Another Sunday morning..

That's right, its yet another bright Sunday morning. With December around the corner, things are beginning to get a bit chilly around here, though I must point out, even a normally pleasant 24 degrees can be termed as "chilly" for us Navi Mumbaikars! This Sunday morning is a bit different for me....no classes, no mock tests, no exam the next day....a welcome change after a really long time. As I went through my usual holiday morning routine of reading the newspaper while sipping a cup of hot South Indian filter coffee, I thought it might be a good idea to share some of the stories that caught my eye, on my blog.

One such story featured on the front page of the Sunday Times of India. The headline mentioned the words "SNS addiction", which immediately drew my attention. Some of you may probably be wondering what on earth 'SNS' is. The answer: something which you and me are very familiar with, and indulge in extensively - Social Networking Sites. Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and a whole bunch of others constitute this select group of websites that have more number of registered users from India than the entire population of most European countries, I would imagine! The article mentions how these sites are increasingly becoming addictive and influencing our lives. It points out how the lives of many people revolve around their "friends list". While such sites have been a boon for most people by bringing them closer and providing a platform for discussions through communities as well, it clearly has a very disturbing negative side. SNS addiction is becoming almost as alarming as alcohol or drug addiction, in the way that it's hard to get out of once you've been trapped by it. Studies, work etc. all go for a toss, and one needs to be mentally strong and be able to exercise considerable amount of self-control to ensure that one doesn't get an overdose of SNS.

Another shocking stat revealed in the newspaper was that only 1.08% of the entire population of India has health insurance!! Ok, now obviously a substantial proportion of these people belong to urban areas and having a decent job. But what about those who are actually in the line of fire: workers working in dangerous locations like mines, refineries etc., or people in areas constantly hit by natural disasters like floods and cyclones, or even those living in epidemic-prone areas. Aren't they the ones who really need health insurance? The problem lies in the fact that most of these people cannot afford health insurance. This is where the government should step in. If anyone can help people in this regard, its the elected officials. Forget all the corruption and bureaucracy existing in the system - just for once, can you not just act like responsible human beings and do your job of assisting your people when they need help??

Hmm....lets see whats on in the sports arena....the Indian cricket team look as if they're about to defeat Pakistan in the first test, unless the middle order throws it away.....India are still actually competing in A1 GP(lol..sorry! actually they've done pretty well...6th...good job Narain!!). Coming to football, Liverpool thrash a hapless Newcastle 3-0, that too with Fernando Torres seemingly having left his shooting boots back on Merseyside for some reason! It truly was unbelievable....I counted a total of 6 chances that, on any other given day, Torres would've knocked in with absolute ease! And how about this for a result...Bolton beat ManU 1-0!!!!(mmwaaaaahahahahahaha to all the ManU fans out there!!) Rest of the results were routine stuff, no real surprises, although Everton managing to conjure up 7 against a decent Sunderland side was a bit of a shock.

I cannot help but mention one article I read in the Mumbai Mirror that had me in splits!! It was about something interesting that happened when the national anthems were being sung during the England-Croatia match at Wembley on Wednesday. A British singer was to sing both the English and the Croatian anthems, and he messed up a part of the Croatian anthem so badly, it had some of the Croatian players grinning at each other during their own anthem. Well, what happened was, he was supposed to sing a line "mila kuda si planina", which means "You know my dear how we love the mountains". Instead, inadvertently, he sang it as "mila kura si planina" which literally means "My dear, my p***s is a mountain"!!!!!! OMG!! How I wish I was Croatian and heard that live during the match, would've had a really good laugh! But what was nice to see was that the Croatian players, crowd and the media took it very sportingly and in good humour, and didnt make a fuss about it. In fact, some of the fans are calling on the singer to become their official mascot for Euro 2008, because it seemed to help their players relax!!! Imagine what would happen if something like this was done to the Indian anthem....that person would've been torn to pieces for sure!

Well thats all for now...guess I'll be back when I have something intelligent to write about! Cheers till then..

-Ari B