The mystery of Arsenal

Enough has been written, said and researched about Arsenal F.C. But, since i love that club, i am still amused by it all the time. They recently defeated table toppers and probable winners of this season's league, Man Utd last week. But, as it has happened so many times in the past, it was a little too late again.

Arsene Wenger is equally bemusing to me as is Arsenal. Football fans, this includes Arsenal fans as well, have been asking for AW's head after his failure to win a major trophy for 6th consecutive year. But that just sounds ludicrous to me. And i am not just saying this because of what he achieved during his best years at the club, but because of the kind of football Arsenal plays under him. To see to it, what he has achieved with almost zero funds available, i dont think anyone else would have been able to.

Its too difficult to imagine Arsenal without AW. Since the debt laden days, because of Emirates stadium loan, funds were limited to AW. Arsenal were 11th in the table in terms of amounts spent in the first decade of 21st century. Now, even with that kind of spending, and with the kind of youth AW propelled, Arsenal still were one of the most threatening teams in EPL and Europe. This will always remain a feather in the cap for AW.

There have also been claims that AW's project youth (the policy to buy and develop youngsters) has been a failure. These sound totally inexplicable to me again. How can it be a failure, when Arsenal have developed so many world class youngsters in the recent years. Buying players at the young age of 15-18 and to watch them play at the world cup finals, is that a failure? Come on folks, get real. The likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, RvP, Walcott, Wilshere, Diaby, Djouru, Bendtner, Ramsey, Song, etc are all among the best young footballers. Almost each one has played more than 300 matches and apart from RvP, all others are below 25.

Not just this, but the kind of football Arsenal plays under AW is simply mesmerizing at times. Even though they have to suffer goals at times because of that, it still justifies the beautiful tag for football. No other team in England plays this kind of passing, attacking football that Arsenal displays time and again. And yes, at times even they over do the passing, much to the agony of fans.

I believe that to AW deserves a chance to carry forward the legacy created by him. He should be convinced to buy a few experienced players who can lead the team out of crisis when needed. A good center back, a good denfensive midfield player and a world class goalie will do the job for Arsenal.

In Arsene, i still trust!!

A Marwadi Wedding

I have attended Punjabi weddings (well of course), Marathi wedding, Muslim wedding, Gujarati wedding and now finally i went to one of my very close friends' wedding in Rajasthan - a Marwadi wedding. And i must say it was quite an experience.

To start with - sweets. My goodness, i am very sure that even if there is an acute shortage of water or if there is a famine or even if they are starving or anything such severe happens in Rajasthan, they won’t stop eating sweets. And to eat on one's own is a different issue, but to make others eat forcefully is what was different here. We normally feed others' sweets in humor and mostly only to the close relatives only. But in Rajasthan, we were treated with sweets almost by everyone and multiple times and all these with extremely serious faces and after being told that it was a part of their tradition. It seemed like if we don't eat, we will be beaten. And so even when our bellies were pleading us to stop dumping more sweets into them, we couldn't. We urged and fought and made so many excuses, but they were just not ceasing in their mission and in fact that was motivating them even more to make us suffer. A human tendency - make the sufferers under your authority suffer even more.

The dining place during marriage had more sweet counters than any other ones. The most surprising and inexplicable thing that seemed to me was that people over there used to consider sweet dishes as the main course and then went on to eat chappatis, rice and vegetables and yes believe me, they ended it all with snacks like chat or something else.

Then there are these infinite number of customs, procedures, traditions and superstitions which i believe is what makes Indian culture so unique. There are innumerous little things that the bride and the groom are supposed to do and an equal number of things that they are forbidden to.

One very strange custom was that the grooms' parents cannot be present at the time when the couple are exchanging vows. Why would a custom prevent a couple from attending the wedding of their beloved son? May be there is some reason for that, but i totally don’t understand it. Another intriguing one was that the bride goes back to her home after marriage and next day she does to and fro from the grooms' place at least 4-5 times. And they finally are united in the bond of love (hope you understand how) on the second night. The next day is also kept for the little games aimed at helping the bride to get familiar with the grooms' family and most importantly being a buddy to her life partner.

