THE HISTORY OF WORLD CUP

Thousands of people supporting their respective teams, flags all around, cheers and loud music being played is a mark of the beginning of the profligate tournament called the FIFA World Cup or simply the World Cup. This all started in the year 1930 when the inaugural world cup was played in Uruguay. The championship was played every four years ever since except for 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. The inaugural world cup was won by the host nation Uruguay, who have won this trophy two times.

The South American nations have been dominating the world of soccer, Brazil have won the title a record five times, Uruguay and Argentina have won it two times each. Overall in 18 world cup tournaments played, South American countries have won it 9 times. The trophy itself has a wonderful history. From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup winner. It was named after the then president Jules Rimet. In 1970, Brazil who won the title for the third time became the owner of the trophy permanently according to the rules of FIFA. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has not been recovered till date, apparently melted by the thieves. After 1970 a new trophy was designed by Silvio Gazzaniga. Gazzaniga described it as "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory." This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy until the next tournament and are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original.

Earlier according to the rules, the host nations and the defending champions used to automatically qualify for the tournament, but now-a-days only the host team auto qualify. Brazil is the only nation to have qualified for all the world cup tournaments. The World Cup was first televised in 1954 and is now the most widely-viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games. The cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 World Cup is estimated to be 26.29 billion. 715.1 million individuals watched the final match of this tournament (a ninth of the entire population of the planet). The 2006 World Cup draw, which decided the distribution of teams into groups, was watched by 300 million viewers. The last world cup was played in 2006 and was won by Italy. The next world cup is to be played form 11^th June to 11^th July of this year in South Africa.

IPL NOT TO BE BLAMED FOR INDIA's PERFORMANCE

The blame game of BCCI & media is an endless chapter and almost a ritual of Indian cricket. It looks like the players have to undergo the knife every time they perform poorly!! But is reaching the super 8 that bad? There are many teams which don’t even qualify for the super 8’s and they get neglected. You cannot expect your team to win all games, loosing is a part of the game. But media doesn’t heed for anything. They are the people who just want to finish their allotted half-hour program by just talking nonsensical things.


Rather than finding out the main reason for the dismal performance of India, they just accuse IPL and the parties that the cricketers attend. Isn’t IPL also the match practice? Many foreign players have benefited from this tournament. It gives them the idea and nature of the format! And talking about parties, it depends on the individual on how he utilizes his free time, it’s just a form of recreation. I agree that the players did not perform well, but is criticism the only way out? The BCCI is also to be blamed for the performance. They too should be held accountable. Looks like the chairman of the wrecked selection committee has decided to give priority to his state players for the national team. He could have chosen Robin Uthappa instead of Murli Vijay as a replacement for the injured Sehwag.

IPL creates an environment where the players get the opportunity to demonstrate themselves in the T20 format and they have a strong probability of being acquainted with some foreign player’s weakness who would be playing against them at the world cup. Criticism is good till a certain extent. The reason for the debacle should be found out and working upon the weaknesses should be the priority and not the blame game. Moreover the selection committee should be unbiased and must work for a great future of Indian cricket. Talking about media, they won’t stop until and unless their TRP’s dry down! I personally fell that carving out a solution is the only way out.

GLOBAL WARMING - Major threat being ignored

Have you ever seen a volcano erupt in the midst of snow? You might think that this isn’t possible, but let me tell you it is and it has happened. Global warming is the reason for it. What exactly is global warming? It is the increase in the overall temperature of our planet, which causes many imbalances and natural calamities. Increase in the temperature causes the water level in seas & oceans to rise, which in turn cause floods, tsunami etc. Earthquakes, tornadoes are also because of this phenomenon. It is a major threat which is being ignored and causing unimaginable damage to human life. The major countries are divided on this issue and some are even reluctant to think about it. Something has to be done immediately to stop this. We cannot overcome this overnight but can do little to prevent it.

The question is how can we prevent global warming?

Firstly we have to be educated on this issue and spread awareness among others. We can reduce our power consumption. We should switch from normal bulbs to cfl bulbs. Have to recycle each and every bit of waste. We have to stop pollution and carbon emission which is the most important thing to stop global warming. We should plant tress wherever possible because it reduces the amount of carbon in the air. There is much more we can do to prevent global warming. The point is, are we doing our bit?

