Oh No,Yet Again...

The problem for Arsenal is that the longer this continues - this run of nearly, of almost, of what might be - the harder it becomes to rebuff the claim of Patrice Evra that Arsenal have mutated into no more than football’s greatest finishing school.

There has to be an end product, measured in trophies won, if this is not to be another season of useless beauty. At times, Arsenal’s football is so exceptional it feels almost sacrilegious to question the direction of Arsene Wenger. Yet this was not one of those times.

Arriving at Old Trafford top of the League, Arsenal failed to put it up to Manchester United, forcing barely a save from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. The margin was small but the best team won. Had Wayne Rooney scored his penalty, two goals would have separated the teams, a more accurate reflection of United’s superiority.



In this way, it was a depressing evening. The same old failings may pull Arsenal up short again, and that is a source of continued frustration. Whatever Wenger might think, his team could do with a major signing in the transfer window, they could do with the match-winning quality an outlay of £30million might bring, and they could do with a world-class goalkeeper.


Evra’s words were disrespectful considering Arsenal’s wonderful contribution to the Premier League, but he is not alone in regarding Arsenal as a college rather than a challenge. Jose Mourinho is perhaps the most openly disparaging of Wenger’s project, but others are equally dismissive, if not publicly.

Here is one theory, advanced to me by a senior football man only recently. Wenger does not buy big because then he will have to deliver a trophy. While he chooses to build his team on a self-imposed budget, based on youth development, there will always be mitigation for nights like this.

The moment he throws money at it, like Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Mancini at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City, there will be no excuses. He loses at Old Trafford then and there is no hiding place.

We seem to spend each season highlighting the same deficiencies at Arsenal. How many times has the pedigree of the goalkeepers been debated? And here we go again. Arsenal did not lose to Manchester United because Wojciech Szczesny, a 20-year-old from Warsaw, was in goal, but even so, should he have been?

Wenger’s refusal to address an obvious weakness in his squad is nothing if not curious. Szczesny has talent and potential and made two excellent saves in the second half, but he should not have been exposed to this.

Wenger should have secured a world-class goalkeeper for Arsenal long ago; instead they were reduced to bickering over the fee for Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer in the summer. The difference in valuation between the clubs was said to be as little as £1million. Winning the league is worth at least 30 times that; hardly makes sense, does it?

True, Manchester United’s winner looped into Arsenal’s goal as much by luck as judgment and, for any other team, that would be dismissed as just one of those things. But this is not any other team. This is Arsenal and these players are on the brink of delivering on all of Wenger’s most fanciful predictions. They just need one last push.


So, when they go down by one goal at Old Trafford and surrender the summit of the Premier League, we look for clues. And there in Arsenal’s goal is Szczesny — a fine prospect and yet to concede in the Carling Cup this season, but this is Manchester United away, and it is his Premier League debut. He is half the age of Van der Sar at the opposite end. Is this any way to win a title?

Arsenal had rotten luck with injuries prior to this game, no doubt about that. Manuel Almunia is out of favour and, when his understudy Lukasz Fabianski picked up a knock, Wenger had little option but to relegate him to the bench and pick the third choice instead.

Yet, looking along that cast list, is there anyone in Arsenal’s goalkeeping roster with the pedigree of a title winner? Think Van der Sar, Petr Cech, imposing figures who have long been regarded among the best in the world. Then consider that Arsenal’s first choice is not even a squad player for Spain, and their second conceded a goal last season when he turned his back on the play to argue a decision with the referee.


Then there is Szczesny: a callow reserve thrown into one of the biggest matches of the season. He made a fine save when Anderson was put in by Wayne Rooney early in the second half and denied a vicious chip from Rooney, but his positioning for the goal was unfortunate and his distribution nervous in the extreme.

His first kick went straight to a red shirt 30 yards from goal and in the first half he did a better job picking out United’s forward line than some of Ferguson’s midfield.

For the goal, he was in no man’s land, not far enough off his line to influence the play, not back protecting his goal. The ball arrived with Park Ji-sung courtesy of a fortuitous deflection, which did not help, but any header that goes in soft and loopy will be a frustration to a goalkeeper.

It was not Szczesny’s fault that Arsenal lost, but whether he should have been in that predicament is another question, A recurring one, unfortunately.

Is It Me...?

" Is it me or does that girl really look good?!"

I am sure if you are a guy this question would have crossed your mind, in some cases if you are a girl . The point I want to share is, I have seen girls who at one point of time doesn't make an impact on you. By impact I mean impression. There are girls who has an "oomph" factor in them, and there are girls who gains respect on the first look, and there are girls who never comes to your notice(no offense).

Being in a school which has more than 1000 students in a particular academic year, I have come across girls who belong to all the 3 categories. In college the "oomph" factor girls are like celebrities! If they talk to you or if they walk on the other side of the road in the same direction, your mind automatically start playing a heroic background music!! From what I have noticed in my life , mostly through the social networks(read face book ) available, how else do you think one could be in touch with so many people … yeah from what I have noticed is that these "oomph" factor girls totally disappear, is it cause they are dumb? Not knowing how to use a computer? Married early? I can't put my finger on it!!

Now comes into picture the girls of the respect and unnoticed category! What happened to them?! Well, they get into a good job, uses the social networks to stays in touch. And guess what they start look good!! I'm not sure how many of you will agree but I can voice for 70% of the guys I think. Now you start wondering what happened to them in college?! Seriously?! In college she would have been just another girl and now If you see her profile picture you start cursing your eyes for betraying you! This is the story of how a "unnoticed becomes a oomph(at least at an extent oomph)", She joins the social network with a profile picture of an actress or a baby or a flower, and sends request to friends who she knows, next step she uploads a picture which shows her face from side angle, the best of picture she ever had so far! Well you know guys, she starts receiving friend request from guys who she knows only by name. She then realizes that she has more that 300 friends in the account and has not changed her profile picture in months, she walks into a beauty parlor and straightens her hair! Next go to a branded shop get a nice pair of jeans and a designer t-shirt/tops. Goes to a nice coffee shop/restaurant/picnic with friends gets her photo clicked!! She also learns to do "touch ups" before leaving home! . You must have noticed I have mentioned "hair straightening" as first point, I strongly believe it is the first step towards getting "oomph" factor! It is becoming a common weapon used to get guys attention! Straighten your hair and leave a strand of hair fall on your face, guys will look at them for sure! And heights is when you have a girl as good friend from college who doesn't fall into "oomph" category and when she tells you about proposals she is getting!! You start believing that 2012 is the world's end! You look her photo twice and realize that she has become pretty, but she will always remain as the one who gained your respect on first look!

All being said, another important point is that, when guys are out of college they know what their potential/reach/capability is. May be, when a guy is out of college he reduces his standards/bars out of frustration? Realization? Or both? for the good? I guess these are questions even "Google" cannot answer!

How To Name It...

As I was talking to a very good friend of mine..I shouldn't call her a friend,She's more like a mentor or an advisor or something. But yeah,we were having this talk about todays teens and their aspirations,dreams and goals..

