Big B in Pakistan

Saw this picture in Hindustan Times. Since Pakistan's Independence day is on 14th August, I think this message/ad has got something to do with that.

I have made it a ritual to go through 3 newspapers every day - The IE, HT and DNA. Well no specific reason for DNA, but just that it sometimes carries nice stories about Mumbai. There is still no local Bangy english newspaper which is as good. Deccan Herald will take a lot of time to graduate for that. That is another reason why Bangy is not yet as comsopolitan as Mumbai.

Also on the list is Business Standard and ET. And to add to the glamour, CNN-IBN & Times Now. So that kind of covers the entire Indian news for me.

For international currently I rely on BBC alone. Unless any friend of mine sends me a Reuters/CNN link!!!

Indian Culture with a dash of Karan Johar

Sun nite I was invited to watch an Arangetum of a colleague's family friend's daughter. It was a bharatnatyam performance and I thought it would be a good idea to spend a Sun nite. If it got boring, I can always walk out and see something on TV. Got David (my french friend) also to come along. Thought it would be a good idea to make him watch something different. He was shocked in the morning when I explained to him about cricket and the 6 hours long ODI. After seeing his reaction I decided not to mention abt the test match!

I have to confess that I had never seen an arangetum before in my life, atleast fully. Have heard of marathon arangetums happening during temple festivals and all. If ever any classical dance comes on TV, I just change channels...So that was my past experience with classical dance of any sort. So there I was in the PJ civic centre, one among the thousands of Tamil family and friends of the gal, some surd/chinese and malay friends of the family. There was a small nicey printed booklet explaining the occasion. A page for the chief guest (he was the husband of teh guru), one for the guru (she was heading a dance academy which had many branches in Malaysia and Singapore), one for the gal's family (major hifi family, mountaineers and stuff) and their achievements, one about the gal (she it seems was a topper and also did gymnastics and mountaineering herself and wanted to Finance and Accounting in Australia)...There were some pages dedicated to pictures of the gal while she was growing up and how dance influenced her life etc etc. And finally there were those half page ads (I remember how tough it was to sell such space in a symposium magazine or college magazine, back there in RECT) by uncles and aunties of the gal.

Ok enough about the occasion. There was short break for snacks and after that there was a thanks giving session by the brother (who flew down from Australia for the occasion), by the parents and the guru and a 10 minute talk on the dance academy. I asked my colleague if it wasnt a bit too much?Thats when I came to know that this is not a normal feature and in this case the family had the money to do this kind of a show and they did that. Like the way the Yash Chopras and the Karan Johars of bollywood paint the movies with happiness and songs!!!

But tell you what, I was surprised that I sat through that whole 2 hours without getting bored. Thats when I realised that if I was invited to something like this in India, then I wouldnt have even gone for the show. But thats not the case now. I started liking anything even remotely connected to India. There are no bad movies anymore. All songs in all languages are good!

There is a disco here which plays only Tamil songs and one where you can hear only Punjabi/Bhangra songs!!! I can bet that there is nothing like that in Chennai or Chandigarh!!!

Was there yesterday

An year since...

Last year around July last week, I think on a Thursday afternoon as rains thrashed down the window pane in my Mumbai office, I realised that we are in for something special. The local mumbaites warned us that this is severe and "this station will be down", "this line would be stopped", "this road would have sinked"! Well I thought ok, so what, maybe I will be late by a few hours, once teh watre recedes, we can all get back home. but at about 4 PM, when the outside looked like it was 7 PM and I saw winds and rains move cars, I called up couple of my friends in other cities and got into exciting talk...

That night I stayed in office with some 100 odd colleagues of mine... We left office around 4 PM next day and two o my friends were with me and it was one hell of an adventure getting back to Thane from Lower Parel. People who know Mumbai will realise the distance and the pain. The sights we saw of abadoned cars, of brotherhood, of pain, of loss to property, of hopes, of a spirit which we call Mumbai, will live with me...That city rocks!!! The sight of housewives and grannies, standing on the road and serving water, tea and snacks to people who were walking for kilometres and not charging a penny, I think no city in India can boast of this. I love Mumbai for this.

We had a lot of fun. We are 5 of us, me, 2 of my roomies, a friend of mine and a colleague of mine. He stayed in Kalyan and therail lines were beyond repair and he was stranded at my place. TV channels conked off in the 2nd day and so began an adventure of non-stop movie watching. Today 2 of them are still working in Mumbai, another one is in Pune, one guy is having a ball in Birmingham and me sitting and typing here in KL.

I would not want to see anything like that again. But some stories will be exchanged over some whisky and vodka in the future. God Bless Mumbai.