Many countries have taken an initiative of celebrating earth hour by switching off the power for one hour occasionally. The citizens should follow it and moreover the government should implement strict rules to avoid global warming. Even if government doesn’t do their bit, at least we can do it. We should remember one thing – The exploiters are only the sufferers.  It is our planet. The responsibility of saving it also lies in our hand.

IS IT A NEW HOPE FOR OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM?

“How much percentage did you get Raja?”

“I got 92% daddy”

“What? How could you? You got 1% less than Siddharth. You really disappointed me.”

This is a common scene between parents and their children now-a-days. There is so much competition today that parents even out shadow their children’s percentage comparing it with others!! Can you even imagine a parent scolding his child even after getting 92%? We cannot blame parents either because every parent expects his child to be the best. If this is not enough, students even face the pressure from their teachers. Lots of homework, assignments, mid-term examinations, surprise quizzes, co-curricular activities etc. There is a mad race for everything today. They say if you are not the best, you cannot survive. Can’t people just be good rather than being best? For example, take an engineering student or a medical student. There are about 20 lakh people appearing for engineering entrance exams from all over India. Do you expect all to be the best and turn up with huge salaries? If so many  people become engineers every year then there won’t be people left for whom buildings should be made. The point is quality is required and not quantity. There should be a fair system to judge people rather than judging them on percentage or rank basis. Why is that if you get a rank only then one gets a seat in a particular college? There are more number of entrance tests than the number of subjects in every field. Its not that exams should not be conducted, but, just  a common entrance test, a fair grading system needs to be followed.

Our honorable Union Minister for Ministry of Human Resource Development Mr. Kapil Sibal has come up with a brilliant idea of common grading system and common board exams all over India. Students will be judged upon grades not upon marks or percentage!! The need for this is to abolish the discrimination of students on basis of marks. A famous dialogue from a movie - “You should run after excellence, not after success. If you run after excellence, success will definitely follow you.”  If you excel in any field, success will surely follow. Not everybody can be the best but everyone can surely excel in their respective fields. Sometimes I wonder why parents force their children to take a particular field. It should be completely left to the child to select his field of interest. Even if he doesn’t succeed at least he will hold responsibility himself rather than putting the blame on his parents. There should be healthy competition between students and not a mad race to be the best. Learning is more important than being best!! It’s a lifelong process and everybody’s perception about studies needs to be changed!!

WHY TELANGANA?

“Jai Telangana, Jai Jai Telangana”, these slogans are being chanted all over the Telangana region since December 2009 for creation of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh. Public & private property damage, bandhs called by political parties (especially TRS), violence all over were some of the common scenes during these past 5 months in the Telangana region. The question is why Telangana? Is there any injustice being done to the people in Telangana like to the Bihari people in Maharashtra? All across Andhra, people speak Telugu and follow Telugu culture. So is there any difference between Telangana people and Andhra people? I don’t think so. Many people are not aware of the fact that this all started way back from the period of Nizams. The struggle was intensified in the year 1969. About 300 students were killed and more than 350 students injured during that period. Students have been the back bone of this struggle. The students even lost a whole academic year during the 1969 struggle. Till date the batch of 1969 has been blacklisted for jobs. After 1969 people had almost forgotten Telangana state and many had given up. Why this sudden agitation again after 40 years? TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) have woken up suddenly after 40 years. Was it because of Telangana that they woke up or just because their leader Mr. KCR had lost his popularity? KCR started his fast unto death in December 2009 at Siddipet for separate Telangana state and was arrested immediately. This is where the violence began. At some point of time even KCR couldn’t control the violence started by the students. He just was lying at NIMS surrounded by a bunch of doctors and his well wishers. Was he pretending to fast or was he really fasting? The student’s hard work or may I say shameful work did pay-off for sometime as the Congress high command had agreed for the formation of the state but later relented. The situation in the state went from bad to worse. The high command again changed their stance on the issue and formed a Srikrishna panel to look into the bifurcation of state. Why can’t the Congress take a unanimous decision rather than taking decision by force or pressure? The real point is just for the cause of one starving political leader a state cannot be formed overnight. One more thing to be asked is will Telangana be ever formed or the people just have to face the consequences of violence and dirty politics? As such there is no need for Telangana because there is no discrimination among Andhra and Telangana people. Issues like these have just become breeding ground for politicians to gain popularity and power!! Politicians should understand that they cannot play with people’s emotions and more importantly the student’s careers. 70% of the students won’t even know the advantages or disadvantages of Telangana state and just get easily carried away by the mob mentality and lose control over themselves because of peer pressure. A 10th class boy recently committed suicide for Telangana state but the point is I bet he couldn’t even have answered why would he want Telangana. It’s just that people are so damn jobless that they are even ready to risk their lives for matters not even pertaining to their own life. Political parties and bureaucrats should learn to unite people rather than dividing them on the basis of culture, caste etc. Andhra Pradesh was a united state and will be a united state. Even if the boundary is divided between the two regions the boundless emotions and culture of the people of those regions will last forever!!

