Glamour GP (Monaco) - McLaren win it in Style

SCHUMI - "Everything that can go wrong, went wrong", Ferrari's story of the season. Very unfortunate again with the front wing, Barri's mistakes at the pit stop turned out to be costly too. Its the qualifying pace and somehow they seem to struggle so much in qualifying its amazing that on race-day, the fastest lap belongs to Schumi. So I cant quite understand why they cant perform during qualifying and the low finishing positions also means that they have to go very early during qualifying and sets the tone for the entire weekend. Its very frustrating and this rant helps me to get thing off my chest!

McLaren's second win on the trot, happy atleast its Kimi who is winning and not that self proclaimed best driver but have won nothing much Montoya. Actually if McLaren did not push Renault, I would be very interested to see whether the FIA would meet at the end of the season to discuss how to restrict their success rate? Its a shame that the entire paddock is enjoying the Ferrari Struggle but great champions will not take shit lying down and will fight back and as I have mentioned quite often, Ferrari will be hurting and will fight back soon. It was very very saddening to see the McLaren race off from Schumi so fast after the safety car period.

Alonso seems to be doing the right things, after the TV closed on his tyres its quite amazing that he finished fourth. His fight with Nick and Webber was quite good and enjoyable. His drive at Imola and Monaco will be definitely be highlighted in all year end reviews, will stay with me to for a long time. So Young, extremely fast and tactically intelligent - Seems like the complete package. Nick's move on Alonso was quite impressive, especially the fact that in spite of the late move he made the chicane quite comfortably, excellent technique. Makes you wonder if Webber had let him pass earlier, would he have been fast enough to catch Kimi? Nick is clearly showing that he is the best driver of the 2 and Webber needs to buck up soon or will lose his Team Favourite status and with Button "maybe" returning to BMW, it will be very interesting to see who among Nick and Mark will lose thier seat.

Next, as usual about my country man Narain - Carries the hope of the nation, seems like a billion prayers are not enough to be given a good car. I hope its technical failure that caused his retirement, slowly but surely Monteiro seems to be getting back. Narain needs to beware of this recent performances.

Highlights of the weekend - Ralf's 6 place finish after starting at the back, steady job but unfortunately still behind Trulli. Villeneuve's move that took out his own teammate Massa, it was quite funny to see reports that Jacque owned up to his mistake, as if it needed confirmation. I would have loved to have been the fly on the wall during the team meeting at Sauber's HeadQuarters. Thanks to them Ferrari finished within the points. Owe you one Jacque. Finally Schumi's much debated moves on Barrichello and his brother, I havent seen the clip, the B******s on Star TV did not show it, was actually hoping to catch it atleast on Chequered flag, but was disappointed.

BLACK - Brilliance, a must see movie

Over the weekend, managed to watch the movie BLACK by Sanjay leela Bansali. Another excellent project by the man, a touch of class. The movie touches you to the core. Everyone needs the experience. While watching it I did not know it was about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan and was amazed at how one can think of such a script! Even if the movie was inspired, the Director is due a lot of credit to what we watched on the screen. It has the feel of a Hollywood movie. This movie (Screenplay + Director + Acting) really makes Million Dollar baby look like a Rajni Masala Flick.

The movie is about how a teacher Debraj (Amitabh Bachan) turns a Blind + Deaf + Dumb child from a brat into a cultured lady and how when Debraj is struck with Alzheimer's disease, the same child nurtures him back to sanity.

Kudos to everyone who have taken the lead roles, special mention to the little girl who has played little Michelle - surely destined for even greater things. Rani's chance of a lifetime and she has maximized her oppurtunity. Emotions of Michelle's sister is a learning point, its sometimes unfair to people like her (Perfectly normal Siblings of physically challenged) and takes a bigger sacrifice from them right from the young as they are given much attention. Overall its a must see and I fully expect some sort of International recognition for Bhansali and Rani Mukerjee.

Children who are physically or emotionally challenged are often tagged "faulty" and sent to rehab centers. This movie exposes the laziness and lack of responsibility on the part of people making such decisions. They are incomplete but compensated in more ways than one it takes only love and some sacrifice to show them the way and make them realize their destiny. There is a difference between knowing what to do (Theory) and actually doing it (Practice) - Motivation. It still remains a mystery to me what motivates people like Mother Teresa or in this case Annie Sullivan to lead a life that they have lead. The closest answer that I have is Purity; A pure mind and a kind heart.

The movie is also about the teaching profession, something that is very close to my heart because next to our parents they are the people who have made us what we are today. I say that because many a times we question the knowledge of our parents and friends but seldom teachers, I remember correcting my parents because the teacher said so! BLACK shows how Noble a profession it is and why people whose motivation is only money and those who dont realize that are shaping the futures of those who they are teaching should find other jobs to do.

Religion and Growth of a Child

My flat mate’s thoughts: He sees similarities between the beliefs of the 3 religions, in terms of them coming into existence, principles and the growth of a child. I thought it was very interesting and profound. So here goes...

During its early years, Parents usually teach the child principles on how to lead life and what is good and what is bad. This is in line with Hinduism, the oldest of the 3 dominating religions, where principles are taught. Next as the child grows and interacts with other children and people, it is taught love and how to love fellow human beings and this aligns with Christianity which preaches that love takes one closer to god. Next as the child enters the teenage, Parents introduce rules on how to a lead a good life for the benefit of the child, similar in the way Islam defines on the ideal way to lead life.

No matter what our religious beliefs are, we would appreciate that there is some light in what he is talking about....

Kumar's EPL Awards 2005

My Team of the Year:
Formation - 4-3-2-1
Petr Cech, Jamie Carragher, John Terry, Ryan Nelson, Gabriel Hienze, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Tim Cahill, Shaun Wright Phillips, Arjen Robben and Thierry Henry.

This team would have Carragher as rightback because he has been so excellent throughout the year, he should be in the team and I can’t find a rightback who has been that good to make any team of the year. I would go with Nelson at Centre Back because for a NewZealander to make the move to England and impress so much bodes well for Asia-Pacific. Hienze, my find of the year, without him we definitely would not have even finished 3rd. Three in the midfield for me, Cahill and Lampard as the attacking force with Makelele as the holding player. Personally I would like to have Ruud supported by Henry and Robben as the attacking trio but unfortunately Ruud has been missing all season so it’s SWP with Henry leading the line.

