Happy Birthday Raul!!! The Captain Of All Captainn And the Pichichi of our Hearts

Hey Its Raul's Thirtyeth Birthday and I wish him a Happy Birthday, and May God shower all his Blessings on him, and his family. Like they say in Spanish " Feliz Cumpliones".Last year i had scelebrated his birthday, i remember it weas not a a very good day though, he was playing for his national team agains France in World Cup Quater Finals, He was replaced in the second half and there is where Louis Aragones comitted a mistake. After he left his team just gave up to France with lack of Planning on the Field. I saw his fore cast last night, it is a good year and all the people like Aragones who tried to put him doen will learn a lesson. So Be happy and Enjoy.

The following article has been taken from a Post in Realmadrid's Official Site " http://www.realmadrid.com/"

On 27 June 1977, a boy destined to become one of the best players in the world was born. Thirty years later, Raúl González Blanco can boast of having had a brilliant carrer. He has become a legendary player at this Club thanks to his incredible track record -including 3 Champions League titles and 5 Spanish Leagues-, charisma and devotion to the team.The captain turns 30 thirteen years after his debut with Real Madrid in the 1994/95 season. Raúl González Blanco is one of the most important football personalities in the world. His strength, drive and great quality have made him a living legend at Real Madrid. Always a Madridista, he once again won the League title this season, playing an important role in his team's triumph.
His ascent to the footballing throne has been unstoppable since he arrived at the Club. He had a brilliant spell on the youth system and made his debut with the first team when he was 17 years, with Jorge Valdano as coach, remaining as a starter player ever since. So many seasons in the sporting elite have earned him impressive figures on both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. Raúl has won several collective and individual accolades, such as two Pichichis in the Spanish League and two top-scoring awards in the Champions League. Many people believe he will still break even more records at Real Madrid; not in vain, Fernando Hierro once definded him as "a Ferrari that will overtake us all in due time."
Record manThe captain established new records this season. He overtook Gento as the third footballer to have played the largest number of games on the team with 607 fixtures -only Santillana (643) and Manolo Sanchís (712) are ahead of him in the ranking. Four hundred and forty-five of those 607 matches have been League fixtures. Raúl has scored 186 goals in the League, the same as Carlos Santillana, making him the competition's all-time top scorer still active today. He is the Spanish footballer to have played the largest number of Champions League games (110), second in the world to Paolo Maldini. He is the all-time top scorer on the Spanish national team and has played more fixtures with Spain than any other player, save Zubizarreta

Although I have done and seen a lot over the last two weeks these are the few events that have qualified successfully for the contender ship for Koskers.

Namesake- the Novel, a lot has been spoken about in my previous posting about this book. . Though Jhumpa Lahiri has a lot of areas of improvement as a writer, the Novel does leave you thinking, about a lot of things, Specially Gogol who is left with no one in the end that will remind him about his memories about his childhood which is better in compared to the lifestyle that he refuses to accept but also finds it hard to blend with the traditional culture. All he is left with a Book that he was gifted on his fourteenth Birthday by his father, the collections of short Stories by Nikolai Gogol. I had once heard a saying “By the time a son realizes his father was right he is already a father.” In Gogol’s case, he is not even a father, but yes he has lost a lot of opportunities, when he could have been with his family at the right time, to be their support. Waiting to watch the movie.

Chini Kum – A great movie with some brilliant acting by Tabu and Amitabh Bachchan. The Big B was accused recently of taking his Mega stardom for granted, and expecting the audience / fans to accept whatever he does by crossing boundaries in the movies like “Nishabd” . He has proved in this one, that he is just using his talent, proving that the director fails in Nishabd to have conveyed the message in a different format . You can also connect yourself with the story easily, sometimes we do come across situations where in we hoped or wished that we would have asked for something else other than what we actually had. And of course the highlights of the Film are the comic and witty dialogues between the powerhouse Tabu and Big B’. Delhi being shown no less in compared to London, which is also an important factor in the movie.

“Fantastic Four and the rise of the Silver Surfer”- Of course an Entertainer, like one said, it takes you on a roller coaster ride. Amazing visual effects and some great looking actors like Chris Evans and Jessica Alba. The best part of the movie is character selection, The Actor Chris Evans who is Hot, has been the right choice for his character. He has been dragging attentions, the Next Tom Cruse of Hollywood.

Ocean’s Thirteen- George Clooney and gang is back for another bang. Not as great as the first part, but is a great entertainer, the one factor that is missing in the third one is the perfection in the detailing unlike the previous ones. But one good thing, the director did not commercialize this one by incorporating big star like he had done in the previous or the second sequel. The focus was not lost.

