Professional of the Homely Variety!

He is of light medium build with specks of beard littering his round face and a balding head. He has a soft but monotonously lingering way of talking and is often not able or rather willing to concentrate on his work for more than say ten minutes; however, he, in his late fifties, doesn't offend his clients easily and manages to sail through on most occasions. Gunesh is a DTP operator with specialization in the vernacular languages which makes him stay in good demand. He works from his home that is dominated by his proactive better half. And this particular fact of his life does cause quite a bit of inconvenience to his clients. We have some information about a lady who's been suffering because of Gunesh's homely habits that include running off on a daily basis on various errands and desires of his wife even as clients who'd struggled hard to get the appoinments sit on in his homely chamber. 

By some quirk of fate the said lady who stays in a far-off city from Gunesh's got herself entangled in a project with him. And the project has just entered the seventh year without any tangible sign of completion. The lady plans her occasional visits to Gunesh's city and accordingly fixes up a few days work with him, begging him for the favor in a bid to complete the work; but everytime, invariably, Gunesh gets busy during those days and manages to keep the project pending still. 

The exasperated lady now decides that enough is enough. She plans one full week's visit and phones Gunesh in advance to sit with her continuously for a week to finish the work at any cost. As usual Gunesh shows no concern. He nonchalantly informs her that during that week the marriage of his immediate neighbor's daughter is to be solemnised and since traditional marriages in parts of Eastern India are elaborate affairs he will be extremely busy for at least five days. 

The infuriated lady mocks him, "What kind of professional you are? How could anyone afford to not work for five full days for a wedding in the neighborhood?"

"That's very rude, madam! You don't understand! We're very close! And even if I plan to work I can't, because the wedding pandal extends to my workplace!" Gunesh replies sullenly. 

"Why can't you understand that the project needs to be completed! I'm paying you regularly and yet...!"

"In that case take away whatever is in my computer and finish it with some other expert!" Gunesh plays his trump card, definitely not for the first time.

The lady gets worried knowing that finding another language operator is not going to be easy at all. On the other hand this trip of hers cannot be cancelled as she has already lined up few other urgent engagements too. There's no option but to coax him, she realises. 

"After seven long years it's cruel to suggest that. Okay! Help your neighbour and enjoy the ceremony. But please consider my plight too! Please give me at least three days after your five days so that we can complete it in my next visit!" 

"That's not possible at all, madam! It's not entirely because you just mocked and insulted my professional integrity but because after five days of compelling festivities I will be dead tired! I'd need at least two days' full rest! And one day's work is not gonna help you much! Right? So keep it for your next trip and I'll try my best to spare some time for you!"

Football Fever Next: The Much-Awaited FIFA World Cup-2022 Kicks Off from November 20 in Qatar!

The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup-2022, the quadrennial international football tournament, is set to begin from Sunday, 20 November till Sunday, 18 December in Qatar. The much-awaited event, coincidentally the 22nd version on 2022, has several other features: the first time ever it's being held in the Arab world or in the Middle East; the first time it's being organized during the northern autumn season (winter in India) instead of the usual summer months of May, June and July, and this decision was taken considering the intense heat conditions in Qatar during the summer; the FIFA World Cup event returns to Asia after 20 years and only the second time it's being hosted entirely in Asia; and it is the last tournament to be held with 32 teams, the decision finalized in 2017 to expand it to 48 teams from FIFA-2026 to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. The inaugural match will be between host Qatar and Equador at 9.30 PM IST on 20 November, 2022. 

FIFA World Cup-2022 will have 8 Groups with 4 teams each and at the Group stage teams in each group will clash with each other on a round robin basis during November 20--December 3. The top two teams in each Group will progress to the last 16 or the pre-quarterfinal stage with each match on a knockout basis during 3--7 December. The quarterfinals are scheduled during 9--11 December; the semifinals on 14 and 15 December; the third place playoff match on December 17; and the Final on 18 December at 8.30 PM. Barring the first two days and an occasional day thence all days will have 4 matches a day--the first match starting at 3.30 PM and the next three till past midnight that is 12.30 AM the next day. These timings are for India only. There will be 64 matches in all and channel Sports 18 has bagged the telecast and streaming rights in India. This time the tournament has a reduced timeframe of 29 days. 

Therefore, in India this time the football fever will start from the afternoon hours every day instead of mostly the late night hours which had always had special effects of lightening, thunderstorms and pounding rains. France are the defending Champions of 2018, and it's time for you now to fix your favorite nations, teams and superstar players to cheer for all the way. Over to super soccer! 

England White-Ball World Champions! And What of Pakistan and India?

After being crowned with the ODI World Champions title in 2019 England today has completed the global white-ball supremacy by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne. Pakistan has almost done an India just managing to post a meagre target of 138 and consuming 15 overs to score 100 runs after being put into bat by England like in the semi-final against India; but the target came to be even less than India's 169 thanks to Hardik Pandya. However, their famous pace bowlers gave England a hard time and but for the resurgent Shaheen Afridi's injury who was unable to fully bowl the last two overs of his quota the match could've gone down the wire at the death. 

Like India, Pakistan openers failed once again to build the momentum and other Pak batsmen stumbled along, scoring a pitiful 18 runs in the last four death overs. But again, unlike India, they attacked England batsmen from the first over putting up two slips and not at all asking their wicketkeeper to come up to the stumps as if, in India's case, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got converted into a spinner. Like in the semi-final against India the magic-spinner Adil Rashid of England cast a spell over the  Pak batsmen, taking vital wickets and not giving away too many runs. The supposed countries of the legendary spinners and masterclass-strokers of spin have failed miserably to do the needful in the respective matches. 

Thanks to the Pak diehards we at least had a worthwhile Final keeping us glued till the last moments. Both the semi-finals were more agonizing in terms being extremely one-sided rather than only disappointing the respective fans: in the first it was kind of a cricketing enigma as to why New Zealand were so intimidated, not able to play even their usual in all departments of the game; and in the second the Indian scoring strategy, the bowling tactics and changes and the overall defense system were eye-opening examples about how not to play cricket. 

The once-upon-a-time colonial masters of both countries, mercifully, were not much discriminatory in dealing with them: defeating one by 10 wickets and the other by 5 wickets; and not at all resorting to the famous divide-and-rule policy which, unfortunately, continues to dominate politics of both countries. 

Any solace for the two Asian cricket giants? Well, first of all they must realise the fact that none of them looked the Champion stuff from the beginning of the tournament: Pakistan were on the brink thanks to their incredible defeats to India and Zimbabwe and finally they l made it to the semi-final due to another cricketing enigma of the Champion-looking-stuff South Africa losing to the Netherlands, and in a historical perspective, Pakistan always seem to make it big at the sole expense of New Zealand; and riding on their freaky wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh India only needed to defeat the Netherlands and Zimbabwe which they did convincingly after being rendered clueless by the Protea pacers to notch up 8 points-- the only team in the tournament to do so. However, in Pakistan's favor we must say that they tried very hard, winning three successive do or die matches convincingly and then only doing the waiting for the miracles, sort of. 

Secondly and as a corollary to the first both countries must feel contented that one made it to the semi-final which was the best possible result for their 'playing' team and the other made it to the Final against all odds and fighting it out very well too. 

Last but not the least, both countries do have their special areas of country-specific solace: Pakistan performing excellent in the shortest format despite not being a part of the 'empowering' IPL; and India having the solace of being able to defeat Pakistan, however incredibly. The biggest fools are those cricket mandarins and those crazy fans who expected and prayed vociferously for a India-Pakistan Final: pure business considerations for the former and the sheer frolic of the usual but rare subcontinental rivalry for the latter.