Cut me deep and I bleed RED!

No words can describe what I felt when I saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wave goodbye to Man United. It gave me goosebumps, it brought tears to my eyes, yet at the same time, a proud feeling of having witnessed the 20LEgend play at the Theater of Dreams.

I used to be a casual football fan, with no loyalties per se till this happened.
It was back in 2000 while watching the daily sports bulletin that I first saw glimpses of the game Man United played within the hallowed confines of Old Trafford as well as beyond them. United has just won the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich in what had been an outstanding game of football and more importantly displayed the spirit with which the game is played at United. And history has it that it was Ole who came on as a late sub and scored what was his most important goal ever.
That had me hooked.
Well, you could say that it was akin to having a crush on the first girl you saw when you moved to a co-ed school from an all boys school but it could also be called love at first sight. That is what it has been for me. Watching the weekend games that came before the as frequently held Monday tests, week in and week out.. buying Man United books, stickers, shirts, jackets.. its just a part of it all but true love for United is more than just this and it stems from the professionalism, the passion and above all, the loyalty in the air that surrounds the red part of Manchester. For me, its the can of oxygen that I must buy to live a hundred years. I am sure, if Mozart had seen us play, he would've been inspired to compose a whole opera on us!

What I have seen all these eight years is that there are greater values of real life in the beautiful game and that is what United is all about. The real thing about Manchester United which sets it apart is that it stands for something more than any person, any player, any supporter. It is the soul of a sporting organisation, which goes on season after season, making history all the time!

And, you know when you're a true Mancunian:
You try to explain the greatness of Man Utd even to those people who don't even know the basic rules of football(happens everyday). You watch United do the double even if you have the worst possible paper the next morning and don't mind scoring a 47 in it! Even your Mum, when out to buy you a bag ensures that its got nothing to do with any of your rivals(happened just some time back!). You force yourself on your kid sister to be able to watch the United play even on her birthday(happened sometime in October!)! While watching the Flag show at an Iron Maiden concert, you wish you also get to see a MUFC flag. You like to wake up to "glory glory Man United.." People know when to avoid talking to you, when your team drops points. Its just impossible to ignore the odd looking stranger wearing the Red Devils' jersey...

Sir Alex, widely regarded as the best manager of all time and the individual who can be credited for making United stronger by the day continues to reign, unscathed by the wheels of time. That is where loyality starts, right at the top. His no-nonsense attitude, shrewd tactics and excellent eye for young talent are as famous as his 'fairly' (in)famous hairdryer treatment. United owes a lot to SAF and it'll be a sad day when he hangs up his boots.

Roy Keane once said about Eric Cantona, "Collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the fucking place. Any arena, but nowhere more effectively than Old Trafford. This was his stage. He loved it, the crowd loved him." That is what the imposing structure of the Colloseum-like Old Trafford and the 75,000 odd die hard loyal supporters of the club does to you! This is where uncut jewels are transformed into real diamonds. Indeed, its the Theater of Dreams.

The torchbearers of this legacy come from within the system. They aren't poached from Spain and left to "walk alone" after some time. They aren't all members of the French National team and they definitely aren't bought using the Russian rouble! Indeed, the core of the United is still English. And that our first team comprises of products from our youth system is testimony to that fact.
Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, the Nevilles, Nicky Butt, all grew up together at Carrington and went on to represent United and even England.

