Bombay Gym - Soccer Nite

September 1ST & 2ND , 2007

Probably the last corporate tournament of the season, Bombay Gym 6 a side tournament was the occasion to at last take something home……..
By something I didn’t mean towels & shampoos ….. (the towels this season were really of bad quality, not like the good-ol-times L)

So the formation on Saturday (01-09-2007) was as follows: -

Baptist (Captain)
Maulik
Prince
Lynston
Sharam (didn’t turn up for the knockouts)
Jason (Baryl "the Fan")
Salvito
Valerio
Saif
James
(one player short)
Cyntia (Fan)

Game 1: -

Our first game was against REUTERS, an ok ok team, we were two players short as Lynston was late. We were playing not so well, not quiet gelling as a team, not using the width of the field. But all were playing to win, I could feel the enthusiasm of every body.
But I wasn’t keen to play my 100 %, deep down I knew my captain also thought on the similar lines (it was all strategy to play for the lower cup).
Now James our striker, was coming from a very bad patch of form, he hadn’t scored (in football) for a long time now, he had to prove a point & to top it all he had a fan watching. But all his efforts & hard work went in vein as our only goal was slammed in the goal by Sharam.
Later in the second half we took a goal & the match ended in a draw.

Game 2: -

v/s Bombay Gym

Bombay Gym were the favorites to win the main cup, coached by a former India player “Henry Picado” we had nothing to loose, just play our game & get to use to each others game. Well let me cut this short, we lost 4 – 0.
Every body was very dejected, but I & baps knew we got what we wanted & the main show will be tomorrow.

Sunday - 2nd September: -

Yes, we were playing for the plate cup (2nd Cup), oohh now, how I love we’d got a chance for bowl. But we were a good enough team to win the plate.
James had a blink feeling, Bombay Gym will win the Main Cup, Reuters will win Bowl & Ipru will win the Plate. We were confident we will………

Our first game (Pre Quarters) was against eBay at 9.50 am. This was the day to give your 110% for the team. But it was absolute pathetic, as there were only 6 players on time, we had 2 players staying a stones throw away but came in a good half hour late. Any ways they reached, yet we were 2 players short. Sharam gave some silly excuse for not coming. But we had a new fan today, Beryl.

As the game started, we completely dominated the proceedings, our coordination was awesome, mid-field feeding the strikers & linking perfectly, defense was like the rock of Gibraltar & we had the wall in the goal. But against the run of play we went a goal down. This really awakened us & the game that followed was pure magic. James was brilliant, Saif was a non stop engine, me n Bob were playing beautiful game in the center, Prince was our Roberto Carlos, Baps was a true leader, Lyns was commanding in the goal & Vali & Maul played their roles to perfection. & we comfortably put eBay in the recycle bin by 4 goals to 1.
Yes James did break his streak & all shared the goal feast.

Game 2 (Quarter final): -
v/s HSBC

Our confidence was rocketed sky high, this showed in our game, as we picked up from we left in the last match. We kicked HSBC to all corners of Hongkong & shanghai & won comfortably by 4 goals.

Game 3 (Semi final): -

Here we were, another semifinal, semifinal has been a jinx for us this season. As in previous two occasions we failed at the same point. We were spooky about it.
Our opponents were Trinity Computers, no pushover; they had given JP Morgan a tough time in their round robin match. This was our final, we had to break the semifinal jinx. We changed our defensive strategy, as they had very good front line, attack was left to James & Saif with Bob & Prince interchanging in the center.
This game was the best game we played, we defended with like our wives were at risk, we attacked as if we were on a prowl. James came so close in getting the opener, as his header hit the poll. Final whistle blew….. no goals….. penalty shootout……………. Ooohhh my ….. not again……

For penalties, James, Lynst & me stood up to take the strike…..

Kick no. 1: -
Trinity – Kick goes wide……yes
I pru – James hits hard, but straight in the center, the keeper saves it….ooohhhhh

Kick no. 2: -
Trinity – Scores
Ipru – Lynst to take it, places the ball, but hits the pole & goes wide…..heart beat stops for a second

Kick no. 3:-

Trinity – the kick taker slips while taking the shot…. Yes…. But Lynst also slipped & the ball strolls in the goal…………………………………… heart attack………………….

