Hurt

What did I learn today when I got hurt??

This quote immemorable says it all.

"Always put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel it hurts you, it will probably hurt the other person, too.”

Accepting Problems

Remember these lines - "Houston, We've Had a Problem". 

These famous lines were said by the astronauts abroad Apollo 13 - who, on their way to the moon, faced one adversary after another.  

With their life at stakes, they accepted there were serious problems in the space ship. With help from people on the Earth, a unified team worked strongly over the next seven days after the problem was reported - to bring the team back to earth, successfully saving their lives.

This has gone down in history as one of the best examples of solving critical, life threatening problems.

Moving on to Commonwealth Games 2010.

The Commonwealth Games 2010 are just a week away. Being hosted in New Delhi, India - they will be conducted over a period of 12 days - from 3rd October to 14th October.

As you might be aware, the Games have been embroidered with controversies. 

The sports infrastructure is not upto the mark. The city is not considered to be ready for the Games. The Games Village is considered to be in inhabitable conditions. 

All of this just 7 days before the games. This is when the finishing touches should have already being put - so that you can sit back and reflect on your effort over the past many years.

But that is not the case. We are struggling to put together an acceptable infrastructure for the Games. And that would be the case till the D-Day.

72 countries from across the World will be participating in the event. But just a few days back, some of the major Commonwealth nations threated to pull out of the Games - citing poor security, bad habitation conditions, inadequate sporting infrastructure as the reasons.

But as always, the officials continued to be in a state of denial. They refused to accept there was any problem.

The Games Organizing Committee (OC) secretary general Lalit Bhanot shamed India with his poor comments. 

“These rooms are clean to both you and us. However, it may not appear so to some others. They want certain standards in hygiene and cleanliness which may differ from our perception,” commented the high profile sports administrator. 

This attitude was well summarised by Dave Currie, who is the New Zealand's Chief of Mission.

"We’ve lost faith in the OC. They were in complete denial. It’s very hard to work with someone if they don’t admit there is a problem", Dave commented.

This brings us to the most crucial point of any activity execution - Problem Acceptance.

Accepting Problems is one of the most fundamental and important points during execution of any activity.

Not all activities can be executed without any hitches and glitches. There are bound to be some road blocks. There are ought to be some challenges.

But then you need to overcome these problems. You need to climb over these barricades.

And you can do so only if you accept that there is a problem. 

If you play blind to such problems, all that you will end up doing is keep running into them. 

But then again, you need to be a jumbo to throw aside such problems with your sheer weight. In most cases, you don't have the strength to cast them aside - and you end up falling right in front of them.

And in an activity which is being executed by a group of people, all of whom have a stake in its successful execution,  it is very important that all the people have an unified opinion of the issue at hand. 

This may not be the case at the beginning when the problem surfaces. But effort should be to bring about a united opinion - so that steps can be taken towards resolution of the problem.

Otherwise, we would end up in a situation like the Games, where one party looks for a resolution - and the other simply refuses to accept the problem. 

Net result - Increased frustration for the person or group who accepts the problem. And poor showcasing of the activity which is being executed.

This is well illustrated by a few quotes - like the ones below.

“You won't find a solution by saying there is no problem”
~ William Rotsler

“No problem is too big to run away from.”
~  Charles M. Schulz

“If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem”
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti  

So next time guys, if there is a problem - be ready to accept it. And if you are working in a group, bring about an acceptance in the group about the problem at hand.  And then put all your skills, knowledge, efforts, energy et all  to bring about the resolution of the problem. 

The rest can be left to God Almighty!!

Latte, Mocha and Cappuccino

What happens when you are tired with work? And not in mood to eat you mid-day meal? Add to the fact that it's a Friday, and it is raining heavily.

That's the time when Coffee becomes your lunch.

That was the case yesterday. 

With a Cafe Coffee Day outlet in office offering its fare at prices much cheaper than those at regular outlets, coffee has become a regular lunch for quite a few people.

I like coffee - rather, I should say, I like sweet coffee. 

Now that is something which is quite contradictory to the inherent bitter taste of coffee itself. But that is the way I like my coffee. :-)

Latte is my favorite. 

Frankly, I don't know the difference between a Latte, or a Mocha, or a Cappuccino. But after years of having attempted each of these at-least once, I have come to the conclusion that Latte best suits my taste buds. Needless to say, it has to be spiced up with generous quantities of sugar.

I had requested for a Latte yesterday.  My friend was going for a Mocha. But the outlet operator, under pressure for serving the queue of people thronging his outlet, prepared a Cappuccino for me.

