Get your decisions atleast half right...

I sometimes wonder why parents so badly wanna get their kids married off so early. I do understand that its a burden off their shoulder once they get their daughters married off much before she comes up and tells "dad, i like this guy. He is not from our cast or religion but he's a nice guy. I really love him dad. I want to get married to him". It saves them of all the social stigma they need to go thru if they have to face a situation like that. So they play safe. At times the daughter is smart enough to take her time and convince her parents also to take some time before making decisions. I really don't believe anybody can just blindly go marry someone your parents have found for you without even interacting with the person for a week. Its called absolute stupidity and sometimes you have to pay dearly for such acts of foolishness. Whether the reason is your Kundali saying you have to get married before so and so date or the society putting pressure on the parents to get their kids married off before its 'too late', there is no excuse for playing with and spoiling a girl's life with such hasty decisions. This is one thing i see in a lot of malayalee families these days and i so hate it. Come on man, nobody is gonna eat your daughter up. Give them also some time to settle down in life. 23 is too bloody young to take care of a family for girls of this generation. These are gals who have been pampered by none other than their parents themselves for their whole lives and all of a sudden they want them to go to another family and take up all the responsibilities that comes with running a family. And my dear gals who are reading this. Dont fuckin ever be foolish to just tell your dad, i know you will find the right guy for me daddy. i will marry any guy you find for me. I trust you and your choice. I will say FUCK U. Its your bloody life man. So you make your own decisions and not you dad. There is no guarantee that the guy you find for yourself is foolproof, but atleast you wont have to live with the guilt that you married a guy whom you never really liked or wanted to marry but did so just to make other people happy.
Read an article in times of india today which showed the drastic increase in divorce cases in bangalore among the IT sector. Just like the bomb blast issue, such articles never hit you hard until your near and dear ones are affected by it. And today it did hit me hard when she told me "Sandy, I am officially divorced".
I still remember her tell me how nice a guy she has found and that i should meet him once to understand what a wonderful guy he is. I just posed this one question to her even then, how can you be so sure about how good or bad this guy is whom you just met a week back and to whom you are getting married to the next week.
I really don't know the exact reason behind the whole thing. So i cant make my assumptions to why it happened in this particular case or reach any sort of conclusion. But i had seen a similar issue around 3 years back when one of my classmates got married just in the same fashion and it all ended almost in the same fashion. Its not that simple as it sounds for a gal in her early twenties to live with a divorcee tag.
Its a very big decision in life that you are taking so please make sure its a wise one. I know some of these marriages end with a happily ever after tag line. But not everyone is that lucky.
Extremely frustrated cos when i spoke to her i didn't know whether to talk about her past and try consoling her or talk about her future and try encouraging her. So all i could do was to use the present tense perfectly and talk as though nothing ever went wrong.

I AM LEGEND - the comeback is complete

"Might never be able to get back to my magical best, but still assure you that i'l never give an opponent defender an easy game on the pitch"
This was how i ended my previous post:) and it didn't take me 72hrs after making that statement, to prove what i actually said. Sandy was still not hundred percent fit, nor was Sandy at his magical best. But Sandy led arguably one of the best teams he's ever played for to glory. Team ANTI VIRUS(the story of the origin of that name is explained later) went on to win the McDowell Futsal Friendzy and become the best team in Bangalore out of a total 100 odd teams. It was not a team filled with extraordinary talent, but it was six guys who gave it their all and played for each other throughout the tour that led to this triumph. It was what you call a complete team effort:) But none of this would have been a reality after we almost returned on the day of qualification rounds without taking part after looking at the 700 odd footballers flocking the BRV ground to prove themselves;)
It was around 10 days before the tournament that one of my Budweiser cup teammate asked me if you would play this tour, but i was unsure cos i thought playing without being fit might just hamper their chance of winning the tour with me being a liability:( So initially rejected the offer. But after playing for the office team and scoring four goals in my return match, i just got a feeling that i might just be able to pull it off. So agreed to play. But it so happened that all my Budweiser mates were not convinced that i was fit enough to play, so i had to step back out again:(
Somebody's loss is someone else's gain;) At the same time some of my college juniors were bugging me asking if i was playing this tour and if they had a chance to play in my team. So an idea struck my mind and sandy just thought, "why not make my own team and then go play". And thats exactly what i did. Didnt take too much time to organize a team with six out of seven guys i had in my mind for forming the team, accepting the offer immediately. Thats how the fairy tale begun;)
Now next step was to register online. So for this i also needed a team name which was funky. Asked for a few opinions from teammates and friends, got a variety of replies from blitzkrieg to trojan. thats when somebody told virus, i just tweaked it a little bit and made it ANTI VIRUS. It was indeed a different name and it added a jazzy outlook to it when it was on the newspapers the next day after our victory.
On the day of qualification we arrived at the ground at around 8am in the morning. A overcast morning with a slight drizzle and trust me we were in no mood to play then. But when we saw the number of ppl who had come for the competition we literally planned to walk out of there and go to someother ground and play some good footbal there than waste our time here. There were ppl of all ages, young, old. Loads of school and college kids. I myself was looking old in front of all these kids. After a long and hard thought we finally decided to go ahead and participate in the obstacle course which looked pretty interesting with the top 32 teams with best timings qualifying for the finals the next day. So after the verification and all the other formalities were complete we went ahead with our obstacle course. It went on pretty smooth with just a few bloopers with Cisa handling the ball even though we were instructed not to use our hands. Finished it in 99 seconds which was a really good timing. And when the results were announced in the evening we were more than relieved to know we had qualified for the finals:)
Had to do a little shopping since studs were not allowed for the matches. Tried Ramya's brothers shoes which were a little too big for my tiny foot:( so went ahead and got myself a white canvas shoes for 140 bucks, just like the ones i used to wear in school on saturdays;) Looked pretty funny but comfortable nevertheless:) at the end of the day the 140 bucks turned out to be a very good investment.
The day when 32 of the best teams in bangalore go head to head to decide who the best in bangalore is;) Have still not introduced my team yet. Let me do that first.
Vivek Easwaran aka kullu, one of the young kids on the block. Have played football for the last few years with him and know he's an immensely talented kid even though his under the bench activities have hampered his game a bit;) This is a guy who might just be the worthy hire to Sandy's throne since he's joined cmrit now:)
Mahesh Krishnappa aka Mash and Abhishek AS aka Cisa, two guys who are running the show now with respect to footbal in Cmrit. Again my juniors from college who are great footbalers and i had recognized their talent long ago. This really helped me hand pick each individual whom i felt will fit into the team.
Robin Chentamara, my colleague from work. I know he has a very big heart when it comes to playing football. And trust me he just proved that with a fearless mindblowing performance. Brother if only both of us replicate this performance of ours for Capgemini, that team will win a lot more matches;)
Maad... not many people know his name is Sunil. If i trust one guy to stand like a monster and protect my goal at all times, thats this guy. Have seen him chalk out some brilliant displays in the past, this one was equally good. When people were talking to me about the size of the goal post and the fact that goalkeeper might not be able to use his hands, i just had a simple answer which more than answered all their queries, " I have MAAD on goal" ;)
First match was against UAFA(we assumed it stands for united arab football associations). None of the players looked indian, they were all from the middle east. So finally sandy was leading his team in a big tournament after long and i was not even sure i would last a single match with this still damaged leg of mine. But the team pulled off a good performance winning the match comfortably 5-1. Kullu and Mash scoring two goals each after Robin opened the account. Sandy had 3 assists out of the 5. Very unlike sandy(who's normally a selfish bitch in front of goal). Dont remember passing so much when i had the goal at my mercy ever in my life:D But i am a senior player now, and i do have to set an example to the younger generation:P Frankly speaking it was a very matured performance from me, for once not looking to play for the crowds and for once not looking to bask in all the limelight. Just proves one thing Sandy, you are a bloody OLD man now:) All the while in every single huddle before our match all i was telling the guys was to forget about winning and just to enjoy your game:) The minute you get desperate to win, the pressure on you to perform mounts immensely, Rajesh just told me before we started the day. And it was indeed pretty true.
Second match also was a walk thru against a team named Josephites united. Scored early and then killed off the game with some good ball possessions. Won it 3-0 with me scoring twice and Mash adding the third. Even though we guys upfront were doing all the scoring the guys doing the mopping work behind were simply outstanding. Robin was sliding into every single tackle and then next moment up on his feet and chasing the ball again. Never seen him this aggressive in any of my office matches. Cisa was following the ball everywher when its with the opponents intercepting almost all attacks and shifting gears from defence to attack in a flash. And Maad was sound and secure on goal just doing the neccessary.
Next was the quarter-finals against a team named One Touch. We literally tore them apart in the first half. I remember hitting the post almost thrice in the first half myself but we just could not find a breakthrough:( 0-0 at halftime was anybody's game. But some sheer brilliance from Mash with a magical long range effort opened the floodgates. We went on to score three more with Mash completing his Hat-trick and kullu adding the fourth from my assist after i twisted and turned past the entire opposition and squared an inch perfect pass which he duly converted. I was just feeling myself regain my magical touch and for the first time in the tour,celebrated slightly aggressively after the goal was scored responding to the constant support of my Budweiser team mates who were cheering us all the way.
Semis was a fiery affair. It was an ASC team which looked extremely good. We watched one of their games and they slotted in ten goals in fifteen mins against their helpless oponents. And in the quarters they defeated my Budweiser team. So it was sort of a revenge encounter for me and i delivered in stlye. Won the match convincingly with a 2-0 scoreline with me netting in both the goals in the first half. A clinical performance by the team. This was actually our most important match since we were assured atleast a prize money of 20,000 whatever the outcome of the finals:)
Finals was a cat and mouse affair with both teams being cautious in the beginning. It was against a strong Murphy Town team which played aggressively but we took the lead when Kullu backhealed my through ball into the net. After that Maad pulled off a string of excellent saves to deny the opponents the equalizer and then against the run of play Kullu scored the team's and his second goal to literally kill the game. They did manage to score a consolation goal towards the end even though it was highly controvertial. But we held on to a famous win. We were officially they best team in Bangalore and returned home with a fat pay cheque of 30,000 for our efforts over the weekend. ANTI VIRUS had literally swiped all the other teams off and reached the pinnacle of glory.
It was definitely my greatest win till date since the level of competition was hundred folds of what we had in the Budweiser tour. But we defied all odds to be crowned the champions. Supposed to represent Bangalore region at the national finals in Kolkata but canceled that cos of the semester exams for most of the engineering boys. Murphy Town boys who were gutted after their defeat were overjoyed when we asked them to participate in the finals in our place.
We were all over the papers the next day:P had become celebrities overnight, specially the ones in college. Robin even gave an interview for TV9:)
All in all it was a one of a kind experience. We were the underdogs throughout and we used that tag to our maximum advantage. I still dont really understand what i blabbered before every match to the team in our team huddle, but one thing was clear and evident. We didnt come here expecting to win the trophy but just to enjoy ourselves playing some good football and we managed to do that in style. Thats all i kept reminding them and they definitely didnt let their captain down. A big thanks to Rajesh who came along with us even though his team didnt qualify, and supported us throughout the day with his valuable advise when we guys needed someone to point out our mistakes. Hats off to all you guys. It was an honour playing with you guys. You guys really played with your hearts on your sleeve. Get your passports made soon;) We'l be headed to Old Trafford soon because next edition of Budweiser cup in not too far away:)
And on a personal front. I guess my comeback is now complete:) But never expected it will be with this big a bang:P
Definitely my most mature ever performance on the football pitch;) 4 goals and 7 assists in the tour is not bad either;) Hopefully this rich vein of form continues, i guess i have another good two years in me;)

