils were one of the few teams who had the core players available throughout the tournament except Daniel Vettori.They started well by winning emphatically against Rajasthan Royals in the first match and won 4 of their first 5 matches.However, they were unable to sustain this high level of play and won only 3 of their remaining 9 matches.They made it to the semis albeit with alittle help from Rajasthan Royals who defeated Mumbai to make way for Daredevils entry into the Semis.They eventually lost to the Royals in the semi-finals by a whooping margin of 105 runs

Apart from the top 3 comprising Gambhir,Sehwag and Dhawan none of the batsmen had any meaningful contribution and was one of the reasons they struggled.Gambhir and Dhawan were consistent throughout the tournament and Sehwag as usual was erratic but dangerous nevertheless.Gambhir was in fact the leading run scorer for most of the tournament till Marsh overtook him. McGrath and Maharoff were consistent throught the tournament and were one of the few bowlers who had their economy under 7 an over.

Most Runs (200+):

Gautham Gambhir - 534 (14)
Virender Sehwag - 406 (14)
Shikhar Dhawan - 340 (14)

Most Wickets (10+):

Yo Mahesh - 16 (11)
Farvez Maharoof - 15 (10)
Glen McGrath - 12 (14)
Amit Mishra -11 (6)

Work Sucks, yeah!!!

2008-05-29T10:58:00.011+05:30

Movie - Office Space

Director - Mike Judge

Cast - Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons
Jennifer Aniston as Joanna
David Herman as Michael Bolton
Ajay Naidu as Samir Nagheenanajar
Diedrich Bader as Lawrence
Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh
Stephen Root as Milton Waddams

Running time - 1 hour 30 mins

My Rating - ****

The movie was released in 1999 but i hadn't heard about it at all till recently when i found out in a recommended section in some blog.Since i don't have an internet connection i asked my friend Ajay,who has been generous to me in this matter at least, to download it for me.I found this movie to be very hilarious and funny and the brand of humour is like many of the movies in the black comedy genre. The movie is neither fast paced or dim but maintains the same tempo throughout. Though it's not an 'edge of the seat' movie it nevertheless keeps you gripped.The Movie is very simple in a way that most people can relate it to their day to day life either at office, home or on the streets.The movie also reflected the prevailing trend in the IT industry in USA.

The movie is based on the Milton series of cartoons created by Mike Judge.It satirizes work life in a typical software company in the 1990s, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs.The movie was not a box office hit but gained a cult following with the working class who identified themselves with the characters in the movie.

The movie starts with the typical day of Peter Gibbons, the main protagonist, starting off with countless vehicles moving on the highway and Peter getting stuck in a three lane traffic.Each time he tries to get in the other lane, the vehicle moves in the lane he was before and he has to wait again much to his frustration.Meanwhile his colleague Michael Bolton is shown singing a rap song loudly in tune with the radio while waiting for the traffic to move. He sees a nigger walking on the pedastrain and immediately reduces the volume lest he hears it, typical white American eh!Peter arrives at the office 20 minutes late and enters through the back so that the callous vice president doesn't catch him.Then we see Peter sitting in his cubicle and just staring at the computer screen and doing nothing. Peter spends his days updating bank software to remedy the then-expected Y2K disaster.Bill Lumbergh, Peter's nemesis and vice-president of Initech, confronts Peter on the TPS reports on which Peter had forgotten to put a cover page and quizzes him on the memo sent by the management.Peter is frustrated coz he has 8 different bosses and all of them ask him the same things over and over again and he is made repeat his answers to all of them. They all refer Peter's attitude to - 'A case of Mondays'.Peter finds himself stressed, burnt out, ineffective and not et all motivated to work coz of all this reasons.

Bill Lumbergh is a very funny character, a stereotypical corporate middle-manager who spends most of his time wandering the office with coffee mug in hand, wears white-collared shirts, suspenders and a belt and emotionlessly micromanages his employees while engaging them with superficial small talk.He starts all his conversation with the employees with "whats happening" phrase which becomes so regular that the next time you see him you tend to spit out that "whats happening" thing much before he does.

One man who is repeatedly harassed by Bill is Peter's co-worker Milton Waddams, a soft-spoken, fixated collator who mumbles to himself incessantly about his co-workers borrowing his stapler.Milton is always made to move around his desk in the office and he is dismayed at it and every time he tries to reason out with Bill without much success.His mumbles hardly heard by Bill.The scenes which are hilarious are when Bill takes away Milton's beloved Swingline red stapler and Milton as usual just mumbles about it.

