Chelsea bid adieu to Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho- a manager of immense talent, acute mind and a never say die attitude was sacked by Chelsea Football Club for the second time after a disastrous start just 5months since winning the Premier League title. Chelsea have lost 9 of their 16 matches under Jose this season and lying 1point above relegation. In Chelsea's 110 years he is the most successful manager with 3 Premier League titles, 3 League Cups, 1 FA Cup and 1 Community Shield. Before the start of the 2015-16 season Jose managed 98 matches at Stamford Bridge losing only one match.

The astounding record of Mourinho before this season

What prompted Jose's sacking?

The results and controversies this season are enough to sack any manager in any of Europe's top flight clubs but Jose-'The Special One'- is not the commonwealth. His brilliant ability to read games and the way he makes his team play especially those 'big' matches are something everyone respects and adores him for. His record speaks for itself.
Jose's sacking has to do with a number of factors the most obvious is Chelsea's awful campaign so far. His bad habit of getting involved with match officials, staff members of the team as well as the players and owners are well known. This time around it was a combination of these factors which led to his demise.
The loss at the hands of Leichester City started the avalanche when Jose said his players betrayed him. It looked likely that the end was near and within a couple of days on 17th December 2015 he was relieved of his duties at Chelsea.

What next for Chelsea?

Gus Hiddink has been appointed as the interim manager till end of season after that perhaps Chelsea will be trying to rope in the likes of Pep Guardiola or Diego Simeone the latter being the most favoured to get the job. But after the horrible stint with the Holland national team it will be a real challenge for Gus Hiddink especially at his age to tackle the ups and downs of the English Premier league.

The Squad

Chelsea players celebrate their win over Sunderland

Looks pretty good up front with midfield players of the ranks of Pedro, Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Fabregas Matic and Ramires Chelsea have lot of options with Loftus-Cheek on the bench. Cesc Fabregas should be given a more attcking role and played upfront so that he can orchestrate the Chelsea attack. Oscar could be a key player though he often looks out of touch but the Brazilian does have that X-factor. Hazard is one of the best players in the Premier league and the Player of the Season should be back to his best soon. Diego Costa needs to fire if Chelsea has to have any chance of progressing in the Champions League or climb up the League table. Chelsea's defence looks fragile and they need a good center back next season.

Chelsea Fans remaining loyal to their manager even after his exit

After watching the first match without Mourinho at the helm, against Sunderland- a team currently fighting its own problems at the bottom of the table- Chelsea players looked a rejuvenated lot. Oscar was the best player on the pitch for Chelsea having good support from Pedro and Willian. Chelsea won comfortably 3-1. The majority of fans chanted "Jose" for most periods of the match and booed off Fabregas and Costa when they were substituted.

Jose Mourinho a manager with 'Special' qualities and vibrance which only he can bring would be missed sorely at Chelsea FC and if he does depart England would be a great loss for English Premier League as a whole. He is rumoured to join Real Madrid next season or might be given the top job at Manchester United after repeated failures by Van Gaal reently loosing to promoted AFC Bournemouth, Norwich City and getting knocked out of the first round of the Champions League.
Jose Mourinho's dream run as manager has come to an end but still commands respect as one of the world's finest and tactically sound managers. Thank you Jose for all that you have done for this club!

Chelsea's Best manager in 110 years

Dreams

All of us have dreamt multiple times in our lives- some are vivid, some are vague and most are forgotten the moment we wake up. We dream almost everyday but not always can recall the dream when we wake up.

Lets just have a brief idea about what is a dream in scientific terms--

"Dreams are successions of images, ideas,emotions, and sensations that occur usually involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep".

Many psychologists believe that these are thoughts in the sub-concious region of our brain which are manifested in our sleep as dreams.

In spite of our attempts to demystify the phenomenon of dreaming, human beings simply have not yet come close to answering the question “Why do we dream?” According to Jim Pagel, MD, Director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Southern Colorado, "If dreaming has an actual function, it really supports why we spend a third of our lives sleeping." For now, we will have to be content with simply enjoying the show our brain puts on for us each night.