Day 2 ends in disappointment

Was not able to score the two goals i had promised to score:( nor were we able to win the match:(
Disappointing 2-1 defeat with me scoring just a consolation goal towards the end of the game. Nevertheless was a successful return for me on a personal front. My leg's never felt better in the past six months. Looking forward to scoring more and more wonderful goals with my beloved right foot ;) Might never be able to get back to my magical best, but still assure you that i'l never give an opponent defender an easy game on the pitch :)

Mixed emotions on Day 1

Would have been a fairy tale comeback for me today had few of the results gone our way. Personally a very satisfying performance from my side considering being out of action for so long. Most importantly the leg has responded brilliantly and no concerns whatsoever with it :)
Lost the first match against SPT after a sloppy defensive performance 8-6( a tennis like scoreline). Scored 4 out of the 6 goals coming on as a super-sub. So it was an eventful return indeed, victory might just have been the icing on the cake :(
Second was a much tougher game against Logica and we too improved our display and played out a hard-earned draw :) was very impressed with the way the boys fought this one. Some of them just gave it their all. I didn't score, but nevertheless a good result.
Got Pro-Fx coming up tomorrow morning and it will invariably be our last tough match. A victory there will mean we had a good weekend overall in terms of result's.
Something tells me I'll score atleast two in this one :D

I still consider him my god :)

Big match coming up today after a pretty long break.
What better way to get you all geared up and prepare yourself mentally before the match, other than watching 200 of my idol Thierry Henry's best goals at 4 in the morning :)
I know people still criticize him, but in his peak there was no matching the man.
He was truly magnificent :) Hats off to you. Hopefully i can replicate some of his magic today ;)

Return of the wounded soldier

Six months or to be more precise, 197 days. A really long time for a passionate footballer like me to stay away from playing a single competitive match. Have put on a few extra kilos over this period and my slight ponch is more than evident to the naked eyes these days. To put it in simple words, i am highly UNFIT these days. Cant climb two floors in my office building without panting :(
So to actually think that i am going to represent my company team(which i once was the captain off, before my injury) tomorrow seems far fetched. Might just play a cameo role of a super-sub. Or might just be that driving force needed for the team which helps them put the ball in the back of the net more often than they normally do ;) Whatever the case, i just get a small feel inside that i will somehow manage to pull it off in style tomorrow :)
Just wait another 24hrs for the result to be updated here. Now just go do what you do best my dear, focus on the match ahead without making big pre match statements ;)
There is absolutely no pressure on you to perform for once. Hehe
Make your performance do all the talking :)
- The Passionate Footballer

Emotional abuse ;)

One of the most touching personal mails that i've received till date from anyone. Was initially supposed to be a mail to abuse me but it literally turned out to be something so emotional that my eyes were filled with tears by the time i finished reading it. Here it goes, a mail from a person i have never met and our only real interaction was over phone calls. Never expected him to get so deeply hurt due to my actions ;)

Dear sandeep,

As per your phone calls i booked the room at cheraibeach resort. I am not force you to take the room at cheraibeach resort. You asked me to book for you .Several times I called to your mobile phone and rings it, but no response. If you are not interested to stay there, please inform me about that also. I believe your words, but u mislead me lot.

Never do this in your next journey, other wise no one never believe you and never believe your words also .

