A great cricket match

Ppl at Nevis go every saturday to Pune University grounds to play cricket. We have a match with any team there. Many other IT company teams also come there. Today, we got a bit late and finally had to take a match with lads from MIT (not US... :) Maharashtra Institute of Technology ).

The match was of 12 overs. This MIT team had fundoo bowlers. They really bowled the line and length and it was really hard time sending the ball for singles or doubles too.... These ppl had such a great fielding that we lost first two wickets by run-out on direct hit.

We cheered the ppl going for batting... shouting, hooting, and making fun of them when they fumbled. Shoutings of 2D (2 declared) and Granted for any ball that went behind the wicket!

After 12 overs, we posted 75 for them to chase.
The MIT team blasted off very nicely. They lost 2 wickets in first five overs and made 37. After that the ball was given to Sachin, a friend of Harjeet, from Veritas. This man really shifted the balance of the game to our side. The MIT team had a left-arm opener who was smashing the ball in all parts of the ground. Sachin with his wonderful spin, bowled him and then the MIT team's downfall began. Next ball, the new batsman who came in was bowled even more beautifully. The ball pitched on the leg side off the line of the stumps and then turned in taking away his leg stump. Awesome delivery! Deja-vu of Graham Gooch getting out off the ball of Shane Warne.

In the next 4 overs, we hardly gave them any runs and they lost 8 wickets in total. Of last 2 overs, they needed 16 runs to win. They lost another wicket off the bowling of Harjeet. I did the last over and on the second ball, which was full, he lofted it to mid-wicket where Kishore took a clean catch and we won!

It was nice.

I had been playing with them for the last 3 saturdays but this was the best. There was no cheating. Everybody was sober and we really had a good time.

Secure programming at Nevis ;-)

Nevis Networks, the company where I work.
Well, people do have a very cool sense of humour here thus proving that they are not just geeks. As preknowledge thing, you must learn that Nevis works on developing Secure Switches.
And Mr Deepak Dandekar really had this bulb suddenly lit in his mind as to what would be secure programming at a company dealing with secure switches. :-)
Have a Look for urself :))

Migratory Birds at Bhigwan and Matoba

Second Internship at Nevis.
First Outing - Bird watching at Bhigwan and Matoba.

Well, this was my first experience of bird watching but to admit, it was a wonderful experience. I loved it a lot. The event was organized by a group called InSearch. I came across this opportunity from Raghu, who is a very senior member at Nevis. Fun was added with Atul in company, a new friend I made. So you see, I got to see bird-watching and made a very good friend too.

Every year, from September through February, Pune and it's surrounding wetlands give home to a number of migratory birds. These birds travel thousands of kilometers (many of them non-stop!!!) to escape the inclement conditions of Europe, Northern Asia and Himalayas.

Bhigwan: Situated about 100km from Pune, the waters of Ujani dam provides a healthy habitat attracting Ducks, Pochards, Storks, Sea Gulls, Marsh Harrier, Herons, and the most famous of all, the Flamingoes.

Matoba: Is a big lake situated about 50km from Pune. You get to see plenty of Brahminy Ducks and Shovellers here.

With Raghu's Nikon hi-fi SLR, Nikunj's Nikon SLR and Atul's Fujifilm digicam, we got some amazing photographs. I am putting the best photographs here. Enjoy!

Kingfisher with blue colours


Another kingfisher with shades of red and orange


Bee-eater: Just look at its tail


A beautiful duck

An unexpected guest! A water snake. Don't worry. Its non-poisonous. :-)


The split-beak migrators


The split-beaks in flight


A beautiful pond heron standing in shallow waters


The same pond heron in flight. Just look at its feathers. Awesome na !!


The lesser spotted eagle


Hello Mr Black!
O Hello Mr White !!


What a camouflage !


Birds fishing for food


The twin trees at Matoba


Honey, does it look good ?
The weaverbirds nests (only the helmet). The male completes the nest only when the female apporves of the helmet.


Beautiful Flower


Awesome sunset at Matoba

Photocredits: Nikunj Vaidya - Bee-eater, Water snake.
Atul Talesara - The rest except the flower and weaver bird nest.
Myself - Flower and weaver bird nest.


For higher resolution of some photos, visit my photoblog:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyknight/