Will India Ever make it to Soccer World Cup??

That night when I was watching the Brazil vs Japan match and the national anthem of Brazil was being played in Dortmund stadium in Germany my friend asked me if we will ever hear the Indian national anthem playing in one of the World Cups in future.
I had no answer to the question so I just smiled but the truth is I am myself not sure if India can ever produce its own Ronaldos and Beckhams.Can India ever repeat the success in football that it has achieved in cricket?? Can India ever be a host to lakhs of crazy fans and footballers ???
Well the questions are many and the answers are few.

The infrastructure and the support for football in India no way matches those available for cricket unlike the trend all over the world.A lot is desired from different quarters if India has to make a mark in Asia itself ,forget the world.
I guess it is very difficult to pursue any sports as a career option in India.And only if its Cricket you manage to get some support from people.I have myself played football till my inter college days(captained good lot times) and had great interest in the game but when it came to choosing a career I took a safer route and decided to do Coding instead of scoring goals.I think this is what happens with most of the sports enthusiats in India.

With India taking big leaps in all the fields sports need a special attention.If smaller countries like Ghana can get qualified for World Cup why can't India do it.So hopefully when I sit down with my children in future watching the World Cup they will not ask me the same question "Will we ever hear the Indian national anthem playing in one of the World Cups?? "

From Student to a Professional

I always wished I could earn my own money so that all my fights with my Mom over my pocket money would end. So that I don’t have to show a balance sheet to anybody at the end of the month to prove that I have spent the money in the best possible way. Once I graduated I knew that my next step was going to be a job and if I was going to study ahead it will be with my own money.

Having cleared the test and interview of an MNC I got my entry into the shining IT sector of India. Of course that meant leaving my hometown and moving to a new place.
Suddenly everything seemed so difficult, “who will wake me up in the morning, who will take care of my bills, who will fulfill my daily needs”. The saying ‘No pain, No gain’ started to make sense to me. Anyway I decided to concentrate on the brighter side of things and arrived at the place of my Karma.

Settling to a new place is not easy if you have not ventured out of your home much and have lived a life of luxury with no responsibilities and minimum interaction with the outside world. Everything from waking up in the morning to making the bed for sleeping in the night has to be done on your own. Suddenly you realize that clothes have to be washed or they start stinking after some days, if you don’t take care where your money is spent the balance in your account goes from XXX Rs. to 0.00 in no time.

I learnt a lot of lessons professionally as well. At work you are supposed to behave in a certain way, you have to dress in a way and you have to be a professional in the true sense. That means no hanging around in gardens when you have work, no WWF t-shirts in office and no nasty language exchanged with friends and colleagues even if it is in the right spirit. So many of my friends told me that in order to be successful as a professional you have to look busier than all the others around (even if u don’t have work). I also learnt that it was more of your good contacts that mattered when it came to appraisals and better growth. I don’t know how many of these things told to me I have actually followed but then some extra knowledge is never bad.

The experience till now has been enriching and an eye-opener. The problems and focus areas in my life have changed a lot. Relationships and priorities have taken a shift but I feel that I am still the same guy I used to be. I don’t know what my next step in life will be but I know that someday I would love to have a fight with my Mom on my pocket money again.