A simple game

This was a simple game. But a clever move made my opponent to resign. Remember I said "don't give up till the end" ?, guess he didn't read my previous post ;)

A little changes to the way I will post my games played from now. Will include my opponents id as well, just for my reference and nothing more.

I was playing white this time.

1.e4 c5
2.g3 Nc6
3.Bg2 Nf6
4.d3 e5

No complications till now, hence it was a simple game.

5.Nc3 Be7
6.Nf3 h6

7.O-O d5
8.exd5 Nxd5
9.Nxd5 Qxd5

10.Qe2 f6
11.Nh4

This got interesting Nh4. My next move was to Qh5 and go on from there. But he played Qf7 and it got more interesting.
11...... Qf7 
12.Nf5 Bd8

 

13.Nd6+ 1-0
He didn't realize the nd6 threat and moved Bd8, which was a blunder. Nd6 made him to resign, he thought he can't live without Queen, but the fact remains, he can live untill his King is not captured!!!

Chinni's 3rd Birthday

It was Chinni's 3rd Birthday on 23rd December and she knew it very well. I could say she enjoyed her birthday well this time.

All the thoughts and plans just didn't get the right path. Finally, me and N decided to celebrate it at home.

We had ordered a huge cake with Tom and Jerry picture on it. It was perfect, thanks to Daily Bread.

There wasn't a plan of decorating our house either. But since we reached home a bit early, I got few colored papers and balloons. That simple decoration brought in a lot celebration mood for all of us.

Chinni had already seen the cake and was very eager to taste it. The cake was decorated with choco flakes, which were vanishing every 10 minutes. Needless to say Chinni was on her toes to finish her job!

Finally the moment arrived. The birthday candle was also special. On lighting it opened up itself as a lotus flower with candles, on each of its petals, lightened. Hurray we sang the Birthday song.

We were happy that she enjoyed the celebration, could not ask anything more.

A game full of mistakes

This morning I was hungry for points. Sometimes I keep on loosing each and every game, either make mistakes over mistakes or simply just loose on time. This game started with a blooper, but then I bounced back taking off the opponent's queen. And worth to mention, my opponent followed my suite of making mistakes :) 

I was playing black.

1.e4 e5 

2.Nf3 Qf6 

 

Here is a tip: Don't go for Qf6 in the beginning.I knew this, but still wanted to play to look at the variations.

3.Bc4 Bc5

4.d3 d6 

5.Bg5 

After Bg5 can you guys guess what should I have played ? 

You are wrong, I played Qe7. Yes, I played Qe7, the dumbest of the dumbest move. But I still continued.

5...... Qe7

6.Bxe7 Nxe7 

7.Ng5 O-O 

8.Qf3 Be6 

9.Bxe6 fxe6 

10.Qh3 h6
11.Nxe6 Rf7 

12.Qg3 Bxf2+ 

Now what did my opponent play helped me to clinch the game. Else theoretically it would have not been possible. He was equally dumb, he moved Ke2 instead of Qe2!!!

13.Ke2 Bxg3 

14.hxg3 Nd7 

15.Nxc7 Rc8 

16.Ne6 Rxc2+ 

There is least to explain at this stage. I just had to corner the king.

17.Kd1 Rxg2 

18.Nd2 Rff2 

19.Kc2 Rxd2+ 

20.Kb3 Nc5+

 

21.Kc4 Rc2+ 
22.Kb5 Rxb2+

23.Ka5 Nc6# 0-1
 

And I had cornered the King.

This wasn't my best game, in fact it doesn't even falls in a category of "good games". So why did I post this? If your opponent is equally dumb, you have 100% chances of winning the game.

Hence fight till the last!!!

This was a massacre

I was playing white and my most frequent opening is e4. This game also started the same way. Here it goes.

I was playing white.

1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 d6
3.Bc4 

Guess what did my opponent play? 
3 .... Nf6
This is a classical bad example for Nf6 and then I moved on and on and on.

4.Ng5 Be7

5.Nxf7 Qd7
6.Nxh8 Nxe4

Another big mistake was Nxe4, trying to gain the position over the center without his pieces developed. I could have played Qf3, not sure how would it lead, but would have definitely been interesting.

7.Nf7 d5
8.Nxe5 dxc4
9.Nxd7 Bxd7

 The 8 move was a blunder, went for a Bishop and lost his Queen.
10.Qh5+ g6
11.Qxh7 Nc6
12.Qg8+ Bf8
13.O-O g5
14.f3

14 ..... Nf6
15.Re1+ Kd8
16.Qxf8+ Ne8
17.d3 cxd3
18.Bxg5+ Ne7

19.Qxe7+Kc8

20.Qd8#

All he could do was loose the game !!!

Being too protective

The opponent being too protective can cost him the game itself. This was a very short game and ended very well for me. Here are the moves

I was playing black.

1.d3 e5

2.e3 d5

 This is how it all started. Normally white starts with d4. This provided me a chance to make a e5 move. In case white moves d4, e5 for black is a risky one.

3.Nd2 Nc6

4.Ne2 Nf6

Haven't seen anybody play Nd2 and Ne2, but this guy did.

5.b3 e4

6.Bb2 exd3

7.cxd3 Nb4

8.g3 Nxd3#

 He didn't realize even after I moved Nb4. This was suicidal.

Drive to Bellary

I am yet not tired of driving, instead it's getting better every time there is a long trip.

I remember my first long drive to Mysore in April 2008. That was my first out station drive with my car. It was so patchy driving and eventually we met with an accident. And now, the drive to Bellary was much amusing, thrilling, exciting and enjoyable, especially the return drive from Bellary to Bangalore. There is so much difference between the two.

So the plan was to make a night halt at Hampi, followed by a visit to Bellary, finish off N's Nephew's naming ceremony and return Bangalore, all in 2 days.

We started late on Saturday, Chinni woke up at 3 am and didn't allow me to take a good nap, and the journey started at 11am. By the time I hit the Tumkur express highway it was 12 o'clock and the distance I had covered was only 30 kms :). This is no amusing. 

The actual journey started then. The stretch from Neelamangala to Chirtadurga is awesome. Nobody can resist it, neither could I. Have zoomed at 140 kmph on that surface couple of times.

There are lot of Wind Mill installed on the small mountains near Chirtadurga. Chinni was willing to go there. Not only go to the big fans, but also wanted to jump off it. Children's innocence, you know, can literally kill us. 

