My world

2010-07-23T12:07:00.004+05:30

After almost 4 years of stay at Google,I moved to my own place. It is always good to have your own identity rite? so welcome to sandeepvarma.com

I presume you all will like my new home. Thanks for the support and encouragement, see you @sandeepvarma.com

2010-07-21T17:27:00.003+05:30

My article on e-waste,published in On Sale Express

The mid gap is actually stylish rite? not done purposely but...

2010-07-20T13:54:00.001+05:30

Sebastian Wernicke talks about how to make "the optimum TEDTalk" based on user ratings.

Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TEDTalks) | Video on TED.com

2010-07-17T14:05:00.003+05:30

Nainamvalappu: The football capital of Kozhikode: Part II

N.V.Subair,President-NFFA,says there is so much talent here when it comes to football but lack of facilities is the biggest impediment.

Replica of FIFA World cup trophy, made by this person in wood.There is a purpose for this replica of World cup trophy kept here. This trophy is made in wood. During the final of the World cup when the winner lifts the original FIFA World cup trophy, this replica at Nainamvalappu will be handed over to the respective fan club members!so this time members of the Spain fans club lifted the trophy.

Even I had this rare opportunity of holding FIFA World cup trophy, a replica atleast!

Banners from Nainamvalappu!

Holland fans Club

Some section of the people here hope that one day India will make it to FIFA World cup football! Jai Ho!

The only place throughout Malabar where I saw a banner for Korean team!

Some local heroes playing with legendary Pele (good photoshop work!)

And an entire fence wall dedicated to World cup fixture!

NFFA even has a blog dedicated to football related news.

2010-07-15T20:00:00.012+05:30

Nainamvalappu: The football capital of Kozhikode: Part I

Nainamvalappu, a small town in Kozhikode, predominantly comprises of fishing community.

Founded in 1996,Nainamvalappu Football Fans Association, NFFA is in constant touch with FIFA. They send regular magazines,a copy of the new rules, brochures and miniatures. NFFA has a mini FIFA museum. “This time, FIFA sent us a gold key chain carrying its logo. We have displayed all our curios here,” says Subair, the President of NFFA.

Zakumi banner ,the Official Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Gold and silver plated replica of World cup, key chains, buttons, stickers, all sent by FIFA!

FIFA World cup 2010 official poster!

The original Jabulani, official football of FIFA World cup 2010!

Official postcards of all the entire FIFA World cup matches!

FIFA Bag

Members of Nainamvalappu Football Fans Association, NFFA in front of the office.

To be continued..

2010-07-13T15:30:00.003+05:30

Hans Rosling's interesting TED talk about World population
Hans Rosling on global population growth | Video on TED.com

2010-07-10T13:27:00.001+05:30

Image of the week

Seen three, five and even seven star hotels but what about up star

2010-07-07T16:03:00.003+05:30

World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part VI

This one for the Holland fans!

Found this banner near Nainamvalappu football fans association building in Calicut.You can see some of the fans also, wearing Holland jersey and one guy riding a horse!

2010-07-06T16:10:00.013+05:30

The story of FIFA World cup trophy and it's replica

Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga designed the FIFA World cup trophy. The trophy stands 36.5 centimetres tall and is made of 5 kg of 18 carat gold Produced by Bertoni, Milano.

It weighs 6.175 kg in total and depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. That’s about the original FIFA World cup trophy now,through out my travel in Malabar I happened to see so many replicas of the FIFA World cup trophy!
World cup trophy at Aricode, Malappuram!

This one made by a person named Sukumaran in cement.

It took two days for him to make this. One day for molding and another for painting. He says he has made this World cup for Brazil to win.

This cup was given to the winning team, Brazil in the match organized at a place named Makkarapparamba, near Malappuram and again in Aricode match. There both Brazil and Argentina were declared joint winners.

I also had the rare privilege (as far as an Indian is concerned)to hold the FIFA World cup trophy, I mean at least the replica.
World cup trophy at Nainamvalappu!
There is a purpose for this replica of World cup trophy kept in Nainamvalappu, (considered as the football capital of Calicut) football fans association. This trophy is made in wood. During the final of the World cup when the winner lifts the original FIFA World cup trophy, this replica at Nainamvalappu will be handed over to the respective fan club members!

