It's All About Belief....

Tonight is the night manchester united was sent packing from the champions league group stage. A week ago we were knocked out of the league cup by crystal palace, a team struggling in the championship. Manchester city ran riot all over our sacred ground this season and did the unthinkable.that scoreline which cannot be repeated by me. When we began this season no one in their wildest dreams thought we would have made all the above possible. We made amazing signings over the summer although never went for that creative mid-fielder that we all thought would come we were kicking it...And how!! we came from 2 goals down against the same man city team to win the community shield. We took apart tottenham bit by bit to win 3-0..And how can we forget the 8-2 annihalation of Arsenal....
then shit just got bad...how?
all of a sudden we get hit by injuries to key players or a drastic loss of form...players like rooney who were scoring for fun couldnt even hit the ball correctly...and it just starts getting worse for us with that loss to our noisy nieghbours...suddenly we have a wave of bad performances and during this time our defence gets porrus...I dont know for sure but there were games were i saw players not ready to make the pass for the team...rather shoot for glory and make fool out of themselves....and the results ar ethere for us all to see...today was quite the low point......

But how many times have we seen this?? how often did we have our backs against a wall...when we have been down and almost out....been written off and been mocked for being glory hunters...for having a bunch of superficial fans who dont care about united but just about winning...and everytime we have been sent to rot...we get back up..dust off the mockery...pull on those red shirts and say with pride, we are the boys in red and we will never die....we will never give up...we wont back down...there is a reason that for all these years when we had an amazing run of wins and trophies it has never been on one talent alone..how many of our players really were winning the ballon d'or or fifa player of the year....its because without any real wonderkid or genius alone we would still be able to pull through...we are a team...its 11 guys who make saturday amazing for us...atleast until monday morning..for all those broken hearts out there just need to look back at the beautiful memories we have had over the years...as the brits say...just keep calm and carry on....keep the belief....because in the end...it's all about belief!

HOW FAR IS ENOUGH...?

So.....its settled then...this is me....and this is what I wanna do....and I still feel confused! why??
what more do I need now?? how much more do I need to do??...why do I feel like its done and now I can just rest....I don't seem to get the message that I need to keep going...this isn't not even the finish line....not even close....I love this place and I can get used to Newcastle but I can never forget the world is my canvas and its my duty to paint it red!!!
Its now been more then a month over here..although I still cant keep my mouth closed when I see something awesome as always around here...I wish I could show what I see here back home so I could share how awesome it is here...and yes I do miss home...its getting harder to face the fact that I wont see India till 2013!...but I guess its got to the point were the pain just needs to be accepted....I mean I still wish I was there in my society to burst those crackers, to watch my parents have the time of their lives on their 25th anniversary....to go to those SSU sessions again...to just hangout with my freinds at the hidden place...to meet harsh and the others for a night of crazy madness...man I could just keep goin on and on....
but if I had thought bout all these things before I left I probably may have never left....for many I dont think it was a big deal but for someone whose travel stories were limited to Goa and Kerala and the random one to Delhi it was the biggest thing ever to even fly this far, let alone live here for a year and a half...leaving my family, friends and loved ones behind.....

I want happiness so much its almost like a crushing force against my chest and I cannot consider failure as an option...there is no second place....its this moment and the next...every one of those moments is a test....if I get an opening I need to tear into it...if I get a shot at victory I need to make damn sure I make it count...need to seize that moment...because that moment is like a crossroad with everything you want against everything you got standing in your way..Iv got momentum in my back....fear and doubt are thundering down like a friggin express train right at you....and ALL Iv got....the only thing standing between MAKING HISTORY and BEING HISTORY......the only thing...THE ONLY THING... I can count on in every single point of time is ME!!
Its me vs them, me vs 'no!', me vs 'cant!',....ME  vs next year, last year, excuses.....its me vs the odds.....                                            ITS ME VS SECOND PLACE.....
THE CLOCK IS TICKING....
LETS SEE WHAT IV GOT..!

