Adios, Master!

Dear Sachin,

Congratulations on your retirement! Is it an appropriate thing to say? I don't know... Just tweaking that legendary song from The Sound of Music, I'm glad for you to go, I cannot tell a lie... For more than the past couple of years, I have been absolutely vocal about the need of you retiring. But now that it is actually upon me, I feel a bit nostalgic, a bit emotional. In fact, a hell lot emotional…

I distinctly remember my first Tendulkar moment: It was a world cup match 1996, against Kenya. I had been to my uncle’s place for lunch. And I wanted to get back home, to play hide and seek with my mates. But dad was glued to the TV screen. So were my uncles. And as I was pestering dad to start, he and my uncles kept telling me, “Wait till Sachin completes his century.” And finally when you did get there, I looked at you rather curiously. Little did I know that I’ll be watching this face constantly for the next 17 years…

The world cup fever caught my ten-year old self, and I started following cricket. Rather, started following you! Your whirlwind innings against Australia, brilliance against Lanka, the composure against Windies… and then the heartbreak in semifinals…

Then there was no stopping for my Sachinmania. And you kept providing me with gems of innings, lighting the days of my otherwise dull life. Be it destruction of Warne throughout the summer of 1998, this-it-for-you-dad hundred against Kenya in world cup 1999, hitting the bejeezus out of Shoaib in world cup 2003, scoring 241* without a single cover drive at Sydney… Mate, you were the velvet in the fabric of the game!

And with the grueling demands of the game, we could see your body crumbling. The loss of form was inevitable. So much that TOI even called you ‘Endulkar’! But I was sure that you would come back. And come back strongly. I firmly believed that you can win us the World cup of 2007. And when India crashed out of it in the first round, I read you saying that you would play till the next world cup. I still remember thinking, “Man! The guy’s lost it!” Little did I know that you were going to make me compress my words into a cheese slice, put that into a sandwich and make me eat it. Eat it whole…

That eventful night in November 2009 at Hyderabad, when India, chasing a stiff target against Australia, was reduced to half. Until you take over, that is. After that it was a familiar script. You taking the opposition apart, leaving just a little for the rest, and India stumbling before the finish line. You did not stop after that, though. For the next year and a half, you were literally walking on water, including the first double ton in ODIs.

But of course, the cherry on the icing of the cake came on 2^nd April 2011, when you finally got your hands on that one trophy which you were missing so badly. Hell, all of India wanted you to hold that glittering metal. I wanted you to have that world cup winner’s medal more than anything!

Honestly, I secretly wished if you could walk into the sunset that very moment. But you did not. And then it all started going downhill. At least I felt so. A very shitty tour of England, followed by terrible show at home against Windies. Not the mighty Windies of 1970s, but pedestrian Windies of 2011, just a bit better that Zimbabwe or Kenya… And then even shittier tour of Australia. Could it have gotten get any worse? Impossible, thought yours truly. But no! You proved that you can not only bat bad; but also push your team into a shell. And make it lose the important momentum. Against England at home. And the number of people questioning your place in the squad was increasing, myself included.

In the meanwhile, you also scored your much-awaited 100^th 100. Against the lowly Bangladesh. At a very slow pace. And India lost the game. What’s worse, you seemed to be encashing the media hype surrounding that ton. By launching a special Coke can and a special Adidas shoe. In the same function!

Any ways, now that you have finally decided to step down after playing your milestone, let’s not go into the bitter moments. Because honestly, the joyous moments that you gave me are faaaaar more than those. Have a good last couple of tests, GOD! And then, enjoy your retirement.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!

Too many notifications? Here's a handy help!

First thing first, I'm writing this post using blogger's android app on my nexus 7. Input method: SwiftKey tablet.

Now the issue at hand: I have configured so many things on my phone and tablet. Gmail. Gtalk. Facebook. Foursquare. Corporate email. Battery apps. And - who - knows - what - else! With the  default notification sound,  it was really difficult managing the notifications all my apps give. So I manually configured a different notification sound for different app. Smart, eh?

But who remembers which sound for which app? I hear a ding, assume it's a Facebook notification and decide to check it later. It turns out to be an important email I was expecting. My phone buzzes loud, I rush to it thinking its battery is dying; but it's screaming because Flipkart's shared a post with me on Google plus. Damn it!

So what to do in order to solve this menace? One way is to record the notification app names in your own voice and assign them appropriately. But that's too mainstream; at least for me. What I do is I create such voice clips in MP3 format using the TTS capabilities of different websites, download them and use as I like. So many various websites offer you this feature. Googling for "text to speech" should help. My personal favourite is Listen (ctrlq.org/listen). It lets you create free voice clips.

So I have solved my problem. I'd love to hear your views. Cheers!

Musings on Android, Nexus devices and the Google ecosystem

After four months of using Google's pathbreaking Nexus 7 tablet, I'm compelled to admit: Pure Android, as only the Nexus line of devices can offer you, is way, way, way better than the blotched and bloated UIs of various device manufacturers. Moreover, the Nexus devices assure you that you will always use the latest (and greatest) software. When it comes o software, nothing can beat the Nexus lineup.

What then makes these devices a little unpopular?

After speaking to so many of my friends, peers, colleagues, relatives and all those random wen forum members, I have found out the  most probable answer to this question: Lack of the expandable storage. Somehow, for most people, expandable storage; by means of a memory card is an essential feature. Even if half of their memory card is free. And that's why people prefer other devices over nexus, even at the cost of shoddy software.

And that brings me to the broader perspective: Why doesn't Google add this one small feature to its already mightier than other Nexus devices? The answer lies with the Google ecosystem. In my opinion, Google wants the users to move to the cloud storage. Use your device for streaming; no storing. This seems to be the message. And this is in sync with its Chromebook devices, too.

From my personal experience, I'd prefer storing all my data on the cloud; for it gives me the assurance that it's safe, secure and accessible from anywhere. And on any device.

Over to you, guys!