What a perfect start to yet another world cup campaign by Germany walloping a hapless Portugal 4 goals to nil. The German team probably has the most impressive line up in this years championship. And what a great game they played this evening against the Portuguese. Even the world's best player in Ronaldo couldn't do much other than almost helplessly watch a well oiled German machine clinically demolish a world class team both morally and hopefully not psychologically. The attack was trademark German blitzkrieg with Thomas Mueller scoring the first hatrick of this edition of the world cup. I have always been impressed with German football as their clubs have contributed to talent grooming and producing players who have made the nation proud. Something probably the English may want to emulate with all their rich clubs. England, though have been more than impressive this world cup. Living in England, I can't imagine that an expensive TV connection and licensing is the only option to catch the games live. Even India currently ranked 154 by FIFA telecasts world cup matches almost free!
What high expectations the Germans must be having from their team so full of stars but all so grounded and groomed under the watch of such veterans who identify and groom talent at clubs such as Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke, Leverkusen, Koln, Hamburg...
Germany no doubt has some of the best talent and have played delightful football in the past. Unfortunately they will have to do without Marco Reus, their most dangerous forward, and also hope Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller can produce enough to make up for his absence while being well supported by Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng,Phillip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger. A win in Brazil would then prove the world that Germany have strength in depth.
Ein land, Eine Mannschaft, Ein Traum!!
Monday, June 16, 2014
Perfect German start
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Back on the Road
After 2 months of driving around the UK with the family, I finally got back to my wheels this morning but not before a bit of preparation and motivating myself to get back on the bike once again. The day began with getting the bike ready - inflating tyres, checking the gears and completing cooking for the day. The most important bit however being to get Vikrant also sign up to hit the road. Vikrant has just seen off his wife and kids to India and Mahesh and I certainly wanted him back to his cheerful self after his family left. This was very much the same feeling a couple of weeks ago when Ranjini and the kids went back to India. An expats loneliness!
Today we also welcomed another new member to our cycling fraternity - Zakir Yellala. Zak decided to cycle with us on Sundays and has recently bought a swell of a bike with all the springs and coils in the right places,a gleaming red Bandit.Our first ride after the rather long hiatus was a 14 mile ride this afternoon through the swindon borough countryside taking us through Shaw Forest, Moredon country park and finally towards Cricklade passing through the little but beautiful village of Purton. The village pub was very tastefully decorated with the English flags and world cup buntings. If only the chaps in Brazil do some justice to the millions of English fans by first getting out of the group and then achieve a recent best show if not win the title. The bikes held well through the ride with just Vikrants bike once stalling due to a loosened chain sprocket. We gave ourselves a few short breaks for rehydration (South west England is quite warm these days). At the end of it, it was all very satisfying to complete today's ride (with sore backsides) but the real thrill lay in the fact that we got back to the roads after such a long break. A little dirt on the shirts, chain grease on the hands and sweat on the brows..but what better than crisp wind on our faces and a mind that just refuses to age..until the next big ride..
Friday, April 4, 2014
Reflections from a tough week
Hindsight makes sages of us all, if only we had a working crystal ball. Tired and drained after a 60 hour week
Friday, March 7, 2014
An Evening at Wembley - Pics from the England-Denmark Friendly
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| With Dave Prescott,Wembley 2014 |
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Married for a decade
Today marks a very special day in our lives– Ranjini and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has been a decade already! Feb 23rd also happens to be my parents wedding anniversary!
We have experienced the joy of being newlyweds, the excitement of our careers, and the sorrow of death in the loss of her grandparents and my uncles and aunts. We have dealt with fear of health issues, both our own, and our loved ones. We have experienced the joys of buying our first home, and raising two wonderful kids to fill ‘Advaita’ with noise and laughter. We have grown in our faith thanks to our belief in the almighty and a simple philosophy of respecting people around us for what they are. Over the years, we have made several wonderful friends who have been such a pleasure to hang around with, both at the workplace as well as on the social circuit. We have traveled several countries, been to places which we have dreamed together, experienced life and cultures in these countries. Our children are growing up learning and navigating through life's many challenges. God has always been kind to us as a family with his blessings.
