Never give in
Never stand down
Never back down...
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
3rd June 2025 | IPL Finals |
3rd June 2025 | IPL Finals | RCB vs PBKS
While the clock was inching towards midnight, history was made—RCB finally lifted the IPL trophy. Took us only a wait of 18 seasons since inception, 4th attempt in the finals. Had spent much of my adult life, Infact all of my earning adult life dreaming of this moment, chasing this moment, wanting to live this one moment.
There were dreams, promises of dreams, few nightmares, some dreams came, dreams left, transitioned over from college to working, single to married, son to husband to father but the one constant hope of a dream had always remained of us being crowned IPL Champs. More so because the dream which started in summer of each year, remained unfulfilled but with the promise that we'll return again next year, with new hopes, new ambitions, renewed Josh that this year is my year, our year, Bengaluru's year, RCB's year, the cup will come home. Year after year it just kept on repeating, never fading though. NEVER EVER FADING... It's a story thats taken 18 seasons of IPL, so will let that be.
Fast forward to to the day, where those dreams have finally turned to reality. The sense of lost, of emptiness, the void of being trophyless after trying forever inspite of having the best of the lot has finally been fulfilled. I could go on with pages or a book or a series of books on this journey from infancy back in 2008 to adulthood in 2025 of winning the elusive cup and still fall short of words. With the cup finally my own to call, my joy knows no ends. Never had the opportunity to celebrate when I was a stupid single boy who had very little inkling of the world, now with whatever little knowledge iv gained still celebrated like a school going kid, forcing everyone in neighbourhood to wake up to the loudest of cracker noises only for them to join in the fun and and be on cloud 9. The entire city erupted, Infact many other cities did.
The day marked the beginning of what was to be the biggest celebration the city has ever seen, roads jampacked with crazy fan frenzy, days will fall short of time and nights would never end.
The cup of glory, the cup of dreams finally ours to call, today, tomorrow, forever... No More being Mocked.
We are the champions, were always a champion team, now there is a tag to go along, a star to adorn the RCB logo and count set to only increase in, bringing along with it renewed hopes of newer heights, glory, passion and the zest to stay ahead of the rest. Upwards and Onwards...
But just when we thought the celebrations would never end, tragedy struck.
Less than 24 hours later, 11 innocent lives were lost in an unfortunate, avoidable accident. What should have been a week-long citywide festival ended in silence and sorrow.
I've heard of 7 stages of grief, my only constant state for the longest time these days is Anger.
I find myself angry—not just at the system that failed to manage the crowd—but at those who never wanted us to win, those who mocked our passion for years. Maybe it’s foolish, maybe emotional—but in this grief, that anger feels real, the negativity feels real, the evil eye feels real.
All of my anger is directed towards the people reeking of jealousy towards RCB that eventually manifested into this tragedy cutting short or maybe even completely stop the supposed longest celebration my city ever saw. Hope you are happy now.
Those 11 souls which could form a cricket team in itself are watching from somewhere, looking at you, asking... WHY...
we see you. We grieve you. You deserved better. You deserved to live a longer, flourished life.
And yet, as every RCB fan knows too well, we're the Royal Challengers of Bengaluru- from ashes, we rise.
This cup may have taken 18 years. The celebration may have lasted only a day. But our spirit? That’s eternal. Will Last forever.
We are RCB. Champions in spirit. Champions in name.
This cup is ours—today, tomorrow, forever.
ಈ ಸಲ ಕಪ್ ನಮ್ದೇ...
ನಮ್ದೇನೇ...
ಇಂದು...
ಎಂದು...
ಎಂದೆಂದು ... ❤️💛
– @я(_)η™👊🏽
Monday, February 24, 2020
June 2012 - Cricket @ BMSCE
Been almost 8 years since that day, don't know why i remembered it all of a sudden, so putting down whatever i can remember now.
Think the event name was Sangam, as fate would have it our first match was scheduled to take place at my place BMSCE, it was the place where iv whacked it around nicely a couple of times during engineering days, so things could not go wrong...at least that's what i thought anyways.
