Sell By Date

I was never really in the Arsene Knows Best bandwagon nor was I in the Wenger Out brigade. To be honest, I don’t think anyone ever really starts in one of these camps. Now though, I am tilting towards the Wenger Out school of thought.

Wenger has given us some great years and was the perfect manager for us from the time he took over in 1996 till about 2010 which included the great trophy winning years followed by the stadium move which tied our hands down. He truly pushed us to the next level. We needed Wenger’s conservative spending and management which kept us in European football kicking about with the big boys. Post 2010 though it has been a different story - rather the same story ironically! All clubs around us had strengthened, started using technology, better scouting networks etc. We now had the stadium debt well in control and were ready to splash the cash on marquee signings. This was the time to strengthen in the areas where we longed for world class talent. We were assured by the manager and the board there was cash to be spent and we would where needed. We were given hopes, sold the dreams of challenging for the league but as it turned out it was just that. The seasons started, same old failings began to surface, same old squad shortages reared their ugly heads, same old injuries began to haunt us and we fizzled out of the race around Jan-Feb period.

Not to say we did not sign any great players – we did secure services of Ozil and Sanchez in two consecutive summer transfer windows (even Arshavin after he had left Europe gasping with his sublime performances) but we still left gaping holes in our squad at the same time. We failed to add a top striker to our rolls for so many years. So much so that recently we Arsenal fans were longing for Giroud’s return from injury as if he would propel us to top of the league. Don’t get me wrong he is a decent striker but that’s all he is - decent. We never really added a solid DM to our folds. We always were ‘those 2-3 players’ short of putting up a realistic challenge for the league. We now rarely rotate unless forced by injury. We run the same players to the ground week-in week-out resulting in injuries, tiredness and also rustiness for those who aren't given game time. 

All these makes one wonder if Wenger has now crossed the thin line between genius and plain stubborn. A stubborn person out to prove the world wrong.

I think I have had enough of Mr. Wenger’s stubbornness to address the obvious. We are where we were the year after the stadium move - 2006. There has been no flexing of our financial muscle (ours isn’t the bulky kind like that of a Sunil Shetty ..cough – Man City or of a Salman Khan..cough – Chelsea; ours is a fit, strong and sustainable kind like that of an Akshay Kumar, and it can be flexed!!).

Wenger has done great things for the club and will always be one of the best managers we have had. He rightly has his bust installed at the club and we will always be thankful to him for the great years, for the beautiful football, for the term ‘footballistically’, for the Invincibles... but I think he cannot take us forward anymore. We need someone with new ideas to do that. It is now time for Mr. Wenger to move on before he ruins his legacy. Au revoir, Monsieur! 

Boldness at the Cleaners

So I hear a director called Anubhav Sinha finds the song ‘Bhaag DK Bose’ vulgar and was personally disappointed in Aamir Khan for created a song like that. He was apparently worried about the influence the song would have on his young son and many other young kids. Well, it’s a popular song whether he likes it or not and technically what’s wrong with the name D K Bose??? What a friggin hypocrite… He directed Cash which is nothing short of a skin fest. Yet, he has the audacity beyond hypocrisy to think it’s perfectly fine for his son and other young kids to watch skimpily clad women shaking their biscuits (:-P) but not to listen to a name which when spoken continuously sounds like a swear word which, if I may add, those young kids would be hearing everyday in any case. I mean unless they are growing up at religious aashrams/schools with no contact whatsoever with the outside world.

The fact of the matter is some directors jsut don't have the (Delhi) Belly. And worse still, become hypocritical in judging others’ work. They’d be better off in acknowledging the bold creativity that is simmering under and will soon enter the main stream cinema.

Fact is, people will always criticize bold creativity..especially those in that particular field as they did not (could not) come up with it due to lack of creativity or cojones or both thereof. I am tired of those who keep doing the tried and tested (e.g. Violence and Sex in Bollywood) and are scared to do the different. Hope Delhi Belly will inspire the kinds.

