Ego - Is it necessary for a person to make it big in life?

Well , this is one big question which has been lingering in my mind for quite some time. And i prefer to get it cleared through my blog.

Ego, head weight, that kind of attitude, is it necessary for a person to grow big? My answer is a big fat Yes, even though i'm hundred percent sure i'll have a hundred people revolting against me.

What's life without an ego? What's life like without head weight? What's life without feeling you're the best, ALWAYS, when you go out there to do things you are best at?

Take the life of many a people. Take the life of George Best, he played football with a grace . He was into drugs, girls, drinks, chuck all that. He had the ego, he knew he was the best. Thats why he became George Best . That ego is what made people say - Zidane good, Pele better, George 'BEST' ..!

Take the life of Eric Cantona - Roy Keane once exclaimed about him - "Collar turned up, back straight, chest stuck out, he glided into the arena as if he owned the f!?!ing place.

Thats the spirit i'm talking about. Go out there, play as though you own that fc!?!ing place. Thats ego for you. Attitude at a different level.

You dont have to look much further, take the life of Ronaldo .

Last year , before he was crowned the Fifa World Player of the year, he said - "I'm the First, Second , Third best player of the World"!

For him to have the guts to say that, and perform like the First, Second, Third best player of the world next season also, shows his character, shows his ego , shows his ability to live up to his ego.

I mean , who would have even thought of saying such a quote when someone gets the most coveted award in football? He did. Thats what makes him special.

I can go on naming people who've played with ego, and have made it big - Steve Waugh, Kevin Pietersen, Ilayaraja etc etc.

All these people i've mentioned about here, there are only two types of supporters for them - On one hand, they got fans who'll go boo them, jeer them, due to pure jealousy! On the other hand, they've got people who'll be ready to give their lives for all of them.

These people never have moderate supporters in their side. They either love them to give their lives, or they hate them like any other shite. This is life. These are the people who'll always be remembered as legends, with still that same fanaticism surrounding them, even after their death.

According to me , there is no point living a life full of modesty. True, modesty must be there. But must constitute say 10% out of your 100%!

Modest people have no big place in people's hearts. They'll be classified as good human beings, rather than the best! At the end of the day, people see the best , not others.

People may say , take the life of Sachin , take the life of Ar Rahman . True, but those are the only people i've known who've had no ego , but still have been successful in capturing people's hearts. ! :|

I thus finish writing one of the most debatable topics, but according to me, you need ego to be remembered as a legend!

P-S : This may seem pointless or baseless to many! Thought, i could put forth my view. Comments welcome . :)

Summer Holidays - The best days of my life , Part 3 .. :)

Friends started to come back to Chennai after that, though there was quite a lull about us going out as results were drawing closer and closer. Lol, some of us dint care for it much though.

So it was again busy outing everyday. Kaushal came to Chennai for the last time , to stay here for 20 days and leave for Delhi for good. The first day he came here, stay over at my place. Reason?United Barca, Champions League final .. Lol. Me Raghav Prem and Kaushal, all of us United faithfuls. We friends had to plan to go out everyday. Ha Ha Ha. And so did we, Me rahul and Kaushal, the biker boys, took our bikes everywhere in Chennai.

We were done with eating out for sometime. Thats when Blur came into the picture. :) Me bharath kaushal and ashwin, fifa 09 , ps3. What fun we had that day! Occassional Ceebros football were also a part of our daily routines. :) In between all that, various things were going on in my life. :) Lol! Known to few. :=D

School re-opening was inching closer and closer. Wasn't able to go out for sometime because of it. School finally opened .. :) Felt boring initially on the first day, but from the second day , started to get fun. :)

Friday night, Me bharath and Kaushal zoomed our vehicles to Ascendas .. :) Mcdonalds , Frankies , Bavarian Chocolate. :=D Had all of them there.

It was only a couple of days more for Kaushal to leave. So Saturday night party. :=D

Casa Picolo was the place. Went triples in my bike . Was risky, still a part of fun. Before all that, me rahul and Kaushal went to Spencers, Van Gogh painting, had a picture of the three of us, Treasured memories surely. :) Casa Picolo was finally conquered . Double Apple there, waaaahhhhh .. Totally amazing it was. :) Cheers to all three of us. :)

Mom , who till then had requested me not to eat outside and asked me to eat outside that day since she was out in an engagement. :=D Yay Yay!

