BLUE BLOOD

It’s hard for me to not get emotional and nostalgic when I talk about the best football club in the universe, Chelsea Fc. Absolutely not in terms of trophies and league titles won, but in terms of the way they inspire me to have become who I am today. I can honestly say that my favourite club had a pivotal role in the shaping of the man that I have become.

My love affair with Chelsea Fc. started almost immediately after I started following the EPL, I think it was around 1998-2000. Before that I hated the premier league because it was just too predictable with Man United winning almost every year. My attention shifted Spain where Deportivo were just killing Barca and Madrid, and they even won the la liga that year to become the smallest city in Spain to have won the title (anyone remember Djalminha, Fran, Roy Makkay? I was so inspired by the David vs. Goliath story of Deportivo, but I hated the Spanish style of playing. I loved the faster more physical game of the EPL, but I just didn’t have a team that I could say was an extension of me. Man U was for losers and women (Come on they had Beckham), Arsenal were…ummmm… al right  Liverpool were…Liverpool!

Being a fan Zola I decided to pledge my allegiance to Chelsea, but little did I know that I would fall in love with the club. Over the years great players have come and gone, we have shown promises and glimpse of brilliance and on many occasions had the title at a hands reach, only to let it slip away. This is very human in nature; to almost be there and falter. And I have said it many times over, “Being a Chelsea fan is frustrating”.  But all these heart breaks and disappointments is what brought me closer to the club. There have been so many times I almost reached my dreams, but because of a single moment of carelessness let it slip away. Right from my high school days I was always labelled as a promising young chap. Well spoken, good manners, good in studies from a decent family, but somehow I never really lived to any of these labels. I was a rebel without a cause. I remember selling all my books right before the final exams when I was in 10^th grade and also the final year of my college. I don’t know why I did it, but I just did. I guess it was the expectation to be great that scared me and pressured me. And I realize now that I was running away from it all. But enough of my short comings for now, and back to why Chelsea Fc.?

You see all those times that I was struggling with myself, trying to find my identity was the time Chelsea we’re looking for their championship. People made fun of Chelsea Fc. coz they were neither good nor bad, they were neither a championship team nor a bottom half team. Now you would ask why go for a team that wasn’t winning anything? Well coz I wasn’t winning anything either, I was still a smart kid with no direction. We (Chelsea and me) had potential, but lacked the experience, drive and determination. And it was this very human nature of the Club that made me fall in love with it. Plus everyone I knew were either Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and New Castle fans and I, as always wanted to be different. 

I know that my statements may make Chelsea sound uninspiring but believe me they’re not. Look at what we've achieved, after years and years of struggling, we finally got our due. It takes time to be a champion, you have to fall, crawl your way back up and fall again. You have to get your dreams shattered, hearts broken, make mistakes, be laughed at, be told that you can’t do it and finally rise above it all.

I’m excited to be where I am today and where we as a football club are, as much as I’m excited about the challenges that lay ahead. Expectations are high, critics come in hoards and haters in flocks. I know the road is tough and maybe I will fall again, Chelsea may lose the title, come close and falter again, maybe we’ll stay champions and win ever possible cup and maybe we won’t, but we will never stop fighting, never back down and forever keep the blue flag flying high!

The Wanderer

All he ever does now, is wander around, thinking of what could have been. And as fate would have it, their paths could never cross again.

That glittering smile on her face brought back a lot of memories. He knew exactly what she felt, she used to look at him the same way. He looked at the man in front of her and wondered if he knew how lucky he was to have her.

Every now and then there was a moment of sadness in her eyes, like a wish to wake up from a nightmare. But nobody seemed to notice except him and there was nothing he could do about it. He had been reduced to nothing more than a memory…he shared her sadness.  

He wished he had another chance with her… no one could love her like he did. And he knew that she would never forget him either. Could this be the cause of the sadness in her eyes?

He remembered the first time they met, and how he knew without a shadow of doubt that they were meant to be together. It was love at first sight and he could feel a strange sensation tickling down his spine and they made his knees weak.

He remembered how her eyes would light up every time she saw him, he knew he would never need

 anyone else.

He thought about the long conversations and moments of blissful silence where words had no part.