The person who made this replica!

Myself with the FIFA World cup trophy (replica)! holding the cup for the second time in a week.wasn't that great?

Even my uncle who arranged all the meetings in Calicut was so happy to hold the World Cup!
World cup trophy at Puthanathani!

This is the biggest replica of FIFA World Cup trophy I saw, stands almost 4 ft, made in Gypsum! in front of the Nice Coffee Day!

2010-07-06T12:23:00.002+05:30

Urban designer Mitchell Joachim presents his vision for sustainable, organic architecture: eco-friendly abodes grown from plants and meat.

Mitchell Joachim: Don't build your home, grow it! | Video on TED.com

2010-07-05T13:05:00.015+05:30

Day 4: Puthanathani, Malappuram district
Nice Coffee Day: 2 Argentina, 1 Brazil and 1 Germany please!

Through one of Malayalam dailies, I came to know about this wonderful Coffee shop in Puthanathani, a small town in Malappuram district.

So what's the specialty of this Coffee shop? and how is it related to the football World cup?

This is one sure sign of soccer mania!almost 4 ft replica of FIFA World Cup made in Gypsum! in front of the Nice Coffee Day!

Set of Brazilian and Argentinian juice glasses! Then I met Mr. Khalid who runs the shop, along with Mr. Abdul Karim. So if you ask for juice you are most likely get a menu like this "Brazil, Argentina, England, Italy, France and Germany".

"We wanted to do something very different this World cup , and we came out this concept of naming various juices as leading football playing nations", says Khalid who himself is a juice maker.

And the name is not only in the juice, so you have various tables branded as different nations like

Germany table

Italy, all you have to do is come and sit in your favourite nation's table, the particular juice, named after that nation we come to you!

The Samba table, for the fans of Brazil!So there are like friends, who will come as a gang and once they enter they split and sit in their respective team's table.

You have England table also. He is planning to show the semis and final live adjacent to the shop itself so that people can see the matches while sipping the juice.

So I went and sat in Argetina table and ordered, 1 Argentina please!

And enjoyed my Argentina shake, it was complimentary from the owner!

Later in Chennai at Cafe Coffee Day I found this, but according to me Nice Coffee Day is more connected to World Cup Soccer brand and represents the true spirit of people of Malabar towards Football!

To be continued...

2010-07-02T17:25:00.007+05:30

United flags of soccer World!

Every where you see only one thing, Flags in different shapes and colour. During the World cup season entire Malabar area will be wrapped by flags of different football playing nations. Argentina and Brazil lead the list but you will see flags of European nations also.

United flags in front of a Club in Perinthalmanna!

A Ladies store in Malappuram town

Argentina flag with bulbs!

This Argentina, I would say wooden flag was unique!

The scene at Nainamvalappu, the football capital of Calicut.

To be continued...

2010-07-02T14:02:00.008+05:30

Chennai Social Media Club's fourth session

As a part of Social Media Club Chennai knowledge sharing monthly meetup,Rennie Revin the Founder of Indiblogger.in (A popular Indian community that engages expert bloggers from the country) will be sharing his views and experience on Blogging.

The areas Rennie going to cover are,

1. How to blog successfully?

- Explore common elements of blog
- Learn how to become a blogger
- Find out how to promote your blog

2. How blogger communities established at Indibloggers helps brands in spreading a qualified word of mouth references.

3. The Indiblogger scenario and how can it help bloggers promote their blog.

The event is on July 3

Venue: Jayalakshmi Real Estates, Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai

Registration Fee: Rs. 200 /- (To be paid at the venue)

Looking forward to a wonderful session!

2010-07-01T15:35:00.007+05:30

Day 2,3: Malappuram and Calicut
Offers offers every where

I happened to see this banner when I was crossing the Perinthalmanna town. There was this huge banner placed in front of the home appliances store named Janatha Arcade. The banner said World cup 2010 mega sale.