Sa Re Ga Ma/ Indian Idol/ Sa Re Ga Ma Pa- These Shows have drawn all the TRPS and is a huge hit in the Indian Television. But one thing we have all notices lately is that the Rifts and the heated arguments between the Judges, and the Mentors fighting with the Judges, disputing their decisions. I still remember Sa Re Ga Ma, when it used to come in Zee hosted be Sonu Nigam, the Show then was truly based on Music. And whatr great talents like, Shreya Ghoshal and Abhijeet are the products or the discoveries of that show. Indian Idol has changed the meaning completely by showing the entire selection process right starting from the talent hunt, Now nothing wrong in that but, that aspect has now carried forward, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa which is supposed to be an improvised version of Sa Re Ga Ma, is more popular for arguments, and the mentors talking about themselves more than talking about the contestant, the contestant ends up being in a nowhere situation. The improvisation was supposed to be for the betterment of the show, now it is turned up for the betterment of the TRP, After all its all Money Honey. “TRP hai to show hai”. Even the competitions like Voice of India. They all are more famous for the arguments rather than the talent hunt. Adesh Shrivastava Accusing Alka Yagnik of giving wrong decision and hence being an incompetent singer. Come on guys learn to respect the talent. This culture has gone up to an extent of exposing ones character rather than the art that they are popular for. In Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Bangla, Shilajeet went to an extent of asking the Judges if Lata Mangeshkar was a perfect singer. Taking the argument on a different tangent. And the latest trend on this show is of a Mentor, Well that is good, but the mentor rather than helping the contestant on song selection , ends up defending the contestant for not performing. Gone are the days when we knew Kishore Kumar Only as a singer, similarly RD Burman as a Music Director, we had to readf the gossip colums to find out about their personal nature and their life. Its all open now. Earlier when we saw an Amitabh Bachchan Movie, we never knew Amitabh as a person, we knew him as an actor, today the Media is so strong that when we watch a movie of Amitabh Bachchan it is nothing new, we have watched him in so many interviews, in Ads and also in News channels surrounded with controversies. But there are actors who have still kept the the trend , like Amir Khan And Akshay Khanna. Its exciting to watch them on screen, well both the culture I am talking about on stars , have their own Pros And Cons.

Real Madrid wins the Spanish La Liga Title- Wow what a nail biting finish of the Spanish football season, even the Cricket world cup this year has failed to draw attention. I had people who never watched Real Madrid Play earlier watching them and wanting them to win. Yes they did win , and what a victory, this time it was not Beckham , Ruud Or Raul Or even Casillias, It was Reyes in the Finals. Its sad that the Great Player Reyes might go to the Atletico at the Start of the next season. It was only him who gave us the victory. And Yes Raul dada did climb the fountain celebrating the Victory.

So the Kosker goes to Real Madrid Vs Malorca, Where Real Not only won the Match but also the Title, a Much deserved win , for the club as well as for the liga, as the Liga was slowly drawing towards monotony with Barcelona winning consecutively. So as I mentioned in my previous posts. The best was saved for the last.

