Saluating our Heroes

The siege of Taj finaaly came to an end after 60hrs of confrontation on Saturday early morning when the last of the 3 remaining terrorists was overpowered by the NSG. Fanatstic job by our security forces.
All television channels were airing the funeral services of slain ATS chief Karkare, havaldar Gajender Singh and Major Unnikrishanan of NSG. The visuals of Major's mother whispering in the ears of her dead son brought tears to my eyes. It was a very touching moment. A very sad day in my life. Never before I have seen all people so united. People had lined the funeral paths of our brave soldiers with flowers in their hands. We salute you all.
That said, our politicians at the funeral ceeremony of Karkare were seen jostling for space on screen "to offer their last (false)respects" to the chief looking at the TV cameras making thier presence felt. So now we all know that CM Vilasrao was there along with R R Patil, Manohar Joshi, Vinod Tawde and god knows how many felow eunuchs were there.... shameless bastards!
The NSG should have sent these guys to the frontline. All bloody bunch of eunuchs. One day.. only one day they kept politics aside and appeared united only to be broken by Modi, Advani & Co. Had these terrorists asked the heads of all politicians then I am sure every Indian would have readily and gladly obliged. We have sufferred more from them than the terrorists. Surprisingly, we have heard nothing from Amar Singh, Laloo, Rajnath Singh(who is busy with saffron parties these days), Mayawati..... BASTARDS! For once, I wish, the terrorists take these guys as hostages.. naah.. just kill them all. And I wonder, why is it only Mr. Modi who gets timely intelligence inputs for activities throughout the country? Is he running an intelligence network of his own? Or he thinks that we Indians are fools? "Meine pradhan mantriji se aagrah kiya tha......" barks Modi after every terrorist strike. Shut your hole for once. And he wasted no time in announcing a compensation of 1 crore INR.
The same politicians gave names to Karkare when he arrested Sadhvi Pragya and for his investigations in Malegaon blasts and now after his death, he has been called as a Hero by them. They should all render a public apology and quit politics.
My prayers for all those whos died in these tragic attacks. May your soul rest in peace..... Aameen!!

And the (rot)story begins.... Advani smells victory, BJP grabs power, poor die, Raj Thackerey's goons fight bhaiyyas, Malegaon blasts suspects are released, Karkare becomes a villian, more terror strikes, innocent caught, families ruined... MERA BHARAT MAHAAN

People will never forgive UPA: Advani

Mr. Advani, I hope you have not included me in those "people". And where have yoou been and how are you?
Finally, he has broken his silence on Malegaon blasts probe and hes back with a bang. Any pressure Mr."PM in waiting"?
Sir, you are 80 years old and in this ripe old age you should be resting and playing with your grand kids. Why was everyone quiet when scores and possibly hundred of innocent Muslims were rounded up by state police across country without any charge and "evidence"? Why only Muslims face the brunt of every terror probe? Why is no one standing up for them? And why the support for only Sadhvi Pragya and not for Dyanand Pandey, the self styled Shankaracharya and a fraudster? This is all politics of convenience from BJP and Saffron parties.
The answer is simple.. BJP and the allied saffron parties are in total disbelief that the Maharashtra ATS led by a Brahmin has found the "real culprits" and almost all of them from their fold and that they now stand exposed. The investigation into those blasts has opened a pandorras box of Saffron terror much to the frustration of them and our PM in waiting. And they ask why has everything come up in an election year. Well folks.. the blasts happened in an election year and the investigations began in an election year and the saffron suspects rounded up in an election year. They couldnt have done all that before the blasts morons.
Whenever any blasts take place, the administration is quick to blame the Muslims and round up innocents for no reason and charge. I strongly believe this all will change and the cops will do their homework thoroughly before making any arrests. The right-wing Hindu groups have long taken advantage of the ideological differences between Deobandis and the Barelvi sects and blaming Deobandis for blasts. Not anymore.
As far UPA is concerned, I am not pro-Congress or pro-UPA but I have always believed that they are lesser of the two evils and they all have done a great job so far in handling the blasts probe.
There are black sheeps in every community and let us not single out any particular community. And if you ask for evidence against Sadhvi then ask for those hundreds of innocent Muslims languishing in state prisons only to be not found guilty(Mecca Masjid blasts case) by our judiciary after many years.

