We, the people of India

 One good outcome of these horrible attacks we had on our India a couple of weeks back is that there is an awareness in the country for lack of security. People are now conscious about the importance of security, security of the nation and security of the establishments in India.

 For the past couple of decades, India has been going gung-ho on the economic front and has seen an increase in the well-being of a section of its population. I would be glad to see this well-being being distributed to the less fortunate population as well. Probably this single-minded quest for better infrastructure [ which is yet a far dream in many of our cities ]  to boost the economy made investments in the development of security take a backseat. One fall-out of this economic boom, as seen in China, is the increase in divide of the haves and have-nots. China has already started working on this divide since 2005, by giving impetus in forms of easy small term loans and other initiatives to its ageing agricultural sector. India needs to learn from this and help in empowering our farmers to benefit from this economic boom.

 Coming back to the topic of this post, I have been watching the debates and talk shows on the news channel in India now and hate seeing people going through the same motions all over again, as they did after any previous attacks. Its in our Indian psyche to "blame" someone for a problem. It looks like blaming someone is the end of it all. We dont understand that each time we are hit, we need to understand the reasons for it, and work towards improving ourselves to be less prone to such attacks in the future. There should be a country-wide security system to tackle such national issues. I am sure we already have that, but may be the speed with which it moved into motion this time was not as fast as most of we citizens felt it do be. This is certainly one big learning to be gained from this attack.

 On the micro level, I was hearing people voice their angst against the system for its lethargic response. There were outcries to change the system. I felt like laughing on those people. They fail to understand that, each citizen of this country is part of the system. If, you are blaming the system, then in reality, you are actually blaming yourselves.

 Ofcourse, I am also part of this same system we all hate. There are so many of us, who have had the fortune of travelling outside India. I wonder why we do not learn the good things from there and implement them ourselves in our homeland. I bet, it is the "chalta hai" attitude that makes us feel more home in India to break the laws at our own will. Do we really need a police standing at each juncture to make sure that we dont break the rules ? Arent we educated enough to understand that rules are not to be broken ? These were some of the questions that came to my mind. It would be interesting to see what each one of us would answer to these :

* How many of us actually slow down our vehicles, when we see someone crossing the road and not push ourselves making others to stop for us.

* How many of us dont break the queues and wait patiently for our turn to come.

* How many of us look out for a dustbin in public places when we want to throw some unwanted covers and wrappers.

* How many of us think twice before taking another plastic cover from the vendor.

* How many of us take care to not throw waste items on the street outside our houses and infact take the ownership to atleast keep our own street clean, and not just our house ?

* We feel no shame in throwing the pizza boxes in to proper dustbins while eating at pizza joints, but dont give a damn when throwing the bhel-puri cover right on the road.

* How many of us consciously avoid throwing waste items from the windows of our vehicles we travel in, like the bus, train and cars ?

* How many of us actually follow the traffic rules while not being inhibited with strange smiles from others who might consider us to be fools to follow traffic rules

* Have you ever stood up when you heard our national anthem being sung ? [ in the media and in real ]

* How many of us have actually tried to learn about the people whom we vote ?

 I know that these things have nothing to do with security. But all these things and more, are needed to show your responsibility to the country you live in. We need to take accountability for the things we do. If you dont do the things that you can do yourselves, then there is only one thing i can say. Its a quote from someone whom i read which says

" People get the politicians they deserve "

 The reason behind this is quite simple. These politicians rise out from the same group of people that are part of the system as we are. If we feel that we need better politicians, then its time for us to change ourselves before asking for a change in the system.

 On a completely tangent note, I was happy to hear in my weekly summons at the mosque, that all the Muslim clerics in India are encouraging Indians to celebrate Bakr-Idd in a straight and simple manner with no pomp and pamper. They have also suggested us to wear a black band on the arms as a mark of grief. This is to be done as a mark of respect for the terrible attacks on India in the recent weeks. After all, Bakr-Idd beckons us to sacrifice our most beloved possessions. I hope people reading this will spread this information to many more.

Mumbai Terror Attack: Time to hit back

Mumbai Terror Attack: Time to hit back- Sudeshna Sen-Columnists-Opinion-The Economic Times

Excerpts from this article :

"....The reactions we’re getting are all very predictable. Shock, then anger, then the need to find someone to blame, and then grief, stoicism, denial are all classic symptoms of any trauma or mourning period, the shrinks will tell you. Yes, we’re tired of hearing about that famous resilience of Mumbai.

