Qatar mein hain hum...2026

Has FIFA lost it completely ?
I understand that most of the Eurozone countries like Portugal/ Spain, Netherlands/ Belgium are cash-strapped and England, well nobody at FIFA and UEFA( read Platini) likes them, and Russia with all its oil and gas have enough liquid cash to host a World Cup, but why on god`s (or Allah`s) name did they give it to Qatar ? World Cup! In June!.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Platini get a life! and if you manage to get one, get one for Sepp Blatter too.
Blatter is safe since by the time the Qatar 2022 thing comes around he will be past the peraly gates.
But footballers will be there and I can imagine them running around the spanking new stadiums kicking beach-balls( progenies of Jabulani) and pouring buckets of water over their head.
Its a disgrace that a bunch of moneybags have changed the rules of the game AFTER the kick-off.
Its like asking for normal BTG packages after the bids for a Super-critical BTG package has been opened. Bidders who lost out technically have a cause to feel agrieved. And that exactly what FIFA has done. After awarding the games to Qatar for a June cup, they are suddenly ok with the timings being shifted to January.
Well losers are complaining, but then again they are losers. Tcaah....losers.
A shift to January means local leagues of Europe and Latin America getting affected, but its FIFA, they make the rules.

And finally old Crumpet Sepp is talking about WC in India in 2026.A country that gets its posterior whipped by the football teams of Qatar, Kuwait and Oman( each about the size of delh NCR) with alarming regularity and whose best representation at top-level football has been one Bhaichung Bhutia at Bury FC ( not even english 2nd division ) and a Sunil Chhetri at Kansas City Wizards( MLS), a team which got a pummelling from Manchester United reserve team four odd months back.
Instead, take the game to Latin America, take it to Australia, take it Japan and China again, maybe to Egypt/ Morocco and then then Qatar and Oman and Iraq( that will rebuild the nation once more) instead of ruining the spirit by awarding it to India...
India 2026...I am sure Messers Kalmadi and Bhanot and Mahendroo are licking thier lips in anticipation.... if one city could give them 35000 crores, imagine a World Cup football, pan-India...
( fadeout to the tunes of Tu paisa paisa karti hai, phir paise pe kyun marti hain ? )

Dilli meri jaan

Managed to land in Delhi exactly 1 hr behind ETA....and this was Indigo...I am sure other airlines would have landed on time( in Jaipur) :-)...
now safely tucked inside a thick lep( cant find a better translation of this typically bengali contraption against the cold...a thick jacket of cotton/ silk stuffed with compressed raw cotton, dunno how better I can explain it) and daring the famed Delhi cold with a bottle of OLD MONK and cold water. Thats dinner and beverage.
Already feel a warm glow inside.
Jai Ho...Old Monk rocks.
Hope to have a kickass party tomorrow with Gee, Rara and the gang.
WHEN YOU ARE FREEZING, OLD MONK WILL KEEP YOU ALIVE!

Hyan Bhai, shei toh

Sitting in a nice small boutique hotel at Koregaon Park is not exactly my idea of a perfect Christmas Eve, but then again cant have it all.
Have a footlong Italian from Subway, half a bottle of Old Monk rum with what dear pal Sumo would call "Thansapp" and lots of munchies and two superb pastries from the Sweet Chariot Cafe down the road. And have CCR on the latptop. So its not entirely painful. Lonely quite, painful in parts.

Entirely unconnected list:
1. Hottest Indian Actress- Chitrangada( if she didnt marry that 18-hole man ) , Vidya Balan( kono kotha hobey naah)
2. Best Indian sportsperson- Saina Nehwal...she has taken on the Chinese and the Indonesians and the Taiwanese and beaten them at their game. Kudos lady.Love your Tiranga-coded hair clips and your deft placements.
3. Car i want to buy right now- Ford Fiesta S. fully loaded Aquirius Blue. and tank it up and drive to Goa. With Kanchan. And Gee...and CCR & Led Zep on the stereo. No Arka anywer. As a rule.
4. Band for all seasons -CCR.
5. Bengali singer I love- George-da.
6. Greatest football club in the world- Manchester United.
7. Old Monk rocks.
8. I am drunk.

..............................................( mumbling sounds....)

Day 1

0400 hrs- 2 slices of bread.
0930 hrs- 3 small sized Dorbesh
1345 hrs- 200 gms probiotic curd
1645 hrs- 200 ml cardamom falvoured milk.
2030 hrs- 1 scoop of Coffee n nuts ice-cream from Baskin Robins
2200 hrs- 2 bowls of daal, 2 small helpings of cabbage curry,2 small helpings of lady`s finger curry,2 small chapatis,bowl of curd, bowl of papaya ( approx 75 gms).

Well begun ,except for the ice-cream.

Facebook: random

I don’t drink Coffee( Dark/filter/ machine-made whatever), have barely watched any of the great films of Kieslowski, Tarkovsky,Bertolucci and inspite of my best efforts haven’t been able to add any value to any of the discussions regarding the tomes of Derrida/ Kafka/ Hosseini/ Murakami etc. I can’t take a decent photograph to save my ass/ balls and don’t even have a proper Nikon D5000 with Sigma and such-alike Bazooka shaped lenses.

In short, I am not exactly someone who qualifies as the “Cool Intellectual Thinking Man”.

Did I miss laid-back and tremendously successful and with a dark sardonic sense of humor?

Hell! Bollocks!

Am I still allowed to be in Facebook ?

London Dreams: Potla

Met him at the Euphoria concert way back in 2002 and the discussion turned to where we might be in 10 odd years.
I was techinally an engg student and he was in MCA course somewhere in the moffusils.
Glad he took my advice, re-appeared for the ISI, Delhi entrance and well....today he calls me to let me know he is getting posted to London...
happiness knows no bounds.
After all, Abhrajit and I have known each other for the last 25 years and 8 odd months.

Rains

The rains in Delhi ( The Commonwealth City) are seeing to it that the final (or are they the semi-final ) touches to the venues can be given only after Diwali.
Amen