Way to go Ram Sampath…your next number should be ‘utha dhoti dikha moti’ or something like that.. till then Bhaag..

ITIL Certified Professional

I had my ITIL V3.0 Foundation certification exam today and I came out with flying colours (82%..passing was 65%) :-). These maybe just 262K colours for some but for me these are definitely 16.7 million colours.

Besides the fact that it reminded me of the time I took my GMAT and came out in black and white (640 :-( ) there was something else that was peculiarly noteworthy. I reached well in time and was waiting for V, the colleague of mine who was taking the same exam and was the actually the one who forced me into registering for the exam, I thought what better than to utilize this time to finish my unfinished morning business. So I proceeded to partake in the not-so-fine facilities of the testing centre and to my amazement found that there was no water provision in the Loo. There was just the good old toilet roll.

I mean I know that most of those visiting that centre were all West bound (GRE/TOEFL aspirants) and this could be a way to prepare them for the life ahead but STILL..they are very much in India and what happened to staying in touch with your ‘roots’ ;-)

Mob (in)justice in India

Juts stumbled upon a collection of MMSes that sent chills down spines of (the regular law abiding) Indians in the year gone by. One video is of a little boy not more than 12-13 yrs old stripped and tied to a palm tree and being tortured. The good for nothing eunuchs inflicting this trauma on the little boy show how dick-less they are by further stamping him on the chest. Now, I don’t know what the little boy’s crime was but he definitely didn’t deserve this. Even if he killed someone, the law should have taken its course not the lawlessness more often referred as ‘Mob Justice’. If God exists, I hope the little boy bears the grudge in his mind until he grows up, develops enough muscles to kill those bastards who did this to him. And the poetry about this justice would be if our authorities are unable to pin the crime on him. I would love it…

Then there’s this MMS where a teenage girl accused of witchcraft is stripped naked and paraded around the village. This when village men of every age group walk all around her teasing her, pulling her hair and doing all sorts of things that go against the very culture we Indians harp about all day long. I hope that girl turns into another Phoolan Devi and kills each one of those bastards who made her go through this harrowing incident.

These are mere few of the 100s (1000s I think) of incidents that happen across the country on the diktat of either the local panchayats or hoodlums. I cannot imagine the plight of the victims of such atrocities who more often than not can really not pick up their lives together after something as horrid. Where’s their justice? Whatever their crime, did they deserve the punishment they got? Who decides their punishment? These and many more questions will remain unanswered till the law doesn’t start protecting the helpless. In this country the authorities are only on the sides of the more powerful ones. Simple.

You know I often wonder what these kind of people live for because they are bloody no good to no one and can only cause menace to society. When their menace becomes so traumatic for certain individuals I hope the same individuals are the ones who put an end to their useless good for nothing lives. Yes, yes only God has the right to take away lives but then if God was exercising his rights so well we wouldn’t have had such MMSes rather such incidents in the first place.

P.S: video link is on ndtv.com

Criminals ki Dilli

It may have wider and better roads, cleaner surroundings, better infrastructure and even Mr. Sreedharan’s Delhi Metro but it still is a shameful blot on the country. The crime rate in Delhi is mind-boggling especially considering the number of police personnel in the city. It is our National capital with VIPs, VVIPS, VVVIPs thronging the city yet the anti social elements muster enough guts to do the wrong day in and day out.

The city tops in ‘Crime against women’ as per the 2008 report by National Crime Records Bureau and this should be no surprise if you know women who live in the NCR. They will tell you how it is not safe to travel in public transports at almost any time of the day let alone late night. Delhi Metro maybe a whiff of welcome change to that notion. The recent rape incidents have shocked the nation if not those in the corridors of power in the capital. I had only seen in movies that a woman would get raped in a moving car by a gang of hoodlums until I realized that this happens in Delhi too. Not sure who inspired whom. I think it’s not the people it’s the absence of fear of law in their minds. The same will not dare think of doing anything like that in a middle eastern country.

