Football(the Soccer kind!!) vs Politics


As yet another weekend unfolded , i woke up (later than normal because it was a Saturday and was catching up on Lost the previous night) to two different pieces of news, one the news of the Indian Elections and second news of the English Premier League title decider.

The two couldn't be further apart, and yet be somehow related, the premier league is based in England. The Indian Elections, are the greatest showpiece of Indian Democracy since..independence from England!!. The premier league runs every year whereas the elections are normally held every 5 years or so.

However , the Elections and Football matches can incite passion to otherwise mundane living.

The similarities and comparisons can probably end there , except for the fact that it is more enjoyable to watch football games every Saturday morning rather than follow the politics that goes on back home.

Watch Football games of Liverpool Football club to be more precise, which until this weekend were the most successful club in English football. Try as much as they wanted , playing brilliant football for most of the season , Rafael Benitez (the manager) along with Gerrard , Torres , Alonso, Kuyt and others couldn't prevent Manchester United from claiming their 18th League title equalling Liverpool's record. They even thrashed United 4-1 at Old Trafford. But sadly it wasnt enought and on Saturday managed to get enough points to win the title by prevailing over a hapless Aresenal .

While Liverpool will no doubt regroup this summer to try and snatch back the throne of English football that they have knocked off, it was pretty sad how the season ended.

It may not be really relevant in the larger scheme of things , but it is the feeling any true sports fan would feel after passionately following their team. There is a lot of highs and lows , joy and excitment in following a team and watch them mature and progress.

On the other hand i was pretty happy to read that Dr. Manmohan Singh and his party got the majority of votes through the monthlong elections held in India. It was definetly a triumph for Economic reform and secularism and i feel India is definetly moving in the right direction, with the Indian Electorate getting more maturer and wiser in its selection of leaders.

It was one of the rare occasions that i was haapy on reading about Politcs and ironically it came on the day that football brough little cheer.

Of course the Indian elections are more important , and with this outcome a lot of older miniters will be moving out and younger blood moving into the PM's cabinet. I really feel that the right man and government(forward minded) are at the helm to take India through this economic recession and build on its excellent growth for the past decade or so.


The INC had been fading out of Indian politics slowly in the last decade , but have come back .
It might sounds strange but Liverpool had also been fading away from the thrones of English football , maybe their time has come , maybe next year will be the year after many many tries for the past 20 years. There is hope and i guess at the end of the day thats what brings a better and more longlasting cheer than just results.

P.S.- I am dreaming of being there at Anfield when Liverpool claim their title!!!

The Death of Free Speech in America and the World for Conservatives??

A very interesting and shocking incident occurred last week, the reason it was so interesting to me was the setting at which it took place.

I do not watch beauty pageants and have only paid attention to the Miss World / Miss Universe Pageants when India started winning a few a couple of years ago. When that went away so did whatever little interest i had in it . I found it extremely superficial . The contestants give out well scripted and rehearsed answers that are always 'politically correct' or worse -biased toward the popular opinion .That is all good, it it just a show after all.

However, in this years Miss USA 2009 , a contestant, from California was asked her opinion, by a judge on the issue of same sex marriage rights. A few states in the US have made it legal and the contestant(Miss California) was asked whether she thought it was right or not.

She did not and said that she was not brought up that way, although she did not mean disrespect to anyone. She clearly stated her views on the issue. What followed however was very unfortunate. The judge who asked her that is a prominent same sex activist. He lambasted her on his own personal blog and called her stupid.

While it is relatively insignificant, it being a beauty pageant and all , it still angered me that if someone has an opinion about a moral/social issue that is conservative and not in tune with the more liberal bias, that person is singled out and criticized. I see that happening over and over again in the news.

Many people, in the US , India and all over the world do have very conservative opinions on social issues such as marriage. Most don't really speak out, because quite frankly how do you go about defending something that you have been raised to believe is right , from a child to adult.
It is true what you believe, and you know it and quite frankly it is not a big deal. Even proposition 8, was opposed , in California, one of the most liberal states in America, effectively outlawing same sex marriage.

But however, there is a sizable minority who believe otherwise. And those that stand in their way of 'freedom' are constantly criticized, as was evident in the Miss USA contest.

I believe that society must have norms and limits, these must not be crossed else it will spell the doom for that civilization. The US is at at the crossroads and so will India in a few years. We must define the limits in marriage, homosexuality etc before it is too late.
I truly have a lot to say on these social /social conservative issues and look forward to expressing them.

Take care..till next time Peace out !!!!