Just Me: The Kratik Malhotra Blog

Even as a ten-year-old kid, all I wanted to be was a Sports Commentator. Due to a sudden turn of events, I find myself currently working for Real Time Sportscast as a Phone Football Commentator.

Tuesday, December 2: It was almost 10 o’clock at night and I was, as usual, whiling away my time surfing the internet and accessing Facebook; also wishing for my guru to ring his grace bell and shower blessings for my life to take a dramatic but an astonishing turn, especially after a torrid week which saw me not making it to Tieto for the post of a software engineer. For me to be searching and applying for an engineering job was an irony in its own, solely because in spite of being an electronics engineering student, I was one of few rebels in college who always mocked about an engineer’s job.

As the facebook chats with the same-old-people started to take its toll on me , my phone rang and it was a call from a school friend, Kush Sharma (Boon). We usually talk on weekends or before / after football matches in order to discuss about football or jobs / careers / opportunities in the world of journalism and sports. Thus, it was a bit strange for him to call me on a Tuesday evening, also because he usually is busy on the weekdays with his MBA and his college stuff.

He started, “Hello Kratik, you won’t believe what just happened; an awesome awesome thing happened to me now.” And I thought, “Ok good, what can it be?” What he told me next, literally took the wind out of me. He said, “Remember Anis, the guy to whom we wrote regading that 30 Euros a game commentary job, he called.” For once, I was shell shocked.

Anis Meziane, Country head, Real Time Sportscast (Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait, India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan), had offered Boon a job as a phone football commentator for the Indian Football League (I-League) matches to be held in Pune and he was willing to pay him 30 Euros/match. I continued to talk to Boon for a few minutes and all I told him was to tell Anis to somehow take me in as well. Boon asked me to write Anis an email. I opened my gmail account and wrote Anis a mail as fast as I could; don’t know if I have ever written a mail faster!

Ten minutes on and Boon called me once again. All he said was, “Did you mail Anis now? Because as he was on the phone to me, he just read your mail and is willing to offer you a job as a phone commentator in Kolhapur so as to cover the I-League matches of the teams from Mumbai.” I jumped off my bed and started to celebrate like I had scored the winner in the injury time of a world cup final.

The following morning, I received an email from Anis letting me know that the commentator’s job in Kolhapur was vacant. I gleefully accepted whatever challenges the job had to offer and all I knew was that I had just started my journey.

Couple of days later, when I was experiencing music and melody with silence at Vikram Hazra’s concert, I suddenly received an international call. I ran outside the auditorium in order to attend the call; believe me, had I ran as fast at all times, I could have represented India at Olympics.

Guess what! It was Anis’ call. He told me that the games in Kolhapur were played over a course of two days and offered me a staggering 70 Euros/two games for Real Time Sportscast; 10 Euros more than the other reporters, thereby, taking care of my travelling expense. I confirmed my decision to work for Real Time Sportscast as a Sports Commentator and made my way back into the auditorium. If for a singer, Vikram Bhaiya’s voice wasn’t the best ever, it sounded even sweeter. He made me experience an unparalleled, ‘high’ bliss and had me dancing in trance, even after the concert was over. On my ride back home, it felt as if his voice reverberated in every corner of the street and it made me sing and literally move on my Kinetic.

For once, I didn’t know what was happening and the feeling was absolutely magical. I reached home, and told my parents that Anis Meziane called and that I’m officially working for Real Time Sportscast as a phone commentator. They had mixed feelings on me travelling to Kolhapur and covering football matches but they knew to what extent this opportunity really mattered to me and so, they obliged. As of now, I am currently two weeks into my job and have covered six games for RTS.

A special thanks to Kush Sharma (Boon) for everything.

Although I didn’t get the job as a software engineer at Tieto but now, I am doing something that is my passion. Even though this job with RTS is only about a percent of my dream, which is to Head the Sports Commentary section for Sky Sports, UK, it is at least a start to my journey and has taken me, if not much, a touch closer to my goal.

As they say, “When he doesn’t give you something, it’s only because he wants you to have something better.”