We lost…….. ya…. We lost once again in the semi final………penalties…..

All were numb, there were no tears in the eyes, but I am very sure, everybody had soggy hearts. It was end of the journey for us, it was like everything around us had forsaken us. We deserved much better, we were a good team.

& yes James’s blink did come partly true, Bombay Gym & Reuters did won their respective cups, but Ipru………..

It’s all “Maktub” (its all written


Theres a very good phrase that comes to my mind:-
“To transcend pain, you must first experience it, how can u really know the joy of being on the summit of the mountain, unless you have first visited the lowest valley”
------ The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.

We ought to learn from our losses, its probably time for some old tricks to retire & get in some fresh ideas……..

This time we say Astalavista, but we will be back, we’ll be back with a bang ………

The Party: -

Bombay Gym has a traditional party for all the teams in the evening. Booze n food on the house.
James had called his parents, but his fan didn’t turn up, but Bob got his Berell & Maul came along with Sunita.
Valario thought the Bombay Gym Party was in Andheri, so didn’t wanted to come (I think our loss hit his head hard).
But it was good to see all were there (except Prince).

With the pain of another loss in our hearts, we were back to our good old phrase…….. only “Sorrow & sorro” (in Konkani sorro is liquor/daru).
We thought its gonna be a boring affair……….. but………. We tripped……… yes we tripped hard………….

The Bar was open, the superheroes opened their innings with rum/whiskey & beer…..
There we saw Maria…… oohhh Maria…..maria maria……..

After the presentations were over, shameless that we are, we asked the Reuters captain (he was zonked, so he was our good friend) if we can click a Ipru team snap with their trophy & we did it proudly like we won the bowl trophy. I am such a big shameless that I showed this snap to my office colleagues & told them we WON.
We didn’t stop there, we asked the Trinity captain, if we can take snaps with their trophy, he hesitantly allowed & we were plate winners as well. Just holding these trophies made us so happy that we forgot the count of our drinks & now we were on Budweiser.

The music was rocking & we were tripping, all of us (including James’s parents) were dancing & enjoying. The Bevda gang, that would be baps, lynst, valli, me & saif, were doing bottle after bottle of Budweiser, as one bottle was over the next bottle had to be in our hands. Just for the record Saif does not drinks, he doesn’t even touches the bottle, but he makes us to take the bottle, pour into the glass then he gulps down the entire glass in one shot…… maha bevda….ssshhhhh….. But for the record Saif never drinks.
Maul & Bob were very sober, as they had responsibility & James quit drinking, but was enjoying with us, uncle & aunty were also very jolly & were having fun……I remember telling James to take care of us & reach me to mira road. We were dancing like crazy, drinking like gutters.

The Reuters captain did an item number with our captain, it was hot & sizzling, they were burning the dance floor to the bipasa dance……… beedi jaleyle……… it was intimate….
Valli while dancing was hitting the Trinity captain, I don’t know what his intensions were, I think he wanted revenge………..

I was doing the Budweiser step, baps was doing his spidey dance, saif was doing…. Im sober….. I don’t drink dance, valli was doing his robin dance & lynst was putting his hands up & singing halleluiah………. While the couples were jiving with each other….

Suddenly don’t know what happen, may be we got charged by Budweiser & we jumped on the main stage & were dancing on the stage, front of a packed house………. I his life baps have not shaken his leg in front of a crowd but this time he & I were on stage, showing steps to ppl. (Look what booze makes people to do).

I swear I cant recollect how many Budweisers we had….. all of a sudden while doing a step I had a fall and immediately baps also had a fall, thoug I don’t recollect that I had a fall, probably a Budweise effect.

After the last song, James dragged us all out for dinner. Before that Bob took his Barrel & had left to drop her home…..

Valli was telling me, “dude I am coming to ur house, dude im coming mira road, I cant go home this way”…. I thought to myself, “looks like im gonna be thrown out of my house tonight”…..