Overall a great experience. I got to see a totally new kind of wedding, new set of customs, traditions and a new place as well. And to think that India has so many different castes and cultures, which have their own kinds of weddings and traditions and still there are some similarities between all is absolutely amazing. Hope i get to see many more different kinds and hope they are as mysterious as the Big Fat Marwadi wedding.

The Mob Mentality

I always had this question in my mind. What motivates a mob to perform the actions that it performs. What must be the inspiration to so many people to go about destroying public properties. How exactly do such crowd gather and what keeps them motivated all time along.

Political hooliganism - heard of it, read about it, saw on television, but had never experienced it before my trip to Bengaluru recently.

I was on a weekend trip to Bengaluru to meet one close friend. The trip was supposed to be very hectic as i was going to reach on Saturday morning and had my return bus on Sunday evening. But, as it always happens, Murphy's great law always prevails. With great difficulty, i had managed to convince my managers to let me leave a little early from office on Friday. And there i was - eagerly waiting for my bus to come and take me to the adventurous voyage. It was a semi-sleeper bus(don't know why it is supposed to be called that, either one can sleep in a sleeper bus or go sitting on a seater bus, but in a semi-sleeper, one can neither sleep nor sit properly). And as i had expected i couldn't sleep most of the night.

The best thing about the bus journeys that i like is the little breaks on the highway restaurants. Though, i must admit that the quality of those restaurants has certainly gone upwards in the last few years. I usually wander around on the breaks, checking out the girls getting down from other buses (again thanks to Mr. Murphy, girls in other buses are always prettier than mine). I also do the usual observations job, trying to map the behavior of people with their faces. I believe that the behavior that people showcase, especially when they are alone, says a lot about them.

Next morning, i succeeded eventually in my long quest for sleep and from what i remember, i slept at around 5 in the morning. But, it was going to be short lived. At around 7, i woke up to find many people from my bus getting down with curious looks on their faces. I was totally clueless, but too tired to stand up and find out on my own. So i kept half-sleeping on my seat and after a while was relieved to find that the bus had again started. We reached a certain highway spot again and the driver took a lengthy halt of around half an hour over there.

The bus stopped again at around 9 and this time i was fully awake and curious enough to learn what was happening. I found out from my neighbors and other fellow bus travelers that there was some Karnataka bandh announced and so some mob had stopped the bus. I called up my friend to verify that it was correct. And there it all started. The most agonizing wait of my journey. There was a mob of around 30-40 people that had stopped the traffic on the highway. Our bus was 4th in the queue when it had started and finally when we were allowed to go, according to a rough guess, there would have been some 5000-6000 vehicles in the long long queue that had formed. The mob had placed the front truck horizontally on the highway, preventing anyone to cross the laxman rekha that they had formed. They started burning tires and it was clear to us that it was going to be a big tiresome day.

What would one do when one is stuck in midst of a highway in a totally unknown land, where one doesn't even understand the language people residing over there speak? And when there is a big violent mob, which looks as hungry as a wild cat that was only given cabbage to eat for 3 years. Add to that the afternoon heat, exaggerated because of the air-conditioned pleasures that the body has enjoyed inside the semi-sleeper bus. And above all that, you are carrying this sad feeling of not being able to make it on time to meet your friend.

What did i do? Made new friends, talked to strangers, got to know some really good ones, wandered around aimlessly, ate at a small cafeteria cum home and tried to learn the mentality of the mob. One thing i was totally sure, none of the hooligans knew why there doing what they had been asked to do. But the power that they were able to showcase was unparalleled. To completely bring to a halt a crowd of about 1 lakh or more with no apparent reason known to them is something i had never seen before. They were burning tires endlessly and for continuously 6 hours, they didn't rest or oblige under pressure and didn't let go any brave-hearts who occasionally tried to break the check-post they had made. Hats off to their courage, dedication and above all, their power - even though it was used for a destructive purpose.