Jai Gurudeva J

Premiership, probably at the moment, is the most open league for anyone to win since its introduction in 1992. The emergence of teams like Bolton and Sunderland is making them competitors worthy of testing the best in the league. The league in my mind has stretched across a different range all-together, watching a resurgent Newcastle United side under Chris Houghton and a spirited Blackpool side under Ian Holloway, who in their own way have silenced critics that wrote them off even before the season kicked off. However, the question lies, is the league getting any stronger or in contradiction, getting weaker to such an extent that even an average side on any day can take points off so-called “The top four”?

Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have clearly dominated the premiership; with Manchester United winning the league remarkably eleven times off the eighteen that the league has been contested. However, this season appears to be a bit different.

Manchester United

United, though unbeaten, have looked raged at the back and have already drawn seven games out of the fifteen that have been played. Johnny Evans, most notable, ever so brilliant looks completely out of sorts this season and has been criticized for United throwing away games at Everton and Fulham. United though have played smart in the transfer window getting in the likes of Javier Hernandez, Bebe, Chris Smalling and Gabriel Obertan and Sir Alex has been a magician over the years in getting the best out of the youth by playing them with the experienced players, one can’t stop thinking that these players have been brought for the future and still have a lot to learn. Although, United were brilliant against Blackburn at the weekend but they still lack that touch of class that has been a feature of United’s play since years. United for sure have weakened since the departure of Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo. Though United might be stronger than what they were last season but they are definitely not the Manchester United we know.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Arsenal

Arsenal, though they look stronger than the last couple of seasons, they still are extremely vulnerable at the back and are horribly inconsistent to be even regarded as a serious title threat. Holding on to leads or finishing the game has simply gone out of the window since Henry-Veira-Pires era. Even though they play the best football in Europe alongside Barcelona but how many times have Arsenal been regarded as “bottlers who never reach their potential” and a side lacking mental toughness to challenge for top honors. The lack of experience and Arsene Wenger’s fear of handling egos has lead to Arsenal fans not seeing silverware since five years. Arsenal though stronger than the last season but their problems continue to persist and are definitely not the once called “Invincible Gunners”.

Chelsea

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Liverpool

As for Liverpool, I think even the Liverpool supporters wouldn’t deny that this is the weakest Liverpool team to have played in the premiership. Gerrard and Jaime Carragher aren’t getting any younger for the reds. They also lack replacements for Alonso and Mascherano. Poulsen and Raul Merieles are decent players but are they Liverpool quality, you have to question yourself. It’s a puzzle in its own as to how Lucas Lieva is playing at Liverpool. Liverpool have simply failed to replace quality with quality. Aquilani was a quality signing who failed to make an impact. He is performing exceptionally well at Juventus during his loan spell and so, there is a strong chance that Juventus, who have an option of buying Aquilani will make his loan move permanent. Kelly and Shevley are good players but you have to think that they are too young and inexperienced to make an impact at the premiership level. I mean, just have a look : Riise out, Konchesky in, Mascherano out, Poulsen in, Alonso out, Lucas in, Crouch out, N'gog in, Bellamy out, Jovanovic in, Benayoun out, no one in. Signing average players like Konschesky and Poulsen, a manager in Roy Hogdson seems to be turning Liverpool into Fulhum than into the Liverpool of old.

Spurs and Man City

Manchester City and Spurs are the only clubs who are getting stronger every day but still don’t look to impose a serious title threat. City with the owner Shiekh Mansour making multi-million signings doesn’t seem to be getting desired results and it only underlines the fact that money can’t buy trophies. Their title aspirations were questioned when City played for a draw at home to Manchester United. Having a manager in Harry Redknapp, Tottenham seem to be heading in the right direction. Spurs have a balanced side, with pace, experience, zeal combined with a team that plays some of the best football. But again, they majorly lack consistency. On one day, they teach the Champions of Europe a lesson; four days later, they get outclassed by Bolton 4-2 and the following week, they beat Arsenal at the Emirates 3-2. That’s Spurs’ story.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Rest of the League