Peter's other co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar, who complains that no one in the US can pronounce his name correctly and Michael Bolton, who is angry that he shares his name with the real-life singer whom he hates.Then there is Lawrence his next door neighborer both share a hear through wall and often Lawrence eggs Peter, through the wall,to see a hot chick working out in some channel.

Soon after the movie begins, two consultants nicknamed "The Bobs" since they both have the same first name, are brought in to Initech to help with cutting expenses. The workers at Initech are then interviewed in order to determine which employees will be downsized or outsourced.Peter knows that he would be surely on bob's downsized list sooner than later.Peter's soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Anne, who is also cheating on him,takes him to a hypnotherapist, there somethin unsual happens; the obese "occupational hypnotherapist" Dr. Swanson suddenly dies of a heart attack before he can snap, or "unhypnotize", Peter out of a state of complete relaxation.After this we see a newly relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter, who now gives a damn about his Girl Friend cheating him and denounces work and instead starts pursuing his lifelong dream of "doing nothing".

Bill had asked Peter to come and work on that weekend but the newly relaxed Peter doesn't get up from his bed for 2 days and doesn't care to answer Bill's calls.That Monday instead of going to work the casual worn Peter goes to a coffee joint which he and his co workers visit and asks Joanna, a waiter, out for Lunch.He'd long wanted to ask her out for Date but he didn't have the courage.They both talk about their works and Peter tells her he hates working and tells her he likes kung-fu and finds out even Joanna likes it.

Bill then goes to Office and is duly told by Bolton that the Bobs are supposed to interview him and that its better off for him to postpone it.Peter says he is having his best day in his life and feels good about going for the interview.During his interview with the Bobs, Peter opens up for the first time about the absurdity of his job and of how Initech is run, including the issue with having too many managers and not having any real motivation to work except to avoid hassles. The Bobs interpret Peter's candor, easy-going attitude and lack of regard for his job as evidence that he is unmotivated in his current position and thus a prime candidate for a managerial position.

Meanwhile Joanna and Peter start going around and enjoying their time in fishing, watching kung-fu and hanging around with friends.Tom Smykowski, an useless employee, knows that he is going to be laid off by the Bobs tries to commit suicide. After seeing his wife he thinks otherwise but immediately after taking his car out he is run over by a truck.He gets compensation from the company and throws a party for it.Peter takes Joanna to the party and there he gets to know through another employee that Joanna had slept with Lumbergh.On the way back home they both have arguments over it and they both call off their relationship.

To his surprise the Bobs call Peter and inform him about being promoted to the managerial post while his friends Samir and Michael, two of the department's best employees, Milton and Tom Smykowski are scheduled to be laid off.Peter calls his two friends and tells them about they being laid off.Peter reveals that his strange behavior is not so much due to the residual effects of hypnotism, but instead to seeing the hypnotherapist keel over in front of him, which has given him a new perspective on life, mainly to not waste it on pointless activities.

In order to get back at the company, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus, which will round down fractions of a cent from accrual of interest and transfer the leftovers into their own account over a period of years, leaving them with a cash windfall undetected by the corporation.The plan however backfires when a bug in the virus program's code causes it to take $305,326.13 in one day. The three friends are certain that such a large amount going missing in so short a time period will be noticed and result in their arrest. After a crisis of conscience, Peter decides to write a letter in which he takes all the blame for the crime. Peter slips an envelope containing the letter and the money in unsigned Travellers cheque under the door of Lumbergh's office when Lumbergh is not there, expecting to be arrested soon afterwards.

Meanwhile Milton starts facing problems from Lumbergh who moved his desk to a cockroach-infested storage room in the basement, and stopped sending his paychecks, fixing an accounting glitch wherein Milton had, unknown to him, been laid off years earlier but continued to come to work and be paid.Milton repeatedly asks for his paychecks and in turn made to run from one department to the other.He finally goes to Lumbergh's chamber to talk about it and finds the envelope containing the letter and cheque.Milton sets the Initech office building on fire, having warned several times that he would "set the building on fire" throughout the film, destroying all the computers and the virus code.

Peter who is set to leave the town sensing arrest witnesses the building on fire and is overjoyed as there is no evidence against them any more.he had earlier already reconciled with Joanna after getting to know from Bolton that the Lumbergh in question was not Bill.After the fire was extinguished at Initech, Peter finally finds a job that makes him happy: working construction with his neighbor Lawrence, working at the site of where Initech was formerly located cleaning up from the fire.Samir and Michael who both have got jobs in Initech's rival company Intrude come to visit Peter and also offer to get a job for him in Intrude.Peter rejects it saying he is fine where he is.As soon as they left he mentions to Lawrence the good things about working construction: working outdoors, getting good exercise, and making plenty of bucks.