Finally, after some alleged meeting somewhere else and on a phone call from someone somewhere, the mob let us go at around 3.30 pm in the afternoon. I could finally reach Bangalore at 6 pm. And despite another setback of the local transport buses not functioning in the city due to the same bandh, i could not afford to waste any more time and reached my final destination by 7 pm. But, overall it was a good experience and a firsthand classroom to understand the mob mentality.

The Big Fat Punjabi Wedding

The stage was all set. It was going to be a big occasion in the lives of Chhabdas. They were a renowned and a much respected family in Andanabad. And they had waited for this occasion for long. It was the wedding of the eldest son from the third generation of the Chhabda family, Soham. After months of preparations and arrangements, time had come for the celebrations.

Soham, a highly successful IT engineer was marrying Renuka, an IT engineer from Lambana. The wedding was scheduled to be held in Lambana. And the reception was slated for Andanabad, Soham's home town. The decorations were arranged, the band-wallahs had been called, the transportation arrangements had been done, the menu items for dinners on all days had been decided, invitation cards had been prepared and distributed to as many friends and relatives as they could remember, the so called customary "lena-dena" of gifts and money had also been done and the red carpet was now laid perfectly for the celebrations of the beloved son of Chhabda family.

The entire clan had reached Lambana and now it was the marriage day. After all the regular customary procedures, time had come to take off the marriage procession. Many more relatives had reached Lambana. And there were polite complaints coming since morning, "Where is tea?", "The cushions are not soft enough", "The rooms shouldn't be so clean, it doesn't look like marriage", "Why did my husband's brother's wife's sister's maternal uncle's daughter get 50 bucks more than me?", etc. The complaints were reaching to Mr. and Mrs. Chhabda's ears through very well calculated mediums of transport. People kept passing on the comments and always took care to tell it to only those who they sure shot felt will take those complaints to the person under their microscopic lens. There was always one common statement to follow those comments, "But it is fine, please don't tell them. Such things do happen in marriages. We have not come here for roaming around, we have come to attend the holy occasion of marriage and such things do happen in marriages."

Everyone was getting ready for the big night. Gentlemen were running from one place to other to get their wives' clothes ironed or to get milk for their children or to buy the forgotten sox pairs for themselves. The ladies had gathered in one room and were busy assisting each other in the make-ups and side by side commenting on various issues ranging from some particular neighborhood lady fighting for 50p with vegetable vendor to their son or daughter not eating bitter gourd with curd. Children had no feelings for or against anyone and continued to run and jump around carefree, sliding and skidding on the marble floors, jumping on the mattresses and breaking every breakable thing around. The young guys had their usual never ending chats about girls, gadgets and drinks going in one of the corners.

Soham, his handsome brother Aditya and their family members were getting ready as early as possible so as to avoid any more delays and thereby to avoid bitterer comments from you know who. With the prevalent pressure quite easily visible on their faces, the Chhabdas were making sure everyone looked happy and that no one seemed to have any hidden harsh feelings for them. On the other hand, others made sure that they gave the perfect looks to them whenever their turn came.

The marriage procession was one more occasion when Chhabdas made sure everyone gets involved in shaking their legs with big smiles on their faces. And so did everyone. Dance is an integral part of Punjabi weddings. The groom Soham, a dance lover, also got his chance to shake legs with various people, making them happy at getting an opportunity to dance with "The Groom". At the marriage party, Chhabdas kept running around to make sure all guests looked happy, completely forgetting their own happiness for that sake.

