When in Rome..... do as the champions do!!

Historically, Rome is symbolic of many things.From the iconic colosseum , which witnessed many a bloody gladiatorial contest, to being a center of art, knowledge and beauty in the ancient world.Rome was the center of the greatest of empires, which stretched at the time almost half way across the known world.

Come the 27th of may, all roads will once more lead to Rome.For it is here that the eyes of the footballing world will gaze, for a night that is second only to the world cup final. The pinnacle of club football, the final of the UEFA champions league.

In a clash that is worthy of the tournament, we have what could be the 2 best teams in europe, with the 2 best players in europe. Champions of their respective divisions,winners of accolades, epitomising the spirit in which the game must be played, Hard, but fair, and always to win.

In one corner, Campeones de España,Ganadores de la Copa del Rey,Ganadores de la Liga de Campeones 1992 y 2006, Futbol Club Barcelona.

In the opposing corner, to quote the announcer at old trafford, "THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND, THE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE, & THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD", Manchester United FC.

In a season that has seen Manchester United challenge for an unprecedented clean sweep of 6 trophies & miss out only by a hair's breadth on the FA cup & the European super cup,they are still challenging for something of epic proportions, to do something that has never been done before, To defend the UEFA champions league in its current format, thus creating history, something which, lets face it... ManUtd have become increasingly accustomed to doing.

In their quest for yet another slice of history and to keep the 'big eared cup' at old trafford for another year, they face arguably their toughest test in the catalan giants from the nou camp, who have been playing football which has been described with every adjective from fantastic to mesmerising.Their passing game has been simply outstanding,remeniscent of a bygone era, even without their full backs, alves & abidal & rafael marquez in center half, they pose a fearsome threat.

Why? you ask? simply because of this, all season, Barcelona's game has never been to defend against the opposition, it has simply relied on 2 words, pass and attack, its as if to say, score how many ever you want, we'll do you one better, so if anything, the loss of their defence will spur their attacking trident of henry eto-o and messi on even harder, it is possible that the formation might change, which guardiola is usually loathe to do, the attack might be focussed from United's right, where perceptibly the weakness in the defence lies, in the form of John o-shea , who for all his versatility will be tested most sternly in the contest.

Manchester United on the other hand come into the game on an incredible run, having been crowned domestic champions,being unbeaten in the champions league for over a year.They have been playing excellent football and have not hesitated to batten down the hatches and counter attack when too many of their opponent's resources have been comitted forward.If anything, a tactical move.United, at least on paper, look the more balanced and complete side,with a solid defensive line compared to the makeshift line Barcelona will field in Rome, that being said, it is essential that United be at their most clinical and ruthless best if they are to win, Barcelona are not to be given any quarter what so ever.

Looking at the road to the final, United and Barcelona emerged toppers of their respective groups, and though United had to rely on an absolute scorcher from Cristiano Ronaldo to get past the pacy & aggressive Porto side, while Barcelona made similar heavy weather against Lyon in the first leg against the marauding Benzema before steamrolling them in the second.

United faced arch rivals arsenal in a mismatch of sorts at the semi final stage where they utterly smashed their old foes into the ground with a brilliant display of attacking football over the 2 legs.Barcelona were nearly undone by chelsea's tactics of what can only be called 'anti football', at the Nou Camp, where chelsea played with a back 10 or a back 11 at times, but justice was done in a controversy marred final where chelsea's physical approach & overly defensive & negative tactics caught up with them at stamford bridge in the form of an incompetent referee, and an amazing goal from Andres Iniesta, chelsea are yet to face the wrath of UEFA for Drogba & other players' outbursts on the pitch, but football has won.

And so, we are to see, the talents of the 2 most oft spoken of players in the world, both young, supremely talented, talked and bandied about by their respective clubs as jewels in the crown. I refer as is mandatory to Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi.On the face of it, for all his petulance and swagger, Ronaldo has stepped up to the plate this season, and * ahem * hit several screamers into the back of the net.Lionel Messi on the other hand has been the arthur ashe to Ronaldo's Jimmy Connors and in his quiet but modest way, 'el mesias' has let his football do the talking, and talk it has, shouted from the rooftops rather.