In the last scene Milton is seen in a resort in Mexico with the $305,326.13 he found in unsigned traveler's check in an unmarked envelope inside Lumbergh's office. Milton warns the waiter that he wont leave a tip as he was given the wrong drink by the waiter and they did not want to take it back for the correct drink.

Several phrases, items and concepts from the film have found their way into common usage:

* PMITA prison refers to 'pound me in the ass prison' as opposed to soft time in white collar prison.

* TPS report — denotes any type of pointless office paperwork, based on the film's satirical example of such work.

* PC Load Letter — an actual HP laser printer error message indicating that the printer needs letter-sized paper, but more generally a catch-all for any nonsensical error message. The "PC" in the phrase stands for "Paper Cassette", a paper reservoir for many printers. This error is more common in Europe when printing US documents on printers loaded with size A4 paper.

* In the movie, the printer's unreliability finally prompts Peter, Samir and Michael to take a baseball bat to the device in an open field as "Still" by Geto Boys plays, in a scene visually referencing a violent episode in Casino. The term Office Space-style, or "Going Office Space on" is used to refer to this type of destruction.

* Did/Didn't you get that memo? — refers to a question a worker is asked by multiple supervisors at varying levels. * A case of the Mondays — refers to expressions of frustration at one's job (especially on Mondays); phrase is used by a cheery co-worker to describe Peter's attitude at the start of the film, and again later by Brian, the insufferably upbeat Chotchkie's waiter.

* Red Swingline stapler — The item that is the only constant in the life of abused employee Milton Waddams, who snaps after it is stolen. Swingline hadn't made red staplers in years, and a red Swingline was not available from office supply shops when Office Space was released (a prop department employee, named Ric Trzeciak, painted one PPG red, according to the film's commentary), but due to popular demand Swingline released a limited run of the red version in 2004. The official Swingline product page describes the product thus: "Discover the stapling star of any office space - the bold head-turning design and legendary performance of Swingline's Rio Red Stapler."

* No-talent ass clown — expression of Michael Bolton's antipathy for the pop singer Michael Bolton, with whom he shares his name. The term is now used to refer to a celebrity or performer who is successful despite having only marginal talent. It is also used as a general term of derision. The term "ass clown" was also used in the film Bad Santa, by Ajay Naidu, as a tribute to this film. WWE wrestler Chris Jericho was known for using 'ass clown' during his earlier years with the company.

*Pieces of Flair — refers to the mass quantities of buttons and pins Joanna is required to wear while working at the fictional Friday’s-esque restaurant "Chotchkie's", as in the title of the 2005 "Special Edition, with Flair" DVD release. (Tchotchke is a Yiddish word meaning "worthless trinket"—like the pieces of flair). Peter Gibbons criticises the practice, saying, "You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear.

P.S - The source for "Several phrases, items and concepts from the film have found their way into common usage"is IMDB

REDS ARE NUMBER ONE IN EUROPE

2008-05-28T16:43:00.004+05:30

It's official. Liverpool are Europe's number one ranked team according to UEFA for the first time since 1985.

The basis for the UEFA rankings is the performance of teams in the European Cups during a five year period.

Having won the competition in 2005, been runners up to AC Milan in 2007 and losing semi-finalists last season, Rafa Benitez's team has accrued more ranking points than any other club in Europe.

Rafa's men top the rankings table with 104.284 points, giving them a one point lead over Italian giants AC Milan.

Liverpool's recent form in the Champions League also means that they will go into the qualifiers for next season's competition as number one seeds and will thereby avoid the other seeded teams when the draw for the qualifying rounds is made in July.

Behind Rafa's team and AC Milan are Chelsea and Barcelona, with Arsenal in sixth and current Champions League holders Manchester United in seventh.

Other British teams on the UEFA list include Newcastle in 19th, Rangers in 20th, Middlesbrough in 27th, Spurs in 31st, Bolton in 41st, Everton in 44th and Celtic in 52nd.

How i became a Kop lover and red devil hater

2008-05-28T10:04:00.014+05:30

If you are a Man U fan the chances are that you'll be overjoyed to such an extent that it might kill u to death.I hate it when Man U wins anything and hate it even more when i see these 'i-luv Man U fans celebrating the same.I'm a staunch Liverpool fan and i just cant stand Man U nor their fans atleast in India.I'm following football since 1998 and what i have seen about Indian fans is their loyalty towards winning teams.When i started watching, which was the time when the popularity of soccer really took off in India, Man U were the top team and naturally every fuckin boy who had little or no exposure to Footbal started supporting them.Same with Arsenal in late 90's and early 2000's and Chelski after Roman Abramovich dumped piles of money into the club.It's just blatant following and i don't understand it.People should have passion for the club.Agreed even if they started following coz the team is winning atleast they should make an attempt to know the history of the club.Sadly none of them know about it and once i confronted a Chelski fan and asked him whether he knew who Zola was and he was flabbergasted!!!!!