My Young Team of the Year
Formation 4-4-2
Tomasz Kuszczak, Nedum Onuaha, Robert Huth, Phillip Senderos, Gael Clichy, Darren Fletcher, Cesc Fabregas, Kieran Richardson, Christiano Ronaldo, Jose Antonio Reyes, Wayne Rooney

Goal of the Season
Wayne Rooney - Manchester United vs Newcastle United, Old Trafford

Moment of the Season
Steven Gerrard's last minute goal against Olympiakos which enabled the team to qualify for the Knockout stages - few would have imagined the Reds to reach the finals at that stage of the season, even their own fans would not have imagined what has happened so far

Forgettable Moment of the Season
Dyer and Bowyer of Newcastle fighting on the pitch in front of thier own fans

Manager of the Season
David Moyes and Jose Mourinho. David Moyes should have taken it but I think Everton will be playing Champions League football only because Liverpool and Bolton did not want it and did not push Everton to the wire, Everton made enough mistakes all season but fortunately for them Liverpool and Bolton committed even more

Best English Player
Frank Lampard - Magnificent

Best Foreign Player
Thierry Henry - We are so fortunate to see someone as gifted as this guy play week in week out.

Most Improved Player
Gareth Barry

Did not meet Expectations
Paul Scholes, United have failed to make it because of this man. Its not only because of him but mostly because he has been a shadow of himself and there is no true heir to his throne at United. Keane and Scholes needs able deputies and SAF need to find them as soon as possible for us to return to the limelight

Spanish GP - No glory for Alonso but still on track

150,000 from his home town made the journey to Barcelona to see thier "own" strut his stuff on home soil. Alonso did a amazing lap during the Saturday qualification. but was not enough to take the pole. Probably that was his highlight of the race. Unfortunately was not able to see either the 2nd qualifying and the race.

Kimi dominated right from the word go, not a bad move over the weekend, everything worked out well for him. I am sincerely happy for him and always like to see him do well because I think he is the rightful heir to Schumi's throne as no other driver can match the raw pace of this man given the right machinery. Taking away nothing from Alonso, he is driving a car much technically superior to the McLaren. As for the ever-moaning Montoya, he should be very happy that his team's mistakes disguised the fact that he was terrible over the entire weekend.

As for Schumi, when you have 2 punctures on a single lap there cannot be any more obvious sign that its just not working out for Ferrari and Bridgestone, but the fact is that the Red Ferrari is still the best car out there, the charts clearly show that; Only Bridgestone need to up their pace and that should be very frustrating for the Ferrari Thinktank as there is only so much they can do in terms. Time is running out, its getting to the stage where for the King to take the Championship, not only does he have to win but he needs both Alonso and Trulli to fare badly.

Narain, another steady job, nothing left to discuss, just a slight disappointment to see his name last and behind his teammate Tiago Monteiro.

Apprentice Season 2 - Episode 6 - Very obvious

The task was to Design and price designer clothing for women working with one upcoming designer from a pool that was pre-selected for the teams. John leads Mosaic and Maria is the Project Manager for Apex.

Apex - I think they won the competition with the first major decision they had to make, choose the right designer - They chose a gay male designer, simple does it. The mantra was ‘We made it very clear to Darren that we wanted a line which any one of us could buy and wear’. There you go, A gay male designer, assisted by fashionable street wise women - Apex were already at the driver's seat. The only interesting thing was Elizabeth's disapproval to choosing Darren and Maria's brilliant decision to get her out of the way (Useless Jennifer goes too) by tasking her to take care of the buyers, an important task but if you have the proper goods on the table, they would surely sell.

Mosaic - They chose a odd looking lady to do thier designs, did not catch on why though. A lot of goofing around, Kelly the Taskmaster is obviously not happy an he speaks his mind, there is no place for a military man on a creative assignment but I like the way he takes control when they are sourcing for materials. I personally felt that Kelly should have went with the team liasing with the buyers, there are decisions to be made there and Kelly's organization and eye for detail would have helped in determing the price and what exactly the buyers want. He was wasted on the creative team and John would have done better to have seperated Raj and Kelly. John does something stupid here and follows his heart and sticks around the models , its all upto Kevin on pricing - Thats exactly where John dug his grave and this is where he got down the helicopter.

Down at the Fashion show, the dresses are paraded by the models and the usual drama is added by the fact that Mosaic's stuff is appreciated by everyone including Trump and the Apex team. So like Kevin, you would beleive that Mosaic have done it again. But guess what, Apex makes $22,060 while Mosaic could only do $7,735. As good as Mosaic's design was, nobody was willing to take the risk on the new designs.

So it to to the boardroom for the boys and a plush party for the women. Raj being Raj declares that the party looks boring, oh, the men get to watch from the balcony. At the board room, John gets questioned as usual and everyone blames either John or Andy (Funny that because he was not involved much, that they say is the main problem). John consults Kelly and picks up some strategy tips: if both Kevin and Wes are seen by Donald as strong contenders, bringing both of them in is likely to get John fired. John picks Kevin and not Wes, but that is a mistake, why you ask? Trump says so.

Reason Donald Trump Fired John, in his own words - "We had no choice he just made too many bad decisions". I agree, once he decided to personally check on the models when their measurements, as we all know, were provided to them, he took his eye of his task and simply had to go.

Valuable insight gained from this episode: "Know your market... You have to go after the audience. If you can't pinpoint the market you wont be successful." - Donald Trump

Chelsea - Worthy Champions

Out came Sir Alex and Wenger to congratulate Chelsea on winning the Premiership, joining the entire world in acknowledging the fact that the bar has been raised, considerably high. "United usually gets going after Christmas", heard so often from Sir Alex - he bloody well knows, it does not apply anymore. Any inconsistent title-challenger will be out of the race by Christmas, including Chelsea. Maintaining the hunger is what Champions are made of, something I have always admired with United, it would be interesting to see whether Chelsea can do that - its easy to catch the "Been there, done that" attitude.

