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Showing posts from May, 2009
Man United loses Champions League title The clash between the two best football teams in Europe has to be a big ticket event. The fans expected the match between the two teams Barcelona and Manchester United in Champions league final 2009 would be of a ferocious one. With the best players in either team available to play in the final, it was expected to be a lip smacking encounter. But more often than not, big tickets are often a big letdown. Even this one was as Manchester United was easily and comprehensively beaten by the more agile Barcelona team in the final played in Rome yesterday. With two successive titles already in their kitty, United was looking for a third title this year and wanted to be the first team to do so. However, they appeared a tad numb on the big occasion compared to their opponents who appeared exhilaratingly alive. Barcelona defenders were spot on to deny any freedom to Ronaldo and Rooney whereas serious defense errors by the Man United defenders cost them not
May 24, 2009 – Monaco Qualifying Imagine what is two hundredths of a second? That was the difference between Button who eventually got to the pole before Kimi Raikonnen on a track which offers a maximum down force of all the Formula One tracks. Monaco is considered to be the world’s greatest and most challenging circuit. Nelson Piquet once remarked “Racing on this track is like flying a helicopter in your living room.” That is how difficult this track is. Button delivered a best time of 1 minute and 14.902 seconds to get his fourth pole in 6 races this year. He has already won 4 out of the 5 races. As far as Ferrari is concerned, this was the best start to finish so far in this year. Massa finished 5th. The 37 year old Rubbens Barrichello finished third ahead of Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull. The week that has led to the Monaco has been action packed with Ferrari threatening to leave the Formula One arena if the cap on technological investments was not removed and they appear seriou
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Pangong Tso – The most beautiful lake in the World We were up early that day for a visit to the world famous Pangong Tso (Tso means a lake in the Ladakhi dialect) which is situated at a height of about 14200 feet above sea level. We had spent 8 days in Ladakh and were habituated to bad roads, but the roads this time were not just bad, they were pathetic. These roads are maintained by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) who does a commendable job in maintaining the roads but the frequent landslides, a common occurrence in this area irreparably damage the roads. However, the 160 km journey from Leh to Pangong Tso is an experience in itself. The drive took us through the villages of Karu, Tangste and Lukung giving us glimpses of the Ladakhi culture. The car kept climbing upwards on curvaceous roads and soon we reached the third highest motor able road in the world, the Chang la (La means a Pass) situated at 17800 feet. Since we were nearing the Indo-China border, there was Indian army eve
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Journey from Manali to Leh: A breath taking experience Published in Chembur Ghatkopar Plus - Times of India on 8thMay09 We opted for a road trip from Manali to Leh. After an overnight halt at Manali, our next destination was Jispa. Jispa is 140 Kms from Manali and a little over 300 kms from Leh. We had to leave early to reach Jispa before sunset; the drive is very bumpy because the roads are not well built. The Manali-Leh highway is known as The Bikers Paradise. The journey is very adventurous and exhilarating. The weather was excellent as the car drove alongside the Beas River. The river was so clean and clear that we could easily see the pebbles through the water. We experienced varied level of temperatures as we moved through the scenic mountains; we took many small breaks to capture the beauty in our cameras. Our first break was at a little distance from Manali- Rohtang Pass, a well known tourist destination. The roads leading to the pass are dangerously curvaceous and narrow; ther