Who will Succeed the Fergie

The script might have been written number of times earlier, but this United Team is never tired of re-writing it again. Manchester United players synergy, enthusiasm and never die attitude turns setback into a success. It's certainly a extra ordinary habit. Most recent being the 4-3 win at Old Trafford against the Magpies.

It is now the eighth time in the 19 games, the team has transformed a failure into a fantastic finish in this season. Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted "It tells the courage of the players". Well this one of the many improbable comebacks this team has made under the Scottish Manager. The most famous being the 1999 Champions League final at Nou Camp where they trailed the game 1-0, but finally came on top scoring 2 goals during the added minutes to end the crazy game.

We all think what was the source of inspiration for those 11 players on the field who battled through the 90 minutes to come on top. In the book, Football- Bloody Hell! (Biography of Alex Ferguson by Patrick Barclay), Sir Alex famously shared his half time speech of the 99 champions leagues final which goes like this "At the end of this game, the European Cup will be only six feet away from you, and you’ll not even able to touch it if we lose. And for many of you, that will be the closest you will ever get. Don’t you dare come back in here without giving your all."

Now just turned 71 on 31st December, he is still working his magic, jumping around in the stands and he is showing no signs of pulling the curtains to his career as of now. Sometimes it seems like he could go on forever. However, as unlikely as it seems, he will eventually have to retire and the United camp should start searching for his replacement soon.

Sir Alex himself himself favours Pep Guardiola as his successor. Why? Because Pep has won just about every trophy possible in his four year stint at the Nou Camp. Being a product of the Barcelona youth system, and a follower of the that system, Guardiola even has the right philosophy for Manchester United, a club that likes to bring players through the ranks and add talent from elsewhere as and when it is required, just as Barcelona do.

Another one is the Special One, who have been very highly rated by Fergie. "Jose Mourinho is very intelligent,"  Fergie said to academics at Harvard Business School in Boston. "He has charisma, his players play for him and he is a good looking guy. I think I have most of those things, too, apart from his good looks". The head to head match ups suggests why the Master thinks Jose has the caliber to replace him.  Both of them have locked horns 13 times with the United Manager only winning twice with Jose winning six times. One who has won 16 domestic titles (13 at Manchester and 3 at Aberdeen) and another 7 domestic titles (2 each at Porto, Chelsea & Inter and 1 at Real Madrid). Both of them has won two Champions League Title. However, the best Jose Mourinho has managed is a little more than three seasons with Chelsea, hardly the type of stability that Manchester United will be looking forward when Sir Alex does decide to stand down.

Scot's are regarded as one of the best when it comes to producing managers. Few of them: Sir Matt Busby, Kenny Dalglish, Alex McLeish and David Moyes.  With more than 10 years of association with Everton and David Moyes is doing fairly good job there with a club which is severely lacking in financial resources. David Moyes has been able to consistently finish among the top ten and also had managed Everton to in the European games. David has the kind of stability which Mourinho lacks however the fact he hasn't managed a major European Club and big name players may well work against him.

Another one, whose names haven't been discussed at all is Mike Phelan (current assistant manager of Manchester United) who may be able to fill in the shoes of Alex Ferguson just as Tito Vilanova did for Pep Guardiola and F.C. Barcelona. Mike has been a Manchester United player playing more than 100 games winning 1992-93 premier league title under Ferguson. He has the advantage of already being more than familiar with the club; he spent 4 years there as a player and serving for five years as assistant  manager. In January 2010, Phelan was linked with a return to his first club Burnley as manager following the departure of Owen Coyel. However pursued to stay on by Sir Alex Ferguson and work as his right hand man during three Premier League title campaigns, a Club World Cup, two League Cups and guided Manchester United to two Champions Leagues finals. During Mike Phelan time as first Team Coach, Manchester United won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, a League Cup, and a Champions League.

Better than failing at one go is succeeding little by little is what the Manchester United board should be looking at. Whoever replaces Ferguson should be given ample time as he was given.

