Neon lights in the darkness

More than skin deep

2009-01-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

Since I bought my cell phone, a Motorola V3i, I've had to vehemently defend my choice to almost everyone who showed any interest in it. Be it the 'poor user interface' or the lack of memory or the 'tinny sound quality' ,the Nokia and Sony Erricsson user's have each had their jab at it.I am very attached to my phone, but through these various arguments, my only defense has been that it looks absolutely 'brilliant!!!'. Today, on 26th January 2009, after three years, I have another.

Hogenakkal, is a very scenic waterfall on the Karnataka-TN border. The black volcanic rock formations encasing the meandering Cauvery are some of the most captivating sights I've ever seen. Yesterday, I decided to visit Hogenakkal falls with 4 other friends. On reaching the falls, our coracle ride took us all around the river and finally deposited us on an island on the river. But we wanted to cross the river and head to a more secluded region to have our lunch. To do this, we had to cross the river on foot. The water was only waist deep so it wasn't really a big deal. I had my precious camera with me, which I protected very diligently. Not a drop got onto the camera. We reached the other side safely. The moment I reached, Sid asked " hey whats that in your pocket?". In the blink of an eye, all the blood drained from my face, all the beauty sorrounding me seemed irrelavant. I realized what was in the pocket of my dripping shorts- my precious V3i.

Putting all my emotions aside, the engineer in me jumped to the rescue. My first reaction was to remove the batteries, lest there should be any short circuit. And then, as I stood there on the banks of the Cauvery,with each drop of water dripping from the phone, reality began to set in- my phone was dead.

Like freshly washed laundry, I put my v3i in the sun, and waited. Hours passed, I finally gathered the courage to turn it back on. But it didn't. After 4 tries, I gave up.

On the way back from Hogenakkal, for reasons that I will never know, I decided to try putting Harki's batteries (he has a V3i too) in my phone. It was magic. In bright blue and white, the letters "Hello Moto" gleamed proudly on the screen.

The V3i not only looks absolutely "brilliant" but is also a survivor.

denouement

2008-11-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

Childhood was a blur, we were too busy living it, to watch it go past. High school was over at 15, PUC at 17 and college at 21.We knew that the end was never a clear line but a hazy transition; but for those of us in the early to mid twenties, the line was this week.

Through these 23 years, classmates changed,friends changed, girl friends changed, postal addresses changed, jobs changed; the only things that remained a constant were our heroes.

A large part of my childhood was spent obsessing over Michael Schumacher. I still remember the 1994/5 seasons better than anything I learnt in the 4 years of engineering. For more than a decade, I religiously took control of the TV every race weekend and my family had to tolerate the the sound of the engines screeching and a son who never agreed to turn the volume down. A lot of things changed in F1 over the years- teams changed, drivers changed- but the one thing that remained constant was Michael. Champions came and went, but they all had to beat Michael to be champion. It all ended on the 22nd of October 2006, with Schumacher retiring from the sport. A significant part of my life was suddenly over.

Thankfully, I had a saviour. As the 96 cricket world cup neared, all my friends in school discussed was this weird sport called cricket. I was the outcast in my school, who spoke of the weirder sport called Formula 1. All this changed the day I watched Sachin make the Kenyan bowlers look like a bunch of school boys in India's opening match of the world cup. I was hooked. Suddenly I had a plethora of heroes to choose from. There was Sachin's batting, Azhar's spectacular fielding and Kumble's relentless bowling. But the deluge was yet to come.

Lord's 1996- India found two of the greatest cricketers of our generation. For the ensuing half a decade, there were two kinds of cricket fans in the country- the ones who admired Dravid for his hard work and the ones who watched in awe as Ganguly stepped out of the crease to the left arm spinners. From Ganguly's divine shots on the off side to Dravid's unbreachable defense, we dissected and discussed everything, everyday.

We were spoilt. Our heroes blinded us with their brilliance(Taunton 99) , worked miracles(Kolkata 01) and conquered enemy fortresses(Perth 08). Through all the tumultuous years of adolescence, we found refuge in these performances and for a moment, the quandaries of everyday life seemed irrelevant. They were our heroes- who we could always count on to bring us cheer.

After this week, we'll never see Jumbo terrorise batsmen or watch Dada cart spinners out of the ground.

