This time for Africa !!

Whether its Shakira’s swinging “Waka Waka” or K’naan’s “Wavin’ flag”, wherever you look (and hear), the World Cup is top of mind and conversation. For over a month now, football fans (old and new) have immersed themselves in what must be the biggest single periodic event in the world. Nothing matches up to it.
Here are my thoughts on what were the highlights of this particular world cup tournament.

The level playing field:
If you’ve been following football (particularly the World cup) for the last two decades, you might agree with me on this. I remember as a kid, if someone were to ask who would win the cup, there were just 4 usual suspects – Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy. And somehow, till the French ‘revolution’ in the late 90s, these were the teams reaching the finals and winning also. This world cup has been different though – from the beginning, people have talked about Spain (ranked 2 in the latest FIFA rankings), England (‘the golden generation’ as some of its stars are referred to), Portugal and a couple of African nations like Drogba’s Ivory Coast – they have all been in the reckoning. After all the action that has transpired, it does look like as if the playing field has now leveled out far more than in the past. The Asian and African teams have made their presence felt (Ghana missing the semis with a penalty whisker). Less fancied teams like Serbia and Slovakia have shown they can play a good organized team game and preval over more illustrious opponents. With the increased movement of players across the globe for their club assignments (particularly in European clubs), players of lesser nations have picked up strategies and skills that were earlier a bastion of the established football superpowers. Cases in point: Didier Drogba, Diego Forlan, Park Ji Sung, etc. Now it seems that any team can beat any team on its day. All it requires is teamwork, passion and possibly making the most of half-chances on the field.
The "Superstar Trap":
Lionel Messi. Christiano Ronaldo. Wayne Rooney. Some teams this world cup have suffered from what can be called ‘the Superstar trap’. The team, knowingly or unknowingly, starts to play around the superstar instead of collectively as a team. So, a young forward with an equally good chance for netting a goal, will look around for the superstar in his team to pass the ball, and eventually squander his team’s chances. Plays are created to feed the superstar but alas, they forget the superstar receives his due attention from the opposing team also who have heavily marked him. Teams that did well in this world cup like Germany and Spain and the African nations played as a team. A Podolski feeds to Klose, a Ozil passes to Schweinsteiger who in turn sets it up for Muller. All very fine players in their own right, but none of them head and shoulders above the others. Notice no ‘superstars’, but great as a team.
The “superstar trap” has had its disclaimers too. Consider the curious case of Zinedine Zidane and the French football team’s fortunes. In 1998, Zidane was a powering force in France’s World Cup triumph. Four years later, he missed the first 2 games of the World Cup due to injury, and before he could make a ‘fitting’ impression, France were bundled out. Cut to the next world cup, where he played the anchor in France reaching the World Cup finals. Ironically, the turning point in the final against Italy was also provided by him. The headbutt and Zidane’s red card happened, and suddenly the Italians looked much more in control of the game that they eventually went on to win.
The refereeing dilemma:
This world cup has been notorious for the refereeing blunders that have turned the tide of many games. Lampard’s disallowed goal when the ball clearly bounced over the goal line created a furore and would have been particularly embarrassing for Sepp Blatter (the FIFA top boss) who was watching from the stands. So what’s the solution? FIFA’s already said yes to technology playing a bigger role in matches, but is yet to say how. I think the fast-paced, competitive and punishing nature of the game today demands that a team can raise say 2-3 challenges for replay (similar to tennis) on contentious goal allowing/disallowing decisions. Technology used more often than that (say for instance, fouls) would adversely impact the pace of the game and dilute the field referee’s role. But for goal decisions which are potentially game-changing, technology should receive a thumbs up.
What else happened…
Every world cup also brings along its own unique flavour to the history of this competition. Here are some things that WC2010 brought to the party:
Vuvuzelas: Everyone hated them and the Africans loved them. The sound of a million bees as the media described it. Some teams even requested FIFA to ban the use of vuvuzelas in the matches saying they couldn’t hear the referee whistle. All this, and then as the tournament progressed, fans of every country picked up the vuvuzela, painted it in their national colours and accepted it as an integral part of this world cup. Even our ears have got attuned to the vuvuzela sounds, and I think every football game in future is going to sound a bit odd (or normal?).
Jabulani, the football: In every world cup, atleast since 1998, the football produced by Adidas has come under scrutiny. Too light, no control in the air and all that. Sound bytes from ex-players, coaches and disgruntled forwards & goalies add to the drama. The ball was being blamed for the initial goal drought in this tournament too but once Portugal scored 7 in a game and the Germans started averaging about 4, there was really nothing left for anyone to say.
Larissa Riquelme: Nobody did more for Paraguay’s support this World Cup than her. The Paraguayan lingerie model promised to run naked through the streets of her hometown Asuncion wearing only body paint of her team colours. Condition: Paraguay wins the world cup or even if they beat Spain to enter the semis, or… what the heck, she’ll do it anyway. Latest reports suggest she’s decided to do the run anyway this weekend which makes you wonder what really was the point of the whole thing. Larissa was also the advertiser’s delight, cheering with first a Nokia phone and then an Axe ad positioned near where most men were focusing as she cheered from the stands. Most popular fan of the world cup? I guess so!
Paul the Oracle Octopus: From a quiet existence in a sea-life museum in Oberhausen, Germany, Paul is now an international celebrity. To date, Paul has got 7/7 predictions right in this World Cup, including some for which he received death threats. Nobody really knows how Paul does it. Some scientists say he’s attracted to flags which have distinct stripes (Spain for instance). Others argue it’s where he’s physically located in his tank when prediction time comes. Whatever might be the reason, Paul has established himself as the ultimate football pundit and what’s more, he’s now encouraging other animals around the world to take us humans for a ride (Mani the parakeet in Singapore). For the finals, Paul’s predicted Spain will win while Mani’s choice is Netherlands. So, one of them is going to fall from their short-lived stardom very soon. I think I’m going to give Paul’s prediction the winning edge on this one. A little more experience on his side. :)

