Keane: The Autobiography (The review)

Controversial. Riveting. Unputdownable. Doggedly truthful. A must read for any Red Devil fan to understand the tradition and the culture which every player joining the club must uphold.

A book which is more an outcome of the controversial decision by Roy Keane to walk out of the irish World Cup campaign for 2002, it tells us the story about a middle class lad from Cork who takes failures in his strides to become a legend at Old Trafford.

Fighting on the pitch for the ball comes naturally to you when you have to fight against discrimination all your life just because you come from a small town and not a glamorous city.

Roy was lucky enough to join Man U when an array of legends were still playing & big money from television had not yet made EPL what it is now. He was in awe and mentored about Man U ways & tradition both on & off the field.

He also saw an entirely new generation of players play with him in the likes of Giggs, Becks, Neville Brothers, Scholes & Butt. He again knew that being the most experienced midfielder in the team did not guarantee him a place in the first team. He again had a fight in his hand, faster legs against a matured footballing brain. Keane triumphed. The reward – the captaincy band. More glory followed. One of the most successful captains of the Red Devils. One of the most controversial ones too.

The book also showcases the loyalty which Keane had for Man U given his experiences playing for his country. Epitome of professionalism Vs. the nadir of apathy. Sir Alex “gaffer” Ferguson and his role and influence in Manu is also touched upon so also is a brief peekaboo into the character called Eric Cantona…another Red Devil behemoth.

Overall nice read. Enjoyed it a lot but still felt that something was amiss. maybe because the book came out when Keane still was around for a few more years at Old Trafford.

(Picture: Coutesy Amazon)

Happy 2nd Belated Anniversary….Blogging

Just noticed that I completed 2 years blogging and I was late by 3 weeks in realizing that. Typical me. Not many blogs over the course of these 2 years. The fallout of being married, work pressure and then becoming a dad. Hopefully, 2011 will see more blogs from my end.

Need to celebrate. But will put it off till India pulls off a stunning coup over the Springboks at Kingsmead. The fastest pitch on earth. The slowest fast bowlers. What irony!!!

“Atithi Devo Bhava” – What’s that???

We have a saying in India “Atithi Devo Bhava” bole to, “Guest is God” and the same is the theme for Incredible India campaign run by Ministry of Tourism.

But, unfortunately the same doesn’t hold true if you are a guest traveller availing the services of a chartered bus while travelling between say…Thane to Andheri. Of course, I’m no tourist but “guest” is the terminology used by the “members” of a particular bus route.

Basically, you have a lot of school buses which double up as buses offering chartered services to office going folks. Initially you join as a “guest” which means that you pay for each to & fro trip a fixed amount. At the begining of a new month you are upgraded to a “member” which means you pay a lumpsum amount and in exchange get a monthly bus pass.

Now coming to the crux of the matter, which is that being a “guest” does not guarantee you priviledge treatment and on the contrary you are banished to the last row of seats to test out the endurance levels of your spinal cord.

“Atithi Devo Bhava” – What’s that???

ISRO – Indian Spaceships Routinely Overloaded???

First things first, we are talking about ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) and not just any other organization. It is one of the few institutes which we Indian’s are proud about and can boast about its success without any glitch.

But, the recent set back suffered by the organization in the failure of the launch of GSLV was another giant leap for mankind/us in having an Indian footprint on the lunar soil – albeit a backward one!!!

Now I’m no expert in rockets but it doesn’t take any rocket science either to accept the fact that recent success record of ISRO wrt to GSLV has taken a beating. And going by what an expert has pointed out in this article, the guys at ISRO definitely need to do some soul/space searching and not just blow up Rs. 325 Crores of hard earned taxpayers money to celebrate Christmas.

Overloading is something with which we usually associate the private transport carriers and definitely not ISRO!!!

What was the need to test how much load a rocket can bear??? Guys we don’t need an Adnan Sami stopmping on the lunar soil (….oops sorry!!! forgot he isn’t an Indian) even Sachin Tendulkar will do!!!