The fact is, more than half the people, cannot afford not to go back to work the next day, even if they may die. They depend on their daily wages for their next meal. Even sometimes their monthly wages or bonuses. The Maximum City doesn’t forgive slackers, whatever the provocation.

Reports say Mumbai has lost its innocence. With due respect, we lost our multicultural state in 1992, after that Babri Masjid episode, when we realised, for the first time since 1947, that some people are Muslims and others are Hindus, or Christians or whatever. We acquired our fatalism after the ‘93 blasts, as we first faced the nameless, faceless enemy that is the global terrorist, way before the rest of the world discovered a war on terror.

We realised you risk your life every time you step out, so what the hell. We learnt to live with - shrug off - train bombs, car bombs, regular riots and more..... "

..........

".... Here’s a question. Everyone is asking what the government and politicians were doing. Nothing.

But then we elected them, or didn’t care enough to vote, remember? South Mumbai, traditionally, has one of the lowest voter turnouts..... "

...........

".... What were India Inc’s leaders doing? We all know you’re pretty good at influencing excise duty changes, and dealing with power shortages and so on, how come you need to have a hundred people killed in South Mumbai before you take up the cause of security? ..... "

...........

"...... Anyway, these terrorists ticked all the right boxes. They hit at India’s economic story - putting PC in Home is clearly a desperate attempt to appease international and business interests, who are comfortable with him; they hit at stability in the region - let’s incite some war with Pakistan and disrupt South Asia; and they hit at the rich-poor divide within India.

It’s a sad fact, but let’s face it, there’s been far less footage of VT where lots of less ‘important’ lives were lost than at the Taj and Oberoi..... "

.............

".......Now we’ve moved on to discussion about the identity of terrorists. Does it matter whether they came from Pakistan, Deccan, or Alpha Centauri? The point of a terrorist is that he belongs to no country, family, faith, society or person. He has no identity, no affiliations and no beliefs except one of blind, universal hate.

How many more civilians and soldiers, Indian, American, Israeli, Palestinian, Chinese, British, Iraqi or Pakistani must die before we can accept that these creatures can only be defeated if ‘normal’ people everywhere refuse to be divided by them, and fight back? Anger is good. Unfocused anger will just fizzle into indifference. The trouble is, terrorists read the same psychology books."

It's No Time For Negative Politicking

It's No Time For Negative Politicking- Editorial-Opinion-The Economic Times

Some excerpts from this editorial

"... Several important industry players in Mumbai and indeed from other parts of the country have said India needs to remain focused and think

positive in this hour of crisis. A unified and unambiguous message must go out to the rest of the world that we are fully geared to overcome the threat of a developing global recession and the fallout of the worst-ever terrorist strike on our soil. The two events could feed on each other over the medium term. This is precisely what we must avoid at any cost..."

" .... This is no time for intelligence agencies, police, army and navy to blame each other for failures of all kinds. This is no time for the ruling and opposition parties to play negative politics. This is also no time for India to get provoked into engaging in a military conflict with Pakistan.

This is the time to be calm and rational about what is in India’s interest. The UPA will complete its tenure in five months from now. These five months are crucial and it must act with sagacity both on the economic and security front. The main opposition party, the BJP, is also being watched by the people.

Any negative sentiment generated by the opposition or the ruling party will most certainly be punished severely by voters. The one thing that the nation wants today is some optimism and responsible behaviour from the political class. This will surely be on test in the months ahead."

Undo fails on Notebook

Biggest learning of the day !!!

While using Google Notebook for storing your information, remember to never hit "ctrl-z" .. Undo never works .. there are high chances of losing data. There is no revision history information maintained in Google Notebook.

If you really want to have revision history, then its Google docs that you are looking for.

Euro 2008 : Español delicia

Casillas became the first goal keeper captain to lift the Euro Cup. The finals of Euro 2008 was filled with class and artistry from Spaniards that crushed the Germans. The flair and style of the attacking game displayed by Spain was too much to handle for the Germans. Germans have always relied on early goals from their forwards. Instead it were the Spaniards who scored the early goal, infact, the only goal of the match.

Even though we had only one goal in the entire match, the match in itself was very entertaining. It was good to see a European team rely so much on beautiful passes. It looked more like a south american team playing against the might of German defense. The way they were passing the ball with small passes frustrated the Germans as was evident from the brawls and shouts from their captain, Ballack. These beautiful small passes produced quite a few exciting moments for the Spanish team. They could have easily scored another couple of goals had it not been for some poor finishing. Probably, the Golden boot boy, Villa could have provided them that so important finishing touch.