YOUR TIME WILL COME

The title is one of my least favorite lines.I hated it more then i hate bhindi and chelsea. It meant that i was not good enough and not yet ready to go do my thing.it was an excuse, invalid reason i had to live with for as long as i can remember. Just stand by and watch people go places while i was stuck in transit.i know i wasnt supposed to compare myself to other people and that line was repeated to me time and again....
where do we go from here?
My parents werent helping either...i mean for them too their patience had run its course and were starting to wonder if they had made some mistake by not forcing me into the usual maloo excuse for education...science then engg or docters degree....
For some reason i lost everything i believed in because of hearing this line again and again till i got sick of it.
my belief in god was shaken to the point of atheism. my basic human belief in people was no longer there. i stopped being the person i was. i became a shade of what i was my whole life.i dont remember a time before this when i was asked by these many people if i was ok...your not yourself anymore...
maybe they were expecting me to start dancing around and being all funny like the clown i had been...but i had lost my touch over the past one year..i led a very robotic, mechanical life....i mean i could predict my week today...i had stopped being spontaneous and listening to the heart was no longer existent...

BUT now that is all going to change....am done with my 9 hour shifts, with my mundane office work and with just letting people give up on me...Im done not trying to make the change...Its time for me to break free and effect change... today i will say this proudly that my belief is back and back with a bang!
I couldnt thank my parents more and i now believe that there is ahigher purpose for all of us...i know am being filmy when i say everything in the end will be good...But it cant be further then the truth! thank god i was able to not completely lose it and got back just in to see what i was meant to be...
I get what was being told to me all this time when I just took one step back and looked at the bigger picture and realised that YES! MY TIME HAS COME!

Just like Nick Headfield said all those years ago....

HERE I AM....ON THE ROAD AGAIN...
THERE I AM...UP ON STAGE...
HERE I GO...PLAYIN STAR AGAIN....
THERE I GO.....TURN THE PAGE!

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

So its back! and how we have begun!
oh how i missed the premier league. waiting for months and counting the hours before we can start having heart attacks again.how i missed the banter that Alex loves to have with other teams, managers, news channels and everyone in general....and now its back!
this week has been filled with highs and lows but otherwise a satisfying week overall...for me atleast!
i mean arsenal did have the usual football that is "pleasing" to the eye but like always doesnt really get them any results and cesc leaving is going to show immediatly and who do they go and sign??? gervinho....wow! bravo wenger! i have always maintained that unless arsenal loses the manager they will never again be that threat to the title...i mean i dont really think the invincible era will ever happen again till the baggage is lost.Also all there games high points will continue to be the fouls and the cards rather then the goals....
chelsea too seem to be struggling but we have always rememebered that it would be at ur biggest peril that we take the blues lightly....maybe that is why i have this huge thing against the blues because at the end of the day no matter what is said bout the title race it was always just a two horse race....the others rarly matter and hoping for another season filled with some good banter and crazy rivalry thiss time too!
but on the other side...how kick ass is the new look liverpool?!?!
i saw amazing promise in thsi new faced side and we need to get a little worried bout taking them down before our new found perch is lost to them again! i mean charlie adam is a talent we lost....and that downing run was just too good...suarez is getting better every game and carroll is carroll and was unlucky not to get his goal....as for sunderland now we dont see many strikes like the one by seb larsson!...every year this game has never been short of drama..last year was the torres goal of a missed back pass....before that was the famous beach ball goal...but this time the goal was kickass....

Finally lets get down to the game that made me curse half the population in pune for jamming the roads as i was tryin to get home to catch it!!man united finally back to doing what we do best....get results!!
although its pretty unconventional that we did get all three points so early :P
but we had alot of talking points in this game. we are a young squad....so young that we now even have a player by that name....i know...not very " cleverley" put...sorry last pun in this note...i promise ;)
but on a serious note i have never missed VDS as much as i did today... i know, i know....give the kid some time and he will get better! but there were so many times when i wish just once more if we had edwin back....he would have been there he would have surely saved that "long" shot...ok that was the last one...really...there was also that time wheen foster was in our box....de gea took just too long to get ball to rooney otherwise who knows.....but anyway lets just look at the wonderful moments we had...the kids looked to only improve and young was very lively...maybe needs to work on the crossing ability but my god can this jink past the defence with ease and it this relentless running around that made west brom bear the "brunt" of his goal...ok now i couldnt stop that one...it was right there!! :P
although Im really worried about vida and ferdi now....although this time i dont think we will need to get carrick to stand there....smalling, evans, jones there to stand guard...and today too they did an awesome job in front of goal...
we need to go a long way but for now we have started off in kickass way and we need to just do what is only said on the arsenal crest...FORWARD! ;)
GGMU!

CHAMPEONE!!

MANCHESTER UNITED F.C. 19 time winners of the english league!!