I got curious to know more about the offers. Lijo, the person in charge of the store said most of the TV brands like LG, Samsung, Godrej and Onida have come up with World Cup offers. Then there was scratch card where one gift was assured. Other offers being Sony is giving a Jubilani, the official football of the 2010 World cup with every purchase of LCD TVs. Then there is cash discount of up to Rs.1000

Mainly clubs purchase TV in this season. On an average 10 pieces are sold in a day. One of the emerging trends in this World Cup season was the group purchase. 6-10 people, mainly youngsters will pool money and buy TV just to see the World Cup.

Here also the main teams have to reach at least in the quarters in order for the TV sales to pick up.

To be continued....

2010-06-30T17:33:00.005+05:30

World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part V

One more for the Brazil fans!

Lots of action in the Banner.

On one side Maradonna kissing the hand of Ronaldinho and saying "Oh God, Now even if I die its ok!". Next to that one Argentina player begging to one Brazil guy, "Please don't thrash us any more" and another guy telling "Guys, lets go, its Brazil".
In the middle there is this 6 pointers on why they like Brazil, all statistics on how many times Brazil defeated Argentina!

To be continued..

2010-06-29T13:47:00.017+05:30

Day 2,3: Malappuram, Aricode and Calicut
Die hard football fans of Malabar! Part II

Argentina Brand ambassadors for Malappuram district!

Shafiq and Nithumon, the self proclaimed Brand ambassadors of Argentina team.

They visit all the near by fan clubs, get a warm welcome, especially from Argentina fans clubs.

Purchased this scooter only for the World cup 2010. spent around Rs.1000 for stickering.
Argentina cars!

Shiju, a business man wanted to do something different in this World cup. So decided to sticker his two cars. He attended all the road shows related to World cup

He spent around Rs 3000 per car for stickering work.

The official means of transportation for Argentina

Portugal and Italy fan clubs!The banner has the complete World cup fixture also.

I saw this person in Brazil Vs Argentina match organised at Aricode. Notice the strange percussion instrument.

Cheer leader for Argentina team in a match against Brazil at Aricode.

Meet Sukumaran, a die hard Brazil fan. He made this World cup replica in cement. It took two days for him to make the World cup. One day for molding and another for painting. He says he has made this World cup for Brazil to win. This cup was given to the winning team, Brazil in the match organized at a place named Makkarapparamba, near Malappuram and again in Aricode match, where both Brazil and Argentina were declared joint winners!

2010-06-29T12:21:00.002+05:30

Ananda Shankar Jayant,renowned classical Indian dancer,tells her personal story of not only facing the disease but dancing through it.
Ananda Shankar Jayant fights cancer with dance | Video on TED.com

2010-06-28T10:58:00.013+05:30

Day 2,3: Malappuram, Aricode and Calicut
Die hard football fans of Malabar! Part I

Throughout my trip in Malabar, I met some real die hard fans of football. They are ready to go to any extent to enjoy the World cup football season. I heard of some people coming from gulf, resigning their jobs, reason? they did not get leave. Lets meet some interesting football fans from Malabar!

Subi from Calicut.who rents out tarpaulin and chairs.

Came up with this interesting concept, he covered his roof top with tarpaulin and made it an indoor stadium!

With two TVs inside, one cable connection and the other DTH. There is a generator also. No way you can miss a match!

The Brazil van at Aricode!, covered with Brazil flags!

The youngest (and cutest) Brazilian fan, met this little fellow at Aricode.

The Argentina Car!

Jabbar with his Argentina Bike, a regular fan in all World cup special road shows, met him at Aricode.

Met this hard core Brazil fan at Puthiyathani, a place near Kotakkal in Malappuram dist. He has spent almost Rs. 900 for stickering his bike.

To be continued.....

2010-06-27T08:47:00.002+05:30

Image of the week

Return of the Demon King!

Found this banner of Ravanan the movie,Tamil version,in front of Kasi theatre in Ashok Nagar, Chennai!

2010-06-26T13:36:00.006+05:30

World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part IV

We cheer for India!

It's not that only Brazil, Argentina and other leading Football playing nations have banners and fan clubs. India also has some supporters. During my trip I saw two interesting banners supporting India. They sincerely hope that one day Indian football will make it to FIFA World Cup.

I saw this poster inside a store at Malappuram town.

The wording are funny, " We want to play!we also have boots and jerseys!"

. The tag line says " World cup committee is waiting for them" day dreaming?