I felt sad for Ballack who played very well during the course of the match. He provided very good passes and opened up the Spanish defense. The Germans could not capatalise on those lovely passes. I found them to be bewildered. Probably, the backdrop of playing in the finals, and then lagging behind by a goal was too much pressure for them to handle. It was even more sad to hear that this was Ballack's 5th final where he did not  lift the winning trophy. May be 2010 World Cup could be his.

I dont know how far its true, but I got very superstitous for the last 3 matches of this tournament. Every single prediction I made for the knockout stage went wrong. I was hoping for a Russia-Turkey final, and they both got knocked off in the semis. With Germany and Spain fighting for the coveted European Champions crown, I wanted the Spaniards to win. I didnt want to test my predictions this time and decided not to blog about it. Luckily, I think it worked :)



I wonder if its a Spanish delight thats gonna rule the sporting events this season. Is this some kind of a signal for Nadal winning Wimbeldon this year ??

Time stands still for Ivanovic

Reliving the most tense seconds in her tennis career, the 20-year-old Serb could not stop smiling.

"I felt like time stopped for a moment," she told reporters after her 6-7, 7-6, 10-8 victory against the 97th-ranked Frenchwoman. "The ball hit the net and it was in the air for a couple of seconds."

So she felt the least she could do was go and kiss the net afterwards for giving her such a lucky reprieve.

"If it wasn't for that net and that place, you know, I would be booking my flight back home," she said.

Time stands still for Ivanovic

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Euro 2008 : Casillas defeats Buffon

Wow !! Its unbelievable !!! All my predictions for the all the quarter final matches have been completely wrong. The only thing I liked about these predictions was their consistency :)

Thanks to Casillas, Spain are the only team that have topped in their group and still qualified for the semi finals. Going by points alone, they are the favourites. But as it has been proved time and again, 

Your past performance, only shows your capability to achieve. Its only your performance on the day that can produce results 

The last quarter final match between Spain and Italy was the worst quarter final match. It was played in true European style of defense. Both the defenses were strong enough to wade away any attacks. Both the teams looked reluctant to shoot purposefully.  Luca Toni for Italy failed again to make any impression. Infact, he needs to forget his nightmare in this tournament and move on. 

When the ball ever crossed the defense, it was met with a class goal keeping effort by the tournaments 2 best goal keepers. It was fitting to their class, that the match had to be decided on penalties. At the end of the day, Casillas prevailed over Buffon. His 2 saves, won the match for Spain.

I was surprised to see the penalties being stopped after Fabregas scored for Spain. Spain were leading with 4 goals to 2. Italy had 2 more shots to take and Spain had one. Technically, if Spain failed to score their next shot, and Italy scored both, we could have ended up at 4-4 !!! I wonder what I am missing here ?

Euro 2008 : Russia outclass Holland

The third quarter final match between Netherlands and Russia, was the most thrilling of the knockout matches. I hadnt seen Russia's game so keenly in the group matches and was happy to see them giving a good fight to the Netherlands. 

Holland started slow in the first half of the match. Russians were a pumped up lot and looked more energetic. Netherlands were quick movers in all their group matches, but the Russians proved to be even faster. The attacks from both the sides produced some great quality football. 

For the first time in this tournament, Netherlands conceded a goal before scoring one themselves !!! From then on, they were in catch up mode. Probably, this was the only match they were in pressure to score a goal, not to seal a victory, but to equalize. The quick Russians stretched the Dutch, and created lovely spaces to score goals.

The Dutch hero, Van Nistelrooy scored a goal in the 86th minute to give Holland some hope. In the extra time, Russians seem to be even more pumped up. Or may be, the Dutch got lethargic. Whatever the reason, Russians were the first to score in extra time as well. And, then came the last nail in the coffin, with the hero of the match, Arshavin scoring the thrid goal for Russia. It was game, set and match for Russians. The Dutch fans were simply stunned.

With this match, we have all the 3 top leading teams in the 3 groups, knocked out of the semis. Will Italy follow suit ? Are the Russians peaking at the right time ? Or is it the Turks ? I was hoping for a Portugal and Holland show down for the finals. And here we have both of them knocked out in the quarter finals itself !!! This tournament always has a thing for springing in more and more surprises. It was the unknown team of Greece that stunned the football fraternity in Europe in 2004.  Are we in for a Turkey Russia final then ? 

Turkey does it again

Turkey have suddenly earned the name of "Fight Back Team" in Euro 2008, or should I say, late scorers ? It started in the last match of their group game against Czech Republic, where they were lagging by a goal, and ended up scoring 2 goals in a span of 3 minutes in the dying moments of the match. These goals not only won them the match, they also made them qualify to the quarter finals, knocking out the shocked Czechs.