As I sit and look back into the past 10 years, sitting in a remote town in south west England and in what way I could share what all was on my heart, I decided the best thing would be to share my thoughts for posterity through my blog.
Ranjini and I are now married for 10 years and since that day in February 2004 it's been a wonderful journey together. Today as we celebrate our Tin anniversary, I reflect back on these years together and can only reminscence on the times.The past ten years have seen us raise two wonderful children in Samiksha and Pradyumna, grow individually in our careers and hopefully somewhere fulfilled the expectations our families have on us.It is often said that a major part of success is filling your life with people who encourage your positive growth and your success.We have tried to impart skills and values which we have believed are right for our children to grow into well rounded personalities.
Every single success in my life over the past decade or so has been tightly influenced by efforts of Ranjini. There is no major success that I would have been able to achieve without her.Whenever there’s a decision to be made, Ranjini always has a valuable insight or two that I would have probably not considered. She does an amazing job of pulling our thoughts and aspirations together and developing ideas and plans for our future.
She’s always taking care of the little things that need doing, often without saying a word.This is very important for us as I have mostly been away for long months on work. Many little things will just be done, often without anyone immediately noticing. She just does them.
She constantly makes hard choices and small sacrifices for the people in her life, be it the children, her parents or my mother putting aside what she might want to be doing in any moment to take care of those around her.
She’s incredibly bright, assembling ideas and thoughts into sensible statements and arguments and plans at the blink of an eye. She completed her Ph.D in Neurophysiology soon after the birth of our daughter and again went back to a full time job after the birth of our son. A bright physician that she is, Ranjini is also an incredible mother and a diligent cook dishing out healthy meals for the family. She is a perfect blend of patience and understanding with the right touch of strictness to teach our children the things they need to know for a successful life. She’s there to wipe away their tears in a moment of anguish, to laugh and play with them when the mood is right, and to guide them down the path that they need to go on.I can almost make no claim on the accomplishments at school or at classical dance and singing if it wasn't for Ranjini's persistence and encouragement. I completely understand Samiksha's Valentine day card for her mother this year now!
We have experienced the joy of being newlyweds, the excitement of our careers, and the sorrow of death in the loss of her grandparents and my uncles and aunts. We have dealt with fear of health issues, both our own, and our loved ones. We have experienced the joys of buying our first home, and raising two wonderful kids to fill ‘Advaita’ with noise and laughter. We have grown in our faith thanks to our belief in the almighty and a simple philosophy of respecting people around us for what they are. Over the years, we have made several wonderful friends who have been such a pleasure to hang around with, both at the workplace as well as on the social circuit. We have traveled several countries, been to places which we have dreamed together, experienced life and cultures in these countries. Our children are growing up learning and navigating through life's many challenges. God has always been kind to us as a family with his blessings.
As I sit and look back into the past 10 years, sitting in a remote town in south west England and in what way I could share what all was on my heart, I decided the best thing would be to share my thoughts for posterity through my blog.
Ranjini and I are now married for 10 years and since that day in February 2004 it's been a wonderful journey together. Today as we celebrate our Tin anniversary, I reflect back on these years together and can only reminscence on the times.The past ten years have seen us raise two wonderful children in Samiksha and Pradyumna, grow individually in our careers and hopefully somewhere fulfilled the expectations our families have on us.It is often said that a major part of success is filling your life with people who encourage your positive growth and your success.We have tried to impart skills and values which we have believed are right for our children to grow into well rounded personalities.
Every single success in my life over the past decade or so has been tightly influenced by efforts of Ranjini. There is no major success that I would have been able to achieve without her.Whenever there’s a decision to be made, Ranjini always has a valuable insight or two that I would have probably not considered. She does an amazing job of pulling our thoughts and aspirations together and developing ideas and plans for our future.
She’s always taking care of the little things that need doing, often without saying a word.This is very important for us as I have mostly been away for long months on work. Many little things will just be done, often without anyone immediately noticing. She just does them.
She constantly makes hard choices and small sacrifices for the people in her life, be it the children, her parents or my mother putting aside what she might want to be doing in any moment to take care of those around her.
