A must watch

If you haven't seen it before, see it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yILDiU859FU&feature=related

The most famous football save ever, featuring the daredevil Rene Higuita of Columbia with no worries of victory or defeat, just aiming to provide pure entertainment.

You don't get to see such things these days.

Yaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnn

When you reach third year engineering and you appear for your examination, staying awake for the whole three hours becomes the biggest challenge of all.

So near and yet so far

There are very few things in life that are worth losing your sleep over, and in the past few years I had added the Champions' League semifinals and finals to the list of those things. So it was but natural that I fought the closing instincts of my eyelids to (inconsequentially) cheer my beloved Chelsea to glory in its first ever Champions' League final.

I always thought that nothing hurts more than seeing your team put up a pathetic performance (as Chelsea did in the first half, but escaped with a serious stroke of luck in the end), but I was proved wrong in the end.

Apparently, I had forgotten the dreadful record of my teams once the matches went down to penalty shootouts. It began with 2006 World Cup quarter-finals (the unheralded Portuguese trouncing the paper-tigers England 4-1 in penalties), followed up by 4-1 defeat of Chelsea to Manchester United (3-0) by penalties in the Community Shield, 2007.

All that looked to be changing when Petr Cech saved the third ManU penalty from Christiano Ronaldo. The heart of every Chelsea fanatic would have filled with ecstacy and would have pounded in anticipation of the turning of a new page in Chelsea's history. (The foolishly red-carded Drogba ensured that) Chelsea's fifth penalty was taken by none other than the inspirational John Terry, perhaps the last person to be expected to goof-up in a tight situation. But then, even Christiano had missed and luck gave John Terry the slip at the worst possible moment and the penalty shootout was then tied at 4-4.

It only took another couple of successful shots from ManU and a save from Van der Sar (off Nicolas Anelka) to bring a sudden death to all my hopes, aspirations and expectations of victory.

It is said that penalty shootouts are a lottery and most often rightly so. And there would be no denying that after their insipid first half performance, Chelsea fought back brilliantly throughout the match, enough to have deserved their victory, if it was to be.

From the final extra-time scoreline of 1-1, it can be rightly inferred that it was an even match (perhaps, with all the missed chances from ManU and the shots from Lampard and Drogba hitting the post, 3-3 would have been more apt). But sadly, one of them had to lose and even more sadly for me, it was destined to be Chelsea.

The scenes of joy and celebration from the Luzhniki in Moscow would have made me happy for ManU if Chelsea hadn't been their opponents. Anyways, well-played Manchester United, maybe a deserved win, or maybe not, doesn't make any difference now.

As far as Chelsea is concerned, it was the most awfully heart-breaking case of being so near and yet so far.

Philosophical Gyaan - IV

Life is too precious to waste even a moment of it hypothesising about its cause of origin (and coming up with dubious answers)

Philosophical Gyaan - III

Life is too precious to waste even a moment of it doing something that is not required (to be done).

- Funnily, I contradict myself by writing this blog.

Matter of fact - I

We need to complain; hence, we converse.

Philosophical Gyaan - II

Life is too precious to waste even a moment of it doing something that you don't like (to do).

Philosophical Gyaan - I

Life is too precious to waste even a moment of it worrying (about it).

Victory is the cake and revenge, icing

It all begins with a presumed supreme advantage you have on your side, not without the avoidable help of your antagonist. Continuing in that frame of mind, you think that nothing can stop you. You are the ultimate ruler of the world (of the continent, rather). And you prove it with a stroke of talented brilliance.

Then you take a break and savour your pachydermian exploits, utterly unaware of the scheming opposition's urge to get level with you.

The battle resumes and you are oozing with self-confidence (possibly qualifying as over-confidence). You don't expect anything to go against you and you even ignore the consequences of something that might do so.

And when you blink and see, it's a different world out there. It can't be true, you think. But your efficient senses don't agree with your ever-optimistic thought. You even pinch yourself for the dreaded confirmation and grudgingly you infer the seemingly only possible conclusion. But it ain't over yet..........

Shaking yourself out of your self-materialised Edwardian summer blues, you strive doubly hard, you don't want to give even an inch to those consistently over-achieving bloody idiots. But they are stronger than you. Fatigue starts showing up. You yearn for an opportunity to reassemble your physical, emotional and mental strength.

You get that opportunity and you reflect on how wonderful your situation could have been at this juncture if you had decided for it to be so. You repent and you pull out your hair. Even your tears evaporate in the heat of your anger. But then you seek solace in thinking that it could have been worse and the battle hasn't finished yet. You embark on a new beginning, remembering your legacy that made you what you are: special.

You restart with all guns blazing, minus the complacency this time round. The elusive reward now appears within sight but you are blindfolded for a moment and you lose sight of the goal. But you know that it is somewhere just round the corner. And yes indeed!!! You are back with a bang. You are eager to fulfil your potential, do justice to your abilities and you strike a double whammy into the guts of your enemies.

And then you are back to where you started from. A few scattered moments of glory are all that are possible for your opponents to achieve. Plenty of breathing space for you.

And then it's over. You finally win, you soak yourself in sweaty mirth, you dance with joy and relief because this time, it was you who won and someone else who lost and not the other way round which you have been used to and wary of experiencing.

The final whistle becomes just a physical sign of the inevitable occurrence that was waiting to happen for eons.

- This post was specially dedicated to Chelsea fans.