I insisted on a Latte. But then he gave me a look - a look which said that he cannot do anything with the Cappuccino and it will go waste. He said, "It's the same. Latte just has additional froth".

The accommodating person in my inside raised a voice and said,"It's OK" and I took that cup of cappuccino. And at the same time, I made a note in my mind to find out what exactly is the difference between these three types of coffee.

Now before going to the three types of coffee, it's better to understand about Espresso.

What is Espresso? Espresso is a concentrated coffee beverage prepared by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee.

There are said to be several techniques of brewing coffee. However, Espresso is said to offer thicker consistency, better cream(foam) and and thicker concentration of the dissolved solids.

Next comes Latte.

Latte is a type of coffee made with Espresso and steamed milk. It is also topped with a layer of foamed milk. And as per some standards, the layer of foamed milk is supposed to be approximately half an inch.

And if you are interested in how to make a Latte, then you can check out this website. 

Moving on to Cappuccino.

Cappuccino is quite similar to Latte, prepared with espresso, hot milk and steamed milk-froth.

Slightly different from the Latte, it has a froth layer of 3/4 of an inch.

And last come Mocha.

Once again, its quite similar to Latte - consisting of one third espresso and two thirds of steamed milk. However, it is spiced with with chocolate - usually in the form of chocolate syrup or chocolate cocoa powder.

All these types of coffees are best served at commercial establishments. They require a special Espresso brewer which would definitely be costly. And preparing them would require special techniques and talent too.

As for the humble souls - who dont have the material or the talent to prepare these exquisite drinks, we have the eternal favorite.

Needless to say, it's Nescafe.

This is instant coffee at it's best. So go ahead, and enjoy your cup of coffee!!

Jealousy

The hunt was on. The search was in full swing. 

This was something which they were doing for the first time. And such initial pursuits do not always yield the best results. 

But here they were not looking for someone who could qualify for the “best” tag. They were looking for someone who would win the “worst” tag - The title of the most jealous person on earth.

They spread their hunt across the six habitable continents, across seas, across lands. Deserts were not spared. 

They surveyed people across age groups – from just born kids to teenagers, from adolescents to middle aged people. They didn’t even exclude the old stars. 

They believed in the fundamental theory of search – the wider the sample set, the better the chance of finding what you want.

They weren’t disappointed.

They met a man whose eyes glowed with jealousy at the sight of someone’s happiness. They probed him further only to realise that such thoughts were without remorse. 

A deeper examination revealed that such feelings were all the more frequent. And he admitted that this had been the case since long.

They met someone else whose heart beat faster with jealousy. This was the result of someone experiencing some kind of joy. 

And it was not that he was deprived of experiencing similar delight at some point of time. But the thoughts of his cup of joy being empty while seeing someone’s cup overflowing with such rejoices made him green with envy.

They came across a lady whose eyes streaked like a flare with jealousy. And she always wore a mask so that the people couldn't catch her.

Eyes they say are a window to a person’s soul. And such jealousy reflected her frail soul. 

It was a soul that could collapse at any point of time. It was a soul which could not withstand such moments. It was a soul acting as a servant of these jealous thoughts.

But a soul is said to power a man and his feelings. What does a soul do which is plagued with jealousy? 

They say – If you can’t beat it, join it. With this, the soul ended up thrusting such thoughts back into the mind, resulting in a vicious cycle.

Jealousy breeds Jealousy. Nothing more, Nothing Less.

And then after a few months of a worldwide hunt, it was the time to crown the winner. Or loser would be a more apt word in this context.

A giant screen was erected – with a flashy LED display. The moment had arrived to declare the humble recipient of this poor tag.

They had found someone who not only embodied a few of these “qualities” but substantiated all of them.

Who was it?

And then came the moment. 

The world jeered and the crowd booed as a face flashed on the giant screen – my face. 

A bad habit had made me a come first - a sad first in the poor race of jealousy.

Joe The Pro

The night was pitch dark. The bright red light of the mosquito repellent pierced through the darkness.

The fan on the ceiling made a dull lazy sound. In a far distance, a small bell was continuously ringing. It was neither loud enough to keep me awake nor soft enough to let me sleep.

 

The loneliness of creepy. 

The day had been tiring and a sense of guilt pierced through my soul. The emotions were in shambles. And remorse was winning over my mind.

And then came the thought of the day - today - driving away all despair. 

Six years back, I tried to recollect whether I had slept peacefully on the same night.  Sadly, I couldn't remember that night - though the next day was something which I had eagerly looked forward too.