She’s incredibly bright, assembling ideas and thoughts into sensible statements and arguments and plans at the blink of an eye. She completed her Ph.D in Neurophysiology soon after the birth of our daughter and again went back to a full time job after the birth of our son. A bright physician that she is, Ranjini is also an incredible mother and a diligent cook dishing out healthy meals for the family. She is a perfect blend of patience and understanding with the right touch of strictness to teach our children the things they need to know for a successful life. She’s there to wipe away their tears in a moment of anguish, to laugh and play with them when the mood is right, and to guide them down the path that they need to go on.I can almost make no claim on the accomplishments at school or at classical dance and singing if it wasn't for Ranjini's persistence and encouragement. I completely understand Samiksha's Valentine day card for her mother this year now!
 |
| We- 10 years on! |
Most importantly, one trait that I have appreciated in her is that She has an incredible sense of the moment. She knows when things need done around our home and in our community, yet she also has a knack for knowing when to put those things aside and move on..
She completes me in a way that I would have never understood before she became a part of my life.
Ours being an 'arranged' marriage, I can only thank the Masters at Mantralaya and Sringeri, providence and our families for recognizing and bringing us together. We are fortunate to be surrounded by people who care for us and we are indebted to my mother Nanda Rau, my in-laws Nagamani and Dr Sitaram,my brother Sundeep,Sister-in-law Chetana, Ranjini's sister Tejaswini and her husband Mahesh. And all the boys and the big girl in the family - Samiksha,Pradyumna,Pratyush,Dhruva and Aniruddha for keeping our surroundings so chirpy.
She completes me in a way that I would have never understood before she became a part of my life.
Ours being an 'arranged' marriage, I can only thank the Masters at Mantralaya and Sringeri, providence and our families for recognizing and bringing us together. We are fortunate to be surrounded by people who care for us and we are indebted to my mother Nanda Rau, my in-laws Nagamani and Dr Sitaram,my brother Sundeep,Sister-in-law Chetana, Ranjini's sister Tejaswini and her husband Mahesh. And all the boys and the big girl in the family - Samiksha,Pradyumna,Pratyush,Dhruva and Aniruddha for keeping our surroundings so chirpy.
|| Hari Sarvothama! Vayu Jeevothama! Sri Gururajo vijayate||
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Wembley beckons
Wembley, yes! that's where we are headed in about 20 days to watch England play Denmark (Whew,almost typed Germany). The best tickets available are purchased and as we await them, a few small fan preps are in progress including sorting out the logistics, a three lion face tatoo and a England FA flag that I picked up at my local SportsDirect. Dave,myself,Mahesh and Vikrant are going together to watch a very hopeful English team in a friendly battle against the Danes ahead of the party in Brazil. I hope to see Steven Gerrard captain England this game, what a fantastic ambassador of the game he has been. Gerrard is also the most capped English players after Peter Shilton, David Beckham and Bobby Moore. Others that I would be straining my neck to watch would be the magical Rooney,Lampard, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott. The English premier league surely churns out heroes almost every season and arguably amongst the best football leagues in the world. My other favorites being the Bundesliga (FC Bayern Munchen..heheehe!!) and the Spanish League (FC Barcelona..again heheehe!!).
What more can you ask for but the best of the lads drawn from LFC,Chelsea,Arsenal, MU, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur (Jermain Defoe, offcourse). The thought of the new Wembley and the roar of the crowds cheering the three lions is already echoing in my ears..
Let the Lions Roar while we chant the "Do Doo Daa.." (the great escape theme) . I remember fondly the Danish Dynamite in the late 80s and early 90s - yes, Michael and Brian Laudrup..They were something to watch
Let the game begin!
What more can you ask for but the best of the lads drawn from LFC,Chelsea,Arsenal, MU, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur (Jermain Defoe, offcourse). The thought of the new Wembley and the roar of the crowds cheering the three lions is already echoing in my ears..
Let the Lions Roar while we chant the "Do Doo Daa.." (the great escape theme) . I remember fondly the Danish Dynamite in the late 80s and early 90s - yes, Michael and Brian Laudrup..They were something to watchLet the game begin!
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