Rio has grown into a world class player. Rooney, who gets better every season. And always learns to do more, more than just score. He’s deadly in the box, but most of all he’s growing in to the role of a player who can cover the whole pitch wisely. Not like in his first years years at Old Trafford when he ran over the whole ground and one wondered why he was at that spot now. Ronaldo was a talent. Nothing more. An expensive talent. Fergie made him the world’s best player. Looking even further back, Ruud was a talent. He became world’s deadliest striker at Old Trafford. Performing well in the Netherlands doesn’t make you a worldwide fear, just look at Robben's performance at Madrid. Giggs was a talent. Fergie made him good enough to play all the matches he has for us.No one knew who Vidic was, today he’s among the world’s defensive elite, together with Rio and Neville. I could go on for hours with more examples. Fact is, we buy young talents and grow them, turn them in to world’s best. That’s when the Abramoviches, the Mourinhos and the Calderons come into play : they want to buy the best players. We make them. Young talents at Chelsea fail. And when Ince, Staam, Beckham and Ruud turn to Madrid, its not because they want to, its because SAF decides its in in our interest.

From the treble in '99 to the disappointments at the hands of Arsenal and Chelsea, from the fallouts of Keane, Beckham and Nistelrooy to the rise of Rooney and Ronaldo, and the emergence of a new, vibrantly young United and most recently, the double in '08, its been a wonderful journey and its sure to continue for ever!

I feel close to the rebelliousness and vigour of the youth at OT. Time won't separate us and nobody can deny that here, behind the windows of Manchester, there is an insane love of football, of celebration and of music.
United until death!

Ciao!

P.S. Visit manutd.com ! ;-)

The bigger picture

In my last post, I mentioned something about my exams. Those were the midsems. I know the blog archives would suggest that those were what had me occupied all this while. Hell, no! It was just my newly attained heights of procrastination that has kept me busy since then. Well, I managed to get over with the midsems(and only I know how!). Now is the time for the ENDsems. Starting this week they go on and eat up most of December as well.
However, recent studies by some eminent scientists have shown that I have(or should have), as a matter of fact, no time to study for my exams. Here is this intriguing report I found on the internet.

The world will end in 2012, say experts Several experts from across the globe are predicting that the earth is likely to end by the year 2012. The reason could be a human effect or natural disaster. From Chinese theories to scientific predictions the most likely date is the year 2012.

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS from around the world are predicting that four years from now, all life on Earth could well come to an end. Some are saying it’ll be humans that would set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it’ll be God himself who would press the stop button. The following are some likely arguments as to why the world would end by the year 2012.

Reason one: Mayan calendar The first to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things -- building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and sacrificing virgins. Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it’s likely they’ve got the end of the world right as well.

Reason two: Sun storms Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery. Our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic and it’s supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the earth with lot of radiation energy. It’s been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse and calculations suggest it’ll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.

Reason three: The atom smasher Scientists in Europe have been building the world’s largest particle accelerator. Basically, its a 27 km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it’s properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They’re predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

Reason four: The Bible says it If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn’t bad enough, religious folks are getting in on the act as well. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between good an evil, has been set for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese Book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

Reason five: Super volcano Yellowstone National Park in United States is famous for its thermal springs and old faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple -- it’s sitting on top of the world’s biggest volcano and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we’re many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

Reason six: The physicists This one’s case of bog -- simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berkeley University have been crunching the numbers. They’ve determined that the earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they’re claiming that their calculations prove that we’re all going to die, very soon. They are also saying that their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 per cent; and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

Reason seven: Earth’s magnetic field We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that shields us from most of the sun’s radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call North and South have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so -- and right now we’re about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30 kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is under way, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

So all you people out there blissfully wasting your time, trying to understand things that you do not have a chance of understanding by 2012, writing exams whose results won't be published before 2012, or attending courses that won't finish by 2012, or even if they do, won't have much value unless you can make the modern day Noah's Ark, better do something more worthwhile because its not just this semester thats ENDing. Come on people, look at the bigger picture! I know the world may not end then, but why take a risk? Personally I'm off to do some research on Greek mythology and playing Football Manager 09, something I've been waiting do for sp long now. I'll try to fit in turning up for my exams between all that, but I can't say that for sure. In the meantime, I suggest you lot all start making plans on salvaging what is left of your life. Do come by this blog more often now than I can assure you a lot more than boring dragging Electrical Measurements, or even worse, Power Apparatus. FYI, I opened my syllabus book yesterday and found out that I had a whole module on Induction Motors and another whole module on Analysis of Complex Functions(did I get the name right?). I'm actually glad that the world is going to end!
RIP!