I said a small Thank You to God for taking care of me on this journey. I recollected all my friends who helped me selflessly all these years. And remembered by family for letting me pursue my dreams.

I harked back my most miserable moments. I recalled my most cherished times. The earlier have made me realise my failings and later have made me more humble.

I tried to recollect what I gained. And despaired over what I lost.

I thought endlessly over the things I thought I gained - were they really worth gaining at the cost of its expense? And I tried to value the things I lost - only to estimate that they were priceless.

Shared my joy with a few people - who were kind enough to wish me luck.

I worked with a calm mind after a long time. Faced a few challenges - but overcame them with strong thinking.

I made a few resolutions. But ended up breaking them before midnight!!

And ended up writing a blog which reflected my day - the day Joe became a Pro - a long six years back.

The Wayne Rooney Phenomenon

Flashback to June 2010.

The Football [Soccer] World Cup was in progress in South Africa. This is the single most popular sports tournament in the World. 

More than 200 national teams attempted qualifying for this premier event, played once in four years. Only the best 32 managed to make it to South Africa.

England was one of these 32 nations. As always, a lot was riding on England at the World Cup. 

They have a host of stars in their national team - Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Peter Crouch, Ashley Cole et all. Another set of super stars - David Beckham, Michael Owen - were on the bench due to injury. 

The English Premier League is one of the most commercial success stories in club football. And many a times, their WAGs (read Wives and Girlfriends) make more news than the players themselves.

Come World Cup - and the entire nation starts thinking that their team is destined to win the Cup.

Wayne Rooney was the guy who was considered to be the lynch pin of the English attack. 

Playing as a striker all year round for Manchester United, he was expected to score goals for England. After all, scoring goals, and lots of them, can make your team a winner.

After having scored 34 goals in the 2009-2010 football season, he was expected to be a likely winner of the Golden Boot Award at the World Cup.

And with this kind of expectation riding on him at the World Cup, he was expected to be in an upbeat mood. A positive approach towards the game was anticipated by the entire nation.

However, he failed miserably at the World Cup. He did not even manage to score even a single goal. 

England had managed to scrape through Round 1. But they faltered in Round 2 - losing poorly to the Germans. And within less than 20 days of the start of the World Cup, England were knocked out of the tournament.

While most players would have headed home in view of the shocking exit in a tournament which is played once in four years, Wayne Rooney made his way to Barbados on a holiday - with his wife Coleen and son Kai.

Pictures like the one below enhanced Rooney's image as a doting father. While the loss of the World Cup made the English fans frown, the smile on Kai's and Coleen's face made many a people bright.

A holiday after playing in a high profile tournament would be a well deserved break for any player. And it should not have gathered much attention.

But then came the news that the Rooney's had booked the holiday just two days before England's knock outmatch against Germany!!

Did Rooney sense that England was not capable of pulling it off against Germany? Did he think that the chances of England winning the game in the next two days was negligible - negligible enough to give him the confidence of planning a holiday two days after the game?

Had he lost the mind game much before the actual game on the field? 

What made him give less importance for something which takes place  once in four years - and holds a very significant value to any sportsman, to any nation?

All these thoughts made the English fans wonder - Two days before the critical knock out match against Germany, where did Wayne Rooney focus on? On the game in Bloemfontein or on the holiday in Barbados?

While the answers to these questions can be answered by Rooney himself, we as mere mortals find ourselves in similar situations - occasionally or regularly. 

These are the times when personal pursuits overcome professional quests. 

This is what I call The Wayne Rooney Phenomenon.

Needless to say, there is nothing wrong in it. 

P.S. The last thought made me go the Wayne Rooney way today. :-)

Roberto Carlos Free Kick

If you are a follower of the game of football - or soccer like it is called back in America - then you must have heard about Roberto Carlos.

Roberto Carlos is a Brazilian Footballer. 

He had been a part of the Brazilian National Football team for a long 14 years. He has been playing club football for the last 20 years. His stint with Real Madrid - spread over more than a decade - is well known.

He was a part of the team that won the Football World Cup in 2002.

In his hey days, he was a free kick speacialist. And this was much before the days of another free kick guru - David Beckham.

He is most well known for a free kick which he took against France way back in 1997.

Shot from a distance of approx 35 meters (115 feet) - with four defenders from the French team forming the wall - the ball made a swirl which defied logic. It beat six French players and made it's way to the goal. 

The only thing that the the French goal keeper - Fabien Barthez - could do was just watch the ball fly past him. It left him completely stunned.

Catch the goal right below.

This goal is widely regarded as the best free kick ever.

It is so famous that a few French scientist's have published a technical paper on this very goal.

Read more here.