We were all trying to walk as straight as possible, some how we took the food & eat. The food was very tasty, but don’t ask me to name the dishes, I only remember it was Chinese.
For desert there was apple pie, Saif gave fantastic review of the apple pie, so I decided to avoid it altogether, you know why, because I trust Saif, because Saif doesn’t drinks……

We were just relaxing & trying to get our sense together…. Donno suddenly wat happened to baps & he started abusing aloud in konkani……..
then lynst started shouting…. “I want a rematch…….. I want a rematch…….. only penalties”
I & valli were just looking at each other & giggling, maul seemed to be lost, James was standing & observing our antics, while saif was saying….. “I don’t drink”…… “I don’t drink”….

Ooohh we had fun, at 12 the security came & told us “Sir u’ve to leave”….. we departed….. Donno how baps reached home on his bike, batman came to take robin away & james took me & lynst to churchgate ….I thanks James for looking after us & dropping me to.. ………… I guess I shall treat you……… 2 Budweisers on me…………….

No the night didn’t end there……… something around 3 am, Saif was calling baps (baps didn’t have saif’s number stored on his mobile)……. Saif was speaking in a females voice saying “hi this is priya, I saw u at the party, I wanna have sex with u”…….. saif called him 2-3 times this way……… I am sure in the state baps was, he must have been totally freaked out…. To top it all his mom was shouting him, “who is calling u at this time of the night, give the phone here, ill talk to him (she was aware he was drunk)”……… at last he switched of his phone………..

On Monday, we were all singing the Monday blues……… n greens………n yellows….

Wow…….we had awesome fun………. Thanks to all……….

Super Heroes

Before reading this, one information to all those who don’t know us, to understand this write up u need to know us. This is about my friends and me. This place is very small to write about us but I ve tried to be as brief as possible.

What is a superhero? We usually think of a superhero as someone who has a profession, who is mild mannered, well kept … someone ‘normal’. The superhero is the person who changes when the sun goes down,he (or she) dons a uniform and heads out to save the world.

Superman saves Metropolis, Batman Gotham, Spider Man ...New York and Wonder Woman protected Washington D.C. As long as these super human protectors are around we feel safe in our homes and know that when the super villains attack they will be there to swoop down from the sky and deflect the bullets or snatch us away.

But in this case the Superheroes are little different and unique; I have my own super heroes the only difference is we wear our underwear’s inside. Lets start off with the most handsome superhero (u know he came up with the law “handsome guys get F#$%all looking chicks & vice versa) i.e.

Superman – (Rupert)
As he is known man of steel with super powers, who wears his undies over his trousers. We call him superman because he has bundles of energy. He is always flying from one place to another in search of super woman I guess. Till recently his radar was stretched from Powai to Fort but now he has extended his radar to Pune n is in search of Rafiqbhai to help him out.
Last year he was hit by a kryptonite (carol) but just missed it by touch n go situation, but news is last week she was able to catch him on orkut but not completely he is out of this situation.
Humor is his secret weapon, it can move gracefully from slapstick to cheap and sometimes disgusting.
U should hear his real laugh (it comes out whn he’s a bit zonked, in the start u’ll find it very amusing but it doesn’t stops there, it goes on n on……. Then u start to feel freaking scared.
Superman doesn’t take care of himself (u can see it on his hands & legs, they r always bruised n battered); he uses his excess energy helping his friends like wolverine (james) and hollow-man (Buddha). He actually hates rules and regulations and B@$t#*d always late. But he has one charm in him and i.e. he’s a very funny guy even though he doesn’t have funny face.
Soccer is his favorite sport, I imagine how he plays while flying. Sometimes he is sugary sweet; this reminds me of someone sweet, with whom he did the 24 days scene & now he’s dipping honey n having sugar.(I can’t elaborate this on the blog). He likes good looking women and he is a real catch for any girl. You can find him on every weekends flying between Mumbai – Pune highway.
For now lets wait n watch what is superman going to do n how will he fight the sugarry diabetes.

Now its time for Batman & Robin’s (Jason & Vali) history making couple – latest rumours doing the round is that they are going to change their roles to He – Man and Battle cat.

