the goalkeeper here MUST have seen the ball bouncing way inside the goalline.
it was not just a few inches this way or that
it was in by almost half a yard!
it was so obvious why could he not admit that he had been beaten?
all he had to do was
pick up the ball and place it behind the line to confirm the goal.
i ask,
if he had done it,
would he have been a fool?
would anyone ever mocked him for it?
more importantly, if they had eventually lost,
would any of his countrymen ever blamed him for being honest?
now in his mind he must know he was truly beaten
perhaps he admits it to his conscience too.
had the goal been allowed, it could have changed the outcome of the match.
that is the only doubt that will remain for ever
for no one can ever doubt it was a goal
do we really need more technology in sport
if the players themselves can be honest and admit their mistakes or having been beaten?
where is then the morality in sport?
where is fair play?
it was about eleven at night
on the last train from calcutta to shantipur,
a rare weekend off from work, going to visit my ma
a railway carriage not unlike like this.
wind free tunneling into the compartment,
increasing with speed through the windows and doors,
the metal and glass panels long vandalised leaving gaps on the outer shell
on one such doorway stood a boy, with windswept hair and ragged clothes
he was about ten or eleven.
on of many such children
who sang for money
hitching rides
on trains.
two pieces of broken slate
held between the fingers of his left hand and
cleverly struck with the thumb and fingers of his right
his own clickety clickety free percussion – easy to carry easy, easily replaced
leaning onto the vertical pole of the doorway, one leg wrapped around it for safety
he was singing a pitch perfect version of this song
Original song: Jaare – jaare ude jaare paakhi ( … go, go fly away bird … )
Sung by: Lata Mangeshkar | Music: Salil Choudhury]
Jaare – jare ude jare paakhi
go – go fly away bird
Furalo praner mela – shesh hoye elo bela
this life’s festival is finishing – the day is coming to an end Ar kyano michey tore bendhay rakhi – jaare …
why then, for no reason, do I keep you tied – so go …
akashe akashe feeray – ja feeray apono neeray
go from sky to sky – go return to your own home shymol mathir bonochaye
in the dark shades of the woods
shudhoo, monay monay tore daaki
only, just in my mind do I call you chahina khelite khela, shesh hoye elo bela
I no longer wish to play any games – the day is coming to an end Ar kyano michey tore bendhay rakhi – jaare …
why then, for no reason, do I keep you tied – so go …
aamari shopon hoye – kotoki je gyacho koye
becoming my own dream – you had said so many things hridaye pinjoray boshiya
sitting within the cage of my heart
jaani – shobi roye gyalo baaki
I do know – everything will remain unfinished ebaray bhashabo bhela – shesh hoye elo bela
now i’ll float out the raft – the day is coming to an end Ar kyano michey tore bendhay rakhi – jaare …
why then, for no reason, do I keep you tied – so go …
(I have tried my best to keep the translation as close to the original words of the song)
with three more stations to go
it was just two of us left in the compartment,
he couldn’t have been singing for money, he was singing to himself
the end of maybe a long day, no longer at ‘work’, he was singing just for the love of it
just happy to be free, to be going home
perhaps to his ma?
was never a fan
so didn’t know much of Shakira
till I came across the FIFA World Cup Song
(and got pulled back to watching a fairly dull tournament 🙁 so far).
I read,
she will be appearing in Glastonbury this year.
ho hum, I said,
thanks for the information.
then I read about her charity work.
I sat up for a second read.
she founded it
in 1997 when only 18 years old. Pies Descalzos, or Barefoot, has a double significance;
it is the name of the record that made Shakira’s music internationally known
and it also recognizes the thousands of children living in such poverty that they cannot even afford shoes. The Barefoot Foundation works to ensure that every Colombian child can exercise their right to a quality education.
I find honesty in her generosity
how can I not become
a fan?
New Delhi: With the BJP alleging that Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson could not have left the country without the knowledge of the Rajiv Gandhi-led government at the Centre, the Congress on Tuesday said such allegations were not patriotic.
“There are some who are in the business of lampooning Mr (Rajiv) Gandhi, who had lost his mother for the sake of national integration barely months ago and six years later lost his life for the country. To claim that such a person would have buckled under the pressure is not only baseless but cheap insinuation. Whosoever is doing so is out of sync with the national ethos of the Congress Party. In fact, to that extent their patriotic credentials also remain suspect,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
what has patriotism to do with asking for the truth?
greek philosopher Socrates once said, “Patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does, and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be.”
patriot 1590s, “compatriot,”
from M.Fr. patriote (15c.),
from L.L. patriota “fellow-countryman” (6c.),
from Gk. patriotes “fellow countryman,” from patrios “of one’s fathers,” patris “fatherland,” from pater (gen. patros) “father,”
with -otes, suffix expressing state or condition.
If patriotism is love and devotion to one’s country, one’s fatherland to be precise.
I ask,
how patriotic is Ms Sonia Gandhi?
New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has defended senior Congress leader Arjun Singh for his decision as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in 1984 to release Warren Anderson, former chairman of the American parent company Union Carbide Corp responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy.
“It is clear in Arjun Singh’s statement, which he had made then that law and order situation was deteriorating. People frenzy was on high, therefore it was thought necessary to move out Warren Anderson,” said Mukherjee on Sunday.
Mukherjee’s statement comes at a time when the Congress is under pressure to explain why Anderson was released after being arrested on 7 December 1984 when the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant had killed thousands of people just five days ago. Arjun Singh is believed to have ordered his officials to release Anderson but the Congress party’s critics allege that he was instructed to do so by the Central government which was then led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Moti Singh, who was the District Collector of Bhopal at the time of gas leak, has said that Anderson was arrested at around 2 pm on December 7 but he was released the same day and flew out of Bhopal in a state government plane to New Delhi. Anderson was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, grievous assault and killing and poisoning human beings and animals.
A Bhopal trial court on June 7 convicted eight Indian officials of Union Carbide for their criminal negligence that triggered the world’s worst industrial disaster, but Anderson was not mentioned in the judgment.
move Anderson out of Bhopal to maintain law and order? that is debatable.
but what was the need to rush him out of the country? could he not be held in custody anywhere else in India???
what garbage. this arse-licker has no shame,
he will say anything to protect his congress masters – at the cost of all the misery of Bhopal.
fairplay
World Cup
football
Manuel Neuer
child singers
bengal
shakira
Barefoot Foundation
Bhopal
Indian National Congress
Pranab Mukherjee