She was very intrigued in asking me what my ambition in life was, I told her that ever since I was very very young, Flights and Jets have been my ONLY Love affair and I told my dad that I'm going to be in a field of work with Planes when I was pretty young.
And to this day,To my surprise,I've been working towards it.. Flights make me go crazy and I refer to Flights as 'her' or 'she' because they are my first 'wife' :P

I know it is weird but deal with it.. When you love an object, you treat it like it has been a part of you for quite sometime now.
And yes, Flights and Jet Planes have been a part and parcel of my life since I was a toddler. I still remember the first flight toy I got. It was Yellow in colour and with the words 'Comfort Airlines' or something.
And since i've been flying for quite some time ,My love for it hasn't reduced but just gone high in the past few months.

And as me and her were talking,we started talking about kids aspirations and goals. I know this is embarrassing to say out,but come on..I've outgrown it. When I was like 13, I wanted to be a pimp because I considered it the COOLEST JOB IN THE PLANET! But I didnt understand the intricacies of the job until my teacher cared to explain it to me.
My parents told me "Be what you wanna be, Just give 110% in anything you do" and I appreciate that. My dad has been with me in every step of my life. And I am in my last step of schooling, To be honest, My final year is already over. It ended 4 days ago. Its just gonna be grinding,grinding and more grinding in the next few months because of the finals. I'm not gonna attend school but just write exams and come back home
That is gonna be one hell of a hectic schedule but lets hope its for Good.

We were talking about parents wanting their kids to be something and they getting disappointed when the kids dont become what their parents wanted to be.
To all those parents: Its your kids life, give them the best of education and environment to study,but its upto them to actually do it. You can bring a horse to the river,but can NEVER make it drink the water unless its thirsty.
Understand that your child needs to be hungry inside for the education and goal you set for him,because if he doesn't want to be what you want to be..Dont be disappointed!!

I chose what I wanted to be. And I am sure I will let my kids to choose what they want to be.

Whose Life Did You Touch Today..

Mark Suster wrote a lovely post titled 'Whose life are you going to change?' where he recounted the story of how a mentor of his changed his life. The post is here.

I was touched by the post myself and left a comment on his blog saying so and also telling him a bit about this blog. It turns out he checked out the blog, and left a comment about yesterday's quote even. This is despite the fact that he had many many comments on every post.



And in doing so, he touched my life and made a difference. A little bit of kindness can go a long way. And make no mistake, that's what he was doing when he checked out this little blog by a stupid 16 year old - being kind.

He has inspired me to keep the faith, build my blog step by step and hopefully, inspire many - you never know whose life you can change after all!

The Significance of The 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Qatar has no football heritage, no football history and little football pedigree. It has a nascent league, awash with oil and gas money and a few creaking European veterans and few indigenous fans. Its population demographic shows a high percentage of contract workers with no ethnic or familial ties to the region. But the World Cup in 2022 will not be simply for the population of Qatar. It will be for the whole Middle East

Thereby,
Inviting millions of tourists from all over the Gulf and the World to watch this sporting extravaganza.It'll help in improving the country
From what I know from people I know in Qatar/The Gulf..People there just LOVE Football and were desperate to hear that the 2022 World Cup would be held there
It is a chance for them to show the World what they're made of. Even though they wont go to the Second Round of the World Cup. It is their chance to play in the International Arena in the MOST PRESTIGIOUS SPORTING ARENA!!!

A Little Kid's Wonderment

I still remember the first few times I traveled via an aeroplane. Thanks to Grandpa having built a successful career at Indian Airlines, I had had the privilege to fly often even as a child. I loved everything about flying - the thrill of the flight gaining speed and taking off, the flight food (which always tasted extra special), the flight hovering over the city I was going to land to (typically Chennai) etc.

Having lived in Singapore for 4 years, I found the thrill wearing off gradually. That could also have been a result of flying budget but all in all, I was definitely less enthralled. The past few months have involved considerable amounts on flight - thanks to work. And at some point today, I felt myself feeling disenchanted with this whole flying thing. I'd spent too much time in an airport over the past week but it was just about then that I reminded myself of my wonderment of this whole gig as a child.

And you know what, I realized that there is still that little child's wonderment within that is still amazed by how you can move within 3 hours to a whole new world - from Asia to the Middle East. Within a span of a few hours, you have moved from the comfort of home and are all set to get to work in a completely different timezone. Your eyes have to get accustomed to different kinds of people and a different culture and somehow the aeroplane makes this transition seamless, or atleast appears to.



Somewhere within me lies that little kid who gazed wondrously at all these things. It's time I keep calling out to him to make sure I do not forget that all things in life are wondrous. Often, it just requires a change of lens.

It's Crowded Behind Van Nistlerooy

Oranje has six candidates for the position behind the striker. What are the pros and cons of the players who are queuing behind Van Nistelrooy?

Rafael van der Vaart
+ The best goal scorer of the six. When he started as a youngster at Ajax it was clear he had the feeling for the right position. He has the most goals behind his name, after Van Nistelrooy: 12 in 55 matches. But, the last really important one he scored was 2,5 years ago. He scored the 1-0 against the Czech Republic and helped Oranje qualify for the WC 2006.

- Van der Vaart isn’t really fast. In the warm up against Denmark he had a free run towards the Danish goal but was taken over by an opponent. Robben for instance, had no problems outrunning an opponent against Wales and score. Van der Vaart scores most from close up in the box or from set pieces. An important factor whenever Oranje needs to defend a lead and Van Basten considers replacing an offensive midfielder.

Wesley Sneijder
+ Sneijder’s unique asset is his perfect two-leggedness. It doesn’t matter for Wesley whether he kicks left or right and no one in the squad can simulate that. When the team needs a swift solution, Sneijder is the go to man. Quick feet and a quick brain. A typical situation in the Wales game: a loose ball from a corner kick came to Sneijder, who connected with his right and then shot on goal with his left, under pressure by two opponents. The ball just went over the goal.

- His effectiveness needs to improve. He had the ball 98 times against Wales, but lost it 38 times. Sneijder plays explosive and dominant, but sometimes he tries too hard. Sneijder’s achilles heel is his defensive discipline. Sneijder says he learned a lot at Madrid in terms of positional defending. Raul and the Madrid socios keep him sharp. “If you fail to do it twice, the fans will boo you,” he said. Which Oranje player will keep Sneijder sharp and aware in the Dutch team?

Robin van Persie
+ The most versatile player of the six, when judged on technique, speed, explosivity, versatility, length, power and vision. He can play on all positions on midfield and as a striker. Van Persie is able to create his own chances in every circumstance. It makes him independent of the form of the team or the way the match develops. This is a truly unique quality in modern football.

- Vsm Persie calls his weakness “overenthusiasm”. With his athletic body, Van Persie shouldn’t be injured that much. But he is. He apparently hasn’t learned to listen to his own body too well and Van Persie sometimes wants to do too much.

Arjen Robben
+ Rpbben’s biggest assets are his penetration and dribble skills. Most players in Oranje move towards the ball, Robben wants space. It’s a quality Oranje desperately needs. Van Basten has intensively kept an eye out for Robben and has also watched Otman Bakkal at PSV for this reason. With Babel gone, there is no other striker or midfielder with this quality. Every opponent will sacrifice two defenders if Robben plays.