No such thing as Saffron Terror: RSS

Guys, wake up and smell coffee. Saffron terror always existed as "Mob Terrorism" thoughout the country. Ask Christians of Orissa and Gujarat and Muslims of Gujarat and they will tell you how they are living in terror.
And by the way who was Nathuram Godse? A "Hindu Terrorist".
At the same time, I agree that one should not label a terrorist as a Hindu or a Muslim or a Sikh. If they are indeed a Hindu or a Muslim or a Sikh then they would not have indulged in any kind of violence that harms the society on a whole.
The other night I saw Mrs Purohit talking to the media that her husband has been framed and she has been living through hell and that its been a difficult period for her. I felt sorry for her as I do for the countless Muslim women who wait for their "disappeared" sons, husbands and brothers till eternity only to die without having seen them even once. You are going through that same hell Mrs. Purohit. That Dyanand Pandeys family has threatened mass suicide if the ATS tortures a "Desh Bhakt". I hate saying this but I hope you all go through that same hell and experience it and the suspects rot in prison even if you are innocent.
Why only Muslims should live in it?

Mayawati for PM

Every Indian parliamentarian wishes to be a PM someday and prominent among those is an 80yr old Advani. What also is no secret is that Mayawati too has similar ambitions. And I am Ok with anyone but Behenji. No, not her, not even in my dreams. The only female I am Ok with is Priyanka Gandhi :D.
My appeal to all my sisters.... pls for heavens sake take her to a good beauty salon and get her cleaned up. Folks, just imagine Mayawati standing shoulder to shoulder with all Bush's, Merkel's and Gordon Brown's.... No never. the day she takes oath to become PM, I'l leave this country and take oath never to return.

Trek to Prabalgad: Part II

At the start of the second leg of our climb, Sallu some arrow like marks and took the leaders hat from me.

KKs job here was to pray so that it doesnt rain when we ascend and descend. We started a near vertical climb and competely ran out of water. We then filled up on a narrow waterfall. Initially we just freshened ourselves and there was no good place to rest on the way up. There are huge boulders everywhere and we got a little cautious. Feroze first drank from the virgin stream. "Sahi hai", he said. Hurriedly, we all except KK quenched our thirst and filled bottles. Carefully, taking one step at a time and praying that we dont get lost, Salu took off. It was getting tougher for me and took brief pauses so that I catch my breath back. Boy, it was damn humid and since, we were ascending from behind a hillock there was no breeze. Yet we went ahead. After 40 minutes or so, we saw remnants of the Prabalgad fort. There are around 4ft high or less walls at the periphery of Prabalgad. Seeing this we got a ittle relaxed. As we reached at the top what we saw was....................... NO FORT! :(. Lush green trees everywhere with some open green patches and some dangerous ooking ant hills. Thats it! No fort, no wals, no pillars, no cannons and no shit. So, I decided to give something back :D ha ha..

We were disappointed... totally. No signs anywhere. There has to be something. Suddenly, Sallu spotted an arrow on a rock. We got it. We decided to head in that direction. Here we go... After another 10 minutes we spotted a water resorvoir and again got disappointed as we reached closer. It was hardly anything. But wait a minute, as we looked around, we realised that we have reached at the edge of the Prabalgad. And the view of the surrounding hills was simply breathtaking.


Towards, north-west we could see Arnala, Matheran towards south, Kalavantin peak towards east.

Ah.. Nature at its best. At 2300 ft above mean sea level, KK and feroze sat right at the edge. Wow.. Me and sallu stayed back. Slowly, the clouds were ascending Prabalgad and we could see and feel this natural phenomenon. A walk in the clouds.
The breeze was strong. What a wonderful experience we had man. This brought smiles back on our faces. But we were yet to see any fort like structure. It was time for Salah and lunch. And trust me it was one lavish affair. Rajmah Masala, Aalo Parathas, Cheese Spread, Curd, Sauce, Pauha.. One heck of a meal :D

After a while we started our descent. We thought we could reach at the base by Asr. But thanks to Sallu and a beer can, we lost our way our descent was no less tough then our climb. Trekkers, bastards, have littered this entire place with plastic bottles and beer cans. And Sallu thought he'd seen only one. And it started raining cats and dogs. All the trails were washed and turned into muddy water ways. After a long time, we reached at a spot which I felt we came across before. I led the way and slowly but steadily we reached at the balcony near Thakurwadi. Phew.. we made it down and safely. An hour from here, we made to a point from where the pathe flattens. We took a bath in a small stream. It was here a white devil appeared in the form of feroze. Ha ha... good there were no villagers around else they would have surely worshipped him as a white god. Dude, be careful when you visit such isolated places next time. lol.... Quickly changed our clothes and offered our Asr here.