Barcelona have one decided advantage in this game, and that is that their strategy is already decided, they can only attack if they have to win.United on the other hand have an embarassment of riches in the attack department, and it will be curious to see who Sir Alex thrusts into the spot light.

My pick for the formations Man Utd going for a 4-4-1-1 formation which can revert to a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1depending on whether Ronaldo plays as a striker, or winger or supporting striker. In midfield however, Sir Alex will certainly pick his most hard working midfield, sprinkled with a dash of creativity, in Giggs, Park, Anderson and Carrick, With Rooney & Ronaldo up front, both playing interchangably as striker and support striker. Also possible is a 4-3-3 going all guns blazing against a weakened Barca Backline, with Berbatov or Tevez being the other starter at perhaps at the expense of Carrick.But the most likely is a 4-5-1 to stifle Barcelona's midfield, while using Rooney's work rate to stop Lionel Messi, as much as I would love to see Rooney return to his role as an out and out striker.

Barcelona appear almost certain to stick to their original formation, although it is possible that the catalans will alter tehir formation given the weakened nature of their back line, a 4-4-2 perhaps? All will be revealed tonight, as the clouds gather before what could be an epic battle, worthy of the colosseum itself, a gladiatoral contest, on which the eyes of the world will be.

Shoeing away the politicians

I looked up politics in the dictionary, and it's a combination of 2 words, poli, from the latin meaning many, & tics, meaning bloodsucking creatures--Robin Williams

If you would take a gander at todays Indian politics, it would seem that the public is finally fed to the back teeth with pointless promises which often never materialize.It is now that the humble shoe, a lesson we oddly had to learn from Iraq, has become the chief weapon of the public's discontent.The past few days have seen no less a personage than the home minister, Mr.Chidambaram, becoming the subject of public ire from someone who had a special place for him on his sole.Naveen Jindal is the latest casualty of footwear projectiles.

As someone who loathes politicians on principle, I am both delighted and depressed by the turn of events.Dont get me wrong, I dont disapprove of it at all.. I'm depressed on two counts...one, that it took so long to happen, and two that it is only happening as a set of isolated incidents.I would suppose, that in India, a public slippering/shoeing/sneakering/stillettoing... or what have you.. would have much greater significance.. not least because of the fact that the vast majority of those who understand the significance of the discontent in a protest expressed by a podiatric projectile, rather than in Iraq, where George Bush(George II, of crawford,Tx. his reign of error is over, Hallelujah!) put it down to mere attention seeking behaviour.

Let us look at what has been the result of the past election, the UPA was voted to power,true... in a comeback even most hollywood underdog movies could not fathom, especially after being drubbed for 2 terms by the NDA.The UPA's platform was.. "Aam Aadmi Ka party"...what have we seen in the past 5 years...

1. Pro's first.. An economic boom... wait.. I hear the knives of the recessionitas being sharpened... I'll get to it..
2. The Indo-US Nuclear deal, & possibly the ending of nuclear apartheid in an effort to meet India's growing energy demands

& now.. the prison is broken.. because here come the cons

1. The economic boom..boom in more of the sense of a bubble bursting.. thanks to out astute (then) finance minister's loan waiver,and cheap vote bank politics.
2. A decision of the myopic dinosaurs in the education department to award a substantial amount of seats toward reservation( more vote bank politics)
3. The solving of many high profile cases... or rather resolving.. because as usual, it was bungled..& eventually solved because of intense pressure from the media...some cases are still pending, or unsolved.. the most monstrous case of bungling being the aarushi murder case.

well now.. what have we here..I think, there has been a massive misunderstanding, considering the overly agrarian policies of the UPA,in an attempt to garner as many votes as possible... it would seem, that to them 'Aam, in "Aam aadmi" did not mean common.. as in common man... but in the more deliciously ironic "Aam", as in mango.

