The first major upset of the Soccer World Cup 2010

What a match. 24 shots at the goal post, impressive ball possession and still the European champions were left out in the lurch. The Swiss handed the first major upset of the season by snubbing the Spaniards by a 1-0 margin. One of the leading contenders to the World Cup 2010 faced an ignominous defeat, today.

Spain have thus become the latest European champions who have lost their opening group match in the World cup. An interesting statistic is that seven out of the last nine European champions lost their first game in the World cup. France in 1986 and Germany in 1998 were the only exceptions and Spain could not join that league.

Switzerland on the other hand played great soccer to beat the Spaniards for the first time ever in an international game. Spain lost just one out of the last 49 matches as it came into the game, but Fernandes from Switzerland sealed the game against Spain.

Kahaa Chaliiii gayi hai Saaali Khushi ....

Kahaa Chaliiii gayi hai Saaali Khushi ....The title is in Hindi and for those who are unaware of what it means let me translate "where did the happiness go?" In this context, I should mention that Hindi is our Raashtra Bhasha and Raaja Bhasha too and we should all be proud of our State language. We, however see a never so strong craving for English language. I do agree with folks who vouch for English as the global language; however we should never overlook our own culture and our own language in order to prove a point in this rat-race.

Drifting back to the topic, Happiness used to be so easy to find and experiencing happiness was so damn natural, being a child. I used to feel so happy if I would have won a game at marbles or a game of gully cricket. My brother and I used to play in our verandah and those games of cricket used to be so much fun. That was one of the main outdoor activities that I used to have and it used to make me so happy.

Exams were an integral part of life and they did use to scare me so many times, especially mathematics. However, there was so much anxiety as to when we could complete our exams and when we could go out and play gleefully. We used to have a bunch of folks in our classroom including me who were quizzing enthusiasts and we could discuss for hours about the current affairs and the general knowledge ( inventors, discoverers, capitals, currencies and what not ).

Pocket money was not known to us as children. We were occasionally given 5 paise to 25 paise and that used to bring a big GRIN on my face. Independence day, Childrens day and Republic day meant a booty of Re.1 or Rs.2 . Science fairs used to be so happening events. We used to participate in all sorts of competitions viz., essaywriting elocution, singing, debate, extenpore and winning was not always the goal. We used to be content with the achievement of taking part in something where we could make a difference. There were times when we were drubbed out of some quiz competitions in an unfair manner and the feeling of loss was very awkward in those scenarios.

Still, Life was so nice. An occasional cup of Kulfi which my father sponsored was like heaven and we used to look forward to more such occasions. I would stop this blog here and come back with better posts, hopefully. I would appreciate to get your comments, brickbats and whatsoever.