Though scientists say that dreams are a manifestation of our inner-most thoughts, I feel that may it is something entirely different.

What if I say that a dream might be a portal to an alternate universe?
May be in our dreams we are projected through some dimension (still unknown to man) to some other spatial frame, where we see different versions of us. If you notice carefully, you would recognise that we never see our face in our dreams. Isn't that strange? Of the billions of dream all humans have each day not a single can picture one's own face . The probable reason might be that our soul can't be seen. When we are travelling in our dream its not our human self but the soul that's taking us on the ride!
I have various weird dreams often and luckily whenever I sleep I dream. It's like an adventure everyday.

The scientific truth is not known and I don't know when our dreams can be understood fully!
But I know that Dreams do hold a more powerful meaning and purpose than we realise.
May be someday it will be proved that dreams can be used as a portal though it might seem far fetched and absurd but who knows what the future will reveal!
So keep dreaming!

Dream: Portal to another Universe!

As Edgar Allan Poe had said:

"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."

The Accordion Maestro - An enchanting evening with Mirco Patarini

It was a friday evening and luckily a public holiday. My sister and I dropped by the prestigious Sandre Hall where the renowned Italian accordionist Mirco Patarini was performing.

The accordion is a free reed instrument. Its reeds are classified into treble and bass reeds. They are made to vibrate by air coming from a bellows that is operated by hand. The accordion has traditionally been used to perform folk, popular music, and transcriptions from the operatic and light-classical music repertoire.

Hohner Accordion
Source: furtadosonline.com

Mr. Mirco played a string of beautiful pieces, bewildering the audience with his deft touches and exquisite fluency.

The Capriccio no. 24 composed by Niccolo Paganini was wonderful, as were the Finale dalla sonata III composed by Vladislav Zolotarjow, Cocerto Rondo composed by Nikolay Tschaikin, Volo del Calabrone II composed by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and the Don Rhapsodie by Viacheslav Semjonov.

The Polkas that Mr. Mirco effortlessly played were fantastic, mesmerising us and sweeping us through time and space as if we were part of a festival in an European town. The rhythm and tempo were outstanding, it was after all a maestro at work. The penultimate piece was the famous "Bumblebee" which made the audience tap their feet.

Maestro at work!
(Picture courtesy: The Calcutta School of Music)

The evening which Mirco Patarini gifted us, courtesy of Calcutta School of Music, was something the audience would cherish for a long time. The rich bass and the numerous chords of the accordion is not something Kolkatans get to experience everyday, so it was all the more special.

As the performance came to an end with a loud round of applause we headed back home with the enchanting evening engraved in our memory and with a spring in our steps.

The "Educated" in India: A short article.

At an interview room in an well reputed institute in India, ten candidates have come to attend an interview for a project having a single seat. All of these candidates have a first class master's degree in geology or a related branch.
The interview board consists of renowned professors who would be having a discussion with the candidates and select as per their performance (at least that's what all they officially say!).
All had mediocre interviews as none except one took longer than 10 minutes at the interview board.
The one who had a longer and tougher interview was not from the same institution and had to answer lots of questions which he successfully answered to everyone's satisfaction.

At the end of the session the candidate who gave the best interview was feeling pretty good about his chances of getting selected. After sitting at home for almost 12 months a ray of hope had emerged again.

But alas it was cut short! One of the candidates revealed blatantly that he had already spoken to the professor in charge and was sure to get the project after a nice interactive session at the interview which lasted little more than five minutes where he was asked about his family condition and whether he would stay and do the project. On the otherhand the candidate who was asked more than 20 questions pertaining to the topic of the project and who answered more or less to their satisfaction was standing dumb struck as to what could he have possibly done wrong!

The results were out and as expected the guy who had a seven minute interview and a pre-interview talk with the prof. was selected ahead of the guy who gave the better interview.

Well that's just one story folks! But this what happens in most educational institutes including the most prestigious ones in our country, India.

If an educated, Phd. and what not degree holder, professor cannot be fair in his selection how can we expect an illiterate to be fair in his judgement? Is it not expecting a lot ?
Food for thought for all the so called "educated"!