Catastrophe

Someone said..

Bring it on man, im gonna finish what you began.

I hear you loud and clear, I gonna fill you up with fear,

I am gonna make you run and hide..

But.I say.

I feel the need of the speed and in the process you would feel deprived,

Later on don't cry out loud, still there is time to make yourself proud..

Time is of great essence, understand the sentence,

Sit up and analyze, it may still materialize..

I know the secret

Hereby I sit all by myself talking to the only person whom I know from all these years. The conversation with this person I never run out of topics. But the only problem if at all that’s a problem is that I haven't still figured it out that what this person wants.

Sitting idle both of us keep on talking endlessly about what we both want in life, what is that we are happy with but every time the result the same. We always draw blank.

Still again when chips are down, we again start the debate all again. We see the starry skies and down below there is two of us who keep on talking with no solution to the problem.

So now I ask what the problem is, why is it so difficult to leave all behind and keep yourself diverted?

Instantly the inside of me tell it’s easier said than done.

Waging War

Watching in the mirror, I feel I can't betray myself. I can see all those behind me and if I make some movements of my eyeballs I can see those in front of me. I don’t face any danger those in front of me but the ones behind pose a greater threat. Thinking of them would make me weaker. So the need of the hour is to concentrate who are in front of me.

I still believe I can't betray myself; I always look away at other things in this space rather letting them engulfing you. I have the confidence, I just sit in my chair, sip my tea and watch. By analyzing this and analyzing that, I got accustomed how people behave.

Once I know that, I can put your experience to use that I have accumulated by over taking the once who are behind you and without letting others know I can overhaul them. But its easier said than done. But I had confidence in my self.

Once I was at that position, the mirror wasn't any more visible to me. It had simply vanished into scenery with green trees, a beautiful lake with frozen water and birds flying over the frozen water. I couldn't see anybody in front on me but could see the shadows of birds flying trying to overrun me.

I closed my eyes and I said to myself: I did not betray my self.

‘Once upon a time’

Let me begin a tale, with a breath I inhale:

Once upon a time, the night was dark, moon was shining and there I was sitting casually in corner of a bush with a fire in my hands. I was silently sitting moving my head from one side to another which made me feel I was moving in the rhythm with the insects.

All of a sudden I felt like I am hanged two-three feet above the ground with my head facing down.  And I sway along with the insects, and the momentum is increasing instantaneously. Once the motion become a bit slow, some unnatural force pushes me again and I start swaying with momentum. And to go along, I am able to hear constant stridulating sounds produced by the grasshoppers and the other insects. Then I realize the reason of the motion is the effect of stridulating.

 In-between I observe that some ashes of fire also drops from my hand as I am in a constant motion and I take evasive action to save my body part to hitting those ashes. The person approaching me thinks that I am dancing away on some tunes.

Suddenly I notice him and try to act normal, try to stand up on my feet. On the spur of the moment I feel like I am trying to take off like an aero plane then realizing that I need more fuel to do that.

Then again my mind wanders off again to notice that who was approaching me, and observed no one in around me and then I felt I was hallucinating. I tried to close my eyes and tried to concentrate but I could only see green skies. Then I realized today anything is possible and I should return back to the room to keep a control over myself.

This was not a fairytale and I hope this story was not a stale.

Royal Indian Open

In retrospect, being part of the Royal Indian Open at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex (Balewadi Tennis Complex) and watching the semifinal matches wasn't exactly an overwhelming experience.

Our college was the proud educational sponsor of this tournament and much to the delight of a few of us, we got an opportunity to be a part of the WTA event which is being held for the second time in India, after the Bangalore Open in 2009.

Andrea Petkovic during the match with the logo of Sri Balaji Society in the backdrop.

The tournament organizers claimed that the tournament was held in Pune due to the fact that tennis is fast becoming popular in India, with WTA events being the second most followed events after the Grand Slams.

