Addendum
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I think I got alittle mixed up in the grouping. So it seems Brazil and England will lock horns in the semis itself and cannot meet in the finals. So I think, it would be a Argentina vs Brazil final which Brazil will win.
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The teams that will qualify from the group stages are
Group A
1. Germany - They should atleast make it to the next round, though they played badly against Japan
2. Ecuador - 3rd place in South America after Brazil and Argentina should be something
Group B
1. England - With Rooney can win this cup
2. Sweden - Got it in them to go to the enxt round
Group C
1. Argentina - Another contender for the Cup
2. Ivory Coast - Yes, the first surprise. I think they will wriggle one past Holland and make it
Group D
1. Portugal - Should not be a problem for them to top this group
2. Mexico - Angola and Iran should not create any problems to them either
Group E
1. Czech Republic - They are a good side and should compensate for their Euro semi loss
2. Italy - Has got a good attack for a change
Group F
1. Brazil - Well all Brazil teams are worthy of a World Cup and so is this team
2. Australia - I am going with my heart. I think this is a tough pool for the other 3 teams. They are all good and I think any of them can get through
Group G
1. France - Henry should hit top form this year is my bet
2. Switzerland - They are again a second round team
Group H
1. Spain - Another good team that can go a long way
2. Ukraine - May spring a surprise or two
Second Round
1. Germany - Sweden verdict: Sweden
2. England - Ecuador verdict: England
3. Argentina - Mexico verdict: Argentina
4. Portugal - Ivory Coast verdict: Portugal
5. Czech - Australia verdict: Czech
6. Brazil - Italy verdict: Brazil
7. France - Ukraine verdict: France
8. Spain - Swiss verdict: Spain
The second round promises some mouth watering duels, with the best being Germany-Sweden. The others would be France-Ukraine and a Brazil-Italy showdown.
Quarter Finals
1-3: Sweden - Argentina verdict: Argentina
2-4: England - Portugal verdict: England
5-7: Czech - France verdict: France
6-8: Brazil - Spain verdict: Brazil
Semi Finals
Argentina - England verdict:England
France - Brazil verdict:Brazil
Finals
Engalnd - Brazil verdict: Brazil
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
3 movies and some thoughts
Yesterday I saw Swades again. I realised that it can still keep you engrossed, even if you are watching it for the nth time. There is something about a movie when touches all the sentimental chords of your mind and heart at the same time.
There are movies which are fun and entertaining and attain cult status like DCH. You can watch them again and again. It is funny, sentimental and romantic at the same time. The characters are lively on the screen and subtle in their acting. Yes you can watch it again and again. But does it have any impact on you. No. It is just a movie, entertaining for the two and a half hours of its duration.
Then came movies which will leave you with a deep impression, the one time that you see it. It incites a kind of, I dont know if I can call it false feeling of emotions. I am talking about RDB. I loved it the only time I saw it. I bought a DVD, but couldnt watch it again. Maybe I will be able to see it after many months. And it is not just me, there are many people I have spoken to who have said that they cant watch it again. It was strange because I thought I liked it when I saw it in KL. RDB had that strong sense of trying to influence the way you think. It was like a one time solution, a little revolutionary way of doing things. And though some people criticise the end, I thought that is the reason why it was special.
Then there are movies which are much beyond a movie. They are seen as movies which change perceptions, change thought processes, change opinions, make you believe that you can do things in India without getting into the messy beuraucracy and politics. The songs are messages which will stay in your mind forever. Each character represents a section of our society. Each dialogue is a lesson you should have learnt in school and every scene a depiction of the condition of our society.
And to sign off, a line from one of the songs
"Mann se Ravan jo nikale, mann mein uske Ram hai"
There are movies which are fun and entertaining and attain cult status like DCH. You can watch them again and again. It is funny, sentimental and romantic at the same time. The characters are lively on the screen and subtle in their acting. Yes you can watch it again and again. But does it have any impact on you. No. It is just a movie, entertaining for the two and a half hours of its duration.
Then came movies which will leave you with a deep impression, the one time that you see it. It incites a kind of, I dont know if I can call it false feeling of emotions. I am talking about RDB. I loved it the only time I saw it. I bought a DVD, but couldnt watch it again. Maybe I will be able to see it after many months. And it is not just me, there are many people I have spoken to who have said that they cant watch it again. It was strange because I thought I liked it when I saw it in KL. RDB had that strong sense of trying to influence the way you think. It was like a one time solution, a little revolutionary way of doing things. And though some people criticise the end, I thought that is the reason why it was special.
Then there are movies which are much beyond a movie. They are seen as movies which change perceptions, change thought processes, change opinions, make you believe that you can do things in India without getting into the messy beuraucracy and politics. The songs are messages which will stay in your mind forever. Each character represents a section of our society. Each dialogue is a lesson you should have learnt in school and every scene a depiction of the condition of our society.