With so many pointing to the millions that has been spent, I would say that only 2 men are responsible for Chelsea's success, Mourinho and Petr Cech. Many say Lampard, well he does no more than what Henry does for Arsenal. You can clearly see that the players want to play for Mourinho; he has that x-factor, something that makes you want to work with him. Another important fact is that, in a way he has manipulated the press to his advantage, he has always maintained that he is superior and most of the press share the same opinion. The London press has always wanted a dominant force within London and they have taken to Chelsea at Arsenal's cost. No wonder we hear faint reports that Wenger has brought Arsenal "as far as he can"....I have never read that before.

Petr Cech, if you would count the number of games United and Arsenal have not won due to glaring goalkeeper errors, you will have enough proof that Cech's contribution is more important than that of Terry or Lampard. I for one feel that Terry and Lampard are being celebrated more because they are English. No one other keeper is so cool and controlled with the ball on the line and with only one hand over it, I remember so many instances where he did that so comfortably, his save from Baros last Wednesday is yet another example to why he is the biggest Champion amongst a team of winners.

As for United, its a very sad end to their season, win the FA Cup or not, it has been very disappointing. In a season that we took 6 points off Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool we lost points to teams like Everton, Bolton, and Blackburn. So it’s not about talent or ability, it’s simply down to attitude. Chelsea treated every single team with respect and won without expecting any team to surrender to them. So consistency and the will to succeed are the factors that won Chelsea the title this year and the team with most of both this qualities WILL WIN the title next year and it will be interesting next year.

Everton - moral champions of this season. There is so much hoo-hah on whether they should play in the Champions league or not. If Liverpool loses tonight, the debate is off. It’s very premature I would say, even if Liverpool does go through to the final, its Milan who is waiting and for me they are of even higher class than Chelsea. If the miracle does happen and Liverpool does win the CL, I think they deserve to defend it. It’s after all called the CHAMPIONS League. Everton would be at best another Celtic or Rangers and would be happy to find them in the UEFA Cup come February, so the English FA has better chances of having an English team in the final knockout stages with Liverpool than Everton.

Apprentice Season 2 - Episode 5 - Unfair Judgement

Managed to catch my second full episode, again few very interesting things that could be debated on. Firstly since the APEX team was performing badly and there was lot of in-fighting, so, Pamela the only female in the all-conquering MOSAIC team gets transferred to APEX, because Trump believes she can whip them into shape and lead them to success. The task given to both teams is to go live on QVC Television, I suppose its a direct sales TV channel, and choose a product which has never been sold before and sell in within 22 Mins out of which 12 mins will be spent "selling" it live on TV.

Pamela maybe was not too happy and the attitude was "Here is somebody superior brought in to HELP us". It was evident in Pamela approach, bossy and superior and all of her team too in that they took her orders and rarely questioned her and even when they did they actually did not stand up for what they believed. It was Pamela's decisions and choices all the way. Pamela in choosing to be so actually raised the stakes for herself, if the team were to win she would rightfully be 'GOD' and if they were to lose, she would succeed in her secondary task of bringing her teammates together, but they would united AGAINST HER! To be fair to her, given that she did not have any time together with the team before being assigned the task, I think her approach was justified, just that her team i.e. SHE HAD TO WIN. The brilliant sub-plot was that if Pamela were to lead this nuts to victory, much of Mosaic's success will be attributed to her, so the boys had to win.

Mosaic chose to sell a grill to make sandwiches and Apex chose a cleaning bar. Pricing obviously was key and both team had members differing on how much the selling price should be. Again
Pamela chose the price, Iwana did not agree but was not strong enough to stand her ground. The sad part was there was no strong performer in the Apex team who could earn the respect of Pamela, given her recent introduction to the team and the task at hand, I really thought she was doing a good job at it. So Pamela asked the team to choose what they wanted to to, something quite tricky too, because she had no time to assess the team she had no other choice but then an individual's self assessment can rarely be right, especially unders stress. Iwana moaned that Pamela assigned tasks to everyone and she did not take any responsibility onto herself, this is the sort of petty behaviour that we should fast to identify. Iwana dear, the whole project is on Pamela's shoulders, and there is no bigger responsibility.

A few other little squabbles later the sales were done and Mosaic won by a whisker, 10.43$. So the key was price and it was Pamela's decision and in the boardroom, she actually shot herself in the foot saying that the "right" price was actually 10$ more than what they had or rather she had opted for. It was back to the boardroom for Apex and Iwana pointed the obvious that Pamela was bossy and had to go, Pamela chose Stacy and Maria to join her in the firing line. George agreed with me here, he was impressed with Pamela's leadership qualities but Trump suggested maybe Pamela was too strong as she did not listen to anyone, that Mr. Trump, was all your doing because you pushed her into this muck without prior warning and none of her team had any history to justify her trust.

Pamela was sacked, for lacking good assessment of people. Very vital I agree but then she was not given the time. I agree again its something that can happen to anyone in the business world and I also think put in Pamela's shoes any person would not have done much differently. It was that single mistake in not using the respect the team had on her to get the team behind her. If she had used the 2 hr bus ride to understand the team instead of putting them down, she and apex would have won comfortably. This again goes on to prove on the importance of having people below you wanting to work for you. If Pamela had convinced the team to walk behind her instead of dragging them, they all could have taken that extra step needed to defeat Mosaic.

The real winner was Chris, he let himself being bullied into decision by Kelly, he did not contribute much to the task and will take all the credit for Mosaic's rather narrow victory, all thanks to Kelly's magic choice of 71$. So many of us can find such people around us and that what makes this world so interesting and our lives challenging.

Ferrari are back, well almost......

To all those who wrote off Ferrari, there you go! I always said Ferrari will not take this lying down and the last race is the proof. A team full of champions and the bad press they received is just PATHETIC. You can clearly see that I was waiting for this, yeah yeah, I know that Schumi did not win it and Barrichello DNF but then Ferrari was found a whole 2 seconds in that car. I was at Sepang in 2001 and Schumi finished third after starting 22nd, and next to that this memory will stay with me.