For me i don't really know exactly how i started loving Liverpool.But i do certainly know why?
It was the 1998 World cup second round match between England and Argentina.There was this young Michael Owen who scored an sensational individual goal.I still remember the goal, Owen picked the ball up on the half-way line, beat two defenders, then finished off with a shot into the far top corner of the net.Somehow i was captivated by this goal in fact mesmerised. The goal was voted as the second best World Cup goal of all time after Maradona's brilliant 60 meter run past 5 defenders in the 1986 World Cup incidentally against England.

The next season i was rooting for Liverpool.Despite Michael Owen's brilliant form, Liverpool were unable to mount anything like a title challenge and their seventh place finish was not enough to attain even a UEFA Cup place - as well as being the club's lowest finish for five years but i got to know a lot about the history of the club, players,YNWA and the fortress Anfield.

Man U won a treble that year and yeah that was when i started to hate them even more and also i had known about the rivalry between the two. The rivalry can be considered as a manifestation of one which already had existed between the two cities since industrial times. During this time both were competing with each other for supremacy of the north-west, with Manchester famous for its manufacturing prowess while Liverpool was famous for the importance of its port.

The fierce rivalry is also due to the fact that both clubs claim the title of 'the Greatest English Football Club' and two of the most successful and best supported in the country.Except for FA cup Liverpool have more titles than Man U in all the competitions, though Liverpool's League title record is in danger of being equaled.

Here is the comparison between the two wrt titles in different competitions:

Liverpool have not won a League since 1990 and that is generally considered as the year from which Man U started their dominance. No league title for Liverpool for almost 18 years now but it dosn't mean they were out of reckoning its just that it was Man U's time. Liverpool had their own time during 70's and 80's during which time there were virtually unbeatable.The Man U of today is not unbeatable and doesn't boast of the players that Liverpool had during that time. In fact when Man U won the league in 1992-93 it was after almost 26 years they last won it.So what were they doing for 26 years???eating peanuts!!!

Also Fergusson took almost 4 years to win any title for Man U and 7 years to win a League in that contrast Rafa won Champions League in his first year and added 3 more to the board room with special performances in Champions league.2 finals and a semi-final is not bad et all in 4 years.In fact Rafa was the fastest to record 50 league match wins better than the so called managers like Fergusson, Mourinho and Wenger.

Rafa has identified the core for the Liverpool team and they have started to gel well now.Its just a matter of adding few more players and Liverpool can start challenging for all the titles. In Steven Gerrard we have probably the best player in the world.His versatility makes him the most dangerous player and with Fernando 'El Nino' Torres to fetch his passes the goals are bound to come.Last year they scored 55 goals between them and this year we'll see the tally to be more and also goals coming in important fixtures.

Reina,Carragher,Agger,Mascherano,Alonso,Babel and Kuyt along with Gerrard and Torres form the spine of the group who can take Liverpool forward.The off season always brings optimism to all Liverpool fans and then despair but this year might just be different and we'll see a strong Liverpool squad fighting for all the titles and also making sure that Man U don't get near to their 18 league record tally

KQA Quiz at Mysore Infy

2008-05-27T15:20:00.005+05:30

The Quiz:KQA Mysore Open

QM:Arul Mani

Venue: Infosys Mysore Campus

The Mysore open quiz was revived almost after 10 years mainly due to the efforts of KQA, an Infy guy who was also responsible for getting the venue. As usual me and Sairam teamed up.Since this was a 4 member quiz we started hunting for the other 2 guys.After contacting so many ppl we finally got Karthik (Sairam's old colleague) and Kunal (my friend from SJCE) to team up with us.The quiz was on Sunday and i had reached Mysore on friday itself.This also gave me an opportunity to visit my parents. I have been away from Mysore for almost 6 years now (4 yrs studyin + 2 yrs working) and my schedule dosn't permit me to visit every weekend,so whenever i get free time i visit Mysore.

Sairam and Karthik came on Sunday morning and joined me and Kunal at the Infy campus. Entering Infy campus was one hell of an experience. Apparently they won't let ppl inside one by one and we had to wait till all d participants arrived.The campus is beautiful and is maintained very well.They have a huge campus approximately 270 acres built on a land given by the Govt.Phew! haven't they utilised the free land well.The security is pretty sharp and keep whistling the minute u step on the road.