Sikkim - A Paradise

I have not been to Kashmir and I think when it comes to natural beauty and tourist-friendliness, there is nothing like Sikkim.

We did this trip when we were in our 2nd yr MBA. 4 of us, 3 days and a lot of fun. Well I have to admit that, in the entire trip we were not at all sober!!! So one of my sober friends had the pictures with him and after I think 2 years he has found time to scan and send us. I thought my next post shud be about that trip. Thanks Haldea for the pics. I am sure Dixit, Kamath & Haldea wont forget this trip that easily as well.


Never thought we could do so much in 3 days, took trains and jeeps to travel. Stayed in Gangtok for a day and then Pelling for 2 days. We met some local kids, visited a monastery, had chiang (the local drink that hits you 1 hour after consumption) from a local wooden shop (coz all i cud see was wood, wherever I look), had momos in plenty, went to the most happening and maybe only pub in Gangtok, met up with our XLRI friends there, went to a place called Pelling, one of the most beautiful place I have ever been (maybe switzerland is better), saw waterfalls and beautiful snow covered mountains, visited tsango lake (which freezes in winter), had the most delicious roti and daal and anda burji in the hotel in Pelling (cooked by the manager-cook-room boy).


This small town has a population of I think some 4000. And it looked more or less deserted when we were roaming around the small town. And the best thing about Sikkim is that, nobody harasses you unlike other Indian tourist locations. Here you can do your own thing...




Some really innocent looking faces!!!






Yes we had a rocking time!!!

Dennis Bergkamp - An Arsenal Hero

The Most Beautiful place in Malaysia - Penang

Penang is a very beautiful island state in the north of Malaysia. Its got the mountains/hills, sea on all sides and a bridge which connects them to the rest of the world. I have been to just 2-3 states in Malaysia, but this one tops the list for its beauty.


Ok this picture was not taken by me, but gives you a glimpse of the 13.5 km bridge which is the seventh longest in the world. I mean you sit and sit and wonder when it will get over...awesome bridge I would say.
I did the trip couple of times across the bridge for some meetings. One thing which is not good is the public transport. Taxis dont go by meter and you have to bargain. I was charged on a daily basis. But people are more friendly than KL is my verdict.


There are a lot of Indians as in the mainland and I even saw a Malayalle Association of Penang.

Penang food is a speciality and the Indian food I had here was quite different from the Indian food I get in KL.

Some parts of the city has a nice pavement around the sea which is good for a nice evening walk. People here are a bit more laidback than the rest of Malaysia.


A set of row houses in Penang - view from my room!

The new kits

As the new season is about to start, most of the teams are having a new look.

Check out ManU.


Next in line is Marquez sporting the new Home jersey for Barca. Well they will be playing in a shade of Orange rather than the flourescent green this season when they are away.


And they walk into the new Emirates stadium in their new jersey, led by Henry, young and soon to be unveiled Walcott, Safe hands- Lehmann and no-he-is-not-going-anywhere-Fabregas

India has to decide

Option 1: Do an Israel, get into Pak and POK and destroy all the Terrorist camps.

Option 2: Give Kashmir to whoever wants it and live peacefully. Why get innocent people killed for reasons they dont know.

Ok you can say that then every state will have terrorists and groups provoking terror to cede off. I mean I dont have a solution to that, but I thnk thats quite an exaggerated argument!

Now the Ugly Game

There is nothing in this world that cannot get corrupt. Football is no exception. A week before the FIFA World Cup, BBC had a programme on the corruption prevailing in FIFA, masterminded by some of the top guys in the organisation.

The BBC man who was behind this was a reporter who goes by the name Andrew jennings. He is the man who is feared by most of the top bosses in FIFA. They dont let him enter any of the FIFA offices in the world. He has been banned fro attending the FIFA press conferences anywhere in the world. He is one fearless guy who has the guts to ask Sepp Blatter some really gutsy questions on his face.

Some of the allegations are very powerful against Sepp Blatter, the earlier president Joao Havalange, some of the top guys there in FIFA, ILS a company which got the marketing rights for the WC from 1986 till 2010 without any competitive bids.


There are some very interesting facts like One of the World Cup's biggest sponsors is the sports kit manufacturer Adidas, and it was a member of the family who then owned the company who set up ISL in 1982.

He is Jack Warner, the man who controls the CONCACAF, which has some 35 countries as members and who voted en masse for Sepp Blatter. He abused Andrew in fromnt of the camera and was blamed for selling the WC tickets through his own travel agency in the Carribean.

It would be a good idea to check this out

Zidane and the Cup

The last shot this man had on the field was with his head, a head-butt! He got 2 goals with his head last time he played in the WC finals and this time he got a red card.

