WHY MESSI CAN STILL BE MESSI

 

Why Messi can still be Messi?
Because, even close to 40, he still possesses the footballing intelligence to make right decisions at speed.
Let's enjoy it while it lasts
Messi feels like he's closer to closing night just as he has put three past, Luca Zidane, Zinedinen Zidane's son.
Let's enjoy that he's still playing, that he's bowing out playing.
Marcela Mora y Araujo in Times of India 18June2026

"It's an advantage to have Messi because of how he handles the group and pushes it forward.
Because of whom he is.
He doesn't care about individual records. He prioritizes the group and for us it's incredible"

Rodrigo De Paul 
Argentina 

Messi is the first man to appear in 6 world cups
The world waits for Messi to get another moment of thrill.
While his left foot has set the bar and benchmark of footballing excellence, it's amazing that he began his 16 goal journey with his right foot.

And Messi says:

Everything I am experiencing is bonus. I've been fortunate enough to achieve all my dreams or even more than I ever dreamed of achieving, both professionally and personally.

GAYA IN BIHAR

 

                                                     GAYA IN BIHAR           

Gaya achieved yet another distinction when Shubham Kumar, son of a hardware shop owner, achieved the No.1 rank in this year's (2026) JEE, Advanced. He resides in the densely populated Nadiraganj, 3 km away from Patwa Toli, known as the IIT factory. 

Around 200 of the 1000 households in the village boast of an IITian.

Shubhman had moved to Rajsthan's coaching hub, Kota for coaching.

However, most of the students in Gaya are attending coaching at the free coaching centres at Gaya itself. It is a silent revolution in South Bihar. The free coaching centres provide space, material and mentorship to hundreds of students.

Students who have cleared IIT return the favour by supporting newer batches, creating a cycle of mentorship and empowerment.

The local community has embraced the idea of collective progress.

Parents have no hesitation to invest in children's education despite financial constraints. Former IITians happily support upcoming students.. 

Villagers work in powerlooms to fund tuition and educational requirements of their children. They are committed to ensuring that the past or poverty doesnot bar talent from flourishing.

Gaya was earlier famous for the enlightening of the Budha. It had also been well known for the ancestral salvation of the Hindus. But, during 1990s, the Magadh region of which Gaya was a part was notorious for bloody clashes between the Ranveer sena, a defunct private militia of upper caste landlords.and landless labourers supported by Maoist factions. Massacres had marred the lanscape for a long time. 

What is visible today is that families once trapped in a cycle of violence and fear are nutruring engineers and doctors now.

Gaya is a symbol.

The magical transformation in Gaya is before us. We can see that  former students from the free coaching centres who have made it big in the world have no hesitation in lending a hand for  the upscaling of their own brethren. 

Guess what will happen if Gaya is replicated everywhere? 

From fear to IIT dreams, Gaya's quiet revolution
writes Manoj Chaurasia in Times of india of 12 June 2026

RAM MANOHAR LOHIA IN GOA

 

Ram Manohar Lohia in Goa on June 18,1946

"Even if we cannot at once attain our freedom, we must at least think and speak of freedom and build up the strength to strive for it.

Our hope is the strength of the people, that is ever piling up. It will create freedom, no matter the unending trials we may have to crisscross."

(Redone in part)

The Indian Army had liberated Goa from the Portuguese on December 19, 1961.

PRAKASH AMRITRAJ

 PRAKASH AMRITRAJ

For years Prakash Amritraj lived in his father Vijay's long shadow. Today, the former player of tennis has become one of television's most perceptive and distinctive voices.

Prakash Amritraj, son of Vijay Amritraj, stepped away from Tennis in 2010, about a year after reaching a career high ranking of 154. He had felt his passion for the sport was on the wane. 

Two years later, while attending Wimbledon as a spectator, a conversation with Richard Williams altered the way he thought about himself and his career. 

"They (Richard's daughters Serena and Venus Williams) don't even process what other people think about them, especially the negative stuff."

Prakash speaks of the lessons he took from that afternoon, " I thought to myself, what a magical way to exist. Because then, you can focus on what you nactually need to do."

Though he took hiself seriously into tennis again, a shoulder injury at 30 had halted his come back. It was the first heartbreak in his life. 

Heartbreak, in time became motivation. He refused to leave his potential unrealised. After tennis broke his heart,  Amritraj found his courtside voice active.

He rebuilt himself with patience and purpose. He trusted his inner voice. He chased fitness relentlessly. Training was an obsession to him. 

He states his biggest asset is listening. 

He goes by the principle, "When people see someone who looks like them succeed on merit, it expands the boundaries of what is possibe."

And you get the best out of your life....

courtesy Prajwal Hegde Times of India 12June2026

OVERHAUL FOOTBALL IN INDIA

Kota in Rajasthan is well known for its coaching centres. Students accompanied by their parents flock to Kota to prepare for entrance examinations and secure admission in the premier engineering and medical colleges in India. The parents leave everything behind and stay with their children to provide them support in the  endeavour of the children.

