On Sagna, Suarez and Manchester United

A quick post from work today since I have a few minutes. Also feel embarrassed that the last time I blogged on here was 2 years ago, mostly because I have been posting on my other blog. I will try and post more often here now on.

On my agenda are three discussion points:

1. Bacary Sagna
2. Luis Suarez
3. Manchester Utd's summer of spunk

So, Bacary Sagna has reacted angrily about allegations that he is moving to the Arsenal retirement home, Manchester City, purely for the money. While Sagna states that he has moved on for a new challenge, I don't seem to fathom how it is a new challenge to stay in the same league, same country, play second fiddle to Zabaleta and a higher pay grade. But that is his reason, and I am a reasonable man. His explanation is much like stating that I am now moving into my neighbour's house across the street to experience a change. Seems like Sagna is not the only one who is not interested in the money, much like his predecessors Adebayor, Toure, Clichy and Nasri. Now I am not holding anything against Sagna. He respected his contract, his relationship with Arsenal and has now moved on. van Persie should take a lesson or two. I just don't expect him to insult the intelligence of fans by stating it wasn't about the money. It is always about the money. Good luck to him at City. Hope he does well, but not against Arsenal.

About Luis Suarez and his love for the bite. He is pure joy to watch on the field, and certainly an extremely accomplished player. Were I the manager of any football club, I'd jump at the chance to secure his services. However his foolishness tends to tarnish all his achievements and will get in the way of him becoming a legend. Having said that, I take a contrarian view of all his indiscretions. I am not condoning his acts, but I feel the media have a field day when it comes to Suarez. It is far too much to suggest that he needs professional help, and the reaction that has played out in the press has been way over the top. Liverpool should stand right by him without faltering.The four month ban, I suppose is punishment enough for him. But I when I look at the larger context, I am baffled. If I put it in context, Ryan Shawcross who goes into career-ending tackles and breaks player legs gets a 3 game ban, Scott Dan got a 3 game ban for ruining Diaby's career and a bite calls for a 4 month ban (which could equate to Suarez missing out on 15 games or so). I hope I have made these discrepancies very clear. Come on, Arsene, sign him up when the chips are down.

Finally, coming to United. A raft of changes are expected this summer. Starting with van Gaal, Herrera and Shaw to follow. I am delighted that United have got LvG as their manager, but extremely let down by the new approach of United, a massive deviation from the times of Alex Ferguson. For two reasons mostly. First one, they sacked Moyes far too easily. United have been known for their stability and trust in managers. Moyes should have been given one year to take over from the greatest manager history will ever see. Second, I get the feeling that United are spending far too much money without quite thinking just because of the money available. The club seems to be going down the City and Chelsea way. The two biggest upholders of financial and managerial stability have been Arsenal and Manchester United. But the need for instant gratification at United has led them down the dark path. I cannot believe that they have spunked out £90 mn since last summer on Fellaini, Mata and now Herrera. Not to mention the imminent announcement of Shaw for another £30 mn (for a 19 year old), which takes their spending to a staggering £120 mn! And some more star signings are expected. This is a complete deviation from Alex Ferguson's philosophy, and United are on the brink of going down City's and Chelsea's path. Success can be achieved from an existing pool of players with minor surgeries in the squad, without overpaying. I present the example of Brendan Rodgers, who given time, and a little money, has done wonders at Liverpool. Signs of desperation at United.

All in all, I am happy Sagna is happy, not happy with the treatment of Suarez and deeply disappointed with Man United this summer.

The Meaning of Soul

I concede it. I love my city and just can't bring myself to hate it. Even though I walk for an hour to and from work, whether the drainage pipes have burst, garbage cans overflowing, the guy who lets fly in the AS 440, septic donkey shite, Elton John (hate him, even though he has nothing to do with Mumbai yet continues to serenade us with his "tunes"), the fact that I work in Andheri East, local trains being packed and not a single auto guy willing to take me to the station. I went through a whole fucking roller coaster of emotions; hatred, love, spirit, resilience and more hatred and more so for the fucking system (or in the words of Jack Black from School of Rock - The Man). Here's what happened last night.

I am preparing to take my CFA exam and stay back late in office to study after I am done with work. I got done by about 1030 and the walk to Andheri station is about a half-hour. Between Andheri and Dadar, there are 6 stations if one is traveling by a slow train and just one station if the train is a fast. To my surprise, there were fast trains at that hour. I hopped on to the one that pulled in and was happy to be standing near the foot-board with (fresh?) air rushing past me.

