Lessons to be learnt in Life

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from God.

Liverpool - United : The Bloody Red Rivalry

Charles Darwin once prophesized that the struggle for supremacy is and will always remain a vital part of human evolution. Well, it is no different in the North-West region of England. If there’s any fixture that can get as fierce and feisty as La Liga’s El Classico, it’s the North West Derby. Two clubs that define English football, two clubs that have completely dominated the history of English football, go head-to-head in a gripping clash at Anfield. A rivalry of the ideologies, economies, cultures and pretty much everything that separates the two cities. A rivalry so intense that players and managers, alike, get goosebumps by the mere mention of it. A fixture where heroes are made, a fixture where one mistake makes you the villain in the eyes of your own fans. Let’s rewind back in time, highlighting some of the historic moments that shaped the rivalry.


The root of all the hatred
Believe it or not, it was the industrial revolution (YES, that’s right) that ignited the fire of the hatred that know burns brightly in the heart of every Scouser and Manc. During this time, both were competing with each other for supremacy of the north-west, with Manchester famous for its manufacturing prowess while Liverpool was famous for the importance of its port. Once the Manchester Ship Canal was built, ships could bypass Liverpool and transport goods directly into Manchester. The Ship Canal was an audacious project and upon completion in 1894 it was the longest man-made ship canal in the world. The Ship Canal meant less dues for Liverpool merchants which consequently resulted in job losses at the Port and resentment from the local people of Liverpool. Furthermore, the crest of Manchester United includes a ship representing the Manchester Ship Canal and reflects Manchester's trade roots. Fascinating.


Football adds the fuel to the fire
The best way to test the real extent of human friendship- pit them against each other on a football pitch. With the title of “The Greatest English Football Club” at stake, the already existent foe-lationship got even fiercer. The domination of English football can be represented by a sinusoidal wave, with Liverpool dominating the scene in the 1970s and 1980s winning the league 11 times and the European Cup 4 times. Manchester United’s period of domination began with the introduction of a certain Sir Alex Ferguson in 1986 and has continued till now. Since then, they have won the league title a record twelve times, a European Continental treble (European Cup, the Premiership and the FA Cup) in 1999, two domestic doubles and The European Double of the Premier League and European Cup in 2008.

The teams have met in four major cup finals; the FA Cup in 1977 and 1996, and the League Cup in 1983 and 2003. Both the clubs have shared the spoils, with United winning both FA Cup final meetings in pulsating encounters, and Liverpool coming out on top in the League Cup meetings.


Public Display of Emotions
The players and managers of both teams definitely do not have the word diplomacy in their dictionaries. Their emotions which include, mostly bitterness and despicableness, come out in all forms, be it chants, quotes, banners or gestures.



With Manchester United winning a record-breaking 19th title this season, Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous comment comes to mind
“My greatest challenge is not what’s happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f**king perch. And you can print that.”

In 1994, after a thrilling 3-3 encounter between the two, the Kop unfurled a banner that read "Au revoir Cantona, come back when you've got 18 titles". United fans did not forget this. 15 years later, when United equaled Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles, they travelled to Anfield with Cantona masks and beach balls (Mocking the infamous beach ball goal Liverpool conceded against Sunderland)




Wayne Rooney, being an Everton Youth Academy product, hasn’t refrained from publicly expressing his hatred for the red half of the Merseyside .

Liverpool’s very own Mr.Liverpool, Steven Gerrard, in one of the documentaries, pointed out that that there were no Manchester United shirts in his collection and that he would never have one of them in his house. Gerrard wrote in his autobiography– “during 90 minutes of football, I want United to die.”




It got really ugly at times too.
Kop fans openly mocked the Munich air tragedy in their chant:“Who's that lying on the ruuunway? Who's that lying in the snow? It's Matt Busby and the boys, making all the fucking noise, cause they couldn't get the aeroplane to go! “

United fans decided to take revenge with their own chant ridiculing the Hillsborough tragedy:

“Who's that choking on their vomit? Who's that turning fucking blue? It's a scouser and his mate, crushed behind the Hillsborough gates, and they won't be singing Munich anymore!”