1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1993
1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
2008, 2009, 2011....and we keep marching on on on!!!

And i proudly quote SIR. ALEX FERGUSON...."MY AIM TO KNOCK LIVERPOOL OFF THEIR F******* PERCH."

today we made it happen...no longer will we be questioned about the numbers and stats...no longer will we be under a shadow...no more......

we are and always have been called glory hunters....today i tell all those people...YES WE ARE!

we hunt for glory and pride like no one else! and is'nt that the what teams want??? are u telling me your not doing this for the cup?? the prize?? then why are you competing??

anyway screw them, tonight is the night we reached our destiny...today we can say.... the promised land is the exclusive property of MANCHESTER UNITED!...

AND how did we do it! it took one man's vision in the 40's to start a winning mentality.....losing was never in the vocabulary of SIR.MATT and he never looked back....took us to Europe and the bigger stage...was the pioneer in making us a force to be reckoned with at a time when no club from england dared to go there and make an impact...it was by living this dream that he was brought crashing down to earth with the plane crash at munich...how many times have we looked at that team said to be the greatest man united team of all time...and that lad duncan edwards...oh what a player....but we moved on and we became the first english club to ever win the european cup in 1968...the holy trinaity of law best and charlton at the top of the game.....

but then started our time in the wilderness....like the isrealites in the wilderness for 40 years....we waited...and waited and watched how liverpool under shankly went on to be the best team around....and boy did it hurt! and dealing with relegation...in fighting...and loss after loss after fucking loss....

circa 1986- enter a young manager from abeerdeen who took them to two european cups...more then us...

not much was known about a certain alex ferguson but after the first season it was apparent that not many at man united wanted him...i mean finishing 11th in the league cant be an ideal start at a club doctrined with the belief of victory...and he went on to be a disaster for another 5 seasons...the fans were calling for his head and he was making only enemies....specially the liverpool kop after the famous quote above....

but he believed in himself and he never gave up...he never backed away from the challenge and my god what a run we had!! never looked back at defeat...never thought about what others say and what happened in the past...it was here and now....win! keep winning till there is no one better at doing it!!

today we become what we were destined to be! it was inevitable but it happened and i can proudly answer that liverpool bannner from years ago....we are back after winning 19...now u come back whenn u have won 19!!

WE are the best team ever!

WE are what makes man united what it is today.....THE BEST!

WE ARE UNITED!!

GGMU!!

LOOKING BACK...

Feels like yesterday when I was asked by Yannick to come watch some play by some youth group and written by some priest at Nehru memorial hall. I was like ‘what’s so special bout this play?’ and he is like ‘screw the play…check out the hot chicks in this group bro!’ …and that I confess was the reason for me joining the S.S.U.

I still remember the day I walked past the gates at Barco hall and I saw this old man surrounded by a few guys and girls who I couldn’t even make eye-contact with.I swear I didn’t know a single soul out there that day, since Yan wasn’t joining for a few more weeks till his boards were done. Somehow I muster the courage to go up to this guy in the middle and say ‘Hello .My name Rohit Thomas. Are you Fr. Cyril?’ he gives this questioning glance saying ‘yes?’ and I’m like ‘I would like to be a member of the SSU father.’ Ignoring the sniggering in the background at the new kid and acting in an equally geeky way he opens his arms and goes ‘Welcome!’ I don’t think anyone would have a more embarrassing story about how they joined the SSU but I guess I have no regrets about the fact that I spent the most amazing 6years of my life from the moment I walked through those doors…

I never had any regrets and I never kept anything inside because for me the SSU meant more then just a place to come and hang out on Sunday when you had nothing better to do. It became my sole purpose in life for the longest time I can remember. I just couldn’t think about missing one session because for me that was like missing out on the one thing that made my drab existence feels worthwhile. I had found my place of nirvana and moksha I guess. All of us have a place we go to when we want to escape from the daily routine and the pressures of life. For some it was just hanging out with friends…others it was Buddhas and c.s. and pool….some went out of station for a trek…for me it was SSU and Cyril. Yes it took a little getting used to but I got to calling him Cyril in the end…its another matter that from Cyril he became ‘old fart’ and my closest pal…

I owe everything I do to this place! I couldn’t think of anything else guiding me and shaping my life better than the SSU…My biggest regret is that I didn’t know about this after my 10th and I wasted two years before I got here,then maybe I would have been part of ‘Against the tide’ and ‘A change of habit’…

But that brings me to the thing I owe the most to the SSU. Acting.

