Football time Folks!

So finally Nadal proved that he is the king of clay. I am very happy for him because he is my favorite player. I not only like his tenacity and fighting spirit but also his humility.

There was a whiff of disappointment too as Leander Paes lost the doubles. A time was when we were happy to see our players reach the quarter finals. But Mahesh and Leander changed that.

A few days back I was chatting with Yugesh and casually asked him what was he doing. Downloading the world cup anthem.

So now the focus is truly and totally on football. Unfortunately the World cup always overlaps my another favorite tournament , the Wimbledon. I always had a hard time keeping awake watching both the tournaments.

My all time favorite was Stefan Edberg. I am yet to see any one so elegant on the grass. I hardly remember a tournament of his which I missed. Tim Henman , another elegant player never played to his potential. we called him Tiger Tim. But all he did was purr like a cat much to our disappointment. But i would still watch him play any day. what elegance! totally sublime.

My mother hated both the tournaments because they were always transmitted at night. we used to have our classes the next day. Luckily we had a very sporting Dad. So we all sneaked into the drawing room and watched these games carefully closing the doors, switching off the lights and keeping the volume to a minimum only to find mother knocking the door with steaming tea.

There were many stand out moments etched in my mind. Maradona and his hand of God. The Colombian player who was shot in his own country because of a self goal which cost their team the loss and so many others.

Later I moved to UK and saw the madness there. football is almost like a religion there. The football players are almost like god. But their fans can be a real pain. Football hooliganism is something that always scared me.

I was on my way to Belfast, Liverpool had reached the finals of the Euro. The police force at the Manchester airport was seen to be believed. there were liverpool shirts everywhere. The police just watced.There were drunken fans everywhere. it looked as if there were riots. Luckily noting untoward happened.

Another time I was mistaken by some rowdy fans in a hotel for the manager and showered abuses. Not their fault though. who wears a suit on a weekend. But i was coming from an event. However they soon redeemed themselves by offering me a pint of beer. A tempting offer but one look at them, i decided to take a rain check!

once as I was buying my train ticket from London to Manchester , the garrulous officer asked me which team I supported. I was smart by now. Chelsea I said. “ Good. If you had said Man united I would have charged you two pounds more.” He said. “ well so its true what I heard.” I said. “ that Chelsea fans are stupid. How did you expect me to live in Manchester and not support my home team.” I smiled wickedly. He pretended as if he was taking my picture. “ Beware the next time.” He laughed.

This time my money is on England ( Oh yes! Rooney , Gerrard , Lampard could be any better! ), Brazil, Spain and Argentina. England team has, Like Tim Henman , has always underperformed on the big stage. Hope this time they banish the ghosts.

I love Shakira. But waka waka is a let down. Agreed her signature hip shakes are there. but the song lacks vigour.


Using the Football analogy , I feel we were kicked hard by the Union Carbide.
I bow down with shame at the worst capitulation by the Indian Government in the Bhopal Gas tragedy. Its worse than freeing Quatrocchi. How low can this government go?

While a lot of bloggers are freely using President Obama’s “ Kick their ass” generously, they fail to understand that its his ass if he fails to kick the BPs. Can we say the same thing about Manmohan Singh’s?

My Thoughts go out to the poor people of Bhopal.