I have realised…

I have realised…

That people have their own opinions and invariably will think shit anyway!… If you start thinking about what people will think on everything, you’ll never be able to do anything you want to!

The world is a far cry from being a place where everyone around you can be happy at all times!

Unpredictability is the name of the game that rules life!

You never really get what you want… Coz if you do then you are content and happy and a constant state of contentedness and happiness is impossible to achieve!

Nothing seems to ever be enough… A constant drive for that ‘something more’ disrupts the joy of everything you achieve!

There’s so many people, places and things to do… We have to learn to prioritise!

– BiBinhio

 

Espnstar articles

On the new EPL rules and an in-depth look at whether it will affect any of the top-sides.

http://www.espnstar.com/home/news/detail/item483471/New-EPL-rules:-Much-ado-about-nothing/

A season-preview of Manchester United.

http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item484656/Spurred-on-by-the-hunger-of-champions

– BiBinhio

 

Future Red Devils

Manchester United have arguably the best youth development system in the Premier League and have time and again unearthed little gems through their coaching system in Carrington. United youngsters have been quite successful in tournaments such as the Milk Cup and the reserves have been ever-ready to step onto the big stage and grab any opportunities that come their way.  Federico Macheda and Johnny Evans are two prime examples from recent years. Injuries to first-team players gave these two youngsters their breaks and they made the maximum use of those chances to cement their spots in the Red Devils side.

Here’s a look ahead to what the Manchester United side could look like (barring any major acquisitions) in just over a couple of years from now.

First, a list of players who are likely to leave/retire:

Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen. While the first four names are expected departures, Rio could well be out soon, along with the two Owen’s. Ferdinand will turn 32 this season and recurring injuries could well force the centre-back to call it quits a bit earlier than expected. Owen Hargreaves will be 30 in January and having missed the best part of 2 years with knee and other injuries, Hargreaves could face a scuppered career as well. Michael Owen has not been the same since that freak injury at the 2006 World Cup and could very well be forced into early retirement by recurring hamstring issues.

Dimitar Berbatov, Park ji Sung, Mame Biram Diouf and Anderson are players whom I believe will leave OT over the next couple of years.

Youngsters coming through the ranks:

Macheda, Evans, Danny Welbeck, Rafael da Silva and Fabio da Silva have all made their names already. Add Tom Cleverley (who can play anywhere in midfield), Javier Hernandez (who shone for Mexico at the WC), Danny Smalling (CB bought from Fulham), Craig Cathcart (CB), Richie de Laet (LB), Corry Evans (CB, Johnny’s brother),  Joshua King (ST), Cameron Stewart (Winger), Matty James (DM) and Oliver Gill (CB) to the list.

Cleverley is one player who definitely has the potential to delight the fans at the Theatre of Dreams (Youtube his goal against the MLS All Stars if you want any proof) and Chicharito Fernandes has the pace and finishing ability to threaten any defensive line. Smalling played well whenever he was given opportunities at Fulham and should benifit from training with the likes of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand for a couple of years. Catchcart, Corry Evans and Oliver Gill all have the hallmarks of good centre-backs while de Laet has has impressed Sir Alex during pre-season games this year. Cameron Stewart is an explosive winger who can play up-frontwhen needed while Joshua King is an able finisher according to former OT legend, Ole Solskjaer who knows a thing or two about finishing! Matty James is another interesting prospect.

What with the new ‘home-players’ rules that have been introduced in the BPL, more and more of these youngsters could be given chances in the league. Welbeck and Cleverley (along with Stewart, Evans and a couple of the younger lot) are all set to head out on season-long loans to Premiership, Championship and League One clubs and will all benifit from regular football before they can come back and stake a claim at OT.

Players likely to be bought:

Moves for Mezut Ozil, Stefan Defour and Jack Rodwell could very well be on the cards. Ghanaian Anthony Annan has also been linked with a move to the red-half of Manchester as has Danish keeper Anders Lindegaard.

And Finally, Man U team 2014:

GK: Tomas Kuszack, Anders Lindegaard, Ben Amos

LB: Evra, Fabio, De Laet, O’Shea

CB: Vidic, Evans, Smalling, Cathcart, Evans, Gill

RB: Rafael, Brown

DM: Annan, James, Rodwell

CM: Fletcher, Defour, Ozil, Carrick, Gibson, Stewart

LM: Nani, Cleverley

RM: Valencia, Obertan

ST: Rooney, Macheda, Welbeck, Fernandez, King

 

Transfers that should be…

August 31st is fast approaching and with it the transfer deadline and the start of a new football season. Many transfers have been completed already and innumerable more have been proposed. Here are a few that I would love to see happen… some probable, some not really so… but still… a few rumours that really have news-value!

