FIFA World Cup Football 2010 Preview :-)

Football or 'Soccer' as it is called in Europe has always been my favourite sport :-).....I cannot recall the number of sleepless nights I've spent watching this sport on TV back in India. I still remember how I used to write daily updates on all the matches of FIFA 2006 World Cup and send it to everyone on my mailing list irrespective of whether they loved the game or not ;-). In fact so many of my friends who've been cricket fans ended up watching soccer too out of the curiosity & excitement I created for the game! Little wonder then that I promise I'll continue in the same fervour for FIFA World Cup Football 2010.

Soccer remains special to me for I started writing a blog exclusively for soccer! If you've noticed, most of my archives under the sports label would be on soccer :-). I credit this game for the expansion of my blog & my writing skills. Maybe I would've turned into a sports columnist had it not been for people who advised me to write on other stuff too coz they thought I wrote good! I'm humbled & overwhelmed, thank you but I'm still a novice! I assure you, I wouldn't disappoint you...I exist because of lovely readers like you!

Cricket has always been a major hit with Indians and to this day, we see ourselves connecting with the game in a way no other sport can boast of! Yet, the fan base for soccer is increasing day by day...thanks to some brilliant League Championships & high profile player bidding! We all know how IPL was formed on the lines of EPL and what a huge hit it was! So in a way, soccer did influence the birth of T-20 IPL!

Cricket or Soccer, Tennis or Formula-1....sports has the ability to enchant any kind of audience....from a toddler to a veteran, sports connects us all! Three Cheers! :-)

Yes, the last 6 spots have been taken for the FIFA 2010 World Cup Football! The whole world is looking forward to an exciting face off between some of the best teams in the world as they play it out to gain a glory that every champion dreams of!

For more details, visit the link below:

Football World Cup lineup decided as last 6 spots taken: "

NDTV Social: Home Page

NDTV Social: Home Page

To Be or Not to Be!

Most of us might have seen CNN flash news of the shoot out at the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood , United States Military base at Texas on 5th Nov 2009. This army officer i.e a US Army Major killed around 13 people and ended up injuring another 30 of them. Horrifying!
(For more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/12/fort.hood.wounded.soldier/index.html )

This whole incident is terribly sad. Imagine what must have gone through the minds of the soldiers who died in the shoot-out: 'Hey this is one of our own guys, how could he????'. They must have never imagined what was in store for them. The guy has done the damage & whether he is punished or freed, why he did it etc etc only further investigation will tell. Whatever the reason may be, killing innocent people is just not acceptable. He has destroyed so many lives associated with the ones killed in the process! Its extremely agonizing!

The other day I was watching the memorial service for all the people who lost their lives in this shoot out and it made me wonder: How long will such kind of killings continue? Don't the killers realize these families are destroyed?  No amount of sympathy or money will ever replace their loved ones. Their lives are changed forever!

I read somewhere in the aftermath of these attacks that men who return from the military invariably become weak psychologically, total lunatics as they start seeing themselves as murderers who are authorized to kill. They kill in cold freezing blood for their countries demand it! Terrible but true!
War & Hate always beget War & Hate and its high time we all realized it!

USA changed after 9/11 just like how India changed after Kargil. And this change of theirs has changed how people are looked at or treat each other entirely. Now after these attacks, there are so many questions on why he did it? Some attribute it to the fact that he did it because ever since 9/11, his ethnicity was under suspicion. Others say he was transferred to Iraq and he wanted to get out of the army and so he did it. People may have thousands of questions for him once he wakes up from his coma as to why he did it? But will his answer bring about any change in the way the world operates? I doubt it!

This will go the same route too. Another Man->Another Case-> Investigate-> Relate it to all possible scenarios happening in every part of the world-> Public Appeal to Punish->Court Appeal to follow the law->Acquit or Convict->Case Close.
Bottomline: Lesson Learned: NONE!

Few questions popped up in my mind after this incident:

• What makes people do what they do? 
• Why do they do it?
• What does it beget?
• Is there a deeper trouble here than what we see? Psychological? Environmental? 
• What war does to people?
• Is one war an answer to another?
• Will this ever end?
• Terrorism or Hate? Bombs or Knives? Guns or Poison? Aren't they all the same? Aren't they all responsible for the destruction of humanity?

Well, I don't have answers in the literal sense to these questions. If there is one thing I know and if there is one thing I always wished everybody knew, that would be: No amount of hatred, intolerance or terrorism would be the end to the miseries of this world. Violence always begets violence. But again to be tolerant or not is in itself a paradox! My two examples below: USA & India

USA might not be tolerant but India is, some say it is good cause we do not want to go to war, some say it is bad for our silence is what that is killing more and more people everyday.

For those who say we shouldn't be tolerant? USA is an example. They bombarded Iraq in the name of nuclear weapons and to this day, has it really ended? They ended up awaking more otherwise innocent people in taking up war just to avenge Iraq. For all their good intention of ending terror, it might just backlash & create more havoc in the world!