Reached there early practiced around with folks a little bit for warm up hitting a few shots here and there. The toss got done, bugger Niranjan was the captain, who had SINGLE HANDEDLY won us the ITTS cup last time around with some of the best hitting I'd seen back the, he still is the best leftie iv seen to date....those were the days🤷🏽♂. Coming back to BMSCE, I think we chose to bat first and after deliberation i was sent in open the innings (to my jubilation). The first ball i faced, bam it went flying over for a six on the offside, i was as much in disbelief as i was playing after ages in a competitive match. Felt a good touch with the borrowed MRF bat😁. Next ball same thing n hit on the football goalpost; it was declared a four while should’ve been a six. It went on that way the whole match, i might’ve scored some 30 odd and got out maybe in 4th or 5th over. What i remember even more distinctively is the bowler after getting beat up so much was sledging me on the way back and i was smiling at it all. This "not so me" reaction is what iv remembered countless times over the years and is probably the reason why am jotting these down. We ended up losing the 3rd match by 2 runs in the 2 days that we played there and were booted out of the tournament, all other buggers managed to slip away immediately after the loss (nobody to direct my wrath at). Have not yet managed to win a cup for a long time, will hopefully change that sooner rather than later.
It was and still is a weird feeling after that first match, a sense of pride n amusement at the same time. Pride coz i managed to successfully win the match, amused coz i managed to rile up the opponent without intending to do so, being sledged was very new n even more so was my non-aggressive reaction to it.
Moral of the story - There will be people to try to bring you down on your path to potential victory, feel accomplished at your fall even though might be deep down under themselves, critique your failure - What matters is not what your opponent’s make of you, but what you make of yourself.
Be the -
best of what you can be,
best of what you can do,
best of what you are...
at the end of it all, the fiercest competitor that you can face is the person staring back at you into oblivion everyday in the mirror.
- @r(_)n👊🏽.
Think the event name was Sangam, as fate would have it our first match was scheduled to take place at my place BMSCE, it was the place where iv whacked it around nicely a couple of times during engineering days, so things could not go wrong...at least that's what i thought anyways.
Reached there early practiced around with folks a little bit for warm up hitting a few shots here and there. The toss got done, bugger Niranjan was the captain, who had SINGLE HANDEDLY won us the ITTS cup last time around with some of the best hitting I'd seen back the, he still is the best leftie iv seen to date....those were the days🤷🏽♂. Coming back to BMSCE, I think we chose to bat first and after deliberation i was sent in open the innings (to my jubilation). The first ball i faced, bam it went flying over for a six on the offside, i was as much in disbelief as i was playing after ages in a competitive match. Felt a good touch with the borrowed MRF bat😁. Next ball same thing n hit on the football goalpost; it was declared a four while should’ve been a six. It went on that way the whole match, i might’ve scored some 30 odd and got out maybe in 4th or 5th over. What i remember even more distinctively is the bowler after getting beat up so much was sledging me on the way back and i was smiling at it all. This "not so me" reaction is what iv remembered countless times over the years and is probably the reason why am jotting these down. We ended up losing the 3rd match by 2 runs in the 2 days that we played there and were booted out of the tournament, all other buggers managed to slip away immediately after the loss (nobody to direct my wrath at). Have not yet managed to win a cup for a long time, will hopefully change that sooner rather than later.
It was and still is a weird feeling after that first match, a sense of pride n amusement at the same time. Pride coz i managed to successfully win the match, amused coz i managed to rile up the opponent without intending to do so, being sledged was very new n even more so was my non-aggressive reaction to it.
Moral of the story - There will be people to try to bring you down on your path to potential victory, feel accomplished at your fall even though might be deep down under themselves, critique your failure - What matters is not what your opponent’s make of you, but what you make of yourself.
Be the -
best of what you can be,
best of what you can do,
best of what you are...
at the end of it all, the fiercest competitor that you can face is the person staring back at you into oblivion everyday in the mirror.
- @r(_)n👊🏽.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Movie Review - Tanhaji
Blood and dust - That's what we are. I don't know where I've heard the phrase before but that's what came to mind when jotting these lines. We are all forged in blood and eventually will become dust. No matter the positions held, no matter the accolades, no matter the good, bad or the ugly done, the one true certainty in LIFE is DEATH and the eventuality of turning into dust. We are alive and free, with what we are today and owe it all to the enormous sacrifices of our ancestors from hundreds of years ago thru to our soldiers lining along the borders to prevent any acts of invasion...A salute to every soul out there who knows that their blood will also eventually be just dust.
