CHAK DE INDIA!

I am of the opinion that promotion of hockey in India is just as important as conservation of wildlife.So when i heard that this movie was about Hockey, i was itching to go and watch the movie right away!.

Yash Raj films, "Chak de India!" ,starring Shah Rukh Khan,Vidya Malvade, Sagarika Ghatge is the story of a Kabir Khan(Shah rukh),ex captain of the Indian Team,sufferer of an unceremonious exit from the game , prove his mettle and love for the country by coaching Indian Women's hockey team to glory.

Although not a comprehensive sketch of the current hockey scenario, the film throws light on many key issues. Sponsorship , lack of training facilities to name a few. The makers of the movie, have tried to be logically consistent wherever and whenever possible without stretching things too far. The movie is monotonous in a way that, it treads on the same path that most of the earlier made -sport movies trod on. If you discount romance, the movie complies completely with the earlier mentioned blue-print.

If you are making a movie to help the cause of hockey promotion, one important factor that one has to take into account is how far-reaching it will be. With an element named Shah Rukh, all qualms on the above issue are dismissed. Brand Shah rukh is, in fact, the most important ingredient in the movie, because very large is the number of people who throng to the halls only to see what this guy has up his sleeve in his movies. Shah Rukh, did not disappoint his fans, and has given a flawless performance as Kabir Khan. As was the performances of the artists who played the members of the team.

The movie starts, it rolls on, and when it does that it throws light on the hurdles facing Indian Women's hockey in particular , it ends by making India the world champions. And how do they do it, with a dynamic, aggressive and most importantly patriotic coach and sponsor. Does it really work out like that?. How far is this movie from reality? .I don't know. But for a decent attempt at promoting the national sport i will accord this movie a 6 on 10.

60 years and still counting...

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."

J.N.Nehru.

Its 60 years now,since these illustrious words were uttered by the First Prime Minister of Independent India. The above speech was reflective of the vision that Nehru had , a vision with which he was able to see a fledgling become a super power, a vision with which he was able to see the complete realisation of the meaning of the word "Independence" in all respects .But sadly for Nehru,India did not progress the way he thought it would and his speech, even if delivered today shall still fit the present India in many ways.

Poverty, unemployment ,caste systems, child labour, illiteracy still haunt the nation. Programmes are underway to alleviate these social-ills but they seem to proceed at snail's pace. I still walk into my college mess to see three kids,with an age less than 10,cleaning plates and serving tea. 27.5% of Indian population still lives below poverty line, a mammoth 37% still are illiterates. These figure dont make a good reading at all, considering what Nehru's vision of India was 60 years later. Hence my message to the nation is as follows.


"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."


JAI HIND!

Man Utd vs Reading

The devils kicked off their title defense with a goalless draw against a hardworking Reading. This was unbecoming of the reds who scored the most number of goals last season. It was a disappointing start for the new season,no doubt, but given the fact that the best part of 50 mil is yet to invade Utds starting set-up, it can be said that things can only improve.

Utd started with the same team that started against Chelsea last week,except Scholes came back into the team in lieu of John O'shea after recovering from a knee injury. New signing Nani was on the bench but other new signings,the likes of Tevez,Anderson,Hargreaves were left-out.Utd did not have the best of starts with Wayne Rooney's first touch letting down the team on a couple of occasions . Man U lacked a striker strong in air as plenty of crosses went unmet . Rooney and Ronaldo's threats were kept at bay as Reading players surrounded them as soon as they got the ball, and by not allowing even a yard of space to run in to.On other occasions they had their keeper to come to their rescue.

The team which already looked passive due to the lack of strikers also had to lose Rooney during half tym due to an injury. Seizing this opportunity Reading started getting more people behind the ball and committed 10 of their players to play inside their own half. So Man Us attacks went in vain even as Reading were reduced to 10 men,Utd could do nothing but despair about their ill luck, as shots were either saved or blocked.

Overall United,although disappointing, showed signs of brilliance in all depts of the game, except finishing.So not much can be blamed on the players.

Full credits to reading anyways!!.

Key pts to be addressed

• Utd had many oppn through set-pieces but wasted all of 'em.So having a good free kick taker is imperative. Tevez shud bridge the gap.
• A striker strong in air is needed.Saha,if fit should be deployed against a side like Reading.

Hope things will get better.

"You cant win anything with kids!" this season at least.

I have partially arrived at a solution to the question that was nagging my mind since the beginning of this summer.It is the Arsenal question. Can the current team of young gunners make a mark in the EPL? Will they be competent without Henry?,How far will they go ? and many questions on a very similar line and on the very same topic.But the answers for these questions,when posed to football pundits, coincide on the well-known soccer cliche "You cant win anything with kids!".

It was the 1995-96 season, a Man Utd team, which disposed Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis, Mark Hughes the seniors,who formed the backbone of the team off .It was a team which was very less experienced when compared to its peers in the league,a team which had lost its most influential player Eric Cantona for around the first half of the season. You could hear the words "You cant win anything with kids!", whenever there was a mention of the words Manchester united. The enraged supporters of the club had to settle with names like Gary Neville,Phil Neville,David Beckham, Paul Scholes,Nicky Butt on the team -sheet.What ensued was there for everyone to see.The so-called kids were able to win a double and proved Alan Hansen's quote completely wrong.

