It was something else, being a City fan at the Bristol City away match. I can’t remember ever, in my 28 years of supporting Norwich, playing better than that across an entire 90 minutes, yet walking away from the game empty handed.
However, it got me to thinking: Where are we better off just now as a football club? In the Championship, or the Premiership?
I’ll explain my thinking, or at least try to.
I should get one thing straight, to start with – we definitely wouldn’t be better off in League One. This kind of goes without saying, I know, but in my darkest days of pessimism and disillusionment with all things NCFC, I’d be lying if it hadn’t crossed my mind that “if we’re going to be shit in the Championship, we might as well be shit in League One and have a few different grounds to visit.” Of course, such thinking is plainly ridiculous, especially with “big clubs” such as Leeds and Forest in no way certain of promotion back to the second tier this year, and Southampton (oh, I do hope so!) and Sheffield Wednesday looking nervously over their shoulders as the curtain comes down on the current campaign.
I travelled to the Cardiff away match in February a day early in order to make a weekend of it, and remember picking up the Friday evening paper in order to read the pre-match blurb. In it, I got to read Dave Jones ask the following question: “Why on earth would we (Cardiff) want to get promoted this season?” I remember thinking, “What a totally ridiculous question to ask!”
Why?
Firstly, who, in any walk of life (and particularly those involved in sport), doesn’t strive to graduate to the next level of achievement? In terms of football professionals, surely if you had no desire to do anything but stay put in one division, you’d either go play for/manage Rochdale (sorry guys!), or just get involved in meaningless friendly fixtures from here to eternity?
Secondly, what message does such a statement send to the fans? Fans who, indeed, pay obscene sums of our hard-earned cash buying season tickets, travelling to away matches and (perhaps) buying club merchandise - yet for what gain, if the manager of our team comes out and effectively says he’s happy for the club to stay where it is?
Food for thought.
I spent the next month or so digesting, and reflecting upon, Dave Jones’ comments. My conclusion is, despite what I think of him as a manager, I think that, in the right context, his question is not as ludicrous as I first thought it to be.
Without using this article to closely scrutinise Cardiff’s chances of survival, were they to get promoted (although my gut feeling is that they would be almost anorexically slim), our visit to Ashton Gate added a certain clarity to my thinking. Ergo:
Bristol City were outplayed from start to finish by Norwich City FC on Saturday, March 29th 2008 – fact. Yes, a defensive lapse where we stood off one of their midfielders allowed them to hit the post first half, a goalkeeping gaff shortly afterwards gifted them a goal that was absolutely against the run of play, and (though he did little else wrong, to be fair) a poor decision by referee Andy D’Urso afforded them a last minute winner. But, beyond those three occurrences, Norwich were head and shoulders above a side that, ultimately, returned to the top of the Championship that day as a consequence of three, albeit extremely fortunate, points.
Sounds like sour grapes? Not a bit of it. Football is football, and most reading this piece will be accepting (if not comfortable) with the fact the supporting Norwich is rarely a bed of roses. And for all City’s fantastic play on the day, the Sky Sports Football Yearbook will not reflect that City pissed the Robins off the park for 90 minutes; merely that the score was Bristol City 2, Norwich City 1. I’m even magnanimous enough to resist saying “We were robbed” (even if it felt like that for a few hours afterwards).
But we should, at least, think about how the Dave Jones’ thinking equally applies to the likes of Bristol City and Norwich.
In the case of Norwich, did we really want to go up this season? Well, of course the answer was a resounding “Yes please!” before the season started, when David Strihavka was going to be the next Chris Sutton, and Peter Grant was going to win the manager of the season award. Come November, however, and the glittering prize was instead somehow avoiding the need to find out train times to Hartlepool next season.
And even in early February, when Ched Evans rifled in a 35-yard pearler to complete a memorable smash-and-grab raid at Ninian Park, and the local press was filled with fans’ wide-eyed speculation about somehow making the play-offs, did we – and I mean "we" as fans, club, players and manager – really, really want to get promoted this season?
I’ll use two other clubs to help me answer that question - Bristol City, once more, and Derby County.