The prelims started an hour later to keep up the tradition of KQA. I thought the prelims was fanatastic mainly for 2 reasoms we did exceedingly well and the other being it had lot of local content, a rarity in KQA quizzes.I had predicted few questions on Africa and the prelims did have one.The QM's normally include atleast a qsn on their fav topic.

We ended up getting the 2nd highest score in the prelims and were for a change siting in the finals of a KQA quiz. I admit most of the top teams were missing but what the heck we made it to the finals!! The finals was disappointing mainly coz i thought the finals will have lots of Local content. The finals looked like it was set some 10 yrs ago with lots of emphasis on America and messrs Anustup and Co thrashed everybody as expected.Finally we tied for the 3rd spot with one more Bangalore team comprising of Dharmendra and Venky.The tie breaker ensured we didn't finish on the podium and had to be contented with an 150 rupees Sapna book voucher.

Below is the review of the Quiz by Arul Mani:

80 teams took part in the Mysore Open Quiz held on Sunday 11 May at
the MG Hall, Infosys Campus.

The quiz was won by the team Nodi Swami Navirodu Heege comprising
Movin Miranda, Anustup Datta, Mitesh Agarwal and Thejaswi Udupa.
Second place was taken by the Mysore team Jugger Nots, represented by
Thanuj, Shashi Shekhar, Ankith and Ravi Shekhar. Two teams tied for
third place--the prize was awarded to Nexus ( Dharmendra, Venkatesh,
Vivek K and Nagesh). Sairam, Dileep, Kumal Ramteke and Karthik of
Comfortably Dumb finished fourth as a result of the tie-breaker. The
other finalists were Merger (Sanath, Ravishankar Shetty, Sharath and
Rohit Sinha) and Mustafa and the Marxists of the Groucho Variety
(Aaman Lamba, Vinay Vashist, Prakash and Ravi).

Among the other prizes handed out on Sunday were Best School, which
was claimed by St. Joseph's Central School, Mysore (Rishab, Aakarsh,
Ronith and Abhinandan). The Best Women's Team prize was awarded to The
Rasputins (Varsha Shenoy, Deepa Baliga and Aditi Shenoy).

The KQA thanks Infosys Mysore (and Sandeep Achar of Infosys in
particular) for providing an appropriate venue for the quiz. Our
gratitude also goes out to the quizzing circle at NIE-Mysore led by
Varun Shenoy for organising and managing the event.

Thank you 'World Movies' and oh also Madison

2008-05-27T14:17:00.004+05:30

I think i have this tendency of attending quizzes (during off-season) on month ends. April 30th i attended a very informal quiz conducted in Madison by Rajiv. I teamed up with Rajagopal after my regular partner Sairam wasn't interested as he thought the quiz will end up being a pub quiz.Pub quiz it was coz there were free booze to all the teams.

There was no Prelims which was a relief.Aprrox 12 teams sat in a small conference hall in Madison office on a wednesday evening with most of them having beers in their hands.Me and my team mate were happy with whatever fizz we got and also the chips.The quiz was very very informal to say and the questions were very simple too.Atleast ppl were not bored as once in a while they get to answer and were generally happy.Happy they were also coz of the booze.

We and an NLS team stormed into the lead thanks mainly to my team mate Rajagopal's answers.The visual rounds had Jessica Alba and other noted American entertainers to identify.I didn't know most of them and luckily for us Rajagopal knew most of them.I wonder what he watches.The audio round was very horrible for me as i'm not so well versed in 'firangi' music.Yeah i know an artist/song here and there.But not so much to compete when they are playin around 50 odd audios.

We ended up 2nd best mainly coz of Rajagopal and i felt awfully bad that i didn't contribute too much as i would have wanted.We got World Movies Watch,DVD's,Tee shirts,Jacket,9x Caps and Tee shirts as prizes and the top two teams were given a shot at a special prize which turned out to be a laptop bag.All the four of us were supposed to fight for it individually. The QM said he'll play 5 audios and the guy who has got the max will get the laptop bag.I being so good at these audios left those 3 to battle for it.All in all a great quiz and a surely a confidence booster.Hopefully Madison keep doing it now and then.

PS: Reached home very late and found out the Royal Challengers have lost one more match.Will they win any?

How 'Roman Abramovich' got me a wrist watch!!!!

