Author: Sunny Jaiswal

A dramatic end!

Alas!!! Manchester City won the prestigious English Premier League, pretty much to the dislike of teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool (they don’t seem to really care now) and especially Manchester United. To many of the die-hard devotees of MANU, this may be the end of the world. They would have been ready to paint the town red, when Sergio Aguero’s impossible goal in 94’ shattered the hopes and forced the cheerful RED part of Manchester to mourn.  A person active on the fan pages of MANU would be feeling like an idiot that just realized that he has now been blabbering for a whole year and now expecting some respect.
 Now the thing that’s concerning is that, with title in City’s hands,  all the things; the hustles the crazy fans make,  cheering in the stands, the hooting, some dying from forwarding the ‘Mexican waves’…the question worth asking is…..does it really mean anything now. BPL in City’s hands, a team without history, but certainly powerful enough to buy the best footballers, it makes one wonder where is the passion that drove the fans crazy? One might raise his voice against this opinion, since undoubtedly City earned the trophy, they worked hard for it, but it’s not the wins or losses that in the talks in here, but the thrill and pride that the game brings it in itself. Fans make the game and City doesn’t look like they need a fan- base to gain their accomplishments.
                Now with City’s only trophy in their trophy shelf, they will have their heads high, but the truth is that the players know that they were like a mini World XI, assembled in a short time that managed a stopping time grab on the title out of the blue. Many City fans 0will sure find it contentious to swallow but something is surely missing in the triumph. Plus, now being only the 6thdifferent winner of the EPL, it puts on an added pressure of the expectation of consistent performance. And that according to the pundits may not be as easy as it sounds. The way is too tough for them and being new to ‘the business of defending’, they are like a boy dressed like Santa with a million dollar in the hood, with every hoody bullying him for his share. Defending the title will certainly pave them in hell’s path.
                Well anyways good luck to them and congratulations for the gain. Well, everyone loves competition and a team like United will like to take positives from the season (that’s pretty much they can do now) and hope they get their 20thtitle soon.

Last night fighters

Let me make the definition clear to you, in case you get the wrong impression: Last night fighter is the name given to the students (generally engineering ones), that do not study the whole semester, and when the water level is well above their necks, they panic in to start from the start.
Unlike the name suggests, these are not real fighters, but I certainly won’t rank them below, they don’t have such deadly weapons, but pen and other stationeries. But hey! A pen is mightier than sword.
These are mostly and usually last benchers, who make a huge mockery of the teachers, by studying the whole syllabus in just 2 or 3 days before exams, when the latter takes a whole semester for doing that.
As once said by our ex- president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam,
                                             ‘’ If you want to top in the exams, ask the front seators
                                             But if you want to succeed in life, ask the last benchers.’’
They prove their mettle as studies show that people that are respected were mostly these folks. The idea behind this is not you are right now concluding but I want to incentivize you to not go by the bookish knowledge, but forming your own thoughts, which personally I think is needed and appreciated worldwide…….this comes from my personal experience which I duly learned at right time.
              Now focussing back on topic, these students are real champs, and the fact that they score, if not more, not much less than their so called bright counterparts, make them special. They generally attend classes, get the basic idea and that’s it…they are done…..revising it one more time, will get that in their brains.
              Last night fighting is not always natural, but it an also be developed, but after its development, it is superfluous, and has surplus advantages. The best ones are the ones, that man-oeuvre the task on the last night, fighting for survival, and looking for ways (like important questions, ways of cheating etc.) to get the best marks. Well, engineering life is all about that. If you can’t, not a problem; but if are equipped, time to feel proud.
              I bow down to these masterpieces, to their precious skill, to the spirit, to the limitless stamina (Here stamina is defined a little bit differently from the general definition), to the prowess ability to form & execute their plans in a day.
Much is said about them, about the damage they are conceding, but they are adamant, showing that if the teaching system isn’t going to improve, they aren’t going to be either.

Fighters

Black Swan

I saw this movie last week, directed by  Darren Aronofsky, starring Natalie Portman as Nina, the prime ballet dancer.
The movie commences slowly, but as Nina unfolds the fight with herself, it takes movie to a whole new level. Some of the scenes in the movie are very well enacted and executed with perfection. 


Nina is chosen as the ‘Swan Queen’, comprising of the fragile and innocent White Swan and the sensuous Black Swan. Nina is perfect for the  role of White Swan but not as a Black Swan. She is chosen to be the ‘Swan Queen’, on the promise that she will perfect the role of Black Swan too. As the director of her ballet says she is very controlled, and needs to lose some control on herself and she needs to let go for herself to perfectly depict the Black Swan. She thinks that Lily(a character) wants to steal her role…..but as the movie progresses its interesting to note down her realizations
The movie shows the trauma of working in an over competitive environment, where everyone wanted to be the Swan Queen. In the end, she transforms herself into a black swan, which is when she realises that the biggest competition for her is herself.


It won many critics praises.


I have embedded a trailer courtesy- You Tube.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs&w=640&h=390]



I would say its a must watch.
Go for it, if you haven’t still!