For the rest of the premiership, Steve Bruce’s Sunderland and Owen Coyle’s Bolton has surprised a lot of people. Though they have won only four games this season, Sunderland have their tails up and their 3-0 victory against Chelsea has set a benchmark for anyone who wants to go to the home of the champions and literally insult the champs by playing better football for periods in the game. Sunderland have bolstered their squad by making top four loan signings in Nadeem Onuoha, Menshah, Elmohamady and Danny Welbeck, along with spending 13 million GBP on Asamoah Gyan. These are great signings who have performed well this season but you really have to wonder, if these players would have performed the same way had they been playing in the league five years ago. Same thing applies for Bolton, Fulham, Aston Villa, etc. and rest of the teams battling relegation; though saying that some of the managers like Chris Hougton and Ian Holloway have done a commendable job.

The fact of the matter is that the gap between the top four or now, the top six has reduced remarkably and it’s not because the entire league has gotten stronger. This is because, the top teams have weakened to such an extent that they are becoming challenged by the teams that would normally not stand a chance to even compete and would finish mid table. These top teams often finding hard to get results even against the teams that might eventually end up getting relegated. For example, Arsenal lost to West Brom 2-3 at the Emirates and United played a 2-2 draw against West Brom at Old Trafford. Chelsea in the recent past have proved my contention by picking up only five points out of the possible eighteen.

The English Premier League has turned into a weird league but one that has turned into probably the most entertaining league in the world. The reason of the overall competiveness and weakening of the league is not due to the teams outside of the top four getting ever so strong, which admittedly is a slight factor, but because “The Top four” have not been replacing “older” players and creating a new fresh cycle with the same level of quality.

Watching the flier make its move,

On the F1 track, we drove.

On an island, through the groove,

Like reptiles, we continued to rove.

Hearing the sea sing its song,

The dolphins and lions began to dance to its beat.

Vegetarian food unavailable, our stomach bells began to bong,

Having soft drinks and snacks, we loped down the Sentosa street.

Feeling the gullet cry out its screech,

Asking for something to pass, ending the drought.

Like ravenous wolves, our belief leached,

When, in the atrocious desert, he made a clove sprout.

Bencoleen street roaring with silence,

10:30 PM and vegetarian food not for the offering.

So, I prayed to the master, in essence,

Out of the blue, at the road’s end, he sent his messenger having a magical wing.

Cornucopia of grace overflowing with blessing,

Somehow and from somewhere, a Thai restaurant conjured,

Though small, it served the best food in Singapore, grace bells ringing.

Deep inside, I knew, all that while he had heard.

Experiencing the Guru play his game,

The wind began to rave out applause with a storm,

Smiling, laughing and feeling blessed, I called out his name,

Feeling ever so grateful, this is how a guru story is formed.

..................................Jai Gurudeva :)

The Singapore flier making its move

Well, I've started with my own radio channel on ubroadcast.com

Har pal ek awsar, muskurane ke liye,

Har Lamha, ek mauka kisi ke prati samarpit hone ka.

Umr bhar rehti khushi, ye aarzoo se jalen diye,

Ek sath chalen hum, dikhate rah.

Holding hands and fly,

An everlasting bliss, experiencing camaraderie.

In present we live, feeling ever so high,

We are one world, one family.

Tuhin mehsoos karte chale ek safar par,

Sansar ki kashti me rehte hai hum.

Chahat, hamara ek hi pehlu,

Tairen sath sath is pyar ki nadi me, Vasudeva Kutubhakam

Gushing through us, our spirits united,

Together we stand, smiling freely.

On a divine venture, we feel blessed,

We are one world, one family.

Na dharma ka bhed, na koi atithi,

Ek Garv, ki hum sub hain saman.

Gayen ek geet, muskurana sikhayen, hamari kriti,

Harshit hain hum, Vasudeva Kutubhakam.

The author asserts that the people who are the most deeply committed to an idea or a policy are the most critical of it. Well, I agree with the author but only partially as according to me, being critical or fault finding depends on the trust that you have on the person carrying out the task.