Now, as that time comes again, when we have to vote to select who will rule us again, Let us see what it boils down to, In one corner, we must choose, between

1. Someone who cannot get off his hindutva high horse.
2. A proven visionary as a finance minister or prime minister,but whose party's track record during the past term has been anything but enviable.
3. The so called 'Third front',a front led by the communists, & then really, god help us then..

I dont wish to see any of these come to power, I prefer a government of the competent, of people who truly do understand the issues that do plague the nation, why not have, say, N.R.Narayan Murthy for the IT sector, Sam Pitroda for the telecom sector, Dr.Verghese Kurien in the agriculture sector, to name a few.

To end, to all poiticians, and those who still think that the system can save us,to you, who still demand that people excercise their power of choice, when the choice is only between bad & worse...I quote a passage from Atlas Shrugged...as a riposte.

"the answer you deserve is only: 'Try and get it.'

"You proclaim yourself unable to harness the forces of inanimate matter, yet propose to harness the minds of men who are able to achieve the feats you cannot equal. You proclaim that you cannot survive without us, yet propose to dictate the terms of our survival. You proclaim that you need us, yet indulge the impertinence of asserting your right to rule us by force-and expect that we, who are not afraid of that physical nature which fills you with terror, will cower at the sight of any lout who has talked you into voting him a chance to command us.

"You propose to establish a social order based on the following tenets: that you're incompetent to run your own life, but competent to run the lives of others-that you're unfit to exist in freedom, but fit to become an omnipotent ruler-that you're unable to earn your living by the use of your own intelligence, but able to judge politicians and to vote them into jobs of total power over arts you have never seen, over sciences you have never studied, over achievements of which you have no knowledge, over the gigantic industries where you, by your own definition of your capacity, would be unable successfully to fill the job of assistant greaser."

So in sum, till there is an actual candidate, who will actually implement any beneficial policy, while doing so at the expense of vote bank politics, it is probably fitting that shoes continue to be thrown.

The definition of freedom

What is freedom? How do we define freedom? It is a value.. ,an asset, and must be earned, just as any other of human values in our moral code are.Freedom represents the cornerstone of our very existence, it is as essential to our existence as air or water.

What makes freedom even more valuable, is that we can so easily be deprived of it, by giving in to any sort of impulse to sell ourselves or our moral code short.Freedom in any form is earned by excellence in that area, as are the other values, which are all by products of reason, purpose & self esteem.

All of these are initimately allied with the definition of freedom,Failure to comply within the bounds & responsiblities associated with any of these will reduce freedom.The reason freedom is so sought after, is that it is a rare & beautiful thing, to have & to bestow, its ephemeral nature makes it difficult to contain, to constrain.

The one thing all people across any border or barrier, have in common is that they all have the freedom of thought, It is sad that this is very much underutilized, as it cannot be taxed, it cannot be controlled, and people cannot be forced not to think. Sir M. Visweswaraya once said 'Industrialize or perish', he may as well have said 'Think, or perish'.All the significant achievements of the industiral age are by products of the power of unwearying human thought,

while hoaxes & conspiracy theories abound, (something about the world's end in 2012, a most bizarre one I might add...).

Before I fly off completely on a different tangent,.. violating reason's constraints, aka lying, will doubtless curb freedom,because lies are like potato chips... you cannot have just one.A purpose contrary to achieving your highest ideals...well.. just reading it is enough to see where its wrong isnt it.. in short, compromise, sacrifice,settling for something lesser,it is the death knell of progress.Lesser progress, lesser freedom.Loss of self esteem, lowering your own value, is a crime of great magnitude, it is a greater crime than overpricing one's self, because the punishment for this sort of crime is longer, more drawn out & infinitely more painful, it often manifests as a loss of confidence in one's abilities, hence a loss of judgement, further perpetuating the same vicious cycle.

Thus, it can be seen, that freedom, like all other values, is a state of mind intimately tied to the three greatest virtues, thought, purpose, & self esteem.What does it mean to be truly free? Freedom from what? How is this obtained?