The road from Chirtadurga to Hospet to Hampi is not deserved to be a National Highway, in fact the State Highways are much much better, like the Bellary-Hiriyur State Highway. 

As we were about to reach Hospet, Chinni saw Tungabadra river bank and insisted to go there too. Recently she has a crave for playing in water. Unfortuantely I could not take her to the Tungabadra river in Hampi since sun had set for the day.

The stay at Vijayashree near Hampi was quite a night. A well maintained, spacious, lovely environment, lots of greenery and beautiful houses. Would love to go there again, in spite being little expensive. Saturday ended with a very long drive, half splendid and half tiring, and a little disappointed as I could not visit Hampi.

The next day, we drove about 70 kms and reached Bellary. All the drive was worth it after taking Arpit in my arms. He is so cute and adorable. Babies are unimaginably cute and when they grow to be 3-4 years, they are quite unmanageable.

Our return journey started at 4.30pm, was at least 2 hours 30 minutes late according to my plan. Phew, I thought how am I going to drive at night. It was a bad experience the previous time and hence had decided not to drive at night. But this time it changed my decision. The road was so smooth nothing could let me say "No, I am not going to drive". The 30-45 minutes duration, the sunset time, is what I hate to drive. It's the time to sit and watch him go down the hills. The climate gets so romantic, that I really refuse to do anything but watch the scene. But I had to still drive this time, will not next time!!!

The stretch from Bellary to Hiriyur was amazing. The curves got me jaw dropping and drooling ;) The drive was so interesting, it always kept me on my toes. It was so hard to over take a vehicle, but the road was inviting me not go below 80 kmph. It was a double road with no dividers. I could manage to maintain 80 kmph till I reached Hiriyur. There was no stopping after Hiriyur since I had joined the Bangalore - Chirtadurga stretch.

The highlights of the trip were the return journey and my car gave me a mileage of 20 kmpl. The second one astonished me quite a bit. I really have a relationship with my i10.

No updates on Chess

This column needs more time than I thought of. Not able to construct a post with useful info. I still have a post in draft since more than a month. Mostly, it will reside in draft forever.

In short, www.chess.com is a very good website with all the information, knowledge, videos, mentors, online games and what not! Currently I am hooked to it, will continue to be.

So I am just not going to post more knowledge about chess here, rather post some good games that I have played. Let me keep it short and straight. So watch out this column for some interesting fight!!!

The year that has gone by 2011

A lot of ups and downs this year, had never experienced so much of it for the entire life. But the curve is just moving upwards and no signs of moving downwards as the year is ending.

Well 2011 has been a lot of experience on professional and personal front. I don't like too many changes but its unavoidable for time being. Hoping to have a linear curve for the next year.

But, wish I had spent atleast a year in Hong Kong. I will miss that for my life time. Gone is gone, I don't like to live neither in past nor in future. I like to LIVE TODAY, who knows what's in there for me tomorrow.

One thing always bothers me when emptying my pocket, Chinni. How much do I save for her? Her nursery admission costed me a whooping 50K (there are schools which charge even 90K). My education till graduation hasn't been so much, it was definitely below 50K. I can't imagine what a rainy day would be like now, how much do I save? how much do I save? how much do I save? The question pings me very often.

Should this change my definition, apart from saving for Chinni, I will live today? It can't be such a straight forward decision. Probably I need to analyze more on situation basis rather than a hard core rule.

Hence this makes to take a decision. What decision? I will update this post very soon.

Update : Well, my thought was to buy Honda CBR250 for my self

Honda CBR 250R

 But after a lot of consideration, my thoughts are swinging either way, buy or not to buy. Probably, I will postpone it for some time. I did go for a test drive and I liked it as much I had like i10 when I looked it the first time. 

Decisions if taken should be executed as soon as possible. Holding it is a very bad idea, its gonna take its course.

Chinni's school admission

Hurray! Chinni got admission to nursery. That's a big relief. She will start schooling from June 2012. Oh my god, she is so grown up now, I can't believe. Time is just flying.

Before the admission formalities, there was an interactive session for her, equivalent to the interviews faced by us before getting a job. I wasn't with her, but N was, since Chinni refused to go alone. So what happened? I got to know only after it was complete.

Chinni and N went to a room with lot of toys, dummy fruits etc etc, a typical for kids to learn. Chinni was asked to identify a few, which in fact she knows but was little scared to speak up at first. Then she slowly started responding. N put forth a question -

N : How many hair clips do you have ?
Chinni : four

The lady: What is the color of your pant?
Chinni : Black (was a spontaneous response)

Four has been her favorite number since long time. Even now, after she has learnt 1 to 10, she replies four as answer to any question that starts with "How many", And N acted cleverly by asking the right question!

The second question also was the right one. Chinni's favorite color is "Black" now, it was "Orange" few days back. And the co-incidence, she was wearing a black pant!!!

When N explained me all this while we were returning home, we both laughed and laughed and laughed.

This didn't end the day. We made a small picnic to Sangama, confluence of Arkavati and Cauvery. For the first time Chinni got to play in river and she was enjoying it to the core. I didn't allow her to drench completely, but still she spent a good time. This puts a thought to plan a full day picnic, where she can enjoy the river utmost.

Responsibility or Desire ?

Very busy these days. Have been concentrating more on work and enjoying it as well. But there are lot of things going on simultaneously as the end of the year is approaching. 

Infact, all of the "things" going on aren't small. They are huge steps in my life, one being Iksha's school admission. Now I know why parents are confused when it comes to their kid's admission. It's not only the admission that creates panic, but every step in kid's life is a panic situation. After all it's parents responsibility ...... nah its not responsibility, there is a desire towards getting the right and the best to the kid. This "desire" is over and above the "responsibility".

Hoping Iksha will get the right and the best things in life.

What is your name?

My mom usually takes Chinni to neighbor so that she can play with their kids for sometime in the evening. Yesterday, the neighbor asked my mom "What is your name?". My mom replies her name.

Chinni corrects it saying "Hey, no, Iksha Ajji!"

This reminds me of another incident. Now-a-days Chinni is using a lot of brains.

Last Sunday, after Chinni finishing her bath has a conversation with her grandpa.

Chinni : Ajja, I used your soap

Grandpa : What should I use then?

Chinni promptly replies : Use my soap!!!

to which me and my mom laughed till eternity.

Genes

Having watched Chinni doing all the bad stuff inherited from me, feel like inheritance is bad unless and until only the good characteristics are obtained from the parents.