I guess this means we've grown up.

Through the celluloid #3: TV decrypted

2008-10-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

1994- NBC discovered the holy grail of Television entertainment- FRIENDS.
Sure there was Seinfeld- that was just the genius of one man, The Wonder Years and Doogie Howser were genuinely innovative ideas, they have made their way into pop culture, and there will never be another one like it.
With FRIENDS, NBC had discovered the 'formula' which, with minor modifications could spawn an entire generation of sitcoms and dramas portraying the twists and turns in the 'everyday' lives of 'ordinary' people. The same formula has been adopted by other television networks, resulting in a slew of serials like How i met your mother, The OC, The Gilmore girls (OK slightly different), Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Big bang theory, Life as we know it, Private Practice, Coupling, Joey!!!, Jack & Jill and even Desperate housewives!!!
The quintessential contemporary TV series consists of the following:

A seemingly ordinary bunch of people( preferably an equal number of male and female characters )
Relationships between characters, i.e.,
A successful relationship
A dysfunctional relationship.- Very Important
A fantastic house or apartment even though none of them make much money and probably could not afford a place like that with all their money put together- I don't think anyone would pay money to watch people live in a crappy place
Although the characters work hard to make it in 'the real world', there is always a safety net Eg. Gilmore Girls, FRIENDS (Monica and Rachel's parents), The OC
And if there are no rich parents, a mysterious source of money paying for daily expenditures Eg: Joey in FRIENDS, most of the characters of Gilmore Girls
A family member of one of the characters, casually mentioned some time and introduced in the last episode of some season Eg: Lexy Grey in Grey's Anatomy
A rich, charming, attractive and seemingly harmless sex magnet- Barney, Joey, Mark Sloan
And most importantly, a drunken mistake- At least once in a season

But the biggest common denominator in all these is that none of them even vaguely resemble reality. If they did, I guess we wouldn't have to watch it on TV, we'd just have to look around.

P.S. Thanks Chodan

Through the celluloid #2: I want to believe

2008-08-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

The second edition of the X-Files. Chris Carter's come back.
I finished watching it 5 minutes back.
A sci fi movie, without a 'end of the world' scenario is a serious waste of time. A plot about a missing FBI agent is far too weak to keep the audience captivated for more than the first 10 minutes of the movie. Especially when the person goes missing within the first 3 minutes of the movie and does not give a chance for the audience to form any sort of bonds with the abductee. Well, as one would expect, after quitting the FBI, Dana Scully is a practising doctor, and Mulder is crazy man, who lives far away from civilization, in a deserted house, with a room plastered with news paper clippings.
The movie certainly tries to have a sense of humour. I particularly liked the scene out side Amnda Peet's office, which has a line of framed US presidents' photos. The camera zooms into Dubya and the back ground music starts playing the spooky X files theme.
Apart from the psychic gay paedophilic priest, the film definitely lacks a supernatural theme. The love story between Dana and Fox has been given no time to develop what so ever.

The absolutely horrendous posters did not deter me. I waited for almost a year. I wanted to believe. Now, I only believe that there is only room for improvement.

My rating 2/5.
The first point is because I love the X-Files. And the second is because Gillian Anderson looks even more gorgeous than before.

.

2008-07-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

They said 10th standard was the most important year in your life, if you did well, your life was made
They said doing well in the CET was crucial, if you did well, your life was made
They said getting into a good college was important, if you did well, your life was made
They said placements decided everything, if you did well, your life was made

They were naive.