So that was that. An exciting world cup, full of drama and surprises.
Tonight, the World Cup will have a new champion. Will it be the third-time lucky Dutch or the finally-united-as-a-team Spain? We’ll just have to wait and watch. Waka, waka!

Financial year closing

This one is dedicated to all my friends who slog away in the last week of March because some accountants need to know what is (+) or (–) in a report called the P&L statement. The joke here is - they’ve probably already decided how it will read beforehand. We are all just doing the grunt back-work to make sure their ‘predictions’ look correct.

For the less familiar and the more lucky souls, there are a lot of interesting activities that happen with this financial or fiscal year ‘closing’.
Firstly, audits galore - of stocks, of claims, of expenses, etc etc. It’s like a field day for auditors and that one time in the year when they call all the shots. You can put forth your logics and all, but there always a ready response “Huh? What are you saying? Close to karna hai na! Why are you bringing this up at this eleventh hour?” Because my dear friend, this is the only time I can get your kind attention.
Secondly, this is when the finance guys are at their efficient best, and everyone else at their wits end. The two does not make a fruitful combination for work to happen.

I remember my colleagues in a previous job assignment, R and T, who despised this time of the year. We dreaded the three words “Sanctioned vs. Released vs. Spent”. Budgets under these three heads never seemed to match! We had the most elaborate SAP reports and Excel trackers (greater than 5 colours used per worksheet and tons of cross-linked formulae) but we were still cursing when we sat down to close the fiscal year.

By the way, in India, financial years are from 1st April to 31st March of every year, but it’s not the same across the world. Here are some examples.
· US : October 1st to September 30th
· Australia : July 1st to June 30th
· UAE : Jan 1st to Dec 31st
Now, I don’t think the job market is that good nowadays or too many companies would want my kind of talent, but a good way to avoid financial year closings will be this: Work in Dubai from Jan to March, in India from April to June, in Australia from July to September and finish up in US from October to December. That way, you experience the best part of the fiscal year where you get to make grand plans but are in no pressure to implement them yet (“C’mon boss, the year’s just begun, the next 3 quarters will be great, I tell you”).