Now that I got all that off my chest, respect must be given to where its due and stand up Mr. Alonso, to keep a seven-time world champion in a far superior car following you meekly for 12 laps takes some courage doing and I was really surprised that he managed to do just that. Fantastic effort and if at all he wins the championship this year, he truly deserves it for this one performance alone. The sinister Kumar would like to point out the simply amazing traction control of the Renault and Imola being Imola is not a track famous for overtaking, these he thinks aided Alonso but even he cant deny that those 2 factors alone could not have kept the Master tagging with his tails between his legs :( It was a perfect tactical performance.

As far as the Heir to the throne, Mr. Alonso is being mooted to be the one, but my tip is Raikonnen. I think he is the real deal, my thoughts are slightly influenced by the fact that he is a Ferrari fan and I genuinely believe that he will be Schumi's replacement on the No 1 car. The tifosi would like an Italian taking that seat and Trulli is too old to stand a chance and maybe just maybe Fisichella could nick it. Also lets not forget that silly story circulating that Valentino Rossi after getting bored with MotoGP may actually give F1 a shot and he could be behind a Ferrari!

To finish off, my parting shot to those people who thought Ferrari were finished, "Come and talk to me after you clean the egg of your face, it smells!" If you are not still convinced, wait for a fortnight. I almost finished without my regular mention of Narain, again job well done sir. Yet another finish and as long as he keeps completing the race and does better than his teammate, I fully expect to see him back in a better car next season.

A fantastic cricket series...good for both nations

Kudos to our country, except for that bottle throwing incident in Delhi, we received the Pakistan cricket team gracefully, treated them really well and sent them home very happy. 6 real exciting matches with the Ahmedabad match and that last over by Sachin being the real highlight of the series. I myself thoroughly enjoyed it. A little disappointed with claims that it will end 3-3 and the matches were not decided by the players but by punters and diplomats. I don’t think people realize that makes everyone watching a big fool! There is no proof that they are wrong, but 4-2 suggests that it was not the call of the diplomat’s at least.

If I were to look back, Afridi's knock in the last 2 matches, Sehwag's in the first 2 matches, Rana's bowling, Dravid's stability, Pathan's 64, Zaheer's romance on camera are things that I will remember from the last the seven weeks. Rana got the Man of the Series award, while I agree that he did extremely well, probably even exceeded his expectations, the real hero was Inzi. I always thought the most dangerous one-day performer was Micheal Bevan of Australia, he may not have many individual records but from what I remember he has had many match winning performances, similarly I think Inzi plays for the team, plays in a difficult position, brings stability to the line-up. He has to be commended for his work rate - he has really improved his running between the wickets. He never cares for personal glory, 80 half centuries - enough proof for me.

Two major causalities from this series will be Akthar and Ganguly. Akthar - hope that what he saw of his teammates brings him down to earth and puts some humility into him. I am sure he would have thought that his team would suffer without him leading the line - Now, Rana has shown him discipline and hard work are more important to a bowler than pure pace and silly antics! Technically he would for sure improve this team but his character will only destroy the camaraderie amongst the players unless he changes himself. Ganguly, I am really sorry for him. The Indian cricket supporters need a scapegoat and even I cant come up with anyone better. His ban is probably the best gift he needs right now. He sure needs a break, hopefully he will come back the classy left hander we all love to watch. I hope Dravid's two matches have shown that Ganguly is still needed and the captain scoring runs does not necessarily translate into the team winning the match.

I hope this is another big step forward in improving relations with our neighbours. Pakistan has to lot to gain from co-operating with us, it is gifted in its geographical location, right amongst China and India, and hopefully they can work with amicably with both and help both the Superpowers to succeed. It’s hard to ignore the importance of Kashmir and Shimla to India's tourism income and the earlier we settle things with Pakistan, the better for both nations and if cricket is an avenue then, we should congratulate both Cricket Associations on a job well done.

Liverpool European Champions?

Rafa Benitez should be the man, more than anybody else this success should be credited to. Yes for the current Liverpool team, I am sure this is considered a success, even the most die-hard fan would have not been confident that they would still be involved in the competition, definitely not when they drew Juventus. Great work, Benitez's success on the CL Scene should send a warning to the EPL teams next year, whether they qualify to the final or go on and win it, Liverpool will be a force next year. It would be funny if we discuss CL with Everton fans from now on, I am sure they all would be rooting for Chelsea, if the Arsenal fans know better, they should too because if Pool wins it, even Arsenal will go into the qualifying draw for next year's competition. As much I hate to say it, I think Liverpool can go on and win it, yes you read that right :)

AC Milan vs PSV - PSV captain fantastic Van Bommel's final year at the club and it looks like he wants to gift the fans the biggest prize. The teams seems to be working for him too, Bommel led by example and Barcelona should be adding one more fine midfielder to their ranks, do they really need so many? Tottenham will do extremely well if they get him, but I see him at a CL club. United should think of him, although United rarely gets players in this age-group. If it was 0-0 against the current Lyon team, they would have had a chance against Milan but I think the question is whether they can score against the Italians or not - Dida is on a run, against Inter yesterday, it was his 7th consecutive match without conceding. Again its the Manager who is their biggest player, Hiddink and his Korea team did wonders so why cant he do the same with PSV

With Mourinho trying to prove that he is indeed the "Special" one, Benitez trying his best to get into the Champions league next year, it has to be said the hard way, Hiddink looking to do the impossible in getting his team to eliminate Milan, this year's semis looks more like a chess game. Usually for the past few years, once United are out of the competition, I can never get myself to watch the CL but this years it looks very interesting, looking forward to Apr 27. How much money will I put on a Pool vs PSV final? All I can say is that I wont be surprised, and it that really happens Mourinho will have to give up his "Special" seat to the winning manager.

Pakistan won, United were embarassed.

From the last 3 games, it can be safely said that India and Pakistan rather not bother to play but close shop after the toss! India won the toss for the first 2 matches, decided to win and won comprehensively. For the crucial third, Pak did the same. I personally felt that Pakistan did a good controlled job at thier batting but it was definitely not something that would have tested the Indian batting order, especially with such a weak attacking line like Paksitan's current line-up. But, Rana proved me wrong, but I am still of the opinion there was a something in the wicket that should have helped him, dont get me wrong, he is not bad but 6/27! He either is very inconsistent or is very lucky. It makes things a little more interesting in the fact that its 2-1 and it can go either way.

