Last year's Mumbai Rainfall !!!!!!

Traffic Chaos!!!













Mumbai Airport!








Pune - Mumbai railway line!

Arsenal....... club that knows how to move the football and make the game look beautiful!!

Speechless!

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ZIDANE

Zidane's mastery of his art has drawn plaudits from all corners of the globe - especially after his age-defying display against Brazil in Frankfurt.

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was the first to pay tribute to the great Zidane, labelling him "a monster" for his performance.

French legend Michel Platini believes Zidane is one of the most skillful players the game has ever known.

"Technically, I think he is the king of what's fundamental in the game - control and passing. I don't think anyone can match him when it comes to controlling or receiving the ball," said Platini.

German icon Franz Beckenbauer added: "Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player."

Pele, a World Cup winner three times with Brazil, hailed the Frenchman after seeing his country go out: "Zidane was the magician in the game."

Last word goes to Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari - the next man who must find a way of stopping Zidane when his team meet France in Wednesday's semi-final.

"Zidane is a player that in a fraction of a second can define a match, so we need to take care of him," said Scolari.

"It's a shame that players such as Zidane are getting older. We would like to see him play for another seven, eight or 15 years. The ball doesn't cry at his feet."


ZIDANE'S LEGACY


When Zinedine Zidane leaves a pitch for the last time, he will leave an indelible mark on the game he has graced for so long.

A player like Zidane will be remembered for special moments - those frozen in time that have gone down in football folklore.


Zidane writes his name into football history in the 1998 final

Like Maradona's iconic second goal against England in 1986, like Johan Cruyff's turn in 1974 that so bemused Swedish right-back Gunnar Olsson.

Zidane has had so many of them already - the two headers in the 1998 World Cup final, the coolly-taken last-minute penalty to knock out Portugal in the Euro 2000 semi-final, the stunning volley to win the 2002 Champions League.

Now he has more. The ease with which he scored France's third goal against Spain was majestic, as was the way he flicked the ball over Ronaldinho's head on Saturday as if to torment the double World Footballer of the Year.

On such moments are the careers of the very greatest players defined.

Ronaldinho, by curling a last-minute free-kick a yard over the crossbar, missed the chance to cement his place in the pantheon of greats.

Zidane is already there, but he may yet have one final, beautiful moment to leave us with.

Gunners

It is 4 am here in India and the whole place is asleep except for me. Some 40 minutes back, I watched gunners pinning down Real Madrid with their high precision armory. We were about 300 people watching Arsenal vs Real Madrid in IIT's Lecture Theater. The atmosphere was wonderful. I am a perpetual Gunner fan. Gunners did live upto their standard. They looked far more composed in both these fixtures against Spanish Giants than ever before. They looked like a complete unit, playing better than Real Madrid in all the departments of the game. This has been an inspiration for me. Arsenal is now the only british team surviving in Champions's League. Chelsea went crashing out yesterday and liverpool succumbed to the tenacity of the portugese side Benfica. So, Arsenal goes on. I always dreamed of a clash between Arsenal and Real Madrid: the 2 most flamboyant footballing sides in Europe. And this was a treat indeed. Even though no goal was scored today, we all were rivetted to our seats. The commentators said "This feels like a Champion's League Final" and it really felt that way.
The atmosphere and standard of the European games is awesome. I would see these matches all my life. And this will have no bearing to how Arsenal perform in these games.

LIVESTRONG

I finished reading the autobiography of Lance Armstrong. Its called "Its not about the bike: My journey back to life" I have to say that it is a pleasure that we have such people around us. It took me long to finish reading the book. I had reasons. I dwelled on each line i read. I tried to imagine how it must have felt to vomit thick black tar like matter while he lay on the bed during his chemo. I also imagined the feeling then he won his first "Tour de France" in 99.
The question is "what I learned from all this?" Lance says "every person is capable of much more than he realizes" This is a great lesson i have learned.

He has said that children have greater cancer survival rate thar elders. He has told a very touching story. "" In the hospital where Luke (Lance's first son) was born, he visited cancer ward of children. There he carried Cereal boxes with him to gift the children. Those boxes had Lance's foto on them. One small boy who had cancer, grabbed the Box and stood by the knee of Lance.