And to sign off, a line from one of the songs
"Mann se Ravan jo nikale, mann mein uske Ram hai"
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Stumble Upon
I quite Stumbled Upon here. If you are using Mozilla, this is like one of the best add-ons you can have...So start discovering!
And the good news is all over the place...Henry stays and so watch out all you ManU / Chelsea / L'pool and Barca fans...
The media manager or whoever came along with Wenger and Henry and told the media "I think Henry has got something to say to you."
Henry: I think with my heart and my heart told me to stay. I've never played in Spain and never will. This is my last contract.
Wenger:I had two aims at the start of the week: to win the European Cup and then to make Thierry stay.I only managed one of those but, for the future of the club, that's certainly the best one.
Sometimes, I wonder how these guys come up with such hollywoodesque dialogues. It was also interesting to know that Arsenal is the only club in the world with three teenagers at the World Cup - Theo Walcott for England, Cesc Fabregas for Spain and Johan Djourou for Switzerland!!!
And the good news is all over the place...Henry stays and so watch out all you ManU / Chelsea / L'pool and Barca fans...
The media manager or whoever came along with Wenger and Henry and told the media "I think Henry has got something to say to you."
Henry: I think with my heart and my heart told me to stay. I've never played in Spain and never will. This is my last contract.
Wenger:I had two aims at the start of the week: to win the European Cup and then to make Thierry stay.I only managed one of those but, for the future of the club, that's certainly the best one.
Sometimes, I wonder how these guys come up with such hollywoodesque dialogues. It was also interesting to know that Arsenal is the only club in the world with three teenagers at the World Cup - Theo Walcott for England, Cesc Fabregas for Spain and Johan Djourou for Switzerland!!!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Almost Arsenal
The Gunners and the Catalans flew down to Paris for the Champions League final. Even Bergkamp drove down. And so did my friend Prabhu all the way from electronic city to New BEL road.
This was Arsenal's biggest nite ever and what an anti-climax it was. 18 minutes into the match, Lehmann, the goalie who created many a European record on the way to the final, does a foul to avoid a goal, gets sent off. It was a fair decision as the referee blew the whistle after the foul was committed and before the goal was scored. I think it would have been fairer to allow the goal and retain Lehmann and made a match out of it. One goal down, with 11 men, Arsenal would have been better off than 1 goal up with 10 men. This is because, no team in this world can play with 10 men against a Barca 11 and expect them not to score. Sooner or later they would do that and they did, twice.
The match that was billed as a Ronaldinho vs Henry never lived up to that. Ronaldinho was cramped for space by the wonderful defence of Arsenal and Henry missed chances,which he would have scored with his eyes closed in the EPL. Ljunberg ran all over the place, Fabregas was good and even the replacement goalie Almunia was good till he let those two in.
The quality of refereeing was poor without doubt. Both sides missed chances. The two teams were my most favourite and 2nd most favourite teams.
Only positive thing that happened for Arsenal would be perhaps Henry having second thoughts on joining Barcelona now!!!
This was Arsenal's biggest nite ever and what an anti-climax it was. 18 minutes into the match, Lehmann, the goalie who created many a European record on the way to the final, does a foul to avoid a goal, gets sent off. It was a fair decision as the referee blew the whistle after the foul was committed and before the goal was scored. I think it would have been fairer to allow the goal and retain Lehmann and made a match out of it. One goal down, with 11 men, Arsenal would have been better off than 1 goal up with 10 men. This is because, no team in this world can play with 10 men against a Barca 11 and expect them not to score. Sooner or later they would do that and they did, twice.
The match that was billed as a Ronaldinho vs Henry never lived up to that. Ronaldinho was cramped for space by the wonderful defence of Arsenal and Henry missed chances,which he would have scored with his eyes closed in the EPL. Ljunberg ran all over the place, Fabregas was good and even the replacement goalie Almunia was good till he let those two in.
The quality of refereeing was poor without doubt. Both sides missed chances. The two teams were my most favourite and 2nd most favourite teams.
Only positive thing that happened for Arsenal would be perhaps Henry having second thoughts on joining Barcelona now!!!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Template Change
Ya saw couple of my regular blogging friends change their template and I thought, ya once in a while a little change is good for the eyes!!!
There are young designers who are making fundoo templates and helping guys like me who are sad in HTML to redesign and improve the looks of their blogs. I tampered with a couple of them and decided to keep this as it was time for me to leave office and the republishing etc etc was taking some time...so thats abt it...
Big week for Arsenal. Maybe their Biggest ever!
There are young designers who are making fundoo templates and helping guys like me who are sad in HTML to redesign and improve the looks of their blogs. I tampered with a couple of them and decided to keep this as it was time for me to leave office and the republishing etc etc was taking some time...so thats abt it...