The Rain

Its July, the monsoon has set in. The window panes are wet with rain, the citites are looking different and the villages seem to be taken over by nature turning every barren pasture with water or green. 

Rain and romanticism go hand in hand. The cloudy sky hiding the sun and the constant water drops coming down, the rainy season is a concoction of sadness, loss, hope and love. 

the window pane

Its been raining cats and dogs for the past few days here in Bengal. I am at Mohanpur, a small town near Kalyani. At nature's lap the flora and fauna is at full swing in this suburban village. The frogs and crickets are singing all night long with hope and aspiration that they will find a mate. There's no doubt in their belief and the merriment and hope of their hearts is filled in the jungle behind my lodge. 

Why can't we be like them? Why do we doubt ourselves? Well, take a leaf out of their book and believe in the goodness that is in this world and in ourselves.

Rain brings forth hope of better times and fills the earth with abundance. 

The dreary weather brings back old memories. As Henry Longfellow has written: 

"Be still sad heart, and cease repining;

Behind the clouds the sun is still shining;

Thy fate is the fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary."

As I sit near in my room with the rain falling down through the leaves and hitting the grass creating the music of life I remind myself that there is hope. As the rain paints a new portrait of the earth removing the withered and dry land, we should also keep our disappointments and pain in the background and move ahead and start afresh like the sprouts of grass and plants starting to emerge from the earth awakened by the rain.

As Walt Whitman had so beautifully said:

"And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,

Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:

I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,

Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,

Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and

yet the same,

I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,

And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;

And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,

and make pure and beautify it;"

The  hope of a new beginning

Dedicated to Paulo Coelho

The Great '8' Outing!

Plan initiation in Whatsapp group Bokbok.
8 members; utter confusion over availability of all its member on a given day.

waiting for the union!

Atlast it was decided after 500 odd whatsapp messages that the 8 members would meet at Mani Square at around 11:30 on Sunday the 17th May 2015.
As usual Mithi(my sister) and I was late by an hour but on my defense neither Jhumpa di nor Guddu (Jhumpa Di's brother) had arrived yet. On the 3rd floor of Mani Square, at the food court, waiting for the rest of the members were Titli, Jeet(Titli's brother) and 'Sir' Sunny. Papai was at the multiplex watching Madmax so he too hadn't joined the gang.
After an hour(2hours from the scheduled meeting time) all 8 were together after nearly an year or more!
The topic of discussion was whether Mr.Sunny would give us the "treat" for his placement. But as always Sunny kept churning one lame excuse after another, one of which was his company didn't pay the salary before the 19th of any month. We were determined to get the treat after great persuasion and Guddu's agreement that he would pay half the bill bent"Sir"Sunny's resolute resolve and he agreed, much to our amazement.
Then started another debate over the choice of the restaurant. The ladies wanted to travel to half way across the city to Rajarhat to have lunch and then visit Eco park. The men were not willing barring Mr. Sunny. After an hour's debate we finally went out of the mall, caught a bus, and went to Aminia,  a restaurant serving Mughlai/Indian Cuisine.

At the restaurant, after much debate!

We placed our orders and it took forever for the food to arrive. There was something wrong with the staff--they would bring half the food and bring the other half after a considerable time lag--be it the starter, main course or dessert!
Well after all the drama we finished lunch(you can call it dinner) at 5 in the evening.
The whether Gods were kind so after all the disagreements the 8 headed towards Eco park.
It was a cool place to hang out and all of us had a nice time taking photographs and selfies and chatting away long lost memories  and obviously bullying Mr.Sunny without which the outing would be a disappointment.

Having a laugh at Eco park

After trodding around different themed gardens, neatly cobbled lanes, both soft and wet grass and witnessing a huge crowd of people around the lake it was decided to call it a day. Ofcourse not before we had gossip over the evening tea !

The meeting of the eight is not an usual affair which it once was. It carries great memories and moments which all of us hold very close to our hearts! The outing ended with the promise of another. It was a day well spent in the company of loved ones.
I hope the gang of 8 never splits and we can all decide on a day and venue atleast once in a year even after 30 years from now!

