Obama On Burger Spree

Ray's Hell Burger, Five Guys Burgers,..................who's next?

It looks as though Barack Obama has kept aside his calorie count aside for the time being and going on a burger spree.

Obama made a surprise lunchtime stop at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, a fast-food restaurant in Washington D.C. on Friday to give treat to his taste buds. The president ordered cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers, and mustard along with several other cheeseburgers to his staff. It wasn't a public stunt but just pure appetite of the commander-in-chief, as claimed by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Earlier, in the month Obama along with Vice-President Joe Biden took a short motorcade ride from White House to Virginia and ordered lunch at Ray's Hell Burger.

Well, Mr. President, while we appreciate your down-to-earth attitude towards fellow countrymen, at the same time we want you to remain a well-developed, well-nourished gentleman rather than well-developed, morbidly obese gentleman, so get back to your routine diet before its too late.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

Transformed Deccan Chargers Overpowered Determined Royal Challangers

JOHANNESBURG: After all, catches win matches! Rahul Dravid put down Andrew Symonds' catch when he was batting at 5 and then he went onto add another 28 valuable runs for their total of 143. This, in combination with Andrew Symonds dismissing Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in successive deliveries was decisive for Deccan Chargers clinching the coveted IPL trophy.

After Kumble won the toss he put Deccan Chargers to bat. They began their innings miserably by losing their in-inform skipper Adam Gilchrist in the first over for a golden duck, bowled by Anil Kumble when attempting an ambitious shot. However, a determined and sensible innings from Herschelle Gibbs and of course Symonds and Rohit Sharma chipping in they managed to post a modest total of 143.

Kumble's men thought that they had restricted Deccan Chargers to a modest total and it is very well within their reach. Royal Challengers started their innings well with Jacques Kallis playing some wonderful shots but soon fell to the purple cap holder for 16. Their new batting sensation Manish Pandey, little subdued and uncharacteristic, may be overcautious on this occasion got himself out on 4. However, RD Merwe and Ross Taylor showed some stability. Once Ross Taylor fell, the innings began to collapse; however they had some sort of hope with Robin Uthappa who could not do much either and eventually they were 6 runs short of Deccan Chargers game who clinched the Indian Premier League 2009.

Rightly said, cricket is a great leveller and game of uncertainty. Who would have thought that last season's number 7 and 8 would play this season's final and ultimately the number 8 would win.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

Gilly Sends Dilli Packing

No prizes for guessing who is the most devestating opener in modern cricket in all forms. Obviously, Gilly. A blistering knock from skipper Adam Gilchrist propelled Deccan Chargers cruise to the finals of the Indian Premier League, rather (South) Indian Premire League since now it is a South Indian affair.

After Deccan Chargers won the toss and put Delhi Daredevils into bat they had miserable start by losing Gautham Gambhir and Warner in the very first over. However, later on Virender Sehwag and Dilshan build the innings with the help of a cameo from AB de Villiers and posted a total of 153, which one might think is not enough considering the batting venom Deccan Chargers have.

Deccan Chargers started their innings in a blistering way where Gilly hammered hapless Dirk Nannes 5 consecutive boundaries in the very first over who was an otherwise good bowler so far. At the other end, Gibbs was dismissed by Nehra for a duck. Undeterred with what is happening at the other side, Gilly carried on his onslaught and pulverised the Delhi attack with a brilliant 35-baller 85 which included 10 boundaries and 5 maximums. Finally, Gilly fell when the score was 102, but it was too late for Delhi to resurrect as enough damage had been done. At the end, Deccan Chargers won the match quite comfortably with 6 wickets remaining and 14 balls to spare and thronged into final of Indian Premier League where they will play either Chennai Superkings or Royal Challengers on Sunday.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

The show will go on

Days are gone when a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore would wear a deserted look after 10:00 p.m. Now Bangloreans can extend their nightlife a little longer after the government eased the closing time of restaurants to midnight and the movie halls can run the last show until 11:30 instead of 10:00 p.m. However, the closing time for pubs and liquor shops which is 11:00 p.m. is unchanged. This move would certainly be applauded by a large section of people particularly the socialites. Then what are you waiting for guys? be prepared to party hard.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

Resurgent KKR bemused RR

Defending champions Rajasthan Royals were knocked out of the tournament by resurgent Knight Riders in a low-scoring game with a nail-biting finish.