Big week for Arsenal. Maybe their Biggest ever!
Friday, May 12, 2006
100th Post
And I am glad I am writing for a good cause.
This is what Peter Dulvy, says about how this small adventure started...
In November 2005 I attended Robin's wedding in Kerala. Following the ceremony we all went en masse on a backwater boat trip eating south Indian delights and relaxing. Whilst gliding along the tranquil waters I spotted an idyllic towpath at the side of the river shaded by rows of coconut palms. It occurred to me that it would be really amazing to run through such a beautiful place. A few good books and number of months later I awoke on Saturday 11th March 2006 morning to a call from a friend †in Delhi who was there with me in Kerala all those months earlier. She suggested that I should consider following through on my early comments in November and actually go running in India.
So here I am on the eve of our departure for Delhi where we will be launching the run with the kind support of a Reebok, the Indian Tourism Office in London and Intrepid Travel. From Delhi we will fly to Cochin to arrive on the morning of the 30th. It's a drive north to Kazaragod and a good nights sleep. Somewhere between 4.30 - 5am (mid night UK time) myself Rahul and Dez will awake from sleep with a feeling in our bellies marking the realisation that the wildest plans can actually come fruition. It will be a golden moment for all of us to remember for the rest of our lives.
Check out Heels on Fire and their travel blog
This is what Peter Dulvy, says about how this small adventure started...
In November 2005 I attended Robin's wedding in Kerala. Following the ceremony we all went en masse on a backwater boat trip eating south Indian delights and relaxing. Whilst gliding along the tranquil waters I spotted an idyllic towpath at the side of the river shaded by rows of coconut palms. It occurred to me that it would be really amazing to run through such a beautiful place. A few good books and number of months later I awoke on Saturday 11th March 2006 morning to a call from a friend †in Delhi who was there with me in Kerala all those months earlier. She suggested that I should consider following through on my early comments in November and actually go running in India.
So here I am on the eve of our departure for Delhi where we will be launching the run with the kind support of a Reebok, the Indian Tourism Office in London and Intrepid Travel. From Delhi we will fly to Cochin to arrive on the morning of the 30th. It's a drive north to Kazaragod and a good nights sleep. Somewhere between 4.30 - 5am (mid night UK time) myself Rahul and Dez will awake from sleep with a feeling in our bellies marking the realisation that the wildest plans can actually come fruition. It will be a golden moment for all of us to remember for the rest of our lives.
Check out Heels on Fire and their travel blog
Thursday, May 11, 2006
The rise of the Red Brigade
On a day when the Commies come to power, let me share some of the pics that I took in the recent past....
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Friends forever
This picture was taken in Kodai, where we had given the farewell to our senior batch of REC. Farewell and Freshers parties have been the pride of each batch. It is more or less like how "well" you ragged your juniors!!! So this is my batch "Mallus"
Standing From Left: Sujith, Karthik, Pramod, Prem, Philip, Vimal, Arun, Sanjith, Girishwar & Ashif
Sitting from Left: Sidin, Praful, Dwipin, Vikash and Jiby
I should thank Dwipin for preserving this picture and K for passing it on...
Standing From Left: Sujith, Karthik, Pramod, Prem, Philip, Vimal, Arun, Sanjith, Girishwar & AshifSitting from Left: Sidin, Praful, Dwipin, Vikash and Jiby
I should thank Dwipin for preserving this picture and K for passing it on...
Sunday, May 07, 2006
From Bangkok to Bombay
When you see countries like Thailand have infrastructure of good qaulity, it sows doubts on your mind on what exactly is our country doing after so many years of independence. They have got expressways over the city and roads and airports of high qaulity and a very proactive Tourism zing to the whole scenario. They have beaches and massages that sell well, but c'mon, no country can just excel in selling their beaches, if they cant provide good lodging and transportation and facilities to whoever lands in that copuntry. India is on its way, I just hope we are not too late.
So some snippets of this country, not in any particular order though.
So lets start with the two-wheeler taxis or the bike taxis that we see here. They are differentiated from their other 2-wheeler counterparts by the orange waist coat. They flout traffic rules and go on footpaths (like they do here in Bangalore) as seen in the picture. But I have to tell you that in this traffic-jammed city, they are the fastest mode of transport.
Bangkok, must be having the worst traffic-jams in this part of the world. The only time you avoid that is when you take the expressway, running above the city, covering the length and breadth of it, or when you take the sky train, which doesnt cover much of the city.
The inner roads inside the cities are cramped at some parts and the best thing about these roads are these nice small trees which do not cramp the footpath but gives some shade. As you would see. most of the pics have been taken whn I was travelling in the taxi as too many meetings and numerous traffic jams made me click less pictures.
