Soccer lover from Pune

Goal unreached, Hopes still Kicking

It’s unofficial but true. Cricket is the religion of India. That’s why Hockey is the national sports of India but most popular game in the country is one and only cricket. Cricket gets publicity, media coverage, funds and facilities from government and important is the support of the peoples. This thing creates the positive atmosphere for any sports and then that sports become more and more popular. But unfortunately in India only cricket gats all this and therefore we lack in other sports including hockey.

But there are some peoples who are not only sports loving but also they want to change the situation and for that they fight against the system. Elic turner from pune is one of them. He has completed the training course of ‘FA’ from England, which is beneficiary for any soccer coach. He completed that course successfully in 2005 and then work with well-known Bolton soccer club from UK. He might be the only Punite who completes this course.

After that turner comes to India and now he is giving training to students in Kalyaninagar, which is at the outskirts of Pune. There he runs academy for two days in week. In his academy there are around 65 to 70 students. Students get training as per European criteria and there is special attention towards each student. For that there are at least three coaches for each practice session. For each two students there is one football. This is important for the personal practice of dribbling, passing and kicks.

After running academy for more than one and half year now he has plans to open academies in other parts of pune i.e. Aundh and Deccan. He plans to go beyond pune and wants to reach little towns and village places through Mobile Academy. This is new concept he wants to develop. If any school wants training from Turner, then turner will go to that school with his colleagues and sporting material. There he will stay for two or three weeks and during this period he will give training for soccer players in that particular school. All this is only for soccer and upcoming player from small towns and villages. He will charge only few bucks and moneymaking is not the idea of this academy as per turner.

Turner is very upset with the currant situation of football. No one wants to do career in sports. If any one takes this thing seriously then cricket is the first choice. Football comes after so many games. Other thing is that soccer is limited to some states in India. Bengal, Goa, Kerala and some Northeastern state are soccer crazy. Therefore we lack in qualified coaches and such coaches are not available in many parts of the country. If we can give good coaching and training facility at school level then we can definitely improve our condition in soccer, he adds.

He knows that only one person cannot change the condition of game but still he fights against all odds and wants to reach the goal.

Money talks louder than ever...

If it was not Roman Abramovich spending 30 million pounds on a 30-year-old (Andriy Shevchenko), it was Ashley Cole flouncing out of Arsenal in a hissy fit over their 'disrespectful' offer of a new contract worth 55,000 pounds a week. No sooner had the ink dried on a forecast-busting new television deal than Dubai's accountants were poring over Liverpool's books with the aim of wrapping up a 450-million-pound takeover of the five-times European champions. Money has never talked louder in English football than it did in 2006. And with the enhanced television cash that will kick in from next season acting like a dose of financial Viagra, never have the country's top clubs appeared so attractive to suitors from around the world.

By this time next year it is conceivable -- likely even -- that half the Premiership's 20 clubs will be in foreign hands. If the Dubai bid goes through, Liverpool will follow in the footsteps of Chelsea, Manchester United, Fulham, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and West Ham. Everton, Manchester City and Newcastle look good bets to take a similar route in 2007 as global investors scramble for control of businesses which have seen their outlook transformed by the prospect of sharing broadcasting revenues that will exceed two billion pounds over the course of the 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has warned that the influx of foreign capital threatens "the soul of football." But the buyouts of Aston Villa (by American tycoon Randy Lerner) and West Ham (by an Icelandic consortium) this year have generated few complaints from those clubs' fans, while the hostility of most Manchester United supporters to Malcolm Glazer's 2005 takeover at Old Trafford melted away as results improved. United's revival -- which began at the tail end of last season -- has served as a reminder that the correlation between money spent and success in football is not always a direct one. Given how easily they cantered to the 2005-06 title in May, it was wildly assumed that the costly summer acquisition of Shevchenko, Cole and Michael Ballack would make Chelsea irresistible for a third successive season. That could yet prove to be the case.

Jose Mourinho's boast that United cannot match the depth of quality in his squad is not an idle one. Yet it is also true that, apart from giving Abramovich someone he can speak Russian to, Shevchenko has been only a sporadic contributor to the Chelsea cause while Ballack too has yet to reproduce the kind of marauding form on which he constructed his reputation. United in contrast have prospered largely on the strength of existing resources, the increasing maturity of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney being complemented by the Indian summers being enjoyed by the homegrown duo Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

Even allowing for the scheduled short-term arrival of Henrik Larsson in January, United do look vulnerable to injuries during the title run-in. But for the first time since Mourinho's arrival at Chelsea in 2004, the year is ending with genuine uncertainty about the destination of the title. Most neutrals will be pleased about that, but the switch from one-horse to two-horse race will not be enough to assuage concern about the gulf between the top clubs and the rest, for whom a run of three defeats can mean a lurch from challenging for a place in Europe to the relegation battle.