I don’t know why we call him Batman, but suits him as he as an assistant to help him i.e. Robin. This superhero is different from others, due to the fact that he has no superpowers. He relies on his gadgets and bat suit to fight crime, the bat suit looks like a bat, and it is bullet proof. He also has a bat bike on which he use to fight crime but Superman stole it from him :(
Few days back he was a victim of poison ivy’s love arrow (I'll not mention the name here) but with the help from Superheroes and will of his own he was back in action hanging upside down in his closet. He hides a lot from super heroes, only his trusty assistant “Robin” knows of his secret. No superheroes are aware abt the secrets kept between Batman & Robin, hmmm let me guess some bat woman definitely.

Last year he found his sidekick “Robin” the wonder boy. Robin is all about words, but hardly any actions. None of the superheroes have seen any positive action from robin, but only batman has understood his true worth (if there is any). When robin hit the superheros scene, all thought he n spiderman will make history, as he had recd heavenly blessings from Spiderman. But then jeopardy struck & both went separate ways. Then Robin got influenced by Batman.
Robin now follows the adventures of Batman. Amazed at his dedication batman supplied him with his new armored costume and even sometimes his bat bike. Robin always hangs around with Batman and does what batman says. They even take break from crime fighting and go see some hindi movie or drink together without informing the other superheroes. Any ways they are going to make History that is for sure.

Now lets talk abt Phantom – (Sal) “The Ghost who walks – the man who cannot die”

This is an apt name for him, as he always disappears from the mist. The Phantom's superhero gimmick is his lack of one. While Superman has his powers, Batman his gadgets, and Spiderman his webs, the Phantom has, well, his glaringly purple suit and fearsome reputation to fight crime. He is the one who knows all the inner secrets of other superheros & can read their mind like an open book (ya all know, he has the power of blink with him). He likes to operate from the African jungles. He likes to read, actually he was the one who once upon a time was writing for superheroes, but don’t know what has happen to him. He’ll have the perfect solution to all your problems and an answer for every question you ask. But there's no use expecting him to be the answer to all your girlish dreams. He also likes soccer and plays in African premiership & is big fan of Manchester United. Sometimes I feel he is into deep thoughts, god knows what he is thinking of. Latest I heard the he and Superman are planning something big keeping the superheroes in the dark. He calls himself Blnk– e-mist.e. combination of Blink and Alchemist.


This part is written by my best buddy Sal – the Phantom
Spiderman – (Baps)
He is the man with webs; he uses his webs not only to catch people falling from building but also fishes…. Ya I know spiderman n fishes don’t mix, but this is our goan Spiderman. He has cast his nets all over Bombay, n now as he traveling places n makes it a point to throw his webs in every corner.
But so far he had been getting only star fish, jelly fish, cat fish, barracuda, small crabs running on the shore, empty shell fish, tortoise & n finally his price catch the Mermaid. (but phantom still feels that his first catch was the best). Spidey is very stuck on the Mermaid. He had also employed his other superhero friends to get him positive results. In the latest Spidey movies (Spiderman-3) harry played the role of spidey’s best friend n helped him to get his girl. But in real life, it looks their collective nets are too small for the Mermaid. But tats now history I guess. But u never knows history can be revisited anytime.
Right now thr is some negotiation in process between Spiderman & Superman. Some sought of barter system is taking place, Will keep the gang updated as the deal is struck.
Spidey is a man of principles, he is positive and thoughtful, and Spidey has set his Plan of Action & tries to follow it religiously. But it’s not started to fall in its place yet.
We all remember when we had gone for our trip to Whispering Woods – Lonavala, one astronomer saw at Spidey n said “He says something in the night & something else happens in the morning”.
Spidey is awesome fun when he’s a bit zonked…… full on paradeee deeee teeetttassss…….
we can & will never forget the night Spidey, phantom & Robin along with the neat vodka bottle, sat to drink in ultimate paradise & heard heavenly sermons & the most inspiration speeches that night till 4am from Spidey………………

Looks like there is a heavy curse of black pearls & kryptonites & poison ivies…..on the Superheroes will have to do some puja & drive them away.

Till then super heroes are fighting crime to keep the city safe from unwanted goons.

