Day 182 - The Beautiful Game

Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!

Yes, it is football frenzy time!  It is amazing how once in every four years this phenomenon, called the FIFA World Cup, captures the imagination of practically the whole world, me included.  Let me be very clear; I am not a great fan of football.  Club football confuses me, what with all the different leagues in different parts of the world and the never ending player transfers from one club to another.  However, when once in 4 years, the World Cup is played over a month, I become a die-hard fan of the game.

Although India has never played in the World Cup Finals (it did qualify for the 1950 World Cup Finals, but the team did not travel to Brazil for the competition), during the World Cup people in India become staunch supporters of various teams depending on various parameters like, the stars that they follow, the emotional attachment to a playing nation, the style of play of a particular team, etc.

I, for one, support multiple teams!  And believe me this is not because I try to hedge my bets.  I am supporting Spain for its seamless and skillful play, Brazil as the eternal favourites due to the flair with which they play, Germany because of their structured and disciplined execution by a very young team and last but not the least, Argentina!  Since the time I watched the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico for the first time, I have an emotional connect to Argentina!  Argentina won that competition and Maradona was the 'God of Football', not necessarily due to the 'Hand of God' only.  From that year on, I have watched every World Cup with great interest.  If 1986 was about Maradona and the 'Hand of God', 1990 was all about the magic of the dimunitive Salvatore Schillaci.  1994 was all about selling the game to the USA, while 1998 was the year of Zinadine Zidane; France winning the tournament on home turf! The World Cup came to Asia for the first time in 2002.  It was also the first time that two countries were jointly hosting the tournament; Japan and South Korea.  I thought 2006 was a drab affair in Germany, which was won by the Italians.

2010 is the year of Africa, the World Cup Finals being hosted in this continent for the first time.  I missed the first set of matches due to the travel to Bengaluru.  However, I more than made up for it in the second week, by ensuring that I watched rest of all the matches in the Group stages.  I have to say, very few matches in this World Cup have been entertaining.  The pre-quarterfinal match up between England and Germany was a riveting affair.  It was also marred by poor referee decisions.  This and some other such bad decisions by the referees have sparked of a huge clamour of the usage of technology to assist referees in decision making. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am a great supporter of technology and its applications in our day to day lives. I also appreciate the fact that such technological help has added great value to sports like Cricket and Tennis.  However, I, for one would be very careful to go the whole hog with technology for a game like football.  Football is a beautiful game because of the raw speed and pace, because of the amazing skills of the players to control a ball and keep its possession with them and because of the innovative and creative tactics used by teams to cut through the defences of the opponents to score a goal.  I believe uncontrolled intervention of technology can take away the beauty of this minimalist game.  If the usage of technology is controlled in such a way that it does not kill the pace and creativity of the game by frequent interruptions, it must be welcomed.  Remember, some years ago, the game had started to become very boring due to the frequent stoppages because of inappropriate tackles and fouls.  FIFA had then introduced the 'Advantage' rule, to increase the pace of the game and keep it interesting.  The rule was simple.  If a player was fouled, but the possession of the ball still remained with the player's own team, the game was allowed to be continued without stopping it for a free kick for the foul.

As I write this, the tournament is entering its decisive and interesting quarter finals stage.  A couple of big ticket encounters await us.  Argentina will play Germany in the Quarters; can't wait for it.  Oracle Octopus might have predicted a win for Germany, but as one of my colleagues pointed out today, the law of averages might catch up with Mr.OO. I am betting on a Brazil v/s Argentina final, though Spain could also be one of the finalists.  They are playing some beautiful football.  Some of the stars to look out for in these later stages of the tournament are: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Fabiano, Diego Forlan, Gyan, Sneijder, Klose, Podolski and maybe some more who might emerge as stars due to their exploits in the final stages.

I am loving it and looking forward to all these stars and their respective teams performing at the highest levels.  Meanwhile, this weekend I cought up with my friends from SHCIL.  Jyoti is here in India for a couple of months.  Hence myself, Parag, Jyoti and Ritesh got together for lunch along with our respective familes.  It was a relaxed affair and a lot of fun.  Plan to organise a bigger event in a month or so before Jyoti goes back to the US.

On Monday, Dad got operated for cataract. Finally, after a couple of postponements due to high sugar levels.  He is keeping well and in good spirits.

Hence, so am I.  Take care.

Day 175 - Hibernating In The Rains

As you know, last week, or most part of it was spent in travel to and from Bengaluru, the marriage ceremony and spending time with family and lots and lots of relatives.

This week is the second week of my holidays and I am in hibernation mode.  However, even in this mode I realised there was a lot happening. 

First of all, I do have to work through a long list of 'to-do's accumulated over the last couple of months.  These included varied things like getting my SIPs updated, repairing the childrens' bicycle, reparing the phones, immersing a couple of paper mash sculptures, etc.  The good news is that I am almost done with these.