Biting nails is one which I have not been able to get rid off by myself. Chinni over takes me in this regards. She bits toe nails and I hate myself for that act, how can I blame or scold her for this?

Another one which I want to her rid off is the fear factor, like she is scared of sitting in jokali (swing) and playing in water. Even I was scared with these two in my childhood days.

Damn!!!

Visit to Dharmastala and Subramanya

The drive, apart from the 50kms ghat stretch, was totally enjoyable and I did. Not sure why men like curves, you can take a guess what all curves I am talking  about, so much. They thrill, but kill at times. Only worth mentioning is the drive from Dharmastala to Subramanya, which is around 60 kms. The road well maintained and curvy to get a thrilling experience.

That was the highlight of the trip.

I was planning for trip with a whole family for quite sometime. A couple flopped, but this turned out success. A 2 day trip, one night halt at Dharmastala and followed by next day visit to Kukke Subramanya was quite a get away from Bangalore. Atleast, my mom, sister and wife loved it. I am happy for they are happy about the trip. And since it was my sister's birthday, it seemed that liked "a perfect gift", as told by herself.

We visited Dharmastala, Southadka, Kukke Sumbramanya, Adi Subramanya and Abhaya Ganesha temples. Southadka has Ganesha temple, its small and beautiful. I liked Subramanya a lot, as in the scenic beauty of the place having Western Ghats as the back drop. I am neither a Theists nor an Atheist. So temples really didn't matter to me. And more over these religious places are now commercialized. You need to pay for everything, how will "bhakti" come in such places?, atleast I don't get.

I enjoyed driving, parents, sister and wife enjoyed visit to temple. The only one left was Chinni, who had nothing to enjoy. She in fact suffered. For 2 days she starved unnecessarily. There was no proper food available for her nor did get a chance to play around.

Overall it was a ok ok trip for me.

Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie

It was really shocking to know the demise of such a visionary. Though his life expectancy was known to be less, it takes time to for the fact to sink in.

There are people whose presence on earth makes it worthwhile. Steve was one of them.

I don't know much about him, only through James Gosling's words would one know how tough and perfectionist was he to work with.

I always had an urge to buy an Apple product, but my finance situation didn't allow me till some time. And now that my priorities changed, I didn't want to. But the urge remains yet.

Steve, I will buy an apple product just to pay tribute to YOU.

Update: Dennis Ritchie is no more. This shook me more. Alas, we lost another great personality this year.

When Steve departed, the next day his photo was seen on the front page of almost all news papers and explained his work in more detail than I was interested to read. Well, nobody would object to it, neither did I.

But Dennis's departure was published after 4 days of the event. This is what I object to, "Objection my lord!!!". TOI, Bangalore edition had a very small column, not even on the front page. This is more disturbing. I truely, deeply, madly condemn this act.

I pay a huge, respectful tribute to Ritchie. Thank you so much Dennis for your "C" and "Unix", because of which the computing world has grown so much.

And, my tribute to Steve remains, but a change in the way I pay, not going for an apple product for priorities have changed in a week.

Ajja eats chocolate

On an usual Sunday outing, Chinni grabbed a chocloate while we were shopping. Nothing new in it. On the way back home, she was still holding it and not willing to eat. N got a little curious and suggested to eat it or else will melt. Chinni replied "I will eat at home".

But since it was sunny, chocolate started melting really fast. The suggestion was little modified like "keep the chocolate in refrigator for some time and then eat it". Chinni replies "don't keep chocolate in refrigator, ajja (grandpa) will eat it"!!!

Now I know why mom always complain about dad eating lot of sweets.

A wave of Happiness

N and Chinni had been to Dharwar for over 10 days during Ganesh Chaturti. That week only one day was work for me, but I still didn't accompany them. I took a break for myself and I felt so fresh when then returned back. 

I really don't know what changes I have gone through but definitely I concentrate a lot on Chinni now. Before that I used to just sit in front of tv and scroll through channels after work hours. No matter Chinni pulled me for play, I used to make excuses and avoid. This is not happening now. I am instead pulling Chinni to play with me.

And since 2 days, the first thing I am doing, after work hours, is prepare a juice and make her drink. There is a wave of happiness when Chinni drinks it without resistance. And she is happy too. She hugs and kisses me and calls "Pappa...Pappa....Pappa" innumerable times. And and and, the most important thing is I have started feeding her slowly, Chinni accepts it too, otherwise its only N who has to feed her.

Somebody has truly said "There is lot of happiness in giving", not sure if somebody has actually said that, if not then that somebody is none other than me ;)

Is it just me?

Here is a situation. What do you guys generally do on a long, very long weekend, due a to festival in between the week? Neither you can't plan for a trip nor you can stay at home. Well, avoiding another option here, visiting in-laws!!!!

I generally don't want to travel unless its a non-before-visited location of a holiday. Kind of reluctance steps in when the same routine steps up on such occasions.

And more over its hard to convince spousey about this. A couple of days gets killed not talking, arguing, convincing and finally paying a hefty price of gifting the better half (its always the W getting the benefit here).

So is it just me ?

What is Chess all about?

What is Chess all about? The simplest answer being a game doesn't really make neither the listener nor me happy. Henceforth I am starting off this column with a little bit of explanation on the rules, intention and how to achieve that intention. Sounds good ? So let's begin.

If you are totally unaware of how to play chess, then here are the rules that you need to follow. Sometimes the rules are misinterpreted, just to avoid those silly doubts one can still go through them.

What is the intention of playing Chess? There could be many, as for instance in my case, I play it just because of the feel good factor. Some play it to achieve the goal, so called The Grand Master, few enjoy playing it and couple of them to show off their skill on the 64 squared black and white board (well it can be colored too, personal preference is green and white board). But the ultimate intention is to capture the opponent's King!!! Yes, that is all you need to concentrate on. Bury this in mind, always make a move which pushes you a step forward in capturing the opponent's King.

The next question that I expect is - How do I achieve this Mr? Believe me, there is no perfect answer yet. Even the Grand Masters fail seldom. But definitely there are ways, one being how strong is your opponent ;). There are several strategies. The game is actually split into 3 main stages. The Opening , Middle game and the End game. And the Grand Masters have almost mastered these stages.