-Robben seems to have put his physical problems behind him. His weakest spot is his talent. Also his strong point of course. He can make opponents crazy, but sometimes makes his team mates mad as hell too with his dribbles and egotistical play. That “all or nothing” aspect belongs with Robben. If he could improve that, he could grow out to the best player of the world.

Ibrahim Affelay
+ His big asset is his ability to take on opponents. A beautiful skill, the fastest way to create a “man-more” situation. With the spaces on the pitch getting smaller and smaller, players like Afellay are rare and sought after. A team without these types will have to play exceptional positioning play or count on a set piece specialist. At PSV, Afellay won matches with his “snake-man” actions.

- For an offensive midfielder, Afellay should score more. He scored two goals in 24 matches for PSV. Not enough. He always claims his trough pass allows others to score, and that is true, but still he should score 12 goals per season.

Dirk Kuyt
+ Dirk’s real strength is his mental power. He re-invents himself whenever the going gets tough. He moved from the striker’s position at Liverpool to the right channel. He has the lungs to control the channel and come into the box to score important goals. His working ethics and positive attitude are unparalleled. He is also a strong header and will always step up to the plate if the team is in dire straits.

- Kuyt has functional technique but misses the exceptional skills of Van der Vaart or Van Persie. If the space is limited, he is unmasked as a mediocre player. Sometimes, his abundant energy is his biggest enemy. He misses the sharpness in the box to score, then. Kuyt also lacks real speed.

A Man In India

I am a man. A man in India.

As a citizen of India, I have some rights - as do all other citizens of India. I may or may not exercise these rights, but I know that as a citizen of this country, no one can take these rights away from me.

I have the right to the highest quality of life in this nation. I have the right to the best food, the best clothes, the highest quality of education, the latest and most modern gadgets. I have the right to own the car with the best mileage. I have the right to live in a home with the best lawn and the biggest bath. I have the right to obtain a degree from the best university and grab the highest paying job in the fastest growing organisation.

I have the right to vote or not vote, to drink or not drink, to smoke or not smoke. I have the right to live and work wherever I wish to. I have the right to spend my time in whatever I find most worthwhile or most enjoyable. I have the right to entertain myself through whichever means are most pleasurable to me. I have the right to marry whoever I want to, whenever I want to, wherever I want to, in whichever manner I wish to. I also have the right to declare or not declare my love and my relationships to the world. I can choose to love whoever catches my fancy, to be friends with them whose company brings me the most joy, to love whoever is most compatible with me, to live with whoever brings me unending joy.

As a man in India, I also have some privileges. I may choose to exercise them, or choose to ignore them, but I know for sure that my gender alone is bestowed these privileges by the Indian society.

I have the privilege to molest a woman and get away with the slightest or no punishment, even harrass her to the extent that she ends her life and the associated torture. I have the privilege to throw acid on and disfigure any woman who refuses my overtures. I have the privilege to rape a woman and then become a magnanimous saviour and a celebrated hero by offering to marry her, since no one else will. I have the privilege to grope the breasts or genitals of any woman who passes by on the street. I have the privilege to feel up and/or press my body into any woman who travels in a bus/train with me. I have the privilege to forcibly drag a woman into my car and do with her whatever I please. I have the privilege to catcall, whistle at, pass lewd/rude remarks at, make derogatory references to, abuse, make fun of, belittle, demean and disrespect any random woman I wish to. I have the privilege to go 'see' as many women as I want to for selection of my bride, and then reject each one of them for being too dark or too tall or too fat or too slim or too short or too educated or too beautiful.

I have the privilege to label any woman who I molest or rape as 'characterless', and have the entire society in my support. I deem it under my privilege to consider asking a woman for 'permission' to touch her - it is my right. I have the privilege to rape a woman and then hold her responsible for not dressing right or being out late at night or talking to me or having been drunk or visiting a nightclub. I have the privilege to assault any random women who choose a lifestyle beyond my very limited comprehension or who dare to think for themselves or who dare to be happy in any place other than their husband's shadow. I can beat up girls who dare to have fun or believe in something I do not. I have the privilege to burn alive women who belong to a caste or sect or race or religion that is distinct from mine. I have the privilege to see 'gori chamdi' as easily available, to believe women who dress in jeans or skirts are wanting to be raped, to think that tourists who visit India are actually only looking for sex.

I have the privilege to harass women on social networking sites with demands for 'fraandship' and 'true relationship', regardless of whether they are interested. I have the privilege to superimpose pictures of random women and girls on those in 'objectionable' poses, and then harrass them for money or sex. I have the privilege to assault and abuse any woman that catches my fancy, and then be absolved of all responsibility since it is she who should have been careful enough while interacting with me. I have the privilege to assassin any woman's character merely by being seen with her.

I have the privilege to interfere in the life of my sister, control how she lives and who she talks to, decide what she wears and where she goes, plan (or not plan) her education and marriage as per my whims, beat her and/or confine her to my home if she does not listen to me, kill her for my 'honour' if she uses her own brain and makes her own choices. I have the privilege to have my wife wait upon my every command, to control her life and mind, to lord over her, to treat her as my personal possession, to ask to sever her relations with her kith and kin, to make unreasonable demands from her or her family, to question her every move, to force my wishes on hers, to smother her dreams and desires with my own, to strangulate her talents and reduce her to a monotron.

I have the privilege to be thought of fervently by my family, to be wished of, to be prayed for, to be conceived, to be nurtured in my mother's womb, to be allowed to be born, to be cherished at birth and for life, to receive the best from my home and my world. I have the privilege to choose the way I live, the way I dress, the way I behave, the way I think and act. I have the privilege to not be responsible for my behaviour and to pin the blame on the victim of my actions.

I have these privileges because I am a man in India - the nation that grants unconditional and unquestionable supremacy to the masculine gender right from when they are planned to be conceived. I am SP Rathore, Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav, Mahendra Singh Tikait, Pramod Muthalik, Baitullah Mehsud, Ankit Dalal. I represent the Taliban, the Darul Uloom, the Ibtehad Council, the Fatwa Brigade, the Vatican, the Bajrang Dal, the Shri Ram Sene, the Shiv Sena, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti, the Sangh Parivar. I am the privileged one, not Ruchika Girhotra, not Jessica Lal, not Bharti Yadav, not Taslima Nasreen, not Mukhtaran Mai, not the 'Qatif Girl', not Neha Chhikara.

They are women. They are women in India.

I am a man. I am a man in India. I am privileged.

This is just because I read this ,I cannot believe the people can be so bloody heartless and ignorant to a womans needs..