Serendipitous Metamorphosis of the Unsuspecting Motorist

2008-07-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

After a year of treacherous motoring in Bangalore, I've discerned that every person on the road will go through the 5 distinct phases of the Bengalooru experience-
0. Gestation
There are only 2 reasons why an innocent human being will subject oneself to the insidious roads of the city. 1. The long harboured dream to own a bike, to tame the road (ya right!!!) , to feel the adrenaline rush, to see the speedometer cross the elusive 99kmph mark. Or because one has decided to take one's fate into one's own hands and no longer be a victim of the vicious auto rickshaw Mafia that runs amok in the city. Either way, we take the plunge. Thereby entering the first phase-
1. Newbie
Really easy to spot- has no idea what the gear he is in, the helmet visor is always up, and is that annoying guy on the road who has an angry mob behind him honking to kill. And finally, is that guy who stops for the red light at 6 in the morning, watching the rest of the vehicles zip past him, almost hitting his rear.
2. The adolescent
Thinks he knows what gear he is in and is that psychopath who almost crashed into you last evening.
3. Been there done that
Has had his share of falls and accidents. The bike has a few scratches, wont kill the pillion if the bike is soiled by the mud on the pillion's shoes. Still knows a thing or two about traffic rules.
4. 'Institutionalised'
The true Bengaloorean- Thinks the footpath was constructed so that she/he can zoom past the rest of the idiots who are patiently waiting on the road for the signal to go green. Firmly believes that there should be no space between your headlights and the tail lights of the vehicle in front. Has no idea what the pairs of orange lights on either side of the head/tail light are there for. Knows very well about the horn. Can ride on the first gear for exceptionally long periods of time. Some times has a helmet on and is sometimes found jumping over the divider. And most importantly, can see behind his head.

'Believe what you want. These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized."'- Red, The Shawshank Redemption

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."
Greg Anderson quotes (American best-selling author and founder of the American Wellness Project., b.1964)

Obviously Greg's destination was not via Bengalooru :)

Through the celluloid #1 - The X-Files- Fight the future

2008-07-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus from blogging (and after several drafts) I've finally worked up the courage to write again.
Beginning today will be a series on my thoughts about movies both old and new, and what better to start with than the one movie for which I have had to wait for 10 years to watch.
The X -Files , released in 1998- starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny- was a collage of the entire X-Files concept. It had all the constituents of a trite Sci-Fi thriller- a deadly virus, ugly aliens (MIB is probably the only movies which showed pretty aliens), a love story that could have been, an end of the world scenario,but with the added X-Files flavour-a government conspiracy, aliens with no guns or protective force fields, and an FBI agent whose job is to investigate unexplained phenomena but not solve the mystery.
Keeping up with the standards set by the widely popular TV series, the movie brings with it all the neat packaging that had become a trademark of the TV series. The posters are absolutely mind blowing, the taglines are brilliant and although the Mark Snow Theme song is played only once it sets the tone for the movie.
The film starts with a teenage boy in Texas getting infected with an alien virus, when he accidentally falls into an underground cave. The virus, which has been lying dormant in the underground caverns suddenly comes out of hibernation and starts to evolve. And its up to Scully and Mulder to get to the bottom of it.
Although the movies drags for a few minutes, there are plenty of scenes which sends you "wow", like the one where Mulder is chasing the tanker and he reaches a T junction and has to discern if the tanker went right or left, Mulder being the sceptic he is chooses to go straight instead of following the road- the back ground score when he does so is incredible (the hair at the back of my neck were standing up as I watched this). Gillian Anderson looks absolutely adorable in the movie, actually she looks just like the person you would want with you when you go chasing after aliens:).
To summarise, I loved the movie.
I would give it 3.5/5 . (Not a 4+ movie, after all, its what you expect to see when you see the title X-files)
The sequel, "I want to believe" releases on July 25. I hope its a 4+ movie.
Either way, I'm sure I'll love it.

The Wonder Years

2008-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Today were the first round of 'layoffs' in the country. Of course the company did not call it that. They preferred to call them 'resignations'. They were just 'asked' to look for jobs else where.
The last few years have been characterized by an excess of jobs. I graduated from a class, where on an average, people had at least two job offers. Believe it!!! because I still can't. We grew up in an atmosphere of optimism. We witnessed the Dot Com boom (we were too busy studying in 2001/2002 to notice the bubble burst.) We witnessed the stock markets march from 2500 in 2003 to dizzying heights of 20,000. We expected pay hikes every year, irrespective of our performance- they were called industry corrections.
These were without doubt, The Wonder Years.
Currently, oil prices at at a record high. Food prices have never been higher. Metals - gold prices -are at their highest ever. There is a massive credit crunch. The full extent of losses from the sub prime mortgage fiasco in the US are yet to be fathomed.
Looks like the worlds biggest customer has run out of credit.
To use Alan Greenspan's words, this is "stagflation", a combination of economic stagnation and inflation. If we have ever had the chance to prove ourself, this would be it. The wonder years are over. We are on the threshold of our first recession . It was the housing boom that saved us when the dot com bubble burst. Who's going to save us now?