The crazy 8 moment!

Cheers!

Earthquake on 25th April 2015

My sleep was jolted at 11:45am IST when I felt a jolt and felt my bed shaking for over a minute. I realised it was an earthquake as I had already experienced tremors twice before. The magnitude in Kolkata, nearly 1000 km from the origin was a 4 on a scale of 12, thus not affecting human lives. 

The earthquake originated 34km ESE of Lamjung, Nepal i.e. 77km NW of Kathmandu.The epicenter is marked by a star in the map given below.

Epicenter marked with a star ; NW of Katmandu

The April 25, 2015 M 7.8 Nepal earthquake occurred as the result of thrust faulting on or near the main frontal thrust between the subducting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate to the north. At the location of this earthquake, approximately 80 km to the northwest of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, the India plate is converging with Eurasia at a rate of 45 mm/yr towards the north-northeast, driving the uplift of the Himalayan mountain range. The preliminary location, size and focal mechanism of the April 25 earthquake are consistent with its occurrence on the main subduction thrust interface between the India and Eurasia plates.

The earthquake was a shallow focussed crustal earthquake having a depth of around 11km. Shallow focussed earthquakes generally cause the most damage to human lives and property as the waves propagate with greater magnitude on the surface. 

The question is often asked, "How many aftershocks will there be? "
Generally, an earthquake large enough to cause damage will produce several felt aftershocks within the first hour as with 25th April earthquake there were 14 aftershocks of magnitude 6-6.5 as per the Richter Scale. 
The rate of aftershocks dies off quickly with time so even the second day will have many less aftershocks than the first.

Although a major plate boundary with a history of large-to-great sized earthquakes, large earthquakes on the Himalayan thrust are rare in the documented historical era. Just four events of M6 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the April 25, 2015 earthquake over the past century. One, a M 6.9 earthquake in August 1988, 240 km to the southeast of the April 25 event, caused close to 1500 fatalities. The numbers on the rise.

The largest, an M 8.0 event known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake, occurred in a similar location to the 1988 event. It severely damaged Kathmandu, and is thought to have caused around 10,600 fatalities. 

It takes an earthquake to remind us that we walk on the crust of an unfinished earth.

Sincere prayers go out to the victims of this calamity.

Australia vs India WC 2015

After a dream run in the World Cup, India finally exited the show piece event to a well balanced Australian side at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Australia played a near perfect match and outplayed Dhoni's men with both bat and bowl. Steven Smith continued his golden form from the summer piling more agony to the Indian players, scoring a superb century of just 89 balls.
The match was sided towards Australia as soon as they won the toss. India's best chance of winning was batting first and posting  300 on the board.

The toss was crucial giving Aussies the edge

With 18 overs to play Australia were cruising at 197/1 and a score of 350 was on the cards. India pulled it back somewhat but conceded too many in the final overs owing to a cameo from Mitchell Johnson-27*(9).
India were off to a flier-thanks to Dhawan and Rohit but after the southpaw was caught of Hazlewood by Maxwell at deep cover- India didn't recover. Kohli was caught trying to pull a Johnson delivery.
By the time MS came to the crease the captain had realised he needed to stay till the end as his departure would lead to an embarrassing defeat. Captain cool played a good knock of a run-a-ball 65 on what could be his last world cup match for India. The pressure of the chase and the occasion was too much for the India batsmen.
India was never in the fight and were bundled out for 233 in the 47th over losing the match by 95 runs to the Aussies.
India were unable to beat the hosts in a gruelling four and a half months in Australia.
All said and done we must congratulate MS Dhoni for the excellent turn around in our Indian side after the drubbing in the test series and triangular series, taking 77 wickets out of a possible 80.
India played flawless cricket in the World cup and one off day in the office came in the semi finals against the best team in the competition. It is indeed difficult to beat the Aussies in their home turf but one would have expected a better fight by the defending champions.

