Think twice

Before I write this blog, I want to make one thing very clear to everyone who reads this. I have absolutely no political inclinations and I definitely DO NOT support any party. On the contrary, I do not like the word 'Politics' and everything it stands for in this state and country. This is just some thoughts which I'd like to share regarding everything that's going on in our state at the moment.
I have a question to the person calling all the shots in our state at the moment, how many mistakes and verbal faux pas will it take for you to realise that statements made to the press or otherwise should be done after careful consideration and understanding all of the facts involved? Recent times have seen a spate of unfortunate, and even horrendous events, which have brought disrepute to our state and city. But the situation has been made from bad to worse by the statements made by our Leading Lady. Is it really necessary to make statements the moment a uncalled for incident occurs, without getting to the bottom of the problem first? I know, a Chief Minister is supposed to come out in the open with an explanation of how the state is approaching the problem. I can understand that it is not easy being in front of a hall full of people, journalists, who often ask difficult questions and dissect every strand of the statements made, with an almost vengeful desire to find the minutest faults. This, however, cannot be an explanation for everything that's being said every time a crisis comes to the fore.
I mean seriously, when all those babies passed away in that Malda hospital, the whole country sympathised with their families and demanded an explanation be sought from the state. And what did you reply? I'm para-phrasing here, 'They were conceived when the opposition was in power'. Do you even hear yourself speak? Do you know what these kind of statements do to your reputation? What does when a baby is conceived have to do with infant mortality?? This is probably unheard of in any part of the world!
And then, more recently, when a woman comes on national television, goes to the major newspapers, to tell her story, and a horrific one at that, you dismiss it without even bothering to let the police do the investigation. And what did that lead to? More disrepute. It has been proved that her story was in fact, fact. This has again lead to our state and your position being questioned. Why? All because you were too keen to pass the buck of responsibility from the state to one of its citizens.
Everyone keeps telling me that I should give you some time, to get things in order. But tell me, if all this had been said by someone who weren't you, would people give them the same 'time'? In the coming years, or maybe even months, I'd probably have to go out of this city and state for work or otherwise. If all this continues, how can I feel proud about where I come from? How do I represent West Bengal in the rest of the country, leave alone the world? Think about it Madam, this is no small matter...

Clash of the Titans

“Man Utd v Liverpool is the biggest game in the world – Sir Alex Ferguson”

Cliched heading, but not the event. Just over 3 hours to go for the big game today, Liverpool vs Mancehster United, at Old Trafford. The last time these two teams met in the Premier League was in October, when a whopping Half Billion people are said to have watched the event. That's 1 in every 12 people! Today, the predictions say that 900 million people will watch the match, almost double that of last time, and approximately 1 in every 7 people in the world!! Now that's what I call popularity. Perhaps the El Classico, Barcelona vs Real Madrid, in the Spanish Primera Liga, is the only other match which rivals this particular fixture in the footballing calendar.
The history between these two clubs goes back a long long way, and surprisingly, and quite unknown to most, wasn't always this choleric. The two clubs are seperated by only 40 minutes by roads, and are often considered, along with Nottingham Forrest,Leeds United and West Ham United, to be the backbone around which English football reached out to the world. Perhaps the biggest indicator of the respect that the two clubs have always shared for each other can be understood from events after the horrendous Munich air crash which wiped out nearly the entire Manchester United squad. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were the only teams who offered the services of their reserve teams to United, to help them rebuild. As I found out from a recent status update on my friend's facebook page, there are some United supporters who still hold Liverpool in high regard for that gesture half a century ago. Truth be told, even I wasn't aware of this fact before I had read that particular update. Thanks Arghya for the enlightenement :-).
The two teams combine for 117 trophies in total. So it was quite natural that their paths would cross in many tournaments down the years. But the two League fixtures in the year are ever present, and to me, the biggest games of football in the year. The recent matches between the two teams have produced some magical moments, some astonishing scorelines, and some ugly tussles. Perhaps the immediate talk of the ugly racism row between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra threatens to take some sheen away from the impending slobber-knocker we have on our hands.

Perhaps the match-up that'll decide the match, and no more hanky-panky please

Recent matches have seen Liverpool do the double over United in 2008-2009, including a 4-1 win over United at Old Trafford, a Dimitar Berbatov hat-trick last season, when most critics were writing the obituaries of his Manchester United career, and a Dirk Kuyt hat-trick in the reverse fixture, with a lot of help from Suarez to get there. The reverse fixture at Anfield this season ended in a 1-1 draw, with Javier Hernandez cancelling out a Steven Gerrard free-kick. The most recent match ended 2-1 in favour of Liverpool with Dirk Kuyt scoring the winner at Anfield to secure Liverpool's place in the F.A. Cup 5th round.

