Only the Good Die Young
I met Sanstav Paul first in the fourth standard. It was one of those times when you had an extra place in your bench and you let the new guy sit next to you. I thank God that the place next to me was empty at that point.I have shared many moments with him. He taught me a lot - ranging from airplanes, to warships to respect. I remember the time he invited me to watch the Air Show during Navy Week. When you're in your sixth grade, its something very exciting to be up at the tower when the entire thing happens. Sanstav was always an airplane freak. I think I learnt to spell airplane thanks to him. I was so lost in this area. When I met him, in Chennai, it was after 7 years nearly. We were still in touch, and he still was talking about airplanes and the aeronautic sector in general to me. I was not at all surprised by this. It took me back a long way. I'm happy to remember that when we were in Chennai, I was in the auto with him till his place, cause he didn't know the way. It wasn't the longest of reunions, short, but it was absolutely thrilling to see your friend again.Sanstav Paul epitomizes the phrase "An Ideal Son". He was academically brilliant, athletically gifted, musically talented (he used to play the guitar for a bit, I never asked him about that) and had a lot of respect for the people around him and the people who looked after him. He was an ace at badminton, despite which he scored a 95% + in his tenth boards, after which he took off to Singapore for his further education. I cherish every single memory that I have with him and am sorry from the bottom of my heart, that I forgot to wish him on his birthday. Happy belated birthday man.
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow
And soonest our best men with thee do go
Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppies or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swellst thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die!"
Facebook Notes - 29th December 2008
Monday, February 09, 2009
Friday, September 12, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Its been quite some time since I visited my own blog, over a month I believe, which is not good for you, because you have been denied wisdom from the only source that ever provided it free of cost.
I'm going to this mood of missing school yknow. I think everyone goes through this phase when they realise that school was about 5 million times better than college. In spite of the increased freedom one experiences in college, you realise that school was much better. Even though I study in a boys college (Shudder) I dont think my views are biased.
Im sure most people of my batch are missing school. Of course, this is also because we were a really cool bunch of people. Everyone was different. You had noni who was the nerd, Meghna giving her good competition, Miccu and K managing to scrape through, Aaby doing well through his last minute preps, Rachith nerding away, and then Nishanth, Adarsh and me bringing up the rear.
Aside from our brilliant academic performances, there are so many incidents which happened in school which I would love to re live. For example, the time when Adarsh fell down while playing football, and then fell down again when he tried to stand up. How much me and Nishanth laughed. We still laugh at him, of course.
Then who can forget the time Elsy maam asked Tapan whether it was Conjunction or Disjunction and he stood up and said, "Injection".
But the thing I miss the most about school is football. Playing football on the basketball court (5 a side) when it rained. Playing those stupid 12 A versus 12 C bet matches.. and all the other ridiculous bet matches..
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
June National Conference 2008 - Pondicherry
Well, after much anxiety, uncertainty, and risk, we headed off in the direction of Pondicherry the day the Netherlands got thumped by Russia. I think it would be interesting for you to note that we started loading the van with stuff only AFTER the game. After maneuvering the van for some 1 hour in krishna's house, we finally started loading the stuff onto the van. It was heavy and most of us had aching backs after that.
Aside from this, most of the other small incidents are not worth knowing. So I shall just head to the chase. We reached the venue by lunchtime me thinks. It was quite an eventful ride, mostly spent listening to music and sleeping, the best way one can enjoy a road journey.
Well, I'm not going to go into each and every detail of this conference. It was kick ass, probably from a delegate's point of view. But fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasnt one of them. I just killed time at the OC Stall asking people what they wanted, listening to people tell me they wanted Strepsils (which incidentally was sold out in all the medical shops around the venue).
It was different experiencing a conference as an OC Member, enjoyably in some ways, not enjoyable in a lot of ways, where we had to listen to people tell us they locked their keys in the room. Well, people, what you should do is CALL RECEPTION!!! I am not a locksmith. I've been wanted to say this for quite sometime, but I have been refraining.
Aside from some screw ups on the part of the sound system and the projectors, I think most of the conference went on quite smoothly. This fact may seem surprising to you, but Govinda night was probably the best party of this conference. No you are not suffering from visual impairment, I said Govinda night!
Cheers to all the people who attended JNC. I really enjoyed myself. I didnt realise it during the conference, only after it. But hey, happy late realisation I guess!
Well, after much anxiety, uncertainty, and risk, we headed off in the direction of Pondicherry the day the Netherlands got thumped by Russia. I think it would be interesting for you to note that we started loading the van with stuff only AFTER the game. After maneuvering the van for some 1 hour in krishna's house, we finally started loading the stuff onto the van. It was heavy and most of us had aching backs after that.
Aside from this, most of the other small incidents are not worth knowing. So I shall just head to the chase. We reached the venue by lunchtime me thinks. It was quite an eventful ride, mostly spent listening to music and sleeping, the best way one can enjoy a road journey.