The over-riding imperative of avoiding the financially calamitous consequences of a drop to the Championship was behind the pre-Christmas sackings of Iain Dowie and Alan Pardew at Charlton and West Ham. Both men could justifiably argue that they should have been given more time, Dowie on the grounds that he had only been in the job for four months, Pardew on the strength of a record that included winning promotion and taking the Hammers to the FA Cup final.

There is also a worry that the financial fear factor is making teams more cautious, resulting in the Premiership currently producing the lowest number of goals per game of any top flight in Europe. It could equally be argued that the quality of defenders is improving in a league in which half the registered players come from overseas. But Arjan de Zeeuw, Wigan's veteran Dutch centreback, thinks otherwise. "When I first came here everyone played 4-4-2 and you knew what you were going to get," de Zeeuw said recently.

"Now you see teams with one up front and five in the middle most weeks. And one of the five will usually be in the Claude Makelele position, providing an extra level of defence. "Everyone is more cautious now because there is such a big gap between the top three or four and the rest. Once you go behind against Chelsea they won't let you back into the game, so teams are thinking first and foremost about how not to concede." That might mean problems lie ahead but for now the Premiership can bask in its status as the world's favourite league.

(Thanks to Reuters)

MARATHI NATAK GOES TO BLOG

Who says Marathi Theatre is towards dying? Those who think that there is no future to Marathi theatre then they are unaware the happenings in Marathi theatre. ‘Makadachya Hati Champagne’ is the play, which popular among all age groups from last few months.

Some new subjects from society are coming to theatre and some innovative peoples are also taking advantage of new technology. Recently Girish Joshi, the director of ‘Final Draft’ and ‘Makadachya Hati Champagne’ has created blogs for the reactions of audience. Before starting play they announce about their blogs and ask audience to react there and comments on various aspects of play.

Both the blogs are created in recent months but response to the blogs is not very poor. Around 60 to 70 peoples have commented on blog of each play. Viewers of the play have reacted there about script, dialogues, acting and theme of the play. There are some good comments about play and some have reacted against the theme of play. But the thing is that viewers have commented.

Many time only renowned actors, some directors or producers and peoples related to theatre industry react about the play. But general viewer or audience couldn’t express about play. He wants to comment about the play but there is no proper platform to express. That’s why reaction of general audience doesn’t reaches to producer or director. That’s blog was introduced for reaction, Mr. Joshi added.

This type of system was recently started but it will become popular in coming days.

Links to these blogs are below :
http://makadachyahati.blogspot.com
http://finaldraftcomments.blogspot.com

Makadachya Hati Champagne

Dr. Vivek Bele writes this play and it makes humorous comment made on the manipulative overtures of the political mind. Political mind, because the manipulations may be designed and applied as much in mainstream politics as much in the personal relationships.The characters in the play are three roommates, of which one imagines he has found his love. The friends address each other by names they have invented on the basis of their individual personalities.

So, here we have the uncouth and aggressive ‘Chaku (Knife)’, who brings home the woman he would like to marry to meet his friends ‘Pustak (Book)’ who like his name goes by the book and ‘Makad’ a T.V channel journalist who could move heaven and earth to find news.The lady herself is unabashed about changing her mind when it suits her, and moving on with life. With no answerability to an erasable past she aptly renames herself ‘Pencil’.

The story becomes a chain of witty battles between the four characters as Pustak and Chaku both woo Pencil while Makad eggs on both individually. The duel goes on parallel to the Elections news that is being shown on TV.The two men vie for the lady’s favors just as the opposing candidates vie for public support. The media and Makad meanwhile enjoy the show as long as the bottle of champagne is not opened. Because champagne means celebration and celebration means everybody is happy which clearly does not agree with their psyche.

Then Pencil marries Pustak and things seem to come to a dead end. But Makad would not let that happen. He now convinces Chaku that he is not out of the race and that he can still have his love back.Strategies are built, manipulations galore and wit abounds. Every time there is a possibility of stability, Makad the media man becomes restless and succeeds in unsettling the situation once again.