Next up was the World Cup football.  Having missed the first round of matches due to all the travelling last week, I decided that I will watch all the matches live till I am on holiday.  I have been partially successful but have witnessed some interesting encounters as well.  The match between Brazil and Ivory Coast was a very bad advertisement for the sport.

On the health front, Priya and I decided to have another go at the GM diet.  Priya was done on the first day.  I am still holding the fort.  Hence, it is a bit of a torture being on holiday and not being able to eat whatever I fancy.  It is even worse when you get the opportunity to meet up with friends and go out for dinner, which is what is being planned in the next couple of days.  I think it will be painful to watch everybody at the table having a go at schezwan rice, with me limited to nibbling salads.  We will see.  I have however, restarted going to the gym seriously.

The other thing which I wanted to do during these two week holidays and have failed to do so horribly is to pick up my reading habit again.  There is a huge pile of  half-read books on my writing table, which I intended to tackle.  However, I have not been successful at it.  Either these books are very boring or my attention span is decreasing by the day.  Dangerous trend.  By the way, I started reading a new book - 'Blackberry - The Inside Story of Research In Motion'.  So far, so good.  I also plan to see a film - Rajneeti tomorrow.  Hope it lives up to the reviews I have read about the film.

The bright spot of this holiday though was Suryanksh's first day to school and the rains.  He has started going to the Bombay Scottish School (Junior KG).  Have been picking him up everyday from school.  The other bright spot was of course the onset of the rains.  It has been cloudy for most parts of the last couple of days and it has been raining heavily sporadically.  The sights and sounds of Mumbai are completely different when it rains.

So, the only evidence of my hibernation are the afternoon naps that I took on a couple of days.  However, inspite of all this activity, there is a sense of restlessness in me.  It always happens when I am on a long leave.  It is like I am being deprived of my daily dosage of some strong addiction.  I suspect, that addiction is of work. 

Yes, am sick of browsing the mails on the Blackberry and am itching to come back to work.

Take care.

Day 170 - Bengaluru Beckons

This past week was spent preparing for the Bengaluru visit and then travelling to the city of gardens.  The purpose of the visit to Bengaluru was to attend a cousin's (Shivakumar) wedding.

It was great fun because we went as a group to Bengaluru after assembling in Mumbai as the base.  My parents, brother and sister-in-law arrived just before we departed to Bengaluru on Saturday.  We were also joined by other cousins and their families.  The flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru was pretty much uneventful, except for the pranks of both my little ones at the airport. When we arrived in Bengaluru, the weather was heavenly.  It was cool and pleasant unlike Mumbai's humidity. It was also raining sporadically.  The drive to the city from the airport was full of greenery.  Incidentally, I met Adwait at the Bengaluru airport and he looked fresh and sporty.  Looks like he is enjoying his time at JPMC.

Now, Bengaluru is a city where I have spent close to 2 years of my life.  It is also special, as Priya doesn't forget to remind me, because we started our married life in this city.  Hence, there are a lot of memories attached to the city.  The fact, however, is that , this city has undergone a massive change in the six years since we left Bengaluru for Chennai.  Some of the roads and places are completely unrecognisable.

All the infrastructure projects have been completed.  Grade separators are functional at Dairy Circle, Silk Board and Jayadeva Hospital!  These were just starting to be built when I last saw these places.  Malls have sprung up everywhere.  New residential complexes which did not exist before have suddenly surfaced.  Bengaluru, being a city of bungalows, looks strange with these new age skyscrapers.

I also like the city because of its meticulous cleanliness.  Generally, I have found the southern cities to be more cleaner compared to the north.  It would, of course, be a joke to even compare Mumbai with Bengaluru or Chennai on this aspect.  The other thing that I liked about Bengaluru, and which is completely absent in Mumbai, is the attention to details in the construction of roadways.  You see sign-boards at each junction / traffic signal, clearly telling you the directions to various places.  The roads, dividers, etc. are properly painted / adorned with reflective material.  You see attention to detail everywhere.

On the flip side, like in all other cities in India, the traffic has exploded.  The number of private cars on the roads must have increased 5 folds in the last 6 years!  And given Bengaluru's narrow roads, this causes endless traffic jams.  Again, not as bad as Mumbai, but still a lot worse than it was 6 years ago.  The other pathetic aspect of the city, and for that matter any other city in the south, is the complete absence of a service culture.  You go to any shop, restaurant, hotels, cinema halls, etc. etc. and the people there will treat you like dirt and as if they are doing you a favour by allowing you to be there.  Drives me nuts all the time, as I myself work in the service industry and expect better standards.