Best regards
Ajay

Poor guy, i am sure he would have wanted to really abuse me. But the way he expressed himself over this mail somehow was extremely hilarious to me. Dont want to get really deep into the incident and explain why he actually sent this to me. Part of the mail is anyways self explanatory. My dear Kerala boy tried to take advantage of 8 people who were desperately seeking accomodation but somehow this cosmopolitan egoistic bangalorean soul just didnt feel like taking all this lying down. So it resulted in a last minute change in plan and hence the outcome was this cute little piece of literature :) Will never repeat this mistake Chetta ;) i've learnt my lessons :)

Wenger: Success And Experience Are Not Synonymous

They really do confuse me off late... A frustrating draw against local rivals Spurs after conceding two goals in injury time. Then a defeat to newly promoted Stoke city courtesy two Rory Delap long throw-in's and a dull draw against Fenebache at home in the champions league. Thought thats the end of the title challenge and they come up with an absolutely spirited team performance to gun down MAN U. Just loved the victory. Still not convinced they really have the title credentials, but never know. Off late they have become so unpredictable that even a hardcore gunner like me am unsure whether to back them or write them off. Another three months down i will be in a better position to judge. Arsene - you continue to baffle me. But in you, we trust :)

Anniversary wishes to my dear footballer :)

Hope you are enjoying your time there and i am sure you will also be rejoicing watching me play some good football. Will return from injury and showcase some better football because i know you will enjoy watching me play well. Somewhere deep inside i know that for how ever good a footballer i am now, you had a big part to play in that. And don't ever think i have forgotten you even though its been really long now. One corner of my heart is always reserved for you. You will always remain in my memories and the date will always be remembered :) The day that changed my life :)
Rest im Frieden :)

Rangoli at its creative best...

The boys did it again.. three hrs before the whole thing was complete none of us other than tiger seemed any bit interested. Archit was laughing "in your face" types trying to ask us wat the fuck we guys were upto?? have you lost it?? ;) very familiar words they were indeed from a man who has to oppose atleast for the heck of it, every single time someone comes up with something different. Our interest levels were so low that an hour before the competition we didn't have a single raw material and not a single soul wanted to accompany TIGER to get the stuff. Typical RODHNEY characteristics. We finally had to pick lots and Dpai turned out to be the lucky one who had to accompany tiger to do all the shopping. We knew we will not be the best, but we didn't want to be like the rest ;) that was our motto for the day :) A unique concept we came up with(talent and tiger are still fighting over who's brainchild it was). For the next two hours it was a complete team effort from six amateur Rangoli makers(not sure if thats the right way to call someone who makes a rangoli) full of arguments and abuses exchanged during the course. The man who initially was laughing at this whole idea, was now the one who wanted to do everything. Way too many Rodhney's . hehe... but who cares. By the end of it, the outcome turned out to be a masterclass. At the start we didn't thinking of winning a prize but all we wanted was a mental satisfaction that we did take part in this just like we do for every other event and we gave it our best shot. Anything other than that was an added bonus. Praise poured in from all quarters after our masterpiece was complete and we were overwhelmed with joy for not even did we expect that the end result will be so splendid :) Well done guys. I am really proud of you :) We just proved today that if we really decide to do something as a team, there is NO MATCH FOR US :) We might not have won the prize for our rangoli today, but we did win a few hearts :) Three cheers to THE RODHNEY BOYS... Cheers to Chandrayaan... and by the way if you still have not realized it our whole design was that of a postage stamp with the launch of chandrayaan depicted in it :) But i doubt even the judge for the day noticed it was a stamp. The finer aspects are so easily ignored, but no complaints. All in the game :)

When the bubble burst...

Read this article a few days back and sort of got a basic idea of what led to the present global financial crisis. I know most people are still unaware of why the sensex is plummeting so much all of a sudden. So this article will give you a brief idea of what really went wrong behind the scene...

While some blame the greed of Wall Street investment bankers and the dangers of a totally unregulated system for the current financial crisis, what can’t be denied is that lives, and lifestyles, have been suddenly changed across the social spectrum and careers built up over a lifetime have vanished in an instant. Apart from the revised $700 billion bailout plan, can the U.S. government do enough to restore confidence and assuage the trauma?

The real question is: Who is going to compensate the common investors across the world who have lost their wealth in the resultant market meltdown?

The bursting of the speculative bubble in the U.S. housing market has destroyed billions of dollars in investor wealth across the world, crippled the banking system, expunged close to a million jobs…and India has not been spared either. With banks failing by the day, definitely, these are uncertain times for the financial services industry. While many people who have lost their jobs are faced with permanent shrinkage of their lifestyle, others in the industry are going through the trauma of not knowing if and when their turn would come. Who is to blame?

Flashback to year 2003:

Rohit (name changed to protect identity), a good friend of mine and someone who was officially considered to be a genius with an IQ of 150+, graduated from one of the leading IIMs. Rohit managed to make it into the New York Headquarters of the most sought after firm that had arrived on campus for the first time — Lehman Brothers — a top U.S. Investment Bank (then). On joining, he was assigned to Lehman’s mortgage securities desk that dealt with Collateralised Debt obligations (or CDOs).

Following is an extracted transcript of a chat session I had with Rohit back in 2004:

Me: So man, you must feel like you are on top of the world.

Rohit: Yes dude, the job here is amazing, I get to interact with people around the world, investment managers who want to invest millions of dollars

Me: Great…so tell me something interesting. What’s your job all about?

Rohit: You know there is a great demand for American home loans, which we buy from the U.S. banks. We then convert these into what is called as CDOs (Collateralised Debt Obligations). In plain English, this refers to buying home loans that banks had already issued to customers, cutting them into smaller pieces, packaging the pieces based on return (interest rate), value, tenure (duration of the loans) and selling them to investors across the world after giving it a fancy name, such as “High Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leverage Fund”.

Me: Wow! I would’ve never guessed that boring home loans could transform into something that sounds so cool!

Rohit: Hahaha…actually we create multiple funds categorised based on the nature of the CDO packages they contain and investors can buy shares in any of these funds (almost like mutual funds…but called Structured Investment Vehicles or SIVs)

Me: Dude, you make your job sound like a meat shop…chopping and packaging. So, in effect when an investor purchases the CDOs (or the fund containing the CDOs), he is expected to receive a share of the monthly EMI paid by the actual guys who have taken the underlying home loans?

Rohit: Exactly, the banks from whom we purchased these home loans send us a monthly cheque, which we in turn distribute to the investors in our funds

Me: Why do the banks sell these home loans to you guys?

Rohit: Because we allow them to keep a significant portion of the interest rate charged on the home loans and we pay them upfront cash, which they can use to issue more home loans. Otherwise home loans go on for 20-30 years and it would take a long time for the bank to recover its money.

Me: And, why does Lehman buy these loans?

Rohit: Because we get a fat commission when we convert the loans into CDOs and sell it to investors.

Me: Who are these investors?

Rohit: They include everyone from pension funds in Japan to Life Insurance companies in Finland.

Me: But tell me, why are these funds so interested in purchasing American home loans?

Rohit: Well, these guys are typically interested in U.S. Govt. bonds (considered to be the safest in the world). But unfortunately, Mr. Alan Greenspan (head of Federal Reserve Bank, similar to RBI in India) has reduced the interest rate to nearly 1 per cent to perk up the economy after the dotcom crash 9/11attacks. This has left many funds looking for alternative investments that can give them higher returns. Home loans are ideal because they offer 4-6 per cent interest rate.