Which side are you on?

PROBABLE LINEUPS

       
      MANCHESTER UNITED                                                      LIVERPOOL


                   De Gea                                                                      Reina
 Rafael,Ferdinand,Evans,Evra                                  Johnson,Skrtel,Agger,Enrique
Valencia,Giggs,Carrick,Young                                      Gerrard,Spearing,Adam
          Wellbeck,Rooney                                                  Kuyt,Suarez,Bellamy


It promises to be a spectacular Saturday evening of football. I've missed the last two matches between the two teams, so there's no way I'm missing this one. Oh, and the last time I wrote about a great sporting event was the Australian Open final. That one became the longest and, in my opinion, the best Grand Slam final in history. So here's hoping my hype here doesn't jinx the match today.
And for all you Man Utd fans out there, for those 90 minutes, it's war...

Grand Slam!!

Before I go on to write anything about the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, here is a big shout out to a certain 38 year old who's still making us proud, despite, as some would say, his 'old' age. Congratulations Leander Paes on another major tournament win. And congratulations on completing a career Grand Slam. There's still the mixed doubles final to come today, so thats definitely something to look forward to. At a time when the whole country is calling for the axe on a couple of other 38-39 year olds in a different sport, Paes still keeps on proving that age is simply but a number.


1. Men's tennis is in good hands
There is no doubting the quality of the top three in men's tennis. They've proved there worth time and again and still keep doing so with Nadal and Djokovic reaching the final. The chasing pack are getting closer with Murray getting closer than ever for his chance at the top. There are others like Del Potro, Tsonga and the new kid on the block Tomic waiting to take up the reigns.



2. Women's tennis has a new number 1, but it needs a couple of new stars
Congratulations to Victoria Azarenka on her first Grand Slam victory. 
But women's tennis still remains as unpredictable as ever, which though good at times, often leads to poor quality of tennis, case in point the final yesterday, where Azarenka blew Sharapova off the court! Considering that players like Serena Williams, even with all her injuries, and Kim Clijsters, after taking a couple of years off due to child birth, still often being stronger than the top ranked players in the world, it is a sign that the game is not progressing at the same pace as the men's game. The women's game needs someone, or a couple of new players, who can dominate just like the Williams-Henin rivalry in the middle of the last decade. At the moment there is too much inconsistency in women's tennis.

3.Federer still has the game,he just makes more mistakes nowadays
The great man's matches against Tomic and Del Potro were a treat to watch for Federer and tennis fans the world over. It's what you would call a 'Lesson' in tennis. And then the way he started against Nadal, I was sure he would win that match. But then he served the worst in that match in recent memory, and his trademark forehand winners deserted him on that day. He's still got the game, he just loses focus sometimes these days. Can't blame him for taking his eyes off the ball after everything he has achieved. In my humble opinion though, he's still good enough to win one if not two more Grand Slams. It's the unforced errors he needs to control.

4.Australia has new hope
Lleyton Hewitt has been the flag bearer of Australian tennis for the past decade. But there's a new kid on the block who seems ready to take on the mantle from Hewitt. He is the calm, cool-under-pressure, bordering on unemotional, Bernard Tomic. He showed in the first three rounds what he is capable of producing. And his brand of tennis is not the usual fare that's served up these. He doesn't rely on brute strength or manic running chasing down balls from Melbourne to Perth and everything in between! His game is a breath of fresh air, with slices and drop shots dished out with equal aplomb, along with a forehand which is more like a slap, it is hit so flat! Definitely someone to watch out for.

Match of the tournament : Djokovic vs Murray, semi-final(5 sets,almost 5 hours)
Comeback of the tournament : Tomic vs Verdasco, first round(from two sets down)
Disappointments of the tournament : Stosur's first round exit and Sharapova's tame surrender in the final
Biggest effort of the tournament : Clijsters defeating Li Na(after twisting her ankle in the first set)
Most different match of the tournament : Tomic vs Dolgopolov(filled with drop shots,all kinds of slices and everything else you don't see much these days)



The Mixed Doubles Final is on and the Men's Singles Final is from just after 2 pm today. Enjoy a great day of tennis.