Could be Dhoni's last World Cup match for India

The youngsters must have gathered a truck load of experience and come back from the Southern hemisphere as better players and hopefully can apply them in the coming tournaments.
The final will be a cracker between the Black Caps and Aussies but Australia seems to be the clear favourites! Hope it turns out to be a cracker of a match.
Cheers!

Tea and Bengali- a never ending love story

Tea is the preferred beverage in most households in Bengal. I am a city born boy, brought up in Kolkata, the 'City of Joy'.

Normal Tea in a clay cup

Every nook and corner of Kolkata has a tea stall. Life without it is not possible here. The speciality is the variety of tea on offer along with the clay cups on which they are served- all at an extremely cheap price- the lowest in India and arguably the best in terms of quality.
Mostly they mix black tea and oolong tea which gives the Calcutta tea its distinct flavour.
The menu has black liquor tea, milk tea(normal), aada cha(tea with ginger), lebu cha(lemon tea).


Generally the tea stalls have a variety of biscuits, cakes to offer their customers. Some stalls have an elaborate platter including toast,omelette, boiled egg even noodles and kathi rolls and obviously the 10-15 brands of cigarettes.
Tea is had at regular intervals. Starting with the morning cup. A forenoon cup followed by tea after lunch around 3pm and a cup        after office/college around evening-the busiest time.



Myself a tea connoisseur, I can tell you that after visiting a lot of places in India Calcutta simply has the best tea to offer. With lot of benefits and hardly any side effects its the beverage that it will live on in this city forever.
The endless Adda sessions at the tea stalls and the countless tea cups are something that can never be taken out off any Bengali's heart. Tea provides an inner satisfaction to all Bengalis that cant be described in words but perhaps can be felt after taking the long first sip of cha after a
hard day's work.
After all,  has any other leaf influenced history, culture, lifestyle, and civilisation so much as tea?

  

The endless adda and Cha

Seeking Happiness!

Life is what we make of it!
What we really seek throughout our lives? Money ,fame, health, peace and it varies for every soul as every star in the galaxy varies from one another.

But there is a common denominator that binds us all together!
It's the search for happiness in life! The state of Happiness we all seek before all of us face the inevitable. The death of a star is much similar to a man. The birth, the radiant youth and then the dimming to our twilight and finally succumbing to the Black Hole.

Every soul in its lifetime should live life for a few days without any help whatsoever- living in the wilderness.

Seek and you shall find!

Self sufficiency you may call it only then will one realise one's inside completely. Understanding of self is a key. Most souls unable to find it in a lifetime.

Appreciating all the small things and having the vision that all that's happening in our lives is insignificant to the universe are the stepping stones towards eternal happiness.

But there is a small twist to all this. Happiness no matter how you find it can only be felt by the human soul when shared with other souls.

Here's praying for happiness for all.

Concert: Czech piano sensation Jana Chaudhuri

Early January evening at Kolkata is expected to be chilly but the winter has been off colour this season. 

But the New Year Concert at the prestigious Sandre Hall was filled with such brilliance it left the audience more for Jana, a young pianist from Czech Republic.

All the seats were filled  at the Sandre Hall and among the audience was present the Ambassador of Czech Republic who had come to Kolkata for a business meet but squeezed time out of his busy schedule to listen to Jana.

So it started..

The Special pianist weaving pure music for the Soul

Jana blew such freshness into the audience with her opening B-flat minor Chopin piece the hall started reverberating. Followed by Preludes by Chopin which was mesmerising.

The style and warmth in her performance was something which really infects you wanting more.

The complete Moonlight Sonata was a pleasant surprise and Jana played it to perfection filling our souls with  Beethoven's much loved piece.

She played two more beautiful pieces (Italian and Czech composers respectively) and finished off with a Dussek Dumka which was stunning. The piece influenced by Czech folk music made the audience come alive and bid farewell with cheerful hearts with promise of more such superb performances from Yana Chaudhuri in the future.

It was a privilege that I could witness this piano concert and it was my sister to whom I am grateful.

I look forward to be mesmerised again by your piano, Yana. Thank you for making this dull early January evening a special one.

Thank you for such a fabulous evening