Would you shoot me? No, says my Muslim friend... That's good enough for me

Some of my closest friends are Muslim.
We sit across the table and can feel the strain of the Paris attacks on our conversation.
The Muslim goes out of his/her way to condemn the attack.
The non-Muslim, myself, avoids the topic entirely – shuffling past the question: Do you support Daesh?
It must be asked, surely.
Sitting far away from the insanity of what happened in Paris I can feel the sands shifting.
Would you shoot me if we were on two opposite sides of a religious war? No, says my Muslim friend.
That then is enough for me today.

No, no Anthony Martial, that's not the LVG way

Anthony Martial took the ball and ran straight at the defence in the final third of the pitch.

Rooney does not do that.
Ander Herrera does not do that.
Juan Mata does not do that.
Louis Van Gaal does not do that.

The possession and precision Van Gaal philosophy speaks to a Barcelona-like tiki-taka, but pronounced more tic-tac-toe.

A formula to win.

Now, Martial will be benched, then schooled in the Van Gaal way.

He will return and run at the backs no more. He will pass the ball more, score less.

Man Utd will still win of course.

Man Utd's LVG era begins now

Rooney did not know who Martial was. Neither did I.
I did not know who he was despite watching him play Arsenal in the Champions League last season.
The Louis van Gaal Manchester United era now truly begins.
All but a few of the key legs from the Fergie era are gone.
Angel Di Maria explains it best: Van Gaal simply points to his philosophy when a player argues.
Follow it, or fall out.
It’s a precise philosophy of football played in a deliberate manner that demands extreme levels of craft.
Specific movements with intent, drive and skill.

Cheers! No more...

You drink playfully; then gainfully.
You drink aggressively; then lushfully.
Like the great and wise men who drank themselves to death, you drink committed to thought and creativity that is insane.
All the while, it’s all about you… and it’s good, great, glorious.
Then, you cross the line.
You now drink alcoholically.
And it’s done. You can drink no more.
It’s not about you anymore.
Others now matter. They matter more. Much more.
In their joy and healing alone lies your sanity.
One day at a time, you must climb down from the mountain on which you were perched.

Chicharito... surely LVG... surely...

I am an unabashed Manchester United fan, and, being Indian, suffice it to say I have been from… let’s see, 1996.

I worked with an Anglo at the time, his father was Brit propah, he was football propah, and he told me, follow Man U, back ‘em.

I did and have ever since.

I am an unabashed fan of Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, and believe Louis Van Gaal and Old Trafford must keep him and use him in the last 20 minutes of games; especially when losing or drawing.

Real experience, die-hard commitment… ‘Chicharito’ is lethal… Utd must know that.

Making India Awesome – really?

At what level of literary nous did the industry that wheels Chetan Bhagat’s machinery think the above title works?

Pseudo-intellectual? Unfinished book? Writer generally struggling? All me.

For all the reading and writing that goes into achieving the above trippier-than-thou status, even for the evolving Indian middle class, millions added each month, grasping for better, conversant English as their aspirational channel to a global being – Making India Awesome - is crap.

I don’t know the demograph of Bhagat’s readers, though I did catch a woman at the dentist who, in Hinglish,
effused about the latest Bhagat.

Awesome for her?

Breast-feeding - nip and tuck for a life or two

My wife would not hold my hand and walk down a street where a school she taught in was.

But, she would breast-feed our three children anytime, anywhere; with a certain modesty thrown in of course.

There is that sense of fierce motherhood – displayed across nature – that is intrinsic to who she is as a person.

The breast-feeding debate and those on the nay side of the nipples might struggle to deal with the reality of that mother instinct in women.

Perversion, shame, these words mean little when a life is at stake.

And when that life is human…