• David Beckham to West Ham – West Ham’s managing director has clearly made known his ambition to see the charismatic English star at Upton Park and adding fuel to fire is the fact that Beckham hails from an East London background. But the latest updates to come through from the Beckham camp seem to hint at the fact that all these rumours have no grain of truth… Sad.
• Sami Khedira to Real Madrid – Expect this to be another promising player who makes a high-profile move to Real and then fllops majorly! If this move does not happen then it would be a huge surprise.
• Mario Balotelli to Man City – City have already poached Kolarov, Silva and Yaya Toure and Balotelli seems to be next on Roberto Mancini’s summer shopping list. James Milner is one player from that list whom I expect the Italian will not be able to get, but Balotelli should make it to Eastlands.
• Federico Marchetti to Arsenal – If Wenger gets this Italian keeper then finally there will be an answer to the goalkeeping gaffs at Emirates. I mean, after Seaman, its been the likes of Almunia, Fabianski and Richard Wright keeping goal for the Gunners… and they expect to win a title! LOL!
• Fabregas to Barca – This is 1 transfer that I’m sure will not happen but for all the world just let it be Wenger! The whole world wants it… it will eventually happen anyway… just let it happen!… Can’t come to office everyday and read that some one or the other has said that Fabregas will finally come to Barca!…
• Ozil to EPL – One player who should be plying his trade in the EPL… Dunno which club he will join, but still expect him to make a big money move to Spain or England very soon.
• Craig Bellamy to Fulham – Mark Hughes is all set to take over at Fulham and should bring the Welsh star whom he has coached previously at Blackburn and Man City (as well as the national side) to Craven Cottage. Should be a valuable addition to the Fulham side, a brilliant side-kick for someone like Bobby Zamora.
• Javier Mascherano to Inter – Another match made in heaven and another case of a former manager tempting a star from his previous club to join his new side. Masch will provide the prefect foil for the attacking intent and skill of Wes Sneijder and the rest in front of him.
• Landon Donovan to Everton – The American star is probably touching the best form of his life at the moment and with Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and Fellaini, would form a very formidable attacking midfield quartet.
• Ashley Young to Tottenham – Another transfer not really likely to happen. But one that would keep quite a few defenders up for nights if it did happen. Bale and Young down the same flank will be a threat to the best! The latest updates in this saga point to a three-man trade for Young, with Harry Redknapp ready to offload out-of-favour former captain Robbie Keane, central-midfielder Jermaine Jenas and winger David Bentley to land the Euro 30 million rated English star. That would be a bonus for Villa I would think!

Others that almost made the list:

Maicon to Real, Annan to Man U and Krasic to Juventus.

– BiBinhio.

 

Teacher… Marks!

Final semester exams looming large and jotting this down in between combined study for International Relations! The scene at 208 Vaishnavi – My roommate and the other ‘D‘ in 208 are chilling on the bed, supposedly ‘studying’!… Monica Hariharan is shouting ‘Just shut up’ over phone all the way to Chennai… and Swathi Nair is half-sleeping, half-reading on the newly placed hammock in the newly cleaned house that on one side has a half-Hawaiian touch to it the last 2 days!

Anyway this post is about our great education system and all i’m putting down is things and believes I’ve had for a long time which have kept on coming back to me over the course of studies/discussion/talking over the last few days…

Marks: in the dictionary of the Indian student means ‘the one thing that is paramount to all efforts of going to school/college and the only thing on which education is based on’. Marks: in the dictionary of the mom/dad of an Indian student means ‘the one thing that their child/children should acheive at least more than the next parent’s child/children during their days of education’. Marks: in the dictionary of an Indian professor means ‘the one thing that they can keep hanging over the heads of his/her student/s using the threat of not awarding the same’. Marks: in the dictionary of the Indian society means ‘the one thing that is the complete, indiscriminate, comprehensive judgement of a child’s intelligence and abilities’.

