Just another meaningless rant

I write now on the eve of our 60th year of independence. Its been a roller-coaster ride I feel, with our country gaining so much on certain fronts and losing out on so many others. From becoming an agriculture oriented economy to a service oriented one, from being the best at hockey to being mediocre at it, we have done it all.

Like the common man cares what is happening on the economic front. He works hard to take home his pathetic salary and listen to his wife bitch about the neighbours. He wants to see his kid happy and have a secure future.

Like the bombers are really humans. A passenger travelling on a local train does not harbour bad thoughts about Pakistan or Muslims. He just wants to get home and eat his dinner. He couldnt care less about Kashmir or Osama or whoever. He wants to earn as much as he can before his retirement and then buy a farmhouse in Alibaug where he can sit on an easy-chair and read the morning paper all hours of the day without having to care about the security of anyone in the family except his wife.

Like India is ever going to be good at sports other than cricket (not too good at that either these days). At the rate importance is being given to other sports, its a wonder we still continue to play them. Many of our athletes have disgraced us after failing doping tests. Neelam Singh came last in the discuss throw in a competition inspite of taking steroids. That is how bad we are.

Like the OBCs in our country will stop using quotas after they become affluent (many of them are much better off than I could hope to be). A person from a "lower caste" gets so much from the government just because his great great grandfather or someone happened to be a sweeper or a cobbler or whatever. Inspite of having the necessary brains and talent, ordinary people are treated like shit in this country they call home. They would be better off abroad. And then people accuse them of being traitors to their country. I would rather be called a traitor than put up with such crap. Why not go abroad and get the recognition you deserve?

Like anything about the beurocracy is going to change because of a petition being circulated by The Times of India. Nothing is going to change on that front in the near future. Mumbai will continue to suffer inspite of giving so much to the nation.

Like bunking is ever going to be legalised.

Like the college canteen will ever stop serving the stupid frankie that causes gas.

Like my Mom will ever let me grow my hair to my shoulders.

Like people are still reading this.

My First Goal

I was young
And I was eight.
Never to score a goal
Would seem to be my fate.

In the starting eleven
Defence was my game.
Opponents who surged forward
I had learnt to tame.

The finals of the tourney
Nerves were getting frayed,
T'was the toughest game,
We had ever played.

The score was nil-nil
The game was such a bore
The last one minute
I could take it no more.

I ran to the midfield
And snatched away the ball
Dribbling past a player
I ignored my forwards' call.

Twist, skip and turn
I was in dribbling heaven.
A casual dodge was all it took,
To weave past defender seven.

No player could touch me
I was going to end this story
One on one with the keeper
And I took a shot at glory.

Half the people in the stands
Hated me it would seem.
Cause the very first goal I scored,
I scored against my own team!!!

A beautiful story

There was once this pious Rabbi who was thought of as a saint by all the people on the Earth. He lived a blameless life and when he finally died he went straight to heaven where all the angels welcomed him with great joy.
Throughout the proceedings of the welcoming ceremony the Rabbi sat silently, with a sad look upon his face. Finally the angels disappeared and suddenly the Rabbi was filled with an all pervading sense of joy and contentment. It was a blissful feeling and then the most benevolent of voices asked him," What troubles you, My son?"
The Rabbi answered with tears in his eyes, "My Lord, all my life I have strictly followed all of Your commandments and have never swerved from the path of righteousness. Yet my son converted to Christianity and left me."
The voice replied," Don't feel so sorry about what happened. Even I have a son who did the same thing."

Oh for the love of football

Well what can I say? The world cup is upon us and the nation goes football crazy for a month. I would say we Indians are a lucky people. We never qualify for the world cup and so we have the luxury of choosing which team to support. We have an array of great footballing nations to choose from - Brazil who are the favourites, the hosts Germany, the increasingly perfect Argentinians, the defending maestros (read violent) Italians, the star studded English, the perennial underachievers Spain and the occassional quirk can support Ghana or Angola. And you know what the best thing is? If the team you are supporting loses you can always redirect your affections to the team which is stronger. The Poles or the Saudi Arabians can hardly do that so I guess we are better off don't you think?
During the world cup entire areas of a city like Kolkata can be seen covered in an endless sea of yellow or blue and white flags - the people showing their love for Brazil or Argentina, whichever the case. Its no issue that the concerned nations lie halfway around the world because it is suddenly cool to be seen as a football enthusiast. People why dont you sustain this enthusiasm for longer periods of time so that we can atleast see Indians performing decently at Club level? Football is big business in India this month. Sport stores are stocking up on football kits and the local kirana stores have stopped showing cricket matches to draw customers and have switched to ESPN .
I had gone to my neighbourhood grocery store to get something and saw a crowd of people (prominent among them were auto drivers) milling around the wall mounted Sansui and eagerly watching a Togo - South Korea encounter. One old gaffer cast a superior look around him and announced to the people " Hum toh kehte hain yeh Bearzil waale hi jeetenge". He probably mistook Togo's yellow colours for Brazil's; an understandable mistake if you city slickers consider the level of international football to which this man has been exposed to. But even more funny is hearing kids in my building shout they want to play just like their hero - Spanish striker "Rahul" (for the less knowledgable it is Raul). "Rahul Rahul" they yell when someone amongst them manages to dribble the ball past a defender. And funnier still is what a person I knew wrote in an an English essay titled "My Favourite Sportsman". He payed homage to (according to him) the greatest goalkeeper of all time "Oliver Khan"(It is Kahn by the way). "Oliver Khan" he wrote, " is the greatest goalkeeper in the world. It is amazing to see a muslim lead the racist Germans to victory match after match". I mean, come on, duuude, seriously a reality check is in order.
These are just some of the incidents inspired by football in this cricket crazy nation. But if football can make even a country like ours hold its breath for ninety minutes I dont see why it cant be given more importance than it is now. I mean, if it can stop rebels from fighting against governments in the Africa or help ease poverty, it is surely worth all the effort.

Football - The Beautiful Game.

Amen.

Finally I cease to be a blog virgin as I got up inspite of my laziness and spent some time in creating, yes, my dateless diary. The persistance of my cousin and a request or two from my friends played no small part in spurring me on; so here I am looking for words to fill up my first post. I am a bit lost for words right now so in I will conclude this post by quoting our friend the intrepid T800 (Terminator) - "I'll be back."