Me: Wait, aren’t home loans more risky than U.S Bonds?

Rohit: We have made home loans less risky now. In fact they have become as safe as U.S Govt. bonds.

Me: What are you saying, man? What if the people who have taken these underlying home loans default? Then the investors would stop getting the EMIs, and their returns would take a hit. Wouldn’t it?

Rohit: Boss, may be some will default, but not definitely more than 2-3 per cent. Moreover, we have convinced AIG (a leading insurance company) to insure our CDOs. This means that even if there were big defaults,the insurance company would compensate the investors.

Me: that’s amazing. What are these insurances called?

Rohit: Credit Default Swaps.

Me: Definitely you guys are the most creative when it comes to naming.

Rohit: Thanks.

Me: And why has this AIG guy insured millions of home loans?

Rohit: See man, the logic is simple. Home prices in the U.S always go up. In fact over the last three years alone they have doubled. So even if someone defaults paying the EMI, the home can be seized and sold for a much higher price. So there is no risk. Insurance companies are actually competing to insure this, because they can earn risk-free premiums.

Me: No wonder investment managers from all over the world want to put money in your CDOs.

*A global financial cobweb started getting built around the American dream of purchasing a home and it rested on the assumption that “home prices will keep rising”. As demand for the CDOs started growing across the global investment community, the investment bankers (like Lehman) who were meant to sell these instruments also started investing a significant portion of their own capital in these. I guess after selling the story to the whole world, they themselves got sold on the seemingly foolproof concept. Gradually the markets for CDOs and Credit Default Swaps started expanding with traders and investors buying and selling these as if they were shares of a company, happily forgetting the underlying people behind these products who took the home loans in the first place and on whose capacity to repay the loans, the safety of these products depended.

As Wall Street firms like Lehman were churning more and more home loans into CDOs and selling them or investing their own money, there was a pressure on the banks to issue more loans so that they can be sold to the Wall Street firms in return for a commission. Slowly banks started lowering the credit quality (qualification criteria) for availing a home loan and aggressively used agents to source new loans. This slippery slope went to such an extent that in 2005, almost anyone in the U.S could buy a home worth $100,000 (45 lakhs INR) or more without income proof, without other assets, without credit history, sometimes even without a proper job. These loans were called NINA — “no income no assets”.

The U.S. housing market went into a classic speculative bubble. Home loans were easy to get, so more and more people were buying houses. The increased demand for houses caused the price to increase. The rising prices created even more demand, as people started to look at homes as investments — investments that never went down in value.

When I touched base with my friend Rohit in late 2005, he was on cloud nine. During the previous one year, he managed to buy a home in Long Island (a posh area near New York City) worth almost a million dollars, and got himself a Mercedes. All this was interesting to hear, but what shocked me was that although he was earning close to $20,000 a month (that is what CEOs in India make) he was not able to save anything because his lifestyle expenses where growing faster than his salary.

Unheeded signals

In late 2006, Mortgage lenders noticed something that they’d almost never seen before. People would choose a house, sign all the mortgage papers, and then default on their very first payment. Although no one could really hear it, that was probably the moment when one of the biggest speculative bubbles in American history popped. Another factor that lead to the burst of the housing bubble was the rise in interest rates from 2004-2006. Many people had taken variable rate home loans that started getting reset to higher rates, which in turn meant higher EMIs that borrowers had not planned for.

The problem was that once property values starting going down, it set off a reverse chain reaction, the opposite of what had been happening in the bubble. As more people defaulted, more houses came on the market. With no buyers, prices went even further down.

In early 2007, as prices began their plunge, alarm bells started going off across mortgage-backed securities desks all over Wall Street. The people on Wall Street, like Rohit, started getting calls from investors about not getting their interest payments that were due. Wall Street firms stopped buying home loans from the local banks. This had a devastating effect on particularly the small banks and finance companies, which had borrowed money from larger banks to issue more home loans thinking they could sell these loans to Wall Street firms like Lehman and make money.

Everyone got into a mad scramble to seize and sell the homes in order to get back at least some of the money. But there were just not enough buyers. The guys who had insured these loans thinking they had near zero risk (e.g. AIG) could not fulfil the unexpectedly huge number of claims. The best part was that since these insurance policies (credit default swaps) could themselves be traded, multiple people had bought and sold them, and it became so tough to even trace who was supposed to compensate for the loss.

The global financial cobweb built around mortgages is on the brink of collapse. Firms, large and small, some young some as old as a 100 years have crumbled as a result of suing each other over the dwindling asset values. Lehman’s India operations, that employed over a thousand staff, is up for sale and many of the employees have been asked to leave. The Indian stock market has crashed almost 50 per cent from its high (and so have markets around the world) as the Wall Street giants sold their investments in the country in an effort to salvage whatever is good in order to make up for the mortgage related loss. Hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies all over the world have lost billions in investor’s money. Many Indian B-School graduates with PPOs (pre-placement offers) in the financial sector (India and abroad) have either received an annulment or indefinite postponement of joining dates. IT firms that built and maintained software for the U.S. mortgage industry or the related Investment Banks, have shut down their business units, laid-off people or transferred them to other verticals.

Fragile system

For all the hoopla over the sharp and sophisticated people on Wall Street, the current financial crisis has exposed the fragility of the system. Wall Street is blaming the entire episode on people who could not repay their home loans. But the reality seems to point towards the stupidity of people who lent all this money, financial institutions that built fancy derivative packages and in effect facilitated billions in trading and investments in these fragile low quality loans.

The U.S. Govt is planning to grant 700 billion dollars to the Wall Street firms to compensate the financial speculators for the money that they have lost. Isn’t this like rewarding greed and stupidity? The head of a leading Investment Bank has stated, “This is necessary to sustain financial ingenuity. We don’t want to spend this money on ourselves. We just want this money to go into the market so that we can carry on trading complex securities, borrowing and lending money.” (Yeah…right, so that one can act as if nothing had happened without analysing too much into it). The real question is: Who is going to compensate the common investors across the world who have lost their wealth in the resultant market meltdown? (either directly or through pension funds).

After being unreachable for a month now, finally I heard back from my pal, Rohit, saying he is back in India to take a break from the roller coaster ride that he had lived through. After Lehman’s collapse he has lost his job and probably the house that he had bought by taking a hefty loan. I really don’t know whether to feel happy for him, for getting an opportunity to learn a lesson or two from the experience or to feel sad for him for losing his job. May be I’ll get a better sense of things once I meet him next week.

Kelloggs - the road ahead.....