This is the talles building in Bangkok. It has 90 floors and is a hotel, whose name I cant recollect now. I like the Johnnie Walker ad on it, which says "Drink, Dont Drive"!!!
The famous water ways in Bangkok. Couldnt take the ride on the boats though.
This was something which I didnt understand. The board there says "Marriage for Alien", whatever that means. I was in the taxi, esle would have gone down and enquired.
This is a classic Heineken ad. I saw couple of billboards which were really classy ones. By the time I dug out the camera from my bag, I was past that. Now anyone who comes to Bangkok, will know of Patpong street and what it is famous for. This rotating ad board has the images in the following order
1. Soi 1 which translates to Street 1 - The image is of a hand holding a Heineken pint bottle
2. Soi 2 ~ Street 2 - And the image is again of a hand holding a pint rather loosely
and the third one is this...
In Malaysia you can speak in English and be assured that the listener will understand what you are saying and vice versa. But not here. They speak in english which you will never understand and ya they don't understand what you speak.
And finally I was back in good old Mumbai!!!
So some snippets of this country, not in any particular order though.
So lets start with the two-wheeler taxis or the bike taxis that we see here. They are differentiated from their other 2-wheeler counterparts by the orange waist coat. They flout traffic rules and go on footpaths (like they do here in Bangalore) as seen in the picture. But I have to tell you that in this traffic-jammed city, they are the fastest mode of transport.
Bangkok, must be having the worst traffic-jams in this part of the world. The only time you avoid that is when you take the expressway, running above the city, covering the length and breadth of it, or when you take the sky train, which doesnt cover much of the city.
The inner roads inside the cities are cramped at some parts and the best thing about these roads are these nice small trees which do not cramp the footpath but gives some shade. As you would see. most of the pics have been taken whn I was travelling in the taxi as too many meetings and numerous traffic jams made me click less pictures.
This is the talles building in Bangkok. It has 90 floors and is a hotel, whose name I cant recollect now. I like the Johnnie Walker ad on it, which says "Drink, Dont Drive"!!!
The famous water ways in Bangkok. Couldnt take the ride on the boats though.
This was something which I didnt understand. The board there says "Marriage for Alien", whatever that means. I was in the taxi, esle would have gone down and enquired.
This is a classic Heineken ad. I saw couple of billboards which were really classy ones. By the time I dug out the camera from my bag, I was past that. Now anyone who comes to Bangkok, will know of Patpong street and what it is famous for. This rotating ad board has the images in the following order1. Soi 1 which translates to Street 1 - The image is of a hand holding a Heineken pint bottle
2. Soi 2 ~ Street 2 - And the image is again of a hand holding a pint rather loosely
and the third one is this...
In Malaysia you can speak in English and be assured that the listener will understand what you are saying and vice versa. But not here. They speak in english which you will never understand and ya they don't understand what you speak.And finally I was back in good old Mumbai!!!
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Sportstar - My Personal Collection
This Hindu publication is the only surviving sports magazine in India today...
My earliest memories go back to 1986-87, when I first set sight on this magazine and started understanding the pictures in this magazine. I used to collect the centre-spreads and one-page posters. Our house used to have a huge pile of sportstar mags and I somehow managed to collect it and keep in a corner. I lost out on the old 1980's Reader's Digets though.
To just add on to the collection, I decided to buy the issues of Sportstar when there was a special occasion, say like the cricket world cup or the FIFA WC or the Olympics.
My prized collection includes,
the 1983 issue, where Kapil's Devils won the Prudential cup
1986 FIFA WC starring Maradona
1987 Reliance World Cup
1990 Italia FIFA WC
1992 Benson & Hedges Cup
1994 US FIFA WC
1996 Wills Cup
1998 Zidane WC
1999 South Africa
2002 Japan Korea WC
2003 India Whitewash in finals
I do not remember which all Olympics I have got covered. And to complement this I have this huge collection of posters, right from the footballing legends to the F1 legends (I did not understand this sport then), to the cricketing greats to some exquisitive tennis stars. All these magazines are neatly bound and will adorn my bookshelves once I have a bookshelf in my new home.
I started appreciating R Mohan, Vijay Lokapally and Rohit Brijnath over the years. Mohan quit the magazine and newspaper following the cricket betting controversy and only the other two remain. Also I rememeber another magazine coming up in the 90's called Sportsworld, which was more colourful and trendy. But somehow, I stuck to Sportstar. The latest avatar of Sportstar is of the tabloid size (la Mid-day) and is 8 bucks and not 10! It has a 2-page centre-spread and looks great and is a good read. Unfortunately, the cover story is of how they expect Rooney to do what Gazza couldnt do for England - win a World Cup!!! Well that looks unlikely following his injury .
The World Cup special issues of Sportstar are from next week and I hope to collect them!!!
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