2008-05-27T11:44:00.006+05:30

The last day of March was spent in Hotel Chancery. The occasion being the Bangalore leg of Brand Equity 2008.The participation for the Quiz followed the Paretto Principle i.e 80% of the ppl in the hall were Audience and 20% being the participants.The reason being that we had to shell out 5k odd for participation, what the heck!! Most of us were just there for the audience prizes rather than for the quality of the quiz. Most of us knew also what will be the level of the quiz what with Derek following the 51% Content and 49% Entertainment mantra. I beg to differ and think Derek follows the Paretto principle with Entertainment being on the higher side.

Nevertheless the quiz gave me opportunity to meet some of my quiz pals and it was a nice change from the daily routine of work.Also as a novice Biz quizzer i like to attend as many quizzes as possible to enrich myself with whatever knowledge i get.Sadly i dont think i improved in any ways after the quiz.The prelims for the quiz was hosted by an assistant of Derek called Andrew Scolt (i hope this is his name) and he didn't do a bad job either.The questions were pretty ok for my standards and i thought it would be so easy for those biz quiz stalwarts. The prelims as usual had options for some of the questions. I don't understand the funda behind this. Imagine there is a question like which IT company was voted/awarded the best in the year 2005 and follows up with 4 companies name, u have equal % of ppl answering each of them right.And also it doesn't even test the knowledge.Most of the questions asked in this style are all similar to the example i have given and bcoz of which many undeserved teams get into the finals in Derek's quizzes more so in General Quizzes where the competition is higher.

Anyways enough has been said about Derek and his methoda in various blogs and he isn't in a mood to change.Prelims got over and Andrew Scolt was parading the whole auditorium to give the audience the chance to win some prizes by answering the prelims questions.I and a couple of friends sitting next to me virtually raised our hands for all the questions though we didn't know answers for quite a few of them.The competition for audience prizes were much higher than that on the stage.With so many ppl raising there hands Andrew missed us till it came to the question it mattered (atleast for me). The question was - The two richest persons in UK are both not from UK.The top being L.N.Mittal, who's the second in the list? Fairly simple i thought. 2 guys sitting ahead of me got the chance and to my delight answered Lord Swaraj Paul. My Super Man(tra) shirt caught the attention of Andrew and Roman Abramovich came the answer from my lips.Then applause and Andrew gave me a wrist watch (sponsored by foster) and remarked it was a brilliant answer. Brillaint my ass!!! Even a layman in Russia would have answered it.The fact was that most of them hadn't answered it correctly and there was a collective 'oh' when the answer was announced.I have told this many times that sports is ignored in most of the quizzes and virtually non existent in Biz quizzes and thats one of the reasons these guys are not so good at it and cant gauge which is brilliant or pathetic.No complaints here since i got myself a watch.The rest of the quiz wasn't eventful either in quizzing terms nor in my quest of getting an audience prize.

P.S: Btw Prasad Sheety with his partner won the quiz and according to him he had missed out the last two years.Kudos to him for the brilliant show and also for tolerating Derek.

First Leg day 2 UCL Round of 16 Results

2008-02-21T13:23:00.006+05:30

At Emirates Stadium:

Arsenal 0-0 Milan

At Sukru Saracoglu Stadium:

Fenerbache 3-2 FC Sevilla

17' Kezman 23' Dracena(og)
57' Lugano 66' Escude
87' Senturk

At Celtic Park:

Celtic 2-3 Barcelona

16' Jan Vennegoor 18' Messi
38' Robson 52' Henry
79' Messi

At Municipal De Gerland:

Lyon 1-1 Manchester United

54' Benzema 87' Tevez

Oh, Oh to, Oh to be, Oh to be a Cricketer

2008-02-21T13:11:00.006+05:30

Millions and Crores rained on the day as the franchises showered their money on cricketers as part of their team build up. In all 77 were auctioned and out of which 75 were sold and only Yousuf Youhana and Ashwell Prince were withdrawn as they were not bid by any of the teams. There were six players who crossed the Million mark. Four of them were icons and were guaranteed 15% more than the highest bided players from that team. Indian ODI captain MS Dhoni was bought for US$1.5 million by Chennai, the highest for any player in the IPL. He along with Australia’s Andrew Symonds were the big winners of the day. Andrew Symonds was bought by Hyderabad team for US$1.35 million. Other millionaires include Sachin Tendulkar for Mumbai US$1.12, Sourav Ganguly for Kolkata US$1.092, Yuvraj Singh for Mohali US$1.063 and Rahul Dravid for Bangalore US$1.035.