After exactly 466 days, my time warming the bench of Capgemini india is finally coming to an end. Guess i was the longest serving member of the bench community in my company. Anyways got the confirmation mail of tagging to the new project today, so now its official that Sandeep Balan is going to work for Kelloggs atleast until march 2009 :)
Never expected my life to change so drastically in a matter of two days. Guess thats how life is and all its taught me is to remain patient and wait for your chance.
Anyways a fruitful week has come to an end with a totally entertaining party at Flambe with lots of nautanki and masti. Gulped down a few screwdrivers and also made a profit of 10 bucks playing thambola. So there is lots to look forward to in the next few months. I know time will run pretty fast from now on. Plan to perfection and do not even waste a single minute.
Wishing you all the best for your first live project engagement. Give it your best and the rest will fall in place automatically.
"jab bhagwan deta hai, tho chappar phad ke deta hai"

The star of riches is shining upon you

I have a serious feeling that the next 50 days are going to go a long way in deciding how my next two years would probably shape. To be very frank never expected to be shortlisted to give BI certification, even though on paper i had started preparing a month back(amru has belted me enough number of times for not being serious when it came to the preparation).
Reached office at 12 30 after being so reluctant to get off the bed in the morning and by then news of Wipaul's (aka wasted willy wonka) selection for BI certification was the most happening topic doing the rounds for the Rodhney boys with lots of congratulatory mails being exchanged.
Switched on the comp and then outlook to gaze through the unending good morning mails, but somewhere in between all those was a mail from the guy whom i had sent my nomination to :) It said "Your nomination is short-listed for the SAP TechED 2008 certification" and i could hardly believe my eyes. This shock factor came into the picture since we were told that all over india only around 150 are gonna write from Capgemini and as last years edition had very poor outcome in terms of pass percentage, only ones with proper experience in that particular module will be short-listed. So we had all but given up hope since we had not even worked on a single live BI project.
Still really confused what actually gave us that extra advantage when the managers concerned were sitting to decide who's gonna give it a shot this time. Might just be all the extra-curricular nonsense we have been doing over the past one year(that they finally felt these guys should atleast be given a chance to prove themselves on the technical side) or was it just the surprise element Capgemin throws every once in a while just like Yaapan's mid year rating which still remains a mystery even to him ;)
Whatever the case, Mr Wilson Paul and Mr Sandeep Balan have the ball in their court and now its totally upto them now to make use of the riches shining upon them or just remain a frustrated unhappy techie. That one day might just decide the road ahead for us.
Anyways been a eventful day with a trip to chikmangalur almost confirmed, the dream of having a good company football team slowly but surely becoming a reality after the team meeting with lots of new joinees coming in and a party tomorrow in Flambe(the name seems so flamboyant) for all the effort put by us in copying something from the internet and showcasing it as our own(Anu Malik sure would have been proud of our work).
And it got even better when i logged into orkut and found two new testimonials written for me, one being a highly controversial one :P Such things might not be off too much importance but these small small things are the ones that really bring a smile on my face and makes me feel happy:) You never know... after all the incidents off late, i always have a feeling... Kal ho na ho :)
So guess its time to buck up and start off straightaway, most importantly with a lot of seriousness because after all your company is trusting you and investing 18,000 bucks on you :D

Today's fortune: The star of riches is shining upon you;) Pretty apt i guess...

My first accident

And it did happen on the independence day :)Dont really know why, but all these injuries do happen to me only on such memorable days. Guess its just to help me remember the dates better. By the way i dislocated my ankle on the day of elections. The 10th of may and now this.
Even though got just a few scratches here and there specially to the left half of my body, i am so bloody glad that my right half is safe and especially my right ankle is safe and unharmed. Actually the first thing i was bothered about after helping myself on my foot after the skid was to check on my ankle. Was relieved when i knew no damage had been done to it even though my bike was slightly conked with my crash guard completely bent.
It was the same old story... A wet slippery road, a dog just comes in the middle and i apply my disk breaks instantaneously. Thats it... went skidding on the road for a good 5 meters. i didn't know what really happened for a second. By the time i got back to my senses a small crowd had gathered by, and luckily there was no vehicle behind me cos it was already 9 in the nite and the roads were empty.
hmmmm... Dont know why, but i am so hell bent on trying to screw my whole life by such stupidity. Really don't blame the dog also because all it gave me was an anjaan ;) and i fell flat for it, on that tarred road. It was purely because there was something else running in my mind at that moment of time that was bothering me, and my mind was not one bit on the road and that is the primary reason behind the whole thing. Never should i have done that but i did it and here i am, sitting with scratches all over my body and with scratches all over my dear bike too. Hmmmm... Just as you told Bai, i don't think i gotta give too much importance to people whom i don't think can reciprocate the same to me. hehe... I always learn my lessons the hard way, and i am pretty much used to it. So its all in the game :) Hope i recover soon from this jolt.
And the best part is, I WAS NOT WEARING MY HELMET WHEN THIS HAPPENED.
God bless me :)

mail mail go away... come again another day ;)

Day four:
Another mail, but this time to the entire floor. Got a feeling Sandy was atleast partly involved for everyone getting today's mail as a general warning;) As the days go by, things are getting murkier and scarier. Another day to go for this eventful week to come to an end. Dont know what is in store for me :( I am just hoping the mail server crashes for a few days. Then atleast there'll be some peace of mind.

Out-look

The Best

Hi All,

Can we meet some time to discuss about upgrade deck / team?

Jay - I have selected Vinay, Sandeep and Wilson for BI 7.0 upgrade team and they will be working with Murali on Valeo Comp@ss upgrade project.

Ravi - FYI.

Thanks,

And the worst

Hello Sandeep

One of the traits that we would want all our consultants to develop is the ability to take up challenges and to take more ownership. Here was a wonderful opportunity you had to demonstrate these and also to learn and explore new areas. It is disappointing to see the below mail from you and we strongly suggest that you take each and every task that is assigned to you very seriously. The tasks assigned are part of a larger goal and not completing one task means not completing the project.

I would like you to take ownership of this activity and complete this by 9^th July. There will no other postponement and so please ensure that the document is complete in all aspect.

Please reach out to the relevant consultants if you need any details

Best Regards,

Still wondering how i managed to get both these mails on the same day :)

Significant improvements...

Day three:
The atmosphere has changed quite a lot. Lesser work today compared to last two days. Managed to submit few documents also. So the whole mindset was perfect after a bad start to the week.
Had started another initiative in my office recently. Something very different... something nobody else in our office had tried before. hehehe... don't worry, it is not some patent and all. Just like in school, we were asked to maintain a notice board for our floor:) With lots of articles and some fun stuff relating to SAP and our company etc. Six of us were part of it, with one of our manager's as the head. Started off with hardly anyone even glancing at it. Its very difficult to pull the crowd you see, that too without doing anything outta the box to promote it(our manager wanted us to take a laid back approach). Slowly its gaining momentum and all 6 of us got our first appreciation for this(or thats what i am believing). Got a mail today evening from the same manager asking for our updated resume. He knows most of us are anyways jobless, so if at all he takes any effort to improve our condition then it'll be nice. Anyways will know the facts only tomorrow and hopefully i'l have something happy to update here tomorrow rather than sit and crib again.

Different people, Different perspectives...

Take 1: I am standing just outside my building talking on phone to some hdfc bank guy. One of the manager who's name was in the cc list in yesterday's mail and who had a talk with me about yesterdays issue just passed by. looks at me... a sheepish and irritating smile was there on his face. As though he achieved something great in life. Then he says, "good work yesterday... !0:30 in the nite and all, hmmmm". He just got onto my nerves that minute, but what to do. helplessly smiled back as though i was the big culprit in yesterdays crime and they won the war they had declared against me. I predicted this laugh from their side yesterday itself when i wrote, didnt i?? sometimes my assumptions do turn out right bob :)

Take 2: I am ripping on my bike. Its around 8 30 in the night and two of my colleagues are getting married tomorrow and we are really running late to attend their reception. Suddenly my phone rings and i pull out the phone and give it to amru who's sitting with me on my bike to check who it is. To my surprise, it was the same senior manager who had sent that mail to me. Stopped bike and picked up the call and he inquired about whether i was coming for the reception and when i would reach and stuff. Nothing much at all. But if you look into it deeply, there was no need for him to call me in the first place. I don't remember when was the last time he had called me on my cell. Somehow made me feel that somewhere deep inside he felt bad for what happened yesterday. Felt much better after that. We didn't speak a word about yesterday even after we reached there and were casually talking and having a bit of fun. Had the urge of wanting to go tell him the whole story from my perspective, but somehow could not muster the courage to do it today. Anyways happy my relation didn't screw up on a long term basis with him because of a silly incident. It might have been very difficult for me to face him in office from now on. But that one phone call changed it all. A phone call which otherwise would have been forgotten overnight, will be remembered for a while now:)

The Best and the worst!!!

