Euro Two-thousand-and-Great! ( Plus Stream )

For a crazy football fan like me, it would be really strange for me not to have a post about Euro 2008 in my blog. Come on now. Most of the time I’m idle I think about only two things- either myself or football (read as Euro 2008 for the current month) So firstly I’l tell you why I have not been watching matches. It all started with the first day of the Euro and all of a sudden my tv was showing pictures I never dreamed I would see in it. Yeah I got no Set Top box at home but there it was! The opening match of Euro 2008 Live before me. I was jumping for joy(Watched those 2 whole matches) only for it to be cut short the next day. Since the Asia Cup had started, my most generous cable operator had switched over to providing those free channel viewers the chance to see it. But damn it DD was already showing those matches. Then I realized what a biased country this is towards Cricket. And to be a football fan here. You could as well be in Mars (exaggeration, I admit) 

But then I wasn’t one to give up so easily. I started searching for any live streams that might be on offer on the Net. Infact there were many of them - Sopcast, TV Ants etcetera. But problem is my broadband internet speed is about 256kbps which is not suited for watching live streams. So I gave up on seeing the Euros…………………………….. until today!!! I finally found a stream link that gives me uninterrupted streaming of all matches of Euro. Just watched Spain edge it past Sweden. Unlucky Sweden, but good thing Spain are showing signs of a lack of killer instinct. Man, I want them to face Netherlands in the Semi’s or Finals and get thrashed! Yeah I support the Netherlands. Been supporting them ever since World Cup 2006 where I was just drooling over their play. This time they are showing some real spirit and drive. Hope they win it. 

Btw here’s the stream link is below. I honestly do not know if its illegal or anything. But then who cares. I’m not Scobliezer

Stream Link
 
Ramji

A memorable visit to the Cancer Institute

It was a desolate place. Filled with disease and sorrow, you could feel that chill descend on you. It almost engulfs your mind. But it had an added effect on me. An almost surreal happiness. It was then that it dawned on me how lucky I am - a healthy body and a functioning mind. No diseases. No need to go to hospitals often. No scans no tests no therapy. Atleast not yet! No it’s not funny and this is not a funny post so if you’re looking for one you might as well leave now. And yes, I am talking about the Cancer Institute here in Chennai. Yet for all the distressing things that I have mentioned, it is the place which is the hope for many people here. For some it’s their last hope to life. For most it’s their only hope. If you want one disease which has been most talked about - from street talk to movie satire - it’s cancer. Its much vaunted status stems from the long struggle it took to find the cure for this disease. Now that we finally have some medicines for it, it has changed from a quest to find the cure to a quest to finding the money to buy them. Many people for quite obvious reasons struggle to come to terms with the fact that they have cancer. Its ways and means of penetrating a body are versatile that sometimes one doesn’t know how he happened to get it in the first place. Overcoming this mental trauma is just the first part as one of my own family found out. Its such an expensive disease to treat that even the simplest therapies could cost you your life’s savings. 

And cost, it does. Even if the Cancer Institute does provide free treatment the medicines could cost you a lot. But still its probably one-tenth of what the private hospitals charge. So, there I went, to see him. It happened by chance. My only task was to pick up my mom once she had completed her visit there. She was there to see one of my family who has had a sudden unexpected attack of Throat Cancer. Read that as unexpected discovery because the disease had been there for about 3 years. Ultimately it’s when you don’t give much importance to your own body these things happen. So, coming back, I just had to pick up my mom. Simple job. Oh what a coward I would have been if I had done only that! What I felt there is unspeakable in terms of words, and “un-typeable” in this blog. An experience of a life-time. The entrance has a temple - a place of hope. But one look at the persons sitting lost there, you realize they have very little hope if any. I move on.

I went inside the block where he was admitted. Again it was a bit of shock. I ashamedly admit that I haven’t gone to a Government Hospital before. So having got used to those cosy private hospitals with their clean tiled floors and air conditioned rooms, this was a place which was down to earth to put it exactly. It had simple things with simple people around. There was even a small B/W Tv to watch for the persons staying with the patients. Yes it wasn’t sparkling clean but it surely wasn’t dirty. It didn’t smell of those sick-sweet hospital fragrances but it didn’t stink either. There weren’t any air conditioners nor would anyone demand for that here. For if they could afford that, they wouldn’t be here in the first place. I realized it wasn’t a place of clinical efficiency which guarantees you absolute certainty of recovery. It was rather a place of survival. A place where they use the Government funds to provide the patients with a bare minimum- medicine, food a comforting bed and most of all a way back to their lives. People here fight to survive. There are no easy ways here. No so called “pain-killers.” It’s you and the disease and you fight it albeit with some help from the medicines. 