07

2008-01-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

1. Brakes don't always work (especially on MG road)
2. Never keep spectacles on beds
3. Optimism never killed anyone (Well, maybe not never)
4. The passenger next to you is never pretty (more often than not its a drunk, who conveniently uses your shoulder as head support)
5. Water Heaters (geezer) sometimes burst (VC's scream of horror will haunt me forever)
6. Bangalore roads never fail to surprise
7. When all else fails ... hmm... I still don't know what to do
8. I don't remember much of what happened since 06 (must be congenital)
9. Blog posts tend to get shorter as time goes by

Guess there wasn't much I learned from 07 :)

The Ten Commandments of wooing

2008-01-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

1. Thou shall be as peppy as a peppy girl on crack
2. Thou shall learn subtle ways to scream out loud, announce thy intentions and tattoo them on the forehead of the one being wooed
3. Thou shall always offer a ride home (or better, ask for a ride home)
4. Thou shall develop a sudden interest in playing the guitar, or dance or breeding venomous reptiles or whatever interests the one being wooed
5. Thou shall never pay a direct compliment
6. Thou shall frequently use the phrases "get lost", "go to hell" and "ya right!", always with a suggestive smile and a sparkle in the eyes
7. Thou shall learn to type faster using a T9 dictionary than the 'qwerty' key board
8. Thou shall swallow the last vestiges of of one's pride, self respect and dignity and forget that one ever had any traces of these
9. Thou shall erase the words disappointment, frustration, grief and pain from one's vocabulary ( and one's dictionary)
10. Thou shall persevere, thou shall persevere, thou shall persevere

P.S. The author has had no success with these, but wishes the readers the very best.
Good luck and godspeed

Shades

2008-01-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

Society is based on values, rules and assumptions. Like any system, society uses these tenets to continue functioning.
Values which tell us whats is right, rules which make us do the right thing and the assumption that the previous two have been formulated keeping in mind the best interests of society and the individual, the assumption being the most significant of the three.
As children we are trained to follow them and hence, fit into society. There is no ambiguity. There is right and there is wrong.
If only it was this simple. Unfortunately there is more. Unfortunately there is that enigmatic 'Grey'.
The 'grey', is not wrong, but does that make it right? The line was clear, till we learnt to push and contort it, till we learnt to go over it, without stepping over it.
Would you stop doing something 'grey', if it gave you great joy and happiness, yet did not do any immediate tangible harm, if it only created an atmosphere congenial for the 'black'? How far would you push the line? Would you keep doing it till rebuked?
The kid in us never would. But somewhere along the line, the kid grew up. The kid grew up the moment he realized, black and white are just shades of grey.

The Undo Button

2007-11-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

1. That embarrassing thing you uttered on Google chat
2. The fact that you accidentally deleted last 3 month's work
3. The really expensive trousers you bought, that you realize don't fit
4. The really messed up haircut
.
.

5. That last thing you told her
When Bill Gates conceived the 'Undo' button, he changed the world forever.
For those of us, for who the computer was a regular part of our lives, the idea that our action can be undone was etched deeply in our minds. But every once in a while there comes that awkward moment when we really need that ctrl-Z, only then do we realize, God runs Linux

When the universe conspires against good people

2007-11-04T03:11:00.000-08:00

[Whether the writer is included in the 'good people' clique is at the discretion of the reader ;-)]

The dense smoky ambling traffic from Residency road to Indiranagar provides one with a wonderful opportunity to contemplate- contemplate traffic, contemplate why the bus next to you absolutely Must blow soot into your virgin lungs, or ever so rarely, contemplate life.
Recently, as I was plodding along MG road in first gear, I chose the last from the list.
It was a horrible day. All had gone wrong. Right from getting up at the wrong time to leaving my wallet back home, to having my first little bike accident. As things were, it seemed like none of it was my fault. I had done what i do every morning- set the alarm at 6:30, brake just as i did every morning, but everything had gone terribly amiss. It was as if the universe suddenly decided to send me a truck load of misfortune. Going home at 1030, I started juxtaposing life with an obstacle race. Only thing unique was that one way or another, one would complete the race, only question was, in what state- the objective was to complete with minimum damage to self. And as one progresses in the race, life throws up new surprises, new chasms to jump over, maybe a pack of dogs on the race track. If this was the case, how much of life, if at all, is really based on the wishful and deterministic concept of "cause and effect"? How much of today is a reflection of our past actions. Is it really a case of "Do your best and leave the rest to God?". And how does one recover after jumping over these 'obstacles'. How much time does one take to pick up the pieces and start running again?

