Its Time for Africa

Its almost fours years now, since that historic night when we had witnessed Zizus infamous head butt into the "swearing" Metarazzi.What followed broke many a avid soccer fan's heart,Zidane being shown the ticket to an early shower courtesy, the referee's red. Thus ending his glorious illustrious career in the one of the most shameful notes possible ,ominous signs they proved with last kick of the match thudding into the back of the net and azzuris (italy) announcing themselves on the world stage with the world cup crown,eluding Zizu's swansong world cup dreams.

The summer of 2010 is here,and now its "time for africa" to get a taste of football's mega extravaganza.As if the presence of the footballing giants were not good enough , adding to the carnival would be the african tango with their much imitated african dance ,their eccentric singing and the vuvuzelas playing at all times.

In the words of Danny Jordaan and i quote "I compare this moment to Mandela's release, for which we waited 27 years. For our right to vote we waited from 1948," he said. "But Fifa was formed in 1904, so it has been a long wait for Africa's World Cup. But we did not wait alone. The whole of Africa was waiting with us." one can easily sense how much it means to the poverty stricken much deprived Africa, a continent which in many ways than one ways epitomises the dark sides of the contemporary age.For them all those years of expectation seems to have crystallised in the coming of the world cup.

WORLD CUP ,a stage where the heavyweights meet the much fancied,where the dazzlers face off against the grinders,where the perennial favourites are pitted against the dark horses,where one mistake can plunge a nation

into agony and where one moment of brilliance can send the crowd into delirium , a stage where the men are

separated from the boys,its an orchestra where flambuoyant dribbles meet thevicious tackles,where the inch perfect cross tries to ace up against the immaculate man marking,where the balls flightto glory is thwarted by the goalie's incredible reach.Even as I ink these words ,the world cup kicks of in a few hours time with the bafana bafanas from the host nation South Africa facing off against the much improved Mexicans.Experts and pundits

have already started putting the money where the mouth is on the "favourites" and the "underdogs",let me sign off by saying whoever be the champions ,this World Cup like all others is goin to leave behind a legacy ,a legacy that when you marry raw talent to sheer professionalism,hunger and dedication there is not much that you cant achieve.

YOU together with TIME can heal

Has Atif's melancholic "drones"..."Kat ta nahin ab akele tanha safar"... struck empathetic notes with your "broken heart".Has the going away of your partner turned your life into a bland pedestrian affair.Don't you lose a lot of daylight sitting at quiet corners reminiscing the sights ,the sounds ,the touch,the ecstasy,the games of passion ,in a nutshell those moments of togetherness.Soon you think enough is enough and you wish ,normalcy be restored.
For most stimulus there is a response and this one certainly cannot be discounted,so you are like "desperate times call for desperate actions" , "come hell or high water i will get him/her" only to be snared into more delusions .Soon enough you aggravate your situation,and a time comes when you turn into a ticking time bomb,susceptible to self inflictions.Sounds scary right ,yes and why not as these are intrinsically connected to that part of human perceptions that elude most of us. In this part of the web world i am going to dwell on the "rules of thumb" that might help you "reverse the breakup and get back together"
The first and foremost mantra would be not to beg for attention ,this would only demean yourself in his/her eyes,goes without saying that you would have to avoid one on one contacts.By this you ensure that she/he gets his/her time and space with himself/herself or with some one he/she has in mind.Make him/her miss you and finally long for you.Avoid calling,texting her at any cost.Making him/her wonder what you are up to, can only enhance your value.
Secondly,don't sit quietly quailing and grieving,go out with your friends and start putting your life back on track.This can only have positive implications as your ex will think you are moving on with your life.Be yourself,the same jovial person you were before the one he/she feel in love with.
Thirdly, indulge in yourself at this time to knowing yourself better,may be this could come as a blessing in disguise as all through the relationship you may have seen yourself through her eyes,with your personal perceptions mired with his/hers.
Fourthly,you need to go the extra mile with your own method to madness.You may have been enfeebled by the breakup,but still you need to sack up and endeavour to better yourself,whatever it takes and start punching above your weight.The upshots could be most favourable as now your ex will see in you a dearer person than the one he/she forsook. Show him/her the catch she lost.Most often break up are caused due to loss of attraction and an overkill on the faults of your partner.It always helps to get into sleek,clean shape working out regularly or paying the parlour a visit an occasional .Study shows that breakups seldom occur between happy cheerful couples,thus its of utmost importance to put up a happy yourself all the time.
Fifthly,it also helps if you get noticed by him/her with other he/she s.This will clearly put the point across to her that you have move on and its OK to date again,and she isn't the only one made for you.
Sixthly,after giving the separation enough time,try to get to a face to face casual chit chat.Don't wear your head on you sleeve,avoid getting clingy,or doing the postmortem by getting into the nitty-gritty of your your past together.Talk about general light topics,without much indulgence ,for at this moment your treading on thin ice your , any slip could come as a slap in the face of your reversal campaign. Throw her the occasional bone,don't pick them with her. Try to present a smiling face being all tongue and cheek.Be a good listener and be understanding.Postpone your analysis until his/her talk ends ,yet maintain your self dignity all through without ever giving him/her even a shadow of thought that he/she wasn't ever important to you.
The last one would be to ,be whippy. Try to chip in with some episodic compromises,don't grudgingly stand in your side of the fence refusing to budge at any time.
My "thumb rules" may sound rude to many,but i that's the most practical i can churn out.Do use your discretion if at all your willing to put them to test,for as of now they only in theory.

KKR vs DC , @ DY Patil,Navi Mumbai .... a table turn around .