I believe (at the time of writing, on the train back from Ashton Gate) that Bristol City will win promotion this season, and automatically at that. No-one gets results like they did yesterday if Lady Luck isn’t beaming down on them. It reminds me of the year we last went up – you can count on more than one hand the games that City were mediocre at best (and downright shit at worst), yet still walked away with three points. Nottingham Forest, on the day Hucks got confirmed as a permanent fixture, springs most notably to mind. But, hey, in the dogfight that is the Championship, make hay while the sun shines.
Yet how will Bristol City fare? Well, they won’t, basically. They will merely have succeeded in winning promotion from the worst Championship since its inception. They’ll make a few quid from being promoted, enough (probably) to help finance their new ground, and feasibly might return to the Premiership a little stronger in a few years time (then again, that’s what Forest said). Bottom line, though, is that they’ll not have enough resources to buy anything like the quality players needed to give them even a sniff of survival. I have no doubt that Ashton Gate will be packed to the rafters with expectant fans, but I’d suggest to those “fortunate” enough to be there that they cling dearly to moments of pleasure like their victory over City, because you can bet your petrococadollar that they’ll have bugger all similar memories once next season is over. Well, they’ll probably beat Newcastle, I guess.
So, Derby County. Bounce straight back at the first time of asking (after their relegation was confirmed last weekend)? No way in this world. It matters not a jot what walk of life you’re in; you can’t take a battering in the manner they have game in, game out this season, and somehow be reinvigorated and full of confidence two months later, in shape to take the Championship by storm. OK, Watford have had a go this season, but they’ve hardly been convincing, they’re in no way certain to go back up, and arguably they were a lot less shit in the Prem than Derby have been this season.
If any Norwich fan is clinging to the merest scrap of belief that City would be in any way, shape or form prepared for anything but a total hammering in the Premiership next season, had we somehow managed to extend that unbeaten run from 12 matches to 15 to 18, or whatever, then dig deep in your analysis of the Bristol match. Why will the football yearbook say what it says about the result of the game? Because we can’t score for toffee on anything like a consistent basis (unless a team as laughably poor as Colchester roll into town), our defence (though getting better) leaks like a colander, seemingly at random, and we’ve had far too rough a ride this season to be anything like mentally prepared for the step up.
Is Glenn Roeder the man to take Norwich forward? In my opinion, without doubt. He might even get us into the play-offs next season, for my money. The amount of cash available in his summer transfer kitty will be a pivotal factor, mind you.
But for now, Dave Jones, I think I have an answer for you. Premiership or Championship? We’ll stay where we are, at least for the moment, thank you very much.
JD
PS - I feel really bad about mentioning poor old Rochdale AFC. Well, sort of. See what you think for yourself; here's what Wikipedia says about them:
"The club have played since 1974 in the Football League's bottom division, currently entitled League Two. This is the longest time any team has been in the bottom division of the football league, with some even derisively renaming it "the Rochdale Division".[1] They reached the League Cup final in 1962 - the only time a club from the bottom league division has reached the final of a major competition - where they lost to Norwich City."
Sunday 30 March 2008
Friday 28 March 2008
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Abu Hamza who?
I get a lot of junk email, especially in my work inbox, for some reason (perhaps it's that Gmail's spam filter is particularly good).
However, this one struck a cord with me. If only everyone thought like this, whatever their religion...
SUB:AN OPEN LETTER TO MUSLIMS
Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,
God forbid if any one of our near one and dear one is
killed then the killer is evil, a beast and what not
and should get penalty but if one among us kills
anybody then he is not evil and we start lying,
denying or even justifying the killing.... double
standards?
Being Muslims, many of our brothers and sisters are
not working for peace. They are misguided, mistaken
and spreading the virus of hatred and revenge through
telling deliberate lies, disinformation and false
accusations, which is resulting in death and miseries
for number of innocent people living around the world
at the hands of merciless KILLER MUSLIMS and also
bringing bad name to Mohammed (PBUH) who never killed
anyone in his life time.
Instead of teaching about Good & Evil, certain Radical
Muslim Clerics are only "Trading in Religion". They
teach us about accusing, abusing and killing the
non-Muslims. They try to hypnotize us to Hate and Kill
the non-Muslims and brethren of other sects or be
killed and without using any common sense, we readily
believe in whatever is being said by these Hate
Mongers. Actually, they are "Agents of Satan" who is
paying them heavily and in return they are cutting at
the very roots of the Ummah. Instead of "Mourning"
most of the Muslims are rejoicing on the brutal
killings of the non-combatant innocent civilians and
"The Murderers" have always been "Our Great Heroes".
