For a day longer

16 years, 16 years that man was here. 16 years he plied his trade here. 16 years, he worked, and they passed by in an instant. I have been reading the tributes pouring in today, watching the videos, and I have this mere blog to offer in praise of this legend.

An often overused term, legend, much like superstar, awesome and world class. I try to save it but for the very best, though. I praised Edwin much the same way after the schooling that was Sunday, but only today did I feel that gut wrenching feeling of having something taken away from you. One doesn't lose feel that much emotion for a goalkeeper I guess, but when I read in the early hours of Tuesday that Paul Scholes had retired, something changed. Something deeper came out of it. I have watched for the past nine years, United play numerous matches, win a lot and lose some as well. All through, I have never had a worry about how United would do in coming years. Scholes and Giggs would always be around. So would Gary Neville. Nothing to worry. They would always be there to save the day. ' Can United score? They always score.' But today, I realized something, the Class of 92 is almost all gone. And in it, a part of the club's life and soul.

However, it brings to me a joy and a satisfaction, something that can't be matched by merely a trophy. It is the joy of having these distinguished gentlemen of professional football playing at Manchester United, and the joy of having watched them play, watched them win, watched the joy on Scholes' face when he scored a goal, watched that smile every single time.

I value work ethic more than a flash of brilliance. I value modesty and humility more than 'in-your-face' aggresore. I value 'a just-doing-my-job' rather than a ' Why-didn't-I-get-an-award'.

I value Paul Scholes more than anyone else for what he gave to United.

Paul Scholes. Humble Servant. Model Professional. Footballer's footballer. Wonderful human being.

I wrote this on Orkut when I was 16.

Paul Aaron Scholes -born November 16, 1974 -

plays for the red half of Manchester- 9th player to reach 500 appearances for United-produced the best chip pass in years against AC Milan in a Champions League semifinal match that makes me say "Hey, this is why i play football"- has inspired Nike to produce balls of better quality because he strikes it so hard-in other words -Paul Scholes - GOD!!

Maybe that says it all.

Iniesta: No better than Steven Gerrard and all that lot..

Andres Iniesta, midfielder at Barcelona F.C. Talented, skillful, lithe, dribbling king, maestro. These are the words that come to my mind when I think of him. Today at the World Cup Final, he wowed us all with his ability to hold the ball, create chances out of nothing and score the goal that took Spain to footballing nirvana. But will anyone remember the reason the Netherlands were denied a chance to compete due to a terrible bit of refereeing and opportunistic diving which got Heitinga sent off and gave Spain all that extra room to score that admittedly good goal. Today's match was supposed to be all about Robben's cheap tricks and Van Bommel's ugliness, but what I saw on display was some terrible play from the Spanish midfield who fell as though they had gone through training watching videos of Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gilardhino and that lot. Falling to the ground at a feather touch and aided by a whistle tooting card-happy referee, it killed a potentially good clash between the two sides. Iniesta's dive which led to Heitinga's Red Card and an incident just after which led to Van Der Wiel's later should have been punished. Xavi and Busquets were no better. All I have to say right now is Iniesta, you may be celebrating that trophy right now and have your place among the Gods, but you have lost the respect of many football fans including me for what you did during the game. If it is Robben or Ronaldo doing it, it is considered even normal because good footballers they might be, good footballing individuals who command respect they never will be. I always respected Andres Iniesta. I once thought you were the best player in the world and beyond that. Today, you may still be the best player in the world, but you have proved today that you are merely a mortal, a mortal who can never command the same level of respect ever again. Adios to the footballer who takes a kick and still runs, you bunch of pansies.

