I can take the despair...Its the hope that I cant stand...

People have been asking me why has there been a lull here for quite sometime so just for the hec of some activity ... Lets sit back and reflect how 2009 was...Only cos I can’t think of anything else right now…

To start off with...Not a great one to be very honest... Kept getting worse as days went by... Funnily enough, the year almost ends with my birthday, which supposedly is meant to cheer me up!!...How can that be guys??…I become a year older u see and ‘course as with all these years this ones too gonna end up in sad way! But you know what; let’s look at the glass as half full, maybe just maybe, you are 1 year closer to achieve what you are destined to ;-)

I have been staring at the monitor for a good 2.5 mins wondering what to write next. Not so easy certainly!! Somehow, when I think of happy times I invariably think of Manchester United, I do think of my family too but haven’t spent much time with them in 2009 (I wonder why though … Yeah I think I know the answer!!) So I ll start with them...

They won their 18th and are just 1 more away from achieving what Sir Alex had famously declared “My aim is to knock Liverpool off their fucking perch and you can fucking print that”. Ohh well … lest I forget, the kids won the Carling Cup right at the start of the year, the same kids got us to the FA cup semifinals while the seniors were busy getting to the Champions League final in Rome. One of my mates just reminded me that it was a record of sorts. Ji Sung Park happened to be the first Asian to play in CL final. How I wish he had scored on that Ronaldo free kick rebound. We could have been the only team to win the trophy twice in successive years. Not a bad half a year eh!

Come June and July. This is when there is no activity whatsoever and all but speculation in the football world. Keep gossiping and analyzing…whom we should buy and whom we should sell. Inflate your already bloated egos and claim “Aye, what is this yaar. I can do better business than Ferguson, buddha satthya gaya hain, he should rest now blaah blaah” but how many times has he proved people wrong. Sometimes I think he proves himself wrong too! I wish I had this knack of playing “who blinks first’ with fate and win every time!!

Anyway, middle of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo was off loaded to (well, who else) Real Madrid. Ronaldo was 1 huge asset to the club. Yes, he was part of the team that won CL and 3 consecutive PL titles and o’course the Club world Cup. But anyway, it seems except Manchester United none of the rival teams have moved on. Yes, we miss Ronaldo, which team wouldn’t? For me, sans his theatrics, he was/is the best player I have ever seen!. But so what, life goes on and u find someone else to cheer and love. As for a certain Portuguese, So long buddy!! Tevez went to Man City (Ohh yeah thanks Carlitos, for not joining Liverpool!!). Though I feel that he should have gone gracefully without bad mouthing about Sir Alex and hence ended up losing all the respect from the fans (including myself). You can’t be loved if call names to SAF, not here in this world atleast!!

In came, Owen, Obertan and Valencia. With the year coming to an end, we are playing like a pathetic drunk lumbering across a dance floor at 1.45am. Really!! And luckily the ‘contenders’ are high too so we are just about riding our luck. Hope 2010 brings no hangovers and above all that, gives us 4 defenders back, if not, more!!

That was Manchester United in 2009 in a nutshell. 2010, lets see how that spans out.


Personally speaking, 2009 crisply can be described in 3 lines:

Every step that you take could be your biggest mistake,
It could bend or it could break,
It’s just the risk that you take!

Sole reason, I love this song to death. So much, if I listen to it 20 times on the trot I’m sure to experience 20 different kinds of emotions!  (By the way, it’s called ‘What If’ by Coldplay)

Perhaps it was one of those years which I would happily, without even thinking twice, completely wipe out from my life as every step that I took broke or maybe I just let my life bend too much. It’s amazing, how things that look like that beautiful sweet rose from far away can actually be a like a thorny and papery Bougainville plant. Maybe I wasn’t intelligent enough to recognise the difference. Actually, I’m now like a burnt child who dreads the fire! The entire year I have spent asking myself for what I did was right or wrong??. The answer is close, I can feel it, very very close!

At the same time, I ‘m a strong believer of the fundamental principal that things average out sooner or later. What goes around always comes around! It may take its own time for sure but so what. So when things do go bad one year, they definitely have to be good the next (or the next or maybe even 10 yrs hence). All you gotta do as I said in my first blog is just keep grinding and wait for ‘The Moment’.

Oh in all of the above shit, forgot to mention I bought another house/flat/apartment. A brand new really cool one. Such a pity that I’m not able to stay there! Just last month ago got rid of the old one and boy it is such a proud feeling to glance over the account statement and wink at myself!!

Being in the banking industry, things didn’t look rosy in the office too. Crappy appraisals, with the growth looking not so good (seriously, I have seen people getting 500/month pay hikes even after being an average performer). Well that is actually nobody’s fault. It’s the market that went crazy. As it gets better, I hope it gets better for all of us too.

All in all, as we bring the curtains down on 2009. I raise a toast to 28 exciting years of my life and look forward (without any hope) to 2010 where I can utilise all that I learnt in the years gone by and wish each and every one a ‘very happy and a prosperous new year’ and to all those who have stood by me so far, a plead to please continue doing that. I would be nothing without any of you!! :-)

Cheers !

This one is brought to you by:
1. Pleasure that the year is coming to an end.
2. A bit of Home sickness and spend more time at home..Do hell with everyone!
3. Owen Hargreaves!! (Do i need to say why!)..Kab aa raha hain bhai :D