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!!