He should have controlled his temper the way he controlled the ball in this WC. Anyway, I dont think that incident will take anything away from his achievements because nobody knows what happened on the field that day.

Sri Hartamas Restoran Spicy

Well this is where I have been watching some of the matches, including the semifinals. This place gets really crowded for the 11PM match and decently crowded for the 3Am match.

It takes us about half an hour to get out of the jam on these roads as every restaurant on this road is showing the match on a big screen.


The teams line up for the 2nd semifinals


The team


And the man...

Les Blues all the way

The 2nd semi final was not as absorbing as the first, but with the limited opportunity that France had, they scored one. Henry going down on a genuine but minor challenge and Zizou converting the penalty.

The French defence look as solid as the Italians and I think Thuram at this age is playing his heart out. He was extraordinary. Portugal was running down the flanks and Ronaldo for all the dribbling talent and speed he has has been showing his dark side with some dives and unwanted appeals for fouls. He doesnt need that atleast at this point of time when his popularity is at such a low. The problem with Portuguese football is that this might have been their best ever shot at the WC. The old war horse Figo, brilliant Deco and Fast and Furious Ronaldo might never play together again and there are no new talents coming out of that country other than Ronaldo.

I was watching with David who was going gaga over how the last time France won the Euro, they played Portugal in the semis and they won by a solitary goal, scored by Zizou with a penalty!!! And they went on to play Italy in the finals...well the story sounds very familiar. David was telling me that how the whole team was represented by black players and the French public watching the match in the stadium were all white, as only they could afford the tickets. What a contradiction of sorts.

Finishing off with a line from the commentator when he was analysing the team line ups..."In the French team you have Ribery and Malouda providing the width...and Zidane in the middle...well he will be providing the genius!!!"

It was good while it lasted

The Germans call this stadium in Dortmund "the living room". This is a stadium where they have never lost before...So when they were taking on Italy here, there was a lot of optimism in the German camp.

You cannot win a match/cup just with luck as Brazil and England found out a little late in the tournament. You need a coach who is very positive and they had Klinsmann, their prolific striker of 90s. I think this whole turnaround for this team is because of this man here. How can you keep your golden shoe winner of last world cup in the sideline. He rubbed on the attacking instincts to the team. It was a pleasure to watch him applaud every attacking move of the Germans and he threw emotions in plenty as well.


Well a coach cant win matches. Hiddink will confirm on this. You also need a team which believes in itself. Ballack provided the captaincy and the pivot for all attacks from the right through Schneider and through Lahm from the left and through Sweinsteiger from everywhere. ANd when Swein was tired you had Borowski comein in and settinp up a nice goal for Klose against the Argentinians. This is a team which will be a favourite to win the next Euro.


So all of these drove this nation crazy. There you see two very important players, Lehmann and Ballack.

And I feel sorry for Klinsmann who would have been the most upset. He came without any background in coaching a team and did a wonderful job at that. Good job done!

The Semis

The way the matches have progressed have proved beyond doubt that you cannot just scrape throught with patchy performances...read Brazil and England. At least the ones in the semis are the best performing or the most improving sides seen in this World Cup. Though Spain and Argentina also played well, they ended up in the wrong side of the draw.

Semi 1: Italy vs Germany

Italy has got the best defence in this world cup. They are disciplined, dont give anything away and work very well as a team. All these guys have been playing the same league and there is something similar in their thought process I guess.
Germany on the other hand have a bubbly team. They are one team who has so far played 60-70% of their game in their opposition's half. Constantly attacking, this team can score from close range through Klose and Podolski and from long range from Ballack (though he has not scored one yet), Sweinsteiger and Schneider.


Verdict:Italy. Yes I think the Italians will hold good against the Germans. Going by the trend in this World Cup, it will not be a surprise.

Semi 2: France vs Portugal

With Deco and Costinha back and Ronaldo firing on all cylinders, the Portuguese look like favourites. More so because the French victory over Brazil was an inspired one, one that happened when they were down and had nothing to lose except pride. Wonder if Portugal would be able to inspire the French. I would like to see Zizou sign off in style. He has been the best of his generation and he needs one more star performance. Figo also has promised more than he can deliver so far in his career and will also be looking at a star turn.

Verdict:France.Well, surprise again. I want France to win more than anything else.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

Just to add, I think couple of days back in two seperate media briefings, the English coach Eriksson and the Brazil coach Parreira stressed on how important it is to win matches and not play the "beautiful game" They asked who will remember a Ghana or a Spain (or an Argentina - I am adding this as at that point of time Argentina was not eliminated). Those teams have crashed out and we are still in this game.