Salman gets Polka dotted(King of the mountains) jersy and KK gets Green(Sprinters).. ha ha.. Tour de Prabalgad!

As we looked back at the peak, we thought in our minds that at one point we were on top of the world and now we heading back to a miserable world carrying our bruised and broken bods. And slowly we saw a hot chick appearing from nowhere heading straight towards us.. I wondered, where did she came from. And indeed it was a female but she wasnt hot. She was part of a group who had come for some team building activity and all. Feroze asked one fat female if they would be leaving anytime soon so that we get a lift. Desparatley, ghar jaana tha. Could walk no more... We were so damn tired. And the rickshaw wala who dropped us at this same point, never took our calls since. A drunk local appeared from nowhere and advised us to hold fort coz it was time for a last ST bus.. Hurrah.. But we were fast losing patience. So, we decided to take a rick to Shedung Fata and ST from here. Eventually, we took the same ST bus and lucky feroze this was supposed to be the last trip of the bus and hereafter, it was to park at Thane Depot.

So, where are we headed next time guys.. some place but at half the altitude of Prabalgad. ha ha.. Bastards all those who said it is a 2hr climb and an easy trek. But hey I forgive them all for a good trip that we had... :D

Trek to Prabalgad: Part 1

Prabalgad, standing 2300ft. above sea level, is a forgotten piece of Maratha history located just 12 kms from Panvel Railway Station and in the vicinity of Matheran, the famous hill station.




We were planning a trek somewhere for a long time. We zeroed on this place since KK wanted to go to some place thats closer to Mumbai with lots of greenary and waterfall. Not much is written on this place on the internet except that it is a forgotten cousin of Matheran and ignore by Britishers, a fort is built here by some Umaji Naik and all. But frankly speaking most of them are written by some extra smart bastards who think that trekking is a childs play. Yes, u read it right. Most of them will surely misguide u. And we were.

We were a group pf 4.. feroze(Bawa), KK, Sallu bhai(not he aint Salman Khan) and myself.
The day was Sunday and time early morning.. in fact very early. I set my alarm to blast at 3:45 am. A few minutes before it rang.. there comes a message.. from feroze that said, "Wake up, rise and shine". And I rose up. I quickly removed stuff from my fridge.. Al-Kabeer Aloo Parathas, Amul Curd and started getting ready. At 4:30 am, I was ready. KK, Sallu and myself initially planned to meet at Santacruz at 5:00 am so that we can catch a fajr jamaat somewhere at Kurla before we head towards our destiny. As I took off, i thought of calling up Salman. "Salman, u ready"?? And guess what he said, "Are yaar mein abhi utha.". "Bastard", I said. Then I called up feroze and I told him that Sallu aint ready. "Bastard", said feroze too. After exchanging many phone calls we all finally met at a Kurla mosque offered Salah together in a jamaat and all set to conquer the conquered. ha ha..
Prabalgad.. here we come.

We caught a 6:14 local to Panvel from Kurla terminus and reached Panvel in an hour. From here, we took a ST bus to Shendug fata(marathi for intersection). This place is located on the Old Mumbai-Pune national highway before Karjat. Karjat is 11kms from here. We decided to take a rick to Vardoli-Thakurwadi, a tiny hamlet located on the foothills of Prabalgad. Its here that we found out a hidden talent in Sallu Bhai.. hes Marathi speaking abilities. Sallu started negotiating with rickshaw drivers in an unheard of dialect. It was more like a bhaiyya speaking in Marathi. Luckily there were no MNS guys around. We warned Sallu to not to speak in Marathi ever. The rickshaw dropped us at the foothills. And we started our trek towards Prabalgad. You can see this mountain from Shendug.