Other surprise packages were the youngsters from the Indian T20 winning team. Intrestingly all these players were paid much higher than the International players from other countries. Ishanth Sharma was the fourth highest bided at $950,000 by Kolkata, followed by Irfan Pathan who went to Mohali for $925,000, RP Singh and Robin Uthappa were brought by Hyderabad and Mumbai team for $875,000 and $800,000 respectively. All of them featured in the top ten players at the auction. Rohit Sharma went to Hyderabad for a sum of $750,000, and Gambhir to home team Delhi for $725,000. Delhi also splashed out $675,000 for Manoj Tiwary.

Meanwhile Emerging Media’s Jaipur bought only eight players, spending US$2,925,000, a figure well below the required US$3.3 million mark and will be penalised.

"We have asked them to deposit the difference between the minimum of US$3.3 million and the amount they have spent at the auction," IS Bindra, a senior member of the IPL governing council told Cricinfo. "This could also be deducted from the amount that the IPL will pay the teams. But I believe they have a strategy and wanted to save their money for purchases outside the pool."

On the other hand, five teams - Mohali, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata - have gone above the maximum limit of US$5 million that was set for the auction. However, the IPL rules state that if a player is expected to be "either completely unavailable or only available for less than four of the matches in 2008, 25% of the player fee bid for that player in the auction will count against the US$5 million purse."

Squads:

Jaipur:

Shane Warne (US$450,000)

Graeme Smith (US$475,000)

Younis Khan (US$225,000)

Kamran Akmal (US$150,000)

Yusuf Pathan (US$475,000)

Mohammad Kaif (US$675,000)

Munaf Patel (US$275,000)

Justin Langer (US$200,000)

Chennai:

MS Dhoni (US$1.5 million)

Muttiah Muralitharan (US$600,000)

Matthew Hayden (US$375,000)

Jacob Oram (US$675,000)

Stephen Fleming (US$350,000)

Parthiv Patel (US$325,000)

Joginder Sharma (US$225,000)

Albie Morkel (US$675,000)

Suresh Raina (US$650,000)

Makhaya Ntini (US$200,000)

Michael Hussey (US$350,000)

Mumbai:

Sachin Tendulkar (icon)

Sanath Jayasuriya (US$975,000)

Harbhajan Singh (US$850,000)

Shaun Pollock (US$550,000)

Robin Uthappa (US$800,000)

Lasith Malinga (US$350,000)

Dilhara Fernando (US$150,000)

Loots Bosman (US$175,000)

Bangalore:

Rahul Dravid (icon)

Anil Kumble (US$500,000)

Jacques Kallis (US$900,000)

Zaheer Khan (US$450,000)

Mark Boucher (US$450,000)

Cameron White (US$500,000)

Wasim Jaffer (US$150,000)

Dale Steyn (US$325,000)

Nathan Bracken (US$325,000)

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (US$200,000)

Hyderabad:

Adam Gilchrist (US$700,000)

Andrew Symonds (US$1.35 million)

Herschelle Gibbs (US$575,000)

Shahid Afridi (US$675,000)

Scott Styris (US$175,000)

VVS Laxman (US$375,000)

Rohit Sharma (US$750,000)

Chamara Silva (US$100,000)

RP Singh (US$875,000)

Chaminda Vaas (US$200,000)

Nuwan Zoysa (US$110,000)

Mohali:

Yuvraj Singh (icon)

Mahela Jayawardene (US$475,000)

Kumar Sangakkara (US$700,000)

Brett Lee (US$900,000)

Sreesanth (US$625,000)

Irfan Pathan (US$925,000)

Ramesh Powar (US$170,000)

Piyush Chawla (US$400,000)

Simon Katich (US$200,000)

Ramnaresh Sarwan (US$225,000)

Kolkata:

Sourav Ganguly (icon)

Shoaib Akhtar (US$425,000)

Ricky Ponting (US$400,000)

Brendon McCullum (US$700,000)

Chris Gayle (US$800,000)

Ajit Agarkar (US$330,000)

David Hussey (US$675,000)

Ishant Sharma (US$950,000)

Murali Kartik (US$425,000)

Umar Gul (US$150,000)

Tatenda Taibu (US$125,000)

Delhi:

Virender Sehwag (icon)

Daniel Vettori (US$625,000)

Shoaib Malik (US$500,000)

Mohammad Asif (US$650,000)

AB de Villiers (US$300,000)

Dinesh Karthik (US$525,000)

Farveez Maharoof (US$225,000)

Tillakaratne Dilshan (US$250,000)

Manoj Tiwary (US$675,000)

Gautam Gambhir (US$725,000)

Glenn McGrath (US$350,000)

First Leg day 1 UCL Round of 16 Results

2008-02-20T12:51:00.006+05:30

At Anfield:

Liverpool 2-0 Inter Milan
Goals:
85' Kuyt
90' Gerrard
Bookings:
30' Materazzi(Red)

At Veltins Arena:

Shalke04 1-0 FC Porto
Goals:
4' Kuranyi

At Stadio Olympico:

AS Roma 2-1 Real Madrid
8' Raul
24' Pizzaro
58' Mancini

At Karaiskakis Stadium:

Olympiacos 0-0 Chelsea

Resurgent Reds show class

2008-02-20T11:28:00.007+05:30

How on earth can a team which lost few days ago at home to a team one division below them can beat possibly the best team in Europe right now???