CORRECTION CORRECTION CORRECTION
Everything above this point was written before the men's singles final.

Match of the tournament : Djokovic vs Nadal(without a shadow of a doubt)
Probably the best tennis match I have ever seen, Period.

A Star bids Farewell

With the glorious past of our footballing history left long behind in the pages of scrapbooks and record books, the past 25 years or so have been the worst phase of Indian football. That is pretty much all of my life and a bit more! But ever since I knew that a sport called football existed, and our country were, however disinterestedly, a part of it, there was one name which would be everyone's lips when talking about the Indian football team - Bhaichung Bhutia.
His journey started in the small town of Tinkitam in Sikkim in the foothills of the Himalayas. He represented his schools in various schools and finally landed a scholarship from SAI to take up football at the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. His professional career started in 1993 at the age of just 16 when he signed for East Bengal. He transferred to JCT Mills, Phagwara, where he won his first Indian Football League title in 1997. He was also the top scorer in the league that year. Thus began perhaps the greatest career in Indian football in the past two decades. A career in which he became the first Indian player to play professionally in England when he joined Bury FC in 1999. He played for a little less than 18 months, but managed to score only a single goal in the period, against Chesterfield in April, 2000. He also became the first Indian footballer to play in Malaysia when he signed for Perak on a 3 month loan in 2003. Later, he also played for Selangor MK Land. Unfortunately, neither his stints in these Malaysian clubs proved fruitful. His career included spells in both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, a fact for which he received a lot of flak with the faithful from either side questioning his loyalty. He never let any of he criticism get him down, and went on to win the ASEAN Club Championship with East Bengal in 2003, perhaps his greatest achievement as a club player, also finishing as the highest scorer in the tournament and winning the 'man-of-the-match' in the final.



He has represented the country a total of 107 times, scoring 43 goals along the way. His achievements at the international level include Nehru Cups, SAFF Cups, the LG Cup win in Vietnam and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, which allowed them to automatically qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the premier international tournament in Asia. By his own admission, qualifying for the Asian Cup was the highlight of his career. He could only play one match in the tournament, that too as a second half substitute because of an injury prior to the tournament. Perhaps fittingly, he decided to hang up his boots after this tournament, as India were eliminated following a 4-1 loss to South Korea.



Today was his testimonial match, and being the true champion that he is, he played a significant role in inviting Bayern Munich to be our opponents. He could have asked for any opponent, scored a couple of goals himself, but he decided instead to showcase Indian football to the world, and the stars of world football right here in India. As for the match, well it was a foregone conclusion even before a ball was kicked. Bayern won 4-0 eventually. A special mention and thank you to the Bayern Munich team for playing their starting 11 in this match. They could well have opted to field a second string side, this being a friendly match. A bigger mention for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer for playing the entire 90 minutes when they didn't need to. Shows the kind of respect that players have for one another.



Perhaps a fitting tribute to Bhaichung was paid in a tweet which was read out on air. It went something like, "If not anything else, Bhaichung Bhutia gave Indian football hope...". We'll stil see him playing for United Sikim, a club he founded and owns. But today was the last time he pulled on the Blue jersey of the Indian national team. Thank you Bhaichung Bhutia for all the memories...

The Year that is...

A lazy Saturday afternoon, with not much going on. I thought this would be the perfect time to write my first blog of the new year. 2012 - the year of the Apocalypse. The year when it all ends....
Hold on just a second, lets rewind. Really? It all ends this year? I sure hope not. So much left to do. So many things I haven't tried yet, so many places I haven't visited, so many people I haven't met! So I really hope the Mayans made some kind of mistake when they decided to end their calender on 21st December,2012. Not that they counted by our system, I'm sure they had no clue as to what December is or the year A.D. that they lived in. But you get the picture.
A week into the year, and there isn't much to write about. The occasional outings and frolic aside, it has been, well, boring. No project allocated in office yet, so not much work there either. It's getting a bit worrying now! Brought in the new year on a grand enough scale. House-party. We seemed to suddenly have the energy of ten year olds on their birthday. Music, dancing(I'm sure you've seen the pictures), dinner in the middle of the night, no less, and an overall sense of belonging, seemed a perfect enough way to start a brand new year. Though this also resulted in me sleeping through half the first day of the year, but one can't have everything! The rest of the week passed in cruise-control really. Reminds me of those lines in that song by Rembrandts, made famous by it's use as the title song of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., "It's like your always stuck in second gear...". From 2nd to 7th January, I really have been stuck in second gear. A higher gear shift doesn't seem to be around the corner either!
On another note, the new year has brought some definitely weird weather to our city and its surroundings. For starters, the cold weather has disappeared. Its been warm for a couple of days. It has even rained for the past couple of days! Looks like the weather is getting back at me for making fun of the winter rains in London. Also, on that note, check out the conditions in which the Wigan versus Sunderland game was played this past week. That was what I was talking about in my 'Calcutta=London...' blog post. Near zero temperatures, driving rain, half-sleeve and shorts....I am left wondering as to how the players don't end up with pneumonia!
The new year's celebrations are over for another year. Time to buckle in and hang on for the ride that is 2012. Happy New Year everyone. Better late than never :-)