Tanhaji - Is one such story among infinite other brave warriors who gave their blood in the fight against foreign invasion and ended up as dust in the pages of history.
The movie revolves around the epicenter of clash between Mughal's & Maratha's over their decades of fight to gain dominance over what we now have as India. The story here revolves around the fight between the protagonist on whom the movie is titled, Tanhaji Malusare(Ajay Devgan) - the maharashtrian military leader under Chatrapati Shivaji and the antagonist Udaybhan Singh Rathore(Saif Ali Khan) - the guard turned military representative of Aurangzeb sent to take over Kondhana. Ajay Devgan was at his serious best while for many folks Saif reminded them of Ranveer from Padmaavati.
Like most movies these days it is very CGI HEAVY, some of the action sequences are a breath of fresh air even in the midst of all that CGI, few of them are over the top(Read Bahubali) but still leaves wanting for more. Icing on the cake would be to have more pure raw action sequences to be reminiscent of those times which would make more justice to the warriors from that Era.
Even though it might seem that way but movie is not as bloody as the pages of history actually are.
Apart from few instances of arrow flying thru towards me, i did not get the feel of this being a 3D movie. Could be just me or the ambience but would've been more fun to watch the 2D version.
For folks who don't dread the sight of blood from war, you can easily watch this movie and might as well take your family, friends and kids along. Movie in all it's glory night not give an actual account of history but will nonetheless introduce you some parts which has been conveniently left out. The books we've read that was supposed to teach us history - never did impart the correct information, neither does this movie but certainly does provide a glimpse of what could have been.
An easily one time watchable movie if in a theater. Else you could always wait for it to show up at the comfort of your home later via online streaming or on some other TV channel.
- @r(_)n👊🏽.
Tanhaji - Is one such story among infinite other brave warriors who gave their blood in the fight against foreign invasion and ended up as dust in the pages of history.
The movie revolves around the epicenter of clash between Mughal's & Maratha's over their decades of fight to gain dominance over what we now have as India. The story here revolves around the fight between the protagonist on whom the movie is titled, Tanhaji Malusare(Ajay Devgan) - the maharashtrian military leader under Chatrapati Shivaji and the antagonist Udaybhan Singh Rathore(Saif Ali Khan) - the guard turned military representative of Aurangzeb sent to take over Kondhana. Ajay Devgan was at his serious best while for many folks Saif reminded them of Ranveer from Padmaavati.
Like most movies these days it is very CGI HEAVY, some of the action sequences are a breath of fresh air even in the midst of all that CGI, few of them are over the top(Read Bahubali) but still leaves wanting for more. Icing on the cake would be to have more pure raw action sequences to be reminiscent of those times which would make more justice to the warriors from that Era.
Even though it might seem that way but movie is not as bloody as the pages of history actually are.
Apart from few instances of arrow flying thru towards me, i did not get the feel of this being a 3D movie. Could be just me or the ambience but would've been more fun to watch the 2D version.
For folks who don't dread the sight of blood from war, you can easily watch this movie and might as well take your family, friends and kids along. Movie in all it's glory night not give an actual account of history but will nonetheless introduce you some parts which has been conveniently left out. The books we've read that was supposed to teach us history - never did impart the correct information, neither does this movie but certainly does provide a glimpse of what could have been.
An easily one time watchable movie if in a theater. Else you could always wait for it to show up at the comfort of your home later via online streaming or on some other TV channel.
- @r(_)n👊🏽.
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Fear - is nothing to be afraid of.
Per the definition of what someone has posted on Wikipedia - Fear is a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms, which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events.
In simple terms - Fear is what pushes someone to do certain acts that they never would have have thought they would do under certain circumstances.
Fear of hunger, fear of loss, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of god etc. Some have fear towards very basic things - water, fire, height which forces them to take a step back every time the need to come in contact with fear comes up.
The presence of these among many others cause people sometimes to take decisions which are irrational and in due course cause hurt to themselves and others. Once in, Fear makes people do stupid things, say stupid words, commit stupid acts. Fear is a good thing in certain ways only when it stops people from doing these stupid things.
There is no one easy way to fight fear; As the popular quote goes "You have nothing to fear but fear itself".