To the much delight of all the Turks, and fans of Turkey, they did it again !!! Just, that this time the prize was much bigger. They booked themselves a place in the semi finals against the mighty Germans. If the Germans have been watching the way Turks play, I am sure they must be preparing a lot more on their defense tactics, especially in the dying moments of a match.

The second quarter final match of Euro 2008 between, Croatia [ which i thought was the team to win this match !!! ] and Turkey was very close to being a dull match. Croatia must be kicking themselves for rueing their chances they had to score goals. For majority of the 90 minutes, both the teams made good advances, but always found the defenders stealing the ball from them. Towards the 90th minute, people were hoping for the Turkish magic to work, and hoping that they would score the winning goal. But it wasnt to be. The players were all tired and lethargic. All 22 players on the field wanted to play safe and take the game to penalties.

Even in extra time, they seemed to show the same lack of will to score any goals. In the 119th minute of the match, Croatia were delighted to see the Turkish goal keeper, "Rustu", who was having a great day at office, squander away from the goalpost for a moment, to give Croats a great chance to score through an empty goal. The Croats did just that. With just about a minute left in the game, plus some injury time, Croats had almost booked their place in the semis.

But, as it was in their previous match, Turks in a most astonishing way, found an equaliser in the very dying moments [ or should i say seconds ? ] of the match. The Croatian coach was angry at the referee for allowing the game to exceed by "two extra minutes", when the official verdict was to extend the game by only "one minute" as injury time. A match which had nothing to offer to the spectators suddenly turned into anguish and hope for either side of the fans. The equalizer goal from Turkey, made the Croats feel like having lost a winning match. At the same time the Turks were pumped up for the penalty kicks that followed.

The Croats were completely demoralised and 2 of the penalty kicks they took did not even hit the target !!! The pumped up Turks scored all their goals and surprisingly booked themselves a semi finals place against the Germans.

My predictions so far have gone horribly wrong for the knockout matches. Both the teams, Portugal and Croatia, whom i expected to see in the semis have failed to do so. My predictions for the other 2 quarter final matches are Netherlands and Italy. Its gonna be fun to see how these predictions shape up :)

Euro 2008 : Germany storm into Semis

The first quarter finals match between Germany and Portugal was a high octane match. The pace was great at all the times. But it was sad to see Portugal crash out.

Germany stuck to their World Cup strategy of scoring early and defending well. I am sure this strike from Ballack he scored in the previous group match against Austria must have been the turning point for the Germans in this tournament. 

Conceding 2 goals in a span of 4 minutes that too just after 20th minute of the match, puts a great deal of pressure on the opposition. Thats exactly what the Germans did to Portuguese. It certainly lifted the tempo of the match and we got to watch the fascinating technique of Portugal fight against the mighty [ both in terms of physique and game control ] defense of the Germans. This relentless attack from Portugal produced a goal for them in the dying moments of the first half. Portugal werent going down without a fight. Infact they had a very good chance to fight back when the scoreline read 1 goal to 2 at the end of the first half.

The second half started with even more fierce attacks from Portugal, but the German defense had the better of them. But it was Germany who scored first again. Portugal failed to find an early goal in the second half. Portugal finally scored their second goal in the 84th minute of the match, but it was a touch late to come.

German defense prevailed, and Portugal had to bow out from this tournament. Germany have a very high chance of meeting Netherlands in the finals, while they await the winner of Turkey v/s Croatia match. I guess, either of them should not cause any problems to Germany in the semis.

Euro 2008 : Ready for Knockout

From the 16 teams that qualified for this year's Euro 2008, we finally have the best 8 of them after the end of the group matches. The schedule for the knockout is below :

The most surprising team to qualify for the knockout stage were Turkey. Not because they were considered weak, but because they defeated a so called good team, Czech Republic. Turkey were lucky to have qualified and should fancy their chances against Croatia in the quarter finals. Turkey might be the surprise team to make it to the semis though.

Russia too were the under-dogs in their group D. But an out of form Sweden was all they needed to qualify themselves for the quarters. Russians might be in dilemma though. Should they be happy that they qualified for the quarters, or be sad that they have to meet probably the best team in this tournament, Netherlands in their quarter final encounter !!! I would be really happy to see them give a good fight.

Had it not been for a bad day at office for the Germans, we could have seen them fight the Portuguese in the semis. But as it stands now, we would have only one of them proceeding to the semis, which is kinda sad. And this very thing should give the Croats a good chance to proceed to the semis.