Opening involves in making a strong hold the central 4 squares of the board which are d4, d5, e4 & e5

There are several theories like King's Gamit, Petrov's defence, Open Games, Ruy, Lopez, Scotch Game etc how to start with. And followed by these openings are different variations like Sicilian Defence, French Defence, Queen's Gambit and many many more. Just before you start playing, a good practice would be to learn one of them, be comfortable, look at couple of variations and sit confident.

Openings are not only concentrated on having a good control over center of the board but also look at positioning your King safe, development of your army and positioning the Pawns to strengthen the fort.

The Middle game is where you try to take a lead in terms of pieces and attack.  A possible way is also strengthen your area and go for defence. This stages almost decides the fortune of the player.

I may be wrong with the last sentence. The fortune of the play can definitely turn over in the End game. Hence practice a couple of steps on how to capture King when you have only a Rook left, or only Bishops, or a combination of Rook and Bishop, or a combination of Knight and Bishop. You got to do a little bit of math to find all the possible combinations. Don't forget to look at how to advance your Pawns and turn them into either one of Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight. Its a preference that you get a Queen, but not always it works fairly, even the Queen is treated as the most powerful member of your army.

Happy Playing. 

A new column, Chess

These days I have been tending to do something more than the normal routine of home and office. Life becomes such a boring thing when there is nothing more than work, I am not a workaholic, please spare me to live my life. I have always thought livelihood should be earned from what I like to do, where my interest lies, what makes me happy etc etc philosophy, but it really didn't work that way. I could not capitalize on the interest and skill on Chess.

If I were not a software engineer, wish I wasn't, I would have definitely been another Indian Grandmaster. 

So I have decided to a add a new column to my blogs on Chess. You can find loads of books on Chess, they can be much better than what I am going to chalk out here, but my instincts are not going to stop.

Very soon I will drag your attention towards chess, watch out this space :)

Bloody Muggers

Two incidents in Bangalore and One in Hong Kong, I am really going mad about muggers.

Couple of months back, in the first week, the newspaper agent came and collected the charges producing the bill. Dad collected the bill, handed over the amount in front of me. Normally I don't deal with monthly utility payments, either its dad or mom. The next day another agent came asking for the payment!!! We were shocked to find the previous guy turned out to be a fake one. He had duped several houses nearby. How smart!!! Nobody  had not authenticated him, this is how a mass robbery happens.

On Friday, 6th Aug, I was returning from office in my car. As usual, I had placed my mobile on the front non-driver seat and enjoying the music. At a signal near St. John's there was considerable traffic which made me switch off AC and open windows. Green came the signal and vehicles started moving slowly. A guy walked through the busy traffic. I was thinking what makes him scroll through such a huge traffic, making it more difficult for the vehicles to cross the signal. As soon as he passed my car, he started banging the rear door scolding me of driving on his feet. A few seconds I was puzzled thinking it was his mistake walking through such a crowded road. But the time I would react he yelled "go go go". Didn't really bother to continue the conversation and scold him black and blue. But I felt something strange about the incident just after I started moving. My hands some how searched for my mobile while eyes on the road. Suddenly realized it was missing!!! Confirmed it was a trick to distract me and rob me off. Thank god I had my wallet in my pant, other wise I normally place it too on the non-driver seat.

I had Samsung phone which comes with mobile tracker, a software which sends out sms to configured numbers upon changing the sim. Its been 2 days and I didn't receive sms yet, not sure if the mugger has deactivated it. Gosh, I had bought this handset just a month back. Now decided not to buy a new one, rather bank on an old handset gifted to my dad.

I always had the suggestion to service providers to be able to track a handset using IMEI, as in foreign countries, now turning out to be an advice.

A long but short drive

Did you ever felt like going for a long drive at 10 pm? At least I didn't get that urge even after having a car since 3.5 years. What is it like driving out at night? I don't like, may be because it's me who has to drive all the time and never get to enjoy sitting at the rear seat relaxing, listening to music with a drink in hand. Wouldn't that be wonderful drive, in case?

Here comes the but, Chinni got that urge to drive out yesterday, the persuasion increased when N forced her to have dinner, rice in particular !!! Having no other way, pulled by jacket, dumped couple of bucks in it and we headed out.

While I was concentrating on driving at 20-25 kmph, listening to songs on 94.3, N trying on finishing the rice that was brought, Chinni thoroughly enjoyed the drive identifying the shops, the schools, the stray dogs on road and the numbers at the signal. That's her habit of identifying objects, also making sure me and N have a look at it without fail.

Around 20 minutes of drive, we had hardly covered 3 kms on Bangalore's empty road. Chinni finished dinner and gave me an order "let's head back".

It was a long but short drive.

Have I changed?

This is not me, I am not the way I used to be. There is a lot of thought process happening before taking any decision since some time, not sure since when, may be after I became a father but definitely not when married. My decisions used be based on now situation and not on futuristic thoughts. I always wanted to live today rather than having a spreadsheet open with several sheets of calculation of every day, months and years to come. Is it called maturity? nah!!! According to me its being more conscious about one's dependents. Again, this is called maturity. I still don't agree that my thoughts got matured now, strongly disagree! Then what is it?

I am very hesitant to make a long term commitment, as in 15-20 years of a financial commitment. Needless to say I am in the process of buying a Home. Why does one go for his own home? 

• A sense of peace of mind that it is his
• Better utilization of the hard earned money
• Investment plan
• A place to live on his own terms

There could be many reasons. Why I want to go for my own home ? I just want get rid of annoying house owners. I do want to own one for the other obvious reasons, but the time isn't just right for me, I feel. There are few things that I want to finish off before start squeezing myself to save money to repay the loan. I want financial independence for some more time. I keep on asking myself - why live the same way others live ? can't I live the way I want ? The answer could have been yes if I wouldn't care about my family's future. I care but still want to live the way I want.

I don't know why do I get these unusual thoughts. It has to be either this or that, can't step into two boats at the same time and definitely can't ask my family to do the same. So how am I going to solve this problem ?

I don't know the answer yet, Time has it. Wait and watch!!!

The first word of the day

"Lets go" is what Chinni utters as soon as her twinkling eyes open. She is ever ready to step out of the house. Wonder how much enthusiasm is filled in her to explore the world. 

Weekends have been hard for me to stay at home.