Do they really think so? I guess they have to set the record straight. The few colleagues with whom I interacted before going to the venue didn't know how lawn tennis is played, let alone the rules and regulations. Does this suggest that tennis is fast becoming popular in India? Much to the annoyance of umpires and players during the game there was constant chattering among the little crowd that was present, which was ‘driving the players up the wall’, causing a break in their concentration in between points. Doesn't the crowd know how to respect the players?

To go along with that, I was also disappointed with the maintenance and cleanliness of the stadium and court, which was a synthetic hard court. I personally like the lush green lawn tennis courts of All England Club in Wimbledon. My research helped me to conclude that there is an only one grasscourt in India at Calcutta Club; synthetic grass-courts are the ones which are preferred in India. Last but not the least, for a semifinal match there were approximately 500 spectators out of the 4200 sitting capacity at the Center Court. I once again reiterate, the organizers should check if tennis in India is indeed becoming a popular sport.

Anyhow, being a sports follower who has been following Grand Slam matches on television, being cheesed off due to the unavoidable factors didn't kill all my expectations of a good quality game with long rallies and powerful winners.

The second semi-final match was between the Andrea Petkovic, ranked 140th (ranked 9th a few years ago) from Germany and Elina Svitolina (ranked 148th) from Ukraine. A few good aces, 10 in all from the Ukrainian player, wristy backhands from both the players and powerful first serves by Andrea Petkovic were some of the highlights of the match. Svitolina defeated the wild card entry and the crowd favorite Petkovic in straight sets 6-2, 7-5, shattering her dream of a comeback.

The first semi-final was between Tamarine Tanasugarn (ranked 151st) from Thailand and Kimiko Date-Krumm (ranked 128th) from Thailand. It was a good contest with the match going into the third set, and Krumm eventually prevailed 6-4, 5-7 and 6-4. Tanasugarn’s main pitfall was her low percentage of first serves and frequent double faults. And ironically, the losing point also came from a double fault. At the end of the match during the interview, I was pretty surprised to know that K. Date Krumm was 42 years old; from her enthusiasm and athleticism she seemed to be a player in her mid 20’s.

Perhaps this event will set the ball rolling. Now the ball is in our court, can we deliver an ACE?

Travel with Time

To sit on the top hill on a fine day, and look upon ‘verdure’ is the best way to enjoy refreshment.

I stood at the high-wind point (a meager 1312 meter above the sea level as compared to the heights I have been to) at Sinhagad fort which is around 30 kms from Pune. Below me, like a detailed tapestry were spread the green fields in neat chessboard with dark green bushes and light green grasses, with a bluish river flowing in middle of it.

'looking down upon the verdure'

                   Next to me my mates Anish, Udit, Salil were standing enjoying the beauty with Shaik having an infectious smile on his face enjoying the 3-D Panorama view of his hometown- Pune. All of us were sleepless the previous night and standing at the hill top all of the tiredness vanished away.

                  But my bleary-eyes had disappeared while driving up on the mountains in the morning only. We left at 5 in the morning and as soon the car hit the highway, I could hardly keep my eyes open and sleep had weighed down the lids of my eyes. I decided to take a rest. I could hear howling and growling of these four guys who were becoming wilder as we drove up the mountains and to go along with it deafening music.                       

I kept my eyes closed until I started to feel the freshness of the air hitting my face and chillness in the air due to the moist/fog. And as soon I open my eyes, I could see a breathtaking view outside the window of the car.  We all started to gaze on to the picturesque semi-circle rainbow which was formed on the valley with the sun and rain having a spectacle battle. The experience often has a magical quality to it as it stirs something deep inside. Such is the wonder of the light that forms the color of the rainbow.

The rainbow is also a symbol of ‘Hope’ as we already have read in our story book way back during our time in kinder garden. I always hope to have such an adventurous life travelling to exotic places and that is only what which came to my mind at that point of time. And I am lucky to have this break thanks to my friends for planning this short trip which was much needed.

Special thanks to Anish Mishra J