Next station, Bandra. My train pulled into Bandra and it was here, where I saw one of the most scariest things of my life. So, my train pulls into Bandra and I see a fight that's going down on the platform. No big deal. This big, paunchy man is beating the fuck out a shorter man who is just screaming. The train then started pulling out Bandra station and for a split second the big, paunchy dude let go off the shorter dude. The shorter dude ran and jumped into my train which had just begun pulling out. The big, paucnhy man gave chase and held on to to the side bars of the train while running at the same time and trying to board it. The train had picked up speed by then and the man could not keep up with the speed and before he could board the train, he slipped and was dragged for about 10-15 feet before the train (thankfully!) started slowing down and came to a halt. By the end of this, the man had ended up with his legs under the train and in one piece because the train had come to a stop. It was hair raising, to say the least.

I had seen enough for the next few days. However, when one sees an episode of the sort it gets you thinking. Well at least in my case it was so. Which person in their right mind would fucking do something like that? Why is it that people reach a stage where they put their body and life on the line for some thing (we perceive as) frivolous? Is it socitey, the system, the fucking government? Could be all of those, right. Please pardon my use of invectives, but that is how strongly I feel about this. What keeps this city ticking? I mean, if those people had not pulled the man from under the train he would have been a dead man. Had the motorman not seen this incident, the man would have been a dead man. Had the cops been there, this would not have even fucking taken place.

That just got me thinking. I try to do my bit, by paying my taxes (and though I wish I didn't because this system does not deserve a penny) and voting.

Is it any wonder why princes and kings
Are clowns that caper in their sawdust rings
Ordinary people that are like you and me
We're the keepers of their destiny

I wish I could write like that. That was Noel from Go Let It Out. This one's for us, all of us.

Recent Musings

It's good to be back. It has been a while since I came on here and occupied time and space. And for those of you who are curious, well yes I did see the lady with her young child again and in good health. Right then. I don't usually blog at work, however I just felt compelled to write on an issue that has been plaguing me for a while. The question is that of dynastic politics and how it continues to mire this country into a deeper mess. At the helm of this is the ruling Congress party and its coalition, in which I have particularly no faith in. Let me elocute.

It's a given these days, that by default a lot of educated people believe in the vision of the Congress given the young political leaders they have (and of course Manmohan Singh, who is the only person I have respect for even through the CVC and 2G howlers). Let me just rattle off a few names that come to my mind when I think of these young political leaders: Jitin Prasad, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiradita Scindia and Rahul Gandhi. The latter being touted as a future Prime Ministerial candidate.

What is common in these names? All of them are from a political dynasty of Congress and well, let's be honest; how many of them have become "leaders" on their own accord? The ability of the Congress to educate young leaders from grassroots, not associated with political dynasties has been abject to say the least. Compare this to the young crop of BJP and there is a stark difference, that how many of them are related to Vajpayee, Advani and Upadhyay?

Is there not a grain of doubt as to why these "young leaders" do not even hold any portfolios of power in the Congress? The highest echelons of power are still with the old faction: Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, A.K. Antony, S.M. Krishna, Vilasrao Deshmukh. Coincidental isn't it, when these guys come out and give live television debates and elections. Analysts have questioned their ability to perform in the Lok Sabha. When was the last time even one of them sponsored a bill, or for that matter raised intelligent questions and issues in the Sabha? A complete farce.

The Congress is a mockery of our constitution, because no one could have envisioned a Prime Minister who has the post but has no power, while the Sonia Gandhi - Chairperson of the NAC has more power than the PM himself. Gadkari's recent suggestion that a youngster who joins the BJP can aspire for the Prime Minster's post or President-ship of the Party, which is in contrast to the Congress wherein these posts are not reserved for the minions.

Rajiv Gandhi’s widow could rightfully claim ownership over the PM’s post, and in 2004 was just about kept away. This was not by sacrifice, but by the fact that the then APJ Abdul Kalam told her that by reciprocity, since a non-natural born Italian cannot become a PM in Italy, therefore a naturalized Italian cannot become a PM in India, and she would be forced to resign as a Public Interest Litigation would be filed in the Supreme Court. This is why she “sacrificed” the highest position in the country and this sham is marketed by the Congress as a great selfless act of renunciation! Again, what a fraud precipitated on the people of India.(Thanks to rightwingindian for that tip!)

