Football or Soccer....?

I just hope this title does not portray untrue truths like 'I adore Ronaldinho or Lionel Messi, or I support Brazil or Argentina and I am an ardent follower of Football, which I am not! Yes, I did watch the game this year- so that I fall a company to my husband who enjoys watching the game. It is then that I started pondering - why two names for a single game? I then began to explore our immense source of information - "GOOGLE" and came across a few things that astonished me. That is when I thought this to be worth sharing.

Ok lets move further, rather lets go back to 19th Century in England when arguments to standardize the rules for football among a congregation of private schools fountain headed two games - Rugby football (named after a school called Rugby) and Association football, after the Football Association.

Would you believe if I were to say-'the word Soccer is an outcome of slang’? It works like this: you shorten a word and add “-er” on the end. Similarly, recipe for the word ‘Soccer’ = chopped off the As from Association, slice off the –iation from sociation and called it “soccer”.  Sounds weird, but true!

One fact is that soccer wasn't universally accepted over football in the U.S. for a long time. The governing body for soccer in the U.S. was called the United States Soccer Football Association until 1974.

The game originated in Europe and most European languages call it FOOTBALL (Spanish: fútbol; German: Fußball; French: Football;…)! Also, it is ruled by FIFA (which stands for Federation International de Football Association – in French).

'If you’re reading this in the U.S. or Canada, then maybe you love soccer. If you’re reading this pretty much anywhere else, then perhaps you love football’. That says it all!

A fresh path... a fresh mind.

Part of our routine - wake up - get ready - get going. Now, this ‘get going’ was going a bit tough for the past few days…My brother and I would leave home for office and what do we find… a multitude of people awaiting to welcome us, all trumpets replaced with the honking, a place of no rules – our roads! - Everybody in a rush to thump and leave the other behind, people in the cars would prefer to have the windows up even if the weather was awesome… who would want to enjoy the weather when it brings with it an unwanted headache of decibels ringing! Two wheelers, four wheelers, trucks and buses, all of them trying to make space, JUST for themselves…what a selfish world being portrayed!

Then one fine day, as though the sun gleamed in a differently, as though all the Gods above were favoring us, it flashed to us to diverge from this chaos.. and were astonished to find ourselves in this heaven… we were on a road that though was though not a red carpet welcome – but a lush green one, so serene, peaceful, pleasant and untouched. It was hard to believe greenery on either side of the road, we do not see many people no stodgy traffic, no signals… simply uninterrupted drive.. too good to be true..something similar to what Alice must have felt in Wonderland. I think exactly like that! Then slowly as we moved ahead we would see the huge buildings growing as we near them, the backdrop of clouds.. I wish I had better words to describe the joy within me. I was enjoying both the natural and artificial world around!

Now we take that path daily, it’s the outer ring road…it’s a fresh feeling to come to office with a fresh mind. You do not have any guilt of scolding and fighting and cursing people on your way to office, no hard feelings towards anyone...plain mirth!

This is what makes me ponder of what life would be after all that chaos and humdrum creeps everywhere! I know I can’t do much but just hope that I don’t add on anything harsh to this beautiful world around us which translates into beauty within us! I strongly believe in it. So why don’t we take minute steps to beautify the world around us? Trust me it’s worth a try!

Versions of my Saga – Blog VS Personal Diary

I posted a poll on the blog for a week now, and I now come up with a plan (I am not sure till when will I stand on it though.. also it does not limit my blog to this thought). And the thought goes - “I would write based on the analysis from the poll results and its comprehension”. The poll was about ‘Personal Diaries’ (PD), being replaced by blogs in our W3 era.

The poll result: 40% say No, 20% say Yes and 40% go for Maybe.

The analysis part: Here let me go by my example - If I had to write my heart in a diary on the topic ‘how was the weekend’ -how would it differ from what I write in my blog? My diary will have the version ‘A long ride with my hubby, good time spent with him – not that we painted the town red but for sure reveled the time doing nothing’. My Blog would be read as ‘Went to the exhibition at HITEX over the weekend with him and the lil one. Awesome weather for a long drive and got to explore the new arrivals/technologies looming across the counter’.  Ooops! The place was the same, the people were the same the experience same, still, I never thought it would be such a whopping difference while communicating the same.  I conclude – there is a greater personal touch to a PD than to a blog! I know now, all those 40% in the poll above will concur with this.

Well, once you are done with reading I know you will not forget to poll your views for the question up there.

Is learning that onerous?

"Brush up on, burn midnight oil, commit to memory, crack the books, get down pat, get the hang of, major in, minor in, pore over, soak up, specialize in, take course, wade through"- These are the dictionary meanings for the word 'learn'. Going through them, one would not just imagine 'learning' to be a cumbersome task but something that would drain them off.

I have come across a few quotes on learning that paint it a little better...“Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.” - Daniel J. Boorstin quotes (American social historian and educator, 1914).
This one makes you feel good.. it actually makes you feel that not knowing something is not that bad! You would eventually learn it sometime. But then, this one -  “Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” - Benjamin Franklin quotes (American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Printer, Writer and Inventor. 1706-1790). Which implies the willingness to learn is much bigger a need than Learning itself!

Well, I chose to write about 'learning', as this is what I have been doing in the past few months. I have now developed a love towards it and I trust myself to get addicted to it. I knew it for a long time now that I need to learn something everyday and I have been tarrying it, until my friend, put it through to me in a tone that I will hear! And yes I did!

 What is my learning for the day? Answer this daily.. it helps us grow!

Getting started..

I have been searching thesaurus for the word 'Procrastinate'...this is what I have been doing whenever I thought of starting a blog on my own.. now that I am getting started... I am actually getting started!

More to come...