The other more personal twist with fiscal year closing, that sales managers particularly experience, is that it is usually the end of the appraisal year also. This means you will literally DIE to deliver that one extra shipment, coax customers to buy that one last goods carton, and find someone, someone who hasn’t yet purchased your insurance policy or credit card. It’s akin to the final desperate stretch the 100 metre athlete makes before the finish line. Of course, his agony lasted 10 seconds, yours 365 days.

Think about it like this...As the clock ticks over from 31st March to the next day, it greets you saying “April Fool! Gotcha again this year! ”... Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t rub it in. I fall for the same thing every single year.

P.S.: I have a lot of respect for Finance professionals. Without them, us marketing guys will probably have one fantastic never-ending party and completely waste ourselves. So, thanks guys, for keeping us grounded within the columns of your balance sheets :)

“Phir dil diya Hockey ko”

Over the past few days, I’ve been watching the FIH Hockey World Cup on TV. Although India had a dream start (the 4-1 drubbing of Pakistan), it was all downhill after that. When we finally lost to Argentina and ended 8th out of 12 participating teams, it wasn’t a great feeling.

That said, I couldn’t help but get attracted to this game. I don’t watch hockey too often (loyalties lie with football, cricket and tennis sometimes), but as I saw the best teams in the world playing against each other, I felt hockey too was every bit if not more exciting than the other more popular sports.

Consider for example, the pace of the game. An average hockey game has about 4 goals whereas an average football game has only 2, that when the duration of a hockey game is 20 minutes lesser. The game in hockey moves from one half to the other extremely fast, and the attacks at goal can be quite sudden at times. Remember the game between India and Spain? There were 4 goals scored within 4 minutes!
The game is also quite literally non-stop. There are no time gaps between bowling overs or rest breaks between games and sets, where advertisers can squeeze in their 10-seconder. You play for a fast uninterrupted 35 minutes, take a short break and then go again. Free hits are taken quickly, and every member on the field is always on the run.

Then, let us look at the skill level required in this game. Admittedly, skill is something all great players of all sports must possess. Similarly, the hockey skills of some great players bewilder you too. I remember a particular Arjun Halappa dribble on the right flank in the match against Australia where he manoeuvred through three defenders to set up a crucial goal. “Wow!” was my reaction. And then there are the drag flickers (or penalty corner specialists for the less initiated) – every good team has one. Their sharp judgement and accurate hits change the course of the game. Little wonder then, that penalty corners are so sought after. The chances of converting one into a goal are high if you have an ace drag flicker in your team.

So, I guess what I’m finally trying to say is – Hockey IS an absorbing, exciting game. It is our national sport and somewhere as Indians, we’ve lost faith in it. It was our national pride when we were winning Olympic golds one after the other, but as the Westerners introduced astro-turf and our team’s fortunes turned topsy-turvy, we too switched off. Meanwhile, Kapil and his devils won 1983, and a man called Sachin Tendulkar started rewriting record books. It was convenient to shift focus as Indians to a new sport and worship new heroes. It was also convenient for sponsors to back the new poster boys and put in all the moolah to create one of the world’s richest sporting bodies. Meanwhile, the managing body of the national sport did not even have enough money to pay the players their modest salaries.

For me, Sachin’s 200 moment is still my YouTube favourite. But the sight of a blue-jersey clad Indian hockey player dribbling away and giving his everything to a sport and a nation that gave up on him, is equally endearing.
As the latest Hero Honda ad appeals, “Phir dil do hockey ko”. Maine to de diya.

Multi-eight

Have you ever played Multi-eight on eastoftheweb.com?
This multi-player word game is one of my favourites. My close friend and ex-flat mate, R and I used to completely freak over it, and it was a daily night-time ritual once we had said our good-nights to our respective girlfriends.