The red card ghost seems to have followed France from the World Cup to Euro 2008. In the first half itself, they were reduced to 10 men. Had it not been for an unbelievably bad day for Luca Toni, Italy would have beaten France by more than 2 goals. The Henry magic failed miserably this time, with his touch providing the rivals their second goal. Italy have their task cut out. They have to beat the quick fire Spaniards in the quarters and then be prepared to meet the Dutch team in the semis. The World Cup champions have to prove their mettle against a very tough draw to make it to the finals.

My favorites to make it to the semis would be Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands and Spain and probably have a Portugal and Netherlands final. On second thoughts, if the most fierce freehit taken with great German precision by Ballack, boosts his team, we can have a German Dutch final as well.

Euro 2008 : Round Robin 2

Please click on the image below to see its details

Group A match between between Portugal and Czech Republic was a treat to watch, and more so if you are a Portuguese fan ;-)

Croatia pulled out a stunner in the Group B match beating the Germans 2 - 1. Germans were completely in disarray for the entire duration of the match. They just had a horrible day at office. Not a single pass was in the right place. I dont remember seeing Klose making any impact on the match. And thats a very unusual thing to see. Germans now have to win their next match with Austria to qualify to the quarter finals. [ or atleast draw with Austria ]

The way Netherlands is playing, there is little doubt in assuming that they would make it to the finals. I am expecting to see a Holland - Portugal final. The Dutch are in prime form and are playing their football with great flair and teamwork. They certainly look invinsible. Italy were stunned by the drawn match with Romania. Romania have a technical chance to make it to the knockout stage, but only if they beat the inform Dutch team, or atleast if they draw with Dutch, while the Italy and France match as well ends in a draw. This sets up the Italy and France match very precariously, with both the teams needing nothing less than a win to move ahead to the quarters. Will we see a repeat of the World Cup final in the results ? Hopefully, both the teams play some watchable football and go for the kill.

As expected, the Russians knocked out Euro 2004 champions Greece in the second round robin match itself. It was the Spanish and Swedish match that created more fervor than any other in this group. The referee for this match was horrible. He was hell bent on breaking the flow of the match, by taking his own time to blow the whistle for free-kicks. It was even worse to see him blow the half time whistle when Spain was near to complete an attack. Probably, it was just providence that Spain scored the final goal to beat Sweden and lead the teams in this group. 

Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden and Russia would be the teams that will be to watch out for the last round of the round robin matches in this Euro 2008.

Quality Striker

The mark of a quality striker is his sense of timing to be at the right time at the right place. Thats exactly what Christiano Ronaldo did to be part of all the 3 goals Portugal scored against the Czecks to seal their place in the knockout stage. They could most probably meet Croatia in the quarter finals.

The first goal was a sweet pass from Ronaldo that gave Deco all the time to score an early 8th minute goal to set up a high tempo to the entire match. The Czecks gave a good fight and thats what made the match even more interesting. Ofcourse, they lacked the skills of a neat striker like Ronaldo. The ball possession of Portugal for the entire match was good. The commentator gave a very good statistic during the course of the match. Just about during the half time, Czecks had about 120 successful passes while Portugal had close to 260 successful passes !!! Well, he did point out that it isnt the about how many successful passes you have that counts, but what you do with them that matters :-)

The second goal scored by Ronaldo was taken very quick and very clean. The ball was hit with great accuracy and speed which left the goal keeper very less time to save it. It was a Ronaldo special.

The class of this man was seen in the third goal, when he broke through the defense with such alacrity that the Czecks were caught unaware. Ronaldo very unselfishly passed on the ball to his team mate, Quaresma to score an easy goal.

Like always, Ronaldo was at the right place at the right time. He has been judged the PFA player of the year for 2008. Only time will tell if we can see him produce more magic in Euro 2008.

Euro 2008 : Round Robin 1

Here are the team standings after the first round of matches in the group stages. Another 2 more round of matches to go before we have a clear list of teams that make it to the knockout stage.

Euro 2008 : Group D

Both Russia and Spain in their first match in this group had a very nervous start. It were the Spaniards who broke the ice first and won the match with a very convincing 4 - 1 victory. The match producing the highest number of goals in this first round of matches in all the groups. This match also produced the tournaments first hat trick by Villa, who should thank the weak Russian defense more than his own team mates. The Russian goalkeeper looked completed out of the place. The Russians always were on the backfoot and played with a negative frame of mind. The Spaniards made good and fast progress on the counter attacks that helped them score 4 goals. The Russians did regroup themselves in the second half and they definately deserved that goal they scored. The Spaniards looked good in the game, but it could be the Russians who are the surprise package from this group.