I could see that when I saw him. He was a broken man. He had gone through a lot in his whole life and now this. The last 3 months had been hell for him I guess. If I probably hadn’t gone there and seen him today, I would never have forgiven myself. His happiness on seeing me shone in his face. And I got that kind of feeling that even if my life ends now, I had probably done something worthwhile with it. He was in pain and couldn’t talk. His throat was in stitches. He couldn’t stop his tears as they came. His sheer despondency was obvious. He was probably wishing he could run away from all this and start a new life. I stayed for a while and talked some strength into him hopefully. What more can I do? I’m not God. Who knows he might be sleeping soundly right now because of my visit, the thought of which makes me sleep ever so sound. 

I don’t know why I wrote this in my blog. I had to get it out. It was such an experience that I don’t want it to fade away in time from my memory. I want it to remain here forever in this blog and it will. It’s a happy life that most of us reading this blog enjoy in so many ways. A very lucky life removed from all the possible suffering that may befall us. May we appreciate it and cherish it forever!!

Ramji

Night Out- Besant Nagar beach

I know its been a while since i blogged. Been busy making the most of my holidays! They were fun but then they are over now Thats life isnt it? Nothing lasts forever. They all have to end sometime just like how every sentence ends with a period. For the whole of holidays i have done absolutely nothing. But i did plan a lot though. Whenever do my plans good. **sighs** But i did do a few interesting things. Like going to watch Diya(man thats was ooooohhh) and going to mcc (aaaaah). But then a great night out in Besant Nagar beach. Nothing ever beats roaming around Chennai at 1 o clock in the night in ur bike. There’s almost a heavenly feel to it. You feel like u and ur frends are the only ppl in the earth. Its an amazing feeling. Man i promise thats not the last time im going out at night. But Chennai is a bit of turn-off for those things.

While we were coming back, there was nothing open. Well Mocha was open but they won’t let us in so late since it was near closing time. Whew what a shame to a city which is becoming modern by the day. Maybe it is just that me n my buddies(Dilip, Nikhil and Sethu aren’t the kinda guys who spend every night out… Just like me!) dint know where to go. Frankly i badly wanted to go to a pub and watch the match between Liverpool vs Marseille but it seems there’s a rule against that too. No pubs or anything open after midnight. What the hell! We are not doing anything illegal are we?? We are just going to places where people go everyday. only we are roaming around at night. Ok i guess there are some law and order issues but surely the police can handle it with certain specific rules instead of closing down everthing. It’s an absolute shame for the city. Maybe it should be something like no alcohol after midnight. That kinda thing which allows people to enjoy themselves and allows the police to monitor things easily. We actually started back at about 1 am and if we had started about an hour later it seems we would have been stopped and questioned at every road and corner! Just the usual “who are you?” questions and “be-a-good-boy-and-don’t-waste-time” advices. We already know that and we were not wasting our time. Its holidays! But i gotta admit there was a pretty high police presence everywhere. Looks like they are taking good care of our city. And i dint see anyone sleeping either.

But for anyone who hasn’t tried it its one of the best things to do. Start at around 9pm. Get a bike or car(surely you are not looking for those MTC buses at midnight!) If u want get some eatables and hit the beach. Why the beach? Because its quiet and you can just walk around and have a peaceful time. Even if its not the beach you can just roam around the city - no traffic no hassles and u got the cool air. Trust me u’l feel like God. Wow! Besant Nagar beach is probably one of the places in the city where shops are open till about 12 or 1 am. There’s Barista, Coffee Day, A burger shop and the local fish fry shop if you are not too concerned about the hygiene thingy. Yoohoo lets get started!

P.S. : There’s one thing about going to the beach at night. But telling your parents that you are going to the night show movie and not going anywhere near the theatre is a totally different proposition altogether!
Have fun fellas!