Indian Football on the Rise

India stunned Argentina in the Under-20 COTIF Cup tournament and it definitely is one of the most memorable victories for Indian Football defeating the 6 time U-20 champions and a heavy-weight team like Argentina. On a cool Sunday evening at Valencia, Spain, the Indian colts played out of their skin to snatch a deserved 2-1 victory over the Argentines despite being reduced to 10 men at the 54th minute of the game. Goals from Deepak Tangri(4') and Anwar Ali(68') saw India notch up a historic victory under coach Floyd Pinto. The Argentines on the otherhand were coached by 2006 World Cupper Lionel Scaloni and former star midfielder Pablo Aimar.

In Jordan on Sunday, an injury time goal by Bhuvenesh earned India U-16 team a stunning 1-0 victory over current Asian U-16 champion Iraq in the WAFF U-16 championship.
India produced a dominating performance as Buevenesh headed in the match-winner in the dying minutes to provide the perfect finish to a sublime build-up.
This is the first-ever victory for any Indian football team against Iraq in any format and among all age-groups.
“I would like to dedicate this win to all my fellow Indian coaches who train the boys before they join us at the AIFF Academy and eventually the National Team,” India U-16 head coach Bibiano Fernandes said.

Two memorable victories in a single day marks a historic day for Indian Football. But will this incredible achievement ring any bell on the Sports Ministry? For years the only sport promoted in the country is Cricket. The players are no less than Gods worshipped all over the nation. With billions of viewers of cricket the money pumped in unbelievable amounting to a multi-billion dollar industry. The cricket stars earn millions of dollars and fame is only comparable to the Bollywood stars in this cricket crazy country.
But the question is when will Football and athletics and other sports gain similar kind of attention?
A small fact : 212 countries are registered under FIFA, whereas only 188 countries are registered in the United Nations. Imagine India playing the football World Cup with the world watching and the National Anthem playing in the background, the new generation of Indian Football stars emerging! I hope it becomes a reality soon.
If a country like Croatia having a population of 4.3million can play the World Cup final then why can't we produce a world class team with 1.2 billion people?
The answer is simple. Lack of interest and infrastructure.  Owing to the growing interest in foreign leagues such as La Liga( Spanish League), English Premier League(EPL), Bundesliga(German League), Copa Italia( Italian League) viewership has increased in the country but still hardly a handful can name 5 players of the Indian Football team.
We should take note of our football players with similar interest as we take in our cricketers. Virat Kohli and Sunil Chetri are both captains representing our Nation. Both should be given equal stature. but unfortunately that's not the case.

These victories are no easy feat as defeating a team like Argentina is a massive achievement and add to that defeating Iran, Asia's top ranked team at the moment.
The AIFF and the Sports Ministry should look after the grooming of our young, talented football players as in the near future they have the potential to represent India in the biggest sporting event on planet Earth.

Lets grow some interests other than cricket , Football in our country needs our support and we the sports lovers can give that and then perhaps the Authorities will be bound to take action and money will be invested by the industrialists.

So lets cheer for the Men In Blue, only

this time the ball is at their feet! 

U-16(left in white) and U-20(right in blue) Indian team made us proud

 

Floyd Pinto-coached side scripted a historic result against ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65288222.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

The Last Goodbye

Come what hurricane may,
I will love you
Till my dying day...
That's what the poet says.

And a poet is forged out of pain
A life full of despair;
'I hope you remember our happy times,
For me those were the moments of a lifetime.'

Love is the language of God
So they say;
Then why do men don't respect this holy script?
What kind of justice is this, I ask thee?

I feel like life has passed me by.
I'm breathing but my soul feels lost!
Goodbye my love...It's time I fly
To the unknown, undying lands afar!

I say Goodbye one last time!
Hope to see thee in the undying lands!
Hope is what keeps one alive
A ray of sunshine awaits the gloomy sky!

 

Cab Service Exploitations

In today's busy schedule we all are scurrying from one destination to another. 10 years back the dependence was on public vehicles or the yellow taxis in the cities of India. With the advent of cab service providers such as Uber which came into existence in California, USA things became a lot more easier for the public. Several offers were given to promote the application. Soon it spread like wild fire all over India.
Initially for the first couple of years the service of cab companies such as Uber and Ola were satisfactory. With passing time the major problem which arose was the sudden and unexpected surcharges. Even when there are plenty of cabs around a particular area surcharges are levied on customers citing increased demand. Going for a 5km trip costs 150 or 200 bucks or more depending on the so called demand. It's really annoying for all to pay such ransom for such short trips.
Then comes another problem that is the addition of trip fare to the next trip even when you have cleared it by paying your
hard earned money to the cab driver or through online payment portal. I will share one of my experiences.
I was left aghast when I tried to book an Uber a couple of days back when the app showed that I have to pay an excess of 262 rupees withstanding from my last trip. For the record, I had paid 105 rupees for a distance of 5 km. I was left wondering how I could be paying the said amount. Even after reaching out to the Uber helpdesk i did not receive any reply to my satisfaction.