In complete contrast to the first match, the second one between Sweden and the reigning Euro 2004 champions Greece, was very dull which lacked all momentum. Greece were very scared to even attack and the spectators were jeering them for time wasting tactics !!! Luckily, the Sweds pressed the accelerator on their game and started playing with flair. Ibrahimvoic, produced a stunner from the edge of the D to score the first goal for Sweds. It was the second goal that brought laughter to this dull match. Undoubtedly, the most funniest goal of the tournament.

Spain and Sweden definately have a very good advantage from the first games in this group. It is still not easy to predict who would finally qualify from this group with all the four teams playing very nervous first games. The Spanish team had more flair than any other, and I would not be surprised to see them in the semis.

Euro 2008 : Group C

The first match in this group was between France and Romania. There is only one word that can describe this match. "Boring". It produced the tournaments first goalless draw. The match was very dull with neither of the teams taking charge. Both of them lacked any quality finishers. Romania had a better defense which the mild attack of French could not penetrate. The second half did start on a promising note, but failed to produce anything substantial. Romania showed some promise but have unfortunately found themselves in a tough group. France seem to be maintaining their previous records of having more drawn matches than lost matches, trying to just scape through the next stage. After watching this game, I would hope that neither of these teams qualify for the knockout stage.

The second match in this group between Netherlands and the reigning World Champions Italy was such a great contrast to the earlier match. A thrilling match to say the least. Holland proved too good for the world famous Italian defense [ probably they missed Cannavaro more than what they expected ]. Though the first goal was definately a mistake by the linesman, it was the second goal that proved the dominance of Dutch. Undoubtedly the best goal seen so far in this tournament. I hope this match wakes up the Italians and hopefully they can come down hard on the other 2 teams in their group.

Though this group was touted as the group of death, the French game definately disproves this. After the first match, I can see that Holland and Italy are the strong favourites to qualify from this group. It would be a tough choice to pick the semi finalists from this group. If they maintain the same momentum, I would put my money on Holland than on Italy.

Euro 2008 : Group B

There is a striking similarity in the first matches that have been played in Groups A and B. Both the host teams lose their match to a solitary goal, and the much expected strong team in these groups easily win by scoring 2 goals :-)  

Both the host teams, Switzerland and now Austria, are struggling to make a mark in this tournament. I hope they get to score a goal at least !!! First match of Group B, between Austria and Croatia started on a freaky note, with Croatia getting a penalty kick in the 4th minute itself. From then on, it was a simple one sided attack game, with the hosts shooting wildly in the hunt for an equalizer. Football is a team game, where its so important to make short passes and keep the ball possession to generate any goal scoring opportunites. Austria needs to practice this basic tenet of football. The match itself was played very rough and was not delightful to watch.

   Germany are the inform team, among all the teams that I have seen till now. They are a definite team to reach the semis. Last, I saw them was in the World Cup, and they seem to have carried on their team bonding to this tournament as well. Klose and Podolski are teaming up again very well. They are quick movers and can easily break through the oppositions defense. As always, the German defense looks solid. With Lehmann guarding the German goalpost, it would be interesting to see if Germany concede any goal. They were clearly a notch ahead of Poland.

 Germany should easily lead this group. Poland havent quite impressed me much which makes me hope that Croatia would be the second team to qualify from this group.

Euro 2008 : Group A

Host team Switzerland could not capitalize on their home ground support they had in their opening tie with Czech Republic. With the quality of football I saw in this match, I have doubts on the Swiss team even making it to the knockout stage. They had plenty of chances to score goals, but they lacked a quality finisher in their frontline, who could convert these opportunities into goals. Czechs had a only a few chances and in a way were lucky to have been on the winning side. Both the teams played a very nervous game. I was expecting more quality in the Czechs game than what I saw. 

Portugal seem to be in great composition. They are a well co-ordinated team, who are one of my favourites to definately make it to the semis, if not the finals. Deco and Ronaldo are in great shape. Both can create sweet breaks and provide those all important passes for the finishers to score goals. They both themselves are great finishers which adds a lot of venom to this team. Scolari, their coach, is the best man they can have to provide them with the right strategy they should be following in the games to come. Portugal had a very easy first game and were never really tested by the Turks. Turkey needs to regroup their game a lot and could develop as a team as time progresses. They do possess the talent to out smart Czech that can add some life to this group.

After watching the first 2 games in Group A, we can easily conclude that Portugal and Czech Republic would easily qualify for the knockout stage from this group, unless the Turks produce something out of the blue.