Prabalgad is plateau that again has another plateau half way down hill and Kalavantin pinnacle as a neighbour. Kalavantin is a match stick like thin peak rising from this plateau. It is difficult to do both in a day... possible for pro's which we arent. Anyways, as we headed towards our second base, the lower plateau.. i mean.. we saw tiny pug marks all on the way. We were scared as some writers on the internet had mentioned that this place is surrounded by wild animals and all. (First reason for calling them "Bastards"). Feroze actually removed out a Khukri and me a swiss army knife. After a while we met a local, walking barefeet on a stony muddy track and asked him if this true. Guess what.. he laughed at us. We shook our heads and started walking little faster. Feroze started the pace-making. The climb towards the second base was good. We began seeing more and more locals wondering if there is a temple ahead or something or a reservoir. We reached this place in just over an hour and almost exhausted. The weather was not good at all.. very humid but the lush green surroundings compensated for that. We halted at a stream on the way and washed ourselves off sweat and dirt and quenched our thirst. Bawa made a nice filling
Chesse Sandwich. There is tiled balcony in pink half way which can serve as a good halting point for all.

Re-juvinated we started our mission only to bump into a village with brick houses, wondering how on earth did they get stuff all the way here to build pucca houses and at 1400ft with no motorable road. For the second time, we shook our heads. Not because we were jealous of the villagers lifestyle but the fact that the stream passed through the village. And Im still praying that they dont let out their toilet pipes in it.. Shits man..

We traversed thru the village whose paths were lined with human faeces and dung everywhere. It was already 10:00 amd and we decided to speed up a little and we did as it was a plateau and easy with me doing the pace making this time. After a while, we asked the locals for directions and trust me they are very helpful. We looked the peak covered with dark clouds, we knew that this will be one heck of a trek. The slopes on Prabalgad are near vertical and for a moment we thought that reaching the top would be impossible and it nearly was. The climb was breathtaking and dangerous and almost vertical surrounded by dense forests. And if you ar watchful, there are signs (while arrows on rocks and trees) to guide you towards the summit. "Bastard" bloggers(2nd reason). We decided to skip the Kalavantin pinnacle for Prabalgad fort expecting to catch a glimpse of the forgotten fort. Futher ahead, we filled our water bottles hoping and praying that there were no more human settlements ahead. And our prayers were answered. The water in the small waterfalls is quite pure and
drinkable.

Now starts the second part of the climb and the toughest and the third reason for "Bastard"....

Mahadvan and Vidya Balan shine in Airtel's New Ad

I liked them together in Mani Rathnam's Guru and they looked really cute as a couple. Now they are back again in Airtel's new campaign. Guys u ROCK! Vidya Balan.. u look absolutely gorgeous man and Mahadavan, I envy u dude. And the ads too are nicely made. Both look like a real life couple. And thank God.. they aren't.

The day Vidya marries, I swear a new Devdas will be born.. 4th one I guess. These days Shahid Kapoor is being linked to her. Both deny that story dude. I hope it stays like that :D

Shahid Bhai... Koi aur dhoondo na yaar :)

Federer Vs. Nadal: Wimbeldon'08

How many times have we seen Federer and Nadal fight it.. not infinite times but on so many occasions that many of us are now bored of it.. hmmmm.. not me. I always pray that Roger wins the French Open playing Nadal before I die. ha ha.. And I am never bored of them. Federer ruled and still rules the grass. But whenever I see him play with Nadal I somehow get that feeling that this could be the end of Federer era and beginning of Nadals.
I hope that this time also Federer triumphs. Because if Nadal conquers Federer tommorrow then my fear will surely see daylight.
Go Federer Go..

Abhijeet calls Atif Aslam "Besura"

Let me introduce Abhijeet Bhattarcharya first. An out-of-job bollywood playback singer who plays judge on many reality TV music shows these days to earn a living. Any hits to his name.. well a few, namely from Yes Boss and to some extent from Chalte Chalte and has done playback singing for mostly Shahrukh Khan because the only reason I could think of is HE IS SIMPLY NOT WORTH IT.

So what is the controversy about. Well this guy.. who is himself a failure calls Atif Aslam, the sensation from Pakistan who famously sung Lamhe in Zeher and the painful Tere Bin in Bas Ek Pal, a "Besura", when one of the contestants sung atif's Pehli Nazar Mein from Race. Who could have bettered Atif in Race or tere Bin or Zeher.. tell me friends?? Anyone but Abhijeet. Had I been on that show as participant or a guest.... as anyone, then I would have surely thrown my one shoe on his face and the other shoved it in his a$$. How dare he say that??

He should be boycotted from the entire field of Music. Okay.. wait a minute. I dont have to say that. He is already out of work.. at least in the singing department. Now, he must also be boycotted in his new avatar.. as a judge. Abhijeet if this is again a cheap publicity stunt then be careful with your words dude.. it may cause harm to you. So....Think before you speak.

