David Luiz - We will miss you Sideshow Bob!!!!!

On Thursday, I read the article on Daily Mail UK that Chelsea FC were in advanced talks with PSG for the transfer of David Luiz. Nervous, I went through a couple of other sports websites and all of them confirmed the news. I thought this could be just like millions of other transfer news that never materialize. To my dismay, I was wrong. Chelsea's official website confirmed today that David Luiz was indeed leaving the club this summer and have agreed a fee with PSG for the Defender.

I truly believe he was an asset to the club and was simply not settled at the bridge that led to few shaky performances. You don't get to see those nervous moments, silly passes or careless defensive mistakes when he plays for Brazil. Why? Probably because everyone trusts him there, he is their captain, their leader. His partnership with Silva for Brazil is arguably the best Central Defensive partnership in the world at the moment, now they will play together at PSG. I just wish we had a manager that could give him the same confidence and get the best out of him for Chelsea as well.

I believe David Luiz is simply an outstanding ball playing defender who is extremely flexible. He showed how good he is last season when he played in the Defensive Midfielder role under Benitez. Whatever the reason for the decline in form, I will always rate him high and I am very sure he will soon prove his doubters wrong especially disrespectful former players who have had a number of jibes at him.

On a side note, Chelsea have got a good amount of transfer money on this deal that can easily be invested in a couple of areas that we are weak in. Its a win-win situation for both the clubs. Defensively we have a couple of very bright young prospects: Zouma and Kalas and I feel in a couple of years they can fill in the void left by Luiz  and Terry.

KTBFFH!!!!!!!

Life of an IT guy- Is it something we always wanted????

I am sure you must have guessed by the name of the post that I am the typical IIM guy.Oh wait by IIM, I meant the Indian IT Male janta(crowd). Don't crack your head with that silly joke, I can't help my humor at this stage of my life :D.In this post I will describe a typical day of an IIM guy(fictious character) and hope many other IIMians out there can relate with it and then leave the rest to judge whether it really is worth the effort since your birth(almost all parents want their children to join Infosys/TCS when they are born isn't it, reminds me of Three Idiots :)) .As I always say in my posts, enough of my inane talk, lets roll.

7 AM Monday morning(general shift pleasant days) : The alarm goes off and I hate that sound even if its the best song that I had set the night before. I keep snoozing it till my room mate(not married yet, if you are then it will be your wife ) abuses me with his usual one liner - "Are nahi jamta to kyun lagata hai(If you cannot get up why the hell you set the alarm)".

9:00 AM : Done with the morning news paper,chores and all other stuff, I head to office full of energy and ready to leave my mark on the corporate world(hyperbole I know but I do feel that way sometimes). The usual ride to office is about an hour. Since I have developed a couple of hobbies, the transit time has never been an issue.

10:20 AM: I reach the office and the fun starts.The office cab/bus was late and my supervisor looks at me as if I have committed a felony. Is that my mistake if the transport is late, don't think about giving that excuse, the obvious reply would be "Why don't you shift to a nearby place." LOL, I would not do that sin, would be my instant reaction(in my mind ofcourse, can you retort like that to you supervisor?). As if spending 12 hours in office is not enough, if I shift to a nearby place, your expectation will be to invest those 2  hours in office rather than with family or friends.

1 PM : Back to back meetings. Aha!!!!Meetings, makes you feel I am doing some great work isn't it that needs so much planning and coordination. The truth is everyone is fooling himself/herself. I don't think anyone needs a degree to do the the kind of work we do.

4 PM:  A colleague comes up to me and asks to take a break. I feel, of course I want a break not for 15 minutes but from this work. I have timelines to meet, I have a greedy client who just can't be satisfied with whatever we deliver, I have an even more gluttonous management who not only wants you to complete your work but also be pro-active and innovative. Even a mango tree cannot grow in conditions suitable for Paddy, that is the rule of the nature isn't it. A person thrives if you provide him/her suitable conditions not if you suck the juice out of his/her life and then ask him/her- Can you please complete this assignment too?

7 PM: My shift ends. Are you kidding me? Who will complete this assignment is my supervisor's question?Who will provide the handover(why do I need to stretch for handovers, can't the privileged onsite guys join a bit early). This is mission critical stuff and there is no one better than you to complete it, please stretch a bit and I will leave.LOL again, mission critical ? The only reason you say its mission critical is for me to feel that I a super hero who can save the project by completing this stuff, just like Spider Man saves Mary Jane in the movie. We all like to be heroes and that's what these guys bank upon.

9 PM: I realize that I have a life outside work as well and I must wrap up for the day. Just then, my onsite supervisor pings me and asks whether I could just complete this one last thing. The super hero drama starts and I am trapped again.

10:30 PM: Finally the work is done, all handovers are complete and I can head out. I just realize in all this huff and puff, I forgot to grab my dinner . I also did not get time to call home or friends.Too bad, I console myself thinking this was just a bad day at the office and everything would be fine the next day. Ya next day that will probably never come.

