6 March 2011

Liverpool 3 Man U 1


reds goal: The Liverpool manager knows something about special number sevens, and he's got a little gem on his hands here. Dirk Kuyt gets the goal, but it's all about Luis Suarez, who has the best pair of feet English football has seen for a very long time. He dribbles past three United defenders from an almost impossibly tight position on the left inside the box, leaving Rafael, Michael Carrick and Wes Brown trailing in his wake before slipping the ball through Edwin van der Sar's legs for Kuyt to prod in from a yard. Anfield erupts.
1404: GOAL Liverpool 1-0 Man United (Kuyt)

1416: Told you (see 1401). It kicks off after Jamie Carragher fouls Nani and it's a nasty little tackle. Steven Gerrard gets involved and then Nani falls to the floor theatrically. Then everyone gets involved. Carragher is rightly booked and Edwin van der Sar is cautioned having run 70 yards out of his goal to get stuck in. Pathetic, all of them.

1419: They really are pathetic, all of them. Rafael goes in hard and late on Martin Skrtel and he is booked and then it's yet another free-for-all, Rafael getting booked and Skrtel picking up a yellow for his - perhaps understandably - furious reaction. What is wrong with these people? Javier Hernandez is on for Nani.



Reds goal: Ready the hairdryer - Nani is going to get a blasting. Luis Suarez is outside the box on the right and his cross looks harmless enough, until Nani inexplicably heads back towards his own goal, the ball looping over Michael Carrick and falling perfectly for a gleeful Dirk Kuyt to nod past Edwin van der Sar from six yards. Oh my word.
1409: GOAL Liverpool 2-0 Man United (Kuyt)

Reds goal: Madness. It's sheer madness. Liverpool win a free-kick for Wes Brown's clumsy tackle on Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez's low shot is fumbled by Edwin van der Sar, with poacher-in-chief Kuyt getting in like a flash to convert from about a yard. He's bagged a treble, the Dutchman - and they've been gifted too him, all of them.
1457: GOAL Liverpool 3-0 Man United (Kuyt, hat-trick)

1506: Seconds after coming on, Andy Carroll heads a cross goalwards, but it's an easy save for Edwin van der Sar. Knows how to make an entrance, that boy.

1514: They are almost queuing up for a goal, the Liverpool players. Maxi mis-kicks from a cross from the right and United get it clear. The United team must wish it was full-time already. About eight minutes of normal time left.

1526: Full-time Liverpool 3-1 Man United
How many people predicted that? Great finish to the game, sporting handshakes all round from the coaching staff and a warm embrace between Dutchmen Edwin van der Sar and hat-trick hero Dirk Kuyt.


yippie.... what a result what a game !!

Hey Torres... wish you were around

6 December 2010

sports day @ Mirambika

Badminton finals



A test of fire

watching the action

7 November 2010

Plumbeous redstart


My sketch of a Plumbeous redstart........

1 November 2010

Images of my school: Mirambika...

And can anyone guess

why no one is inside the school ??













20 October 2010

Bird list @ Fraser's hill

1.Oriental Honey Buzzard
2.Blyths Hawk eagle
3.Brown Wood Owl
3.Black Eagle
4.Changeable Hawk Eagle
5.Crested Serpent Eagle
6.Large Hawk Cuckoo
7.Mountain Imperial Pigeon
8.Little Cuckoo Dove
9.Green Billed Malkoha
10.Raffles Malkoha
11.Large Niltava

12.Great Hornbill

13.Wreathed Hornbill
14.Fire Tufted Barbet
15.Black Browed Barbet
16.Red Crowned Barbet
17.Brown Barbet
18.Greated Yellow Nape
19.Lesser Yellow Nape
20.Crimson Winged Woodpecker
21.Bay Woodpecker
22.Malaysian Cuckoo Shrike
23.Brown Shrike
24.Grey Chinned Minivet
25.Orange Bellied Leafbird (M & F)

26.Black Crested Bulbul

27.Mountain Bulbul
28.Yellow Vented Bulbul
29.Ochraceous Bulbul
30.Ashy Bulbul
31.Bronze Drongo
32.Lesser Racquet Tail
33.Greater Racquet Tail
34.Black & Crimson Oriole
35.Green Magpie
36.Magpie Robin
37.Blue Nuthatch
38.Streaked Wren Babbler

39.Golden Babbler
40.Grey Throated Babbler

41.Buff Breasted Babbler
42.Black Laughing Thrush
43.Chestnut Capped Laughing Thrush
44.Chestnut Crowned Laughing Thrush

45.Silver Eared Mesia
46.Blue Winged Minla
47.Mountain Fulvetta
48.Long Tailed Sibia
49.Chestnut Crowned Warbler
50.Artic Warbler
51.Mountain Tailor bird
52.Dark Necked Tailorbird
53.Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
54.Asian Brown Flycatcher
55.Verditer Flycatcher
56.Little Pied Flycatcher
57.White Throated Fantail
58.Grey Wagtail
59.Black Throated Sunbird

60.Streaked Spider Hunter

61.Buff Bellied Flower pecker
62.Everett's White Eye
63.Sultan Tit
64.Red headed Trogon
65.White Rumped Munia
66.Asian Fairy Blue Bird
67.House Swift
68.Large Billed Crow
69. Speckled piculet
70.Rufous bellied eagle
71.Black-eared babbler
72.White browed fantail

14 October 2010

diaries from malaysia

On the 10th of October, i left for Malaysia. I was really excited and i just couldn't wait. When we landed at Kuala Lumpur, we took a bus from the airport (which is 1 hour away from the city) to KL Central.