On a Vacation

To Begin with I would like to correct a friend of mine, who had described the current Mumbai Weather as England Weather. Probably the Correct term would be ‘London Weather’, whatever, as far as she was successful in expressing her feelings … But I do agree with her, I have been very lazy lately to walk down till the cyber café and updating my blog, as I have already repaired my Computer at home. Soon I will have an internet connection to let me do all the required updating at home, as its more comfortable when you are at home, your thoughts flow easily here as there are no time constraints. Also I make may plan, going to Sidhivinayak temple, going to Vashi to enroll in one of the corresponding courses, but then when I look out of the window I end up doing nothing but watch television. But it is a nice way to spend my holidays, unlike a few years back when this gloomy weather used to drive me crazy to make plans for a picnic at Lonavala and spending a lot in Booze and eating at big restaurants and increasing the Credit card bills.
So like on every holidays, getting up late these days is become a habit, having good delicious food cooked by my Mom, and then having an afternoon nap, getting up and getting ready , Catching an auto for this newly opened Shopping Mall and Theater Gallery at Palm Beach , reaching there one hour before the show begins, buying the tickets and spending about 45 minutes in my favorite store “Odyssey” Its meant for Book lovers, Toy lovers and also manage to find some leather accessories and a music library. The best part of the store it is built up in a fairly big area leaving enough room for the customers to roam around looking for books, they have amazing collections right starting from , Classics to Non-Fiction, Philosophy , Fiction and Books on Cookeries. You Name it. Love spending time surfing there; manage to read some reviews written about every book at the back side of the Book Cover page. And also buying if I like something, I have recently bought “Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri and Short Stories by O’ Henry. He is the one whom I have read a lot in my School days. Especially the story “After Twenty Years” is my favorite of all his stories.
I have been on a Vacation since last four days, and though I had planned to read Kane and Able, which is pending since years now, is yet again left undone, it does not upset me as such. Because I know one day I will read it, as I have read Alchemist, and Namesake. Namesake is the most recent Novel I have read, it talks about ABCD, ‘An American Born Confused Desi’ , the Novel, though could have been a little better with more focus Asthma’s life as well and her reactions to the large cultural transformation seen in her Son, the impact and his inability to Adapt either of the cultures accurately. The novel has definitely left an impact on me and has left me thinking about my future, how would I like to bring up my kids when I get them in future, Slowly Mumbai is following the American way and we are getting drawn towards the so called American Lifestyle of staying alone and loose control, Probably we Indians are tired and no more want to live a life that is controlled or constrained by our elders. The entire concept of Joint Family, in our Parent’s Time had undergone a revolution and the Joint Family Concept got reduced into a much smaller concept of a Nucleus family. I remember watching Chat shows, TV serials, Hot Discussions, Topic of group discussions those days on this. No more is that topic Hot, as our generation has brought in a new revolutionary concept of Individualism. It is important that every individual first respect himself, has a self respect and dignity, Is educated enough to support him/herself. Unfortunately this extremely thoughtful and pure concept has been magnified so much so that people have turned individual centric these days, I don’t see anywhere compromisation, soon this word will be only in the Corporate dictionary. The meaning of a family was giving each other a helping hand, complementing each other, and most importantly supporting each other leaving all the egos behind. I recently saw a woman in my company who had cesarean and joined back the company in a few weeks time, leaving her infant behind. How can a mother be so career centric, the concept of womanhood is completely lost? Some women show they are extremely traditional by not eating Non-vegetarian food, but they do have the habit of smoking and drinking, they feel that is cool and that grabs some attention. But truly that attracts a man for sometime, to find some easy way out for satisfying oneself sexual need. Are Women of today’s generation happy with only that much?? Where is all the dignity? And most important of all where is womanhood? Where is Abstinence? Has the entire concept of sharing, caring and fun in adjustment drained out?
So the Joint Family reduced to nucleus family then reduced down to an Individual resulting in several failed marriages and relationship breakings, hence causing mental depression and addictions, my question is what next??? What will my Kids or the next generation reduce themselves to? I want to give them best of education and craft their personality to such a strong one that they will not get distracted to something so degrading. Hope I am successful.

The Monsoons, Traffic Jams and Mumbai City.

The Monsoons have finally arrived in full Swing and its rain ing Cats and Dogs outside. The season arrived exposing some drawbacks of this city yet another year, The Government , that dreams to turn this city into Shanghai in a few years time has a lot of Work to do inorder to turn it back into the Mumbai City the way it was a few years ago. Clean , Well organised, and handle all the natural calamities with ease. Today, Our city faces issues like the Waterlogins during rain, Dense traffic Jamns, Terrorist threats , Underworld influence, and politicians ego, All these aspects are exposed during the rainy seasons. But Nothing can match the beauty of Mumbai CVity during Rains, whether it is the seas side walk at Marine Drive, or the Late Night Empty roads that is washed by the rain waters, the roadside Tea stalls, and the lovely man Made Beauty of thew Hiranandani Complex Powaii , during the rains, giving a devine feeling with the viewof the Roman, Greek and Gothic Architecture recreated by none other than Hafiz Contracter.Mumbai still has its own Charm during the Rains, the City rains had once inspired the Great Poet Rabindranath Tagore to pen down the beauty of the season in his poem in the most intriquete form.

Koskers again

The contenders for Koskers could have been the match Between Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza. The match had all the components, some fiery on the Field Real Madrid Performance and some equally fierce counterattack from Real Zaragoza, Both the components leading to a Nail Biting Finish, But was a shame on the part of Real is they had to heavily depend on the Barca performance , a Match between Barcellona and espanyol, another nail biting match at Camp Nou that FINALLY WENT AS A DRAW. That is a great shame, Capello is a great coach, but I disagree with his decision of Keeping Dierra and Guti on the field and substituting the great performers like Robinho and Raull!! Not because of my soft corner for Raul, of course that is there but still, Raul was missed on the ground with his excellent finishes with those world class headers, he has really been a Key player this season, Guti was the wrong choice. And substituting Robinho was not right either. Capello was repenting at one time , I am sure when a lot of conversions were not done in front of the Goal Post. And Real had dropped down at the third position at one time, this was the game they should have one… a Shame !!!!!

