Indians 'world's biggest readers'

Here is a article on the BBC - Indians are world's biggest readers

If you read the full article, there is one guy supporting the survey saying, Indians are extremely entrepreneurial and one doubting it by saying "he could not see Indians flocking to the bookstores". His argument is that Novels don’t sell by the thousands within India. Novels and self-help books are not news, they don’t get outdated within an hour. I think the choice of picture on the article should fuse any doubts along those lines, Indians read, simple; Not necessarily from the book shelves of big-name bookstores but from the used bookstores. I wonder why Venkateshwar Rao, supposedly a leading columnist never gave a thought to the thousands of such shops all across the country. I don’t think they make money exporting the books back to the US and UK :)

I know streets in Chennai where thousands of such books get sold everyday and those reading are not those worry about the rat race but the ones that go through the motions of 9-5 and read just to keep them informed and have some intelligent chatter over tea! Even if you take the rat race amongst Indians, these second-hand bookstores play a huge part in that they are a lot of self-made graduates who study via correspondence (Self-study, part-time courses made available by reputed Universities) using books sold from such bookstores.

Another interesting find is that Indians are 4th from bottom when it comes to watching TV! Amazing, considering the millions watching the mega serials on TV every night and the countless TV channels that we have! I am sure the people surveyed were not the right choice to make such a decision, and for sure is flawed, but still anything that shows India in a better light is welcome by me!

What if? - Always counter productive

When I play pool with my colleagues, there is this one guy who goes "Why, what happened?" whenever I miss something obvious or a shot easy to take. I would annoy me really because, it’s not reversible and even if I found out why; he is not going to allow me to re-take the shot, so why bother wondering why!

The same goes with this habit of wondering what if? At times of difficulty or disappointment we most often spend time imagining what would have been if we have changed some little thing, some little decision in our life. The only outcomes is that it makes you even more unhappy and makes you hate yourself/ or the other person who influenced your decision. The weaker ones are even worse; they won’t even accept responsibility for their decisions, but lay the blame at the feet of the person who influenced his/her decision. There is nothing more counter-productive than wondering what if?

When you take a wrong turn on the road, you don’t actually trace back and wonder why, you just look at where you want to be, and take actions on how to get there from where you are currently. Its quite a gift if we can maintain the same attitude with our decisions that we have to make daily in our lives. We should not wallow in disappointment over how we got to where we are but think about what we need to get where we want to be, as with so many things about self help lessons, EASIER SAID THAN DONE.

Anniyan - Bad movie, good cause.....

I watched the much hyped latest Tamil movie - Anniyan. Just because the director was due a movie, he seems to have taken his oft repeated ideas from his previous movies and conjured up a concoction that does not hide the lack of effort on his behalf. For a movie which took more than a 10 Million Singapore Dollars to complete, it’s definitely a disappointment. Half that money seems to have spent on a single song!

Even though I am angry with myself on spending so much on the movie, I am happy that in a small way the movie has asked the right questions to the Indian public. The question on corruption, small mistakes and acceptance need to be asked and needed such a grand stage as this. Hopefully it gets a few of us thinking. If 500 Million people steal 5 cents, then it’s a 5 Million dollar crime, people need to realize this. Another interesting point was regarding sports. For a country of our size domination in the sports arena should come easy, it’s the politics that’s stopping us. Take football for instance, the problem that countries like Thailand face is the physical edge, we don’t even lack that, so why is our team not even one-tenth as decent as the Thai’s – no one knows and no one cares……

It was slightly disappointing that the crux of the issue was criticized within the movie by the comedy actor Vivek; he did try to convince that problems within the society has be accepted, and one has to adapt himself to lead a normal life; that was a mistake in itself. Education has a much bigger role in India’s re-awakening. Re-awakening, because we were big before the British plundered us, and movies should play their part in it. Movies with such powerful social tones such as Anniyan if delivered the right way will get the common man thinking, if we combine this with the power of the students and the money from NRI’s, India will be back where it rightfully belongs.

As for the movie itself, the publicity blurb for the film says: 'He who comes from Hell is not afraid of Hot Ashes'. Well it’s partly true, the movie is definitely from hell and Shankar is not afraid to churn out crap even after ‘Boys’.

US GP: Farce? It could have been worse

Firstly, congrats to the King and his deputy for making the Tifosi and the rest of claret red fans happy with a Ferrari 1-2. It’s a shame that they did not have to fight for it, as with the Canadian GP, the rest of the pack did not fancy it. Slightly unhappy with Narain that he did not compete for the 3rd place on the podium, it was his opportunity to have grabbed some limelight; it would have been great to see the Indian Flag on the podium.