This banner at Nainamvalappu, the football capital of Calicut!
The headline says " One day India will also play in the World Cup." ending with a JAI HO!

Now lets wait for that the day when India will play in FIFA World Cup, JAI HO!

2010-06-25T10:54:00.005+05:30

Day 1: Perinthalmanna, Malappuram District
Crown fashion enterprises- The shawl distributors of Malappuram!

I met Manoj and Anil, two youngsters, in front of the Garima stores. They were about to leave with a bag full of shawls they had picked up from Garima. Manoj works for Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

Their company, Crown fashion enterprises mainly distributes sports related stuffs through out Malappuram district. During World Cup season they take only football related merchandising.“Football is in our blood” says Manoj, who is a hard core Brazil fan, seen in the pic wearing Brazil jersey. I requested for some pic and within no time Manoj and Anil drapped their car with various nations’ shawls.

Messi’s jersey has the highest demand and Manoj has taken around 1000 pieces. Other items include Wrist bands, flags, football itself and shorts.

To be continued....

2010-06-23T14:41:00.006+05:30

World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part III

A set of banners for hard core Argentina fans.

Diego Maradonna in traditional Malayalee (Tamil also)attire!

Now here I see a clear case of inspiration from a recently released Malayalam movie, Pokkiriraja, starring Mammooty and Prithviraj

And look at Messi, also in similar traditional Malayalee clothing of Shirt and Mundu (dhothi)!

Emulating your legendary coach (Diego)in football is okay, but clothing also?

Now the connection, Mammootty is one of all time super stars of Malayalam cinema, same with Maradona, who is one of the greatest in the game of football.
Prithviraj is the young super hero of Malayalam cinema and Messi is no different, is the new super hero of Football and (2010 World Cup?)

To be continued......

2010-06-22T12:37:00.002+05:30

Investor and prankster Yossi Vardi delivers a careful lecture on the dangers of blogging. Specifically, for men.

Yossi Vardi fights local warming | Video on TED.com

2010-06-22T11:01:00.011+05:30

Day 1: Makkaraparamba, Malappuram District
Brazil beat Argentina 4-3, lifts the World Cup!

On my way to Malappuram, I saw this wonderful set of banners, ten of them in a junction. For the first time I saw such a long banner series,later heard from some kids that some where in Malappuram there is a series of 32 banners, a banner each for all World cup football finalists!

There were banners for Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Italy, North Korea, France, England, Portugal, Spain and Germany.
So as usual I started taking pictures of the banners, by the time some students of nearby high school gathered and were looking curiously. So I started my usual chat with the kids about the World Cup celebration. One guy almost screamed in excitement and said that Brazil beat Argentina 4-3. I was bit confused. Because the World Cup kick off was yet to happen and how come Brazil won against Argentina? Then the details started coming in.

The match was a locally organized one for the fans of Brazil and Argentina. These types of matches are a usual occurrence during World cup season in these parts.Players will wear various nations’ jerseys and play exhibition matches. So Sakkir, who used to play for Viva Kerala was the captain of Brazil team and Asif Zahir, ex SBT Kerala player captained Argentina. The match was very thrilling it seems. Around 300 people came for the match.

A local club, Legends Club at Makkaraparamba organized the game.

The members of the club with their favourite team's flags!

And the winner gets the World Cup, not the original one but a replica, this one made in cement by a person named Sukumaran. Later at a Aricode I met Sukumaran and had a rare opportunity, but that's a different story!

The victorious Brazilian team with the World Cup! believe me this will happen only in Kerala, that too in Malabar!

To be continued....

2010-06-21T15:07:00.002+05:30

World Cup football banners: A visual treat! Part II!

My next pick of interesting banner is, am sure will delight Brazil fans and despond the Argentina ones.

Location: Chathamangalam, Calicut district,

Theme: Inspired from the Malayalam saying “1000 Kozhimutteykku Ara Kada”, a rough translation “half quail’s egg is equivalent to a 1000 Hen’s egg “ , the statement underlines the fact that quail’s egg is far more nutritious than a Hen’s egg. Now to the World Cup and the banner from Brazil fans.

Headline: 1000 Messikku ara Kaka, means

“Half Kaka is enough for a 1000 Messi(s)”!

Now how is that?