As for United, sad, embarassingly sad. Its one thing to be beaten but another if you are played out of the game, then it really is embarassing. Manchester United can lose, all good teams will at somepoint lose, but it was the manner to the defeat. Right from the start, they did not look like getting the 3 points, all their efforts were blunt. Its the business end of the season, except for the mid-table sides, everyone has something to play for and its usually the team which wants it more than will end-up winning. Three points yesterday would have realistically changed anything this year except to reduce the margin with Chelsea, but Manchester United cannot give up, should not give up. Its more about the pride of wearing the shirt and representing the millions who are passionate about this Club.

Sir Alex did not help in not playing his best team, but again if you have a squad of 25 players and if you have a semi-final next week, his team choice is justified. The players let him down, simple as that. They did not want it like the Norwich players did, sometimes I dont think so the current set of players understand what it takes to be wearing the Manchester United Jersey. This is why you need local lads within the team, you will always get that bit extra from the local boys, especially during these games that require graft more than skill. To teams like Norwich, playing United is the glamour tie, they are always going to try that bit harder, adding to that is they need the 3 points to play teams like United for one more year, so in a way any team's position or on the table or form does not matter. The 11 out on the field, especially Silvestre should be ashamed, they have let a lot of people down including themselves.

Apprentice - Learning something by selling Ice Cream

I was told to watch Apprentice to see how certain things work with Businesses, for all the theory that we can learn from schools, the best lessons come from Guest Leactures and case studies. I am no fan of reality TV because except for in the Amazing race, I see more drama than reality. As for the Apprentice, its not about learning business but its like a case study to see how people do things and how small things can affect the big picture. Its good to learn about teamwork and different characters, imagine when you are on big projects, it would be nice to have a camera to track what every single member does and to see what and how every member contributes and what effect they have on the achieving or failing to achieve the final goal. This is why I am beginning to like the Apprentice, I am sure certain part of it is being "structured" to add to the drama, but still I am sure there is something to take out of it

Last episode, am not sure of the episode number but it the one where the 2 teams were asked to conjure up a new ice-cream flavour and sell the ice-cream. They were attached to an ice-cream company Ciao Bello, the 2 teams were Mosaic (A guy called Kelly, with military experience was the Project Manager) and the other was Apex(A lady called Iwana, was voted in as PM). Mosaic could not come up with anything creative and as they were running out of time, they decided to mix Donuts with Vanilla and Choclate. Whereas at Apex, it was pure chaos, atleast that the camera view, it was like school children, anyway over time they came up with something called Red Velvet. Although the first team made a decision earlier, they had to go out and hunt for the doughnuts (About 200 of them) but Apex were lucky as Ciao Bello had all the stuff needed in house. So they did not lose out on time.

Next was the Marketing strategy i.e. Where to sell the ice-cream, Apex initially were targetting Restraurants but Mosaic were targetting Times Square. I think Times Square was a better option because selling in bulk can help to finish the stock faster, but selling directly to the public will remove the cost of the middlemen and increase the profit margin. The target afterall is to make the most money. The twist was that Apex eavesdropped on Mosaic and changed their strategy to do direct sales too, if not for, that Mosaic would have been a shoo-in. Mosaic were eager sellers, with a help of some creative thinking i.e. getting pretty women in to help them and calling their ice cream "Breakfast" ice-cream were steady. They still had a trump card because they promised part of thier sales to charity and used the charity pitch effectively. Apex were really chaotic, they parted ways by mistake and started late, although they tried to catch up by selling directly to restraurants.

At the end of the day, Mosaic actually made 250$ more, inspite of contributing a part of thier earning to charity. So Iwana's head was on the chopping board and she was given a choice to choose 2 or 3 ppl to accompany her to the board room to face Mr. Trump. Iwana choose, Stacie J, a loosecannon, who was not a team player, and 1 more girl, Jennifer. A guy on her team Bradford who cannot be queried Basically he got "cocky". Bradford gave up his exemption because he was so sure he did well and he wont be voted out.

Donald Trump sumed up why the four of them were in front of him: Ivana was a lousy leader, didn't have respect of team. Stacie J was hated by all. Jennifer really has got to keep her mouth shut because she opens it at the wrong time. Bradford made a stupid, impulsive decision. He fired Bradford. In business o­nce if you get too cocky and full of yourself you go downhill. Bradford was so happy about his part, the was just too confident and gave up his advantage unnecessarily. I believe that is what Trump was thinking. It was a strategic advantage which he gave up emotionally and emotions dont have any place in business, that was the lesson.

Always pick the winner!

If you thought this is going to be related to betting, you are wrong but dont be harsh on yourself because it was inspired by betting, off the subject, I have to mention about my Architect guy at the office who predicted Liverpool to win 2-1 and Liverpool to win both at half-time and full-time, just lucky you think? He wagered 20 dollars on Chelsea to win 4-1, if he was right it would have earned him 660 SGD!!! One can only imagine his reaction to Ballack's dive 93 minutes into a 90 minute match that changed the result from 4-1 to 4-2........

Returning to what I wanted to write about, when we feel inadequate in things that we want to be a success at, we usually tend to boost our self-esteem by joining up with people obviously inferior in that same thing that we hold dear. Mixing with people who are superior most often is threatening and leads to a lot of self-reflection, the outcome can be positive but we dont dare. Mixing with equals is the next best option but its not too comfortable and mixing with people who havent made it actually makes us feel a winner and we tend to do that often because that inflates our ego and makes us feel better.

I am sure at some point of time we would have found ourselves in such a position, one thing that we should hope that happens to us, is to realize that we are in such a position because its such a comfort zone that its quite reasonable not to wake up. The lesson from sports that we should learn is that we can only improve by playing against superiority, only then will we push ourselves. If we dont mix with people better than us, we may find comfort in the knowledge that we will never be challenged, but then we will never find out what the next step is all about. Remember if we avoid "growing pains" by sticking with people who either haven't made it or who are not interested in "growing", we will NOT grow.