World Cup 2011

Finally after 28 years of waiting, India has won the World Cup. With celebrations heard all around, every city, state, in every nook & corner of India, one can easily imagine how much the Indians expected this trophy to come back in India.
Indian team did fallout against South Africa in the group stages, but after rising from that hiccup, they never turned their back at the challenges. Qualifying for the knockout stages was expected to be a walk in the park for them, and they didn’t seem to be very much concerned about it. Then came the real fight for survival, first theKangaroos, and then the mighty rivals Pakistan. After getting win in these 2 games, the confidence returned to the team, and it showed in their body languages, in terms of their fielding and much improved bowling.
I was in Allahabad at the time of WC, and saw an immense excitement in the locals. They used to colour their faces in tricolors, and take the TV sets in the open and watch the entire match with enthuse and dancing at every possible chance. And every awesome show of an Indian win would increase their hopes, anticipation & vigour manifolds. As we all know, cricket is more like a religion than a game in India, so it was not a surprising to see them showing off their emotions at the opponents.Talking of the finale, the toss was won by Sri Lanka, and they put India to field first. On papers, a 6-wicket win may look like a comfortable chase, but it wasn’t like that; India, especially Gambhir & Dhoni chased up the game to show the door to the Lankans.

This WC win becomes more pronounced due to the fact that it was the last WC for Sachin, and he hadn’t had any WC wins in his account, so the WC also puts an end to his WC drought.
After the match, the team took a winning lap, with Sachin on the shoulders to show him gratitude for his services to the Indian team.
I wish all the good luck for the Indian team for their future round of matches, wish they continue their consistent run.

Well done team INDIA!!!!

Life at Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur…….my birth place, where I was born, grew up in the early decade of the 21st century, but now leaving for the sake of my future, I mean to study. Situated in the eastern UP, this city has everything a big city has, but for the skyscrapers (and the home delivery by Domino’s Pizza which I kinda have loved to have in this city). Its a big city in terms of the land, but the technically still to fully called a ‘mahanagar’. Its got its name from a saint named Gorakhsnath, who founded the city.
            Well, I can’t tell you about the history & geography about this city, but can certainly give reasons why one should visit here atleast once.
Starting about the things that will make people here feel good is the fact that it is the headquarter of north-east railways. This city is famous for its ‘Bhaiyyaji log’ & many films & TV serials have made several hit shows on our bhaiyyaji. The common language here is Hindi mixed with a little bhojpuri. Even many comedians found their roots from Gorakhpur.
            Places of interest here are The Gorakhnath Temple, The Taramandal (Planetorium), Gita Vatika, Gita Press, and many more including the new city mall(a very small mall which was like a feather in the cap), adding to the charm of Gorakhpur. Students are seen enjoying their evening either with a movie or just chilling up.
The nightlife is at an inactive stage, coz there aren’t many who like it.
The people here like to comment, they have an opinion for virtually everything in the world……even a layman may give you an expert opinion on a crashed NASA shuttle. On the contrary, it has been a constant provider of natural talents from all walks of life, be it Premchand from literature, Syed Modi from badminton, Diwakar Ram from hockey etc..
Premchand stories has long been the inspiration for the young tots & even the teenagers. The themes of his stories really pour some thoughts in one’s mind, & his stories on the poor farmers & other ignorant class of people ought us to think about them.
One more interesting fact about Gita Press is that it is the publisher of many Hindu holy texts, including the Bhagvad Gita. The Press was the first to publish the text as a book; prior to this the Gita existed solely in the oral tradition of the Brahmin. Gita press holds a place in the Guinness book of world records as the largest publisher of religious books in the world in terms of volume.
          In educational field, Gorakhpur has a world class DDU University and MMM Engineering college which gathers the upper cream of students.
In a nutshell, you can visit here as a tourist, as a guest(to your own relative, ofcourse) or in whichever way you like, but you will get a mix of traditions, people living a colourful life.

For the World Cup 2010

While I was writing this, the two teams in the World Cup finale were getting prepared for the showdown (I took a fair time in posting the blog). Well, I have been the fan of this game for over 3 years now. You may find it a very short period, but I became fan of this game after I played the FIFA 07 in my PC, that’s when it all begun. And now from ‘I know nothing about soccer’, I am suffering from 24×7 soccer mania.

Now returning to the topic, this World Cup has been a success, nevertheless of the failures of some big names, the biggest upset being the departure of two giant finalists from last World Cup, the French & the Italians from the group stages. Nonetheless, we saw some great matches, individual plays, long shootings, skillful plays, great team efforts. Apart from these, we experienced some great predictions from ‘Octopus Paul’ too, he has been judging correctly (breaking hearts & inviting unwanted attention on the way) till the finals & moreover it has chosen Spain to be its favorite team. Let’s see if it gets this one right. (I came to know afterwards that it judged it correctly too).

I had been supporting Argentina, to be more precise, Messi was my reason for supporting Argentina. Which team would not be the favorites if it has the FIFA World Player of the year in its squad? Even though he couldn’t score a single goal, he was there’s best players & he played his part pretty well.
Now, the major surprise was some great actions shown from the senior players viz. Wesley Schneider(NED), Diego Forlan(URU), Iniesta(ESP), Landon Donovan(USA). These really showed us the meaning of ‘Old is Gold’, stealing the attention from a lot of players that were expected to shine in the WC.
Thomas Muller getting the prestigious ‘Golden boot’ was a slap in the face of Maradona, who thought of him as a ballboy at their first meeting.
The closing ceremony was breathtaking too. With every anticipating a ‘Waka Waka’ from Shakira, the performers were brilliant too.

With this, I close my first blog. Thank you friends for reading my blog, & forgive me for any grammatical or spelling mistakes. I would love to get suggestions &  comments from you.