Belum Caves pics

Lagaan (cont)

Next time I went to the theater, to my relief there were less number of people at the counter. I got the tickets quite easily. Slowly people were pouring in. Some were carrying the tricolor flags! Finally the movie started.

I enjoyed every moment of the movie. It definitely lived up to all my expectations, and the hype surrounding it. Crowds were wildly cheering through out the match, some were dancing, some were waving the flags, few over enthusiastic audience were running in the theater's open spaces!! It was a sight to watch. Watching the movie that day was quite an experience.

After that day I watched this movie so many times that I lost count of it. Every time I watch it, my joy remains the same.

Lagaan

I was studying 12th class in a residential corporate college when this movie was released. Students were always confined to the classrooms and dormitory and were allowed to go out into the city only on alternative Sundays for 5 hours in the afternoon after writing the exam. Those days offered us a break from our daily routine of waking up at around 5 .30 AM and studying till 11 PM with little rest. So you can understand how eagerly we used to wait for those Sundays like prisoners do in the jails.

That week our chemistry lecturer recommended us to watch this a movie called Lagaan. Never before or never after, a lecturer recommended us any movie to watch. What was there in the movie which impressed him so much as to recommend it to us? We were very curious and very eager to watch this movie that Sunday.

My two roommates and me went to the movie theatre only to find huge crowds waiting at the gate ready to buy ticket when the counter opens.  To our surprise we saw one of girl classmates there whom we used to call Anaconda. You see, she too wanted to watch the movie because of the recommendation. We came to know that we could buy only one ticket each and so we realized that to get the tickets we have to run to the ticket counter immediately after the gate opens.

After more than 30 minutes of waiting at the gate, finally they opened the gate. My roommates managed to outrun others but not me. They got the tickets but not me. :-(

I came back to the dormitory felling very sad. Two weeks passed by listening to what the movie story is, how the whole theater enjoyed the movie etc. I firmly decided to watch the movie in any case next Sunday.

(Continued)

Sehwag's double century

Ever since that innings of quick century on New Zealand in 2001 in Srilanka which helped India reach finals in the triangular series, I always thought that if there was one cricketer who had potential to make a double century in ODIs, he would be Sehwag. There were many people who shared this feeling. But he never lived up to our expectations. Sachin achieved that feat before him, which I never thought he would.

Yesterday, while Sehwag was batting on 50s, I had gut feeling that he would make a double century. Couple of times earlier, I had the same gut feeling. Like in that match with Bangladesh in 2011 world cup. But he didnt. Even yesterday, when he played that reckless shot in 170s, for a fleeting moment I thought everything was finished. Thank God, thank Sammy for dropping the catch.

As he approached close to 200, I had this mixed feeling of sadness and happiness. Sadness because Sachin's record was going to be broken.

Even though he was helped by the flat track and weak bowling, one can't take away the credit from Sehwag, for batting in such an amazing way. There were some breath-taking shots, which were eye-pleasing.

Hope this record stays for some years to come, without being threatened by the likes of Shane Watson or Chris Gayle. (That innings of 185 of Shane Watson on Bangladesh was astonishing.)

UPSC: CSE Mains 2011 question papers

Here are the question papers of civil services exam mains 2011.

General Studies Paper 1

General Studies Paper 2

Essay

Public Administration Paper 1

Public Administration Paper 2

History Paper 1

History Paper 2