Before it is too late and the Curse Of God falls upon
us, we should use common sense, find out the TRUTH and
must change ourselves to save Muslims from becoming
the most "Hated, Isolated, Discredited and Suspicious"
people in the world. We must start working for
promoting "Sectarian Harmony and Religious Tolerance"
in the society and should prove to the WORLD through
our deeds that Islam is not a religion of Zero
Tolerance and Mohammed (PBUH) teaches "Love & Peace"
and not Gangsterism, Terrorism, Barbarism, Extremism,
Sectarianism, Cruelty, Inhumanity and "Hatred &
Killing" of the innocent civilians.
Islam is a religion of peace. Islam teaches respect
and love for all even the animals. But many
narrow-minded Muslims have so far failed to learn
anything good from the teachings of Mohammed (PBUH)
who preaches love for the peoples of all religions. We
are far away from the basic principle of Islam i.e.
"Enjoining the people to do Good and forbidding them
from Doing Evil" and thus, possess no quality of the
civilized society. Unfortunately, many of us show Zero
Tolerance towards others and have wrongly learnt few
thing to be called as good Muslims and those are
"hate" the non-Muslims and "Accusing, Abusing and
Cursing" the non-Muslims. ...act of madness?
The killing of others in the name of religion is a
Sin. Can a FATHER ever teach his Children to be the
permanent Enemies of each other?
The time has come for us to stop readily believing in
whatever is being said, read and written by the LIARS
/ Hate Mongers. Unfortunately, some misguided-Muslims
believe that the Holy Koran and Holy Prophet (PBUH)
both have instructed Muslims that the opponents be
KILLED and that they are simply following the orders.
We should use our own common sense and only believe
which is logical, convincing and in the best interest
of the humanity.
Why do we hate others so much, may be they are better
humans then what we are. My feeling is that the
Muslims should unite to discredit and deactivate the
fringe mullahs (Preachers of Hate) who promise a quick
trip to paradise to people who have little and
sacrifice themselves with bombs strapped to their
bodies. If the mullahs (THE LIARS) thought that it
really was a way to paradise they would be strapping
bombs to themselves! Their followers are kept too
ignorant to see this for themselves and enlightened
moderate Muslims should educate them. We must promote
understanding and peace. We are all watched by the
same God and need to help one another, not Hate and
Hurt.
Our contention is that the WORLD should resolve the
conflicts facing the Muslim World to stop the
terrorism. Unfortunately, all the disputes facing the
Muslim World are our self created. The root causes of
all the disputes are based on the Muslim Philosophy of
Hate against the non-Muslims. The Muslim literature,
teachings and preaching are spreading and injecting
this hatred in hearts and minds of the Muslims. Our
intolerant behavior is further proved by the root
causes of all the pending conflicts that we (Muslims)
cannot live side by side in peace with the
non-Muslims. All the disputes facing Muslim World can
be resolved easily, only if we (the Muslims) are able
to condemn the "Philosophy of Hate" created in us by
our past and present elders who have divided the
peoples of the world in the name of "Religion, Cast
and Creed".
Fellow Muslims! if God is one and he loves mankind, we
should value each others life and strive to protect
each other than thinking that if we kill we shall have
reward. God looks at human beings not as belonging to
different religions, that is why the rain falls to
all, the sun shines to all and we all breathe the air
freely. We are all created or given life in the very
same way- whether Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew etc.
Let us learn to love each other sincerely.
The change of heart and mind is possible to achieve if
we keep up our relentless efforts for a violence free
and peaceful world. We need to preach love, kindness
and humanity with extremist devotion and mission. The
mullahs (THE LIARS) and the preachers of HATE must be
excommunicated at every level and we should stop
giving them donations as it is our money which is
being used by them to spread HATRED for killing of the
innocents.
We must also stop dividing the World into Muslim and
non-Muslim blocks. Our political leaders and religious
teachers must offer positive ideas. Without the
ability to imagine a better world, we cannot build
anything together. Tolerance of the beliefs of other
peoples in the world, warmth and friendship across
racial cultures MUST be the objective of all peace
loving people worldwide. What is being offered today
through religion is "Death, Destruction and
Sufferings".
