FIFA World Cup here it starts

Worlds greatest fever of 2010 is reaching its crescendo and one hardly doubts its intensity. My interest in Football started in 1996 when Germany won the Euro Cup and it has never looked back ever since. I still remember Davor Suker winning the Golden Boot in 1998 World Cup. I supported Germany like anything in last two World Cups. In 2002 Oliver Kahn defended Germany like the great rock of Gibraltar but was not good enough against the mighty Brazilians led by Ronaldo. Zinedine Zidane played his last World Cup (2006) like a man enjoying his dream, but unfortunately for him and for France, Italy won the Cup in a reverberating shoot out . I   still remember going for a job interview in a German firm (a day after Michael Ballack's men were sunk by Italia in semi final) but those Germans took that easy else i might had been screwed. I only follow two major tournaments FIFA World Cup and Euro Cup so sometimes i become quite unaware of the composition of the teams.

             19th World Cup has started yesterday in Republic of South Africa. As always i will support Germany, Argentina, Italy and Spain. Argentina always has had great teams but they have not won a  world cup in last 20 years while Brazil has won twice, and Germany, France and Italy one each. Absence of Michael Ballack will seriously hurt the chances of Germany while France is deprived of all the great old horses, same is true for Brazil. Italy, Argentina and Spain are more balanced than their counterparts. Lets hope that the best team wins the cup.

                     Finally, i would l like to say that Republic of South Africa has arrived on a world stage like a giant. Out of BRICS countries, China has hosted 2008 Olympics, South Africa is hosting current FIFA World Cup and Brazil will host 2014 FIFA World Cup. India is nowhere in the picture and we should not be satisfied by hosting substandard Commonwealth games or local World Cup of Cricket.

Book Review [30] : The White Tiger

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a book that i hated to read (as i rarely read fiction) but because of Aviral's visit to Bangalore this Sunday and Saugata's recommendation, i started reading it  yesterday around 12:30 PM and by 9 PM i was able to finish it off. In between these we traveled for 2 hours and lunched for 20 odd minutes. This book is a very high speed flowing book that you can read it in a fish market without any disturbance. No other book can suit super fast Indian. This is a story of a chasm and a hope. This is a story of Balram Halwai's struggle to jump from the dark India to the "Shining India" and he did it in such an awespiring way.

I have read it some where that "Before making any statement about India please keep in mind that the opposite is also equally true". So if you find Indias running BMWs, Ferraris, Mercedez etc then you can also find with an ease Indians running bullock carts (Index of ancient India), rickshaws (Post Mughal India) etc. If you find Volvo to cater the needs of metropolitan Indians then at the same time you have horse carts, tractors and 1950 odd made buses to cater the needs of people living in Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal, Bihar and elsewhere. This is a chasm that's it also impossible to surpass and yet it lives on and on. Government shows all types of stats to prove that India is growing but as a matter of fact it has not grown even by a bit.

I will give you a simple example of my village although generalizations are very dangerous but still they give some part of the big picture. My village is one of the most backward villages of Bundelkhand. In last 20 years literacy rate has grown, the income has increased, people don't die from trivial diseases but the standard of living has remained the same. The upper class families were able to give good education to their children while the lower class families did not even try. All the people of my age group (late 20s) are either watchmen or laborers in big metros. Earlier they were able to sustain in village itself but because of the influx of capitalist good like (TV, mobiles, bikes etc) their expenses have increased. These guys are working in big cities and living at the fringes but they are making Capitalists people rich by buying their products (shampoo, soaps, creams, mobiles, TVs and bikes). Instead of investing this money in educating their children these guys are wasting it to enjoy the "pleasure" of 21st century. This is a sorry state of affairs and a vicious cycles which is very difficult to break unless you become Balram Halwai or some great men. I will not recommend this book to serious readers but if you are traveling then this book is a good companion. Yesterday was by birthday :).

Recommended (7/10)