Unbelievable isn’t it?
Unbelievable it is for all those non-red fans.
For us die hard “Red till death” fans it was nothing unusual. Over the past few years we have seen our team bounce back under adversities and when the chips were down. Mind you we are talking about only UEFA CL and cup matches. Premier league they are yet to show the form they are capable of. I believe those days are not far away. Champions League nights at Anfield has always brought the best out of Liverpool team and even more against the best. Juve, Chelski and AC in 2005, Barca, PSV and Chelski(again) in 2006 will testify that. When the draws were announced it looked all of these teams will murder Liverpool. But later the hunter became the hunted.

When the draws for the knock out stage was announced it looked a daunting task for Liverpool to progress. They were up against a team who are run away leaders in Serie A, unbeaten in the league and have been beaten only once this season against Fenerbache in the group stages of CL. On the other hand Liverpool were out of reckoning in EPL, out from all domestic cups. There only redemption was CL, in which they have been doing very well for the past 3 years. Now they have put one foot into the last eight and barring a very poor show they are almost favourites to make it.

The architects for this win as well as those many memorable wins were Rafa and Gerrard, though Mascherano was the best player on the field. This is what the under fire Rafa had to say - 'I know people will say they cannot understand how we can lose to Barnsley and then beat Inter Milan. But on Saturday we changed the team, we had 10 internationals on the pitch and missed a lot of chances. This time we were better - we had far less chances but we scored two good goals. It gives us a great chance in the second leg, but we must be careful because Inter are a very good side and they will make it very difficult for us at the San Siro.'

Like yours truly and so many other fans Inter coach Mancini was vary of the wounded reds. He was in an unusal position of trying to defend his team and praise the opposition. He said 'I was not surprised by this performance from Liverpool; I knew they would put in a good performance after what happened at the weekend, because they are a good side.

'But Marco's sending-off changed things dramatically. It is hard enough to play at Anfield with 11 men, but with 10 it is very tough.

'But I will not concede that the task is now beyond us. We have another 90 minutes on our own ground, although the second goal they scored has made it all a lot harder.

'But it is not out of our reach. I accept that Steven Gerrard played well, but that only happened after Marco was sent off. It was only then that Gerrard got so much space to use.'

Liverpool brought back Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano and Fabio Aurelio to the starting line up. Gerrard played behind Torres while Kuyt was confined on the wings. As is the tradition on a European night at Anfield, the fans set the tone prior to kick-off with yet another powerful rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, and the Reds responded in kind with a high octane start.

Hounded and hammered from all quarters after three months of shocking form, Liverpool grabbed two goals in the final five minutes in the first leg of their last 16 tie against Inter Milan to register their 100th European win at Anfield.

The first half saw Liverpool producing as good an opening spell as they have managed in ages –measured and thoughtful. Mascherano was outstanding with his passing and blocking. Torres troubled the defenders with his angled runs. Materazi fouled Torres twice and was duly sent off. The kop were delighted and reminded Materazi of his Everton past all the way down the tunnel.

Because of the tight defense there were few chances. One Gerrard surge and cross was deflected away from Kuyt, who saw another effort held by Julio Cesar.
In the second period Inter had the Kop at their backs, baying for a breakthrough. Then on the 55th minute a familiar figure emerged from the inter bench, Viera came on for Julio cruz and Inter reverted to 4-4-1 to strengthen their defences.

The match was looking as if it would end in a draw. But then the breakthrough came. With six minutes left Pennant fired a cross back into a packed box and it flew on to Kuyt on the left, who saw his right-foot shot flick off Maicon and high past Cesar. Anfield roared the Kop roared even more. As if this was not enough Steven Gerrard, the Kop favourite, took possession on the far right corner of the box and fired the second home off the far post and out of reach of the goal keeper. The goal didn’t give me goose bumps like it did when he scored against Olympiacos and West Ham but was important nevertheless. Over to San Siro then for a pulsating match which could see the Reds making it to their 11th CL quarter finals.

My Man of the Match: Javier Mascherano