Went to TNagar, GANGOTHREE!!!! Had ultimate Bhel Poori and Sev Poori. Ha Ha Ha. Was close to ten when i came back home. Luckily for me, mom and dad were not there. :=D

Next day was a function at my cousin's place. :) Had a terrible headache and cold after the Double Apple. :=P Still went for it, attended, ate , came back and slept off like a log. :=D

Cricket followed in the evening with cousins, nice matches we played. Was fun.

But , lol . Sunday was Kaushal's last day for sometime with all of us. So a treat. Wangs Kitchen! Yay Yay! :=D

Hogged like crazy for the last time together for a couple of years. :=P Sweet Corn Soup, Crispy Chilli Potatoes, Hakka Noodles, Gobi Manchurian, it was a chinese blast! :)

Shanthi Colony Creamy Inn was our next destination .. :) Blackforest Caramel, Choco dip in choco ice cream, choco chips - choco sauce in choco ice cream, chocolate dream it was for us. :)

Lol, went to Rags house after that. Raghav had made a painting of me kaushal and himself together in a picture, with a title , HOME OR AWAY, WE'LL ALWAYS BE UNITED. Was a tribute picture to Kaushal, all three of us being ardent United fans, and ofcourse, the P!?!?! Poppers. :) Ha Ha Ha.

Then came the emotional part, had to wish Kaushal a parting Good bye. Was tough actually. 6 years of the closest of friendship, had amazing memories together. But lol, technology can always connect people, so lol, that cheered me on, wished him bye, passed on my wishes, and went back home. Miss you dude. :(

Only when i came home did i realize , 2 and half amazing months of fun i've had with my friends had come to an end. Even though we can still have fun, ntn will match the fun we've had in the Summer of '09 .. :)

Screw Bryan Adams. Summer of '69 is old, we're in the Summer of '09. \m/

So lol , take this opportunity to thank each and every one who has contributed to the fun we've had in the Summer of '09. Cheers to all of us. Life will never be the same again. :)

Summer Holidays - The best days of my life , Part 2 .. :)

May seemed to come too soon. Holidays only got even better. Guess what? I too was going away from chennai , even if it was for 3 days only!

Destination- Ooty , with a whole lot of my family members baring a couple of them. :) We just couldn't wait for it. Started on April 30th by train. Total fun in the train, singing, cards, we just did everything possible! :)

Reached ooty the next morning, had some problem with the accommodation. Who gave a shit though? It was May 1. Time was 10 . Sun Tv was the place you had to be in. Wondering why all of us went there to Ooty to tune onto Sun Tv? Er, simple. Padayappa was going on.! :) Who wouldn't want to watch it. Me , my dad , Abishek , Praveen and one more of my aunt, ardent Rajini fans, sat down to watch it, other people around was asking us to get ready having a bath nd ll. We turned a deaf ear to all of them, simple reason - Its not everyday you get to see GOD on tv. :)

What followed was intense 3 hours of the best Rajini movie, we cheered, we jeered for Nilambari :P , we whistled when the swing scene came up, we were acting as though we were watching the film for the first time.

It was over by 1. Only then did we realize that we were too late to plan to go somewhere. So we had our bath, decided to laze in our small cottage. :) Afternoon passed by. Cricket near the cottage followed. Again , my family is a cricket crazy family! We play our hearts out when it comes to cricket. So was the case that day! :)

Only then did we realize that the best part of the trip would come in the night. Oh my god, what fun we had that night. 5.1 dolby speakers, we blasted tamil and hindi fast numbers, danced our way to glory, Me ananya tejas Praveen Abi and Vinu, cheers to you guys for that. :)

We were way too tired to celebrate Abishek's b'day after that. But lol , passed on silent wishes to him at midnight. Ok, now you can disown me for that. :=P

Next day came about, went for walking , not trekking , from our cottage to Dodabetta. Was fun walking, the video sessions, the jokes we cracked on our way. :)

Came back home, played cricket, football with my small cousins, slept off a little early that night because we were way too tired. Next day, we had to leave back to Chennai.

That was in the night, we still had the morning to enjoy! :) Thats when people turned violent. Ha Ha Ha.

The ever green debate of my family - Sachin , is he over hyped? Should he be there in the team?