Mumbai on the other hand is a very safe place for anyone anytime of the day. Of course random incidents take place here and there but by far Mumbai can be classified as a safe place (for women) where as the National Capital cannot be. In fact, I read an interview of an internationally proclaimed DJ who was performing in Mumbai and what I remember till date was his remark on how safe Mumbai was even at ungodly hours.

I hope for the sake of people (especially the women) in Delhi the authorities start instilling enough fear in the anti socials so that they think twice even before whistling at a women. Unless that happens we might have to change the name from NCR to NCR (National Crime Region).

Tough times to be a gunner

I am left high and dry by Arsenal’s recent performances in the Champions League and the Premier League. It is not the defeat (after all no bloody team has the right to win each and every game they play) it’s the manner of it. Let me put it for the record that I disagree with the Boss and believe that we got exactly what we deserved. At Shakhtar, we played as if the one goal we scored was enough and we paid dearly for it. At the Emirates, we played without any leader on the pitch the result of which was that nobody forced the issue onto Newcastle. We gave away the ball so so many times, Fab-4 was in particular guilty of giving away the ball on numerous occasions. If he wasn’t fit or out of sorts he should have been subbed and so should have been Walcott for his lack of ideas when with the ball at his feet. I am not singling out any player but just mentioning what comes to mind. Reputations should not govern who stays on the pitch rather their form should.

It is so frustrating to see a team of highly talented players go down so easily AT home AND against recently promoted teams. One blogger put it very aptly by saying that Arsenal were like an Orchestra where if one part was dysfunctional or not upto its mark then they struggle to make any impact while when each part was functioning well it would be the most enjoyable experience. If you ask me what I would like- I say let’s stay the Orchestra that we are but also have a switchover button (plan B) that could turn us into a one or two man band where the lead guitarist and the percussionist together or even alone could make for a winning combination. A start in that direction would be to start shooting at the very sight of goal and not trying to pass it in.

I will always be a gunner- there’s no doubting that but, I want to see my team put in the effort the passion that gets us supporters going, that brought us to the club in the first place. I don’t know if it is Wenger’s off pitch shenanigans the effect of which could be seen in the last two games or just plain complacency. Whatever it is, Wenger needs to sort this out soon and get back on track. I say bring on the Wolves and we’ll hunt that pack down with our cannon.

For the sake of childhood

Do children still..
-wear gum boots during the rainy season?

-exchange trump cards/free stickers with friends?

-wear PT shoes to school on Fridays?

-request their teachers to give them a ‘games’ period?

-wait like crazy for the annual school fete?

-take Milton water bottles to school?

-finish their lunches during the periods so that they have maximum time to play in the break?

-like other children’s lunches more than their own?

-exchange Tintin and Asterix comic books with friends?

-read Femina Home Truths and laugh about it?

-hide their report cards from their Dads and get them signed by their moms while the school bus is honking the next morning?

-discuss with friends the movie due to be played on the coming Friday night on DD/Zee TV?

-prefer outdoor games to dull computer games?

-wear civil clothes to school on birthdays?

-force their parents to rent the latest video cassettes for the coming weekend?

-are crazy about hot wheels cars?

-love going to their grandparents’ during their vacations?

-enjoy going to school for the Republic Day parade?

-have house wars with the other house students (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue or Shivaji, Tagore, Ashoka, Raman)?

-save pocket money to buy their favourite comic books?

-feel overjoyed when the mom lets them keep the change from a shopping trip?

-save up the loudest fire crackers for late night on Diwali?

-squabble with their friends over being the cricket/football team captain?

-feel proud to be one of those towards the end of the class line in the morning assembly?

-never sleep in the afternoons rather play around in the kitchen garden?

-crave for the Sunday brunch that mom would cook at home?

-maintain a homework copy and a classwork copy of each subject notebook?

Ah! those were the days.