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

BEING IN TWENTIES - SOMETHING

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.
We call it the "Quarter-life Crisis."

FATE DETERMINES WHO COMES INTO OUR LIVES.....HEART DETERMINES WHO STAYS

Hehe... got this as one among 30 frwds that fill up my mail box everyday. but somehow liked it because if not everything, most of it that you read above i could relate it very much to my own self. Its all in the game :)