Well, I'm not going to go into each and every detail of this conference. It was kick ass, probably from a delegate's point of view. But fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasnt one of them. I just killed time at the OC Stall asking people what they wanted, listening to people tell me they wanted Strepsils (which incidentally was sold out in all the medical shops around the venue).
It was different experiencing a conference as an OC Member, enjoyably in some ways, not enjoyable in a lot of ways, where we had to listen to people tell us they locked their keys in the room. Well, people, what you should do is CALL RECEPTION!!! I am not a locksmith. I've been wanted to say this for quite sometime, but I have been refraining.
Aside from some screw ups on the part of the sound system and the projectors, I think most of the conference went on quite smoothly. This fact may seem surprising to you, but Govinda night was probably the best party of this conference. No you are not suffering from visual impairment, I said Govinda night!
Cheers to all the people who attended JNC. I really enjoyed myself. I didnt realise it during the conference, only after it. But hey, happy late realisation I guess!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Time for a wake up Call
Eusebio, Portuguese footballing legend has just told the world that Ronaldo will rule the world. I do not doubt Eusebio's quality as a player, I would be one of the last few people to do that. After all, it was pretty much Eusebio versus Real Madrid, at a time when Real Madrid housed players like Puskas and Di Stefano. And Eusebio came out at the better end. Ferenc Puskas became one of the few players to score a hat trick in the Champions League Final and lose (or is he the only one, most likely, but I am not so sure)
Yet, for all his footballing talent, he has no idea what he's saying. Maybe he is trying to boost the Portuguese side's confidence. If this is the case, I forgive him.
If it is otherwise, I respectfully disagree Eusebio.
Ronaldo, according to Eamon Dunphy "has gifts, but has no talent". I agree. You see him do his fancy stepovers when there is absolutely no one around him. What is the point? Of course, he also does it against the defenders of Watford, but then again, its almost as if no one is around you.
The 23-year old can now add ‘The Black Pearl’ to his list of supporters, with the 56-year old telling Reuters: “Ronaldo has nothing to prove to anyone, he has proved his talent by being the top scorer in England.
"He has proved it by winning the Premier League, by winning the Champions League, with Manchester United.
"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.
"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.
"He can become the best player in the world."
Rubbish. He can never become the best player in the world. He's a lousy cheat who dives at the slightest physical contact. If he doesnt want to play a contact sport, he should play badminton, or practice diving for the Olympics. He has already proved his capabilities in diving on the football field.
You would never see Eusebio do that. You would never see Cruyff do that, nor would you see Maradona or Zidane do that. To call Ronaldo the greatest player in the world, you are comparing him to people of this calibre. People who can change a game within the blink of an eyelid. He is not in this league, nor will he ever be there.
Ronaldo is selfish. He plays for personal glory and not for the good of the team. I quote Eusebio
"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.
"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.
Now, in this message, I think Eusebio himself is telling Ronaldo to play with the team. Eusebio says it was Ronaldo + 10 with United. It certainly was. And now he's telling him to play with the team. So this makes me feel that Eusebio's statement was to boost the Portuguese team's morale.
But Sir Alex Ferguson, 10 Premier League Medals, 2 Champions League Medals and 5 FA Cup Medals, still thinks that Ronaldo is bigger than the team. He's okay with the fact that Ronaldo is scoring goals and his team are winning. So am I! United winning, makes me happy no doubt. But Ferguson is not securing the team's future.
He is being selfish. He has only 3 years left to go (or so he claims, but for convenience sake let us assume that he's leaving after 3 years). All he wants to do in those 3 years are to win as many trophies as he can. He wants Ronaldo because Ronaldo, for all his selfishness, can win you games against the weaker teams. He's got Scholes, Rooney and Giggs to win him the games against the larger teams.
Ronaldo, by taking 40397609 shots against say, Wigan, will score twice. Now taking so many shots does not necessarily mean that all his shots are on target, or the fact that he is in any position to score when he takes these shots. Ferguson needs these kind of players to win him these matches.
Why did Ferguson sell Van Nistelrooy? After a trophyless season (I really dont call the Carling Cup a trophy, no offence to the Tottenham fans), Ferguson himself wasnt sure of his own future. Would he get sacked? He realised the team's dependence on Van Nistelrooy for goals. He sold him. The result? They won the Premier League!
It is absolutely disgusting that a manager of Ferguson's level should be so petty as to only think of himself, and of course his lovely Portuguese assistant, Carlos Queiroz. Why else do you think such untalented and useless players like Nani are making their way into Manchester United's squad. It is widely believed that Roy Keane and Van Nistelrooy left the club mainly because of Queiroz' involvement, the fact that he is almost regarded as manager of the club. It leaves me disgusted as a Manchester United fan.
The fact that Ferguson is pushing Queiroz to be his successor at United is terrible. I would much rather someone like Mark Hughes or even Roy Keane (given his time) takes over the managerial reign at United. I pray they do.