That debate propped out. Well, people should know that when it comes to Rajini and Sachin, we turn violent. Two of my uncles in one side, me , dad, abishek , praveen and another of my uncle for Sachin . 2 hours went by discussing only about Sachin. And lol , was fun fighting with them. Too bad that they were clueless as to what to say in the end. :) People must know that - "If Cricket is a religion, Sachin is GOD"

Went on a trek to a beautiful lake after that. Not many people know the place, was a pvt property, but we were successful enough to spot it and go . Was an amazing scenic place. :) Went deep into the jungles, but had to give in because we were getting late .. :)

Night train was the worst part of the journey. Had no berths. :=D Me along with cousins had to sit and come to accommodate the others to sleep for some time, after which we got our own ones. Still , a part of new experiences. ;)

Chennai Central , i thought arrived a bit too early next day. But to say the least , it was a welcome break away from Chennai. Cheers guys. :)

Summer Holidays - The best days of my life. :)

Well, firstly I apologize for not being able to keep in touch with my blog due to various reasons happening around me. :)

It was board exam time, the so called 'dreaded' period a teenager had to face in his life. But lol, for me personally, I hardly did work hard. It never seemed like board exam time. Was partying each and everyday with my friend- baskin robins, creamy inn, to name a few of the long lists of places we went to during the exams.

Finally, the dust surrounding the board exam had settled.

March 30, 2009 was when the best days of my life had started. Mcq exam had finished. We cared a shite for that exam. We were already in party mood. What followed was a monotonous 1 and a half hours of exam, which i successfully managed to flunk. :=D

Only when i heard the bell and handed over my paper did i know that finally i'm away from exams for quite sometime. Firstly, thanks to psbb, we wrote our exams in a school, right opposite which was Pizza Hut. :=D Had a ball of a time there with class mates, ordered everything in the menu only to realize we fell short of money per person. :=P Several people had to pay outta their own pockets. Was a welcome relief though after exams.

Night, Kausha's b'day. And boy did we have a cracker - jacker of a treat. Mocha first, then Cascade in the good ol' Kadhar Nawaz Khan road. :=D Hogged like crazy, felt high for the first time after eating so much. Ha Ha ha..

What followed next day was a fun experience at Citi Centre with friends, again, needless to say, hogged there big time. :=D It's fun now when i recollect all those memories to post it up here.

We went to every place possible in the first two weeks after exams. Bessi Beach, Beach Volleyball , Murugan Idly, Casa Picolo, Ascendas, name a place in chennai, we were there. \m/

After a couple of weeks, i had friends who became globe trotters - USA, Dubai , they were there everywhere. I was held up here only with a couple of my friends. Parents too got quite strict then, as we had spent way too much out of their pockets. Started to get guilty about it actually. :)

But please, no cost can buy the fun we had. What if others weren't there, I still had Kaushal as company to go to CCD, Wangs Kitchen , Gangothree, Fruit Shop, Frankies, Creamy Inn, Move 'n Pick , Barista etc etc.. :)

Then when Kaushal too had gone to Delhi for sometime, I had my good ol' 6th sector cricket for my company. Had some ulti experiences playing here this time too. 15 people turned up everyday with heights of cricket craze in that small road, and what always followed was a tri- series of highest quality! No wonder they call India the Cricket Crazy nation. :) We saw fights there in that road among friends, we saw friendship blossom there in that road, we saw everything . True, Cricket does bind people in India!

April died this way. It was time for us to shout , May , here we come! :)

Black Wednesday I

Next morning came .. It was curtailed , my sleep ..  My dad woke me up .. He was at the TV .. Seeing eagerly .. HEMANT KARKARE SHOT DEAD .. The ATS Chief .. The Crisis Continues .. 

I sat down , without brushing was watching eagerly .. Only then did i realize that these terrorists meant real business and were not here to hold the city for ransom just for a night ..

India was , ofcourse was going to the Dogs .. The day passed , and i continued watching this . And what doubled my problem was I was Waiting for something .. 

So yea , it was noon , still it continued .. The Crisis .. Only then were NSG Commandos bought in .. Lives were lost .. Innumerable ones of them .. It became the talk of town .. The whole situation was like seeing a typical Gautham Mennon Classic .. I am sorry .. But it was totally like that ..