Initially, KKR paceman Charl Langeveldt wrecked the RR batting line up by taking quick wickets with economical bowling putting RR into backseat which was well supplemented by his fellow counterparts, thereby restricting them to 101.

One would believe the score was easily gettable given the fact that Brendon McCullum had regained his form and of course with gutsy Brad Hodge.

The Knight Riders began their chase miserably by losing 5 wickets for just 37 runs on the board after 10 overs with some brilliant bowling effort spearheaded by Munaf Patel. However, all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla came to the rescue of his team with an unbeaten 48 of 46 balls to ensure that his team finishes the tournament on a high note.

Hopefully, King Khan will have a reason to smile considering his team's performance at least in the last couple of matches.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

Voters' Victory

Recently concluded general election results have indicated that this time around voters are more sensible, mature and responsible while choosing the government unlike the last time where small parties had held the whole country into ransom where the government could not take decisions on their own on certain policies and reforms (nuclear deal, etc.) and jeopardize the whole nation. It is not because they have chosen congress-led UPA; it is because they have given mandate to a single party. By doing so, there is no room for petty politics and horsetrading while forming the government and one can expect a stable government where the government alone can take decisions without any hindrances and succumbing to pressure from some selfish individuals.

This indeed is voters' victory and not any political party's victory. Hopefully, one can expect a stable government now which could last for full term and put the nation into right track.

© 2009 Zafarulla Khan

Fakeiplplayer Truth - Marketing Gimmick

Many of us are wondering who the fakeiplplayer might be, and the so called Fakeiplplayer is making us guess who he is and in the meantime amassing fast bucks. I don't think this can be done by any individual alone. What I feel is that IPL boss Mr. Lalit Modi himself and his team has created this blog. One might think why Mr. Lalit Modi has to do this because he has already made millions of bucks. Since there are general elections in India and IPL has been shifted out of India, not much attention is being given by general public in India to IPL around this time. For the same reason, he wants to divert the attention of general public and media to IPL . At the same time, it might be because he wants to make up the flight charges deficit which he has incurred due to shifting of the venue to South Africa.

Mobile Number Portability

Are you not happy with your current mobile services provider and want to switch to alternative provider, but without changing the mobile number? Then wait until September 20. Department of Telecommunications is planning to implement Mobile Number Portability (MNP) where you can retain your LUCKY or old number, whatever it may be by if you want to change the mobile services provider. This will be implemented in a zone-wise fashion in which zone 1 will include Delhi, Gujrat and Maharasthra, and zone 2 will include Kolkata, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. However, it is learnt that there will be transaction fee charged from customers which might be within 300 INR and will require 2 days to change the provider.

Hopefully, by doing so, one can expect better services from all the providers due to the fear of losing customers and competitiveness. So, say goodbye to your present mobile service provider with irritating "not reachable message," irresponsible and inept customer care, and hefty bills.

Nightmare for Knight Riders

Royal Challengers defeated Knight Riders in what seemed to be a nail-biting finish up until the 16th over, but won comfortably by 6 wickets in an effort to sneak into the last 4s. Finally, Ross Taylor, came into form putting back his abysmal performance so far with a brutal 32-baller 81 which included 7 fours and 5 sixes. Initially, Ajanta Mendis did trouble him a bit, but once he completed his spell, there was no looking back and he mercilessly pounded all the bowlers, especially Ajit Agarkar and Angelo Mathews.

Earlier, Royal Challengers won the toss and put Knight Riders into bat where they did a fair job batting and captain Brendon McCullum himself regaining his form scoring a blistering 82 and David Hussey playing a pivoting role in achieving a modest total of 173. This time around, Brendon McCullum did whatever he could by scoring 64-baller 82, taking catch of the tournament to dismiss dangerous-looking Jacques Kallis, and using his bowlers wisely. This time around the bowlers let him down by bowling erratically with full tosses and that too on leg side.

Hopefully, their boss, Sharukh Khan will come to South Africa to boost the team's morale and support his team for their remaining matches.