A New Year beckons..but not much will change

With just about 27 hours to go in 2011, I thought this would be the perfect time to look forward. But perhaps I should first look back at the year that just flew by.

Thinking about it, a lot has happened. And I mean a lot that's worth writing about. My first job interview, my first job, at Cognizant, an awesome birthday(thanks everyone who made it special :-), you know who you are), more than my share of heartbreaks, the last semester exams, the absolutely incredible and unforgettable Puri trip, graduation, starting my professional life, completing 3 months of training, and now the lull in office before the proverbial storm, the parties with friends, including the Christmas party last week, and the upcoming New Year's get together tomorrow. Seems like the year will end on a high...
Now, for the New Year. Things are looking up, as they say. For now, at least. And for the whole year hopefully. First on my wishlist would have to be a good project allocation, the first project of my professional life. A nice birthday would be 'nice'. Look at me, making demands for my own birthday :-p. That too 2 months early. Doesn't happen very often. Something I won't be looking forward to is a few more of my friends leaving Calcutta for work. Weekends are gonna start getting boooring! It's not my habit too look too far ahead so I'll stop here with the wishlist. Too many wishes might prevent them from coming true! Just joking, can't think of any more wishes at the moment actually :-p.
So here's looking forward to a good 2012. Hope everyone has an awesome New Year's eve. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year in advance. See you next year...

Calcutta=London...Not really

With all the hoopla about the minimum temperature of Calcutta being lower than the maximum(!!) temperature of London(a publicity stunt more than anything else), it got me thinking about the things that would happen if our winters really were so severe.
Well first things, it would SNOW....and that would be the ultimate Xmas gift. I've never seen snow all my life, well I have seen it, in pictures and on the telly, but never actually experienced it. I've always wanted to build a snowman, haven't you? Always wanted to throw a huge snowball at that irritating neighbour, always wanted to taste a snowflake. If we became like London, all that would be possible. The people however would have a hard time. I've seen people wearing so many layers of clothing even at 15 degrees, that you'd feel that you've been transported somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. And then there's the rain. Does it ever stop raining there? And what astonishes me even more is how the footballers play in that same rain, at near zero temperatures, with shorts and t-shirts. Every winter I watch them play, and count my lucky stars that Calcutta doesn't have rain in winter.
Thinking about it though, we are not very different. We were even called the second city of the Empire when those guys ruled us! I'm glad they don't rule us anymore, we're not second to anyone. And to back up my point,Calcutta has recently been declared the most cosmopolitan city in India, beating the myth about Delhi and Mumbai being hugely more cosmopolitan. We're similar to London in that respect as well. It is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, let alone Britain. So that makes us sister cities right?
Well, yes and no. Sure, they modeled Calcutta to mirror their capitol when they were here. But there is something that they didn't give us. Something which the people here give to this city. And that something is SOUL. I know you see and hear news headlines everyday about all the wrongs of this place. But have you ever thought about why the newspapers don't print the good stuff which keeps happening here? Everyday it's either this fire, or this building collapse, or this corrupt official. There's never a front page article about the good that so many people here are doing. It's those same lost stories which make Calcutta what it is. Having just finished college this year, some of my friends have gone to other cities to work. And they all say the same thing, "I wish I could stay back in Calcutta." So far, I've been lucky enough to have got a posting in this city itself. But if, and when, I have to go somewhere else for work, or otherwise, I'm sure I would be saying the same thing.

So what if don't have Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Lords' or the London Eye? We have Park Street, the Howrah Bridges, the Eden Gardens and the Victoria Memorial, and so many more. We'd never exchange any of it. So Miss Chief Minister, if you are listening, don't put all your efforts into building a second London. Make a better Calcutta for all of us.