Euro 2008

Euro 2008 kicks off in another couple of days on 6th June. To get into the mood of it and also to track the matches as they proceed, I have created a small excel sheet with all team standings and match schedules. This page gets updated automatically every 5 minutes. Hope it helps you too to keep yourself up-to-date on this tourney. Please visit that page and let me know if there any more changes needed in it. Of course, there is also this Google 23 days site that should be giving us latest news and updates on this tourney.

European Football Championship has a special connection with me. It was the days of Euro 2004, when I first started blogging and also visited Europe and also got my first Google account. Oh boy, there was so much of craze those days to get a Google account, and having one would make you look so privileged :-)

This year, we do not have the much popular England team in the finals. This will give us a chance to get to know a bit more of the other European players. Who would be crowned the euro 2008 champs  this year ? Will it be Italy? With Ronaldo being in great form, will it be Portugal ? How about France ? Hopefully Henry displays his magic for us :-) Or will it be someone spilling in a new surprise again as Greece did it the previous time ?

Educated but irresponsible

Around 60% of the 17.3 million eligible voters cast their vote in the first phase of the Karnataka assembly elections held on 10th May. And among the 11 southern districts that went to polls, it was the district holding perhaps the highest number of [ highly ? ] educated people, Bangalore [ BBMP to be precise ] that had the lowest turnout of people casting their right to vote. The number was a paltry 40%.

I find it very irresponsible on the part of these 60% of people who did not cast their votes this time. Everyone is ready to find faults with the government and the system that does not seem to be doing anything good to the people by and large. One of the reasons being lack of dedicated politicians. When we have more than half of the educated people hiding behind their doors, instead of going out to vote [ which happens usually around once in 5 years ], I see it as no surprise that we have such people governing this state. Everyone must have definately thought, what difference can my "one vote" make ? Well, from the above statistics its very evident what a great difference each and every single vote makes.

I wish we had some statistics on the education qualification of the people voting. That would clearly give us the true picture on the kind of people who are bringing the government to power. I have a feeling that, almost half of the people who actually voted, would not have completed their school education successfully. They would definately be voting for people who promise them lots of things. These poor people would not be able to even judge if these promises are viable to be fulfilled. 

When it comes to blaming, we are the first ones to shout. When it comes to owning our responsibility and doing our bit to the society, we always find hundreds of reasons to shun ourselves from these responsibilities. I wonder, what right do these 60% of the people have to talk bad about the government. But then, this is a democracy. Everyone has the right to voice his opinions. And thats the only thing we have been doing. Just shout and cry at all the bad things happening around us. But, not a single soul is ready to do his little bit to the society. We are the first to pass the ball of responsibility to others instead of growing up to take charge of things.

Thinking about all these things, i am really not surprised that India is in the state it is now in.

When Heart Attack Strikes

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor to certify all the things that i write here in this post. This is a collection of things i have heard from people i met in the past few months. Wanted to write this post since long, hoping that some soul out there might read it and be knowledgeable when he/she encounters some person with these symptoms. If you are a doctor and are reading this, and find these things to be right or wrong, please leave a comment.

Many a times people do not realize that they are experiencing an Heart attack. Here is a list of symptoms you can observe in a person who is experiencing heart attack. One of the biggest reasons for this lack of awareness is that these symptoms look very similar to other possible disorders. So, going by that, the list below is not a comprehensive list and it also does not mean that a person experiencing these symptoms is definitely undergoing a heart attack. What it certainly means, is that he needs immediate medical attention.

When you see a patient suffering from an heart attack and find that it is gonna take more time to reach the doctor, then give him a tablet "sorbitrate" [ this is available in India, not sure what its equivalent in other countries is ]. This tablet should be kept under the tongue and not swallowed. It gives the patient atleast an hour's time of survival. I have heard that even given a Disprin in this same manner would help, though i am not very sure about it. 

I have also heard of patients who were quite young in age [ in their 30s ], where they did not display any of these symptoms, but had an attack all of a sudden. It was later found out to be due to blockage in the arteries. Basically, it means that you aren't always lucky to witness these symptoms in the patient. None the less, majority of the patients display these symptoms. If you find anyone with these symptoms, then its high time you get them undergo the necessary tests to diagnose a developing heart attack.

1. One of the most common symptoms a patient experiences while having an attack is burning sensation in the chest. Other possible reasons for chest pain, or chest burning sensations are indigestion or having eaten very spicy food. So don't confuse yourself on this symptom. Better get an ECG done immediately to confirm the real reason.