The day started off brilliantly when the first thing i saw when i switched on my comp was a mail from my Manager, which called for a meeting and surprisingly the meeting was to deploy all of us finally onto a BI project for which we have been waiting patiently for the last 12 months. But the joy of getting a project was short lived when there was another mail within 5 minutes which stated that the meeting is canceled for now and rescheduled for a later time. We were so close to getting that break which we've been waiting for a very long time and now its just a few more anxious days until the verdict finally comes out. we later got to know that the reason for the cancellation of the meeting was because of our new "pool structure" in our organization. Since all of us were part of the north american pool and since the project is based out of the french pool we supposedly cannot be involved in it unless our pools are changed. And changing pools is not that easy a job. So our first project has almost slipped out of our fingertips with us knowing very well what will happen to this project now and it is inevitable. Now i feel it would have been good to get noticed really early in your company for your technical qualities rather than for your sporting qualities.
The second part of the day went on pretty well. Had a small meeting with our "would have been project head" and he really sort of impressed all of us with the way he carried himself(finding a smart knowledgeable senior guy in BI had off late become a really tedious task). He gave us some work to do and we were working on it on a very tight deadline. so devoted most of my time in that. Also moved around with a lot of caution today after we got news that we were getting very bad reviews from our managers(never in my wildest dreams thought i could have been one of the reasons).
But the last third of the day literally killed me off. Got a mail from one of my senior managers asking me to take up work given to me more seriously and finish it on time, and that such behavior is not accepted from any consultant of the company. It also had few of my previous mails attached which was part of my conversation with a senior consultant i was working with. To cap it all it had some of the top managers in SAP on the cc list. So what actually did i do to attain such wrath. Its a long story.
Let me go back in time. It was around ten days back that all of us were sitting around our cubicles and just having some casual talk. Suddenly this colleague of mine, Miss P comes to me with a senior looking guy. She introduces me to him and there started my bad time. Miss P very cleverly made it look to me as though a senior manager(whom i respect a lot till date) has assigned me some work under this senior consultant guy. Even though i was not one bit familiar about the nature of the work, i nevertheless accepted it cos in our present state any work that way coming our way was to be treated like gold. A few days and a few discussions later with this SC(senior consultant) i sort of understood what i am being asked to do. It looked very simple when he put it to me, and even i acknowledged that in the beginning. But i know for the fact that having never worked on Abap in the past one year and my Abap knowledge being almost nonexistent, i knew i had a mountain to climb even though all i had to do was documentation work. But this documentation work required quite a bit of in depth Abap knowledge. Initially i took it up with lot of interest but soon realized that without knowing the concepts behind all that i am doing i am never going to be able to make a perfect document. So after completing four out of the six documents, i shot a mail to the SC stating that this is all i could do and please make someone else do the rest. someone who is well verse with all this. But he reverted asking me to just complete the whole thing since i have already completed most of it and to take Miss P's help if necessary. Miss P, trust me knows nothing. But she pretends as though she heads half the projects on my floor. quite an achievement for someone from my batch. So everytime i ask Miss P any doubt there is only a "this is very easy kano" or a "i've not worked on this man, don ask me" as reply. All that she's tried explaining to me is nonsense and i still don know if she really knows what exactly the requirement is. Over the next two days i tried various means to finish it, even by talking a guy who's well verse with Abap and making my team leaders explain what exactly they want but to no avail. But the final nail was smashed when i somehow managed to complete the whole document and send it to the SC. But after a day Review of that document comes, but from an unlikely source. From Miss P. i was shocked when i opened the document. There were the silliest of possible mistakes which makes no difference to the document highlighted in blue. Do this, do that, this is not there, that is missing and a lot of such nonsense. That really pissed me off. i really wanted to know how qualified she was to review a document which i sent which really needed an experts opinion. i knew my doc will contain mistakes, but the ones she pointed to were mind blowing. So decided not to reply to that mail and told her personally that i don think i am qualified enough to make further changes. in the mean time i finally got some official work assigned to me from the BI side and was very happy to do something on that front. The next day i get a mail from the SC stating that this is not how we wanted the document and you can ask us to take you out of this assignment if you further cant assist us. and replying to that mail in the affirmative was the biggest mistake of my life. never knew that in corporate terms "tell me if u want to leave" means " if you leave u'll have to face the consequences". so this is what led to me getting that mail today. and there were also further activity and discussions among the managers due no my blunder which almost buried me alive on friday evening when i got a call from one of these managers almost threatening me indirectly.
Finally went and spoke to the senior manager in the night after Mr SC and Miss P had left. Appologised to him and asked him what i was supposed to do. he tried explaining to me, but by now i was almost overcome by emotions. just could not believe that the same manager whom i worked with day in day out for almost two months and whom i thought understood me well took this decision to mail without even speaking a word personally to me. I know i am not that good technically, but i never thought after the time we spent in Tech-ed he could ever question my integrity. but he did. dont know if he did it to threaten me or dont know if he did it to teach me a corporate lesson. it did hit pretty hard, and it did hit where it hurts.
Sat back till 11 in the night and almost completed it the fresh document. actually it was almost the same document but just modified and i am pretty sure if the right people check it this wont be rejected. The people involved might laugh thinking how they got this still-fresher to do the work by just threatening him. But thats not the case. I firmly believe that if you are working under the right ppl you will definitely deliver the goods, and any time i work for this particular manager i automatically tend to give more than a 100 percent come what may. But when ppl fail to understand that. it hurts.
The major problem is that we are still not given any official work and many like Miss P know this fact. so we become easy prey to such cheap tricks when they want to outsource any of their dirty work to us. and we being helpless due to lack of work cant show ppl like her the finger. Isnt all this what we call exploitation??? wonder which court i have to go to find justice!!!

Is Leaving Arsenal A Good Idea?

Over the past few days there has been a lot of speculation about a host of Arsenal players planning to leave the club for greener pastures elsewhere. This is nothing new to the club with similar situations cropping up at the end of every season. Mr Arsene Wenger finds relatively unknown talented kids and turns them into superstars and these superstars decide to leave the club to bigger clubs just to earn a few extra bucks. Its the same this season too, with Flamini already leaving the club and Hleb and Adebayor soon to follow.
So when i was just whiling away my time going thru articles on Goal.com in office, came across this very interesting article written about players leaving Arsenal and to be very frank i was very impressed with the article because it made a lot of sense. Will paste the link here and you read and enjoy and also decide for yourself for example if a player like Adebayor is worth what he's being offered.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=747107

One year of joblessness, nevertheless a great experience...

coming up soon...

10th may to 10th june

Finally after 31 days, the cast is off my leg. Don't think its the end of the ordeal though. got so used to the crutches and not using my right leg, that i am not even able to place my foot on the ground due to pain and stiffness. So guess it'll take a few more days to get used to walking on two feet rather that three.
But the worrying factor now is that the shape of my leg looks very bad. looking very pale and weak and slightly deformed too. There's hardly any flesh remaining on the already fleshless right leg of mine. All thats remaining are the bare bones now with the calf muscle performing a complete vanishing act, thanks to my fiber optic cast. So to rebuild all this and to get back to normal shape will take some time. Very realistically speaking getting back to walking normally might take another week or so and the next time you see me score a goal with this right foot of mine will surely be after around six months. Hopefully sandy puts on some body mass also by then :)

Langda Goda at work...