So will the current squad of Gunners be able to repeat Man U's feat?.Let us just analyse what was the case then and come to what it is now.Although the then Man Utd squad were called kids.It wasn't essentially a squad that contained only kids.Experience in the form of Steve Bruce,Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Lee Sharpe and McLair and of course Eric Cantona was present in the squad. That definitely had something to do with their winning the double. Let us see what do the Gunners have for filling the experience clause.Gilberto silva, Jens Lehmann, William Gallas,Kolo Toure. The three of them are experienced, no doubt, but in all probability they wont be able to inspire like wat the experienced lot in 95-96 Utds team did.When you compare the youngsters Arsenal with the young bunch of 95-96, there is not much you can say about it.You have fabregas,Utd had scholes.U have a denilson,Utd had a Butt.Utd had a Beckham,who do u have?..Hleb??,van Persie??.The had a decent finisher in Andy Cole.who do you have? an Eduardo??,a Bendtner??.

Everything done and dusted.As we await the new season to start,i conclude that Arsenal wont win any noteworthy trophy this tym around.I think a fourth place finish in the premier league would be the thing for Arsenal to fight for.And if Wenger wishes to do a Fergie in his own way, maybe he is forgettin something,there is only one way to go about and it is
the FERGIE way.

about me finally!

Well! I think i ve had it with Orkut.After having been in this god-forsaken thing for around 2 and a half years and changing this spiteful column a little less than a million times, i think it is not worth changing at all.So here i am writing all i can think of about me.

I was born and bred in Chennai.I belong to a family which consists of a very conservative mother, a very liberal father, and a not-political sister.No wonder in my being perenially confused.I am possibly the worst decision maker you can ever think of.i think i was born with this handicap and no amount of hard work is lending desirable results for the above mentionedd thing.

I always live life in a messed up way, although i dont prefer doing it that way.I wanted to do commerce and i suddenly ended up in Engineering.I never got to where i wanted to be.Hionestly,the place where i want to be changes with a frequency greater than the thing-with-the-greatest-frequency in this universe.

I am preparing(once prepared,u kno i am not gonna change it!) for a management entrance test.I am sure i wont make a good manager.But i am trying.Isn't that testimony to my in born talent of remaining confused all the while.

I am possibly the last guy who you would expect to keep his words.I seldom keep my word.I promise around a thousand tyms daily both to myself and others.But there has been no occasion in which i d stuck to my word.

I am doing things that i never thought i'd do.I ve become a movie freak, i listen to loud music, and my tamil has more English than my English has English.I ve lost beleif in Demcracy,i ve lost the respect i had for the nation.I've started to hate cricket.I am not feeling hurt when people around me say "You're changed!".

I have very little by way of own ideas.I copy others mostly.If i ll have the freedom to say,i am not at all shameful in agreeing that, i am like the greatest wannabe in the world.I have no specific reasons for it.

I am very fond of football,Mathematics,PJs,Criticisms,Dreaming alongside a song,thinking that i am gonna make it big one day.

I hate
selfish people(although i am one), Wannabes, show-offs, and Cricket ,Communists,Racists,Centrists,Conservatives,Religious Fanatics,their superstitions and GOD sometimes.

I am good at
nothing at all.

I am weak in
everything in life.TO name a few
i d name drawing(the worst painter),singing(although i am better than a "chota" population in my college.), CHemistry,Eucledian Geometry,keeping my glasses straight,starting a conversation,keeping a conversation going,making friends,maintaing friendship,immediate retaliation for a banter,etc...,

well!...no matter where i go none of these will change.That was about me!

Season Preview-a Man Utd specific scan.

After what was a really long and very eventful-in both the personal and the footballing fronts- summer i finally caught up with some football action involving Man Utd,live. It was Man U vs Chelsea,for the FA community shield.Here i am summarizing whatever i could surmise on the perfomance of Man U,based on Yesterdays game.


I wasn't too much worried about the result at least not as much as i was intrigued by the mere thought of how Man Utd's new team will perform. This is as said because, Man Utd s new signings suggested a change in their playing style. But Man Us formation for the game,suggested that there will be very little for my cause.The formation did not have a single new-signing.It loked more like a formation,that an injury hit Man U would have employed mid season.The team had Silvestre,Brown as full-backs.O'shea and Carrick in centre midfield with Evra and Ronaldo on the left and right wings respectively, and Rooney and Giggs playing up front. The only respite was that the ever reliable pair of Vidic and Ferdinand was present, which suggested that Man Us defence was not to be dealt with lightly. Nani was on the bench.

The match started and it lacked the usual tenacity that acompanies all ManU-chelsea encounters, save the latest FA cup one,in the initial periods. Then the game really started accelerating and both teams had their chances, and squared each other in all departments which was evodent from the score line a 1-1. Then the match went to penalties and VDS made amends for his error in the fA cup final by putting in a wonderful performance saving 3 penalties in a row and ensuring a sweet revenge was in place at the right time.

Pointsto be noted:

• First and foremost, Rooney's first touch was pathetic in most parts of the game. It is not the Rooney that we once saw.
• We need to have Gary Neville back as soon as possible because Gary Neville's shoes are too loose for Wes Brown.
• Evra,in both,the community shield and the friendly against Inter looked outstanding.His dangerous little runs,his excellent work rate suggests that he has become an excellentplayer in that position.So dispense with Heinze.Hope Evra sustains his recent form.
• Man Utd s dependency on low crosses have increased, and there is a need of a clinical finisher, a penalty box poacher.Tevez would be an excellent inclusion.
• Nani looked good.He dribbles well and his corners swirled in dangerously and his passing is good and when it combines with his ability to run into space , he can be mightily dangerous.
  

After all my inferences, my conjecture is that Man U will play a 4-4-2,with Tevez and Rooney up front ,with Ronaldo and Giggs on the wings.Hargreaves and Carrick in the central midfield and the back four ,the same as last season.With Nani and Anderson on the bench.Everything said now let s wait for the season to pan out.