Australian Football team joining the Asian Football Federation to avoid playing against the team that finishes 5th in the South American Qualifying FC is a perfect example for this discussion because, from the Aussie point of view is that since they are not being challenged all the way till they reach the play-offs, they cannot raise the game just for those 2 games and thus fail to qualify. So they say that they are willing to muck it with the Asians because they feel will be challenged more by the Asians that their pacific neighbours. I am still not ok with this because, the Asians teams are not going to test Australia any better than thier local rivals do, they gain by not meeting the South Americans and so instead of playing 2 tough games every four years, they will qualify to the World Cup and will play 3 first round games against better opposition - just a game extra. Australia is to gain from this and Asia will lose in the short term.

A bad sporting weekend......real bad!

My roommate walked into my room on Thursday and reminded me of the exciting weekend ahead, a cricket match between Ind and Pak, Premiership returning after the International break and the Bahrain GP. To add to all this excitement, F2005 was out on the tracks and doing quite well. A perfect weekend would have been a Pak Victory, United collecting 3 points against Blackburn, Chelsea not managing anything more than a draw away to Southampton and a Ferrari 1-2 with Schumi taking the podium. I know that is asking for too much but then when exactly the opposite happens, it is a dampener.........sad :(

Cricket - Brilliant start after sending back 2 dangerous batsmen in Tendulkar and Ganguly but then those 2 stupid mistakes with Sehwag cost them dear. He was the in-form player coming into the match and he made the Pak team pay, brilliant innings. As for Pakistan's batting, when you have the 10th and 11th batsmen gettting all the glory, the less said about the team's batting performance, the better. They need a good strike bowler to partner Sami - whatever happend to the 'Gul' guy - cant remember his full name....

Football - United failed me too. Ruud really looks out of sorts and is taking far too long to get back into the mix of things. Maybe he was rushed back too early - the pressure on him to score is immense, it was very sad to see him taken off. United before Ruud's return, were flowing, on hindsight it looks like a big mistake in rushing the great man back. I dont blame Fergie because no-one in their right mind would not play Ruud provided he is available, but then his confidence seems real low and his movement seems restricted. Finally Ronaldo, one day he sets the world alight and the next weekend he just cannot create anything, he was run ragged by Blackburn, could not make any impact on the match although the referee did not gaurd him, some were real crude challenges.

Its Chelsea's title, no doubt about that, for both United and Arsenal its now, all about damage limitation and getting that second place and being guaranteed Champions League for next season. Btw, if Liverpool did go on and win the Champions League, the second placed team in the League will not qualify automatically and will have to play the Qualification matches - something my Football Manager 2005 experience had taught me

Finally, the Bahrain GP - The only positive from the race, F2005 is fast enough. The real insult of the weekend was the fact that the only cars that finished behind a Ferrari was either a Jordan or a Minardi - It was that bad! Great work by the one person I for sure know had a worse weekend than myself -Barrichello, he did great in getting that car to finish, the technical problems were very obvious and you could clearly see that he was struggling. Schumi's pursuit of Alonso during the first few laps showed that there is light at the end of the tunnel and the end of the tunnel is near. At Monza, I am very confident that the Tifosi will go home with a big smile, the extra week before the next race is a boon in disguise and am sure Ferrari will be on the podium.

Karthikeyan - it was all praise before the race on how he was the best rookie among the 4 who started this year, then he was harshly reminded that he was in a Jordan. As long as its not his mistake, I am sure we will see him back in a better car next year - my best bet is Sauber - I dont see Villenueve being around for long. I pray that Karthikeyan gets his big break, maybe even this year, with the way Villeneueve has been doing (Not any better than Schumi, I know), I see him being replaced soon. Red Bull, another team brought back down to earth, Klien - extremely unfortunate and unlucky and Coultard - extremely lucky to get to finish amongst the points for the third consecutive race.

To finish off, congratulations to Alonso, again a brilliant performance, leading from start to finish. He does not have to lap a Ferrari every race, it really hurts. De La Rosa, if there was any man-of-the-race award, it would have certainly gone to this man. I would have switched off if not for this man, I would really love to hear Montoya's thoughts on this guy's performance. I intially thought that it was a struggling Ferrari that was showing him in good light but the way he drove right to the end made me change my mind. McLaren wont be that worried with Montoya's injury right now, they have a better behind the wheel for now. Along with Hiedfeld, he had yet again proved the vast difference a good competitive car can make make to a driver's performance. So, for now lets just pray that Karthikeyan can impress enough to get a better racing seat next season.

Real bad sporting weekend, the good news is that its over and the only way is up - Predictions - United to return with a bang and take the Cup, Ferrari to return to take the podium at Monza and Pak to win atleast 2 matches. Almost forgot the highlight of the weekend, Coultard commenting on the speculation that Montoya damaged his collar bone riding a motocross bike said, "When fat people start exercising that's what happens" Waiting to hear from Montoya..... :)

LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT

People who have pondered over the word Leadership usually come up with two questions, what is a leader made of? And Is a Leader born or made? My friend the other day mentioned that its chaos that creates leaders. The next Lee Kuan Yew will not be from Singapore, he/she will be from India or China. In Singapore, the structure is already there, the country is running smoothly, everyone knows his/her place in the society and his/her role. People know where to look for answers and believe the answers they get are always right. So there is no need for another LKY to rise above others and show the way.

I agree. But then, my personal definition for leaders is people who blaze a trail when none exists. If there are 10 options and a person has to take one, eventually one will stumble upon the right one, that’s not the real deal. The key words are “when none exists”. Leaders are born but are identified or make themselves known in chaos. I don’t think leadership can be thought but powerful personalities with the right attitude can be groomed to be leaders.

Managers and Leaders and often thought of in the same light – I don’t think so. No longer can you call yourself a leader simply because you are a good manager. What differentiates a Leader from a Manager? A manager can manage with the right people around him/her to supplement his/her qualities but a leader should lead by example. A true leader does not lead by telling others what to do but rather leads by example, by doing the right things the right way which will inspire the others to follow. When a subordinate fails a manager most probably will replace the person whereas the leader will teach the person to do it by doing it right. Management is about being organized and systematic in executing existing business but leadership is about breaking new ground with creativity.