The sequence of these scary thoughts was interrupted by me reaching home... Phew!!

Perils of the Comfort Zone

2007-09-26T04:52:00.000-07:00

Life, was never meant to be easy. The maker did not deign it to be so. But every once in a while, we humans device ways to outsmart life. To find our niche, our corner, the familiar place which we know all about, where we, are king. We iron out all the chinks, account for each variable, plan in advance for it and Voila!! all of a sudden life seems so easy, so predictable, so secure. Wouldn't we all like to live a life like this?

Or would we?

We've been growing all our lives. But when was it that we grew up? We have all switched schools, had our first day in college, moved out of our beloved homes, and along with these major milestones, major changes were thrust into our lives. It took great courage to face the first morning after incorporating these changes, but we took it in our stride, sometimes with a tremendous amount of effort. If we look back, we will inevitably realise that most of our growth took place during these periods of transition. Up to this point in our lives, these choice to effect change had to be made out of compulsion, and not out of our own will to grow. Most of us chose a well charted route, one where all the potential pit falls were highlighted and the shortest distance already determined.

Establishing a routine can be a very tricky thing. By tricky i don't refer to the process of its establishment but rather to the ramifications. While a routine brings peace and tranquility, it usually blunts the edge we spent out entire lives sharpening. When things start to get easy, maybe its time to pinch ourselves and ask why it is so. This is especially relevant when unlike finishing education and starting work, which is inevitable, the choice to affect the change has to be consciously made by the individual.

Adaptation is central to evolution. As Newton said, acceleration or change requires work and energy. Although affecting this change will undoubtedly require great effort and determination, it will unquestionably save us from the "boiling frog" phenomenon. If life seems very easy, maybe its time to leave the well charted and take the road less travelled.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

Lump in your throat

2007-09-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

For the batch of 06,

Have you ever come across a vague sound, or a song, or a note book and suddenly experienced a lump in your throat, a moment where time freezes and you begin to wonder. It could be "The Rembrandts" singing “I’ll be there for you”, or maybe an old college text book that you found while cleaning your room. The memory of that one moment or a phase in your life which was deeply etched in your mind but lost in the flurry of events since, is suddenly thrust into the foreground by that small something, suddenly you are drowned in a deluge of emotions. And this freshly resurfaced memory begs one question- what changed? Why did things change? Was it inevitable? These questions are usually followed by the “sigh” and the brief stare, the stare into nothingness. You wonder, what happened to all those people who meant the world to you, to the places you knew everything about. And all this while, you still have that lump in your throat.

Most of us go through a phase in life, where things seem to have settled down, settled down into monotony or settled down into chaos. It is during these periods that bonds are formed; bonds, with people, or even with places. That room mate who we knew everything about, the guy who took the same bus as you, the college canteen, the hostel mess (usually remembered for the wrong reasons), the hostel room (usually the place where you almost killed yourself laughing) and the starting music for your favorite multiplayer video game. They become a big part of out lives and as a result of this, we make room in our lives and minds for these people, places and events. We share innumerable experiences with them, we grow up together, to the extent that we know as much about that person as he himself. Then comes the inevitable day when its time to bid adieu. Suddenly all we are left with are memories. The lump returns to your throat.

Well, I may not know much about life; I have experienced it for only a short duration. But I have concluded that when a particular “phase” concludes, and the next one begins, those bonds, even though pushed into some corner of our minds and forgotten, remain. The place which these people occupied in our lives might have been taken by someone else, but in our minds, their place lies vacant. I sincerely hope that this is true, that someday when circumstance permits, these rooms be occupied by their rightful owners once again.