Indian Idol!! Finally the Eleven Faces are out there, have crossed all the huddles and now they are ready to Fight the battle with each other with only one weapon , their voice… Pooja is the one who is amazingly talented , and sings from her heart, My Favourite , Of all the girls the one who is a student of Ravinder Jain , is out of the contest, she is truly good, I have no idea why the Judges and the Indian Public do not agree with me. Anyways amongst the Boys, of course Emon is the best and Chang and Prashant are good. All the three best are from Calcutta Auditions, My City and My Heart. Pooja, Jolly and Smitha are all from Calcutta. Six people hailing from Kolkata are in the Finals this year, God@!!! Got to keep a close tab on the show. I was never was all these years.

The Apprentice,, A side of Donald Trump which I truly hate was seen on the last episode when Aron was Fired, his quality of Insulting people, well not exactly, in true sense being Blunt on the face, is something that I did not like, however I guess he has the right, the man whatever he has done has turned out to be right and has emerged successful in this era. A salute to Mister Trump…


And the award goes to Of course Indian Idol,, like isaid earlier the best is yet to come of Real Madrid and am saving this award for them and their best moment, as for the apprentice, the same thing , will wait until it reaches the Final Stages.

Encounters

Finally the monsoons are hear, well almost, at least we can hear their Knock at the door, giving some relief to the immensely heated up Mumbai City. To my surprise some satisfaction at the work place with the little appreciation towards my hard work. Busy with daily routines, you get up, go to office, put on that fake smile, and deal with all the pain in your life, including the back ache and of course the so called social headache. The mistake committed by some one else on me, was committed by me with some one else. It was like the low scale De-ja–Vu. You must be surprised about the entire concept of the low-scale Dé-jà-vu. It is just that I had to be harsh and blunt in my actions , for a change not my words, with some one who had started expecting a bit too much out of me, and specially those who think they are too cool , but the reality is , they are the same Bimbos without the Blond Hair. Some one had truly said , the Blond Factor in a Bimbo is a mere coincidence. “What De-ja-Vu”? Because I had encountered the personality in them with what I had dealt with three long years in my previous organizations. The same fashion Conscious overspending people, though I am one of the over-spending lot, I’ m trying to overcome that part of me and refrain from spending too much on worldly pleasures bought in the expense of swiping a Credit card. “Spread your Blanket as far as your legs can stretch” is the New Mantra of my life. “Give or share you gyan with only those worth sharing it “, is the other Mantra, coz no one appreciates that, people have a laugh on it and a topic of Discussions that will drive them crazy with the Hysteric Laughter session. Ok I am Glad that some looser gets the opportunity to think him as the smarter one!!! But enough of that, It sounds good to saying it to yourself to overcome the agony. Otherwise!!!@@@@**! So having decided that I won’t share my Gyan with anyone anymore, I choose to avoid people who do not follow the same Ideologies. “What’s wrong with that? All colors do not give the same hue after all!!!?” Well the answer is yes, you cannot expect to be compatible with each and every one you meet, after all that is called adjustment, But I do not have to spend my entire life with them,, so why the adjustment??? Just respect that person and walkout quietly, before god comes a human, better respect the human for what ever he or she is. Another Genre of people that I had encountered the last week, the follow the “Chanakya Tactics”, the tactics of the man who had written “Kootshastra” which talks about modern politics. Smile at every one and every time you smile you have a motive bend the smile, you have motive behind expressing your friendship, no harm, I understand the opposite’s point of view, a girl coming to a town like Mumbai to make a mark of her own, staying alone and supporting the family, wins my greatest respect for her, but what I do not appreciate is the confused state of mind that fails to balance between the right and the Wrong, and goiung a bit overboard with the wrong… She needs to learn a lesson in life, she is only one experience away . Though I am a person who is comparatively honest in expressing my views like a few other, which sometimes people Label as ‘unprofessional’, but I am ok with that, probably that is the only thing which has kept me away from my success, but I am happy with it. I can live my entire life with or without success, I have a dream, to see those places in the world that were built by some great people in the Past , that shouts and tells us their stories, the walls speak out loud, as what they have witnessed ages ago. The places are Egypt, Rome, London and of course Paris and Madrid. And visit some beautiful locations from India, of both tourist and pilgrimage importance. Having Done that I can rest in Piece, oh God! Please give me strength so that I can be at all the above mentioned places. Please refrain me from this pain and ailment that I am going through!! Amen’

Now the Koskers!!!