For those who say we should be tolerant? India is an example. We have been tolerant since ages on issues like our prized Jammu & Kashmir, our neighbours continuing to cause unrest in our country, terror attacks, massive killing sprees, hostage dramas etc,we have seen it all. We have lost more lives than any other country & continue to lose lives everyday! Cause for this: Our Tolerance.
We come from the land of the Mahatma & we are supposed to follow his ideals of peace & Ahimsa i.e Non-Violence but where has it taken us? Even today, after more than 50 years of our independence, we are still fighting against the same issues everyday!

So war or no war? Tolerance or no tolerance? Love for Hate? or Hate for Hate? What EXACTLY do we need to make this world a better place to live in? To be honest, I don't know! I have no answers. No religion or science preaches killing people & no man is good or bad, it is always education & circumstances that make him so! The sooner we all realize this, the faster we can get our world back in the right order!

In the words of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of E-Bay:
" Every man is good & if given a chance to do good, he always will"

Miracles or no miracles, may the world be blessed with peace!

Does God Exist-Some food for thought!

I feel strongly about so many things I come across that sometimes it becomes difficult for me to try & focus! So I took the easy way out. I asked my buddy 'Ok tell me what do you want me to write on today'? He says 'Does God exist'?

I was like...whoaaahhh, hang on a sec, did I really think I would be able to write on a subject that has been debated for millions of years, a subject which has mankind still undecided! A subject too broad or very difficult to answer, a subject so abstract that even a single line of thought is difficult to prove/disapprove!

I think I am too young to be talking about a subject at which I may be a novice. But well, aren't we all novices in one subject or the other? No harm in trying right? :-). Do you know the best way to understand or learn something about a subject? Talk to people! Sounds simple, isn't it? Trust me, it is that simple.

Everyone around you has something to say & in no time you would have 1000 different opinions, things you alone might have never thought of! Now isn't that a simple effort with rich rewards? You're not only learning more but in the process, you made them THINK!

Here are a few interesting answers I got from my friends on the question  'Who is God & does He exist'?
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SIVA: God is shape less... colourless.. religionless...he / she is invisible. There is only one God .We can feel GOD...
        
AK:  WHO IS GOD? An invisible entity that we have named to comfort our selves? We all circle towards God when we have pain, agony, happiness, need, greed and deprivation. We don’t know whether it is male or female, living or eternal. But we all believe of some being that controls the world around us. GOD controls the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat.

We as a human race believe in relative measures in our thoughts. We intend to submit our selves in a greater power than us. It is always a lopsided view of things that gets to us. It gives comfort to humans to believe in this great power that has written a destiny for each and every living individual on this planet and may be beyond. GOD IS A METAPHOR !!!!


GAGS: God for me is nothing but a supreme power which I know exists but has not been seen. I have felt its existence at time but as I am a man of science so I believe in what I see...I don't believe there is God in temples or mosques...but it is the faith that drags them to the holy places...so for me God is Faith!
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Well said people! As far as I know these are three different people with three different personalities in no way similar to each other but yet if you look closely, all three of them are essentially saying the same thing! Isn't it interesting? Or rather weird that no matter how different we think or act, when it comes to God...somewhere, somehow we all agree that he exists! Now the words above may suggest different things to different people but they are all reflecting one basic thought 'Yes, God Exists!'

Yes, God Exists! He is not in temples, mosques or churches! He is not in the idols you see or worship. He has no gender (I know I'm referring to him as a 'He', makes it simpler for me to write the post with a 'He' than a 'It' :-)). He cannot be defined because for every being that exists on earth, he means something different!

To me, God is a power that controls everything we see around us. An 'Energy' that surrounds us in every walk of life. God is what you believe he/she is. Places of Worship like temples, mosques or churches are just man's ways of reaching out to him. Something so abstract cannot be worshipped right? So man made idols or places of worship in how he saw it. God is not bound by religion or class, rich or poor, good or bad! God is God!

He exists within you, around you, in everything you do, feel or touch!

Men of Science say that behind every thing that happens on earth, there is a a cause or effect! What you see is what you believe? So who gave us the power to believe what we see? Who gave us the power to judge if something is right or wrong? Yes, education taught us morals but relative to what? Isn't everything on earth relative to one another? You need something to compare it to something else. There is no thing called 'ABSOLUTE' on earth!

Physics taught us 'Nothing can be created or destroyed, it can only be converted'! But something had to exist to get converted to, something had to be present for us to draw conclusions about, something was responsible for every other thing on earth which we beings have no control over!

Atheists may say God does not exist because he is intangible! Who says we need to touch or sense or feel to realize the power that controls this universe? You just need to look around you, its all there in the form of creation! Its simple really. What you see around you itself is God! When one says he/she does not believe in God, they are simply saying they do not acknowledge their existence in this universe cause they don't see him! But don't you think by saying you don't believe in him is in itself an example of your mind being able to think the way it does! Its simple, ain't it?

God may be a Faith, a Force, An Energy, An Invisible entity or Power! Its what you think He is! Its how you think He is & thats exactly what He is!

PS: Thanks Gags for suggesting this topic & your thoughts. You actually made me think about this like I've never thought of before! Thanks AK & Siva for your beautiful thoughts. Thanks for your time.God Bless.