Also, Abhijeet.. could you please take along that Aadesh Srivastava also?

Euro 2008: Pre-Finals

A good tournament after a long time. Has to be the best Euro in a long time. Tonights 08'final is between the European football giants and 3 time champions, GERMANY and the most under acheivers in the International Football, Spain.
In one of my blogs,I mentioned that Spain have historicaly started off well in most championships and could never make it til the end. I just hope that they break the jinx this time around. What quality they have.. Villa(not playing), Silva, Ramos, Senna(had an amazing tournament). Then there is the ever so reliable Casillas and Carlos Puyol. Iniesta played well in patches and so did Torres. I think Fabregas should have been playing full 90 minutes before. You cant see the talent like him on the bench. With Villa gone, he should be in for sure. Talking about Germany, I think this match should be difficult for them if Spain get the maximum ball possession. Again start is important. The Germans have always been slow starters. Bastien, Lahm, Bearded defender(cant recollect his name) and Podolski have had a good tournament so far. Then you have Mr. Lehman who cant keep his tempers low and keeping quality high. He is the current "Barthez" of International Football.. lol. I strongly suspect that Ballack is not 100% fit. If I am wrong then he no longer is a 90-minute man. Any plans of retirement from Internation scence looks very likely.

Spain is my favorite tonight and I am looking forward to some high quality action and a tense encounter.. All the best folks!

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge 4

The fourth series of the Super Hit TV show The Great Indian Laughter Challenege is as expected NO GOOD. Looks like the producers have lost the wining formula.
The first one was the best TV show I had seen till date. The 2nd good, 3rd... decent and 4th... ordinary. Reasons, its the same stuff now. Audience now want a change. Secondly, no Perizaad :( (this should be the first reason.. ha ha). Thirdly, Shatru Bhaiyya. What is he doing with Sidhu?? Who made the most boring man, after Manoj Kumar, as a judge and that too on a Comedy Show. What were the producers thinking? Also, I see there is hardly any originality in the contestants. Most of the jokes are old and so are the participants trying their luck.... again. I strongly suspect that the producers fell short of their decided numbers and thus, called on some of the participants from the previous editions. This time too they sucked. And for heavens sake, no jokes on Sukhwinder plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sukhwinder ne yeh kiya, woh kiya, nahaaya, dhoya....
BORING!!

Lux, Junoon Kuch kar dikhane ka

This is another reality tv music show aired on NDTV imagine, Fri-Sat . I dont know when it started airing but tell you people what.. they have roped in an amazing pool of talent. The concept is different and I am happy to see that the producers have not roped in Jatin & Lalit Pandit and that Abhijeet Bhattacharya.... and that the music director from Allahabad Aadesh Srivastava. Abhijeet and Aadesh are a pain in the ass. There are 3 new faces as judges... Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ila Arun and Anand Raaj Anand(who is he ??) representating different genres viz.. Sufi, Folk and Filmi... Hmmm as I said different concept and conceived by none other than Gajendra Singh who is regarded as the "mai-baap" of Indian TV relaity scene.
The highlight of the show is not the singers or the set up or the host but it is one of the judges.. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Oh My God! what a golden voice he has guys.. he usually sings one line and thats it.. the show is a HIT. he sings and your body hair stand at their ends.. for sure. I remember in one of the episodes he sang a few lines of Naina from Omkara and it just swept me off my feet. WAH USTAD WAH! Banda GENIUS che..
Talking about singers.. well you have participants from across the border as well and again amazing singers. I like Ustads camp minus that punju chick and then there is Sharib from Filmi who is the younger brother of Toshi the most popular face on music shows on television. I would rate this show above others simply because there is less of drama and only because you dont have those two assholes.. Abhijit & Aadesh. Though the TRPs would not say so but then this show may is aired on a "baby"... NDTV Imagine.
Watch this show for that Sufi Singers and none other than USTAD bhai! If you are lucky then you ears will be treated to some great singing by USTAD.

Euro 2008: Spain Vs Italy, Quarterfinal

Tired players and a boring game of football thats how I describe the match between Italy and Spain. The most hyped match was one of the most boring one of this tournament. Let me comment on some of the players from both sides,
Ambrosini- Looked like he needed a good night sleep. Was too lazy... particularly his clearance
Luca Toni- My 5 yr old nephew falls less often than him
Perrotta- Playing hide and seek with the ball
Zambrotta- He looked tired after only few minutes on ground
Buffon- Should have concentrated more on ball than kissing players. The only good performance was from Chenialli. His marking was simply too good for Spanish forwards.