MY PRAYER FOR PEACE:
Merciful God, please give to peoples of the world, the
required wisdom and determination, to Forgive and
Forget the bitterness of the past and learn to live in
peace like brothers and sisters, by condemning the
divisions and hatreds created in us by our past and
present elders.
(Amen)
Please Read And Circulate this Message For Peace.
Thank you.
S.A.Rehman
Peace Activist
…………………………………………………………….
AN OPEN LETTER TO
Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
(Wherever You Are)
Aslam-o-Alaikum!
Do you know what degree of shame, abomination, misery
and wretchedness is being heaped on the innocent and
peace-following Muslims all over the world because of
this so-called and self styled Jihad of yours?
Do you know how many innocent, unsullied people are
being daily butchered as result of this professed
Jihad of yours? How many children are being orphaned
and women being widowed precisely for the same reason.
And do you know, killing one faultless human being is
like killing the entire humanity. You must definitely
be knowing that you will surely be held accountable
for this all bloodshed. Will you, then, be able to
face your God? I challenge, no!
Then, why have you become an agent of some hidden
hand. Why are you taking the responsibility of the
murder of entire humanity to yourself on his behest.
Why are you dragging the Muslims down? Why are you
demeaning Islam by presenting it as a terrorist
religion? Acting like this, which religion are you
rendering a great service to? Are you raising the
standard of Islam high or you (if you reflect on it)
are causing the heads of the followers of the path of
the righteous bow down with shame in-front of the
entire humanity.
Today most of the Muslims believe that you are not a
true Muslim but planted by the enemies to destroy the
image of Islam..
For God's sake, take recourse to sense, and announce a
CEASEFIRE at-once so the inhabitants of world may be
introduced to that divine aspect of the Muslims at
whose hands no soul suffer, whose words and actions
bear no tinge of dichotomy, whose speech when uttered,
conveys to others the message of love and protection,
whose thoughts, when thought, are devoted to the well
being of others. Herein lies the true success, and
herein lies the victory of the true religion of Allah.
S.A.Rehman
(Peace Activist)
CC:- Dear Muslims,
All those who connived with Osama must forswear. The
people, who still cooperate with Osama etc, will be
the equal partners in the sin of terrorism. All the
criminal elements and their supporters cooperating
with Osama Bin Laden and other dissidents, who want
to spread lawlessness and anarchy in the fortress of
Islam, have gone astray from the righteous path of
Islam and are terribly mistaken. They and their
supporters, who are the copartners in their hideous
crime, should recant for the sake of the glory of
Islam. They should abjure this path of evil and try
to atone for all the repercussions of all the
wrongdoings they have committed so far.
However, this one struck a cord with me. If only everyone thought like this, whatever their religion...
SUB:AN OPEN LETTER TO MUSLIMS
Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,
God forbid if any one of our near one and dear one is
killed then the killer is evil, a beast and what not
and should get penalty but if one among us kills
anybody then he is not evil and we start lying,
denying or even justifying the killing.... double
standards?
Being Muslims, many of our brothers and sisters are
not working for peace. They are misguided, mistaken
and spreading the virus of hatred and revenge through
telling deliberate lies, disinformation and false
accusations, which is resulting in death and miseries
for number of innocent people living around the world
at the hands of merciless KILLER MUSLIMS and also
bringing bad name to Mohammed (PBUH) who never killed
anyone in his life time.
Instead of teaching about Good & Evil, certain Radical
Muslim Clerics are only "Trading in Religion". They
teach us about accusing, abusing and killing the
non-Muslims. They try to hypnotize us to Hate and Kill
the non-Muslims and brethren of other sects or be
killed and without using any common sense, we readily
believe in whatever is being said by these Hate
Mongers. Actually, they are "Agents of Satan" who is
paying them heavily and in return they are cutting at
the very roots of the Ummah. Instead of "Mourning"
most of the Muslims are rejoicing on the brutal
killings of the non-combatant innocent civilians and
"The Murderers" have always been "Our Great Heroes".