Why I am choosing to jot all this down is beacuse of my experiences in recent days with the mentalities of a few of my friends when related to marks and exams which led me on to think how this is the general trend that is created and encouraged by our education system. As we were studying, one thing led to the other and soon I was discussing continents and countries with my friends. This is when one person had a doubt about how many continents there were in the world and which all. She started counting with the first name she said being Russia and the third Artic. She counted South and North America together as America and finally arrived at the figure of 8! And just two minutes before this discussion she was talking about getting at least a ‘B’ grade (btwn 70 – 80 marks) in International Relations, calling it a low grade for her!

Then followed an intersting debates of the merits of ICSE/ISC stream over CBSE (the above mentioned friend had been in CBSE and she admitted to having only ever mugged up any subject, especially History and Geo) and about how the CBSE stream encourages students to somehow acheive good marks and be satisfied only with high grades. But is it just CBSE that does that? Isn’t it our entire education system? The students are made to believe that acheiving marks somehow is the only key to education. My friends who hardly attend classes, listen to music or play on laptops or just constantly chat and never listen in class and then study just before the exams, expect to get A and B grades as well as high marks in their internal assessments. I beg to ask the question, HOW? How, does one expect to get at marks without efforts… and if the constant answer to that question is ‘I don’t listen in this subject coz I’m not intersted in it and so I just want to pass this subject with good marks somehow’, then why do you want marks in that subject at all. Can’t you just give up on one subject if you hate it so much and just pass it to ensure you get a degree? I mean, who the fuck is ever gonna check what grade you got in 3rd semester in your graduation days in college?

But bad grades just won’t do and if a teacher starts to follow the rules and judge internal assessments objectively, they are crucified for just the opposite – for supposedly favouring a few students because they actually listen in class and write good answers or do good assignment pieces! A constant professor bashing is just as common as the greed for marks among the teens of today.

Looking at things in MIC where I study (well just for 3 more days), one thing adding to all the mix-up is the fact that a lot of students are just here for the sake of a degree. Journalism or communication studies is not what they want to do in life and a lot of people invariably ended up in MIC for either the sake of getting an easy degree or beacuse this was the only college they got into. The perception of Manipal as a place to chill and have a fun life also is a criteria for many students to choose MIC over other colleges. The general lackadaisical attitude prevalent in MIC and Manipal just sucks along most of the serious first years that come in at the beginning of every year as well. Also the course is quite comprehensive (or at least tries to be even though not well administered)  and often people who want to do a certain tend to get bored with sujects other than what they want to specialize in.

In such a case, students often find that a certain subject is of nothing to do with what they want to be doing 3 years down the line, especially theory subjects like IR, Political Science, Economics and so on. In such subjects a large part of the class somehow just wants to pass (with good grades still I remind you) without putting in much effort. How is that going to be possible especially with such a poor background knowledge (such as the 8 continents incident) being a general condition of most of the class?

Haaah… Blame the British and their education system!

– BiBinhio.

PS: The idea of this post is not to offend anybody by direct or indirect association. I apologize in advance if anyone takes this as a personal jab and I regret it because that is not the thought process behind this post and the criticism in it.

 

Hmmm…

Need to write… to express… to talk…

To who? I have no idea… Which is probably why here makes sense… Nobody’s probably gonna see it anyway…

Feel quite alien to all the hustle and bustle and the clutter that is the internet… and especially social networking… I was never a very social person anyway!

Life goes on and I’ll soon be working in one corner of this loud and noisy market that is the internet… I will derive a meagre salary, hopefully enough to take care of my own needs, from this ever expanding and changing net culture as well.

Till then I still have days left in college… Days left to be with the same people and places I’ve been around for three years… Probably should be feeling nostalgic, even sad… Well, I probably should!

At home things move on as well… My niece turns one and I wish I had more time to spend with her… It is an amazing feeling to have her in my life!

No touch at all with anything else Trivandrum… Quite sad… Understandable though… Time has moved on… My heart hasn’t though…

Confusion is paramount when thinking of the future… What am I to do? A job in hand I have… I guess I’m better off than others in that respect… And it is also ‘the’ job or at least ‘the’ company that I had craved for… Still the happiness that should be there is not! I dunno what I really want to do in life…

New complications in life means concentrated time to spend with a lot of people… I don’t mind that much but wish I had more time with one person… But everyone has their own lives… Have to live and let live-in…

Its quite late in the night for me… Yet I just cannot sleep… Probably not a good sign… Quite choked I feel in life… Need a break… Need to be alone…

– BiBinhio.

 

I don’t know

Empty!

Lost in the past!

Drained!

Worried?

Amazed!

Serious!

Different!

Disinterested!

Bored!

Zoned out!

Why?

I don’t know