Iniesta- Looked like he was playing for himself
Senna & Silva- Forgot where the goal is
Villa- Upset about every dam thing

Both sides played negatively from the first minute. Spain deserved victory only because they worked hard to get there. The overall quality of football was no less than pathethic despite the fact that both teams had great players. The tactics were defensive and passing poor. The goalies were hardly bothered.
Staying awake till 3am in the morning for such a dull match, was a very bad decision.

Cecil Hotel, Matheran

Okay let me not talk about how to reach Matheran from Mumbai and all. Instead, let me talk about this wonderful hotel located just ahead of Monkey Point at Matheran. The hotel is Cecil Hotel, owned and run by a Parsi Couple, The Iranis. There is not much on the internet about this hotel. So, a liitel help from my side to all fellow travellers.

We headed to this place only because most other Hotels were booked and there were many rooms available here. The month was December 2007.. supposed to be a peak season and rooms available. Hmmmmmm.. So, as we started on a cold Staurday morning from Mumbai, we had our doubts and plenty of them about this hotel and that it may be "chalta nahi hai". How else would you explain the availability of rooms and of choice in a peak season?

But all our doubts were laid to rest the moment we stepped inside the Hotel. We reached at 9:30 AM and the very friendly staff advised us to have our breakfast first before we actually "check-in". The breakfast was amazing and delicious. Like most Parsi hotels, this one too is well maintained and has a unique old world charm and set up. The rooms in large row houses are scattered throughout the huge estate. We were a group of 18 and so we booked 5 rooms with very basic amenities.

Rooms:
The rooms were clean and very well maintained and huge in size. A standard room with four beds will cost you 800 bucks per person per night inclusive of food and taxes and 1000 bucks for a room with A.c and T.V. per person. The Bathroom is as big as a room. The rooms are not apartment style but row houses type. The space outside rooms is also decent and you can spend time reading your favorite books or playing chess.

Food:
The food is pure vegetarian and delicious but for the sweet gujrati dal. Non-veg is not allowed. Food is served in a huge dining hall and in a fixed time slot. So, people are invited by the staff by ringing a bell(not door bell.. temple wali ghanti).... loudly from the dining hall and you know that food is served. I must rate 9/10 for food. The food is somewhat Gujju style thali but not entirely and the variety is pretty good.

Facilities:
Ideal for travellers who are not looking at modern and five star comfort. There is no swimming pool, no gym and other frills but it does have a huge lawn and plenty of open spaces. There is a TT table, carrom board and such other games. Then there is a full size badminton court as well. You can play cricket... lot of space for it. There is a disco too but it is opened only by request. Generator facility is there since the power supply is very erratic in Matheran. The cellphone coverage is also poor here.

If you need anything from the staff at any point then all you have to do is ring a bell(temple wali ghanti) which is placed on the table inside the room and the staff will come running at your door step. There is no hot shower and they provide hot water once during the day, in the morning. So, when u ready to take a bath, ring the bell and a person will bring a bucket full of Hot water in no time and place it in the bathroom from the back door. And if you have any doubts(i am sure you will), he cannot enter from the backdoor. You have to open the backdoor from inside, he enters places two buckets of hot water and you take a bath.

It is an ideal hotel for people who want to spend quality time with loved ones or by themselves.. totally isolated. You can start a bonfire at night... thats what we did and got lost in our own world. You stay here and you will surely feel in a different world. That said, this set up may not appeal every traveller but i enjoyed every moment there since it was a different experience all together. It was like going back in time.

Euro 2008: Germany Vs Portugal, 1st Quarterfinal

A great match between two of the European footballing giants and pre-tournament favorites. Fanatastic performance by Bastien and Deco.. great passing and a good tempo brought out one of the best matches of the tournament. Ballack, looking tired after EPL, had the last laugh with the 3rd goal for the Germans. Ronaldo was ineffective and looked like he was caged, struggling to find space from the clutches of his markers. His silence worked in the Germans favor and a well deserved victory for the "underdogs."