Before it is too late and the Curse Of God falls upon
us, we should use common sense, find out the TRUTH and
must change ourselves to save Muslims from becoming
the most "Hated, Isolated, Discredited and Suspicious"
people in the world. We must start working for
promoting "Sectarian Harmony and Religious Tolerance"
in the society and should prove to the WORLD through
our deeds that Islam is not a religion of Zero
Tolerance and Mohammed (PBUH) teaches "Love & Peace"
and not Gangsterism, Terrorism, Barbarism, Extremism,
Sectarianism, Cruelty, Inhumanity and "Hatred &
Killing" of the innocent civilians.
Islam is a religion of peace. Islam teaches respect
and love for all even the animals. But many
narrow-minded Muslims have so far failed to learn
anything good from the teachings of Mohammed (PBUH)
who preaches love for the peoples of all religions. We
are far away from the basic principle of Islam i.e.
"Enjoining the people to do Good and forbidding them
from Doing Evil" and thus, possess no quality of the
civilized society. Unfortunately, many of us show Zero
Tolerance towards others and have wrongly learnt few
thing to be called as good Muslims and those are
"hate" the non-Muslims and "Accusing, Abusing and
Cursing" the non-Muslims. ...act of madness?
The killing of others in the name of religion is a
Sin. Can a FATHER ever teach his Children to be the
permanent Enemies of each other?
The time has come for us to stop readily believing in
whatever is being said, read and written by the LIARS
/ Hate Mongers. Unfortunately, some misguided-Muslims
believe that the Holy Koran and Holy Prophet (PBUH)
both have instructed Muslims that the opponents be
KILLED and that they are simply following the orders.
We should use our own common sense and only believe
which is logical, convincing and in the best interest
of the humanity.
Why do we hate others so much, may be they are better
humans then what we are. My feeling is that the
Muslims should unite to discredit and deactivate the
fringe mullahs (Preachers of Hate) who promise a quick
trip to paradise to people who have little and
sacrifice themselves with bombs strapped to their
bodies. If the mullahs (THE LIARS) thought that it
really was a way to paradise they would be strapping
bombs to themselves! Their followers are kept too
ignorant to see this for themselves and enlightened
moderate Muslims should educate them. We must promote
understanding and peace. We are all watched by the
same God and need to help one another, not Hate and
Hurt.
Our contention is that the WORLD should resolve the
conflicts facing the Muslim World to stop the
terrorism. Unfortunately, all the disputes facing the
Muslim World are our self created. The root causes of
all the disputes are based on the Muslim Philosophy of
Hate against the non-Muslims. The Muslim literature,
teachings and preaching are spreading and injecting
this hatred in hearts and minds of the Muslims. Our
intolerant behavior is further proved by the root
causes of all the pending conflicts that we (Muslims)
cannot live side by side in peace with the
non-Muslims. All the disputes facing Muslim World can
be resolved easily, only if we (the Muslims) are able
to condemn the "Philosophy of Hate" created in us by
our past and present elders who have divided the
peoples of the world in the name of "Religion, Cast
and Creed".
Fellow Muslims! if God is one and he loves mankind, we
should value each others life and strive to protect
each other than thinking that if we kill we shall have
reward. God looks at human beings not as belonging to
different religions, that is why the rain falls to
all, the sun shines to all and we all breathe the air
freely. We are all created or given life in the very
same way- whether Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew etc.
Let us learn to love each other sincerely.
The change of heart and mind is possible to achieve if
we keep up our relentless efforts for a violence free
and peaceful world. We need to preach love, kindness
and humanity with extremist devotion and mission. The
mullahs (THE LIARS) and the preachers of HATE must be
excommunicated at every level and we should stop
giving them donations as it is our money which is
being used by them to spread HATRED for killing of the
innocents.
We must also stop dividing the World into Muslim and
non-Muslim blocks. Our political leaders and religious
teachers must offer positive ideas. Without the
ability to imagine a better world, we cannot build
anything together. Tolerance of the beliefs of other
peoples in the world, warmth and friendship across
racial cultures MUST be the objective of all peace
loving people worldwide. What is being offered today
through religion is "Death, Destruction and
Sufferings".
MY PRAYER FOR PEACE:
Merciful God, please give to peoples of the world, the
required wisdom and determination, to Forgive and
Forget the bitterness of the past and learn to live in
peace like brothers and sisters, by condemning the
divisions and hatreds created in us by our past and
present elders.