In author’s support, taking an example of my personal final year project which was based on the idea, I along with my partner, we started off the project well by considering each others point during the designing. As soon as we came to the actual implementation part, both of us were extremely critical of the idea that we had taken ourselves. Every single step would require us to look at every single parameter and at times contradict our own idea. In fact there were times that we changed our decision to carry out implementation in a way how we had earlier planned. Now, one of the reasons why this was happening was because both of us were deeply committed to the idea and never wanted to hamper our project. Thus, on the behalf my personal experience, I agree with the author that we are highly critical of ideas that we are deeply committed to.

Also, examples illustrate that contradiction does exist to the author’s assertion. Considering the example of Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata group of industries, Tata while commuting in his car saw a family of four people commuting by means of a scooter. Tata wanted to change this and so he did. Considering the economic condition of India, he his employees to design and manufacture a car which a middle class man can afford and so Nano was launched, the cheapest current Indian car available for Rs 100,000. Tata trusted his employees and didn’t get critical enough of the idea and policy of Nano. Thus, according to me, not being crictical comes with trust. Going back my project example, maybe I and my project partner didn’t trust ourselves and our idea enough to pull of making an Intelligent Electronic Device. Had we done that, maybe, we wouldn’t have been critical of ourselves and our idea.

Arsene Wenger, the manager of Arsenal football club follows a policy of not buying the so-called “stars” from world football. Millions around the globe follow Arsenal and though Arsenal haven’t won the premiership since six years now, Arsenal fans are confident of Wenger and his policy as they trust him to the fullest. Arsenal play the best football in Europe along side Barcelona and as Wenger has seen it and done it in the past, there is no question as to why he can’t come up with yet another team which can bring the premiership crown to the Emirates Stadium.

If a graduate wants to go the United States to study and for his pursue master’s degree, then, come parents are highly critical of the idea. Although his parents and deeply committed to the cause of him learning more in the field that he is interested in, they become extremely critical of the idea of him going abroad and pursuing his education. This is largely due the costs that they have to bear for his education, also having a thought of how would it help him. The idea here is the son going to the United States and the parents want him to excel and gain knowledge but they do tend to become critical of him pursing education abroad. In the example mentioned by me, maybe the parents are afraid of their son’s failure or maybe don’t trust his credentials to acquire what the degree has to offer.

According to me, a doubt only creeps in when one is afraid of failure or when one doesn’t trust the person carrying out the operation. Apart from these reasons, the way I look at it, a person is usually calm no matter how deeply he is committed to the idea.

Words: 810

Time 70 mins

As it’s famously said, "Money might give you pleasure but it can't buy you love." Almost every person dreams of living a mansion with a swimming pool, a gymnasium and a jacuzzi. So, in order to achieve your dream what do you do? Well, you work towards being rich. Some also work so that they can feed their respective families in an appropriate way. But this world has also seen some individuals whose ideas weren't idealist at all. In fact, their thinking was so different that they worked for their respective passions and achieved what the others could hardly contemplate.

Lets take an example of a man who took birth in the year 1956 in Karnataka, India. He recited the Bhagwad Geeta at the age of four and grew up with an aim to make people smile. The man that I'm talking about here is His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar, The founder of the Art of Living Foundation. He is man who works for the society and not for money. The revenue generated from the Art of Living courses is invested back into the society. He has a major hand in globalizing spirituality. The Art of Living foundation now is the largest volunteer based NGO in the world and aims at making people smile by meking them have a stress free mind and a better place to live in. Art of Living has taken up several projects like Go Green Project, Clean Yamuna Project, etc and is a functioning body in more that 150 countris around the globe. With more than 300 million people undergone the Art of Living workshops, Sri Sri Ravishankar is for sure taking major steps in achieving his dream of making this world a happier place to live in. Also a graduate in Science, had money been important to him, Sri Sri would have taken up a job, probably done an MBA degree (like most youths nowdays) and been a rich person but he worked for the people and for the society, giving up the idea of living of most of the youths in order to start the Art of Living.