Where is our world heading to is a big big question mark..I hope it goes in the right path though

Heredity-A Pestilence

A conventional person firmly believes that the assets earned by him/her in their respective lifetime, would ultimately be given to their brood. A better care and management of their family possessions is what they seek out for. But the surveys reveal that there has always been a contrary facet. Either the possessions are gone inferior and sold out (63%) Or have been elevated to a sky hype level (34%) while the rest (3%) didn’t bother to give a shit for it.
Politics, Corporate world, Film-industry are few paradigms to be looked on.
Politics has become a hereditary obsession, be it the Congress, Shivsena, DMK, RJD, LJP etc, all these parties firmly believe in passing onn their ancestral belongings, despite the fact that the heredities taking charge, is capable or not of handling their Political value. They have a feeling of security whence they pass those belongings to their own blood. For instance, Leaders like M.Karunanidhi, Lalu Prasad, Bal Thackeray, Ramvilas Paswan and so on. believe on the very mentioned theory. But here again, Where have the Talents gone? What about those people who can administer things much better than their own bloods..!!
Film industry is one showground where the entire family crew is displayed, no matter whether they carry their heritable skills, they are given mammoth breaks. Allude to actors like Devanand, Dharmendra, Jitendra, Suresh Oberoi, Rajendra Kumar and likewise, Promoted their lad without any momentous skill in them. Again here, the struggle for talents continues..
In the Corporate world, most of the businessmen educate their kid in top universities of the world, they are then, directly handed over the endowments created by their predecessor. Does, studying in the top colleges really guarantee that the successor would blossom the business..? Here again, a most eligible person is denied, off his actual worth.
Certainly, there is no denying the fact that exceptions in the above mentioned segments prevail, but to a very minimal extent.
Is this going to be the world now … Where there’s no legroom for Talents and proficient people? Does it always mean that the talents are ignored in each and every sphere..? Think.. Think twice and act smart.
please put forth your views on the same.

You Say...

You say our government is inefficient..
You say our laws are too old..
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage..
YOU say that the phones don't work ,the railways are a joke..The airline is the worst in the world , mails never reach their destination
YOU say ,say ,say and say...What do YOU do about it??

Take a person to Singapore ,Give him a name-'YOURS'..Give him a face-'YOURS'
YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your international best..In Singapore ,you don't throw cigarette butts on the road or eat in the shops..YOU are as proud of their underground link system..You'd pay 5$(Approx Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road between 5PM and 8PM..YOU come back from shopping to the parking lot and punch your parking card if you have overstayed at a Restaurant or Shopping irrespective of your status identity..In Singapore ,you don't say anything ,Do YOU??...You wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramzaan..

YOU would not dare to buy a employee at the telephone exchange in London at 10pounds a month (Approx.Rs 600) to transfer all your ISD and STD calls to someone elses billing..
YOU wouldnt dare to drive at 55mph in Washington and tell the traffic cop 'Do you know who I am?? The son of so and so' cause if you did tell him that ,all you'd be getting is a punch straight to your face and straight to the jail you go...
YOU wouldn't throw an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage on the beaches of New Zealand or Australia

Why don't YOU spit in the streets of Tokyo?? Why don't YOU buy certificates or use examination certificates in Boston??? We are still talking the same YOU!!

When YOU can accept and go with foreign systems ,Why can't YOU do that in your OWN MOTHERLAND??
YOU who can respect and confirm to a foreign system in other countries but not in your own...
YOU who will throw paper and cigarettes the minute YOU touch Indian soil..If YOU who can be an appreciative and involved citizen in a alien country ,Why cannot YOU do the same in your own India??

YOU sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything whilst our contribution is literally NEGATIVE..
We expect the government to clean up when we wouldnt stop chucking garbage in every other place but the garbage can nor are we gonna stop a second to pick up a piece of paper and throw it in the bin..
YOU would expect clean bathrooms in the railway when YOU do not know how to use the bathroom properly..

When it comes to burning social issues related to those of women such as dowry ,girl child and others ,we would make loud drawing room protestations but do the entire reverse at home..YOUR excuse?? 'Its the entire system that has to change..How will it matter if I alone forego my son's right to a dowry??'

When New York becomes insecure ,we run to England..When England experiences unemployment ,we run immediately to the Gulf..When the Gulf is war struck ,we demand to be rescued and brought back to our own India by the Indian government..Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country..Nobody thinks of feeding the system..

When it actually comes to us making a positive contribution to the system ,we lock ourselves along with our families in a closed cocoon and look into the distance of far away countries ,expecting a Mr.Clean to come along and work miracles at the sweep of an hand or we leave the country and run away..
Our conscience is mortgaged to MONEY..

Dear Indians ,This article thought highly inductive calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks ones conscience too.. I am echoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to MY fellow Indians..
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Lets do what India needs from us..


This at the wake of the Common Wealth Games scandal is really needed I guess..
People think the system is corrupted and the Games are gonna fail..but you did look a the pics above..Those are the constructions we did for the Common Wealth Games ,the best you'd have ever seen..Better than even Beijing if you ask me!!

A Life Worth Telling...

My grandmother’s great wish for me is that I become a writer and chronicle our family history. This is also my mother’s greatest fear. Every time I mention the word publish she shudders involuntarily. Let sleeping dogs (and skeletons) lie. So, on balmy summer nights, with stomachs full of mangoes, ammamma and I would remember the ancestors, who still leave ectoplasmic footprints around the old family house (now carved up like the Chinese Melon), muttering to themselves in Tamil in their flat, pharyngeal voices, and spraying chewed up betel leaves into brass spittoons.

A series of Grandmothers- Their set of Mission Impossible things- feature in these stories, Grandmothers who's husbands names are not invoked, as if they were Amazonian queens. Grandmothers coping with tradition, Grandmothers coping with the Raj, grandmothers coping with communism, Grandmothers coping with modernity, Grandmothers battling and overcoming illness, Grandmothers winning their many small wins and suffering their many great defeats. A great pantheon of heroic grandmothers, of an obscure branch of the snake-dynasty, that finally whittles down to me. My mother, naturally not asleep, would sneer and scold us for that sort of nonsense talk, for filling up my head with these stories, polluting my aspirations of becoming a 'serious young man', with that of becoming a great, story-worthy, story-writing Grandson

Who do you think you are? Arundhati Roy?

So the stories were kept in my head, to be taken out when it was time to write them down. It got me into a habit of collecting stories. This is a very simple habit to cultivate; all you have to do is listen and then keep safe. These days I try to spell them out into paper, but thats when I realize, they're no longer in words.

Letting Be...

It's amazing how uplifting it is for both the person acting, and the person being acted upon.

My grandmom, for example, reacts to activity by moving around (a lot!). The hustle and bustle is what keeps her going.. now this may not be someone else's style and even if you do succeed in making her sit, you can be sure she will not be happy.

Letting people be.. it helps!

iPhone and Android

I would probably have been agonizing over whether to go for an iPhone or an Android. Now, however, I am a proud owner of the iPhone4.. And here's the thing..

I walk into the MRT this morning and casually glance around, I see roughly 60% of the people in my compartment playing games on their respective iPhones. Among this demographic was an old grandmother, a young kid (who couldn't have been older than 3) and a bunch of working professionals..

