Saturday, April 23, 2011

The BEST buses

For the uninitiated, the word BEST is not an adjective but an acronym given for the Govt. bus service which runs in Mumbai. BEST stands for 'The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking'. I was a regular traveler in the bus when I use to visit city during my breaks in engineering or when I use to work.

Once I went for my MBA, then the visit to the city became sparse and even less traveling by bus. The only change I noticed over the years was installation of Vodafone payment drop boxes inside the buses.

But today, I was forced to travel given the bad situation of parking when I was supposed to go. And to my utter surprise, I saw printed tickets being doled out by the conductors using a handheld device. My friend tells me that it helps to save time and conductor does not need to check fare and then issue one. Now, he just punches in origin and destination and voila; ticket is printed. Also, at the end of accounting has become easier with introduction of technology.

Another visible difference was installation of LCD screens which were running ads on them. And the best addition was fire extinguishers on board. I just hope that they work needed! :D

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Coincidences in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Since the Cricket World Cup was being held in India, Indian team was in great touch, this was possibly the last tournament for Sachin Tendulkar (though I would like to see him go on and on...), everyone wanted to witness an Indian victory.

But sometimes, rather uneventful events throw up interesting coincidences or patterns and looking in hindsight, following are such events in this World Cup.

1. Sehwag scoring a score of 175 against Bangladesh in the opening match of the tournament. This was exactly the same score scored by Kapil Dev in the 1983 World cup match v/s Zimbabwe.

2. India tied a match with England. MS Dhoni as a captain had a tied match in IPL, World Cup T20 and Champion League in the editions which he won.

3. After defeating Pakistan, I personally saw a pattern and posted on facebook here "India defeating teams in EXACTLY the same order in which they were crowned champions in the past - West Indies (75,79), Australia (87), Pakistan (92)....wasnt SL the winner in 96 ;)"

4. In the meanwhile, another coincidence came up which said that calenders of the year 1983 and 2011 are same.

5. And a day before the final, SMS forward told me that all captains whose last or first name started with 'S' were being evicted - Shahid Afridi, Strauss, Smith, Sammy and so next in line is Sangkarra.\

6. I had posted this on facebook before the world cup

Cricket WC - Sachin - India

1. 1992 - did not open - out after first round
2. 1996 - opener, highest scorer - losing semi-finalist
3. 1999 - did not open - lost in super 6s
4. 2003 - opener, highest scorer - losing finalist
5. 2007 - did not open - out after first round
6. 2011 - will open....!! :)

Though, it was updated after the WC as Sachin was India's highest scorer, tournament's second highest scorer and of course, India WON!