Apart from working from the society, what people also work is to pursue their passion. An engineer who has a passion to be a journalist, might be a good engineer but would he love working as an engineer, I doubt. He would always look forward to a journalism job. Though the job might pay well, you still might feel unsatisfied at some point and wish for you to go in for a degree in the field that you want to end up working. Taking another example, this time of my favorite commentator and presenter, Mr. Harsha Bhogle. Bhogle is an MBA from the best management institute in India, IIM, Ahemdabad. He now works as a commentator for ESPNSTAR. Having rejected several job offers from some the top MNCs in the world, Bhogle started to walk on a different path, a path that lead to him achieving his dream of being a sports commentator. His will, stills, ability and quality made him reach the zenith of Indian Sports Commentary for which he is popularly known.

Some work for a cause, the couse being their love something. Alan Smith was one person who certainly did that. Famously known as "Smithy", Alan Smith played football for Leeds United without pay in the later part of season 2003-2004. His love for the club was such that he refused to demand compensation from Leeds, who were already in crises. Though he couldn't save Leeds from being relegated from the English Premiership, Leeds fans still love him and regard him as a hero.

As Sir Alex Ferguson, The maager of Machester United, the most supported football club in the world popularly said after winning a premiership title, "When you have tasted that blood, you want it again." Sir Alex manages United because he wants to win more. He has more than 20 titles under his belt and is regarded as one of the greatest managers ever. Had it been for money, like Peter Kenyon, even Sir Alex would have gone on to join Roman Abramovich and Chelsea. But it was his love and a team that he made himself that he decided to stay at United.

But apart from all these examples if you see, a person needs money to survive on this planet and to feeds his family. It is for that reason that a person to an extent tends to work for money and and not sway towards his passions. It is high time that we all recognize what we love and start working towards it because according to me, if you do what you love, you can reach the pinnacle of anything and when that happens, money automatically begins to flow in.

Venerated, resolute, an exceptional cyclist, a regular at XTERRA European Championship, an art of living devotee and one of the most down to earth sportsmen that I have ever come across, Nico Pfitzenmaier spoke to almost a hundred youths and gave them a delightful time during the Art of Living YES!+ Summer Magic 2010 program at the International Centre of the Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore on June 30, 2010.

Although, the conversation with Nico turned out to be quite equivocal, it proved to be one which served to bolster the ideas of various youths present. Nico started his talk emphasizing nutrition as the key factor and was quick to realize the problems affecting the youths with respect to their eating habits. He being a vegetarian himself, talked about the need of eating fresh vegetables and preparing a diet which is free from sweets and chocolates, especially for ones, who are intransigent towards sweets. He was firm in his speech and said, “Stay away from bread and eat highly nutritive food because nutrition affects 70% of the body energy.” It was an inspiring message right down from probity from a sportsman, who even at the age of 39 was fit and competing at the highest level in world sport.

When asked about aggression and violent behavior, Nico said, “You can’t be aggressive in your appearance but being aggressive in the performance you put up is decent.”

Talking about his experience after the Sudarshan Kriya, a powerful breathing technique that energizes you, he said “After the Sudarshan Kriya, when I got on my bike, I felt absolutely fresh. I had to ride for eight days and it enabled me to cover a distance of 140 kms. If you can feel mentally and physically strong ever single day, it’s really awesome!”

According to the expert cyclist, “Kriya” has helped him to breathe through better and pump more air into his lungs which has helped him to improve his stamina. He went on to corroborate its influence by regarding the breathing technique as his inspiration and wants every sporting personality to undergo the practice.

Nico was quick to underline the importance of spirituality in the lives of sports personnel, who according to him would ameliorate from this knowledge. He reiterated saying, “Some of the players, especially football players, get overpaid but somewhere deep down they are still empty. They might be able to afford anything but they are not centered enough. Spirituality makes that happen.”

Well, the talk with Nico was another Summer Magic highlight and the one from which a bunch of people (including me) got a chance to learn a lot in terms of what it takes to compete at the highest level.