I have never stood on stage and said anything to a crowd before. Sure I have embarrassed myself loads of times but I don’t think that counts as a performance. That was till Cyril decided to cast me in “Mid-summer Nights Dream” as a clown with the name Bottom. How appropriate. But I fell in love with theatre from the day I walked on to the stage and watched 700 people cheer you on and watch your every move. I never knew I had it in me and neither did my folks judging from their reaction after the show.

But that’s the kind of self- belief the SSU and Cyril puts into each and every person who was associated with the group. I have heard the stories and seen with my eyes how this man has transformed lives. He makes you believe in yourself when everyone had given up on you. An old friend and long time member Vintya once told me. “You have no idea what kind of fortune you have compared to the millions of lost young people around the world to be within reach of such a man as Cyril. You should count yourself lucky to have met someone like him.” You have got to believe that God decided that the world needed a blessing and He decided to send Cyril among us. I believe that God knew there were going to be countless lost youngsters like me walking around with the need for a friend, philosopher and guide as we love to describe him. But above all we needed just a friend who could take under his wing and tell you- Its OK to fall. And we are still loved no matter what we do.

After taking part in 7 camps , counting winter camps as well, I would think that I have seen it all and I don’t need to go for another camp. Then why is it that I have applied for leave in advance of 2 months? Why do we get excited around this time in anticipation of those 8 days we are going to spend on that cliff where there is no t.v and contact with the outside world is bare minimum? I mean with 3G now everyone is in touch but at my first camp we didn’t know if India won the test series till we got back. The question however begs to be answered but does it really require one? I mean one word suffices for all the reasons of going back KUNE. PERIOD.

Screaming from the ledge . feeding kulfi to the monkeys. The after dark sessions. The guys realizing in the morning that they have hair missing from their legs and no…that is not chocolate paste on your toe nails! Boys getting in touch with their feminine side and beating the girls at cross dressing every year…the madness of the amazing race, each one of them over the years.. the pledges and the rasna breaks…the ride to town to get stuff for the guys with these gigantic lists…ministering angels…the grotto…the waterfall…the walk to the waterfall…craziest of crazy games…sleeping during input…not sleeping when needed…3 a side football tournaments and the dancing and jamming…I could go on and on and on….fact- we love Kune and there are no two ways to it! Each have their own share of mad memories and not so fond ones but lets not go there!

Life never seemed more beautiful than at camp. People falling in love and getting married. Friends formed for life here and bonds that will never be broken. And of course how can we forget the Last Supper?

I have always been curious about what it was at the last supper that had people in tears and we are talking about big boys giving out the Niagara falls here. Its not the preparation of the food or getting the place into shape, although we do a kick ass job about getting it done. No its not that.. I never really can understand what it is till it hits you. It is your last time and the last night of this amazing journey you have spent with the most amazing people. Some of whom you might never see again…but these memories are forever.

The SSU hasn’t always been fun and games you know…if your put in charge of something in the production team it was a huge responsibility that you need to put your heart into. What it does for you is it prepares you to be more responsible and aware as young people running this great nation. The Outreaches have always been something more personal than anything else. How many of us can say that you have been unconditionally loved?? ‘Ekalvya’ ‘Sahara aahalad’ ‘Jeev-raksha’ were such places were you realize the kind of commitment humans can make to make a difference and made me aware of social responsibilities I had conveniently forgotten about. This was the group that was supposed to be only doing time pass and meeting up to play games and making a girl friend/boyfriend, whatever makes you happy. This is the kind of stories that were circulated. Why? I guess people just couldn’t understand why young people would ever be interested to meet other then to have fun, but that is the case everywhere right?? “What would you know…your too young to understand” how many times have we heard this line?? Cyril changed that line and now it sounds like – “you’re the ones who are young…only you would know it you know!”

Be it camps or plays…outreaches or dialogues or even the usual 4’s and 7’s…life for me in the SSU has been one hell of a ride! They say all good things in life come to an end, but I disagree with that load of nonsense. Why does something have to come to an end? All it takes is a conscious effort to keep it from dying out…I have always believed that every person needs a passion to keep his life from going to shambles. For me it has been my friendship with Cyril and being a part of the SSU… till the very last moment of my life I will hold them close to my heart.