In 2006, when a late Rio Ferdinand header gave United a bitter victory over their rivals, Gary Neville celebrated by kissing the United badge right in front of the Kop fans and shouting profanities at them. While Jamie Carragher publicly criticized Neville’s actions and claimed that he ‘crossed the line’, United fans regarded this as an act of loyalty and sang to the tune of ‘London Bridge is falling down’:

“Gary Neville is a red, is a red, is a red. Gary Neville is a red. He hates Scousers!”

The 30-mile journey that can’t be made

The rivalry is so intense that there has been no direct transfer between the two clubs since Phil Chisnell, who joined Liverpool from United way back in 1964. In 2007, Liverpool approached United with a bid for Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze and the player had publicly opened the doors for the move. The fans regarded this as an insult to the club and Heinze became a target of hatred. Sir Alex blocked the move and the Argentine was eventually sold to Real Madrid.


The two clubs have arguably the most overwhelming fan-base across the globe , which makes the rivalry global, so it won’t be surprising if you see an Asian United fan and an African Kop fan arguing away to glory. The passion the fans have for their club, it freaks some people out. They take the insults and criticisms personally. Two of my friends are Liverpool supporters and we manage to remain at peace thanks to an agreement which bans all forms of banter. :D

Steve Jobs - A Visionary

                                                         STEVE JOBS (1955-2011)

Steve Jobs, the iconic co-founder of Apple, died today. Few people in history have had such profound impact on technology as Steve did. His vision and more importantly, the sheer ability to translate that vision into the reality of insanely great communication devices, has transformed the way the world communicates. 

In this space, I have captured a few of the Jobs' profound thoughts on life, technology, and his work.

‘Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.’

‘Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.’

‘My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.’

‘We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.’

‘You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.’

‘Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.’

‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.’

‘Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data.’

‘We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place – the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.’

‘I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.’

‘I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.’

‘People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.’

‘We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.’

‘Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.’

‘Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.’

‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.’

‘I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.’

‘Insanely Great!’  

DEAR HOLLYWOOD

I  recently went to see Captain America at the cinema and the weak ending aside, I have a very serious complaint.

Really? Like seriously? Those abs? Those man nipples? Those arms? That deep voice? That's what you're throwing at the female population?
=X

Choices

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."



"We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties."



"Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking."
"God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having--viz., life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bonds that hinder the life..."

Why we don't call our club as MANU!

Man .U. is not a term United fans refer to themselves as. The term is only used by other supporters as a complete and utter insult to our club. The "u" is meant to be "you" by the rival fans.

An early example of its usage is this chant by West Brom fans: "Duncan Edwards is manure, rotting in his grave, man you are manure- rotting in your grave". The origin of "Man .u." is a song to insult the dead Duncan Edwards.

Liverpool and Leeds fans copied this with their own man you /u versions to insult all of the lads who died at munich.

"Man .U. Man .U. went on a plane Man .U. Man .U. never came back again"

and..

"Man .U. Never Intended Coming Home" (if you combine the first letter of each word you get the word "munich").

I hope this makes it clearer that saying man .u. is an insult, particularly to the older supporters and to see United fans using it now is shameful. I hope a few might read this, understand and spread the word.

R.I.P! :(

what a terrible week it has been! first the bombing at Delhi High Court which left 11 dead and 76 injured. The blast was soon followed by a 6.6 magnitude earth quake!
as i woke up on 8th, September the day after my birthday, i was left stunned when i heard that a plane carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team crashed near the banks of Volga, killing the entire squad leaving behind Alexander Galimov as a sole survivor of the horrible crash. Galimov is in a critical position after suffering 90 % burns.

Remains of the plane that carried Lokomotiv's squad near the banks of Volga

Well, this incident brings back the memories of Munich 1958, where United's famed "Busby Babes" met with a similar fate, when the flight carrying the players couldn't take off properly off an icy Munich air strip. As soon as the news of Yaroslavl Crash reached United, Old Trafford chief execeutive  David Gill offered his solidarity to the families of the lost ones and United have written to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to offer support and sympathy to the club!

 RIP to the players and staff who have lost their lives in this tragedy!