I regret

I regret:

Not being a Chess grandmaster.
Not being a karate kid.
Not have spent enough time with my grandparents.
Loosing the painter in me, yes I had good drawing skills.
Spending those childhood days as a silent kid rather being naughty.
Not grabing the first onsite opportunity when I had just around 2 years of experience.
Missing out to be a photographer.
For travelling so less. I should mention the quote "Life is a book, If you haven't travelled you haven't read many of its pages".
Haven't visited the most amazing in India atleast like the Taj Mahal and other monuments, Rajasthan as in desert, Kashmir as in Himalayas, Simla as in Snnowy mountains, any Wild forest.
For have skipped learning swiming. I have it in my "Every year, learn an art" list.
Not being with N on the day of Chinni's delivery.
Not taking my parents to a foreign location.
Not been able to make Chinni sleep till now.

These are the ones which I should have done till now. May be there could be couple more, but not more than that. A few can be fullfilled, but a lot more can't be, for the time has passed.

Seriously, I couldn't stop hitting Chinni

These days Chinni is troubling so much, anything that comes to her mind has to be fulfilled, either be it at 6 am or 11 pm. Don't really understand what do these children think of. They have weird thoughts running throughtout the day.

For instance :
Pickup bathing soap, smell it and taste it.
Taste facial / skin creams.
Rub pain balm to wall.
Wash hair bands, clips and what not. She hasn't tried washing my mobile, touch wood.
Eat the shirt she is wearing and ask it to change once in 2 hours.
Always hunt for chocolates, gems and Ice cream (this one I can understand).
Want to step out of home at midnight.
Dance only on grandpa's bed.
Eat only the cream and throw off biscuit.

The list goes on and on. I would like to add more to this so that Chinni reads it to a have good laugh when she is grown up. Not sure if she is gonna curse me for writing all this and publish it in public.

Of all this what makes N and me angry is - she is never ever ever ready to sleep. Since a month, we have fought, like the freedom fight, to make her sleep if she has slept even for an hour in the afternoon and it went in vain. The last resort was not to make her sleep in afternoon, she can pull it till 7 pm and then starts dozing. No no, we don''t allow her to sleep at 7 pm, she is yet to have dinner. It takes around 10 minutes to get her out of that glitch. Once she has finished her dinner, she manages another 2 to 3 hours of play before going to bed.

There is so much to tell when the topic is Chinni, I totally forgot what is this post is about, why did I hit Chinni? As usual, Chinni was feeling too sleepy. The dinner was on the way and she was going all bonkers. She started throwing all that comes her way, unfortunately her sight fell on the charger, I had kept my mobile for charging. Within no time, her hands grabbed the wire and started pulling. I reacted immediately and caught hold of wire to avoid mobile falling on the ground. Chinni revolted strongly and pulled even harder.

What else could happen, my new mobile, yes I had to buy a new one after N had washed the previous mobile in washing machine, hit the ground. Well, that's when I couldn't control myself and hit her on her butt. Chinni looked at me with a sad face for 15 to 20 seconds and the cry burst ed like volcano.

This was the first time I hit her unintentionally. Arguments accepted, it was wrong act, I too feel the same. But there are times when things go beyond our control. It was silly. I have laughed at her other mistakes like when she painted wall with color pencils, couldn't control my angry on this occasion.

Hoping to withhold myself for many more such situations.

What does pappa eat?

There is so much struggle N and me put to make Chinni finish her dinner properly. There are stories told, rhymes sung along with dance, stars and moon participate, movies played and if required pappa or mummy beaten up to distract Chinni's attention that she is having food, otherwise food doesn't really sink in.

Yesterday we were playing "Who eats what?" game. So here goes the questionaire and answers
Mummy: What does rabbit eat?
Chinni: Carrot
Mummy and Pappa: Applause
Mummy: What does monkey eat?
Chinni: Bananaaa
Mummy and Pappa: Applause

Mummy: What does Chota Bheem eat?
Chinni: Laddoooo, with a smile
Mummy: What does Ganappa eat?
Chinni: Moodaka
Mummy and Pappa: Verrryyy good
Mummy: What does Chinni eat?
Chinni: Ganji
Mummy: What does Pappa eat?
Chinni: Holige
Pappa: Yeahhhhh, with burst of laugh.

Pappa felt as if he had holige at that moment, after all its his favorite sweet dish.

Chinni's favorite movie scenes

Have been waiting to compile this since long time. Atlast, I could do it today. Chinni loves a few movies, apart from cartoons shows. And she likes only selected scenes from the movies Up, Ice Age, Mr Bean and Bolt. So what I have done is ripped off those scenes and created a small one. Sure she is gonna enjoy this clip for ages.

Sweets, sweets, sweets

After Chinni's last visit to Dharwar, sweets have become her favorite dishes. She wants sweets throughout the day. If there is no sweet savories, she will stick to jaggery or sugar as the last resort. This is all because of the sweet dishes she tasted prepared by her maternal grand grand mother during the 2 weeks stay in Dharwar. Now it has become difficult for us to find one new sweet dish every day.

Everybody must have read or heard the story about the thirsty crow. This is Chinni's favorite bedtime story, now she is so perfect in the story that she herself tells us the story. Normally it goes something like this, the conversation is all in Kannada, I am translating it in English here
Mummy: Tell me the crow story.
Chinni: There lived a crow in a town.
Mummy: So what happened to crow?
Chinni: It was very thirsty.
Mummy: What did it want?
Chinni: It wanted water.
Mummy: What did it see?
Chinni: Water in a bottle.
Mummy:What did it do?
Chinni: It put stones in water, it drank the water and flew away.
Claps, claps, claps........

But yesterday night the story changed suddenly. Here is the new version-
Mummy: Tell me the crow story.
Chinni: There lived a crow in a town.
Mummy: What did it want?
Chinni: It wants sweet !!!
And we both bursted into laughter, at 11pm.

Resolutions

I started with a resolution of learning an art, any new thing to me, every year. This resolution started in the year 2008 and I have kept the spirits intact till now. I have been living a very common life so far, with no worth mentioning skill whatsoever. It's just one life and I got to justify the way I have lived it. Henceforth took this resolution. 

First Learning: How can I forget this year, 2008? Chinni was born, nothing to do with my resolution!!! I started off with driving a 4 wheeler. It wasn't a tough one, but not a bad one to start off. It paid off fruitfully as we had decided to buy a car. The momentum kept going after we added i10 to our family. By April 2008, I had almost picked up the skills of a good driver. But also met with an accident in Mysore. It wasn't my fault though. Now I have completely mastered the art of driving. 