2. The patient experiences numbness in his left arm. Other reasons for this could also be lack of blood flow to your arm, because the hand was under some weight, something like, you slept with the hand under your body, restricting the blood flow.

3. The patient experiences severe pain on his back, usually right behind his heart. Other reasons for this could be, bad sleeping posture in the night, or a bad mattress.

4. The pain behind his back, now moves to the backside of his neck, usually on the right side. Other reasons for this could be, a very hard pillow you use while sleeping.

5. Heavy breathing, sometimes accompanied by louder than usual sound. Other reasons for this could be, asthma.

6. Sometimes, the patient might wake up suddenly from sleep and start coughing. Most probably a wet cough.

There are certainly many more symptoms, that i am not aware of, and not written above. If you know of any authentic symptoms, please let them as a comment to this post.

Usually, the first 24 hours after getting an heart attack are considered to be very crucial and this critical period can extend upto 5 days. The patient is given some very costly injections, usually in 3 or 5 doses, based on the severity of the attack. [ Not sure about the name of his injection or its purpose .. I suppose, its for giving immediate relief by decreasing the congestion in the blood vessels ]. Once these injections are given and the patient survives the heart attack, you need get an agiogram done to detect the blockages and follow it with angioplasty or surgery, as advised by the doctor.

Heart Attack Symptoms

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor to certify all the things that i write here in this post. This is a collection of things i have heard from people i met in the past few months. Wanted to write this post since long, hoping that some soul out there might read it and be knowledgable when he/she encounters some person with these symptoms. If you are a doctor and are reading this, and find these things to be right or wrong, please leave a comment.

Heart attacks do not announce their arrival.

In no particular order, here are some symptoms you can see in a person who is suffering from a possible heart attack. As you read below, you will realise that these are quite common things. Seeing these symptoms in a person does not necessarily mean that he has an heart attack. You can only be confirmed about a heart attack only after taking an ECG from a reputed doctor. If you see these symptoms more frequently, then it just means that the person needs to meet a doctor for an ECG

1. Not able to walk briskly for long distances and complaining of lack of breathe while doing so. They might usually stop walking to take a breather more often.

2. Cannot lift heavy objects, again because breathing becomes a problem.

3. Cannot climb stairs easily, or climb over an obstacle like walls, etc., again because breathing becomes a problem.

4. Limbs becoming weak. This might happen in spurts. Not continuously. 

5. Pain in knees and/or heels. [ Usually the bone above the heel, not sure what its called ]

6. Frequent tiredness followed with sweating.

My daddy ... strongest

My dad is ...

A man of words
A man of discipline
A man of strong will

A connoisseur of languages
A connoisseur of artistry
A connoisseur of perfectionism

My friend
My companion
My caretaker
My teacher
My inspiration

Johnny

Thanks to Ajay, I watched a very thrilling and refreshing movie, Johnny Gaddar .

I had earlier heard from others that it was a nice movie, but after reading the review on Ajay's Blog there was no way i was gonna miss it. I bought the DVD and watched it yesterday itself. After watching this fresh movie, I was surprised how less Ajay has written about this movie !!!

The movie and the main protagonist in it, are kind of inspired from the old Amitabh movie, Parwana. But, its the number of twists that are added over this inspiration that makes the audience sit on the edge of their seats. The story picks up slowly, but increases in tempo as time progresses.

More than the story and the actors, its the dialogues that make the movie more absorbing. The way Seshadri identifies the main culprit is so subtle. You can catch the mistake Vikram makes if you are alert. You might feel that you are thinking ahead of the story writer, but you get zapped with the circumstances that bring in twists after twists to the tale. Vikram always finds himself very lucky in all the situations. He falters with mistakes but luck is always on his side.

Each character is given his dew credit and importance with the dialogues given to them. Like, the one that shows how high Seshadri thinks of himself when he says, "Its not the age, its the mileage that counts" Or, the way Prakash is shown to have less brain power, when he does not understand what Vikram means while saying, "It was an accident" The most intriguing dialogue which shows the depth to which the writer has thought about the characters is displayed when Shardul, who thinks of himself as a very smart person, [ atleast more smarter than Prakash ] asks Vikram on how Seshadri and Prakash came to know about the culprit even before Shardul could figure it out !!! This was a master stroke.

As Ajay puts it, the characterisation is awesome and each actor has played his role to perfection. The misunderstandings, the double interpretation of words, everything is very clearly shown.

Ofcourse, as all movies, this one also has a moral. The moral of the movie is, "Always wear your own jacket when it rains outside" :D