(Amen)
Please Read And Circulate this Message For Peace.
Thank you.
S.A.Rehman
Peace Activist
…………………………………………………………….
AN OPEN LETTER TO
Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
(Wherever You Are)
Aslam-o-Alaikum!
Do you know what degree of shame, abomination, misery
and wretchedness is being heaped on the innocent and
peace-following Muslims all over the world because of
this so-called and self styled Jihad of yours?
Do you know how many innocent, unsullied people are
being daily butchered as result of this professed
Jihad of yours? How many children are being orphaned
and women being widowed precisely for the same reason.
And do you know, killing one faultless human being is
like killing the entire humanity. You must definitely
be knowing that you will surely be held accountable
for this all bloodshed. Will you, then, be able to
face your God? I challenge, no!
Then, why have you become an agent of some hidden
hand. Why are you taking the responsibility of the
murder of entire humanity to yourself on his behest.
Why are you dragging the Muslims down? Why are you
demeaning Islam by presenting it as a terrorist
religion? Acting like this, which religion are you
rendering a great service to? Are you raising the
standard of Islam high or you (if you reflect on it)
are causing the heads of the followers of the path of
the righteous bow down with shame in-front of the
entire humanity.
Today most of the Muslims believe that you are not a
true Muslim but planted by the enemies to destroy the
image of Islam..
For God's sake, take recourse to sense, and announce a
CEASEFIRE at-once so the inhabitants of world may be
introduced to that divine aspect of the Muslims at
whose hands no soul suffer, whose words and actions
bear no tinge of dichotomy, whose speech when uttered,
conveys to others the message of love and protection,
whose thoughts, when thought, are devoted to the well
being of others. Herein lies the true success, and
herein lies the victory of the true religion of Allah.
S.A.Rehman
(Peace Activist)
CC:- Dear Muslims,
All those who connived with Osama must forswear. The
people, who still cooperate with Osama etc, will be
the equal partners in the sin of terrorism. All the
criminal elements and their supporters cooperating
with Osama Bin Laden and other dissidents, who want
to spread lawlessness and anarchy in the fortress of
Islam, have gone astray from the righteous path of
Islam and are terribly mistaken. They and their
supporters, who are the copartners in their hideous
crime, should recant for the sake of the glory of
Islam. They should abjure this path of evil and try
to atone for all the repercussions of all the
wrongdoings they have committed so far.
Sunday 9 March 2008
In Abstentia
Before I start writing about whatever I’m going to write about (which is my way of revealing that I haven’t decided what the topic for this post is going to be even as I type this), I’d just like to say “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
I was horrified to see that I hadn’t written anything on this blog since June of last year, when logging in for the first time in ages just last week. So I guess it’s high time I rectify the situation. The fact that I’m on a train bound for London certainly aids the process – owing to the fact that I’m very bad at sitting still unless I absolutely have to, most of my meaningful reading/film watching and, historically, blog writing gets done on trains. The fact that I take one on average at least once a week means my excuses for not blogging more often are fairly limited. So, I’ll see how I go from here, without wishing to make any rash promises about regular future posts.
The second thing I should say is “Happy New Year” to you, although arguably it’s a reasonably pointless gesture given that a) I’ll have done so in person to most of the people who read this blog and b) it’s, er, March. But I’ve done it anyway, so there.
I think this post is just going to be a “Me” update, just to warm up for longer, more detailed rants about world peace and the price of fish, so here goes:
Well, I’ve had a fab start to 2008. At work, I’m getting some great feedback from my superiors, and I’m really enjoying my job to boot. Without wishing to bore you with the finer details, the nature of my role changed slightly last September upon my return from South Africa, and to my benefit. In short, I’m now a press officer who deals with “issues” based stuff, which can range from RAC’s view on escalating fuel prices, to announcing the loss of umpteen staff as part of the ubiquitous and seemingly interminable desire to restructure our business and fire people. Ho hum. The facts are, though, that for whatever reason I’m far happier standing in front of a TV camera doing a live interview about job losses than I am articulating some fluffy survey about the fact that more motorists are going to paint their wing mirrors pink this summer than ever before (I made that last bit up, incidentally, but you get my meaning). So it’s all good.