What credentials does Rahul Gandhi command, that every Congress cretin is willing to propose him as the next Prime Minister of our country? Yes, he spent the night in a dalit's hut and traveled by local train from Andheri to Dadar and Dadar to Ghatkopar. Touched our lives now, hasn't he? Wasn't so touching when he was detained at the Boston Airport with his Spanish/Colombian/Afghan/Mexican (Mexican because I couldn't be arsed as to where she comes from) girlfriend, carrying USD 200,000 with him.  RG claims that he is not ready to become PM just yet. Again, to what effect is our man claiming this and just what does he intend to do to become ready? Does this mirror the fact that the Congress is not strong enough to be independent and that it depends on regional parties to survive.

My issue is with Congress and their dynastic politics. Their farcical notions about secularism just get my goat, even more so that they are using a man with great intelligence (Manmohan Singh, for who I have the deepest respect and pity) for their own pathetic intentions. Have we deviated from our definition of a democracy? I'll leave you with that thought. 

On to the next one.

(Credit where it's due: A lot of work has been inspired from one of the blogs I happen to follow)

I hope I think I know

Every morning when I am running to catch my bus from Dadar T.T. circle (in Mumbai) I always see a very familiar sight. Something that has actually becoming part of my morning routine. I see this very young beggar lady who is not more than 25, with her 5-6 month old child.

So here I am passing Dadar T.T. every morning and I see this beggar lady with her child. On a few occasions when I am not running to catch my bus and I am on time for a change, I stop by and make it a point to give her leftover food from last night. Personally, I have never believed in the giving money to the less-fortunate because it just makes them overly dependent.

Leaving aside my philosophies,what I wanted to write here is that there is something I have learnt and still am learning from this scenario. What I see in that relationship, is that there is immense joy in the mother's eyes when she is with her child. That little bundle of energy means the world to her. They have created a world for themselves out of nothing. I wish I could. Us, more fortunate people who have enough to lead a life which is far more comfortable than them , could take a lesson or two.

My point of sharing this with you, is that I have come to learn small things from people who might be insignificant to us but implicitly add a new dimension to our thoughts. To me, it is this very event, every morning at 8 a.m. that adds a new dimension.

Having said all this, it does pain me a lot to say that I have not seen the lady and her kid for the past 2 weeks. I just hope nothing has come upon them. On a few days, it does mean a lot to me just to see them and walk to my bus stop. I really hope to see them very very soon. God bless.

Need a little time to wake up

Hello Mrs. Blogs,
A new blog post and finally something new to talk about. Contrary to my previous post, I know exactly what I want to say here. As Polonius (from Hamlet) so rightly says, "Brevity is the soul of wit" and hence this will be a quick peep into something significant in my life.

Before presenting the 1996 BRIT award to Oasis for the Best British Band, Russell Brand said, "... and the winner is, the band that changed my life - Oasis". He took the words right out of my mouth there. Now it's not like Oasis made  me take any life changing decisions like the recent fans' stories to the run up of the release of Time Flies (which I am definitelly buying). I came across this story, where this one man gave up his "mental issues" after listening to Stop Crying Your Heart Out.

What I want to write here is that I love each and every Oasis song (except Little James, which is a woeful song!, sorry Liam, but it is) and having said that, there is one song which I particularly love. It came out in their second album and it's called Morning Glory.

There is so much energy packed in that song, it gives you so much belief and again, a lot of energy. It just wakes you up instantly. On my way to work, in office, with friends or at the gym, this song gives me that extra push of inspiration. It is that inkling of thought that I need every morning when I take the 166 to work. There is just one thing about that song: ENERGY.

"All your dreams are made
When you're chained to the mirror and razor blade
Today's the day that all the world will see

Another sunny afternoon
I have been walking to the sound of my favourite tune
Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know to soon

Need a little time to wake up
Need a little time to wake up wake up
Need a little time to rest your mind
 You know you should so I guess you might as well 

What's the story morning glory?
Well  "

That's the sort of thing I want to listen to every morning. I have watched Oasis at Wembley, and this song just blew me away. I can recollect every song singing along with Liam at the top of my voice. They are a class class act.

Totally out of random, my favourite album happens to be Don't Believe the Truth. And yes, please do listen to Morning Glory on your way to work, and I guarantee you that this takes you to a whole new level. I am really looking forward to Noel's new stuff and I am certainly buying that album.

 
Right then. More love later Mrs. Blogs.

Jack, Kate, Juliet, Desmond, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid,Richard

Now that I have your attention with the title, here is what I am talking about.

For those of you who are either crazy or just nerdy, there is this really super Lost TV Club forum here. You would really enjoy it if you do like watching ABC's Lost

Testing

Testing my blog. Do not read