Second Year, 2009:  Since N was in Dharwar with our new born baby, it was the right time to give time for myself. So I started off learning guitar. Guitar was always in my mind and there is a saying that "One has to know a musical instrument in his life time". Not sure if I started with the right coach, but I picked up some tunes by the end of 3rd month. Guitar should be learnt as a western instrument rather than Indian. I stopped coaching before starting with chords, that's was the mistake I committed. Now I am out of touch, but will start off a fresh some time.

2010, Hong Kong: Dreams come true and it did in the form of Hong Kong for me and N. Even though it didn't last long, we got a chance to fly and see what the outer world is. I again got time for myself for the first 3 months of my stay in HK. I thought I have to learn something and why shouldn't it be Martial Arts? Luckily I found a good teacher in Mr Sing and learnt few things about the art. Master taught me several defense techniques and also few movements of Tai Chi. I still remember his teachings and its a great way to keep fit and healthy.

The Forth Year 2011: Its been 4 months now and I have been think what to learn. Some times I have felt to continue learning Guitar and some times to learn a new thing. There are several things on my list, swimming is one of them. But its looking a bit difficult. Now I have decided to "Run". Yes, I know its not an art, but without being fit its not possible for one to run a long run. I have decided to participate in the World 10K Bangalore Marathon on 5th June. I won't be able to run 10 kms looking at my current fitness, but my target is atleast 2 kms. Will I be able to run? Let's wait and watch.

Chinni's anger

I have seen different types of anger in Chinni on different occasions. All of them are typical. I feel, she has inherited anger from all of us myself, N and her grand parents, otherwise it's impossible that she is filled with so much anger. There are times when I feared of her anger and was puzzled how to control.

Silent Anger: This one is very often. Imagine this - Chinni is in playful mood, she wants to jump around, sing and dance but wants mummy and pappa for companion. In case any one says "No" to her pull there is an immediate reaction, she silently goes, stand behind a curtain or goes to bedroom and stands facing a wall. She doesn't come back unless and until somebody comforts. The first time she showed this reaction we were puzzled as to where did she go. Since then we immediately run after her and get her back.

Violent Anger: I always fear of such reaction. She sometimes goes beyond control and takes quite an amount of time to get in normal mood. There are no particular reasons for this behavior. It could be anything chocolate, ice cream, talcum powder, medicine, laptop, her favorite shows on tv or anything. If her request is not fulfilled then any item on her way goes for a toss. Our mobile has been a constant victim of this anger. TV remote control is another poor victim. Normally chocolates and ice cream brings the situation in control.

Self Punishing Anger: This is kind of weird. I haven't seen this in any of the kids. Again there are no particular reasons for such anger. What she does is bangs her head to wall, floor, sofa or bed. Bangs slowly against wall and floor, but with greater strength against sofa and bed. I have seen this normally when she gets bored and doesn't know what to do.

'I disagree' Anger: This is the one which compelled to compile this post. We took an auto from Navrang after our journey from Dharwar, a week back. It was 6 am, no prizes for guessing she was awake. On the way she started identifying the shops, buses, cars, paintings and temples. It has been her habit to identify them when ever we go for a ride. As our home approached near, there was a play home on the road, the walls of which were painted with Mickey, Donald and other cartoon characters. Chinni recognized it immediately as school. The first time she had recognized a school, we both, N and myself, were looking at each other with shock, surprise and amaze. So I politely said, "Chinni will go to school today". Listening to this Chinni turned her face opposite to me and didn't turn back. After couple of minutes I smelled something fishy and talked to her, but didn't get her response. She was still facing the other direction, so I tried to turn her face towards me. I just couldn't, because she was holding her head so tight out of anger. The anger was only because I said "Chinni will go to school today". It was the first time I saw that reaction. As usual, we both looked at each other with shock, surprise and amaze.

Dancing is fine, but making others dance?

Dancing has been one thing which has attracted me off late. I used to enjoy it just by watching our stars dance on screen, though never felt like dancing. 

One big advantage of being a software engineer is you get to attend parties and dance. And this bug has bitten me too, I too want to dance. Willingness to dance and don't know how to shake legs is like a paralyzed person willing to walk, a guy doesn't know how to swim and want to get into water and a small boy holding a bicycle and doesn't know how to peddle it. I am absolutely in the same position of all of them above. 

Enough of me, this post is not about me, its about Chinni. Well, she knows couple of steps already and enjoys doing them. No prizes for guessing, the tunes are non other than her favorite rhymes. That's not all. She wants even us to dance along with her. Oh My God, this is what I had wished for. What else can I ask?

Chinni is right now in Dharwar with her grand parents, N's parents. Guess what, she made her grand parents dance too. Got to here that Chinni's grand father was dancing in full josh. That particular moment, they might have been on cloud nine.I missed it.

It's true, children are the happiest moments of our life, no denial even a fraction of a percentage. One more wish, I want to dance with my cutie with proper steps!

Pappa, go to bed. Its time to sleep!

Now I am on the other side of the table. Till now, I have been guiding Chinni to go to bed, telling her its time to sleep. And she has reluctantly obeyed many times. But things have changed now completely and the situation is quite the reverse.

I hardly get time to spend time with my laptop. So my usual plan is to get hold of it when Chinni goes to bed. She starts searching immediately when I am not beside her. So the "search pappa mission" starts immediately. and ultimately she finds me with laptop in the living room. I am taken by surprise "Chinni you haven't slept yet ?". She just orders me to close the laptop and come to bed.

I don't dare ignore her words else my laptop is killed within the next minute, alas, I can't do the same with her. So I politely shut it down and carried Chinni to bed. She smiles :)

The 4th Anniversary

Exactly 4 years back, around the same time, I had tied the knot to start off a journey with N hoping to fulfill each others dreams by crossing all the hurdles. The journey had started a bit early than that unofficially!

Well, we have crossed a lot of hurdles and they seem to be endless at this point of time.Its not only us, every one goes through similar phase, if not same. The difference would be the support you get from your near and dear ones.

Yesterday, as I asked "Which is your best day in these 4 years?" to N, the reply matched with my thoughts and its so true. "Birthday of Chinni". None other than Chinni's entry into our life was the best day. We both cherish it for the rest of our life and why not ? the happiness we got from Chinni was/is immense and priceless.