I mean what the hell is happening ? Our we electing a govenrment who can't even provide us with proper security ? When do i walk out of my house with an assurance that I'll return safely back home ? AM WRITING THIS AS A PURE , DEVOTED CITIZEN OF THE COUNTRY .. 

The night arrived .. The people were loosing their cool .. Mr. LK Advani started his trade mark dialogues of politicizing Terrorism .. It was emotional .. It started to get .. People weeping and mourning the death of the heroes .. 

I myself was .. It was getting hard to digest .. Where were our intelligence ? Whats our so called HOME MINISTER doing ? Sohail , a writer in TOI came spoke in Times Now .. And boy did he speak .. He came , tore apart all the politicians and only then stopped .. I salute him .. These were the same things the whole of the country wanted to ask ? 

What was Desmukh doing ? Going for  his son's premiere ? And we have A Home Minister who changes his clothes more often than addressing the nation .. And our FM talks India is having 8% growth ? May we kindly know if its 8% growth in the rise of terrorism ? 

And what more worse .. The Terrorists are allowed to happily trek till the 19th floor .. And good trek did they have .. 

When is India gonna get rid of Terrorism ? When can people roam about safely ? When will corruption stop among Politicians ? 

These questions are still un-answered ..  And we , THE CITIZENS OF INDIA , need to know the answers for these questions .. 

The Ball is in the court of the UPA Government who , according to everyone , have failed completely .. 

All we can say is , this is an event which will go down in History .. An Event that will cause Impatience amongst the Common Man , An event that will see Govenrnment's fall if they don't govern properly ..

Till then , 

A TRUE CITIZEN OF INIDA ! 

A Black Wednesday

Well , to start off , its been real long since I blogged . So thought I could write one ..

A BLACK WEDNESDAY . 

So was it one . Thanks to the ever lasting rains , school had declared a holiday . Or rather , the government had .. 

So it all started there .. A lazy morning , a planned venture out to Vaaranam Aayiram along with friends .. We had booked tickets the previous day and were waiting for it to arrive .. Few eager waiting moments passed by rather eventfully amidst people telling not to go for the movie for own safety as Cyclone Nisha was supposed to cross then .. We had our own problems of the tickets not arriving till 2 odd .. And then , I got a call from my friend and to our delight he said , Got Tickets just now .. Lol .. 

But the rain kept pouring , so were advices from parents not to go . But i din't want to miss out on the film .. It was 4 . And i wasn't ready .. Couple of my friends came . I was still having a bath .. And then came out , with a reebok T-shirt and a cargo shorts with a back pack to carry stuff .. Much to the amusement of people around me .. Hehe .. Who gives a shit ..

We then took a decision , Rain or Hail , nothing is going to deter us from going to the film . And firm we were . So we took an Auto to Srinivas' from where he bought a Car .. Flooded was it everywhere .. It was fun to say water in Chennai .. Felt like going out and playing .. But .. :P:P 

So we were finally outside Satyam , well before time .. Thought of spending some time at BLUR . But damn it , they had closed due to some problem .. 

The wait was over . We were there watchin Vaaranam Aayiram .. To talk about the film , it was reality .. Akin to the lives of many teenagers now a days .. The Ups and Downs .. The First Half was a feel good type , after a long did i watch a nice musical movie . Second Half was hard to digest , but was reality .. Enjoyed the movie ..

What awaited us were rains and more of them . We searched endlessly to spot Srinivas' auto which we managed to successfully after half hour .. Journey back home continued .. Back through the flooded streets .. What made it exciting was the JOKE the auto man had cracked .. Too good it was .. Finally , i was back home .. 

And thats when I , err , it all began for me .. Wasn't able to sleep the whole night for reasons known to few .. Just when i managed to get some sleep , my mobile rang .. I cursed it .. Explicitly .. It read 3 MESSAGES RECEIVED .. Just felt like screwing the person ..  Opened it .. It came BARRY , BARRY , BARRY ..

Opened it .. And it Read - "OUR COUNTRY IS GOING BACK TO THE DOGS .. A GROUP OF TERRORISTS ARE HOLDING MUMBAI FOR RANSOM .. THEY'VE SUCCESSFULLY ENTERED THE TAJ , TRIDENT - OBEROI AND HOSTAGES ARE HELD .. GOD SAVE THE COUNTRY " ..  And a couple of messages relating to this ..