The next major issue many customers are facing is the little knowledge the drivers have of the city they are driving in. If you are in a new city it is sometimes very difficult to know the shortest route especially when you are in a hurry. It really helps if the driver has basic idea about the city routes. I have faced a similar problem in Hyderabad where the driver took  a much longer route to reach the desired destination at double the charge than was estimated during the start of the trip. Its absolutely bizzare. I find no logic behind these absurd fare that these cab companies are extracting from us in various tricky ways. They should look into these matters and stop exploting the customers.

Something needs to be done to address these issues or else we, the common man, will be the scapegoat.

Cabs are growing by the day in the cities and so are the unjustified fares

Please come forward and put forth suggestions as to how this growing problem can be solved to some extent.

shei somoi

১. ছোটবেলায়  কথা  মনে পরে  মাঝে মাঝে। এখন  বর্ষাকাল।  ঘন মেঘ করে বেশ উপরজোন্তেই  বৃষ্টি হয় নিজামদের শহর হায়দরাবাদে।  ছুটিরদিনে বারান্দায় দাঁড়িয়ে চা খেতে খেতে অনেক কিছুই  মনে পরে যায়।  অনেক স্মৃতি ছুটে চলে আসে নিমেষের মধ্যে।

২, ছোটবেলায় দক্ষিণ কলকাতায় আমদের ছোট ফ্ল্যাটে এই বর্ষাকালে বেশ আড্ডা জমতো।  কেউ না কেউ আমাদের বাড়িতে  রোজ আসতো। যেই দরজায় বেল বাজতো আমার মনটা আনন্দে ভোরে উঠতো - কেউ এসেছে - আড্ডা তো হবেই তার সাথে সেই সন্ধের পড়াশুনো টাও শেষ। উফফ সে এক দারুন আনন্দ।

 ভূত  বলে  নেই কিছু
ভয়  নেই তাই।
নিছক  গল্পের  লোভে পড়ে নেওয়া  চাই।
পড়ার   সময়  কিন্তু  মজা আছে ভাই
পড়ার  পরেই  সব  ভুলে  যাওয়া চাই।

এই ছড়া টা বাবা লিখেছিলেন। এরকম ছোট ছোট ছড়া ও ভূতের গল্প বৃষ্টির দিনে পড়তে আর শুনতে  কার না ভালো লাগে। প্রায়শই বসত গানের আসর। হারমোনিয়াম বাজাতেন আমার জেঠু ও তবলায় সঙ্গত দিতেন বাবা। রবীন্দ্রসংগীত ও পুরোনো দিনের আধুনিক গান গেয়ে ও শুনে সবার মন তরতাজা হয়ে যেত। বাইরে মুষলধারে  বৃষ্টি তার সুরে সুর মিলিয়ে বেজে উঠতো :

"মন মোর মেঘের সঙ্গী ,
উড়ে চলে দিগ্দিগন্তের পানে
নিঃসীম শুন্যে শ্রাবণবর্ষণ সঙ্গীতে
রিমিঝিম রিমিঝিম রিমিঝিম।"

৩.  কাঁচের সার্সি দিয়ে বৃষ্টি ভেজা ঘুমন্ত শহরের নিয়ন আলোয় ছবিটা অন্যরকম। মাঝরাতে বসে আকাশ কুসুম ভাবা আমার অনেকদিনের অভ্যেস। সময় তো আর থেমে থাকে না বয়ে চলে নদীর মতো। আজ ৫ মাস পরে বাড়ি যাবার পালা।  জিওলজিকাল সার্ভে অফ ইন্ডিয়া র ট্রেনিং র মাঝে ছুটি।  তাই আজ খুব ভালো লাগছে দিল্লী এয়ারপোর্ট এ বসে অপেক্ষা করছি ফ্লাইট র  জন্য। পাশে একটি ইন্ডিয়ান ফুড কাউন্টারে বাজছে সেতার নানা রাগ ভিন্ন গতে।   নানা রকম অভিজ্ঞতা নিয়ে দেশ ঘুরে বাড়ি ফিরছি। ভালো লাগছে।  শেষ কিছু মাস কোথা দিয়ে বেড়িয়ে গেছে  বুঝতেই পারিনি। পুজোর সাজে দেখবো কলকাতা কে। অপেক্ষা শেষ হবে।

Problems

Do you feel sad?
Is the world trying to bring you down?
Are negative thoughts clouding your mind?
Do you feel down for no reason?

