Address: Old Trafford, Manchester M-16

“The most handsomest, the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed.”

The above words were written on Old Trafford’s opening day in 1910.  Manchester United had just moved from their old stadium of Bank Street, Clayton, to a new stadium in the Old Trafford area of west Manchester.

A hundred years gone by and yet, it stands tall against the Manchester sky, monument to the struggles of every supporter who’s loved the club, to the lives of all those who died on that fateful day in Munich, to the genius of the magical footballers to have turned out in it’s favorite kit of red,white and black, to the desire and commitment of every manager on it’s dugout, to the effort of every player to have set foot on it’s hallowed turf.

Old Trafford is no mere stadium.  It is not just Manchester United’s home ground, it is HOME.  It’s a part of our identity.  It has witnessed a multitude of momentous occasions over the years, delirium and melancholy.  From the sublime to the disastrous.  Fantastic football, bombs, boxing matches, artistry, the fucking lot.

Old Trafford has been home to some of the most gifted footballers to play the game.  Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Norman Whiteside, Frank Stapleton, Mark Hughes from the past to the current Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Edwin Van Der Sar, Cristiano Ronaldo have all called Old Trafford home.  It has also been home to some of the most passionate, daring and committed players.  A rare breed, leaders of men, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Paul Ince, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, Peter Schmeichel, Alan “Smudge” Smith, Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra, Gaby Heinze, Carlos “Carlitos” Tevez.  Not to forget some who’re quite above them all, Georgie Best, Duncan Edwards, Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney.  And a whole array of non-United greats to have been to the ground includes the likes of Diego Maradona, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Del Piero, Eusebio, Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Wright, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Marcel Desailly, Frank Lampard, Stevie Gerrard, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Zidane.  The list goes on.

I’ve been supporting United ever since I started watching the game.  Why you say?  I don’t know.  I’ve been a fan when we won the treble, when we won back to back titles, when we went years playing second fiddle to Arsenal and Chelsea, when we got dumped out of the Champions League by Porto and then Benfica.  I’ve watched the team annihilate all in their way to the Domestic and European double, I’ve seen the team win 3 titles in a row.  I’ve seen the team lose 4-1 to our rivals too.  Despite everything anyone might have to say, I’m still a Red through and through.

I have simply too many cherished moments from Old Trafford.  But one special thing about it is, you never leave the ground till the final whistle.  Cause the team that plays there doesn’t know when to give up (if ever).  But Manutd.com has this list of the top 100 moments at OT.

No wonder they call it the “Theatre of Dreams”.  It’s a place where some dreams are realised, some are shattered but above all, it’s a place where you see thousands turn up week in week out with dreams despite all that has happened before or all that shall happen henceforth.  It carries a simple message to everyone.  BELIEVE.

I do.

P.S: I’ve felt the pain of seeing United go through 3 years of mediocrity and I know what an emotional day our 2007 title was.  It moves me when I see Sir Matt Busby having tears in his eyes after witnessing Old Trafford hosting a Championship presentation to the team that it loves.  He’s watching over our club from somewhere, still wearing that little smile every time we win.  To years of success and Unity.  There’s only ONE UNITED.

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlFc7Nx22CQ&feature=related

Brain-washers Inc.

Among the load of things I’m doing post the social not-working era, I add my short visit to my possibly future employers’ Development Center in Pune.  I have returned from a day long workshop, having witnessed first-hand, the effects of brainwashing.  And what I say is no exaggeration or Hyperbole.  It was brain-washing which we were oblivious to as long as we stayed within the confines of their sprawling IT park.

As a part of some new Spark thing which Infosys has apparently introduced to reach out to the potential IT future generation, all us new recruits were called over for a tour of our most probable working location at the Pune DC.  The day started off with an address by some Management level employee, whose former employers include some real big IT companies.  The way she presented the training programme and the work environment at the company was just the start of a long day of systematic brain-wash.

Soon after the boring stuff about some process method and profit demographic, we were herded to the food centre for lunch.  Needless to say, the damn place holds around 5-6 restaurants, 10-12 fast food joints and this without counting the branches of popular chains of restaurants.  Hunger #FAIL.  And lunch, as everything else there was fantastic given the choice at hand.  I did not have the fixed buffet thing that was free for all, instead I bought myself a host of other food I was comfortable with and YOU shall not brand me Lord Fuckland/Falkland/Fockland for this.

An intense activity where we were divided into groups and made to plan a project and then try and find pitfalls in others’ projects was pretty fun.  I successfully managed to Rob a bank and made sure a movie bombed at the B.O, a marriage failed and lame attempts to complete assignment work in lectures resulted in rustication.  WIN indeed.  Part of all these insane activities were a guy and a girl working for Infosys not much older than any of us.  And again, I believe they were particularly trained in Brain-washing young minds because they were successful.

Only when I was safely out of that park did I realise the amount of lure politics I encountered.  Safe to say, I am OK.  But I expect it won’t be long before I actually go work for Brain-washers Inc.  Fail was successfully averted all day.

FTW

A good few days into my life sans social networking, I find myself finding a lot more time for a whole load of things that were otherwise impossible given my tight schedule filled with immensely long failbook, mafia wars and poker sessions.

Given all the time I’ve had, I’ve managed to sleep better, pay attention to journal-work (one more semester to go) and also throw in the usual fun activity here and there.  3 days have elapsed and I’ve already managed an awesome CS-ta (supposed to be a take on the word siesta), a fun dinner with Sumit and Rashmi where they so gracefully allowed me to drink considering I’m still 20 and they’re both legal yet do not drink(?) and finally a game of bowling in the course of which I actually upstaged Headhunter and Godzilla.  Life is making up for my previous lack of win.

The formal start of my final semester in college coincided with the start of the inter-college football season.  With all the new blood coming in, I find myself benched a lot more than before and when I look at it from solely a personal point of view, I find it frustrating yet challenging to work harder and try and make the best of the time I spend on the pitch.  But when I look at it from a broader perspective, I remember how in my first year, we’d just formed the college football team.  How we’d gone around playing as many tournaments as we could and tried to not get beat too bad and also causing a few upsets on the way.  Today, when I see how far our team has come, considering I’m the only remaining dinosaur from the first ever DMCE football side, I feel happy that we’re not push-overs anymore and go into matches not as under-dogs but on an equal footing with most colleges.  I shall go out this year, proud at what we’ve achieved and also at what we’re definitely going to.

Football is the only thing that can get me emotional.  So, this apart, considering the sudden surge of win in my life, I hope it gets transferred to my team and my game.  I am sick of being a perennial silver medallist.  Want to lay my hands on some gold.

To continued win, write, game and social not-working.

Edit March 7th, 2010: After this post, the Explorer went on to play and score a penalty in a shootout which saw his college win their first EVER football tournament.  Win was created that fateful day.