At KL Central, suja massi picked us up, It was about 11:30 in the the night when we got to her place.

The next morning,we went to the KL CC, the mall between the two Petrona's towers. The mall was great but the Petrona's towers were even better.

Anyway, after seeing the towers we went and had lunch at the mall. I had a Malaysian satay (which was absolutely awesome). After a great lunch we roamed around the mall a bit and then went home.

In the evening,we went to Chinatown. Where there was the most hustling bustling and colourful market i have ever seen. Every body was just screaming prices at you.It was lots of fun.
After loads of bargaining, buying and walking around, we went to to this place called Neroteka for dinner.

In the next few days we went to many places in Kuala Lumpur.We went to this mall called the 'mega mall', and it was HUGE......it even had north, south, east and west courts. That was where I had this dish called 'murtabak', which is a kind of a pancake with eggs and meat...it was really good.

We went to this Chinese restaurant where they have really good crabs, and it seriously lived up to its expectation. They were awesome....and the best part, of course, was breaking the crab open (with a hammer)


After 3 most enjoyable days in kuala Lumpur, we left for Fraser's hill.

Fraser's hill is one of the birding hot spots in Malaysia , and is only a 2 hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. As we reached the gap and went on up to Fraser's hill the landscape changed completely, i had never seen anything like it.The forest was just so thick, all you could see was greenery.

When we reached Fraser's hill we met Mr.Durai.....who was a birder himself and was going to guide us in Fraser's hill. He seriously was as good as everybody said he was and he had a really great passion for birds too.

Anyway, so after we met him we went to our apartment and then went straight off to do a bit of bird watching. Our first sighting was of the Mountain bulbul......which waited for us to watch it for as much time as we liked. We had a brief sighting of the long tailed sibia and then as we were leaving that area a Black eagle cruised over us.

On our way to an area around a waterfall,there was a whole flock of birds which contained huge variety of different species were moving around in the trees.We saw Golden babblers, Blue nuthatches, Chestnut capped laughing thrush's, Mountain fulvettas, an Arctic warblers and to top it all a Speckled piculet. it was reall wave of birds but all the birds drifted away slowly.
As we went down to the waterfall path we saw a few more birds like the Green billed malkoha and the Black throated sunbird. As we were coming back we had the most wonderful experience.....a family of Black gibbons crossed over in the trees right above us.



After this we went to another area called the telecom loop. I don't know what was with Suja massi and the birds here but they had certainly taken a liking for her. In the first stop we had taken here..me, Mr.Durai and my mom had walked forward..we heard a suja massi calling us from the back and just as we arrived just in time to see the huge Blyth's hawk eagle take off from the tree.

We went ahead we found a flock of Blue Winged minlas and Moutain fulvettas.......as i was taking pictures of them suddenly through my viewfinder i saw a flash of black and yellow....i looked and i couldn't believe my eyes.It was a lifer as I saw the Sultan tit sitting majestically only a few feet away from me.


There was a great birdwave at the time and we saw the Orange-bellied leafbird and the Malaysian cuckoo shrike...and also a few others like the Black eared babbler and the Grey throated babbler. We even caught a glimpse of another lifer..the Brown wood owl.

As we went further ahead we reached a spot where the whole valley opens up in front of you.we sat there for two minutes and suddenly we saw this huge Hornbill flying towards us...a Wreathed hornbill.It was a truly magnificent sight..but it got even better soon later on the other side of the valley were a pair of great hornbills....I dont know how Mr.Durai spotted them but he did and they were absolutely amazing.

Later i got my first sight of the Silver eared mesia...an absolute marvel


I also got first glimpses of the Green magpie, the Greater yellow naped woodpecker...and the Black and Crimson oriole.

After this we called it a day....and went back to the apartment and had a good nights sleep.................... .

The next morning we met Mr Durai at 8:00 in the morning and we went birding to the new gap road....... .

We saw the Oochraeceous bulbul....at first and then came a big surprise..the raffles malkoha which was a pleasure watching jumping around in the trees.while watching this there was two families of gibbons trying to fend off each other and the whole valley was ringing with their calls which were surprisingly loud.