My heart started pounding even more .. Where was I ? What's happening to India ? I felt like going back to bed .. But how could I ? How could i sleep happilly when the whole of Mumbai is on Fire ? I just could'nt .. Switched on my Tv , and what followed confirmed my worst fears .. True .. Our Country was going to the Dogs .. The first Image i saw was the Dome , the Dome of the Taj been shattered to pieces .. It read India's 9/11 , 86 killed, 100 injured .. 

Dad got out of bed .. Maybe he thought i was watchin a Football Game late at night .. And just when he came to scold me , he saw it .. We sat and saw .. But we were'nt seeing for long .. Personally i wasn't .. Just could'nt take it thanks to things which had happened before i went to bed .. So i went slept with Parents , Hoping the crisis would have come to an End the next day ..  

The Royal Bengal Tiger's Final Roar

June 1996,Mecca of cricket,Lords,London:

Against the likes of Cork,Mullalay,Martin a bespectacled,exuberant youngster from Calcutta who had been written off by cricket pundits after an inauspicious debut in 1992 cracked a phenomenal century on a chill,windy,biting morning at the United Kingdom.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly had announced his arrival at the world stage.

Twelve years later,in a routine press conference at Bangalore: 

"Just one last thing lads, before I leave. I just want to say that this is going to be my last series. I have decided to quit."These were the words used by a mature Sourav Ganguly which shook the roots of Indian Cricket.The choice of words was tantalising,he said 'Quit' instead of 'Retire'.That in itself reflects the lone battle he was waging with the never ending BCCI politics.

Lets play the numbers game;

400 matches,18000 runs,37 centuries ,150 wickets,a healthy average of over 40 and 1 bad series was all it took for the axe to fall on his head.When the whole of Fabulous Four fail against the mystic spin of Mendis and Muralitharan why was sourav zeroed in and dropped from the Rest of India squad?Is this the way to treat a cricketer who played his heart out everytime he donned the Indian colours?

Was it a golden handshake or was it Sourav's own decision,we will never know.There will always be debates raging about the timing of the call; whether Sourav could have played for another ten months or so.Lets respect his decision;C'mon we have been scrutinising every move of his,over the last decade.He is the best person to judge his career.

What the tainted images of Mohd.Azhruddin,Ajay Jadeja or even a Kapil Dev,Dilip Vengsarkar couldnt figure out(time to retire),Dada has.As long as you play for India it is absolutely fine but when one begins to dance to the internal politics,Sourav is not the one to face the music,he plays his own.

All it matters is at the end of the day,Sourav has signalled his exit with dignity.

Sourav,the cricketer

A career which has seen it all.Unimaginable peaks,depth of controversies,team loyalty,internal conspiracies, drawbacks, comebacks,disappointing defeats and intangible victories.
Rahul Dravid says,"On the off side ,next to God,there is Sourav."
Strong words,but Sourav lived up to it.His ability to pierce through any field on the off side won him his opponent's agony.Ganguly cleared the ropes with ease,the victims being the slower bowlers predominantly.Who could possibly forget his 183 against the Sri Lankans in the 1999 World Cup???Muralitharan was taken to the cleaners.At a point of time in the late 90's Sourav Ganguly became the most feared batsman(he still is!) in world cricket with 7 centuries under his belt in a single season.
The Prince of Kolkata could turn a match on its head in a space of a few overs,not only with the bat but also with the ball.His 5-16 against arch rivals Pakistan will never be forgotten by the people on both sides of the border.His intimidating stance,adventurous strokes,sweet timing,deft placements dented the confidence of bowlers across the globe.Earning himself the name The Royal Bengal Tiger,he was always on the prowl...