Seat No. 28 on NH 48

2007-09-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

9:30 PM Indiranagar
National Highway 48 is the route connecting Mangalore to Bangalore through the scenic Western ghats. As always for me, the journey home began with getting the last ticket and thereby ending up on the last row of the bus to Mangalore, but this would be a journey like no other I’ve been on before.
10:00PM Gandinagar
I knew this the moment we tried to get going from Gandinagar. The bus wouldn’t start. On a road that can hardly accommodate 2 buses, ours was stuck bang in the center resulting in total pandemonium(please try to imagine any road in B’lore at peak hours with a bus blocking it). Before long there was boisterous crowd gathered at the front with the intention of pushing our stranded bus backwards so as to free at east one lane. As soon as the driver gave the signal, there was a huge war cry and the bus started moving backwards. Unfortunately our driver who should have been looking backwards, was busy encouraging the crowd at the front. With a loud crack, the bus came to an abrupt halt. We had hit a sign board, but at least we weren’t blocking the road anymore.
12:00PM Gandhinagar
After 2 long hours, a few impromptu mechanics had replaced the battery and we were finally on our way.
4:00 AM- Shiradi Ghat(somewhere in the Western ghats)
Shiradi Ghat is a very wide easily maneuverable ghat, with wide roads and a very reasonable angle of descent. Or at least it was. Now, there was no road, only a path. I remember as a kid, I had once gone on a ferry ride. The water was extremely rough and our vessel swayed violently, threatening to capsize at any moment. I was frightened to death. This is exactly how I felt as my bus swayed, with me oscillating like a pendulum inside it. Kudos to TATA Motors for designing a vehicle which could move with no two wheels being at the same elevation at any point in time. As the chassis creaked loudly under the strain of the three tons of the bus trying to contort it, it felt inevitable that eventually, it would give up and the bus would break into two. At around the same time, the gentleman on seat No.24 decided to readjust the angle at which his seat was reclining, and Voila!! he managed to break the locking mechanism on his recliner and the seat fell with a thud on to my already aching knees. From then on, each time we hit a pothole, this seat flapped up and down , ramming into my knee.

8:00AM Panemangalore Bridge
I woke up next at the toll gate for the bridge across river Nethravathi. As I put my head out of the window to look at the road ahead, all i saw was muck, and no tarmac. It was truly ironic that we had to pay an extra Rs50 at the toll booth, maybe it was entertainment tax, because the next 2KM sure felt like a roller coaster ride.

9:00 AM Home at last!!!! :-D
South Canara Dist. in September is a sight for sore eyes. The entire district turns green soon after the rains ... Sigh... and then i thought...maybe coming home is worth risking knee replacement surgery :)

