July 2005
It’s London Again
London won the bid for hosting the Olympics & the Paralympic summer games in 2012. This is surely a moment of jubiliation for Sebastian Coe and the bidding team. On the other hand it was quite exciting to watch the bidding countries’ logos :-) I have always been fascinated by the colour and the theme related to the respective city. And just in case you are wondering about the headline, London will be hosting the games for a second time after 1948.
So this time at the 117th IOC Session at Singapore there were 5 teams (or rather cities) competing for the coveted invitation to host the Olympics in 2012. From all the official websites of the bidding team, New York’s was the most coolest. I think it’s got that vibrant feel to it – much the same way the city projects itself. If you see the ads on the website (you need either a QuickTIme or a Windows Media Player) you’d realise how much effort they have put in to win the bid. The navigation is simple and the design is uncluttered. And oh and did I mention that it’s made in Flash ? :)
Hatred Broods Hatred
One more attack on the heart of secularism, one more season of allegations and one more instance of innocent lives being lost. Akshardham Temple, Raghunath Temple, Char-e-Sharief – which eventually was burned down to ashes, are all a part of that drama which unfolds every now and then. 6 ‘men’ decided to go on an adventure and attacked the disputed Ayodhya temple yesterday, adding one more sacred site to the list. You will be surprised at the ease with which they penetrated the highly secured area at the disputed site.
Attacking temples & sacred structures has become a routine with terrorists who aim to create mistrust amongst us. They know how communally sensitive the majority of Indians are and their leaders will leave no stone unturned in fomenting hatred amongst the general public. We need to win this internal war first before we start preparing our armies to fight our neighbour. Anyways, tomorrow is a nationwide bandh called by the VHP & the BJP & as always I shudder to think about that fellow daily wage earner who will lose his money.
As for me, I am not moving out of my bedroom tomorrow :)
SUMMit Cancelled
It felt miserable to start something and end it yourself. The Surfunion MegaMeet 3 (SUMM as we call it) was supposed to have been a real ‘Mega’ event alongwith a workshop with prominent speakers from the industry. The hotel was booked, complete with microphones, projectors and the works. But it required a minimum guarantee of 25 members & they needed to be told a week prior to the event. All this combination was too large to handle. There are 550+ members but very few are active and most of them needed to come to the board to get information about the meet. Looking at this scenarios we might opt for some method to galvanise the cadre in the coming days.
Also I spoke to Tushar on Friday about arranging a stay at his farmhouse at Lonavla. July is the month when the rains are at its heaviest and going to Lonavla in the hilly Western Ghats would be an amazing experience :) Let’s see how it all turns out to be. Anyways there are going to be only a few invited guests so that we can all be at peace without any ego hassles to take care of.