Euro 2008: Russia Vs Sweden

Spirited performances by the Russians. They steam rolled the Swedes and should have scored more but for their finishing skills. Again, a lacklustre performance by the Swedes. Though Ibrahimovic scored two goals in the tournament, he was always struggling. Larsson, who was playing in his 6th international tournament was better off. The Swedish mid-field never really existed and were easily swallowed by the Russians who played in the Swedish half mostly. A lone Melberg at the centre of Swedish defence looked tired and helpless. The Russians looked fresh, since their domestic football season is not over yet, which made a huge difference. The 2nd goal was mind boggling. Zhyrkov, a right back sprinted towards the left and fed the boal in the Swedish box to be put in the nets by Arshavin, the Russian player of the year.
So, Mr. Hiddink any more surprises up your sleeve. You simply cant ignore this man..

Euro 2008: France Vs Italy

Aint surprised at all by the outcome of this one. France never really looked up to the challenge and avenge the loss to the Azzuris 2 years back. Even though they lost this do or die battle with Italy, one positive that came out was an inspirational performance by Karim Benzema. The loss of Frank Ribery in the first quarter sealed the fate of the French. They never deserved to be in the competition in the first place. And they surely missed their ageing warhorse Lilian Thurram, who along with Makelele have hung their boots after the loss... finally!
Italy too deserves no place in the quarter finals. Luca Toni, I believe has got more chances than any striker in this tournament yet he failed to score even once. Their midfield is no good either. Pirlo played in patches not quite the Pirlo of World Cup 2006.
Overall, an average match by two of my old time favorites.

Euro 2008- France, End of a Golden Age

End of a Golden Age.. I said the same thing when Great Zidane quit. But after watching Ribery last world cup I somehow felt that there is still some firepower in the French arsenal. But watching them being butchered by the Dutch I felt the same.. again this time. Wish I could bring Zizou back from retirement. The french team has still not come out of his hangover. Even in the last world cup, it was Zizou that brought them to the finals. They were pathetic even then but for Zizou. Ribery is only the saving grace. Henry plays only for his club , not and never for his country. Thurram is ageing and so is Sagnol and Gallas. Feel sad for Thurram. He is old and vulnerable in the defence. And rightly so.. this is fifth international tournament. I am seeing him since I was a kid. 12 years is a verrrrrry long time Thurram. Get some young blood and you already have a few on your bench... Samir nasri, Benzema.
They desparately need some fresh legs like the Spanish. Ramos, Villa, Silva, Torres, Fabregas.. all in the right side of 25 and boy what game they had against the swedes. Mind boggling performance by the yound spades. However, the same cannot be said about the Italians. Most of the team members are on the wrong side of 30.. even older than the French squad but high on morale. They lost the cup when they lost Cannavaro.... the pliar of Italian defence. Zambrotta and Del Piero should quit now. Villa is the man to watch out for and Spain, the team. Sheer class.
That said, I am impressed by the quality of matches as well. This tournament has been better than Euro'04 and even the World Cup to some extent. Some terrific performances by Russia, Romania, Spain, Netherlands. Spain is my favorite. But history says that Spain have always fared poorly in the knock out stages.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

Maria, Maria.... yeh tune kya kiya??

The murder of Manish Grover is no less than horrific. His body cut into pieces, dumped in a sack and burnt in a not so accessible patch of jungle on the outskirts of Mumbai. And who did this all.. a naval officer, Matthew and for what a girl.. ho ho ho. Now this aint surprising at all. It seems that the dead dude sought sexual favours from Maria. Again this is no news and reminds me of the sting op carried out by some television network on Mr. Shakti Kapoor and a delhi dood, Aman Verma was it??.. hmmm yep it was. The murder has opened a pandoras box with many females certifying him as a flirt.

Coming back to the Marias side of the story, it seems she alerted Mathew that Manish was after her and she simply cant see her back. Like all love struck possesive guys, Mathew flew from Kochi with an intention to teach Grover a lesson. And what he saw at Marias home left him infuriated. Grover was with no pants and Maria with almost none. May be Maria actually didnt wanna see his back. Front may be?? He often slept with Maria. Red faced Mathew took a sharp knife and .... prepared for a jungle BBQ with Maria.

Mr. Grover, after sleeping with Maria on many(.. i guess) occasions, doosri dekhni thi yaar. Another night with same chick is not worth your life dude. You could have easily found another one(in your profession i mean..) Sad.. very.

A lesson to all guys like Grover, never fall in this kinda situation. No baar baar.. ek-do baar and then NEXT.May your soul rest in peace.