When the FIFA World Cup fever sweeps across the world India  has not made it to the tournament. India with a population of 1.47 billion - No. 1 in the world in population -  finds it extremely difficult to put together a team of footballers to compete with the best in the world. It is a tournament where 39 year old Lionel Messi scores a hatrick in the first game Argentina has played. It is a tournament where 40 year old Vozinha, the Cabo Verde goalkeeper, made 7 stellar saves to hold off tournament favourites Spain to a draw in the 90 minutes encounter. 

Indians truly lack the fighting spirit on the football field that they display at Kota.

Football in India is top heavy. The Indian Football Association doesnot know how to manage the game in India. Indian football is in need of a Kota like approach.

India at the moment is incomparable with debutants, Cabo Verde and Curacao, two teams whose exploits in the current World Cup far exceed expectations.k

Cabo Verde with a population of 530000,  is an Island country and archipelago in the Central Atlantic Ocean off Western Africa.

In a thrilling game,they shocked  Spain, 2010 World Champions and current European Champions, with a goalless draw  

Curacao with a population of 158000, is an island  in the southern Caribbean Sea,  north of Venezuela. 

Curacao, rank outsiders, had shocked Germany and the entire world when they had scored the equaliser after Germany's first goal against them. Though they lost out 7 - 1 at the end, they showed they knew how to play the game.

Perhaps, India will be able to compete in the World Cup to be held four years from now if the IFA is dismantled and Football is brought under the direct control of our dynamic Prime Minister who knows how to get things done. 

A drastic overhaul of football in India alone can raise the level of the game in India. Football must be nurtured from grassroot levels. Discover them young must be the constant call. 

If teams from a population of 530000 and 158000 can debut at the World Cup, it is apparent,  the team from a population of 1.47 billion can certainly make its debut there. 

Till it happens, we can draw solace from the happy news that four footballers of Indian origin are representing their adopted nations at the current tournament. 

Sarpreet Singh (New Zealand): An attacking midfielder of Punjabi descent, he made history by becoming the first player of Indian origin to start a FIFA World Cup match

Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid (Qatar): A 19-year-old winger born in Doha to parents from Kerala.

Nishan Velupillay (Australia): A 25-year-old winger of Tamil descent who made his World Cup debut for the Socceroos (Australian National Football Team).

Samuel Moutoussamy (DR Congo): A midfielder tracing roots to the Indian diaspora, representing the Congolese national team. 

It is obvious, we have the talent. But we have to emigrate.

LECTURES NOT THE BEST METHOD OF LEARNING

 

LECTURES NOT THE BEST METHOD OF LEARNING

ADAM GRANT
THINK AGAIN

Lectures are not always the best method of learning. They are not enough to develop students into lifelong learners. 

If you spend all of your school years being fed information and are never given the opportunity to question it you won't develop the tools for rethinking that you need in life.

While a boring lecture would fail, even captivating lectures can fall short for a less obvious, more valid reason.

Lectures aren't designed to accommodate dialogue or disagreement. They turn students into passive receivers of information rather than making them active thinkers. 

Lecturing becomes ineffective when it doesnot propel students to think.

True, lectures preach new thoughts. But they rarely aid the students in developing their own thinking process..

Charismatic speakers can put us under a spell. But we should be persuaded by the substance of an argument and not by its shiny packaging. 

Experiments have shown that when a speaker delivers an inspiring message, the audience scrutinizes the material less carefully and forgets the content, even  as  they claim they remember most of it.

CREDIT CARDS NOT FOR IMPULSIVE BUYERS

 

PRANAV SAKHADEO WRITES ON CREDIT CARDS

in Times of India 16June2026 

Money matters

First understand your income and expenses.

A credit card is not an income

It is not free money

It is not a tool

If there is no discipline credit cards are dangerous.

In the wrong hands it can become debt

In disciplined hands it can reduce the cost of everyday life

Making the most of every Rupee is just part of survival

You need buffers, planning and discipline.

Do not buy something simply because a card offer is available. 

Ask yourself whether you really need it.

Financial planning should become routine

Perhaps it may be a little boring

Never miss a credit card bill

Never pay interest for credit card purchases

Never withdraw cash from a credit card

Never spend beyond the avilable limit. 

You would be charged for going above the limit

Check your credit score intermittently

Keep your credit card utilisation low

This works only with discipline

Before a large purchase compare offline and online prices. 

Check bank offers and decide.

This is how the savings add up.

Not through a magical card, but through repeated small decisions

Choose cards according to your spending

Do not spend according to your cards

Review your cards whenever there a devaluation.

Credit Card devaluation happens when your card issuer reduces the value, perks, or rewards your card offers. It means you would receive fewer benefits than what was originally promised when you had signed up for the card, making it harder to obtain the same return on your spending. 

Do not accept all upgrade offers, if the card does not suit your spending pattern

Do not count fee waivers as savings. 

Treat them as cost control

Impulsive buyers, people who don't track bills, people who spend future income and expenses, people who use EMIs often, people who withdraw cash and people who shop just because an offer exists - these categories of people should not use credit cards at all.

If you wish to hold multiple credit cards, do not start with several at once.

At the beginning of every financial year, sit with your wife or your husband, if you are married and prepare a detailed expenses sheet. If you are not married please do it alone. Factor in inflation.

The annual planning takes about two hours.

After that daily spending mostly runs on autopilot.

Money matters

 

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