A great man once said " courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear".
Identify your fear, respect your fear, acknowledge and accept your fear, take necessary steps to tackle your fear, fight your fear even though it could be a constant struggle and one day you will overcome your fear. Confidence is the only boost ever needed to overcome fear.
Do not give in to fear, rise up, think thru and look fear in the eye. Fear will then be a thing of the past and you will be the conquerer.
We define fear in many ways but fear should not define us.
In simple terms - Fear is what pushes someone to do certain acts that they never would have have thought they would do under certain circumstances.
Fear of hunger, fear of loss, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of god etc. Some have fear towards very basic things - water, fire, height which forces them to take a step back every time the need to come in contact with fear comes up.
The presence of these among many others cause people sometimes to take decisions which are irrational and in due course cause hurt to themselves and others. Once in, Fear makes people do stupid things, say stupid words, commit stupid acts. Fear is a good thing in certain ways only when it stops people from doing these stupid things.
There is no one easy way to fight fear; As the popular quote goes "You have nothing to fear but fear itself".
A great man once said " courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear".
Identify your fear, respect your fear, acknowledge and accept your fear, take necessary steps to tackle your fear, fight your fear even though it could be a constant struggle and one day you will overcome your fear. Confidence is the only boost ever needed to overcome fear.
Do not give in to fear, rise up, think thru and look fear in the eye. Fear will then be a thing of the past and you will be the conquerer.
We define fear in many ways but fear should not define us.
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Movie Review : What Da-bangg 3
The 3rd installment of this movie franchise is something that even if you give it a miss, you would not stand to lose anything.
Movie revolves around salman aka Dhaakad Chulbul pandey and other usual suspects from earlier ones, New noticable entrants are among Vinod khanna's role essayed by his lookalike, Saiee Manjrekar and antagonist Kicha Sudeep aka Baali Singh who does 200% justice to his villainous character.
Story is it's usual comical self, with most other new entrants have their roots before the first installment. So it's like a prequel to first movie explaining how all the characters came into existence to where they stand today and is more often than not a drag.
It's not the usual hindi movie that someone would expect with songs thrown in left right and center. This does make it lose it's grip of ploy and plot( not that there was any).
The story at one point moves East, West then North and finally goes down South before wandering off in every other direction. Someone decided at one point, maybe it's about time we made Dabangg-3 but did not know how to execute it and make it gripping. It has a decent storyline though but lacks execution in most departments. If someone watches movie then it would only be for Salman and Sudeep because there is nothing else worth the mention.
At best this would serve up as an entertainment, one time watchable at most if you have nothing else planned for this year end.
May the force be with you on this🤷🏽♂️.
Movie revolves around salman aka Dhaakad Chulbul pandey and other usual suspects from earlier ones, New noticable entrants are among Vinod khanna's role essayed by his lookalike, Saiee Manjrekar and antagonist Kicha Sudeep aka Baali Singh who does 200% justice to his villainous character.
Story is it's usual comical self, with most other new entrants have their roots before the first installment. So it's like a prequel to first movie explaining how all the characters came into existence to where they stand today and is more often than not a drag.
It's not the usual hindi movie that someone would expect with songs thrown in left right and center. This does make it lose it's grip of ploy and plot( not that there was any).
The story at one point moves East, West then North and finally goes down South before wandering off in every other direction. Someone decided at one point, maybe it's about time we made Dabangg-3 but did not know how to execute it and make it gripping. It has a decent storyline though but lacks execution in most departments. If someone watches movie then it would only be for Salman and Sudeep because there is nothing else worth the mention.
At best this would serve up as an entertainment, one time watchable at most if you have nothing else planned for this year end.
May the force be with you on this🤷🏽♂️.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Movie Review - URI
Originally posted - Jan 28th 2019
URI:The Surgical Strike.
This a very late review considering half of India must'v already watched it and it's been some time since it released, better late than never i suppose.