Oh Crickey, seems like I can do this only at unearthly times. Perhaps it's got something to do with the feeling of sleep dragging you down but suddenly, you wake up and type all the nonsense you can. I am not too sure of how to start off this one. Basically want to talk about how people perceive someone who's a little different from the rest of the crowd. A ' Zara Hatke' sort of person, a visionary, or maybe someone who feels strongly and passionately about a certain thing and will not tolerate anything said or done against it.
People generally hang out with people who do similar sorts of things, like listen to the same kind of music, or play the same sport, or read similar books and so on. Now if a certain person doesnt watch the same tv series as some of the people around him do, he is ridiculed for it. He loses respect because he doesnt do the same things as the people around him do. Is it absolutely necessary to be a part of a herd? Sure, lets all be cynical, loud mouthed, blithering bumbling idiots claiming to be Engineers and Doctors, the future generation even, and not even have the sense to stand in a queue. Lets all blame the system, the politicians, the corruption while not even lifting a finger to do something, anything about it. Let us watch a planet go to waste as we burn electricity, water and fuel without a care in the world. Let us be who we are, because I don't give a damn as it doesn't affect me.

Maybe not today, my Mr. I love the Herd, but someday...

Well, finally booked tickets to the Mood I concert. Bit of a relief actually, considering IIT-B's best effort to mind-boggle anyone who visits their website with loads of words and virtually zero links. Much like their Chemistry textbooks, loads of words which make no sense. Speaking of complexities, it was frustrating to see United playing the way they did on saturday night. They didn't look like a team with any purpose or intensity. They just looked plain shabby, which quite frankly, they have looked throughout the season. Here's where we miss a certain Portuguese Magician. One minute of inspiration from him could have changed the match and instead, we had Berb bumbling a volley, Rooney tumbling and Anderson, well looking as though he was playing football for the first time. Agreed that you have a bad game every now and then, but we have looked below par most of the time this season and we looked pretty bad last season scrapping 1-0 wins most of the time. It's no fun watching United play terrible, patchy scrappy football for long periods of the game and sneaking in a couple. Where is the United of '99, the United of '02 or the United of '06 for that matter?? These teams not only were solid in defense but also played some classy fluid football which United simply cannot play over long periods of time. I know the team is undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts and it consists of a few players past their prime but the fact that they are still the best around and the team will miss them is a concern. Who will step into the quite massive boots of Giggs, Scholes, Van der Sar and Neville? Agreed that we are still second place in the league, in the Champions League Knockout stages, the FA cup and the Carling Cup but it's been sneak a goal in there, tap one there and lets wait for an own goal. No spark, no imagination. I can only hope that we hit a purple patch soon as Chelsea look quite strong this season and will give us a good title challenge. " It's Carrick, Carrick to Fletcher, Fletcher to Valencia, Valencia crosses, Berbatov heads to Rooney, and it's Rooneyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Till then, Joga Bonito.

Its 1:10 am. God knows why I'm up but I am. Staring at my screen, I think of words to put in. It's my first blog. Should I be positive? Should I try to show what is going through my head? Should I write something cryptic? Questions shoot through my head and I feel as though I'm living my life to appease others, to appease a society which does not understand me and beside all of that, has forced me to become another of it's many nobodies. What has been eating my insides up has been a question. A question which came up recently in light of an interaction with a person who has been termed as 'Good Friends with everyone'. I felt anger and jealousy at the interaction of 'Good friends with everyone' with a certain person, lets say X. Now comes the question, Is a person defined by what one does on the outside or what one is on the inside? Is one defined by one's actions, one's thoughtfulness, one's image of himself to the outside world or is one defined by the emotions one feels inside?? One of my friends told me that the answer to this question lies in whatever makes me happy and all that mattered was that. But in making myself happy, I would have to stop bottling up the emotions I felt inside me and let them flow. This would have it's implications. Society would be outraged and I would be isolated. A life of all give and no take is not what I desire, but to be truly happy I need my emotions to flow. Which brings us to the sensible advice from the same source. Change yourself, but changing what you feel on the inside is extremely hard, whatever you might be hold. What probably will change will your reaction in a similar situation, the reaction which you show the world, not the reaction which you feel inside you. So in the end, is change something you do so that the society you do would not be aghast at your current behavior?? Why do people change?? So that society accepts them? People forget who they are and become what society turns them into?? Is it the death of an individual, is it the death of principles, is it the death of emotions?? Nothing is absolute, yet all need not be relative either.