The Michael SCHUMACHER we know lesser about

2007-04-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

Joining Formula 1, mid season in 1991 at the age of 20, Michael showed early promise. In his first race, Michael qualified seventh. At the end of the season, he was signed up by Benetton’s Flavio Briatore to race for Benetton Ford in which he finished an impressive fifth at Monza on his Benetton debut.
In 1993, he and Benetton began challenging the front runners. With one race victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa under heavy rains, they were surely headed for the top.
1994 officially marked the beginning of the Schumi era in F1. The Benetton B193B, designed by Ross Brawn began the season with a bang by winning the first three races. The third race of the season, at Imola was marked by the tragic death of Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest drivers and one of the most aggressive drivers who ever held the wheels of an F1 car. The year would also be remembered for the number of times Schumi and Benetton were penalized, Schumi was black flagged when on the lead at Silverstone for overtaking pole sitter Damon Hill during the formation lap. Michael ignored the black flag and was stripped of points in the British GP, he was also banned for the next 2 races, both of which were won by his closest rival Damon Hill. Michael’s 21 point lead before going into the ban was reduced to just one point. Michael won the next 2 races at Hungary and Spa. His misfortunes however had not come to an end yet -the undercarriage wooden plank on his car was found to be too thin. Michael was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix. In order to bolster their chances at the world championship, Frank Williams brought back former world champion and world record holder (for most races in a year, 9) Nigel Mansell for the last three races. The season now moved to Suzuka for the penultimate race, with Michael 5 points ahead of Hill. In torrential rainfall, Hill took the chequered flag ahead of Michael. With Michael on 92 points and Hill on 91 points, the season finale at St. Alberta Park, Australia, was going to decide the World Championship of drivers. After a close qualifying session on Saturday, Michael qualified on pole with Hill second. Leading from the start, Michael slid off the track and in an ambitious attempt to keep Hill from overtaking him, ended up crashing into Hill. Michael retired from the race immediately after ramming headfirst into the tire barrier; Hill retired a lap later with a broken suspension. Michael Schumacher was Champion of the world at the age of 23. This was the beginning of what would be Michael Schumacher’s decade. The season ended with Benetton getting penalized $ 500,000 for using an illegal traction control system and Nigel Mansell scoring his last F1 victory.
The following year, Benetton switched from Ford to the much more reliable 3.0 liter Renault engine. Michael began the 1995 season as a clear favorite, winning the first race at Brazil after Hill retired early from the race. The race was however not without controversy. After the race, questions were raised over the weight of the Michael’s car, which was above the stipulated limit. Michael lost the Championship lead after Hill won the next 2 races at Argentina and San Marino. Schumi dominated the rest of the season with a total of eleven podium finishes, including nine victories in the season, equaling the record set by Nigel Mansell in 1992, driving a Williams. Michael won both races held in Germany, at Hockenheim and Nurburgring, with Hill not finishing either of the races. The year also saw David Coulthard win his first GP at Estroil, Portugal and Frenchman Jean Alesi winning the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal after Michael was forced into the pits from the lead for more than a minute due to technical problems. Benetton’s No:2 driver Johnny Herbert won the British and the Italian grand prixs after both Hill and Schumacher collided into each other in both the races. The race of the year was at Spa under torrential rains when Michael, starting from the 16th place on the grid went on to lead the Belgian Grand Prix on the eighth lap and eventually won the race after one of the longest dogfights in recent times. Hill pitted four times as compared to Michael’s 2, he also suffered a ten second stop- go penalty for speeding in the pit lane and eventually lost the race. The season concluded with Hill winning his fourth race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix.
In 1996 Michael moved in to rebuild Ferrari which was in total disarray after a fairly poor 95 season. Along with him, Benetton’s chief designer Ross Brawn also moved to Ferrari as their technical director. This season saw the arrival of French- Canadian Jacques Villeneuve who qualified on pole on his debut and scored a victory in only his third race. The Williams Renault FW 18 was by far in a class of its own. Williams won 12 of the 16 races with Hill taking 8 of them. Michael with a very unreliable Ferrari won only three races, at Spain, Italy and Belgium to be third in the driver’s Championship and placed Ferrari second in the Constructor’s title. Olivier Panis won the other race at Monaco. Hill won the championship from team mate Jacques Villeneuve by 19 points. He was sacked by team boss Frank Williams at the end of the season and moved to Arrows and then to Jordan, where he won one race at Belgium in 1998. Damon Hill retired the following year from F1.
From there, Michael Schumacher as we all know has won a record equaling 5 consecutive championships. In doing so he has also broken one of the oldest and most coveted formula1 records, winning seven championships to date, a record previously held by the great Juan Manuel Fangio. To sum up his recent domination of F1, it would be appropriate to quote Eddie Jordan, boss of the Jordan team who said “We are waiting for Michael to retire”.