The leader
When Sourav Ganguly took the reigns from Azharuddin,Indian cricket was in dire straits.It had been rocked by the match fixing scandal.Top players had been caught.There was hardly any experience in the Indian side.Tendulkar had been burdened by the expectations of captaincy.A normal cricketer who had accepted the captaincy would have been a victim of the circumstances but the name was Sourav Ganguly.He gleefully accepted the responsibility and shouldered it with zeal.He moulded an inexperienced outfit into world beaters.He made the youngsters believe in themselves.Sehwag,Yuvraj,Kaif,Harbhajan,Zaheer,Parthiv enjoyed their captain's backing.He changed the face of Indian Cricket,bringing about a huge transition.
The team no longer lacked the killer instinct.Aggression was one adjective which went with Sourav Ganguly.He led the team with gusto making Rahul Dravid keep wickets and cement his place in the one day side.Some called him adamant,some adventurous.Sourav was not the one to bother about critics."Dont worry about things which are beyond your control."he said.The results reflected his words.He had delivered the goods to the people of India.Indian Team was tranformed into Team India.

The Attitude
Can any Indian dream of making an icy cool Stephen Roger Waugh lose his calm.
Sourav Ganguly did.He made Waugh wait unconditionally for the toss.He looked into the eyes of his counterparts.He tormented the Aussies at their own backyard.The streak of aggression he brought in inculcated fears in the minds of the opponents. Dada almost spoilt Steve Waugh's Farewell series.He was one cricketer who shed all inhibitions about reputations.
People said he wore his heart on his sleeve,the English team will always remember Sourav's shirt swinging act at the Lord's balcony in reply to Andrew Flintoff's bare chest scene in India.An excited Sourav took off the Indian jersey and swung it sending Indians back home into a dizzy.England had to bow down to the Maharaj of Cricket.Moral of the stroy:We give back what we get.

The Conquests
Pakistan was sent searching for cover when Sourav Ganguly's boys thrashed them convincingly in both forms of the game in Pakistan itself.No other Indian skipper had manged to do this.The epic 3 match test series against Australia in 2001 where India came from rock bottom to register a series triumphwill stand testimony to his positive attitude.Champions Trophy triumphs,World Cup finals added to the numbers in his list of victories.The skipper trusted his instincts.He proved everyone wrong when he elected to bat on a windy day,when the ball was swinging both sides.He went on to the extent of pursuading Javagal Srinath to comeback after retirement.Obviously he had to succeed. Sourav's ability in man management and nurturing youngsters went a long way in him becoming India's most succesful test skipper ever.



Comeback King Sourav Ganguly Part 2:
"It is easier to give up.All you need to say is I Quit.The tough part is to carry on"-Sourav Ganguly.
A Greg Chappell or a Kiran More would be able to author this section in a better fashion than me!!!
In a public spat in the year 2006 with the then coach Greg Chappell ,Ganguly was stripped of his captaincy.Accused of lack of motivational and fitness levels Ganguly was dropped."All doors are shut on Ganguly.He cant make it to the team forever" said chairman of selectors Kiran More.(Think twice before you speak,but who cares?!!?!)
Sourav lost his place in the side.Sourav lost his touch but what Sourav did'nt lose was his belief. He went back to the basics,played for Bengal,scored heavily in the Duleep Trophy and after a string of losses for the Indian side,Sourav was recalled.What followed was the most dramatic and remarkable comebacks in world cricket.The man was on a mission to prove his distractors wrong,he did and how!Sourav Ganguly Part 2 was unleashed on the field,his will power and determination came to the forefront.Sourav won the test of his life.Scoring runs like never before,Ganguly was the top run getter for the Indian team in Tests and piled over a 1000 runs in both forms of the game in the calendar year.Subsequently,Ganguly was awarded the Castrol Asian Cricket of the Year.
Greg Chappel,Kiran More,need anything more? 

The Final Roar
"Getting a ticket to the cricket stadium 1000 bucks possibly,
Watching Dada bat,Priceless!
There are some things money can't buy!!!!"
When Sourav Chandidas Ganguly walks into the cauldron at Nagpur,taking guard for one last time a wave of mixed emotions will engulf the cricketing world.The 22 yard strip would be graced by his presence for the final time.Through the grills of helmet if one notices his eyes, Nagpur,2008 would be unmistakably the same as Lords 1996.With the heart of an youngster,Sourav retires .As Sourav Ganguly walks into the sunset of a glittering carreer,he will be always remembered as a cricketer who gave his all for his country.The Royal Bengal Tiger strides away from its hunting ground,the cricketing field,retiring to its cave,the heart of every Indian where it will rest...

Every Indian Is proud of you SOURAV CHANDIDAS GANGULY . U can hold your chin high and leave the field proving everyone that you are made of steel. Hats off .