Champions League 2006 group stage

World's greatest club football competition, Champions League group stages have been announced. Looking forward to some exciting football. Barcelona and Chelsea have been drawn in one group and the clash between the Spanish champions and the English champions will probably be the main attraction of the group stage.

Group A

FC Barcelona (Spain)
Chelsea (England)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)

Group B

Inter Milan (Italy)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Spartak Moscow (Russia)

Group C

Liverpool (England)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Bordeaux (France)
Galatasaray (Turkey)

Group D

Valencia (Spain)
AS Roma (Italy)
Olympiakos (Greece)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

Group E

Real Madrid (Spain)
Lyon (France)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

Group F

Manchester United (England)
Celtic (Scotland)
Benfica (Portugal)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)

Group G

Arsenal (England)
FC Porto (Portugal)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Hamburger SV (Germany)

Group H

AC Milan (Italy)
Lille (France)
AEK Athens (Greece)
Anderlecht (Belgium)

Vengnuam Incident

Security forces believed to be belonging to the Rajputana Rifles fired indiscriminately towards EBCC Church, Vengnuam, New Lamka on Sunday, August 20, 2006 at around 7:30 pm. Mr Thawngkhanlian s/o Rev. S. Ginjam was killed in the firing and four others injured. Among the injured Mr Thangmuanlal succumbed to his injuries on Monday, August 21, 2006.

It may be mentioned here that deceased Mr Thawngkhanlian was the chairman of Baptist Youth Fellowship, EBCC, Vengnuam and editor of Voice of New Lamka, a local weekly newspaper.

The incident is condemned by all and sundry.

What's up????

It has been a long time since I last udated my blog. I guess, I have fallen into a state of ennui-I have been bitten by the "boredom bug", a state where I started questioning the very purpose of starting this blog. Like my previous blogs, I have a feeling that this blog is also dying a slow death.

I think I do not have the passion anymore-the passion with which I started this blog. I had planned on updating it at least a week but this was not to be. More than two months have passed since my last post.

What have I been doing all this time? I have been thinking, reflecting and introspecting. I have reaffirmed to udate this blog at least once a week. This time I hope I will not break this promise. And I promise to make this blog work just for the sheer joy that writing has given me. The adrenaline rush you get after each post is unbeatable.

So all you guys out there keep checking this blog for my views and comments on all things I love-movies, books, soccer and others. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your stay here.

Leave the kids alone

"Girl who killed herself gets 95% in Class X" screams the headline of Sunday's edition of the TImes of India.

Shaifali Bhan a student of Sanskrit School committed suicide on May 16-apparently becuase she was under pressure to take up science in Class XI, against her wishes.

Shaifali's case is not an isolated one, many others students are also facing constant pressure which eventually leads to stress and forces some to the ultimate act of suicide. Parental pressure is the "trigger" here. Pressure to be the best and pressure to take up subjects not necessarily of their choice.

Subject choices or for that matter careers should be chosen on one’s aptitude and interests-not on somebody’s whims and fancies.

John Grisham-The Innocent Man

The new book by John Grisham, a true story of an innocent man convicted of a crime he did not commit that I had written about in my previous post has been titled "The Innocent Man". Eagerly looking forward to reading it.