P.S. Se7en is lucky indeed.

Bluh and Bluh-bluhing..

Warning: This is strictly a creation of the author's twisted brain. Get yourself something better to do. This work of randomness wouldn't do you any good!

This is not how I am..
I have become comfortably numb..

Yeh! I seem to have, atleast.
Days are passing by like greased lightning, each one teaching me a lesson here or there. Its so random/arbit/variable/faltu(I could give you more of that, but blah, forget it!), sometimes you just want to sit alone for a long time and stare at the sky and at others you just want to go running barefoot on the green grass with the wind brushing against your hair like you were a Usain Bolt!( Yeah, bad example/analogy/whatever!).
Anyway, now, I realise, understand, learn, walk and grow.. although I'm still difficult to understand for most people around, including my best friends and sometimes even me. Guess, complexity is directly proportional to height! See, I'm sure you wouldn't get it, just in case you were reading with interest.

Berbatov's FINALLY arrived at Old Trafford! I've started liking Friends, more so on a certain someone's insistence. BUT, "How I met your mother" is still BETTER! ACDC and Metallica have come up with new singles. Dream Theater has me hooked on right now and I've got so many new books to read, but sadly, not a minute to spare. And, finally I'll be going for a rock show in sometime. Yay! Just as an after thought, mid-sems are coming up too, in a week or so. Blah!

So take a look at me now,
well there's just an empty space..
(I like to be dramatic at times! :D)

Hmm. Dead groggy, with my eyeballs ready to pop out any moment like that weird woman's, who comes on every alternate episode of Ripley's Believe or not( btw how on earth does she do it??), its hard to keep typing. But, for the sake of my 'dear' blog, I'll go on bluh bluhing..

I guess life comes with a truckload of 'baggages'. I'm glad to have some of mine too.. although, I do prefer to call them friends. Old friends, new friends all the same, the only ones who can be felt in your numbness.

Anshuman/Daadhi/Bawa/etc.. Weird, saint-like, with fluctuating opinions and interests. THE "Advisor", yet the one who needs advise from me(can you believe that?). Umm, the guy's sitting in Karnataka. Sad. Why?? Period.

Aditya/Adi/Red-head(for a brief period of time!).. Weirder, another one of my kind. Difficult to understand yet, the 'bravest' of 'em all!

Yogeesh/Bhalu/Yogi.. Ok, this guy is biggg, in every sense of the word. Despite being a pea-brain he does manage to be a BIG brother!

Arjit/Jit/Jitpot/S*it pot?etc.. Another big brother( Why do I feel like a kid suddenly?). Car-freak. Really hardworking and a big big foodie and most importantly, my doubles partner. Stop listening to Flobots, and I could actually consider recommending you to a few girls! If only you read my blog, Git!

Abhay/Kaul/Call-boy.. Freak! Yeah, freak! Bigtime hog, steals everyone's food while they're looking the other way and can't stop advising you on, well, "some" matters! Wickedly fun person to be friends with. My phone booth and wallet in times of need and greed! My

Suraj/Joseph/Susti/JosPee.. a lazy, good-for-nothing moron. Ok, he's good at quizzing, a little bit of football and a little bit of coding and stuff. Other than that, he's totally useless. Just keeps asking for his four-hundred bucks all the time! Vasuli is his profession.

Rahul/Mallu/Malvinder.. Ok, this guys is like candy, yeah, sweet candy. Too good to survive in this world. Mad at me as of now, but I know he'll be the first one to put his hand up for me. Period.


The other bags being Naman, Attika, Niki, Chak, RA, Chintu, Jinky, Rohilla, Manisha.

I'm sorry, I'm just way too much in need of some good sleep right now.

Adios!