Who gets the lady, who gets the chair? Whom does the lady favor, whom does the public uphold?In a thoroughly enjoyable laughter ridden two hours of moves and countermoves, Director Girish Joshi brings out the stark insensitivity and selfishness of the human mind in no uncertain terms.

Mr. Prime Minister you are WRONG!!!

First Preference to Minorities?

Thank you, Prime Minister for clarifying the thing that minorities have first claim on all Natural Resources.

Till date we thought that according to our constitution everyone is one same par. But this thing is correct in constitution only and some people have more advantages as they are from minorities or from lower caste. But when there is lot of criticism from all corners of the country then Manmohan Singh took U turn and claim that I didn’t said this thing and Media has twisted my statement.

This thing came in to picture when he spoke just like congress leader on last Saturday. Controversy began when he said that MINORITIES MUST HAVE FIRST CLAIM ON RESOURCES. He was speaking at Chief Minister’s conference in New Delhi.

Everyone has heard his statement on Television, at least I have heard and seen it on Times now and other news channels. There was no twisting or no editing in the story. That’s why one can easily understand the feelings of Prime Minister. As he is from congress party everyone know what will be his ideology but this statement was not expected from a man like Manmohan Singh. As he changed the face of India’s Economy and who lead India in globalization process, this was shocking statement.

As we are becoming as global village how can anyone claim on education, Service and other resources just because of he is from minority or he is from lower caste. There should be two criteria’s only. One is talent and another is economic backwardness. If you are talented then no one can stop you from progress. If you are economic backward and still you are talented then you should get some financial help or reservation things. But other wise every thing should be decided on talent only.

But due to vote bank politics every party wants to keep minorities happy and that is the only reason why we have reservation based on caste. Now some parties are of the view that there should be reservation for minority religions. Appeasement is the only reason why minorities get special treatment in our country.

This is the only reason why not a single ‘so-called secularist party’ dares to protest against the minorities when they denied singing of Vandemataram. Congress Chief Minister Gulam Nabi Azad (Jammu Kashmir) demands that Mohammad Afzal should not be hanged. But congress claims that this is his personal statement and party doesn’t want to comment on it. How can a Chief Minister comment on such issues so casually? Or you just want to attract minority community from Jammu and Kashmir toward congress?

Bhartiya Janata Party has its own image about minorities. Image of BJP is pro Hindu and anti Muslim or anti Minority. They wanted to change their image. That’s why Atal Bihari announced in his political speech that Two Lacks Urdu teachers would be recruited after Polls. Advani goes to Pakistan and claims that Jinnah was Patriot. Bangaru Laxman announced after becoming BJP’s president that Party workers should give up their animosity towards minorities. This message is good but party president declaring this is serious. You are doing this just to attract minorities and nothing else is clear from this. So BJP is not a party with difference in this case.

I don’t want to comment on Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati. These parties are limited to certain part of India and certain community.

So, Mr. Prime Minister you are wrong and you are not there to divide the people on caste and religion. If you do that you will lose the your place in many hearts.

Medha Patkar, Voice of Voiceless

Narmada, Mumbai and now in Singur

Medha Patkar, the name that is familiar with protest, strike and indefinite fast. From last two decades Medha Patkar is associated with Narmada Dam issue. She is fighting against the Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh government for the benefit of farmers and poor peoples, who were displaced from their own village.

There are always many aspects and angles to any issue. And when the issue is political, social or economical then difference of opinion is must. Narmada Dam issue has also many angles, but the important thing is that Medha Patkar gave the voice to villagers and farmers. When there is no one to hear complaints of farmers and everyone is busy with own business at that time, Medha came forward and gave helping hand to dam affected peoples.

She raised the voice of affected peoples to the international level also and brought some funds to continue the protest. Actor actresses like Rahul Bose, Aamir Khan and Nandita Das, Booker Award winner Arundhati Roy and socialist politicians are active supporters Medha Patkar.

After handling the issue of Narmada Dam for more than 15 to 20 years, she came in picture again when Maharashtra government demolished the illegal huts in Mumbai. When poor people living roadside or in slums become homeless then she started fast at Mahatma Gandhi Statue near Mantralaya. Many social organizations came forward in the support of Medha and then government softens his stand on the illegal hut issue and decided to legalize the slums till 2000 instead of 1996. There may be debate whether stand of Medha was right or wrong? Or illegal slums should be legalized or not? But the thing is that every time she comes forward to help the helpless.

