Football and motivation

Motivation indeed helps a person do better & sometimes achieve something that is extremely difficult.

To support this I’ll give examples of 2 big events. In season 2011-12 of Spanish La Liga Barcelona was the toughest team to beat although Real Madrid won the Spanish La Liga that season. All Barcelona versus Real Madrid (El Clasico) matches were mind-blowing to watch as two best clubs played against each other. Both clubs had great football coaches. Barcelona had Joseph Guardiola & Real Madrid had Jose Mourinho. Although both coaches used to strategise a lot with their players before the game they also used to motivate them. Jose Mourinho had lost 5-0 against Barcelona & revenge was in his mind thus in one game against Barcelona he motivated his players by telling them Albert Einstein’s quote "One day he (Einstein) said that the only mechanical force more powerful than steam, electricity and atomic energy is will. That Alberto bloke was not stupid. With will you can achieve things." & Real Madrid defeated Barcelona in that match. I don’t mean that this was the only quote Mr. Mourinho is excellent with his speech & communication abilities & he may have surely used a lot of other motivational sentences but I’m only sharing on of them. Mr. Mourinho had even shown his humility by telling that he’s a normal motivator & he is the same manager who lost 5-0 to Barcelona but in my opinion he was too humble in that after match press conference.

Just like the above Chelsea football club had entered the finals of Champions League 2011-12 by defeating the Champions League’s top contender Barcelona in the semi-final match to play against Bayren Munich who had also defeated Spanish giant & another top contender of Champions League Real Madrid in the semi-final match. Bayren Munich had an upper hand as the final was in their home ground & they had a more experienced coach of around 66 years of age who had more than 2 decades of managing experience & had won a Champions League with Real Madrid in 1997-98. Unlike him Chelsea football club were with an interim manager, also an ex Chelsea football club player Roberto Di Matteo. He was assisting Andre Villas Boas who was sacked because didn’t Chelsea perform well under him. Some other problems Chelsea had were that they had to play without some of their very good players (Midfielder - Ramires Santos, Defender – Branislav Ivanovic, Midfielder – Raul Jose Meireles & Captain & defender John Terry) as they were all suspended. Chelsea football club’s captain John Terry was given a straight Red Card in the semi-final game against Barcelona for kneeing Alexis Sanchez. These factors made Bayren Munich favourites to win. Another factor was Chelsea football club weren’t performing well in English Premier League, their standing was 6^th whereas Bayren Munich’s was 2^nd. Chelsea football club had enormous pressure to win as without a win they cannot play in next Champions League season as they aren’t in the top four of their league.

Before the Match Chelsea football club’s interim & former Chelsea football club’s player Robert Di Matteo had shown some video clips to all his players. The video clips had messages of the player’s family members wishing them to win the game. This charged the players & gave them tremendous emotional strength & motivation. Although Chelsea football club played away & Bayren Munich at home, Chelsea players looked calm & cool whereas Bayren Munich players looked nervous.

In the match Bayren Munich got many chances to score goals. They got 20 corner kicks & 1 penalty (missed by Arjen Robben) but were unable to take its advantage whereas Chelsea football club just got one corner kick & striker Didier Drogba headed a great corner kick of midfielder Juan Mata to score an equaliser in the 88^th minute which pushed the game to Silver goal.

No goals were scored in the extra time & eventually the match moved to penalties. Bayren Munich’s captain Phillip Lahm won the toss & took the penalty side where it had maximum Bayren supporters again Bayren had advantage but Chelsea scored 4 out of 5 & Bayren Munich scored 3 out of 5, thus Chelsea football club won the 2011-12 Champions League.

It can be Chelsea football club’s luck or Bayren Munich’s bad luck but in my personal humble opinion Roberto Di Matteo’s motivation worked. He also looked calm & serene throughout the game.

Moment with a sweetest female batch mate

Today at a Drug Store I met the sweetest female school mate who had come to purchase Mediker Shampoo. I got to exchange smiles with her after around 9 years. She said "you’ve changed a lot." I felt the opposite for her. I was tremendously elated as she was able to recollect me even after so many years. I felt tremendously ecstatic.

Work for education

Yesterday I boarded in a direct train from Govandi to Andheri while returning from TISS. As it was a direct train it halted at Wadala station for around 10. At around 19:47 hrs a young innocent looking boy with some eatable fried items entered the train’s first class compartment. I was the first one whom he requested to buy his fried eatable item. I told him that I don’t eat these things. He felt low & requested me to buy it as he wanted to sell his first packet to someone nice so that he’ll be lucky & will be able to sell all his packets. I asked him "what makes you think that I’m a nice person." He replied “my intuition.” I didn’t agree & didn’t want to spend any money to purchase something that I don't eat. He then requested me to buy as he’s a student & requires money to fund his education. I quickly without any hesitation purchased his eatable item. He then got down from the compartment by thanking me with a smile.

Thoughts & Reflection: -

This incident made me emotional & sad. Just like this young innocent boy so many boys & girls have to work for their living & for funding their education. Childhood & teenage is a time when a person should get to play, enjoy life, be a bit carefree & shouldn’t have many responsibilities as he/she is going to have a lot of responsibilities, won’t be able to play have to be careful when he/she’ll grow up. Although I’m born in a financially stable family but as my family practices individualism & I didn’t want to be a financial burden to my family I started working at the age of 20. I saved my salary to fund my education. I know how difficult it is to work & study together which I even did while doing my Masters in TISS. So many young children work to generate funds for their education. Many countries have free education system & have many Government schools. They do that as an investment. The more the number of educated people in the country the better is the future of country as the country has skilled labour. The educated people are able to distinguish between right & wrong & their activities are mostly for the welfare of the country.

Problems elderly experience on Mumbai’s rail stations

Exactly 2 months ago on February 18 I was at Mumbai’s Kurla’s railway bridge. A senior citizen aged more than 65 years held me from behind & asked me to help him get down. I asked him to hold my hand & I helped him to get down the railway bridge. He thanked me in the end & went away.

Reflection: -

I don’t intend to share that I did something great as I understand that it was my duty. As Mumbai is a densely populated city all the railway platforms are always crowded. Youngsters & people at their mid-life walk through the platform & railway bridge at good pace. Some senior citizens aren’t able to walk a bit slowly. For some people as age progresses they may experience some health problems hence they aren’t able to walk at their best pace. I can understand that we all remain busy & multi-tasking has become a part of everybody’s life but as a responsible citizen it’s important for us to look in front properly while we walk on railway platforms & on railway bridges. Many people send messages, look somewhere else, are in their own mood, etc while walking. We all should know that not everybody is wealthy to travel everywhere by private transport. Even the wealthy prefer trains as it is the fastest mode of travel. It’s thus important for us to understand the gravity of this situation as one day even we’ll get old & we may also experience the same problem hence walking properly, remaining alert while walking & avoiding bumping senior citizens should become necessary.