It was 27th Jan, the Day after Republic Day. Like all movies these days, this also preceded with the national anthem only difference being in the video it also included national athletes who'v made my country proud... Very proud. At the end of the national anthem, it was unexpectedly quiet considering the movie but my almost 5 yr old daughter would have none of it and let out a resounding JAI HIND after which few more added to the chorus . I felt very sheepishly proud with all the eyes looking back to see who it was which included a few trainees from armed forces.😎😎😎😎
URI-The Surgical Strike... is based on true events which have transpired within the last few years. It ticks all the boxes that i feel needs to be in a movie but it in reality is really not a movie but an emotion. Fist pumping, knuckle cracking, all guns blazing, adrenaline thumping, gut wrenching emotion that will leave u in tears of sorrow at one part and tears of Joyous pride in another.
Most of us going to watch this might have known what this is about and how it's going to end so it's a bigger challenge to narrate a story to an audience who already know what's coming their way. The maker's have made fabulous work in making sure that it stays that way - Keeping nothing subtle about what this is about and rightly so is smack right in your face. This reminded me of BORDER in some ways but with much less drama which is the preferred way for the current lot of movie audiences like me.
I liked the way the movie started, introduction of the main characters without much of a fuss, how they slowly got entwined in the story to deliver a masterclass thru out . I can't speak for factual accuracy of the whole storyline, however the part where daughter gives out the war cry for her martyred father was picked/inspired straight out of Colonel MN Rai funeral procession. Could not hold tears when news first broke out in 2015, was pretty much the same here as well.
Of all the parts portrayed to depict various politicians - a far shot for many others but it looked like it was actually parikkar in some ways. Vicky Kaushal is no stranger in the film fraternity, still was in his nascent stages till Sanju came up and has announced himself BIG TIME with URI. Only a small percent of big things coming his way.
There has been quite sometime since such a movie was made, right in all aspects of a very well depicted emotions on the armed forces post URI. Pumps up the adrenaline the right way so to speak.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie - wouldn't be surprised if i plan for a second outing.
And yes indeed - Yeh Naya Hindustan hain, ghar mein ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi. 😎👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽
#Howzthejosh you ask...High as high can be.
JAI HIND. 💪🏼👌🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157028112574859&id=621779858
URI:The Surgical Strike.
This a very late review considering half of India must'v already watched it and it's been some time since it released, better late than never i suppose.
It was 27th Jan, the Day after Republic Day. Like all movies these days, this also preceded with the national anthem only difference being in the video it also included national athletes who'v made my country proud... Very proud. At the end of the national anthem, it was unexpectedly quiet considering the movie but my almost 5 yr old daughter would have none of it and let out a resounding JAI HIND after which few more added to the chorus . I felt very sheepishly proud with all the eyes looking back to see who it was which included a few trainees from armed forces.😎😎😎😎
URI-The Surgical Strike... is based on true events which have transpired within the last few years. It ticks all the boxes that i feel needs to be in a movie but it in reality is really not a movie but an emotion. Fist pumping, knuckle cracking, all guns blazing, adrenaline thumping, gut wrenching emotion that will leave u in tears of sorrow at one part and tears of Joyous pride in another.
Most of us going to watch this might have known what this is about and how it's going to end so it's a bigger challenge to narrate a story to an audience who already know what's coming their way. The maker's have made fabulous work in making sure that it stays that way - Keeping nothing subtle about what this is about and rightly so is smack right in your face. This reminded me of BORDER in some ways but with much less drama which is the preferred way for the current lot of movie audiences like me.
I liked the way the movie started, introduction of the main characters without much of a fuss, how they slowly got entwined in the story to deliver a masterclass thru out . I can't speak for factual accuracy of the whole storyline, however the part where daughter gives out the war cry for her martyred father was picked/inspired straight out of Colonel MN Rai funeral procession. Could not hold tears when news first broke out in 2015, was pretty much the same here as well.
Of all the parts portrayed to depict various politicians - a far shot for many others but it looked like it was actually parikkar in some ways. Vicky Kaushal is no stranger in the film fraternity, still was in his nascent stages till Sanju came up and has announced himself BIG TIME with URI. Only a small percent of big things coming his way.
There has been quite sometime since such a movie was made, right in all aspects of a very well depicted emotions on the armed forces post URI. Pumps up the adrenaline the right way so to speak.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie - wouldn't be surprised if i plan for a second outing.
And yes indeed - Yeh Naya Hindustan hain, ghar mein ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi. 😎👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽
#Howzthejosh you ask...High as high can be.
JAI HIND. 💪🏼👌🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157028112574859&id=621779858
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