Spideman 3- Not just another sequel as the name sounds. the best thng about the Spiderman series is that , It deals with the age old subject of Good Vs The Bad, Or The Wright Vs The Wrong in a Very Matured way. Its definitely an adaptation of the commic that we have read when we were kids , but its far more intense than that, the best part is the Direction and the way the subject is handled. the third sequel , deals with Spiderman The Godd Vs Spiderman the Evil. In The movie it is shown that afteall Spiderman is a human, who can get easily tempted towards the wrong , but how he manages to choose between the Wrong and the right, the dillemma he goes through, his concern for his friend and their friendship, this definitely teaches you a lot. I would call it a Modern day Epic.

Real Madrid Vs Deportivo La Corunha -Raul Raul Raul!!!!With 187 League goals, Raúl has caught up and overtaken Carlos Alonso Santillana at Real Madrid and now only has Di Stéfano above him. A good number of them have been with his head. And many times, they have been instrumental: this season's first goal against FC Barcelona, which led the way for Madrid's two nil victory and which gives the team a favourable head-to-head; and the one that meant the 2-1 against Deportivo La Coruña this past weekend at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Indian Idol & Sa Re Ga Ma Pa- With growing opportunities and increasing competion and and discovery of New talent has found its way through these reality shows. Singers Like Emon Chatterjee and Shifa Ansari, have impressed me by their amazing talents. Wish them all the luck and will be supporting them throughout the contest. A bit disapointed with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, the singers have not been upto the mark, considering the fact that Talent like Shreya Ghoshal is a Discovery of this A decade old Contest. however both have been good entertainers this summer.

And the Kosker Goes to """"""""""""" Spiderman 3"""""""""""" Clap Clap Clap!!!!!!

Sorry Real The best is saved for the last. Though my Dada Raul has scored in the game i still would save the award for the best when he climbs the fountain at the Madrid square with the trophy in his hand. And The Reality shows are yet to achieve it. The clear emotional and psychological battle wins the trophy... Congratsss!

untill next time see ya Byee!

The Opposites.!!!!

Rising Temperature!! Falling Images, High Expectations, Low performance, Traffic Jams, Lonely LIfe, Meeting old people, Kicking out some from my life, Hard Luck with money, Great fortunes and talllents on Television!! seems like life is full of opposittes this summer. Deteriorating health concerns me and has kept me away from Blogging quite sometime now. Koskers at standstill.so i sit today with a wish to comlete all the assignments related to my Blog. With all the rising extremes these summer, the Rain God has been generous this week bringing down some showers on Red hot earth, that brought some relief to the heat, but also exposed some loopholes and concerns in traffic and road management in Mumbai City, this is fourth yeear in a row, no sollutions to a lot of problems. constantly poring people from different corners of the country toi the city in search of a fortune has lead to an increasing population, pollution and mismanagement. Lot has been mentioned in papers, so no more of it noww.... the best solutions is to remove a people out of the city, which is highly imposible. Any ways , a simillar thing had happened in my personal life. My life had turned into the this mumbai city, with a lot of people that were not required, hence i decided to infilkter them and kick out the unwanted. It was a crucial decision to have swiped my card last week, to pay back the debt that was the only connection between me and some of my friends, so called friends,,.. but when i think about it now, i think it was the right decission. its better to cut off the only connection specially when the connection is monetary. I feel relieved. And now i have become lighter in many terms. A recent deterioration in my health condition , had compelled me to take some off from my work and ceate some problems at my workplace, however meantime i have been following these mUSICAL CONTESTS LIKE the "Indian Idol" and " sar Re Ga Ma" one thing is very prominent these days, The people of today are more blunt and straight forward. Like Bappi Lahiri, the humble man has a unique style of criticising people, by first pinting out the good things and then letting them know about their week links. But yes the man appreciates every one. On the other hand we have Annu malik and Vishal and Shekhar , who bluntly tell that you were bad. I dont know which one is correct, but i feel that Humanity comes first, and constructive criticism is must... its important that you do not hurt any one by your remark as that can kill an art or a dream and aspirations within oneself. We must let the aspiration burn and never let it extinguish.