Common ground between a Leader and a Manager is drive and high standards. Any person looking for success should have the drive and will and should set high standards for himself/herself that will never be compromised for anything including achieving the goal. To sum up, Management qualities are learned; Leadership qualities are innate and need to be groomed.

So who is more important to a company? There is a general feel that Managers are the poor cousins of Leaders but I beg to differ - managers are not some lower class citizens, its is high time profile of managers are raised and the bandwagon which is compelling everyone to call themselves leaders be stopped. A leader serves the function of finding new direction but it’s just as important to have managers to profitable execute the plan in following that direction.

Something about one of the Leaders I admire.
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Roy Keane is the game's most inspirational captain, according to skysports.com readers
The Results
1. Roy Keane 29%
2. Paolo Maldini 13%
3. Bobby Moore 12%
4. Alan Shearer 10%
5. Tony Adams 9%
6. Franz Beckenbauer 9%
7. Bryan Robson 7%
8. Graeme Souness 5%
9. Franco Baresi 5%
10.Tony Mowbray 2%

Malaysian GP - Tifosi disappointed yet again......

Red Bull, Renault, Toyota have proven that their showing in Melbourne was not all down to the Rain God. I think everyone has to stand up and applaud what they have done. Although I question the logic behind restricting speed in a racing competition, I must admit Max Mosley in a way, has created a level playing field. The small budget teams are not in the front but at least they are not being embarassed by the charts and the race to the Championship looks open, I truly expect the traditional top three, Ferrari, McLaren and BMW to get back to their winning ways.

As for my fav team, Scuderia Ferrari, it seems they have underestimated the work of their competitors. To be fair, Ferrari must have been monitoring BMW and McLaren to evaluate thier standing but its the other teams like Toyota and Renault that have sprung the surprise. The 2003 Ferrari was a one of a kind and it was not surprising that it was superior to the 2004 entrants from the other teams, but then not every day is not a Sunday and Ferrari has learnt it the hard way.

Hearing the commentators speak, it seems it is the tyres that is the problem area. Bridgestone has always built its tyres around Schumi and his Ferrari. As confirmed by Brawn recently, Schumi's strength has been his speed and his aggresive style which is always harsh on his tyres. Suddenly he has been asked to conserve his tyres, control his aggression.......maybe they have not been able to react on time....hopefully they can get their act together soon. Again this is what everyone wanted, to see Ferrari off the top pedestal and they got it...but I think Brawn, Todt and Schumi have done it before and will do it again, the 2005 will improve things but I am not sure it can compensate for the tyre wear, its up to the three of them to fix that

Talking about Karthikeyan, another finish, in a Jordan thats good! Am slightly sorry to see him just give way everytime he is being lapped, seems a little too nice....but nothing more expected of him. A points scoring finish would be nice, I really wish him that, really do. He comes across very well during the interviews, more like Webber or Barrichello....

The talking point of this race is not Ferrari's position but Ralf's drive. Trulli is exposing him, he is the second best paid driver on the grid and Trulli with the same car is looking far more impressive that him. Toyota and Michelin cleary have kept their part of the deal and its time for Micheal's little brother to let his driving do the talking and not use his surname to his advantage. Lets also not forget Mr Button, as with every other British prospect he has let the media hype get to him, now he is blaming the engine..... the question to Mr Button - when was the last time you saw Schumi blame his team or his engineers for his position. You are one among the team and has to share the blame, thats a team player.....a team player does not wash his dirty linen in public. BAR seems to have screwed things over, they sacked Dave Richards, fought for a driver who does not want to drive for them and look at their position - All I can say, "Be Careful about what you ask for - you may get it"

Management, specifically, MAN Management

Last Saturday, at the Airport waiting to check in, 2 of my friends and myself (All 3 of us follow Football) had this arguement giving the clubs each other support some stick, it did get a little heated, but the respect we have for each other and good time we just had, kind of kept things under the lid. There was a statement saying Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United was a tyrant. So I wanted to share my thoughts that why Management in the current times is not about the Manager but about the person being managed and Sir Alex, a person with 23 winner medals, is a master in dealing with different people differently.

In the old days, managers came out with methods and procedures on how the work needs to be done, because there was only one way to it. Any worker who joined, learnt how to operate the machine (there was nothing much in terms of value add from the worker), looked to impress the manager with his/her productivity and the managers too liked only such characters as it made them look good - as it improved the numbers that they get to show their bosses. Workers were kept down, so the quality of their lives became more dependent on the employer, a managers job was easy as it was just a supervisory role. In these days, such authoritative styles are effective only in an emergency and should stay within the armed forces.

In the world around us now, the skill levels required on the job are so specialized that there are many ways to do the same job and the manager is dependant on his workers to do choose the best option and make is successful. As you go up the Organization Chart, people only decide “What to do” and look to people below them for answers to the question “how best to do it”. The Boss earns his money is choosing the people who are talented enough to do it, people who are good team players and in getting each individual to actually complete the job to perfection (Both in terms of quality and time). It gets even complicated when managers don’t recruit the team but inherit the team, often this is the case and the manager’s first few days and first few actions will set the tone for all the future projects. If the manager impresses the team and takes care of those who work for him/her, he/she will float to greatness on their achievements.

Man management is so important because bigger the talent, bigger the ego and harder the task in getting the talent out. It’s no more about management styles but more about the person being managed or how important the person’s qualities are to the task at hand. The more indispensable the person being managed is the more dispensable is the manager – so the situation has changed, it’s no more a supervisory role but more of a decision making role. The manager who makes the better decisions and calls the best shots and has his/her team working for him will have the best report card at the end of the year. So in recent times you would have seen many examples of the manager being after the staff once the staff has proven his/her talent.

One field that is bucking this trend is I.T, proving that life is full of circles. Managers/Leaders of proven track record are of the wanted breed, taking us to back to the time of the factory workers. Why? Because the talent required (Programmers/developers) are available in plenty. So the talented person at the bottom is no more indispensable but just another warm body that is easily replaceable. The only way for a person at the bottom (programmer/developer) to be recognized is via the recognition of the person above him (Team Leader/Project Leader) gets. It also depends on how much of that recognition is being shared by the person above you. The CIO or CEO only hears what your superior has to share about you. So it’s imperative that programmers or entry level staff, in general technical staff, work hard to show their superiors in the best of light and move along with them up the ladder. This is why people skills and communication skills have to be taught early in schools, as much as I believe these cannot be taught but are being determined by the upbringing and the surroundings of the individual, I accept that such skills can be molded or corrected early at schools.