The case was the same at the reception party in Andanabad. Running around to make others happy and hiding the tension and pressure they put on themselves just for the sake of others. Money was also splashed like a free flowing water-fall on dinners, parties, bands, rotating on the heads of important people while dancing, the lena-dena to make the guests happy, etc. But that is how the Big Fat Punjabi weddings are supposed to be. They are meant for others and not for those who are actually getting married or their families. The show-shaw, dance-shance, lena-dena, khana-pina, ho-halla, kudna-shudna, gana-bajana, etc are all integral part of these weddings and so it was in Soham’s wedding. After all, weddings are meant to be made in heaven. And guests will always find one reason or the other to whine about, after all that is how the human race moves ahead. :)

But, most importantly, wishing a happy and successful married life to Soham and Renuka. The fault-finding, whining and crying are never going to halt, we just need to learn to live with it.

P.S. The characters are purely fictional and any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental and should be ignored with.

Miseries by rain or rain by miseries

Rain, rain, go away, little Johnny wants to play!
It’s October and it is still raining cats and dogs here. It is like someone playing games with us. As soon as we take out our raincoats and umbrellas, it stops raining and stops to the extent of causing draughts in certain parts. And when we keep our rain shields out in the open, ready in the gladiator like Avatar, it starts again. We are truly caught in a big dilemma.
When will the boat cum bike be launched? Are the German engineers listening? We really need it here. The roads take a temporarily time off during the monsoon season here. One needs a fair bit of luck to travel during such time. You never know where the gutters are and where the road exists, so it is a very tough guessing game. But no, one should not worry of life, after all life itself is a game, ain’t it?
If the guessing game was not tough enough, then you have the driving game. One should never assume how the co-drivers are going to perform and what they are going to do next. They also have equal rights to play games around. But again, this is not a problem. There should actually be some space to take your vehicle to, as when it rains, the spaces vanish away. Well, unless your vehicle is thin enough to make it pass through the narrowest of the spaces between the giant ones. So without space, you will have ample time to think what to do next. I will recommend you to take some newspaper and music players with you. You can easily finish one article or one song, before you get a chance to move 1m ahead. See, slow and steady anyways wins the race. So chill then and enjoy watching the flooded streets.
You don't need to worry about the water being wasted. It is like a reaction to the miseries laden on us by water. How can it cause us so much pain by unfair means of causing drought and famines? We surely need to teach it a lesson and so we do. Let the water go in the drainage, no need to conserve or anything. The authorities relax, so why should we not?
If you are married or have a girl-friend/boy-friend, you have even better news. You will have enough excuses to enjoy your time with him/her. With no electricity at home, you definitely have the pleasure to enjoy the meal in candle light with him/her. Now that is how noble and altruistic the authorities are. I don’t understand, why do we keep blaming them for such trivial issues, especially when they are helping us build better relationship with our spouses. Come on now; be mature enough to understand their real motives.
The game is not over yet though. The real test starts the day after. To find our way around on the little patches of road left amidst the numerous puddles disbursed all around. Its a job that any pirate would love performing. After all, that will be the real test of their navigation skills. I would even recommend all the automobile companies to test their new vehicles on these terrains. After all, the mountains and rocks still have some smooth surfaces left.
But yes, that is how we are - the most adaptive and receptive species of this planet. Give us the worst of the conditions, we still find some or the other Jugaad. And life thus goes on.