As we went on we saw quite a few raptors flying up in the sky, six different ones actually...the Crested serpent eagle, Honey buzzard, Black eagle, Changeable hawk-eagle, Blyth's hawk eagle and the Rufous bellied hawk eagle.

Talking about the sky, we saw a pair of Wreathed hornbills fly over us 3 times. We also the Brown barbet, Chestnut crowned warbler and the Black crested bulbul. We also go to see the Asian brown and the Canary flycatchers.

After this we went and had lunch at a chinese restaurant.

Then we went to a trail where we saw two more lifers the Large niltava and the Streaked wren babbler. The Large Niltava female gave us a really amazing display of it's elegance.It was bird my mom really wanted to see.The Streaked wren babbler was a bird that moved so amazingly fast on the ground and it was really tough to see but we managed to see it really well. After that we went to the telecom loop but surprisingly it was very quiet so Mr.Durai said we should try out the waterfall road and that was where we saw this beauty: the Crimson Winged Woodpecker.


We also got to see the Sultan tit and the Blue nuthatch again, and then another amazing woodpecker appeared..the Bay woodpecker, it was far but through the binoculars we got to see them very well.

It was getting dark by then so we left for dinner and went back to the apartment. The next morning was our final morning at frasers,so we did our last bit of birding with Mr. Durai.The day started off with a Streaked spiderhunter....which was one of the bird i really enjoyed watching...


One thing my mom really wanted to see was the male large niltava which is a brilliant indigo.
Mr.Durai promised my mother that tomorrow morning we would see Mr.Niltava. As the morning went on we saw had a glimpse of the Black eagle and then the White rumped munia but then................we saw THE lifer and one of the birds i really really wanted to see......
The Read Headed Trogon.... .



We then went ahead towards where we had seen the niltava female on the earlier day....just outside that trail there was another huge flock of birds.....the Greater yellow naped woodpecker, Long tailed sibias, Chestnut capped laughing thrushs and then we had the most amazing view of the Green Magpie.

We had to leave soon and so we went on to the trail which was the last bit of birding at fraser's hill and a last effort to see the male niltava.This was birding you know, sometimes you see what you want to see and sometimes you dont.....and the same thought was running in my mind as we walked into the trail. A second later all the thought was abolished because Mr.Durai said "mona (my mother) mona see there's your boyfriend"...and would you believe it...10 feet in front of us was Mr.Niltava, sitting there as if he was waiting for us.

While watching the Niltava, the Streaked wren babbler gave us another beautiful sighting and this time it was only a foot away from me. A Buff-breasted babbler also gave us a glimpse.
It was an awesome end to an awesome birding trip, and sadly we had to thank Mr.Durai and leave Fraser's hill.

When we reached Kuala Lumpur, we went straight home and lazed around for the rest of the dayand in the evening me and my mom went for a swim in the pool but otherwise we didn't do anything.

It was our last day in Kuala Lumpur,the whole morning we were just relaxing but later in the afternoon, we went to this food market. For dinner,Suja mass's friend had come over and Bose taught me how to make molten chocolate (which was AWESOME).

The next morning,sadly, we had to leave for the airport godbye's & thanx to Suja maasi & Bose for a memorable trip and we arrived back in delhi by around 8:00....

and now back to school......... Sigh !

26 August 2010

sketches series......16. Leopard


My earlier sketch of a leopard is here

& this is my second one........



23 August 2010

Onam 2010


Happy Onam to all,

to mark the annual visit of King Mahabali & the rain, we had a small feast at home.......

Untill next year !!

20 August 2010

sketches series.......15. Golden Plover

sharing a sketch i made of the Golden Plover recently.....

15 August 2010

sketches series...... 14. Football fever is back & this year it will be Arsenal

With the rains pouring & the Simla Youngs ground flooded most of the time, not much football is happening, also been down with a viral.

But to mark the return of good soccer on T.V with EPL & the Spanish Liga.......
a sketch from me for Barca & Arsenal....


10 August 2010

sketches series......13. Heron fishing



Sharing a sketch which i made sometime back...... of an Heron fishing

30 July 2010

MBK vs Shikshantar

Even though we practiced hard for about 2 weeks
& we had a great team spirit going
i was kind of nervous in the morning
also those guys looked tall & big...

finally its 8.30 am
the whistle is blown.. & the match starts
before we could blink
our lynch pin in attack, Karan strikes


then again & again it just rained goals

after a while it didn't matter what the scoreline was

Shikshantar was pulverised

final score 13 -2 ....
or something like that

They seem relieved to leave the field.....
sorry guys,
we were just too good today

26 July 2010

A big thankyou to everyone........

for all the phone calls,
for all the good wishes in face book & through mail
for maasi for the cakes & lasagne
for all the gifts
& for all who came & had a mad time.......

25 July 2010

sketches series.....12. Eagle


Very difficult to take a good snap of something which is framed,
because of the reflection & light issues,
anyway a side angled shot of a sketch of an Eagle i had made sometime back !!