Is it cool to own an iPhone? Probably not.. but I realized a few big things today -

1) Apple has made it 'seem' cool..
2) Steve Jobs has mended his ways and for a change, gone for the masses. He understands geek psychology after all. Geek psychology would dictate going for the lesser known (cue: linux and even Mac OS) and the relatively tougher to use (here, just picture a Mac user trying to work in a team full of windows users with windows only software..). And who can blame them, it's akin to professional tennis players using smaller rackets as it's tougher to control but more rewarding when you do..

My mom has occasional trouble using the Android but seemingly, little kids have no trouble using the iPhone. So, all of a sudden, we have Google playing to the needs of the geeks and Apple playing to the needs of masses (by just implementing astounding simplicity combined with a genius app store concept. Case in point - even Nokia phones have more options to customize incoming ringtones but of course, they don't have apps anywhere as cool as what Apple does).

The bigger realization here however was that while it was only the 'geek' demographic who experimented with smart phones in the early days (Think Palm Pilot etc), the smartphone user base is dominated by 'non-geek's'.

And while I may not be a big fan of many of Apple's moves and while I may admire the Android OS's openness, full credit to Jobs for making a device so bloody simple that it is loved by the masses, yet making sure it retains it's 'coolness' factor.

I aint a fan of Apple or anything..I'm just finding that owning an iPhone4 is cool with people around me..or else i'm happy with a basic nokia or a sony model..
I can afford it with my money(MINE!! lol) and i'm happy with the apps in my phone..so yeah ,full credit to Apple Inc.

Stuff With No Meaning...

Well..I've noticed quite a few people saying meaningless things..actually ,they dont mean to say those stuff ,but it actually ends up meaningless
The reasons for that ,Well..mainly not understanding the situation or the person..That plays a MIGHTY MIGHTY role!!

It happens in daily life..
Like ,a few days ago ,My lil sister wakes me up late at night just to ask me whether i'm sleeping..Like wtf right?? haha..
And it happens in most relationships..A girl digs out a guys feelings for her just to be said with no answer :P lol..It happens to one and all ,The girl you like gets to know of the fact that you like her...And she gets the hints you leave her ,she finds it out and well ,confronts (not the literal confront) but you get what I mean..She confronts you and you accept the fact that you like her..
What then??? Whats the bloody point in it if she doesnt even tell you whats bugging her or what she has in mind??
People in all walks of life feel this kinda thing ,People say something..But actually ,they themselves dont know what it actually means!!
Thats the problem with most teens these days ,Love is a major example..Its not actually the literal love..Its PUPPY LOVE or Lust as most people put it..It happens with almost all pretty girls/guys you see...In School/On the Road/In the store near your place/Or even at the weirdest of all weird places...
Love..well ,People say its a spark when you meet a person ,true..But you need to give it time to bloom..You need to know if you actually wanna live the rest of your life with the girl/guy you got that spark for
and For that ,Being friends is the best thing!!!
According to me ,a POTENTIAL girlfriend is supposed to be my BEST FRIEND..She has to know EVERY bloody thing about me..Right from who I last dated ,which was my last relationship..How it ended ,my most dearest of secrets and all sorts of things like that :D
When thats the case ,it actually ends on a pretty good note ,The relationship..
But when the girl knows nothing about you and you're a couple ,its AMAZING in the initial stages..But as life goes on ,It just ends..Mutual break ups
Thats the reason for almost 85% of divorce cases I feel..

First ,Understand your girl/guy...Talk to him/her and get to know them pretty well..
Second, Create an impact by saying or doing something for them..That way ,They get to trust you..Not the idiotic "I'd die for you" nonsense..Dont say it unless you mean it ,cuz if the girl asks you to dive from a cliff ,are you gonna do it?? Goddamn it..Think before you say something
Third, Be true to the girl you like..If you're gonna go looking at almost every other woman on the street thinking they are hot ,Well..You arent in love.. In 24 hours ,the girl you like should be bugging your feelings for minimum of half the time you spend at school/work/bus or anywhere for that matter..

On the whole ,I aint talking philosophy here..
I just want to convey to my readers that do not do stuff which has no meaning
If you do a thing ,Convey to the other person what you mean by that..
In that example of digging out someones feelings ,Please girls..Tell the guy what you feel cuz I'm sure EVERY GUY on earth wants to know what the girl feels after she gets to know the fact that HE LIKES HER!!!
Its a sincere plea to all readers...
Have a nice day :D

When I Scream At Someone

it generally means that I've had a bad day..

I think that's a nice reminder myself. I had a guy screaming at me the other day for no apparent reason and one half of me was tempted to go out and snap back. ..

Anyway, I resisted the temptation and moved on. 'He must have had a bad day' - I thought. And didn't lose twice... :)

(Here's more on losing twice from 'Both sides of the table'

--
It reminds me of when somebody cuts you off in their car on a highway. Sure, he (and let’s face it – it’s always a “he”) is a jerk. But you can’t change it. Aside from being dangerous to chase him and wag your finger at him, you’ve suddenly gotten your heart rate up 20 points. You lose twice.

There are many times in life where taking the wrong path causes you to lose twice. Know the difference between fighting (and enjoying it) or giving in, letting go of the angst and choosing to be zen. So in business when it’s time to fight – fight. When it’s time to concede or compromise – do so graciously. Don’t lose twice

Indian National Anthem-Youth Version

'You've Told Me This Before'

How many times have we heard people we love re-tell THAT story again and again with lots of passion and excitement..

Sometimes done out of passion, other times out of excitement and yet some others just out of context and a will to share..

And how many times have we laughed or pulled their legs about it and said 'Yeah, you've told me this before'

After making a mental note about this, today, for the first time, I resisted the urge to say so and just smiled and listened. It was hard but it was a small victory and a small effort that went a long way in not raining on a loved one's parade..

I'm not sure how much of a difference it made to my listeners but it gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling on the inside..

Here's to doing this more often..

How To Dance In The Rain

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his
80's arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was
in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be
over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him
looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another
patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I
talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his
sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's
appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.
The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to
eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health.

He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a
victim of Alzheimer's Disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not
recognized him in five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even
though she doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled as he patted my hand and said,
'She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.'
I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought,

'That is the kind of love I want in my life.'

True love is neither physical, nor romantic.
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.
With all the jokes and fun that are in e-mails, sometimes there is one
that comes along that has an important message. This one I thought I
could share with you.
The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the best of everything they have.
I hope you share this with someone you care about. I just did.

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
but how to dance in the rain.'

Why Tata Is A Respected Name In India

This is why Tata is a Respected name in India
-------

Meeting with H N Srinivas – Senior Executive Vice President, Taj Group of Hotels
------

Last evening, I had a dinner meeting with HNS in Goa (I was there for a National Institute of Personnel Management conference – as a speaker).
He narrated the 26th November 2008 terror attack on Taj Mumbai and there were some important points.