In January, I visited India for my good friend Balaji’s marriage to his beautiful bride Renuka, in wonderful Hyderabad. Not only was my first Hindu wedding an unforgettable experience in itself, but I met so many fantastic people who made me feel so very welcome. Touchingly so, in fact. So I’d like to say a fond “Hi” to each and every one of my new friends, who include Ravi (special thanks to you, mate), Sinu, Srikanth, Sowmya and Santhya. I hope you can forgive me for those whose names I’ve forgotten/omitted, and for the most-probably horrible misspelling of those I have mentioned!
Whilst in India, I treated myself to a few days in Calcutta (or Kolkata, if we’re toeing the Dravidian renaming line), which is a fascinating city, and not the hell-hole that most people, including most Indians themselves, portray. Or perhaps I’ve become acclimatised to Indian life, which I don’t think is too far from the truth, as I remember thinking it to myself as I took a quiet moment to gaze wistfully over the Hyderabad skyline from a balcony at Jain Bhavan, the hall where Bala and Renuka tied the knot. Thank you to Sowmya from rescuing me from my daydreaming on that particular occasion, and encouraging me to be sociable once more…
I took the relatively colossal internal flight to Mumbai (three hours!), a city I adore, though I’m firmly in the minority on this (Aldous Huxley famously described then-named Bombay as “the most appalling…in either hemisphere”). Whilst the endemic poverty cannot be ignored, I think it is the most fascinating city I’ve ever visited, and not without its fair share of beauty. I was pleased to help out at a church school for homeless children close by Mumbai’s stately Victoria Station, which was such a rewarding experience. I’ve never met such a wonderful group of children, so proud, dignified and full of hope, though I cannot pretend that waving them off at the end of the day wasn’t an emotional experience, destined as they were for a night spent under a flyover, along with 118,000 other children in Mumbai alone. The beers at Leopold’s that evening had certainly tasted sweeter on previous visits, and dining at the opulent Tendulkar’s certainly put things into a somewhat warped perspective.
So now, I’m back home of course. I’ve plenty of things planned for this year – buying a house, for one (the autumn seems like a good time to me), learning a language (after much deliberation, I’ve decided to learn Hindi, and the course is on order) and if the pennies stretch and the scenario is right, there are tentative plans to visit India again in November. The fact that the England cricket team happen to be touring then is, of course, incidental…oh, and I’m off to the USA in May for my good friend Paul’s birthday celebration, which sees us take in Florida, before heading for a few days in New York. Can’t wait!
I think that’s it for now. I’m just off to Woking as I write, via London for a bit of shopping, to see my sister. We’re heading down to Bognor tomorrow to see our delinquent fourteen year-old brother, who is doing the predictable teenager thing of being easily led by some new-found cronies, a misguided union that has recently seen him arrested for the mild vandalism of a derelict house (“mild vandalism” – is that a recognised legal classification?). The beauty of the story is that, whilst his fellow criminals followed the Chav Getaway Handbook to the letter and scarpered at the first sight of the flashing blue light, Jamie just froze and was alone in the experience of being handcuffed and marched to the police station. A career criminal is hardly in the making, I would estimate J Incidentally, he was let off with a caution, as the police realised he was far more a spectator to the crime than a ringleader…I shouldn’t find the whole thing hilarious, I know, but Joanna and I concur that we’re going to find it difficult to do the whole reprimand thing with a straight face tomorrow!
Bye for now...
I was horrified to see that I hadn’t written anything on this blog since June of last year, when logging in for the first time in ages just last week. So I guess it’s high time I rectify the situation. The fact that I’m on a train bound for London certainly aids the process – owing to the fact that I’m very bad at sitting still unless I absolutely have to, most of my meaningful reading/film watching and, historically, blog writing gets done on trains. The fact that I take one on average at least once a week means my excuses for not blogging more often are fairly limited. So, I’ll see how I go from here, without wishing to make any rash promises about regular future posts.
The second thing I should say is “Happy New Year” to you, although arguably it’s a reasonably pointless gesture given that a) I’ll have done so in person to most of the people who read this blog and b) it’s, er, March. But I’ve done it anyway, so there.