Almost Home

As As we chased down our way to victory of the premier cup, little did we know that we are not going to make it to the finals. We knew that we were a good team and capable of winning but guess we were missing that wining edge. But our road to semifinals was the most challenging and memorable. My team has one of the best players; these men have kept the flag flying high amid stiff winds and rough whether. To their credit they ve man of the match awards and many goals. That is not to say that it has been an outstanding year for our soccer team on the corporate level. It has been a mixed of some great results and serious disappointment. By the standards set in 2006, we have struggled a bit this year having failed to win a title so far. However we ve been fighting with some of the best team in the corporate world. Sports can be cruel, and soccer is one of the most unpredictable games in the world. You can’t predict the results till the game is over.

The first two league games were the best of all in the league. That day we played only with five players and played the best and enjoyed the most, Debu being the star performer. One cannot ignore the efforts he made to save those goals was outstanding especially when he is not trained to do that to which he has a credit of Man of the Match award.

Day 2 - now we start with the serious business.
The opening match was against Respondez Ltd., thou we couldn’t make our impact on the opponents but ICICI Pru’s skipper (that’s me) scored the first goal of the game in last few minutes through a free kick. Wow what a curve it was, just like bend it like Beckham. Ne ways we didn’t actually perform in this game but we couldn’t ve hoped for a better start towards our campaign, we won the match with 1-0 margin to begin on a rousing note.

Our second game against Accenture, Lynston our goal keeper was the hero of this game, he made fantastic saves by clearing the ball just below his crossbar and one on one saves, there by wining himself the man of the match award for that game. We won that game by 2-1. Great show!

The third game against Mastek, heard good reviews about them. So I changed the strategy there by bringing in Valerio in the 1st five squad and me defending the game. Substitutes were Maulik, Prince, Debu and Ian. Now we play pre quarters. By now we were all saturated and were waiting for red bull girls for the Red Bull supplement (by the way the Red Bull girls were the centre of attraction and some one was full on flirting with them, he even got to know which college they were from hmmm... u know who i am talking abt, any ways moving to the main topic). This match was the best of all the games. Since we lack a left outer I asked Valerio to play on the right flank. This is the first time in his life he must ve played that position and stood out with his pace and created opportunities and not to mention he scored his 1st goal too. We were leading with 1 goal and no sooner to our surprise Mastek scored a goal. But this didn’t put us down instead prince dodged the ball into the nets on my goal kick. The match got interesting when I was given marching orders for rough game – this was first time I conceived a yellow card n was told to sit out for two minutes. Those two minutes were the longest of my life as I wanted to get in the game as early as possible. At this point of time my team plays one only with 4 players. We were again leading but to our bad luck Mastek came back into the game and slot the ball into the nets thereby leveling the game. The score line remained unchanged till the final whistle. The game was taken into penalty shoot out. This is the toughest moment for me as this part of the game is more of luck, but our guys made it easy by wining the game with 3-1. I was awarded the man of the match award for best defending.

Now we play the decider match, i.e. are we playing the finals. In the semis we had all the ingredients of exciting game missed opportunities and shock. Our strategy remained the same but this time our more focus was on not conceiving a goal. And I must say the co ordination between me and Sal was amazing. Two best defenders didn’t allow the ball to cross the goal line. Jason was at his best in this game but couldn’t make his impact since he didn’t get the required support from his right flanker. This match ended with 0-0 score and yet again we go for penalty shoot out. GTL converted their 1st penalty; Sal moved to make his mark but missed his penalty. GTL didn’t convert their 2nd penalty thanks to ultimate save from lynston. Now it was Jason to shoot but Lynston insisted that he will take penalty n I liked his confidence, he slot the ball into nets there by taking the game one step ahead. Now we were leveled with GTL. The 3rd penalty was converted by GTL there by putting pressure on us. Now we had to score to stay in the game else we go. Jason was under immense pressure and he gave the in the hands of the GTL goal keeper. The game ended in an ugly note.

It has been a tough walk on the greens but this third place is a privilege and a distinction showing that we are on the right track. We had once taken the corporate soccer by storm and then lost our way, but we will reappear with vengeance.

This is a message that I read some where “To be a winning team you have to know how to suffer in the most difficult moment, you have to have the posture, courage and fight until end”.

Trees

3 trees were discussing about their ambitions and what they wanted to be after they are cut down. The 1st tree wanted to made into beautiful treasure chest so that all the treasures of the world would be locked in it. The 2nd tree wanted to be carved into a big ship, so that it can travel around the world with the prince and princess and the 3rd tree did not wanted to be cut, but grow taller and taller and reach heaven one day.