If you have read the post-race press conferences, you can see that the press tried hard to put all the blame on Ferrari not agreeing to the extra chicane. It was shameful because the chicane was not the problem; it was Michelin's tyre durability. The choice to go with Michelin was one that the racing teams took, under no-one else's influence. You can’t take a faulty pen to the exams and ask the examiner and the other students to postpone the exam. Just because Michelin provides the tyres for the majority of the teams, FIA or the Bridgestone runners cannot be blamed for a situation whose only cause is under performing Michelin tyres. The Michelin runners were doing well until now leaving Ferrari on the way-side, Ferrari did not ask for a rule change then, did it?

Only justified boohs were those from the stands, they paid good money to get into the track and covered huge distances to get there. To see six cars, out of which two belonged to a different class must have hurt. The Michelin runners have to be pay some penalty, because it was not a situation were the cars were not running but a question of not taking turn 13 at the maximum speed, it was a compromise but something within their hands. By taking thier cars out, they made a point, one which is not within their authority to make. As I mentioned, it could have been worse, in the sense that they could have "staged" their retirements, taking a car out every other lap.

Biggest disappointment of the weekend is Mr. Paul Stoddard, Minardi's owner. This B**t**d not only sent his cars out without lending his support to the Michelin runners most of whom supported his stupid case to re-use last year's car without following the 2005 standards, but also blamed his decision on Jordan's decision to race!!!! Cunning piece of shit, he took the points that were available and still wants to look good. Shameful behavior!

India - Economically on fast forward but socially?

Kindly read this article on Aids by Time before reading further. Are we paying the price for our super fast economic growth? Assuming that the numbers are flawed as suggested by the article, one of the following is true. Either the government has no time for social issues because it needs to fill its empty coffers or they don’t want to highlight the social problems fearing that it would falter our economic growth. As far I am concerned its the latter. I never read about the Child sex problems in Goa and Calcutta while I was in India, to date I still don’t know why we haven’t taken measures to use the database of such bastards that the developed nations maintain to ban them from entering our country.

My friend is the one who brought up this article. He asked "Why does the Indian Government not spend more on education and resources like condoms and free syringes?" As he is a Singaporean his assumptions that the Government should act on social issues and its initiatives reach people effectively, of which mostly succeed can be forgiven. As Indians we know that the same does not apply to our country and the size of the country and head count of its people makes doing the same a Himalayan Challenge. So if we wanted immediate action, it’s from the NGO's and few good people who take up social well-being as their sole agenda of life. But is education really the problem?

India of today is the best example of the Rich and Poor Divide. There are millions who are far educated make 50K a month living amongst the rest who make up the majority and don’t get to make that even within a year. Let’s take the educated, trendy, socially and economically aware lot - who is to say that they have not contributed to the current AIDS situation? If multiple sex partners is considered cool, it won’t help the cause will it? Among this crowd there are people who blame the society for their AIDs plight and want to spread it as an act of revenge, so there you go, counseling is more of a solution rather that mass education.

Next question was "Is it really so hard to speak to those who live in villages about sex?" Yes, its taboo, but the fact is that sex is something that the poor can find easily. Often its their only past time, women in the villages still don’t get to "put their foot down" and stand their ground, they are being married only for children and to take care of domestic duties. The concept of condoms will be frowned upon as children are considered to be "god’s gift", so anything that prevents that from happening is evil! You cant educate them by talking to them, as these people will only learn if it happens to them, even if the next door neighbour get AIDS, the person is most probably say the infected person must have angered the gods and would assume that the same thing wont happen to him/her.

Final Question, "What would it take to make such topics acceptable (apart from bollywood's and the media's increasing contribution)?" Bollywood's role is open to debate. Its no point that the Actors talk about it off screen, because that does not reach the masses. Its the stories and their roles on screen that influence the masses. Like the recent guideline to avoid smoking scenes in movies, stars should avoid stories that advocate wrong messages to the society. So what does it take? No constructive action can be expected from the masses, having said that, if something dramatic happens then they will heed. The closest successful example is Polio, even in the remote villages; they are aware of the disease and take vaccination. If you wonder why they are so receptive, because it does not take much from their part, just turn up and get vaccinated, so the only solution is to find a cure, something as simple as a vaccine.