37 and still going strong...

Yes I am talking about the legend ‘Sachin Tendulkar’. The man with 93 centuries in all forms of international cricket and more than 30,000 runs is still going strong!! People back in India regard him as the God of cricket, infact many people just watch cricket because of this legend. The little master or master blaster has mended his path all the way from a little guy to a legend. He is regarded as the second best batsmen in test cricket after Sir Don Bradman and the second best batsmen in one day cricket after Vivian Richards. The legend of spin Shane Warne himself has said that Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest player he has played against. Sachin was the only player of this generation to be selected in Bradman’s XI. He has been able to bag many awards including the prestigious Padma Shri award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. He is not only a wonderful cricketer but also a modest human being. In his first interview when asked was he feeling scared to be selected for the Indian cricket team at such a young age (16), he replied he has no problems even facing the then fast bowlers of West Indies like Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose etc. Though he was not successful as a captain he still is regarded as a born leader. He has led his IPL team to the final of the third edition rubbishing his critics who said that he cannot perform as a captain. But the question is why doesn’t he play for India in T20I’s? He says that he is not comfortable with this format, so why does he play IPL and still becomes the highest run getter in the tournament? He has got to clear his stand on this controversy. Talking about controversies Sachin was involved in couple of controversies in his 20 year career including Mike Denness incident and Ferrari custom waiver incident. Still he has overcome every hurdle in his life and is leading a successful personal and professional life. Talking about his personal life, he got married on 25^th may 1995 to Anjali. He runs two restaurants in Mumbai named “Sachin’s” and “Tendulkar’s”. He has two children – one boy and one girl. The master blaster is hoping to play in 2011 world cup to be played in the sub-continent and is looking good both with his form and fitness. He is the guy who can lead the Indian team to the world cup trophy. Though being such a great batsman, Sachin has never won a world cup. Maybe this is the time he gets to achieve this feat!! Good luck to this great player for his future endeavours and congratulations for his past achievements.

FAILURE OF BJP's "RENAISSANCE" ?

A new hope had risen for the BJP and NDA government when Nitin Gadkari was appointed the president of national BJP. He earlier was the president of BJP Maharashtra. Sushma Swaraj also succeeded LK Advani as the Leader of Opposition. Their new ideology of following the secular idea of our nation, initiated by Mr. Gadkari did not last for long. BJP is well known for its ideology of supporting and promoting Hinduism as was in the case of Babri masjid. In fact Mr. Gadkari himself derailed their short-lived project by making a comment on Muslims. The project also got a massive blow when the Babri masjid case got murkier following a statement made by Anju Gupta that Mr. Advani had provoked the people for the demolition of the masjid!! BJP is fast losing its track from national politics and becoming a religious group provoking people for riots and disgraceful actions. They are not only failing in their new ideologies but also are failing as a party. They lost their second consecutive general elections. Their recent plan of cut motion of the national budget was cut short by their own people (Shibu Soren). Narendra Modi is another factor for the downfall of BJP. He still is the CM of Gujarat but the question is how long will he last? How long will he be using the old ideology of BJP? The Gujarat police have even found evidence of his role in Gujarat riots!! There are many more corrupt and non-secular people in BJP. India is a secular nation!! People are beginning to understand the stupid logics of BJP. Why can't BJP change its ideology rather than changing people's mind to follow their ideology? Its high time BJP does something to change their conception about people and moreover about Indian politics. ABVP is another factor for its failure. It has lost its popularity among the students and it has just become an organization which is now-a-days known for its strikes and bandhs in all educational institutions across the country. The people and organizations involved in BJP are only the reason for the downfall of BJP. Isn't this the beginning of the end for BJP?