Look up, my friend
Look up at the sky so vast
The stars that are light years away are looking over you!
Don't be perturbed by your problems
Bigger questions lie unanswered in the Universe!

Life is a journey riddled with twists and turns.
Don't fear it, rather embrace it.
Let the light fill up the heart!
Why live in fear and in a shell when you are born free?
Conquer the world! Its waiting out there to be conquered!

The troublesome day shall pass too!
Problem and its solution lies in the mind itself.
So chin up and face the world head on
Every problem has a solution.
Remember my friend,
Problems kneel down in front of a stubborn heart!

Spread your wings and fly high!

Making of Jack Daniels

We all have heard of the legendary Jack Daniels whisky and its rich taste and aroma, but how is this exquisite whisky really made? Where is it made? Who was the pioneer for developing this masterpiece?

Jack Daniels was  a extremely talented man born in 1950. He opened his distillery and produced whiskey. The speciality of jack daniels is its unique charred flavour. The Jack Daniels unaged spirit is poured into a series of pipes where they are fed into vats(72 of them).

These vats contain sweet mash charcoal(wood burned in jack daniels ethanol). The spirit in the pipes run down 10 feet of charcoal into the vats and come down the bottom of the vats. this reduces the pungent and conc whisky to a much lighter and sweeter variety. This is half the job.

barrels containing the Jack Daniels whiskey ageing a the warehouse

the rest is done in the special wooden barrels in which JackD is stored.
The barrels are specially built and burned from the inside for 25 seconds which makes it black inside giving the woody charred flavour to the JD whisky.

The whisky is stored in this barrel and kept in the warehouses for 5-7 years before it is sent out for supply.
The best are the barrels kept at the highest racks in the warehouse where the evaporation is max. This is known as the angels meeting. They are hardest to keep and turn out to be the best.
One of the finest whiskey with good company is another definition of a happy life!
 Cheers!

Cheers!

Tastes best on the rocks!

The ordinary train journey

Working 12 hours a day in the laboratory for the past 7 days to finish off some pending work of Zircon processing I head home for a day before again field work follows. I sit in Black Diamond Ex.in the middle seat sandwiched between two fellow passengers. Utterly bored listening to my playlist repeatedly I turn to writing to pass the time.
When I was young I would listen to the radio, when it played my favourite tune I would smile. It seems so far ago now. Those times were simpler and while listening to the songs now I feel happy turning back the clock would be so great. But alas stuck in this train I can't go back nor forth.
Reaching my destination would take another hour and till then I would try to paint the picture of my journey in this ordinary train of the extraordinary railways of this country.
The woman sitting next to me seems to be of a dominating stature. One who loves to rule the roost and everything ready at her beck and call. She is dressed in a conservative fashion in saree  and the hair done in a bun adding to her domineering personality. She seems organised and confident but is arrogant in the way she talks and glances at the fellow passengers. The man next to me is dozing off on my shoulder while I try to nudge and keep him awake. Opposite to me the seats are occupied by a newly wed couple. Mostly keeping to themselves and talking infrequently. Next to the couple is an elderly man well into his sixties with grey hair and rectangular spectacles in formal attire. The old man is with his colleagues probably from work who embarked the train at the same station and are about to get off the train. Ahhh! My destination still an hour to go.
The lady in white saree chews on 'jhal muri' and keeps typing on her iphone while the others gaze on aimlessly, bored I guess.
The couple gets ready to get off as the pretty wife signals her quiet husband to get the luggage from the luggage stand.  What a relief with their departure I occupy the window seat. After having a hearty cup of tea and a couple of samosa I feel refreshed.
Time passes so quickly. We rarely give value to the present moment we are in. Opening our senses to the surroundings and concentrating on the present might bring the best out of us and more importantly keep us much more happier than usual. Life is like a un unplanned train journey. We should watch out and be on the look out. You might never know when your station might come! Live the present as now is the best time.
Adios! I have reached and would be catching a cab.