The trip, otherwise, was very enjoyable.  I met up with some relatives after a long time, and some for the first time!  By the time we started for Mumbai on the Wednesday, rains had hit Mumbai too. Various rumours about air traffic being diverted from Mumbai due to bad weather were floating around.  However, we landed in Mumbai with only a 30 minute delay to normal weather.

I am at home for one more week and thus, look forward to the rains in Mumbai. 

Take care.

Day 161 - My Experiment With Dieting

Did you know there is a cookie diet?  Well, I did not, till about five minutes ago when I was researching about diets and dieting plans for this post.

The reason I am writing about diets this week, is that, I was on one such diet for the past few days.  The diet plan, however, was a disaster.  I can, however, very conviniently place the blame for the disaster on the wrong timing of the diet!

Over the past few months my better half has been obsessed about her weight (like most women are, across the globe).  This reached to a point where she actually started gymming and swimming quite regularly.  Anyone who knows Priya would be quite surprised that the lady actually took the pain of working out.  However, as we all know, work-outs is not an instant formula for weight reduction.  According to me, my wife's weight has not changed much over the last couple of years.  She is not over-weight at all.  She just thinks she is over-weight.  If you ask me, she is just perfect. 

After a couple of weeks the situation became a bit desparate when Priya realised that she wasn't getting much traction with weight reduction inspite of the work-outs.  Then she turned her attention towards diet plans.  After much deliberation, it was decided that she would like to do the GM diet.  Of course, I had to give her company, as doing a diet alone would be quite painful.

So, off we were on our first diet experiment!  The GM diet, or the vegetarian version of it:

Rule: Day 1 :  Only fruits to be consumed, except bananas.

Result: Success

Rule: Day 2: A boiled potato in the morning.  Only vegetables for the rest of the day.

Result: Bad timing.  This is where we hit the first obstacle.  Everything was as planned till evening.  However, this was our wedding anniversary!  How can we celebrate such an occasion eating raw vegetables?  So I lured Priya into a pizza outlet.  I ended up having a pizza.  Priya still had only salads and did not succumb to the temptations of an 8 incher.  She was really serious about this!

Rule: Day 3: A mixture of fruits and vegetables.  No bananas.  No potatoes.

Result: Inspite of the disaster the previous evening Priya decided that I should continue to give her company.  Everything was fine till evening.  In the evening, another disaster.  Being a Saturday, we embarked on a shopping trip to a well known mall.  There, the golden arches beckoned.  This time even my better half could not resist the temptation!

Rule: Day 4:  Only bananas and milk today.

Result: Inspite of the double disaster, my wife wanted to push on with the diet plan and marched me off early in the morning to buy a huge load of bananas and milk.  We lasted on bananas and milk till afternoon.  After that all hell broke loose. 

End of the diet plan.  And my first experiment with diets. All due to bad timing. 

Not to worry, though.  Priya has pledged that this needs to be redone.  This time, based on the learnings from the first attempt, the seven days of the diet plan will be planned in such a way that there are no important occasions during that period!  See, it is all about timing.

Wish Priya (us) luck the next time around.  Take care.

Day 154 - Famiraderie

The last week, or the last days of last week, were spent with family.  In fact for most part of this month, I have been seeing a lot of my family. 

To start with, my parents came to stay with me for a couple of days.  We celebrated my mom's birthday on the day they arrived.  The next 2 days were full of meeting a lot of other family members based in Mumbai.  Uncles, aunts and cousins!  My mother-in-law also came to visit at the same time.  It was like we were having an impromptu family conclave.

As soon as my parents left for Ahmedabad, followed by my mother-in-law going back to Pune, my cousin from Chennai announced that she needs a break and hence she and the kids are coming over to Mumbai!  After getting Rampyaari back from the workshop I picked my cousin up on Saturday evening.  Sunday was spent visiting other cousins in the city and shopping.  I took an off on Monday to be able to take the kids out to Esselworld!  It was a long drive, but it was worth it.  Everyone had a great time and of course, spinning heads.

The common thread around all of these events is that I felt great to be around family.  This is sometimes the case with very good friends as well.  You just love these people being around you.  Family and friends.  I wonder why?  Is blood really thicker than water?  But that doesn't apply to friends, right?  Could there be a scientific reason behind the joy that one experiences from being with family and friends?  Is there a special happiness hormone secreted in our bodies when we are with close friends and family members?  Maybe.  One of the reasons could be the sense of security that one experiences while being with people close / related to us. We can just be ourselves, without pretending to be anything. That is probably the cause of the joy.

By the way, my brother was in town for a day.  I however, could not meet him, due to our respective packed schedules.  And I felt really bad about it.

My parents will be back next week, as will be a couple of cousins and uncles.  We shall all travel together to Bengaluru to my cousin's wedding.  This being one of the last weddings of my generation, I am sure a lot of people in the family would be keen to attend.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Looking forward to some more moments of joy and happiness.  The joy of togetherness. 

Take care.