A. Terrorist entry

1. They entered from the Leopold Colaba hotel entrance and also from the northern entrance – spraying indiscriminate bullets on the Taj security personnel and guests in general.
2. Though Taj had a reasonable security – they were surely not equipped to deal with terrorists who were spraying 6 bullets per trigger.
3. The strategy of the terrorists was to throw chunks of RDX in an open area that will explode and burn – creating chaos so that the guests and staff run helter skelter so that the terrorists could kill them. The idea was to create maximum casualties.
4. There were several critical gatherings and functions happening in the hotel on that day – a Bohra wedding, global meet of Unilever CEOs and Board members and 2 other corporate meetings were being held in the hotel – besides the usual crowd.
5. The firing and chaos began at about 8.30 p.m. and the staff including employees on casual and contract basis displayed exemplary presence of mind, courage and sacrifice to protect the guests who were in various halls and conference rooms.

B. Stories of Staff Heroics

1. A young lady guest relation executive with the HLL gathering stopped any of the members going out and volunteered 3 times to go out and get stuff such as ice cubes for whiskey of the guests when the situation outside the hall was very explosives and she could have been easily the target of the bullets
2. Thomas George a captain escorted 54 guests from a backdoor staircase and when he was going down last he was shot by the terrorists
3. There were 500 emails from various guests narrating heroics of the staff and thanking them for saving their lives
4. In a subsequent function, Ratan Tata broke down in full public view and sobbed saying – “the company belongs to these people”. The wife of Thomas George who laid his life saving others said, she and the kids were proud of the man and that she did not know that for 25 years she lived with a man who was so courageous and brave
5. The episode happened on 26th November, a significant part of the hotel was burnt down and destroyed – the hotel was re-opened on 21st December and all the employees of the hotel were paraded in front of the guests
6. It was clearly a saga of extra-ordinary heroics by ordinary people for their organisation and in a way for their country. The sense of duty and service was unprecedented
7. The young lady who protected and looked after the HLL guests was a management trainee and we often speak of juniority and seniority in the organisation. She had no instructions from any supervisor to do what she did
a. She took just 3 minutes to rescue the entire team through the kitchen
b. Cars were organised outside the hotel as per seniority of the members
c. In the peak of the crisis, she stepped out and got the right wine glass for the guest
8. People who exhibited courage included janitors, waiters, directors, artisans and captains – all level of people

C. The Tata Gesture

1. All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed
2. Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed
3. The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav-Bhaji” vendor and the pan shop owners
4. During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent my money order
5. A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help
6. The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided
7. Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility
8. Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required
9. Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.
10. The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks
11. Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.
12. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees.
13. What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.
14. A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her
15. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts
16. Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror
17. This was the most trying period in the life of the organisation. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible
18. The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs in addition to the following benefits:
a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents
b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world
c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life
d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount
e. Counselor for life for each person

D. Epilogue

1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?
2. The organisation is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not some training and development that created such behaviour. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs
3. It has to do with the DNA of the organisation, with the way Tata culture exists and above all with the situation that prevailed that time. The organisation has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority
4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and not allowed to stay there.
5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. IISc is one such institute. He was told by the rulers that time that he can acquire land for IISc to the extent he could fence the same. He could afford fencing only 400 acres.
6. When the HR function hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Ratan – he said – do you think we are doing enough?
7. The whole approach was that the organisation would spend several hundred crore in re-building the property – why not spend equally on the employees who gave their life?

A Cheery Hello To My Favorite Manic-Depressive Writers

It feels like a bad day. I feel like a total goof up, in a foul mood, pulling long faces and throwing sullen temper tantrums. Am unreasonably jealous of anyone else's good fortune today... and of course..Everyone's perfect lives and family... Am sure that today's beauty will go unappreciated.

Ironically, it's Plath and Woolf who offer me comfort on my bad days and a pressing sensitivity on my precariously happy days. These depressed women should technically not be important at all because sadness should not be not important. It is proof of waste, a symptom of loss. Get over it, I say, focus on the future. But we like to meditate on the past don't we? There's so much to learn from sorrow, if one cares to dissect it into its constituent elements. Mostly, however, one does no such thing; one tends to focus exclusively on the pain of it, for the exquisite sense of awareness it brings.

Both of these writers are so empathetic, life must have been one excruciating affair for them, as clearly seen from one's compulsion to test the boiling point of brain by sticking her head into an oven and the other's mid day stroll down to the middle of a rushing river with stones in her pockets. What hell it should be for having no respite from reality! No precious illusions, nothing to quiet the questions, the inability or perhaps the unwillingness to find any answers. The world we see through their eyes is drenched in meaning. A world over which loomed an inevitable darkness. A beautiful world but also a sad world- a frozen moment before the thing of beauty wastes away or mutates into something terrible. In fact, that is just hearsay from Rilke:

For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure,
and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Every angel is terrifying.
(Duino Elegies)1912 to 1922

Oh well..This one's to everybody out there who's depressed/sad or anything of that sort..Just a reassurance that you arent the only person so..
Have a nice day :)

Conditioning,Conditioning

The reasons why we pulled off an amazing come back in the zonals even though we were the underdogs without proper match practice because of exams just before those and most of our players were either injured or detained by the teachers for not completing their work..

I(The Captain) am so proud of my boys..We did a great job out there people..It was a KICKASS display!! Special mention to Andrew ,CJ ,Naveen ,LC and Manoj..Great display people..Lets get more cups back home!! Vamos!! :D

The reasons..the 3 main ones are as mentioned below :-

1) The whole team unified against the coach forgetting petty differences.

2) The moment we played a few games and saw the real value of a coach as good as the ones they had, we began to believe..

3) Most importantly, the team became incredibly well conditioned. we may not have been the most talented teams but we were certainly the fittest.

4) Sometimes heart and determination win over Talent :) Thats just what happened there!! The photos of the tourney will be up soon :D

It's all about conditioning I've realized and the big question to ask myself is

'Am I conditioned enough to become the Associate that adds the highest value in the industry? I.e. Do I have the necessary physical fitness, mental strength and intensity to consistently sustain great performance and maybe go on to represent a big club or my country??!'

That's a thinker!

Answer To Your Questions About Paul ,The Octopus

Hi everyone.!! I found this article in Discovery. I wanted to share it. Everyone of us knew what Paul " The oracle octopus" did in 2010 WC. It predicted the winners of all of Germans matches and even the Mega game of Sports " WC finals"..

I've always believed that what Paul was doing is not real..An octopus has sense ,but not predicting things..Do you think Octopuses are like Nicholas Cage from "Next" who can sense the future?? Like get a life!!! They can sense colours..but not sense the future

The article goes like this
---------

We've heard of cats that can predict deaths and toads that can predict earthquakes, but none of these animals had the fate of a nation sitting squarely on its (many) shoulders like Paul, the World Cup-predicting octopus.

This seemingly psychic cephalopod predicted the winner of this year’s World Cup, Spain, as well as the winners of all six German matches before that. In case you’re wondering, the odds of you doing that are 1 in 128.

So what’s Paul’s story? Is he fixing these matches? Some sort of time-traveling mollusk that stole Biff’s idea from Back to the Future 2? Or is he just really, really lucky?

I called Alan Peters, invertebrate curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, to get his take on Paul’s football prowess. He told me:

"Particularly among invertebrates, octopi are very intelligent, but that intelligence can be defined in different ways."

Like say... picking the winning teams for a worldwide soccer tournament?

"Predictive power I don’t think is part of that," he added.