Happy that he came at all

2007-04-28T00:06:00.001-07:00

It’s a tricky situation when one has built a reputation for being close to perfect all the time. Tricky because I strongly believe that this prevents one from pushing oneself to the very limit. Michael Schumacher made it a habit to be perfect. He always had too much to lose. Whether it be the formula one championship or his image of being the robotic perfectionist he is. I have beena staunch supporter of Schumacher for the last 13 years, watching him race always meant that I prayed for two thing, one that he wins and the other is that he does not lose. The first wish was for the obvious joy of watching my hero stand on the top step of the podium and the second was there because when Michael was in the picture, there was always a lot at stake.Of course there have been times when the championship was already decided and the second wish did not exist, only 2 of his championships he has won have been decided in the last race, but there was still his iconic image to protect and the race to be won.
An engine failure from the lead at the Japanese Grand Prix in 06 left Alonso with a 10 point lead heading into the concluding race of the season at Brazil, which left Michael with a chance of winning the title only if he won the last race and Alonso failed to score. It was Ferrari's first engine failure in six years. The race for the championship was almost over for Michael, but Japan proved to be only the beginning of Michael's misfortunes. At qualifying in Brazil a problem withhis fuel pump relegated Michael to 10th position on the starting grid.Under hot conditions, it was clear that the Bridgestone runners would have an advantage but no F1 fan could have predicted Michael’s speed in the race. After a brilliant start, Michael fought his way back to seventh within the first few laps of the race. At sixth place was the Renault of Giancarlo Fishichella. Fishichella successfully held back the prancing horse for a few laps but eventually crumbled under pressure and locked his front wheels at the end of the start finish straight to surrender his position to the resurgent Ferrari, but Michael’s woes had not ended.A few seconds after Michael’s brilliant overtaking maneuver, he suddenly began to lose pace and immediately was overtaken by all the cars he had managed to over take a few laps back. Michael Schumacher’s front tire had a puncture A few laps earlier The Williams of Nico Rosberg had collided with his team mate, Mark Webber, spewing debris from both cars on the track. As it happened, something pierced his front tire on lap 9. The brilliant run from 10th to seventh all of a sudden in vain. When Michael’s wounded Ferrari limped back to the pits from 18th place all looked lost. The Championship was out of reach, the race was out of reach, a podium finish in his last race too seemed out of reach. There was nothing left to race for but pride. With a tank filled to the brim, with new tires and with nothing to lose, Michael Schumacher set out to prove to the world one last time why he had set the standards for the last decade .In the laps to come, Michael set a series of fastest laps closing in on the cars he has passed just a few laps back. Rubens Barichello was reduced to a spectator as Michael passed him on the start finish straight, so much so that Michael had the time to wave to Rubens as he passed him. Next on the radar was the Renault of Fichichella. Giancarlo stalled Michael’s progress for 9 laps but, as had become the norm in the last few races, getting past the No: 2 Renault was just a matter of time. Michael passed Fishichella as he floundered once more. From 18th on the grid, Michael Schumacher had fought is way back to 5th place.

At fourth place and in front of Michael was Kimi Raikonnen, the man who was to replace Michael at Ferrari the following year. As the laps passed the gap between the two began to wane, and in no to time, it was under a second and Kimi was beginning to have to defend hard to retain fourth place. After a few laps of trying to pass him, Michael finally got the better of him when at the end of the start finish straight and at 300 Km/Hr Michael squeezed the Ferrari between the Mc Laren and the barricades, his left wheel centimeters away from the side wall. All Kimi Raikonnen could do was watch it from the best seat in the house.

It’s not something rare in a Formula 1 race that someone fights back from all the way back on the grid. And especially not for a veteran like Schumacher, I remember Spa 1995, when Michael started at 16, and was leading the race on lap 16. But events like this are usually happen only when the universe conspires against the rest of pack to favor the chosen one. The most striking memory of such an event is Rubens Barrichello’s first victory .Rubens started at the very back, 18th on the grid, but it took rain, a mad man running on the track, a track that was soaking wet on one side and dry on the other, and strange pit strategy from the Mc Larens to take Rubens to the top step. At Brazil 06, there were no crazy fans running on the track and no signs of rain, there was just a challenge and a man determined to go out all guns blazing. In fact the race was actually a snapshot of the entire season, it was a collage of all the qualities that had made a legend.

In a career spanning almost one and a half decades, he had shown what it took to be a champion. From trying to push Jacque Villenuve off the track in 97, from wanting a fist fight with Coulthard in Spa 98, to patting the back of his mechanics and engineers after having his last title chances washed away after an engine failure from the lead at Brazil 06, he had come a long way.
After watching him for 13 seasons and 7 championships I finally got my chance to see Michael Schumacher "Race", not for the championship nor for the race victory but just for the thrill of racing. For more than a decade, he had set the standards in F1, he was the benchmark, the guy every driver wanted to beat, the man who forced the governing body to change the rules of the game just because he had made the sport ‘boring’. After 250 Grand Prix starts Michael was the the senior most driver on track at Brazil in 2006, his last race. Michael did not win the race, he did not finish on the podium but it will still be the race I will remember the most. To say that I will miss ‘Michael magic’ would be an understatement, but I am not sad that he is gone, I am happy that he came at all.