I remember the days when she was around 8 months and N had rejoined her job, Chinni used to wait for us at the door step. The picture of her smile and eagerness to embrace she had looking at us is imprinted permanently in my heart. It hasn't changed at all even after she has grown 2 years old. She still waits for us, jumps and hug us when we return from office. That one hug makes me forget all the worries, sadness and washes away the tiredness. Some times I will be smiling all by myself thinking of her act, while traveling in bus to office and back home.

Hoping and wishing for even better years in the future. Happy Anniversary N.

Cycling and Drawing

Cycling and Drawing are Chinni's recent upgrades in her skill port. While cycle has been her companion since Hong Kong days, but never did she try to peddle it. Cycle was more of a prop till now. She used to stand on it, keep her play things on it, wash it or just just sit on it while having dinner.

Off lately,  her effort to make it move has turned out to be successful. But there are couple of deadlock peddle positions when she can't make cycle move. She screams when she can't make the cycle move, a little push brings back the smile on her face.

Drawing is one art that I wanted to pursue since my high school days. I was good at it and still remember the appreciation I received for drawing Dr Rajendra Prasad in primary school. I went on with my adventures with drawing till 9th std and lost hold of it then onwards. There was no scope and encouragement!

There was a handicraft wall hanging of a beautiful Shilabalike during my 9th std in my home. I don't know if we still have it, but it was beautiful hanging made in cloth. That sculpture caught my eyes one fine day and I decided to sketch it on my drawing paper. I took a largest available drawing sheet and started on it. I took couple of months to give the finishing touch. 

There was one part which I could not draw satisfactorily. It was her breasts! Since she was shilabalike like the one in Belur and Halebidu. Finally, I decided to draw her breasts using a compass from my geometric box !!!

Can't hold my laugh when I remember it. How innocent was I!!! Really!!!

Last week Chinni got a color box as gift in a birthday party. Since then she has been drawing on paper and wall. And here is her first master piece. 

There is always a first time for everything and I didn't want to miss this one first drawing of Chinni.

Chocolates and Ice Cream

Can you live without Chocolates and Ice Cream ? May be Yes, but the answer is definitely No for Chinni.

She tasted chocolate when she was around 1 year old, there has been no looking back since then. I have only one snap depicting her craziness for chocolates Here it is

This was when she was 1.5 years old. She has tasted varieties of chocolates from around the world and that too at an early age. Not everybody gets such a chance, only this generation does.

Couple of days back when I returned from office she insisted for a walk. For a moment I thought "let me take her out for some time, since she is bored at home". Her intentions were pretty clear and clever. As soon as we stepped on road she started guiding me the path. I understood her intentions within no seconds, but I was curious to know how will she execute it. The path to the store where she can get chocolate is clearly imprinted in her mind. She took directly to the store without any confusion. And I was amazed as usual.

I didn't have any other option than getting a couple of chocolates. She was more than happy when I bought her cadbury's dairy milk and popins and said enough which pleased me more than anything else.

Her grandpa gets orders everyday when he is going for a evening walk, either he has to get chocolates or ice cream. That's not all. When he returns, she his both hands to verify if her demands have been met. None the less, her mom too get orders when she is going to office, in case Chinni is awake early.

The chocolate commercial ads are her favorite ones. She watches carefully without blinking her tiny winy eyes for a milisecond.

And here is the latest snap of Chinni enjoying ice cream.

The memorable interviews

Its been two weeks that I have started travelling to office in bus. The first week was difficult and always the thought jolted me to switch to my car. But things got going from the second week. I have almost reached the point to say "I am used to it" although I get bored for 1 hour in the morning and 1.5 hours in the evening. A  flash back on how my career as software engineer started reminds me couple of  interviews that i failed miserably, may be stupidly and idiotically that I still laugh at myself. I do similar mistakes even now, looks like interviews are not my cup of tea!

I am here going to write down a couple of my conversations in those initial interviews. And this is gonna keep me busy while travelling  in bus. The first interview was with Sapient in The Park hotel, Bangalore. I had cleared written test, so the second round went something like this. Answered most of the fundamental computer related questions. Discussion started with data structures. Sorting techniques, queues, stacks, fifo, lifo and then came the linked list. I had answered all questions and may be this was his last one on linked list. 

What do you do if I have a new object and want to add it the existing list? 

I don't know what struck to my mind. Immediately replied, without giving a thought, create another list and join them! 

No points for guessing i was rejected. I still regret that answer. Had I answered it correctly my experience would have been 6 months more now. 

 

There was another hr interview with Sysarris. Just a few days before I had made up my mind to spend my time reading books not only technical but others too. I had picked up a book by Stephen Hawking's called The Time Machine. It was quite interesting and had read about 10 to 15 pages. Being proud that I had cultivated reading habit updated the hobbies column in my resume! Flashback over, lets jump back to the interview. 

 

The hr interview went fine for the first 5 mins. He then looked into my hobbies section and asked which book have you read recently? Tell me the story! I was baffled for a moment since its a science fiction. Replied "No, I have just started reading it." and that's it. I was rejected.

Went back to hostel and updated hobbies section by removing "reading"! Then came interview with wipro. The gap wasn't much after my interview with Sysarris. I failed in hr interview again. Why? The first question
that a senior hr asked was what is sanjeevani solutions? I had mentioned my project experience in sanjeevani solutions. He asked me in such a rude manner I didn't know how to answer. By the time I was about to start second sentence he said "you may leave"! It was sheer bad luck.

Woman, especially N

This post is dedicated to the most wonderful woman of my life, though there are couple of them but still N is really special. Decided to write after thinking the contribution of women in my life, on Woman's Day. Truly speaking life is all about women, be it either one's birth, growth, education, marriage, children or child's growth ...... and it's a life cycle. At every stage you come across one.

If I had to dedicate this post to Mom then it can't be just one post, have to be series of posts. Well, let's move on.

N has tremendous energy, patience and perseverance. Just taking an example of a day's routine, it starts off at 6 am the only way to catch office shuttle at 6.50 am. I would be in deep sleep even when she has left. It's been past 4.5 years that she has been waking up so soon to reach office. Just imagine ..... 4.5 years is a pretty long duration to even stick to a company. Her office work will not be less tiring than me. Now-a-days she reaches home around 7.30 pm, but there have been days when she has reached even beyond 9 pm. 