CANADIAN GP: Ferrari back? Not a chance....

As much as I was happy to see two red suits on the podium on Sunday, everyone within the team and the Tifosi would unwillingly acknowledge that the two podium places were gifts from Renault rather than hard earned points. Although not that happy with the weekend, I would like to celebrate Renault's "DNF" status against both its cars. These are the first signs that the Championship is not a foregone conclusion so early into the season, at least the constructors is really wide open.

After looking promising over the initial races, Narain seems to have gone off the boil so soon, retirement over technical reasons are unfortunate but mistakes like his are not. Only note of consolation was that both Button and Alonso did the same thing, but the fact is that they are established drivers and there is no question mark over their immediate F1 future which is not the case for Narain. This reminds me of the Roy Keane-Ireland fiasco. Like Roy said, there is no point celebrating playing the World Cup, if those celebrations exceed its limits and you don’t work hard, you will be out after the first round! This applies to Narain, he has worked hard for where he is and it would be very disappointing to see lose all that within one year.

Kimi, my choice for Schumacher II, had another good race, McLaren seems to have sorted out their package and look to the best out there at the moment. I really wanted to see Kimi take on Montoya for the first position but the self proclaimed championship material dumbass decided that red lights apply only for commoners and justifiably sent packing back to the garage by the race steward. At the end of last season, I was really looking forward to 3 battles among teammates, Kimi vs Montoya, Trulli vs R.Schumacher, Webber Vs Hiedfeld - amazing none of the three have lived up to expectations......As for Barri, extraordinary third place, did his job well and suitably rewarded.

Finishing off with the King himself, I am worried about his aggressiveness again. It was very unlike Schumi to follow Kimi like he did on Sunday and he did not even try, was very disappointed. I hope it was the car or the tyre or his thin championship hopes were the reasons behind his decision to accept second place. I read another blog where it was suggested that Schumi should have retired when we was at the top, uneducated would my immediate response, I am sure that Schumi would consider this to be one of his interesting years and would be relishing the challenge. Quitting at the top is for people who have piggybacked their way to the top or were born at the top, not for people who have worked their way up because they know their way back up and will surely return.

European GP - Really sorry for Kimi

Nick Heidfeld - Slowly but steadily proving himself, McLaren overlooked him when he and the world expected the McLaren seat. But then they had a chance again last year and plumped for "Mr Good for nothing but talk" Montoya. The excuse for "Please look at me, I can talk" Montoya is that he is not race-fit and would take a few weeks more to prove that McLaren can conjure 2 good cars. It seems BMW wants to buy over Sauber and take Heidfeld over with them. With Massa doing well and making Villeneuve look like a truck driver, that would mean Karthikeyan has to strike off Sauber as potential suitors. Narain again lost out to Monteiro, and it was a racing maneuvre Monteiro took him out fair and square.

As for the King himself, he desperately needs some luck and he can only earn that by taking the pole. Bad luck struck in the form of Webber this time, but still did well to finish 5th and definitely my star of the race. Unfortunately there was none of his mid-race bursts that we have come to be accustomed to recently, so, 5th place was not bad and Barrichello gave the Tifosi something to shout about. Ferrari, importantly Bridgestone are definitely way off the race pace but its very impressive that there has been no public bitching so far. Its important that they stay united. Everyone seems to think that the King will bow out this year, but I personally am very sure that he will take all this on his chin and will be back and will go out being acknowledged as the best racing driver and team leader ever, not only by the Tifosi but every single soul that is passionate about F1.

Only other talking points were Webber's acceptance of blame for his mistake at the first corner, a true gentleman and unfortunately too nice to be in F1! Next time we hear "It was a racing incident", the person needs to be reminded of Webbers actions. BAR seemed to have partied for the past month and were way off in everything and Button did well to finish at all.

Finally the sight of Kimi walking back. I really felt for him, no matter how much he earns he would have gladly traded all his wealth for a promise from god that such a thing would never happen again! I remember this happening to his mentor Hakkinen once before but not sure during which GP or the year and I think it was a Ferrari that benefited, but again not sure whether it was Schumi or that "Montoya Snr" Eddie Irvine. We use the cliche 'So near, yet so far' so often that sometimes we forget the bloody sad significance of that, it really hurts and in my own context I have experienced it and it takes a lot to recover from that and it for sure is not easy. There is no comforting word in the dictionary that would have cooled Kimi. Kimi, the world is sincerely sorry.

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.