Eusebio, Portuguese footballing legend has just told the world that Ronaldo will rule the world. I do not doubt Eusebio's quality as a player, I would be one of the last few people to do that. After all, it was pretty much Eusebio versus Real Madrid, at a time when Real Madrid housed players like Puskas and Di Stefano. And Eusebio came out at the better end. Ferenc Puskas became one of the few players to score a hat trick in the Champions League Final and lose (or is he the only one, most likely, but I am not so sure)
Yet, for all his footballing talent, he has no idea what he's saying. Maybe he is trying to boost the Portuguese side's confidence. If this is the case, I forgive him.
If it is otherwise, I respectfully disagree Eusebio.
Ronaldo, according to Eamon Dunphy "has gifts, but has no talent". I agree. You see him do his fancy stepovers when there is absolutely no one around him. What is the point? Of course, he also does it against the defenders of Watford, but then again, its almost as if no one is around you.
The 23-year old can now add ‘The Black Pearl’ to his list of supporters, with the 56-year old telling Reuters: “Ronaldo has nothing to prove to anyone, he has proved his talent by being the top scorer in England.
"He has proved it by winning the Premier League, by winning the Champions League, with Manchester United.
"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.
"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.
"He can become the best player in the world."
Rubbish. He can never become the best player in the world. He's a lousy cheat who dives at the slightest physical contact. If he doesnt want to play a contact sport, he should play badminton, or practice diving for the Olympics. He has already proved his capabilities in diving on the football field.
You would never see Eusebio do that. You would never see Cruyff do that, nor would you see Maradona or Zidane do that. To call Ronaldo the greatest player in the world, you are comparing him to people of this calibre. People who can change a game within the blink of an eyelid. He is not in this league, nor will he ever be there.
Ronaldo is selfish. He plays for personal glory and not for the good of the team. I quote Eusebio
"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.
"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.
Now, in this message, I think Eusebio himself is telling Ronaldo to play with the team. Eusebio says it was Ronaldo + 10 with United. It certainly was. And now he's telling him to play with the team. So this makes me feel that Eusebio's statement was to boost the Portuguese team's morale.
But Sir Alex Ferguson, 10 Premier League Medals, 2 Champions League Medals and 5 FA Cup Medals, still thinks that Ronaldo is bigger than the team. He's okay with the fact that Ronaldo is scoring goals and his team are winning. So am I! United winning, makes me happy no doubt. But Ferguson is not securing the team's future.
He is being selfish. He has only 3 years left to go (or so he claims, but for convenience sake let us assume that he's leaving after 3 years). All he wants to do in those 3 years are to win as many trophies as he can. He wants Ronaldo because Ronaldo, for all his selfishness, can win you games against the weaker teams. He's got Scholes, Rooney and Giggs to win him the games against the larger teams.
Ronaldo, by taking 40397609 shots against say, Wigan, will score twice. Now taking so many shots does not necessarily mean that all his shots are on target, or the fact that he is in any position to score when he takes these shots. Ferguson needs these kind of players to win him these matches.
Why did Ferguson sell Van Nistelrooy? After a trophyless season (I really dont call the Carling Cup a trophy, no offence to the Tottenham fans), Ferguson himself wasnt sure of his own future. Would he get sacked? He realised the team's dependence on Van Nistelrooy for goals. He sold him. The result? They won the Premier League!
It is absolutely disgusting that a manager of Ferguson's level should be so petty as to only think of himself, and of course his lovely Portuguese assistant, Carlos Queiroz. Why else do you think such untalented and useless players like Nani are making their way into Manchester United's squad. It is widely believed that Roy Keane and Van Nistelrooy left the club mainly because of Queiroz' involvement, the fact that he is almost regarded as manager of the club. It leaves me disgusted as a Manchester United fan.
The fact that Ferguson is pushing Queiroz to be his successor at United is terrible. I would much rather someone like Mark Hughes or even Roy Keane (given his time) takes over the managerial reign at United. I pray they do.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Intellectualism
Hello, oh you of inferior intellect. I tower over you, because I know more than you. I know more about places such as Timbuctoo, I know more about musicians such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Wagner and Schiller, and not to forget, dear old Mozart.
I know more about football (unless you are Nishanth), which is the only sport in the world worth watching. I am opinionated, yes. And I couldnt care less for your opinion, but this doesnt mean that you should dismiss mine, oh no!
You know why? Because I am an intellectual.
Not the Adrian Mole kind of intellectual. I am the powerful intellectual with (currently), a beard.
Muahaha.
Now, I plan to take over the world. All I need is your "co-operation". You keep digging in random places for oil, when you strike oil, I shall build oilfields there.
Have you ever talked to someone and you realise you know whats coming next?
Thats called Deja Vu. Not really. But it can be classified as Deja Vu. You wouldnt know, because you're not intellectual.
Do you get the point of this blog entry?
I am the world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget,
Before I forget that.
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