Two days in office, and it was not one bit easy with this leg of mine. Never actually intended to go there until I had this cast off my leg. But could not afford to exhaust all my leaves which i had accumulated over the last one year. So decided to finally get back to office. If not for the whole week then atleast for two or three days (and manipulate my presence there for the rest of the days). Had actually planned of going by the company cab, but that was always going to be a pain to go wait at the stop and then rot in traffic for 40 minutes, the same distance which I’ll cover in 10 minutes by bike.

I decided to go dressed for the occasion because I knew I’ll grab a lot of attention when I enter my floor on three legs. Had not worn a pant for almost a month since my injury(don't start getting ideas, i am always in shorts these days), so full excitement mein I wore a brand new pant which I had got stitched for vishu but had never got a chance to wear it. Also didn’t wanna hamper the company dress code. So went with shoes albeit only on one leg. So that completed my Langda Goda look :)

Went riding pillion on Anand’s Unicorn holding my crutches in hand which in itself presented me with some sympathetic stares from passerby’s. They we looking as though I was some permanently handicapped guy who’s lost his leg for ever and feeling sorry for me.

Sitting in my cube was never easy with the limited spacing considering I had to take special care of my leg. Somehow managed to sit thru till lunch by going thru the three hundred odd mails which had accumulated in my mail box over the last fifteen days. Also had to give a status report of my leg to every person who just happens to pass by my cubicle and sees me handicapped. Lunch was a big pain or as our boys at work call it “A Big Rodney”. Had to go to the cafeteria when the whole office will be there for lunch and it will again invite lots of attention, not that I don’t like it but still it’s a pain when that attention I am gaining is totally out of sympathy ;) on top of that our very own director was trying very hard to shoot a documentary of this Langda Goda as he was making full use of his half lakh phone to capture my walk right from my cube to the cafeteria. Basically one big Bakra they were making out of me, and I was so damn helpless cos I even needed the help of both my hands if I needed to walk properly now with these crutches. Or I would have shot them all. Hehe.

The second day was a bit more boring but we finished it off by lunching outside in a new Punjabi place that had just opened outside our campus. Good food it was, and i was happier because i was eating out after a very long time. Reached home early on both days fearing rain. Actually rain was more of a reason to escape early rather than get bugged any longer. It was adventurous though it took a slight toll on my leg with my leg getting numb at times cos of lack of blood circulation and resulting in a slight bout of headache. But anyways had to take the chance so that I don’t lose out on any more holidays since lots of trips in the pipeline in the near future and thought these leaves which I save now will come in very handy then.

Paying the Penalty

It’s not easy watching two of your fierce rivals face each other in a champion’s league final. I still believe that Arsenal deserved to be playing this match, but for that fateful night in anfield where “the tale of two penalties” combined with some utter foolish defending put paid to our champion’s league dream. Anyways after a season which promised so much and which ended with so little I’ve sort of stopped expecting too much from my so called young team ;) so Man U went on to win the title too after we blew up a five point lead with ten games to go. Has been a lucky season for Man U too. Guess it’s the Munich disaster that’s acting as the catalyst. And I really hate to see that prick Ronaldo bask in the limelight. I know he’s talented, he’s got good skills and now he scores goals too. He is definitely the best in the world at present. But I still HATE HIM.

So the stage was set, in the capital of Russia for the greatest prize in Europe. Whatever the outcome of the match, the trophy was definitely returning to England. Man U vs Chelsea to crown the champions of Europe. A big match it was, the only reason that I didn’t wanna miss it. There were not too many surprises in the team selection with Man U opting for a 4-4-2 and Chelsea a 4-5-1 with Dogbra as their lone striker ;)

The match kicked off after the traditional opening ceremony and stuff and it was played on a slightly under prepared pitch with the players loosing their footing on more than one occasion. The initial exchanges were won by Man U with them taking a deserved lead in the 26^th minute by who else (the footballer I hate the most). Chelsea somehow hung on for the rest of the half and as luck would have it found the equalizer thru Lampard in the injury time of the first half. The second half was evenly fought with Chelsea having a slight upper hand but nothing productive happened other than Dogbra hitting the woodwork once. So the match went into extra time. The tired legs of the players were clearly evident as the sheer intensity of this big match had started to take its toll on the players. Lampard struck the bar with a cute shot on the turn towards the end of first half of extra time and by then Chelsea might have started to feel that the trophy might just be theirs for the taking.

Then with minutes left on the clock and a shootout looking inevitable the worst happened. After 118 minutes of great entertainment for the 80,000 odd spectators inside the Luzhniki stadium and millions of them watching it from home, 2 minutes of absolute nonsense from the players of both sides spoilt it all. And from a personal point of view I hold one Mr. Innocent looking Carlitos Tevez responsible for the whole incident because it was truly a mark of unsporting behavior from his part which led to the provocation of many Chelsea players. A scuffle ensued with lots of pushing and shoving with most of the players getting involved. And as an end result Mr. Dogbra (another player I have a strong dislike for) got the marching orders for SLAPPING Vidic. A moment of absolute foolishness from a player who’s always been a fool ;) and I believe that might just have been his last match as a Chelsea player and it ended in disgrace.

So another Champions League finals heads to a shootout and the odds were heavily tilted in favor of Chelsea as they had one of the best in the world in front of their goal. But nothing is a guarantee when it comes to Penalties. The one who keeps his nerves comes out triumphant. Its fun to sit and watch the match as a neutral since there is no pressure whatsoever on you. I could imagine the tension and anxiety on all the Man U and Chelsea fans. The first few penalties were well taken and I was over the moon when my only prediction of the match came true. "That my dear Cristiano Ronaldo is going to miss his spot kick". I somehow had a gut feeling he will miss and so messaged some of my frens some of whom were Man U supporters and the others Chelsea, about my prediction. And when Petr Cech pulled off a brilliant stop to deny Ronaldo, I am sure every single one of those Man U supporters would have cursed me and I was elevated to the status of GOD by the Chelsea ones. That minute I thought the cup was now Chelsea’s to lose. And that’s exactly what they did. When Mr. Chelsea John Terry finally walked to take the decisive kick my memory went back a few years to the FA cup finals when the then Mr. Arsenal Patrick Viera took the final spot kick against Man U and sealed the cup for us. Never in my wildest dream did I think Terry would miss his kick. But that’s what happened. He wrong footed Van der Saar but lost his footing just as he kicked the ball and his shot skimmed off the outside off the post and Man U were given a reprieve. A lifeline which they used to their best effect.

“I said on the eve of the game that we wouldn’t let the memory of the Busby Babes down. I think fate played its hand, just as it has all season. We had a cause today and that’s important. Causes are hard to fight against. People with causes become very difficult to go up against. Fate played its hand today when Terry slipped.”