"Can I have this?" the boy asked.
"Yes you can have it" Said Lance, "its yours"
He just stood there looking at the box, and then he looked back at lance. He was pretty impressed.
Then he asked "what shapes they are?"
"What?" asked lance
"What shapes they are?'" asked the little fellow again.
"Well, its Cereal. Its all different shapes" said lance.
"Oh okay" he said
To him, it was not about the cancer. It was all about cereal.

Children have that ability to ignore odds and percentages of survival. They dont have fear of failure or fear of embarrassement. May be we should learn from them.

There is much more to write. I will have to republish this blog.

Metamorphosis

Wildlife, Nature, and curiousity about our livinvg planet is my innate hobby. It must be because of my father. He used to take me to the weekly meeting of "Friends for Animals", where i was exposed to many people, wildlife documentaries and conservation activities. When i was in 7th grade, i went to my first Nature camp at Melaghat national Park in Maharashtra. That was a Tiger domain. Walking through the forest on foot was a thrill indeed. Then i went to numerous camps crisscrossing across India. I found that my country is wonderful, breathtaking. In my 7th and 8th grade, i used to study life cycle of Butterflies. I fostered some 25 butterfly species from the caterpillar stage to Butterfly. But i had no camera. So no photos!!! :-(((( I should have had one. It would have been wonderful to document it all. But some months back i got the opportunity. I found the caterpillars of the butterfly named "Common Mormon" This time i had a camera as well. So I am posting here the fotographs of different stages in the life of Butterflies. It feels nice to take such snaps.


Butterfly Caterpillar in the initial stage. Looks like a bird dropping. This is to camouflage it.

The same Caterpillar turning green after some days. This happens by molting off the outer skin

The caterpillar ready to undergo a transformation to Pupa or Chrysalis.

The Chrysalis!!!!! or a Pupa. Isnt this amazing?

The Chrysalis from which the Butterfly is about to emerge out.


The "Female of Common Mormon"(male has all white spots) emerged out. You can see the empty pupa. This is one of the wonders of natural world. It is really beyond explaination as to how all this happens. The Caterpillar of a particular species of Butterfly feeds only on a specific plant. Like the caterpillar of the "Common Mormon" feeds on lemon (and few more) tree. If you keep it on other plants, it will die of starvation. How does female Common Mormon finds exactly the lemon tree to lay eggs? Its all occult. Its very fascinating indeed.

It is very satisfying to observe our natural world. Lets see, i hope to see and explore more of it.

A Song !!

Last night, i was lying down on my bed listening to songs by U2. Some of the songs are awesome. Acrobat, Whos gonna run your wild horses, Sweetest thing, Stuck in the Moment and others...... I was thinking about many things and i started to forms some very naive lines of my own. I felt that i should write them down. So, at about 1 am, i started my computer and wrote down the lines. Just thought like putting them on the blog.. after all its my own blog...

Imagine a human being who feels that he has lost on most fronts in his life. He does not know whom to blame. I think of this is a song by such a person.

Me to God,

Don’t you dare speak a word,
Just tell me why did you kill my bird?

She was a vivid bird of innovation,
Soaring high in the wind of my imagination
Can that wind now carry away my tears?
I have prepared for it, not much…. Just the open doors..

Don’t you dare speak a word,
Just tell me why did you kill my bird?

She was a tender bird, filled with emotion..
Always flying around me, to show her compassion..
I never understood, but it must have been hard on her wings..
Surely a crime that I have messed up on so many things..

So don’t ever dare speak a word,
Just tell me why did you kill my bird?

She was a bird, who thought different,
Vultures, flycatchers, eagles, owls, cormorant;
But now I lie down with only clichéd thoughts in my mind,
Surely this must be a dream, can’t the time now unwind?

You don’t need to speak a word,
Now I know why did you kill my bird..

God to Me

I never killed the bird my son,
It is you; you are the one!!

You need to look in, rather than blame…
The bird can be a phoenix rising through the flame….