Anyway, I was recently told by a fresh MBA passout that the game is quite the rage in campuses now. I’m not surprised. Here’s why I think Multi-Eight is one of the best online word games:

• It’s a forum for serious word gamers – no social chatting, no “ASL?” or “gg” after every round
• Neat clean, uncluttered, ad-free gaming interface
• Anonymity – the only thing that matters is your username which you can change
• Intensely competitive with multiple game rooms to suit your expertise level. Some great regular players who really up the ante.
• Ups and downs – Ten rounds of fast paced action. You screw up in one round and you will probably lose overall cumulative standings that you might never catch up; At the same time some rounds where you beat the field by a big margin might just become the overall game-changers. Not dips in concentration tolerated here.

R and I have since relocated to different cities. But when we do land up in the same city, the game is once again renewed. We’ve also introduced many of our friends and colleagues to the game, for some of whom it’s become a distraction to work :)

Cheers to Multieight and eastoftheweb. Great stuff!

Europe Trip: Day 16: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hyderabad – (Final entry)

Writing this last entry of our Europe trip on board the plane to India. The trip was a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime affair. As I look back, these must be the highlights of our trip:

> The Sistine Chapel and “David” – Michelangelo’s masterpieces
> St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square – home to the largest religion in the world
> The Collosseum
> Trevi Fountain – am waiting for my wish to come true
> Pizzas and pastas – the way the Italians have it
> Swiss countryside and the Alps – picture perfect.
> Swiss culture and efficiency
> Eiffel Tower – by day and night, from below and atop.
> The Louvre and the Mona Lisa
> Cruises on the River Seine and Lake Thun
> Amsterdam – the ‘liberated’ city

That’s it then. So long. Till next time…

Europe Trip: Day 15: Amsterdam

The last day of our Europe trip. Today was spent a little lazily, and justifiably so, before we get back to the usual hustle-bustle of daily life back in India.
Got up late and then went for a canal cruise through Amsterdam. Amsterdam is incidentally the big daddy of water canals. In fact, the whole city is a network of mini-islands and joined together by around 1200 bridges. The canals serve as the main transportation routes and in fact, DHL has its own parcel boats that deliver packages using these waterways! And to think, we associate canals only with Venice.

There’s also something very interesting I learnt about the houses in Amsterdam. Since the land space is limited, most houses have very narrow staircases. This means that it is impossible to move furniture to higher floors from within the house. So there are hoisting beams in front of all the houses along the canals. That’s how furniture gets moved into the higher floors of the houses.

In the evening, we went to the Dam Square and sat around listening to live musicians like many other tourists. Saw some quaint ‘cycle-rickshaws’ if you please, which reminded us of those back in India.

Probably, that’s when it hit us. Our Europe trip was over and early tomorrow morning we take our flight back to India. Sigh! Do we really have to go back? Can’t this trip continue forever?!?

Europe Trip: Day 14: Amsterdam

Set off from Paris to Amsterdam this morning on the Thalys Express (The Thalys/TGV are among the fastest in the world, travelling at easily over 250 kmph).
Within no time, we were in Brussels, the Belgian capital (home to Poirot, Tintin and the ‘Manneken Pis’). Then, the train took us onwards to Antwerp (the place with the diamond connection) and then Rotterdam (one of the busiest ports in the world) before finally reaching Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam, we walked to the quaint Haarlem district where our apartment was located. We were surprised by the number of bicycles on the streets and in the parking lots. Learnt later that about 100,000 bicycles are stolen in Amsterdam every year – just imagine how many there must actually be then!

Amsterdam is, of course, the most ‘liberated’ city in the world, with legalized drug usage, prostitution and euthanasia. Most of the tourists are here for a ‘high’ (literally!) and I did see lot of young Brits around, whatever that meant.

Today, we just walked around the streets of Haarlem soaking in the local atmosphere. As the evening sets in Amsterdam, the street cafes get busy. Beer flows (after all, this is Heineken country!) and you can spot the odd tourist rolling up as you walk past the café windows. Although I didn’t try it myself (I don’t smoke), I was told the stuff is quite potent. I can just imagine a few of my friends for whom this place would be heaven. Ha!