The day doesn't end, in fact it starts. She cooks, of-course Mom helps too, for everybody and separately for Chinni. N has to spend time with Chinni as soon as she returns, Chinni will be waiting for her at the door steps. So she plays for some time. For Chinni, it doesn't matter if mummy is tired or hungry. After food is prepared, feeding it to Chinni takes not less than an hour. Its never a straight forward feed. She has to sing, dance, tell stories, divert her mind and only then the mouth opens :)

Now it's her time for dinner. And believe me, there has not been a single day where she has food peacefully, not even on a weekend.  Finally, the day ends at around 11.30 pm or 12 am when Chinni finally gets tired and sleeps. There is one more if clause. If Chinni had a nice afternoon nap for 3 or > hours, then even God can't predict at what time she will sleep at night.

And then again wake up at 6 am the next day.

This is a very typical day of N's life. Weekends aren't any peaceful. She has to take care Chinni each and every minute. This is not all, she has to go through family problems, fights with me, pressure at work and what not. Phew, there are many more things to explain and form beautiful sentences for this post. But that's not what I want to present here.

The main theme of this post to convey how much energy she has, how much dedicate she is and how much concern she has for her family. Definitely a man can't do woman's job. Hence I would like to salute N on this Woman's Day and wish that let God bless her all the Happiness and fulfill her desires.

Confused

Don't know what I want, was in the same situation after completing 12th. I really hate this period. Feel like pressing the fast forward button and hold it until 8 to 10 months have passed by.

Dated :  2-Mar 2011

Professional Life

Its been around 6.6 years working in Software industry and hardly I have enjoyed it. To put in numbers, the last 3 months have been good enough to say I have enjoyed. It sounds astonishing not to have enjoyed most of it, "why is it so?", which has to be answered by none other than me.

Here is my analysis. This analysis not only comes out of my experience but also out of the discussions I had with several companies during my job change recently. I don't know if you, the one who is reading it, might find it untrue and I don't compel you to accept it. Because it is about me and not about you.

Let me start explaining the analysis with a particular discussion I had with a very reputed company. The first round was a telephonic interview. I could clear it with struggle. The questions that were asked were so practical, not everybody could answer them without having actually faced them. It made sense.

The Second round was face-to-face which didn't last for 15 minutes. All that the interviewer wanted to know if I had worked on a large enterprise application for a long duration. I literally didn't have an answer. I looked at my resume and found it hard to convince him, given an opportunity I can prove myself. But why would any company venture on such a candidature when the market is so lucrative and plenty of such professionals are available ?

So what should I conclude from that interview? I was really disappointed not being selected due a reason out of my reach, of not working in a large enterprise application of a large duration. After several days of thinking and scratching my head, it appears that the guy was interested in extensive knowledge that I could procure working in an application for a long duration. Be it either a small application or a large one, it really makes difference working in it for a long duration. You would have surpassed most of the hurdles developing an application, getting it in production and supporting it to run smoothly. Am I right ?

There can be arguments of gaining knowledge of an entire application even being associated with it for a short duration. But there is a difference, a considerable difference. And this analysis reveals that I never had the complete understanding of any of the projects that I have worked on, quite astonishing. This analysis is not true though, but I can't defend it confidently. Why ? Because even though I have worked in projects for long duration, I am not in a situation to recollect each and every bits and pieces of it.

How does it related to not being satisfied with your work? Yes, it is proportionally related. The fun and pleasure working with a project for a long duration is substantial. You get comfortable with the environment, team members, work and you grow along with it. That's how you achieve the growth and gain the knowledge you need.

A very good example is my Dad. He worked in Davanagere Cotton Spinning Mills, Gadag for around 18 years. Can you believe it? He had gained so much of knowledge, faith and trust of workers/management that even after 18 years of leaving it, they call and talk to him now. How surprising and feel good factor it is when a colleague remembers you after 18 years?

Why did I enjoy the last 3 months of my job? Since 2 years, I had always felt that I wanted a change. I really didn't know what was it. After I returned from HK, I was put into a project where I was the senior developer. Somehow I felt the responsibility to help the team members with their problems and giving them the guidance. It was then I realized that all I wanted was change in Role. I was more than ready to play a Lead role. I was fedup playing individual contributor. I wanted more responsibility, may be a different responsibility.

And then I felt you start enjoying work if there is a change at regular intervals in your career. Doing the same job for several years will make you loose interest. May not be true for everybody. And if you are successful in the role you are playing, then definitely there is lot of fun at work. How can I forget the money factor? It plays a vital role too. Given a perfect role and less salary, the job is no fun. You will definitely feel less worthy and loose confidence.

In my terms, success in professional life is a recipe of change in role at right time, knowledge and a deserving salary.

Pappaaa.......

Most of my posts are some how related to the topic "sleep" when it comes to discussing Chinni. This one is no different.

On a week day, N will be very desperate to make Chinni sleep asap and get some good sleep for herself. Alas, its has been a dream which is going to still remain as a dream for couple more years.

11.30 pm, the other day, N had already struggled for more than 30 minutes to make her sleep. All the tricks were done. I finished watching World Cup match, thought both are fast asleep so let me not disturb them. Entered our bedroom with utmost care without even making a hush, occupied a very little space left over for me and slept quietly.

Not even 30 seconds had passed, a feeble voice speaks........pappaaaa? And I find N is snoring.

Fight for laptop

Date: 22nd Jan, 2011
Time: 9.30 pm

I was sitting with my laptop, playing chess online. Normally, I like to play blitz games (1 min or 2 min). Since Chinni was with N, having dinner, I got hold of laptop. Otherwise its always Barney, rhymes, Mr Bean, Tuli or lakdi ki kaati playing on it. Even now I feel, computers/laptops are used mostly for watching videos.

I had already played couple of games and had won all of them. Was in a good mood and wanted to win more to keep my score ticking. I had just accepted a 2 min, Chinni came running to me asking for Mr.Bean. I said "Chinni wait for 2 minutest, pappa will give you the laptop and you can watch as much, as long as you want". But no, she wasn't in a good mood since her ammi was forcibly feeding her (its always forcibly) and demanded the laptop immediately.

I didn't want to lose that game as my points would go down. She banged the keyboard, fortunately the browser didn't close to the weird key combination pressed. I just smiled and kept making my moves. My intention was just to finish up that game in 2 minutes. Chinni got more wild, she brought her face in front of the screen and started distracting me. I politely moved her aside quickly continuing the play.

That was it. Chinni started screaming and pulled the laptop. I sustain any attacks on the 64 squared black and white board for any duration, be it either 1 min, 2 min, 5 min or an hour, but could not sustain even 30 seconds of Chinni's attack. I had given up.