Friday, April 17, 2009

Sudoku Mania

Since I first laid my hands on a Sudoku puzzle a week ago, all one can find around me are pencils, erasers and Sudoku puzzles. Arranging 9 numbers in 9 by 9 grid looked impossible but looks are very deceptive. What really looks high funda need not be when you take a pencil and eraser in your hand.

Today I could solve a medium level puzzle without any assistance. Yes I have done it!
Well it is not me alone. If I am breaking my head over something why leave rest of the family in peace. Now post dinner time in our living room is more appropriately called Sudoku time; kids hubby all take one puzzle each from easy to medium to hard to evil level.

I am reminded of the ‘Goldilocks and three bears' when daddy bear sips porridge from the biggest bowl, mama bear from medium sized bowl and baby bear from the cute smallest bowl but in Sudoku this order may be in reverse.

Monday, April 6, 2009

To Cheer or Not

I am not an ardent cricket fan but IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket season is too action packed to be overlooked. It keeps the nation busy by giving each one a subject to debate upon like should we have desi cheer girls instead of firnagi? Should they wear traditional Indian consume may be a sari or a ghagra choli ? If yes, what should be the length of the blouse incase they will have a blouse on et al.

The second edition of IPL Twenty 20 Cricket Tournament this year will not only deprive Indians of that irresistible star studded high glamour quotient live sports extravaganza but also gives them more time on hand to scrutinize the contesting candidates in the elections.

IPL vs Elections - the country had a choice between holding elections or IPL on Indian soil. The government chose to have elections in India and send IPL abroad. The alternate route of sending elections abroad would have been a more popular choice.

Holding the IPL matches during election time would have made sure that the matches will go on smoothly as all criminals and their associates will be on election duty. No wonder the crime rate in India invariably goes down during election time. The owners of the teams are obviously cheering as it means more money and less khit pit over dos and don’ts. The fans in Pakistan are cheering as they will be able to watch their heroes in action. The cricket fans in South Africa are shouting from their roof tops and are too ecstatic to welcome international cricket teams home.

Not sure, if IPL should still retain ‘Indian’ in IPL. Well ‘I’ also stands for ‘International’. Indian politicians are cheering as any militant attack during the election time would have sealed the fate of the political party in whose state the attack would have occurred. It gives them a saving grace and yet another chance to parrot ‘India is not Pakistan, it is safe’.

But for hardcore cricket aficionados, the real action has no comparison with reel action.