CWG - the lost pride

This is my second post on the Common Wealth Games in 2 months. And i am retracting back from my viewpoint presented in the earlier post. I had requested all to give up the criticism on CWG and instead prepare to make the games a successful event. But now, when the games are just a fortnight away, it seems a far cry. And i am sorry, but i am admitting here that i was wrong to request that.
I still remember the day when India won the bid for CWG in Nov 2003. Though the news channels then were not as much emotional exploiters as they are now, but still there were pride inducing songs (Chak de hadn't come then) running for days. And it was certainly a moment of pride, a moment that all Indians would have loved to cherish for long, an achievement which could have been talked about for long. But alas, there is nothing to say now. It should have been an easy guess. We have never been great organizers, sports or otherwise. And all this could have been speculated earlier too. But yes, as always, we are paying the price to keep expectations and hopes.
What a big mess this CWG has created. What big humiliation and insult we, as a country are facing. What a big corruption saga has been going on with the entire nation busy in other thoughts. With all these, can we still claim to be the future superpowers?
And the worst part of it, there is still no big reaction from PMO, not a single strong statement from PMO. At least take some action on the culprits. At least, ask Kalmadi to step down now and have an inquiry on the entire mess created. At least, do ask various research organizations to come up and analyze what went wrong and what could have been done and what are the lessons to learn for future from all these chaos. The nation is angry and the citizens of this nation are angrier. It is high time now, some action is taken. Go crap with the games. No one cares now if it is a success or a failure as an event, because for us all, it is already the biggest failure.
Already enough has been said around as to what is wrong with the CWG and what all problems exist and what is the reaction coming from the entire world as a feedback to the games preparation. So i won’t ponder upon these thoughts. It just pains to think of these sorts of corruption and mismanagement happening at such a big level.
Hope no big calamity happens during the game. And I hope not for salvaging the pride of the nation or the organizers (that is already in tatters), but because so that nothing bad happens to the international athletes participating in the event. Hope the buildings and stadiums and various tracks and fields remain intact and also no calamity takes place anywhere in Delhi. But then, why am i hoping again? I don’t myself know, but at the end of the day i still love this country and still hope some miracle happens to bring back the lost pride of the nation.

The Big Transition

How many of you have heard your parents or grandparents say that things used to be way different in their days. And by their days, i mean days when they were young. After all, these are our days now. But yeah, coming back to the topic, i guess most of us would have heard that. And yes those are true claims too. Things were indeed very different just a few decades ago.
Just to ponder a thought on the current generation - the generation that is in its prime youth currently, the 18-30 age groups. We have lived in an era when things were way cheaper than what they are today. When talking to a girl in the class used to raise many mocking gestures from fellow students. When Bajaj scooter or LML-Vespa were seen in every household. When computer was that geeky instrument, the possession of which used to earn one a definitive high status in society as being the new age scientist. When mobile companies used to charge Rs. 6 for incoming calls and Rs. 18 for outgoing calls. When DD1 and DD metro were our prime source of entertainment. And the list can go on and on for an eternity. But, don’t you think we are extremely lucky. We have lived through the big shift. We have lived in the extremely transient phase of this generation game.
Comparing the generations before us and the generation after us, there are clear indications of the vast differences existing in their attitudes, their behavior, etc. The generation before was a far more conservative one, the ones who had seen India progressing through the most difficult times, the ones for whom luxury and pleasure had a different definition, the ones for whom entertainment was radio, the ones for whom internet and even telephones and televisions were non-existent. And even though we didn’t get a chance to see all those, but we got a fair glimpse.
There have been some great revolutions recently, which according to me have induced this big generation shift. The 1991 economic reforms in the country, which opened the doors for the foreign firms to enter the Indian market, making it more open and more competitive, the internet and IT revolution, the telecom revolution and the retail revolution were the biggest game changers, as per me. Who would have imagined a young graduate - a guy or a girl - earning more than 20k bucks just after graduating from college. And now, even that 20k looks so meager. Who would have imagined all the daily workers, the rickshaw-wallahs, the vegetable vendors, etc owning their own mobiles and catering to their customers after taking orders on mobile? AC supermarkets and malls were those little fantasies which people thought existed in Dubai or some far away imaginary land only. And now, the case is that people are bored of too many malls in cities. Internet brought about the biggest turn-around. It is possible to do any task now sitting at home. And with such abundant data available online, and with people connected like never before, world has truly become a village. Now was that possible about two decades ago?
I must say we are extremely lucky to have seen this change happening in front of our eyes, to have witnessed the pros and cons of the widely distinguished generations and to have lived through this change. And it doesn't surprise me to see that it is this generation that is doing wonders and is being hailed to have finally woken up and working towards bringing about the change.

P.S. I have assumed those reading this will be the people who have been through the same change as me. And that is why i have directed them as second person in this post. :)