One day, a wood cutter came to cut down all the trees. The 1st tree was cut and sent to the carpenter but it was not made into a treasure Chest but into a fodder box. The 2nd tree was also cut down and sent to a shipyard but this one also was made into a small fishing boat. The woodcutter cut the 3rd tree but he didn’t take it with him and left at it at the foot of the hills.

The trees were sad as all their dreams were shattered by the woodcutter. They didn’t become what they wanted to be. Few years later a woman was to give birth to a child and had no place to keep the new born she was in search of a cradle to keep her son, but found this fodder box for the baby to rest. At this the tree realized its value of not being converted to treasure chest because there laid the King of jewels in the fodder box none other than baby Jesus. 30 yrs later a small boat which was made from the 2nd tree was stuck in the sea facing the raging storms. The boat seems to be uncontrollable and about to meet its fate, but destiny had stored something else. There was this man sleeping in the same boat, he just had to raise his one hand and everything seems to be calm as ever. This man was Jesus. The 2nd tree was grateful for its creator as the master of Universe was in the same boat. Few years later, some men were in search of a tree to crucify Jesus. On the footsteps of this hill they found the 3rd tree cut and lying there for years waiting for its master to shape its destiny. On the same tree Jesus was crucified and he died. Dying and resurrecting on the same tree, Christ change the meaning of this death symbol to a victory, victory over death and sin.

In our lives most of the time we are not what we want to be, simply because God has different plans for us. Wait for him to work the Miracle for you.

Let's Change our Vision

There was a millionaire who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted so many physicians and was getting his treatment done. He did not stop consulting galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections.

But the ache persisted with great vigour than before. At last a monk who has supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the millionaire. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colours and not to fall his eyes on any other colours. The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted in green colour just as the monk had directed.

When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress, lest their master not see any other colour and his eye ache would come back.

Hearing this monk laughed said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green." Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly.

It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.

Lets change our vision.. !!

Think simple,Live simple.

Make best use of all the time you have. Once lost, you will never get it again .....

These are my Friends

This article is from the book "Like the Flowing River" by Paulo Coelho

The reason the King is so powerful is coz he’s made a pact with Devil, a very devout woman in the street told the boy, and he was intrigued.

Some time later, when he was traveling to another town, the boy heard the man besides him remark: All this land belongs to the same man. I’d say the Devil had a hand in that.

Late one summer afternoon, a beautiful woman walked past the boy.
‘that woman is in service of Satan! Cried a preacher angrily.

From then on, the boy decided to seek the Devil out, and when he found him, he said:
They say you can make people powerful, rich and beautiful.

‘Not really, replied the Devil. “You’ve just been listening to the views of those who are trying to promote me.

Love Letter

I Wish U knew…..

How many days I ve spent waiting 4 u..
How many nights I turned into days thinking about you.
How many moments I ve spent hoping to see u.
How many time I ve dreamed about u.

In your eyes is the hope for me to Love.
The whole world is singing the sweet song of Love.
While the stars are spreading the light of Hope.
The light of morning defeats the darkness of night.

Because u r the unreachable dream,
U r an angel in the heavens of my Heart.
U r the angel of beauty and goddess of love,
You ve gifted me the hope for and ability to love.

Everytime I look at you,
I am reminded, that God Knew what he was doing.
When he created you,
In the eyes of Love.

How many days I ve spent waiting 4 u..
How many nights I turned into days thinking about you.
How many moments I ve spent hoping to see u.
How many time I ve dreamed about u.

Prayer For You

All I see is the truth now
Thats all I want you to know
That Ill never turn my back on you
And leave you out there on your own
I could never hide my feelings
I could never let you fall
And I want you to remember
All the love that Ive found

Oh, I say a prayer
A prayer for you
Oh, for you

I could never watch you suffer
I could never let you down
And I hope you soon discover
All the truth that Ive now found.

Oh, I say a prayer
A prayer for you
Oh, for you
A prayer for you
Hope you find what your looking for,
on the tiny Emerald land of the west coast...