Then Medha protested against the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) issue. Maan is the village near Pune. Government had plans to declare SEZ on the green land of Maan. But villagers raised the voice against the government decision and demonstrated on the streets. When there is no leader to protest then again Medha Patkar is the only name that came to forefront. She visited Maan and supported the protest. When issue was highlighted at state and central level, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has to comment on the issue and he assured the villagers that no SEZ on green land unless and until farmer wants it. Of course this is the victory of people and not of Medha. But she once again proved that, she is voice of voiceless peoples.

Now her battlefield is Singur in West Bengal. Marxist government has given the green land of farmers to Tata Motors under Special Economic Zone. This is sure that in the communist regime helpless farmers cannot fight against the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government. Mamata Banerjee has started the protest against government’s decision. Medha Patkar has also joined the protest and now singur has came in the limelight. Mamata is more violent in protesting, as Medha is not protesting with peace.

There are so many opinions about Medha patkar’s protest in various issues but the common thing is that she always gives helping hand to poor as well as down trodden people and works devotedly for them. More than that according to me one thing is most admirable is that she devoted her whole life to society and always become voice of voiceless peoples.

Rane factor in Vidarbha also!!!

Rane in Queue?

Another set back to Shivsena and Bhartiya Janata Party alliance. After Konkan now in vidarbha also Rane has successfully won the by-polls. Shivsena lose their strong holds like Chimur and Daryapur in these by-elections to congress candidates who are supporters of Rane. In Chimur Vijay Vadettivar and in Daryapur Prakash Bharsakhale won the election and secured their birth in the Legislative assembly.

After resigning from Shivsena Rane joined the Congress and became powerful leader there also. He got the active support from Congress state president Prabha Rao and Margaret Alva. Though he got support from other congress leaders Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh supporters as well as old congress leaders and Nationalist Congress Party were not very much happy with winning of Rane in by-polls.

Rane won the by-polls of Malvan and Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district. That election showed that sindhudurga is strong hold of Rane and not of Shivsena. Then Rajapur and Sangmeshwar from Ratnagiri district were also gone in the favor of Rane supporters. But Shivsena gave major jolt to Rane when sena won the Shrivardhan and Mhasala seat from Raigad. Here also Shivsena won with the help of peasants and Workers Party and Nationalist Congress Party.

After this five by-elections Rane supporters viz. Vadettivar and Bharsakhale resigned. This time battle is out of Konkan. That’s why everyone is interested to see how Rane factor works in Vidarbha also. In this by-election only Bjp-Sena got into dispute when both the parties wanted to contest from Chimur. Chimur is the seat with shivesena from last 16 years. Though Vadettivar has joined Congress, there should be no challenge to claim of Shivsena for the seat as per unwritten rules of alliance. But Bjp wanted to contest that seat as they thought that their candidate is much stronger than Sena and it would win definitely.

Both parties not agreed to take one step back. But after some meeting shivsena handover the seat to Bjp. Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde made prestige issue of this seat and after all Bjp Candidate lost to strong Vadettivar. Of course there was no scope to sena Candidate in Daryapur as shivsena workers had joined the congress and there was so many differences in remaining sena leaders. So it was supposed that there is cakewalk to Congress candidates and Rane supporters in daryapur and Chimur.

But during the campaign unfortunate incident of Khairlanji happened and angry dalits came on streets. In Chimur and Daryapur percentage of dalit voters is considerable. That’s why some analyst was hoping that Bjp-Sena would have better chance in by-election. But Bjp workers stayed away from campaign in Daryapur and Shivsena didn’t do much in Chimur. That’s why both the seats gone in the name of Congress or in the name of Rane. After this win Rane is successfully won all the by-polls except Shrivardhan. Narayan Rane (Malvan), Shankar Kambali (Sawantwadi), Ganpat Kadam (Rajapur), Subhash Bane (Sangmeshwar) had secured their constituencies much before. Now Vadettivar and Bahrsakhale joined them. Only one left behind is Sham Sawant, who lost Shrivardhan.

Now Rane has become much more powerful in congress than a year before. His eyes are on the Chair of Chief Minister and he will get much support from rivals of Vilasrao from congress itself. There are so many rivals of Vilasrao but no one is capable as Rane is. Patangrao Kadam, Govindrao Adik, Ranjit Deshmukh, Prabha Rao, Suresh Kalmadi, Kripashankar singh and so many others. When Rane entered the congress these people come closer to Rane and anti Deshmukh Camp got power and strong leader too.