I think this post is just going to be a “Me” update, just to warm up for longer, more detailed rants about world peace and the price of fish, so here goes:
Well, I’ve had a fab start to 2008. At work, I’m getting some great feedback from my superiors, and I’m really enjoying my job to boot. Without wishing to bore you with the finer details, the nature of my role changed slightly last September upon my return from South Africa, and to my benefit. In short, I’m now a press officer who deals with “issues” based stuff, which can range from RAC’s view on escalating fuel prices, to announcing the loss of umpteen staff as part of the ubiquitous and seemingly interminable desire to restructure our business and fire people. Ho hum. The facts are, though, that for whatever reason I’m far happier standing in front of a TV camera doing a live interview about job losses than I am articulating some fluffy survey about the fact that more motorists are going to paint their wing mirrors pink this summer than ever before (I made that last bit up, incidentally, but you get my meaning). So it’s all good.
In January, I visited India for my good friend Balaji’s marriage to his beautiful bride Renuka, in wonderful Hyderabad. Not only was my first Hindu wedding an unforgettable experience in itself, but I met so many fantastic people who made me feel so very welcome. Touchingly so, in fact. So I’d like to say a fond “Hi” to each and every one of my new friends, who include Ravi (special thanks to you, mate), Sinu, Srikanth, Sowmya and Santhya. I hope you can forgive me for those whose names I’ve forgotten/omitted, and for the most-probably horrible misspelling of those I have mentioned!
Whilst in India, I treated myself to a few days in Calcutta (or Kolkata, if we’re toeing the Dravidian renaming line), which is a fascinating city, and not the hell-hole that most people, including most Indians themselves, portray. Or perhaps I’ve become acclimatised to Indian life, which I don’t think is too far from the truth, as I remember thinking it to myself as I took a quiet moment to gaze wistfully over the Hyderabad skyline from a balcony at Jain Bhavan, the hall where Bala and Renuka tied the knot. Thank you to Sowmya from rescuing me from my daydreaming on that particular occasion, and encouraging me to be sociable once more…
I took the relatively colossal internal flight to Mumbai (three hours!), a city I adore, though I’m firmly in the minority on this (Aldous Huxley famously described then-named Bombay as “the most appalling…in either hemisphere”). Whilst the endemic poverty cannot be ignored, I think it is the most fascinating city I’ve ever visited, and not without its fair share of beauty. I was pleased to help out at a church school for homeless children close by Mumbai’s stately Victoria Station, which was such a rewarding experience. I’ve never met such a wonderful group of children, so proud, dignified and full of hope, though I cannot pretend that waving them off at the end of the day wasn’t an emotional experience, destined as they were for a night spent under a flyover, along with 118,000 other children in Mumbai alone. The beers at Leopold’s that evening had certainly tasted sweeter on previous visits, and dining at the opulent Tendulkar’s certainly put things into a somewhat warped perspective.
So now, I’m back home of course. I’ve plenty of things planned for this year – buying a house, for one (the autumn seems like a good time to me), learning a language (after much deliberation, I’ve decided to learn Hindi, and the course is on order) and if the pennies stretch and the scenario is right, there are tentative plans to visit India again in November. The fact that the England cricket team happen to be touring then is, of course, incidental…oh, and I’m off to the USA in May for my good friend Paul’s birthday celebration, which sees us take in Florida, before heading for a few days in New York. Can’t wait!
I think that’s it for now. I’m just off to Woking as I write, via London for a bit of shopping, to see my sister. We’re heading down to Bognor tomorrow to see our delinquent fourteen year-old brother, who is doing the predictable teenager thing of being easily led by some new-found cronies, a misguided union that has recently seen him arrested for the mild vandalism of a derelict house (“mild vandalism” – is that a recognised legal classification?). The beauty of the story is that, whilst his fellow criminals followed the Chav Getaway Handbook to the letter and scarpered at the first sight of the flashing blue light, Jamie just froze and was alone in the experience of being handcuffed and marched to the police station. A career criminal is hardly in the making, I would estimate J Incidentally, he was let off with a caution, as the police realised he was far more a spectator to the crime than a ringleader…I shouldn’t find the whole thing hilarious, I know, but Joanna and I concur that we’re going to find it difficult to do the whole reprimand thing with a straight face tomorrow!
Bye for now...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