But we like to be positive, hold to even the lightest piece of hay.With that thought I grab my dinner, head home and sleep at about 12 with the hope that tomorrow will be a better day and bring in an opportunity that will make me want to do the work rather than abhor it and still do it for the sake of survival.

I will leave you with that thought!!!!


DISCLAIMER : This is not my personal story : !!!!

Chelsea football Club - Keep the Blue Flag Flying High

Hola amigos.

I thought about it very long. I told myself why not. After all we do it for our happiness, don't we?
I started blogging by writing a couple of posts on real estate (why? because i had to struggle a lot in my search and I wanted to help others). I followed it with a couple of posts on how to manage your investments(again I struggled a lot to make my investment decisions). What next? I thought why not write about things I love, follow, revere. So my next post was dedicated to SSRT(an extra S for Sir :) ). Next in line is my biggest passion : Football and Chelsea Football Club.

I have been a football fanatic for 13 years now(since 2001). Liverpool was my first love simply because I loved Robbie Fowler.I simply admire the atmosphere at Anfield(even today). But then, I did not find that passion supporting Liverpool, something was missing. I quickly realized my love affair with Liverpool was simply an infatuation, a teenager's love. My heart lied somewhere else, where? With CHELSEA FC. I started supporting them in 2002 and simply loved the zeal of Gianfranco Zola.I won't be presenting any statistics here because I want to use this post to look back at some of the proudest moments of our club. So let's roll.

Premiere League Champions for 2004-2005. Our first league win after 50 years with the Special One in charge. A billionaire owner, extremely talented new manager, millions invested and we get what we deserve.

We became champions of England again in 2005-2006.Super Frankie finished the season with 20 goals and was voted the second best player in the world. Ballack(one of my favorites) and Cole arrived in the summer.Sky was the limit for this side but things did not turn out that way. That's the beauty of this game. Although we did win the FA and the Carling Cup, Champions League was still an elusive dream.

The Special one was no more special at the bridge and departed with mutual consent in 2007.Although Chelsea did reach the UEFA Champions League final that year, they lost to Man Utd on penalties. I won't ever forget that day.As soon as JT hit that penalty and Van Der Saar dived the wrong way, i ran across my flat jumping and shouting like a 2 year old kid. After 5 minutes of wild celebrations, i came back to the TV set just to see Anelka miss his penalty. What a shame,he never looked like he would score.It was time for another change at the Bridge.

Luis Felipe Scolari was brought in as a new manager for the 2008-2009 season. After a promising start to the campaign with Chelsea playing attractive football(as some call it), results started to falter.Scolari was axed just 8 months into the campaign and Hiddink was hired as an interim manager. We won the FA cup that season and the future looked bright again. A man of his words, Hiddink did not take the full time charge of the club and returned to his Russian national team coaching role.

Come 2009-2010, Carlo Ancelloti was hired the new manager and he delivered big time. We not only won the FA cup but also won the Premiere League scoring 103 goals in the season.There were three 7-0 wins and an astonishing 8-0 win over Wigan on the final day of the League. It was the first double in Chelsea's history. The following season was a disappointment(as per our standards) since we did not reach any Cup finals and could only finish second in the League. By now you might have guessed : a change was on its way.

AVB dubbed as the new Mourinho was named the manager. Great things were expected from him but it turned out to be anti-climax. There is nothing worth mentioning of AVB's tenure in charge at the bridge, let's move on.

  

 

Roberto Di Matteo was named the interim manager(yes AVB was axed in March).And then it came, finally!!!!!!!The Dream was no longer a Dream, it became a reality. We fought, we dig in, we gave it all. We cried, we rallied, we celebrated all along. This time i did not run across the flat only to return and see my team loose. This time I sat there all along praying for the impossible to happen - till the final penalty was hit,the ball went in, drogba ran across field and all the players fell on one another to form a lump of bodies. A Day to remember, a Day to cherish!!!!!!!!

The 2012-2013 season started very well, but a string of poor results in the league and Champions league brought an end to the Di Matteo era(yes i do call it an era!!!). The next manager inline was Rafael Benitez(a hero for the Liverpool fans). The fans were not amused with his appointment and gave him a very hard time. They were not to blame, this was the same manager who had multiple jibes aimed at Chelsea during his stint at Liverpool. But all is well that ends well, Chelsea became the Europa League Champions, the first club in the history to hold both the European Cups simultaneously. Super Frankie broke Bobby Tambling's record and became the club's record goal scorer, an amazing feat for a midfielder.

Something that followed is truly amazing. A second home coming for the Special one(the only Special one). Although the 2013-2014 has not gone very well for us - probably a third place finish in the league(final game of the season is today) and no cup wins, I expect great things from this Chelsea side. With the best manager in football, I am sure we will again be the best club in the world.

KEEP THE BLUE FLAG FLYING HIGH!!!!!!!!


Blue is the colour, football is the game We're all together and winning is our aim
So cheer us on through the sun and rain' Cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name.



Images courtesy Google images.