He thought about their plans to marry, have children and grow old together…memories, they always have such sad endings.

He smiled as he watched her twirl her hair with her fingers as she playfully whispered something in his ear. He remembered the last thing she said before they said goodbye.

Those words would haunt him forever…entangle him in an endless cycle of regret and desolation.

Call a cab

Don’t drink and drive.

                                                       Cheers,

                                                                    Zakk Sangkima

LOST IN THOUGHT!

For one that’s in the business of creativity, I just realized, I can’t really think about anything for a good period of time, except when I’m about to miss a deadline (nothing can generate ideas faster than a nearing deadline). My mind is usually all over the place, I may be thinking about one thing and by the time I realize I’m lost in thought, I’d be so far away from where I had started, that I don’t remember what I was thinking about in the first place. There was this time I was thinking about what I’d write for a MetLife ad and by the time the Client Servicing guy came to see if I had come up with anything, I had thought of a great idea for a MyCard ad but nothing on the MetLife brief. Aaahhh how annoyingly messed up this brain of mine can be.

Talk about annoying, I don’t think there’s anything more annoying than a half page ad. I always throw away the half page ad and the last page of the newspaper it’s attached to before I read the damn thing. I’ve written to TOI and Hindustan times a number of times but they don’t seem to bother. A friend of mine said he’s actually mastered the fine art of holding a half page ad together hassle free, but my question is - Why do we need to master it anyway? It’s a damn newspaper, meant to be read hassle free! I don’t want to have to master the art of reading it. While we’re in the subject of reading and annoying, have you guys read 50 shades of grey? WTF!

Man…that was such an over-rated, dumb, poor excuse of an adult novel. The story was as inspiring and entertaining as watching wet shit dry out. I got nothing out of it. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Everything I read there, I had read in my teens from cheap erotic novels and short stories sold at ISBT and book stalls in train stations. The only difference is that 50 shades was better packaged and more expensive. It's a waste of precious time and money. I would have had a better time hiring an English guy read those cheap roadside erotic stories in a very thick English accent to me. Hahahahahaha that made me laugh, wouldn’t it be awesome to hear an Englishman talk dirty in bed? “I say, darling, do you suppose we could fornicate tonight? With you on top of course, I seem to have twisted my back on a rather careless horse riding incident today. Oh, and while you’re at it, would you mind passing me that cup of tea?” hahahahahahaha what more can I say?

Aaahhh… Accents how they can change situations, especially the English accent they make everything sound so important and formal. I can’t bitch about the Indian accent coz I seem to have a lil bit of it and I’m Indian so I let Russel Peters do the bitching (he’s awesome at it). But of all the accents I’ve heard, I think the Jamaican accent is the coolest accent On The Planet (Even Snoop Dogg has a Jamaican name now)! They make everything sound so cool, like no curse words could sound cooler than in Jamaican “wer ja goin, cute punani” try saying that in any other accent without it sounding abusive. In Jamaican accent it sounds like a compliment. The word itself sounds like tropical fruit (maybe it is), it’s just so much cooler. Even broke Jamaican guys look cool as shit. Like they're proud to be broke, they made a conscious decision to be broke! Look at this dude on the left...does he look like he gives a F*@k about the fact that he has no clothes to wear, no pants?  

And I’ve always wondered... Why do I hate fruits so much? (except the tropical one we just talked about) Ever since I was a kid, I never liked fruits. My Granny and Aunt would force me to eat it and I’d make so many faces and excuses trying to avoid it, but they always had their way. It’s not that they taste bad or anything, I just hate them, it’s a personal thing for me, a personal grudge against fruits, communist fruits. I passionately hate fruits, but I do love 'apple pie' (I know it's not a fruit, but it contains fruits...so zip it!), with hot chocolate syrup and ice cream. Ahh…now that's a pleasant thought! Makes me hungry, but since I’m on a diet, I’ll just look past food and think of a beach with lots of women in bikinis eating Apple pie Dammit! Focus, Zakk...focus, you can do it (I’m talking to myself, motivating myself to stay from food…)

Anyway I think I’m gonna go down for a smoke, I can’t seem to come up with any ideas or concept for an ad I’m suppose to finish in the next few hours. Life’s a bitch!