Peters notes that octopi are visually oriented and can be trained and stimulated with food and objects. And while Paul was presented with two identical boxes containing mussels, since both boxes contained food, it couldn’t have been the deciding factor.

"Maybe there’s some similarities on all the flags that the octopus chose," he said. "You could really dig into this deep if you wanted to tease out why this happened."

Yes, the flags! Each time, the researchers put the German flag on one box, and the flag of their opponent on the other (except for the final). Octopi, Peters said, are able to detect differences in shapes and patterns, as well as colors.

"They don’t see color like we do but they can tell the differences between different colors, said Peters. "It’s just that their brain doesn’t say ‘red here and yellow there,’ it says 'these two things are different.'"

----------------

Starhub-018 Call Home and Tom Cruise/Megan Fox For Free

Note: Post for Singapore residents only. Apologies to everyone else..

Just a note for all Starhub users in Singapore, subscribing to the 018 service by paying $5, we are entitled to international calls to a group of countries (all of Asia-Pac as well as US and UK) at local call rates/free if you have sufficient local minutes.

Singtel has a similar service. Just FYI.. I didn't know this existed till recently. :)

Addition To The Nerdd Herdd!!

Hey ppl ,Been long since I actually posted on this blog...Been a lot busy these days with exams and stufff...so sorry for the absence!! Here comes another the post

Sinchita:

It isnt long since I actually got to know of this amazing soul..She's that kinda girl you can talk to for any number of hours but you never get bored with..Well ,thats how i'm feeling right now!!..Oh yeah ,correction.Read it as awesome girl...We've been quite good pals ever since then..I can talk to her about anything under the sun and yeah ,she does too..

Yeah ,Look at the picture...Whats not crazy about it?? lol...Oh wait..I wanted to say ,CUTE..but out of amazement i said crazy..

Anyway ,Back to basics..she's been one helluvan awesome friend all this time..and i'm loving the time I spend with her..It started off with us talking for almost 7 hours everyday..But since both of us are busy with our respective lives ,Things are getting tougher...

The best thing about her is that ,well..EVERYTHING is awesome with her!!! And I love it that way

I'm looking forward to spending more valuable time with her at least in the future..and yeah ,HANG OUT with her more..

Since you're gonna read it ,YOU OWE ME A DATE!! lol

This is the best time to say it ,But I love you di!! lol..You're always that awesome one I know of..and it'll remain that way come what may!! :D

Luv ya babe!! <3

Rock on

An Interesting Day Of Tennis!!

Oh yeah..As most of you readers out there know that Federer has been knocked out of Wimbledon 2010 by Thomas Berdych who ALWAYS was a potential threat to Federer in most of the games they played..
To sum up the game ,I'd say ,Federer lost the game because of a bad forehand which most of the time landed outside..Berdych's amazing determination ,and being not the fastest runner in the tour ,Berdych made amends by landing the balls deep inside Federers court and in either side of the court and made Federer push to return the ball so that he could get back in position for a return..
Federer TOTALLY looked out of touch..except for a few games ,His forehands ditched him ,his serves were pretty awesome and that was the only thing that actually made amends for Federers performance yesterday

And coming to the Rafa game..The Fed-Berd match ended when Rafa was broken once and was trailing 3-0 in the first set..
Another break and Nadal was trailing 5-0..That was the score when I started watching the game.. I couldnt believe myself nor the score..And Nadal pounces back with a game-lou and a break in the next game to get back 5-2..then makes it 5-3 before Soderling does an "Ace game" and wraps up the set 6-3..
Nadal came back like a Tiger which was hurt and recovered..He served like a genius ,his forehands were out of the world and his timing and shot selection were elegant..I loved the way he played yesterday..
Maybe one of the coolest matches i've seen this wimbledon and probably the best comeback after Federer trailing 2 sets to 0 in the first round against Falla..
Nadal breaks Soderling once in the 2nd set to make it 6-3 and goes for the 3rd set..
Nadal leads 5-3 with a break and serving for the set when Soderling takes the medical time out and the trainer takes almost 7 LONG MINUTES to reach the centre court..That makes Nadals back sour and he isnt able to wrap up the set..The set goes into a tie breaker and Nadal prevails once again before wrapping the Match with a beautiful last set breaking Soderlings POWERFUL serve 3 times to make it 6-1 and GAME SET Match ,NADAL!!! :)
Oh yeah..Thats how I'd sum up Nadals game..It was an amazing come back from the side of Nadal..