Finally to finish up, I agree Sir Alex threw the rule book at Whiteside, Strachan, Paul Parker, Ince, Stam - all gifted individuals who have went on to have great careers but he has used the "Arm around the shoulder" approach with people like Cantona, Giggs, Solskjaer, Cole, Yorke, Keane - now Ruud, Rio, Rooney and Ronaldo, clearly showing that there is no one way to Man Management. Ask yourself whether you can motivate and a group of multi-millionaires who have won everything they can possibly win in the game to push themselves week in week out, then probably you will appreciate his workload

Some management style Test
1. Business Bureau
2. Management Vitality

Money Money Money.....

At 17 every single person chases 2 things, money and certificates (which btw, we assume will help us make more money). I know there will a good few who would want to add career to that list, if you are one, stop and think for a minute. Did you ever sit down and think about "What am I good at? What am I passionate about? Where do I see myself in 10 years?" If you answered those questions and sought a career based on those answers, then you are a gifted person. Yes go ahead and add career to that list, for everyone else, like me, career is encompassed in the first target, Money.

So the Million Dollar Question is how much Money is enough? When do we consider ourselves to be rich? Can you certify a person to be rich? Is there a milestone for a person to reach so that he/she can call himself/herself rich? So why talk suddenly about money? Its not that I had struck the lottery, I was sent to a Financial Planning course last week and in my 2 days there they put me through every emotion possible....pain, anger, sorry, fear, failure and finally supreme! (They had a small game and I retired with a 14000$ paycheck, 10 properties and 1.8Million in cash)

Coming back to the main topic? How much is enough. I think it depends on what every person wants in life. Why? Because just the day after the course, I was explaining to my colleagues that after sitting through my financial analysis, it was determined that I needed 2.3 Million to retire. My friend asked me the question, why? I told him the same answer, the financial planners told me, "To maintain my lifestyle". And I think therein lies the answer to the big question. Rich is just an adjective we used to describe people based on our own needs, wishes and dreams. If he/she has more that what we think we need, we classify the person rich.

If you have 10$, if you want to dine at the Four Seasons, you don’t even have enough for a single meal, if you want to have dinner at Mac's then you will have a spare dollar or two, if you want to buy veggies and cook, the same 10$ can be enough for a few days. So it’s not the 10$ that matters but what you want to do with it that determines whether you have enough or not. Few years ago, a person wanted to build a small temple for his god at my native place. The land required belonged to a person who is an odd job laborer. He only gets paid when he works and he only works when he is called up to work. Meaning he has no idea where or when he is going to get his next pay. Yet when asked, he insisted on giving his land for free! How many of us educated, monthly paid people put in his shoes make the same decision. We probably think it was a foolish decision only the uneducated can make! The person did compensate the laborer for his loss but again that’s secondary.

So Money is just the tool that can help to get what we want, let’s treat it with the respect it deserves but let’s not chase it so blindly that we lose sight of the very purpose of why we are chasing it. Let’s not fear it but be cautious of its power to engulf us and manipulate us. I made 1.8M while playing the game but the game did not factor personal health, at 55 even if I really had that much money, it’s no use to me if I were to be counting my days. So let’s take stock of our needs, our current situation at regular intervals and enjoy life with what we have - whenever we can ;)

Australian GP - My own review

To start off, a mention of my allegiance to the Red of Ferrari, so no points if you think the same after reading the whole post. Initially it was my liking to Schumi’s skills that got me hooked on Ferrari but recent news on McLaren trying to lure Schumi got me thinking and I think now I love the team more than the 2 drivers. The history and tradition of the team, the more you read it’s very beautiful.

Secondly, I am happy for Karthikeyan giving a good account of himself. I think he had a good day. Was very apprehensive about his chances, thought he will do a Alex Yoong, it was much better a performance. If only Indian sponsors had trusted him earlier(He could have been Jaguar's second driver), F1 fever would have spread in India and we could have had our own GP by now. F1 would be ideal for India's tourism, I hope it happens soon.

Now to the race proper, not a bad week for Ferrari/Bridgestone, Barrichello has proved that the 2004 car can still match the front runners so it was just bad luck that Schumi could not finish within the points. McLaren, Williams, BAR all have no reason to party, none of thier packages seems to be taken the F1 circus by storm, Montoya has a silent race by his standards, the TV cameras never went his direction - that was surprising.

The surprise of the weekend are definitely the Red Bull team, excellent performance for a new team, all though they would have carried on from Jaguar's groundwork, their performance this week was miles ahead of anything Jaguar could have conjured up. Its sad to see such a presitigous car maker like Jaguar go out but then its a competitive team in Red Bull Racing that has replaced them and it better for the big picture. Coultard is a better choice than Hiedfeld and I think they chose rightly, Coultard's experience can be used to develop the car and the team, if their start is anything to go by, Red Bull Racing could soon follow BAR's roadmap and could see real competitive drivers driving for them soon.

Hiedfeld seems to have taken over Montoya's single mission of spoiling it for Schumi. I think the commentators were little bit easy on him, it was a right corner and Schumi had the racing line, Hiedfeld had no right to go for it, to me it was just plain frustration from a man overtaken the previous corner. It was poor judgement, probably he thought he could get more media coverage by taking out the world champion that finishing 9th.

Finally, Button should calm down. All this crap about him beating Schumi given the same car is nonsense. For a person who wanted to ditch his team and join a front runner (Atleast he thinks so), just to win races - he has no rights to talk about a World Champion, who joined a flaggering team, worked hard for years and made them the world beaters that they are today. Its very unfair to state that Schumi is winning because he has the best package. He along with Todt and Brawn are the reason why Ferrari are what they are today. So if Button is even half as talented as the great man, he should shut up and work hard instead of running around looking for the best car. If you have earnt your millions, there is nothing wrong in flaunting it.