A Class Act

Old Trafford was crackling with excitement and anticipation, the fans were abuzz and and even the players seemed a little bit extra pumped up. The cheer and applause when Ryan Giggs walked out of the tunnel , as he had done for the last so many years was deafening, but today was different, today  was the first time he walked out as the manager of Manchester United. 

As 70,000 pairs of eyes followed his walk to the dugout, and fans cheered him on, the forty one year old who must have experienced such an atmosphere countless times before, couldn't resist a smile as he took his place in the manager's seat. In the dugout, he was accompanied by Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, part of the legendary Class of 92. The players seemed to have an extra leap in their stride and Manchester United were at there clinical best with a resounding 4-0 win over relegation threatened Norwich. Old Trafford  reached decibels it has failed to reach in recent times yesterday, with chants that hadn't been heard in while now, once again started to ring around the Theater of Dreams. For a while, the recent problems looming over their club were forgotten, and the red part of Manchester finally united to give Giggs a reception worthy for kings.

What a week it has been for Manchester United, losing at the hands of Everton, Moyes getting sacked and the Class of 92 taking over. Moyes's sacking send ripples all around the footballing world, I didn't expect a club of the stature of United to sack a manager to whom they had given a six year contract in 10 months. Stepping into the boots of Sir Alex was always going to be difficult , and even the top managers in the world would have had a run for their money. Sacking Moyes was a mistake but appointing him a bigger one. You don't make a person, who has not won a single trophy in his entire managerial career and who's only experience in the Champions League is two qualifiers against Villareal,  the manager of Manchester United. Moyes lacked the mentality to be a manager of such a high profile club, and just didn't have the winning mentality to carry out such a job. But if  you have chosen him, you don't sack him before he has completed  even one season 

The Class of 92 taking over almost seemed inevitable , but it has caused great excitement , none more so in the United camp, imagine a training session watched over by Scholes and Giggs. They will all command the highest of respect from the players, which wasn't the case with Moyes, with many players questioning his training methods and also his CV. But it will still take some time for the players to get accustomed to taking orders from Giggs, who until Sunday was team member. It's a bit like taking orders in school from a friend who has been made prefect, you joke around with him, but in the end know that he has full authority. He will know what exactly the players feel, being one at the club for 23 years, and what they expect and want from a manager. Giggs and co will be able to get the best out of players like Cleverly and Kagawa.

                                

The decision to appoint Giggs was one well received by the fans, one of their own was going to be taking over their club. The game must have passed in a blur for Giggs, but will live long in the minds of the United faithful. United have had a treacherous season this year, but despite bad form in recent times, the result on Saturday seemed as if it had been decided before, there was no way United could lose. Giggs chose an attacking side, that was very easy on the eyes and yesterday , for the first time this season they played like former champions !  It is still unknown if Giggs will be given the post permanently, or if someone like Van Gaal will take over, and what the future is for United but one thing is certain, the remaining two games of the season are going to eventful for the fans, and more so for the players. 

A Special Breed

So, I was travelling in an auto the other day, when I started thinking about the importance of autos in our lives and what interesting characters these auto-drivers are.

Auto drivers belong to a totally different breed, who show as much interest in their job as I show in politics, which is minimal to say the least. These guys carry over 100  people every day, to different places in the city, but will never have five Rupees change. The auto drivers are the kings of the road; they ride on footpaths, they spit wherever they want, and choose their passengers. Trust me, getting rejected by an auto driver is not a nice experience, but not half as bad as trying to hail down an auto ,only to find it already has an occupant!! In all the times I have traveled by auto, not once have I seen an auto driver admit to a mistake on the road, insulting and mouthing off the driver of the car he has hit seems a better option. When you are travelling in an auto, and he breaks a traffic rule to save time, you bless him, but if the same thing is done when you are sharing the road with him, he is cursed to no extent

Auto drivers are in fact very aware citizens ,and form an integral part of our society. This summer, I went to Delhi, for a week and used the autos extensively to get around the city. One thing that struck me was how up to date the auto drivers were with the whole political scenario , and were up to date with all the ongoing's in the Government. My parents had a good 20 minute discussion with one auto driver about whether a "Modi Sarkaar" would be formed or not, and he was just as knowledgeable as any of us, and raised points that were more relevant than the ones raised by the panelists on the Newshour debate. These guys were very sure they were going to vote and who they wanted to vote for, and their vote wasn't based on past achievements of the party. This other time when we came across a monument in the city and didn't know what it was, the auto guy told what exactly it was, when it was built and who built it.

Over the years, I have had many interesting experiences . There was this one time when I had to go buy some materials for a school project, and by the time I started to head home the Sun had set. After much difficulty I got an auto that was ready to take me home for a reasonable price . Next thing I know he takes a detour saying he needs to pick up someone, and says he will drop me immediately after that, and a minute later I have an unknown lady sitting next to me, and to make things worse, she starts to cry. That useless auto driver didn't even drop me home, he made me walk the last 50 meters home and took the same amount of money. This other time when the driver refused to take my 10 rupee note because there was a small pen mark on the corner of the note and I had to negotiate with him for nearly 15 minutes.

These guys never follow the meter, listen to loud music on their radios,  never clean their auto and basically live life on their own terms, and don't care what others think. But in the end , without them we cannot survive. This idea to write about autos' came to me when travelling in one, and I had collected all my thoughts by the time I neared home, when suddenly the auto was brought to a screeching halt, sending my thoughts in frenzy, my father and I shared a quizzical look, and the driver turned around with a mischievous grin spread across his face and raised his little finger, and went to the wall near the road and did his "job". Just when I thought I had seen everything about auto drivers!!