Rane is well aware of the Maharashtra and he knows the plus minus of each part of state. As he was Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Rane done a lot for Shivsena and Shivsainiks. He brought many congressmen to Shivsena and created a fleet of own supporters in Sena. That’s why after joining congress he got much support from Sena and Sainiks. This was not the case at the time of Chagan Bhujbal and Ganesh Naik.
Rane has good opportunity to become Chief Minister of Maharashtra as he is good speaker, strong study of laws and rules of assembly, efficient Minister and above of all that he is Kunbi (Maratha). Because of this one or other day he will definitely become Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Will this Stop???????

Babasaheb, Look at your Followers!

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the most talented men of India. But unfortunately he has become most controversial man of India now days. Many time some thing or other is done to statue of Babasaheb and the violence starts. This is the normal thing now.

Kahirlanji is the small village in Amravati District in Maharashtra. Incident happened in this village is the reason for all the violence happened in Maharashtra now. Incident happened in Kanpur (Vandalizing the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar) was just a reason to start the violence. But the anger was of the Khairlanji. Both the incidents, Kanpur and Khairlanji were not only wrong but everyone has to condemn both. After that all the Dalit leaders and party workers of various Dalit parties come together and joined the violence. This type of violence was started after Ghatkoper case few years back. All the Dalit leaders and Republican Party workers were came on roads and started violence.

In Khairlanji some miscreants raped one dalit woman and then killed three persons including that woman. After that violence started in many parts of Maharashtra. That violence was because of the anger that state police did not handled the case properly. Reaction of the Khairlanji was not that much serious and police brought the situation under control very quickly. But reaction of later incident was harsh. Rather it was the anger of Khairlanji after incident of Kanpur.

Though Kanpur is far away from Maharashtra reaction that came through out Maharashtra was unexpected not only to peoples and political parties but Police also. That’s why no one was prepared to face this situation including police. That’s why the violence was one of the most severe in the history. May be first after Name change controversy of University of Marathwada.
Everywhere violence started on Wednesday and public transport buses and private vehicles were the main aim of the protesters. But unfortunate thing of this time is that protesters burn the Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen at Ulhasnagar. This train has great tradition since British Empire and it was the pride of all Maharashtrians. But this train was set afire by protesters was unfortunate. Everyone can understand the emotions of the dalit’s after Kanpur incident. But this doesn’t means that they have right to do anything in the name of protest.

There are so many trains, which go from Pune to Mumbai and vice a versa. But protesters selected Deccan Queen has another reason. This is the train, which was famous for elite class traveling. Traveling by Deccan Queen was prestigious for so many years. This thing may be in the mind of protesters and they burn the pride of Maharashtra.

Another thing is that after some months there are election of Municipal Councils and Nagarpalikas. Keeping eye on that no political party condemned the violence spread by dalit protesters. Everyone want votes of dalit community and to attract them everyone is pleasing that community. Government could bring the condition under control much quickly by giving orders to police. But it heard that there were orders to police that no counter attack on protesters. No firing to brought situation under control. This is the reason that protesters go on and on.

Babasaheb Ambedkar was a great man, but his followers are nothing but useless. No one wants to become well educated and contribute to the society. There is some exception for this but they are so much less in numbers that others side of uneducated, poor and jobless peoples is the introduction of dalit community. If we start to count the experts and well-educated peoples from this community then one can get idea of the less numbers of peoples. Dr. Mungekar and Dr. Narendra Jadhav are two names, which came quickly at tongue. But to go beyond this one has to think more.

That is the condition of dalit community. Dalit leaders are also hopeless and do not want to do something constructive. They just want become minister and for that they can do anything. They can go with congress and if they don’t entertain they will go to Nationalist Congress. While doing this they will forget that congress has rejected TICKET of election to Babasaheb. Dr. Ambedkar fought against congress for whole life but Republican leaders forget this factor while joining the congress government.
There are so many fraction of Republican Party and every leader is against other.

But emotional issues are more popular in dalits and not serious issues. That is the reason this poor quality leaders are leading the parties. Of course they have mass support but no one try really for the peoples. This is the worst part of the politics. Unless and until dalit community will educate and try to develop their own future, no one will come for their help and this things will go on. Today it’s Deccan Queen in the name of Kanpur and Khairlanji, next time it will be some other reason.

There may be some different opinion on this and every one can write their views on this blog may be positive or negative. So please read and write your views on this.

Thanks.