How wrong can they be. It is important to win matches I agree, but not by playing boring football. I think people will remember the Ghanians and the Ivorians and the Argentinians from this world cup rather than the Brazilians and the English. We still remember and consider the Brazil team of 82 as their best ever squad. They didnt win the cup but won a lot of hearts. The total football by the Dutch in 74, they played some wonderful soccer but didnt win the cup. It is not the cup that matters, but those 90 minutes of magic that every football lover wants to see.

So Mr.Eriksson and Pareira, you are very wrong!

The Man who could have been

But was substituted!!!

Argentina lost this match tactically. But Germany has played well so far and I just hope Brazil thrashes them in the finals!!!

Talk about Football

Talk about Football coverage and it would be tough to beat the Malaysians. Astro, the pay channel network here is showing all the matches live and to beat everythign else has come up with this nice interactive mode.


For eg; in the picture below when there are like 2 matches live, I can pick and choose which one to watch. The highlights of the current match and the previous day keep happening and you can choose what to watch. The fixtures, stats and the latest news on the teams and tournament are available at the press of a button.

And when there is only one match live, the functionalities get better and better. Like there are 2 cameras on an individual player from each team (in this case it was the Brazil-Ghana match and the camera was on Ronaldinho and I think Asamaoh/Appaiah). so at any moment you feel like seeing their individual movement/skill it is possible.

There is a Tactical camera which gives you a top view of the whole stadium. you can actually see how the 4-4-2 combination moves in the actual match. very intersting sometimes.

And the highlights of that particular match keeps running. So if you lost out on a goal, you can quickly catch it in the highlights and watch the rest of the match. Pretty good I say.

The Quarters

As the World Cup nears its last 10 matches, there are some mouth-watering encounters in the offing...

Germany vs Argentina - Repeat of 90 WC finals

They are by far the best 2 teams in this edition of the World Cup and this match is the first final of this World Cup. Both the teams have good attacking skills and play to their strengths. I would like to see how Germany will play when they go a goal behind. That scenario is yet to be seen so far so it should bring some really interesting tactics from the experienced Pekerman and energetic Klinsmann. What Argentina have that Germany doesnt are their reserves. Look at Messi (who might start) & Tevez...
Verdict: Toughest one but I will go with Argentina 3:2 or 2:1

Italy vs Ukraine - Easy for Italy

Though I felt bad for Australia as it was not a penalty, the way Australia played for around 40 minutes without even haing good shots on goal, I thought Italy deserved to win. And what a penalty it was...You cannot place it better. It seems Italy is the side in which the substitutes have scored the maximum goals for any country in the WC. Proven yet again by Totti who came in as a sub. I think the Italians who have seen enough and more of Shevchenko will be able to decipher him easily.
Verdict: Easy one for Italy 2:0

England vs Portugal - Scary repeat for the English

Before I say anything about the teams, here is a funny bit from the Guardian
"Now that Portugal have done the World Cup a favour by removing the tournament's most cynical team, many neutrals will be hoping that they can repeat the trick by eliminating a group of players who, alone among the seeded nations, appear to have brought nothing to the party except their wives and girlfriends."

Ok on the match, I think England will again pull in a goal or two and get away with this one. Without Deco, many yellow carded players (incldg Figo) and injured Ronaldo, I dont think this team is good enough to win against England.
Verdict: England should wrap this one 1:0

Brazil vs France - Repeat of 98 WC finals

An improved French team against a slowly improving but lucky Brazil. Well Zidane, Ribery, Viera and gang might find it a little difficult in this match to score the goals. We might not see Zidane and Ronaldo in a World Cup again. Zidane's goal was much much better than any that Ronaldo put in. I think an ageing side like France, however good they are might struggle against the Brazilians.

Verdict: Brazil will win 2:0

Group G & H

Group G

Switzerland - A starless team who play within their limitations have been able to notch up couple of impressive victories on their way to the second round. I expected a draw in the last match with Korea, but they came out trumps.

France - Well a team whose average age is 30 years and 8 months can only do so much. It was left to Viera to come up with a champion performance to put them through to the next round. This team needs a serious revamp and it will surely happen after this world cup.


Group H

Spain - Whatever people say about their performance, I am not all that convinced. I thought Ukraine has performed so inconsistently that they were on a low on the day they lost against Spain. I was surprised that they could keep a player of Fabregas' calibre out of the team. Anyways good going so far for the perennial under-achievers...

Ukraine - They have played the most inconsistent football seen so far. Beaten black and blue by Spain and then giving an absolutely stunning performance against the Saudis. I wonder if they would be able to do well in the next rounds. This is where I feel pity for teams like Czechs and Ivory Coast

Spain vs France verdict France
I think France has been motivated by the Viera performance and we might see an upset here

Switzerland vs Ukraine verdict Swiss
Swiss shud put more than a goal through this Ukraine team