- Alex Fergusson, Man U Manager

That literally summed it all up and when Mr. Sulk Anelka missed his kick, that was the end of a Chelsea dream and I am sure every single Chelsea fan would have been in tears looking at Terry and Lampard weeping inconsolably. I was in a similar situation two years back and I for one know how it feels to lose in a champion’s league final. Well played guys. It was a great game to watch. Didn’t have the heart to look at Man U lifting another trophy. So switched off the television set and went off to bed even as my inbox was getting flooded wit lots of Hail Man U messages. Hehe

And I am really sorry if I hurt the sentiments of any Man U fan for referring to Man U as Man U in the whole post(read in an article that its like insulting the club by referring to Manchester United as Man U) hehehe… somehow I love to take a dig at Man U at every single opportunity I get. Arsenal forever.

and its aftermath.....

Note : recommended to read "The Incident" before reading this post ...

It’s been 10 days now. Since the first mistake of my life. Hehe. I really don’t know if it was, but I might have got influenced by the book I just read. So was it really a big mistake??? Hmmm… I really cant tell now. Only time will tell. Or rather the performance on field will tell. But as of now, all those thoughts are like a few light years away. Just wanna get back on my foot and start walking as before because trust me, sitting at home all day long doing nothing is a pain in the ass.

So how really am I spending time is the big question… actually there are lots of ways to spend time. Sitting on orkut in the morning and chatting with a fifteen year old kid who has summer vacation. Or read some books, a habit which I had sort of given up around a year back ;) busy corporate life you see, don’t have time for novels and stuff. Or sit and read innumerable football articles and blogs on goal.com. Frankly speaking this was exactly what I used to do sitting in office also whole day. Hehe. One of my best time passes is watching all those English movies that I’ve got from my pals and dumped at home. Don’t think this break will be sufficient to finish all of those considering my monitor faces my window and so watching the movie during day time is never an option due to the glare factor. So not more than one movie a day, but have watched some good ones already over the last few days. Another good way i spend time during day is using my dear 2600. Chat for hours on phone with all the well wishers who call to enquire about my condition. Or probably the best thing to do will be to sit and update The Distant Echo. Which I’ve not being doing off late. I’ve been lagging quite a bit on that front, so should be able to make up for it now. So lots more in the pipeline and will be posted soon.

I’ve never been a TV person, so hardly switch it on that too since it’s the off season for football also. But still watch an occasional IPL match or a mal movie on one of the channels. Sitting whole day in front of the comp can get really bugging. So a slight change. But with all the maintenance work on the power grid going on over the last few days, there’s no electricity most of the time. So no Comp and no TV. Just rot sitting idle.

Friends often visit on weekends, so then time just fly’s by. But cant expect anyone to come and always give you company everyday rite. So gotta live the solitary reaper style life for the next few days. How I wish I was still staying in Drdo.

Visited the hospital yesterday and finally got the complete cast for my leg, that too a fiber glass one. Was in a lot of dilemma whether to opt for PoP or fiber one. Opted for the latter in the end and I am feeling much more comfortable with this cast. So guess the right choice was made. But the poor doctor missed out on some easy money there after he tried real hard to convince me to get it done at home so that he can make some pocket money rather than the hospital authorities eating all the money. Poor souls got to do all this for a better living after slogging for 5 years and spending a fortune doing MBBS. Sometimes feel we engineers were always safe on that count.

Anyways another 10 more days, guess I gotta continue this routine. Then will hop my way into office. I might have become an expert in using my crutches by then.

Only big miss over the last few day was not being able to make it to Sowmya’s engagement, the first one in my friends circle. But no regrets, could not afford to screw this beloved right foot of mine and end up staying at home for 3 more weeks. So wishes to the couple through my blog. Congratulations Sowmya and Sandeep. The last sentence might just raise a few eyebrows ;)

The Incident

Have played years of basketball in the phase one court, so have always thought that some day when I actually have a major injury just like many other Drdo basketballing talents, it will be in this very ground. But life does not take the turns you want it to. As I always say. It’s all in the game.

It was around 8 45 in the morning I guess. Had gone with a few of my friends to Drdo phase 2 since they wanted to play badminton there. So since I had no interest what so ever in that game, I preferred to stay on the basketball court. Very surprisingly the phase 2 court which is more often than not deserted was totally crowded with lots of kids. Guess the summer vacations being the reason. So I was just playing there all alone amidst the kids, just running from one basket to the other trying to improve my fitness. Hehe…

When that routine started getting bugging, I just pulled a few 15yr olds who were sitting there to join me so that we could have a small match. So there we were. Five of us playing a half court game. Three on two. It was a slow game with all of us just ambling along and playing. It then just happened that I slightly twisted my ankle, but who cares. As I normally do, I should have just stopped for a while, got it back ready and then continued. But here i was a senior Drdo team player playing with the Drdo under 16 kids. So what will the kids think if I just stop now for such a small ankle twist? So brave heart sandy continued his game. Just limping across the court and still continuing to PERFORM against the KIDS. A harmless looking ball just looped off the fiber board and was coming to the ground when there was a tussle for the rebound. Sandy also being the tallest one there went for it with his twisted ankle. That was it. A crack sound as sandy landed and sandy was on the ground screaming with agony more than pain. I knew something had broken. But the sight when I first saw my foot freaked me out. My foot had come off my ankle joint and had completely dislocated and changed direction. I was screaming when people gathered around and tried to remove my shoe. Most of the kids there freaked out at the mere sight of my foot. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. My friends arrived by then to help me out. I pulled out my cell and informed Thyagu uncle about it so that he could accompany me to the hospital and some kind soul who was playing tennis in the nearby court volunteered to take me to the hospital in his car(i forgot to even ask him his name).

From there on, sandy started acting like a psycho ;) whether it was to get over the pain or to just reassure myself that it’s not something major. I spoke crap for the next three hours to everyone. Nonstop. From that uncle who took me to the hospital to all the ward boys and doctors in the hospital. Might be it was just out of habit that whatever the situation, SANDY JUST CANT KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT. I sang songs on the way to hospital and took photographs and videos of my broken leg so that I could show it off to all my friends later. It was a scene which I didn’t want any of my friends to miss. Hats off to Miss Sushrutha for holding my broken leg in her hand and sitting throughout our journey to Hosmat without panicking one bit. On the way I made the necessary phone calls to inform the necessary people.

Luckily for me somehow the doctors fixed my leg in the casualty itself after taking a few scans. I did act and behave like a brave boy throughout but there was fear deep down inside me, that I’ve seriously screwed my leg. First impression I thought I will need a surgery and my life’l be screwed for months. Started thinking about family, office and so many other things. How I would become a burden to so many people if I will have to get hospitalized. But luckily for me, it was all over very fast and they asked me to return home after dressing my leg up. So there I was returning home three hours after the dreadful incident. Might be the visit to the ashram a week ago paid off. And a big thanks to all those who helped me today.

But still looking back and thinking about it, I can’t believe how all this could happen when I was playing with a bunch of fifteen year olds, when my legs have got battered ‘N’ number of times while playing all sorts of games by the toughest possible people around and never has anything happened to my beloved legs then. Guess that’s what we call life. The worst of things happen when u least expect it. Might be that’s the reason I got a chance to go to Bombay and represent Bangalore before all this could happen. And I guess that was the maximum I could have dreamt of achieving as an “unprofessional” footballer. Anyways happy to be back, just need three weeks of rest. Really don’t know when I am going to start playing again. Really don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play with the same intensity and passion ever again. Have not started thinking about all that still. So let’s wait and watch, if the world can ever get to see sandy play how he always used to, with passion. Till then lets all keep our fingers crossed. I know its all in the head and more of a mental game from now on. And I also know I have the determination to get back to the best. So if my ligaments permit me to do so, Hehe will be back very soon. Till then. Miss me, all the grounds that I’ve set foot on.

- A Passionate Footballer