Now ,Just as we are discussing Tennis..I think this would be a nice time to introduce two of my friends ,Sekhar and AT ,Maddy too (I'll come to him later)..The two who I discuss Tennis with really really deeply..
This is a convo we had prior to Wimbledon..
Me and AT being STRONG Nadal supporters and Sekar being an ardent Federer fan
The convo goes like this:
It all started off with AT posting a facebook status saying
~~~~

This is it
rafa the king......who is the world no. 1 now da?......common speak up

Sekar : He's king of Clay. Not a big King. Federer is still the king. See what happens at wimbledon...

Alexoo: he lost FO '08..u said see at Queens..He lost Queens ,u said see Wimby ,he lost..u said See AO'09 and he lost again!!!

Sekar: Why do you talk like crap..? May be he's world number 1. But Fed has been world number 1 for years. Lets see how long he hold this title.. Why don't you talk about that.

Federer has a variety of shots in his bag. Look at Nadal.. The same forehand top spinner which bounces a lot and always plays metres behind the baseline like a coward.

AT: haha..fed has copied his game from pete..c nadal he is his kind.....

Alexoo: Mate..Who was for Federer's competition when he came into the game??!!! But for Nadal ,there is stiff competition!! Lots of players wanting to get the top spot..

There was no Sampras ,No Agassi!! Federer was without a competition..Roddick was just inside the tour..but for nadal ,Murray is here ,Potro,Federer ,davydenko,roddick is on fire!! so many people..
Answer that!!!And come on..Its his style of play ,Federer plays serve&volley ,does that mean he copies Sampras??!!

AT: wen everyone was thinking abt just aces and power hitting....nadal revolutionized ......he is the game's gift i am taking nothing away from fed.i just meant fed had no unique style....even pete had those.....

Sekar:Federer revolutionized back hand..

AT: pete already had that backhand......check youtube.....
fed's inspiration was pete...!!!!!

Alexoo: rafa has an out of the world forehand which even federer accepts is the best he's ever seen!!!

Sekar:Don't you remember what happened in 2000...Federer defeated Pete Sampras and in a US open defeated Agassi. Because of their loss Pete Sampras and Agassi their rank and Federer also overcame Gustavo Kuertan, Hewitt, Roddick, Haas and Safin...Safin was dominant in early 2000s and Hass was number 2.

Alexoo: Sampras and Agassi were in the prime ends of their careers..beating a dead lion doesnt count in hunting does it??

Safin was okay ,not so competitive ,but Haas?? wth mate..You compare Haas to todays Murray and Davydenko??

AT: wat was the age of pete n agassi....haas ,hewitt,safin,,were all inconsistent 'one slam wonders'

Sekar: Who among Djokovic, Roddic, Murray, Potro, Davydenko are consistent...?

Alexoo: Djoko reaches the Quarters or Semis of every Grand slam..Murray does too..Davydenko surprise package ,fires up twice or more in a year and defeats all the top seeds..saw London last year?? thats the thing..But Safin couldnt defeat Federer even thrice in a year!!!

Sekar: Common yaar...Don't be a kid...Just citing a few examples for argument. Who is consistent...? Reaching the semis of most of the grandslams...? Just grow up//..!

Alexoo: Djokovic..He's been no.3 for such a long long time..That does not show consistency?? And Safin..how long was he in the top 10?? The 2 players to finish the year in top 10 from 2002 to '09 were oly Roddick and Federer..Nobody else!!!

Sekar:Djokovic is no 3 because all the other players down him are also not consistent..It's because only the players above his rank go into finals and not the players who are below him...Only when other players below Djoko go into higher rounds..his rank would drop....

Alexoo: Roddick hasnt been able to break into the top 5 for a whole lotta time..why?? Cuz the top 4 are amazingly consistent..
Murray and Djoko go to every semi finals..

Sekar: Ok..Let me put a full stop to this thread..Look the Dominance of Roger and Rafa have prevented other players from the sight of grandslam..Federer is simply great..I won't even consider Borg or Agassi. Fed is better than Sampras.

It's not the time to say Rafa as a great player because he's still young. At 28 if Nadal surpasses Federer..I would accept Rafa as the king..Not now..

You know Rafa has to show greater consistency to become Fed. ... See More

Moreover he's restless. He plays in all tournaments and is injury prone. Remember what happened last year. From Last years French to this years Aus open...he hasn't won anything...

But take a look at Federer...I have never seen him miss a grandslam due to injury. He is selective..He gives more importance to fitness...

Yes..Fitness matters to be a KING..

Sekar again: As I said if Rafa reached the semisfinals of 23 consecutive grandslams and wins over 16 grandslams and tops all time earnings and becomes the fan favorite..I'd accept he's great.. not before that. I think we should understand what GREAT stands for first.

AT: just winning so many number of slams is not enough....its all abt competition....fed had nothing opposing him in the 2003,2004,2005,.....this the period where he won quite a number of slams.....nadal was not around....no djoko,....no murray....only useless safin,hewitt,roddick.....

Sekar: God...What's that competition...you speek about...? THis is ridiculous..Playing tennis infront of the crowd is a big pressure..There's no pressure if you go in as an underdog... Federer has manged that pressure...Not rafa....Look.There's nobody other than Fed to compete with Rafa.. For more than 4 years Rafa has been there and Fed Won most of the titles during this 4 years...You can't argue...can you?Nadal was aroung at that time..Go to wikipedia..

Alexoo: What do u mean by an underdog mate?? Who do u think is the underdog in a Federer-Nadal game??? Nadal or Federer?? Federer was NEVER an underdog..cuz he had no competition!!! But Rafa ,he went into most of his competitions as the underdog and won it..now thats what i call talent and determination!!!

Sekar: That's why I say...That pressure is more on Federer..As simple as that..and you accepted that yourself...

Alexoo: Being an underdog is more pressure matey!! You're more free when u're not the underdog ,when ur favorite ,u can get away with it..Being an underdog and winning ,thats determination!!!

AT: in wimble rafa is the underdog...in us rafa is the underdog....in aus rafa is the underdog...everyone of u fed fans accept the fact that rafa is the clay king......but rafa won aus .....wimble.....not by beating some crap....he beat the gr8 fed.....,and fed won these slams the next season just bcos he did not play rafa....mark my words whenever fed... See More faces rafa in a slam...he dould definitely lose.....fed 'may' win some.....it is goin to happen-in every slam hereafterwards rafa n fed will be in the same pool...rafa will b the top seed....

Raonak Enters the scene now:

hi,sorry 2 interrupt AT but any how results matter,so presently fedx is da king of tennis.cos he proved himslf.......let rafa bt fedx's record

Alexoo: Sampras was ,is and will be the ONLY KING of tennis :)

Sekar with a detailed point: @ AT...You say that Rafa is the underdog...Then how can he be Great..He's just a Clay man...Even Federer has won a french open in which Nadal was knocked out in the fouth round...Can you remember an Instance when Roger was knocked out in the fourth round of any grandslam after he became pop...But Nadal is not as well versed as Roger in all ... See Morecourts...

If you want to be a topper in your class..you need to be well versed in all subjects...You can't say that " I love only Maths and Don't want other subjects....) You speek Nadal has won Wimbledon and he's won even Aus open....Yes..But think how many Roger has won...Don't say that he didn't have competition.. Don't underestimate all the opponent of Roger other than Rafa....

@ Alex...Who told you pressure is more on underdogs...Underdogd have the least pressure because expectation is less on them...

More over...You say Federer won grandslam last year because therer was no Nadal. But You had Roddick last year...You seem to be talking nonsense.. Didn't you see the finals of Wimble last year...? It was a five setter and Roddick was serving Deadly...Rafa wouldn't survive fast servers...Even this years final in French open he beat Soder because that idiot didn't hve first serves....He didn't play that good and He was 75% on first serve with Federer..but only 45 or 50 % with Rafa...

So the conclusion Is Federer is greatest...He may not be at the moment...But He's the GREATEST

Some guy said Rafa hasn't won a US open and Alexoo returns with a pt.
What if he hasnt won a US Open?? the french open is something that eluded from Sampras ,that doesnt make him a champion?? He's the KING of Tennis..and nadal can and will the US Open..It isnt difficult cuz he has won AO ,Its just that Hard courts are more tiring than grass or clay..And its hard to play on!!! But he'll overcome it ,he has the age!!!! and the talent..He deserves the US Open!!

and he is WINNING this Wimby..Just you wait :D

and just as u said ,Federer is the favorite for all grand slams except FO...Who did Rafa defeat to win the AO and Wimby?? the favorite as u said it..Beating the favorite and taking the title away from him is THE MAN!! AND RAFA IS THE MAN!!!

AT:i think this wimble will be difficult for rafa......pressure....i just feel he won't win....but its just my feeling...if nadal feels he can win he will win...

Alexoo: He will..He's high on confidence ,And for EVERYBODY'S INFO ,What I feel is ,Nadal has a better accuracy and shot control than Federer..I dunno if im right ,I was watching this video where both of them get points for hitting targets..Federer hit 7 targets on forehand and 4 on backhand..And Nadal hit 10 on forehand and 6 on backhand..I dunno if it was serious or not..I saw it before the US Open '08!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

And the convo ends there..With Sekar leaving the scene looking forward to Wimbledon 2010...But being disappointed at the end..Because Federer is knocked out.
He just came up with a point a few minutes ago when I was saying that Messi is a humble person.
He said
"If humbleness is the key ,you ought to like Federer too" for which I replied "I never said I dont like Federer did I?? Its that I like Rafa more"..

Looking forward to Rafa winning this Wimbledon and BITING THAT TROPHY AGAIN!!! Come on RAFA!! Vamos!!!