After all the glitz and glamour of the opening ceremony, the stage was set for the first IPL ball to be bowled after almost two years on indian soil.Before that we saw an enfangled way of calling "Lets play gentelman". Rudi says "Batsman are you ready,captain are you ready , bowler are you ready" . With Vaas starting his run up u might have guessed that Tiwary , the batman taking strike would hav said "yes",but what he did about 5 seconds later proved what you guessed was anythin but what he held close to his chest,he lobbed a gentle loosener on his pads straight to square leg courtesy a twitchy half flick starting a season that "promised much" in the most ominous manner.They lost their mercurial Captian soon in the same over leaving them tottering at none for two.No sooner had Hodge nad Pujara strung together a steady partership , loose shots found them packing back to the pavillion , leaving KKR in total disarray at 31-4 in the fifth over.Soon, totally unphased by the precarious situation at hand,Matthews was busy striking drums on turbo while Shah was gently pullin the strings helping their team to stroll to 100.By the end of the 2nd strategic timeout both of them were crying death metal, taking the DC attack to the cleaners with some lusty blows that sent the crowd running for cover. The duo's full monty with the bat propelled the Kinight Riders to a respectable score of 160 odd.
With a respectable total in place , the Knight Riders had a spring in their stride as they came out to take their respective positions on the filed . Soon enough rapturuos applauds greeted the "very very special" Laxman and Gilli as they walked out to the crease.In the first few overs KKRs bowlers were at their attaching best having a tight leash around Laxman and nearly getting Gilly caught at send slip two times. After the initial scare, Gilli returned to his marauding best showing least respect to KKRs steady line and length .Soon enough laxman joined in with two cross batted slogs fetching him 10 off 2 shukla deliveries. Ganguly could no longer see his team once again being slowly, inevitably overhauled by confident opponents.He introduced Karthik into the attack,and he delivered "instant karma" helped by VVS's rush of blood to get the first KKR scalp. Bowling was on a tight leash but still Gibbs and Gilli kept playing reckless shots with Gilli surving another skier dropped by Langeveldt , Gilli could not get fourth time lucky though as he could only manage ,a long hop from Hodge only as far as Tiwary stationed at mid-wicket. The demise of Gilli breathed fresh blood into Dada's boys ,and thus started attacking again and luring Gibbs and Symonds into false shots , getting 2 wickets in quick succession.Two "brand new" batsman at the crease did not help matters for DC ,their endeavour to get used to the bowling before launching ,made the required rate climb up to their throats, enducing another nervous half drive from Rohit Sharma which could not elude the fileder at mid-off.Young Anirudh Singh looked fidgety at best,and before long he too succumbed to the pressure handing Shukla a dolly of his own bowling.With Langeveldt's consistemnt and precise death bowling the game was down to 18 required of 6 balls.Over to Ishant,who with his variety of full length deliveries punctuated with by well disguised slower balls ,helped seal KKR's maiden win of the season in the first ouing itself.
The variegated elements of T20 cricket were all on show at the inaugral evening at the DY patil.A team with half their side back in the hut at the turn of the fifth over pulled through to 160 odd and DC while chasing though looked to be cruising , feel comfortably shortof the target.
The message from Lalit Modi seemed to reverberate "Bring on the IPL"

KKR...The promise of a redemption Song

Its no secret that KKR's previous outing ...was dogged by utter chaos ,ludicrous controversies and way below par performances.While their scorecard's wins columns were not registering anythin,they were busy hogging the limelight with issues like "The Fake IPL player","Multiple Captain theory",doping charges. Their generic outlook suggested the typical modern, media-feeding, headline-churning, eyeballs-grabbing team,except for their on-field performances ,the worst among the eight teams over two years. In the last season before next year's brand new draft, Kolkata need a clean outing this year to do away with the caricature image they have jaundiced about themselves. Since then, their management have been walking a redemption trial.Firstly, they have announced one captain in Saurav Ganguly,their newly appointed coach has his way in stewarding the minnows.They have apponted Wasim Akram ,the much revered "sultan of swing" as their new bowling coach,from whom their new look bowling attack could garner a lot many vital bowling mantras.In Gayle in McCullum ,they have a devastating opening duo who can put bowlers into shame ,help them faking contorted smiles at the sight of their own deliveries dissappearing into orbit.In Hodge, Hussey and Owais Shah they have a good repertoire of talent that on paper atleast adds much balance and strength to their middle-order.In their Srilankan recruit Angelo Matthews , their ranji captain Shukla and the ICL expat Rohan Gavaskar they have personnel who can hit 20 ball cameos, and do deft work with the ball as well. The coming home of the talented Tiwari ,the domestically blosssoming Saha and the much talked baout Chateswar Pujara do make for a lively batting arsenal.One player upon whom Dada bets big is Shane Bond ."His raw pace can make a lot of difference" he says .Although Ishant Shrama has been out of sorts in India colours,the managements says that he is looking good in the nets ,under Akrams's watchful eyes.There is talk baout Varun Aaron, a new domestic signing who can consistently clock 90 miles an hour.While Murali Karthik has the fourth best economy rate in the IPL,Charl Langeveldt can consistenly home in on the batsman's crease during the death overs and Dinda too has been finding his feet with ball, making it talk which had earned him a National team call-up. With all the "bark" in place,they need to start "biting" and desperately so before they are out of the tournament come half season.Ergo,without losing daylight they should put their money where the mouth is and string together a couple of good performances early in the season before the dark fanges of their abysmal history catches up on them , for the purple million waits in eager anticipation of a redemption song of sorts.