Don't underestimate the power of tiki-taka !!

Tiki-taka is dead, tiki-tata, tiki-phata, tiki-la-taka, tiki-nalla ... !! (read marathi and hindi, Indian languages)

After Spain's embarrassing exit from the 2014 World Cup, the tiki-taka is rumored to be dead. Its being hammered down to the ground by the so called futbol pundits who show up like the 29th day of February. I am not a Spanish fan, but seriously?? How could you discount tiki-taka? Its like discounting gravity when Newton died !!

Tiki-taka is the heart and soul of the beautiful game. It was no doubt executed naively by players who are not upto the mark. Tiki-taka was slammed down by the so called total football of the dutch. But tiki-taka is nothing but the refined and more structured version of total football. Tiki-taka defines the beautiful game. It is the sports world example of a well executed symphony of notes. If tiki-taka is the symphony, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi together are the Beethoven of the footballing world. Maybe I am stretching it when I compare them, but they are the greatest composers of the game called tiki-taka. The pass needs to be timed as perfectly as the notes are timed. The ball control needs to be as sharp and crisp as the notes in a symphony. Not without a bunch of flute, clarinet, violin, drum and piano experts can a symphony be staged. Similarly not without a bunch of great football players with amazing ball control, first touch, vision and fitness can the tiki-taka be executed so as to showcase a ultimate high anyone can achieve in football.

To all those who think tiki-taka is a boring affair, I'd say so is a rap song in the same respect. A rap needs to be timed perfectly, needs to have those piercing vicious words tied perfectly with a tempo which portrays a completely superficial, callous and materialistic carnal story. Tiki-taka has a tempo and its slow, like an old bard song which tells a deep story that touches your heart. It has those piercing through balls and moments of individual brilliance similar to a vocalist who can take brilliant music to a new high.

For a physicist and an engineer, its the geometry that inspires friction less motion. For a mathematician and statistician, its the accuracy and precision combined with the probability of success. For a musician its the symphony of notes. For a car enthusiast, its the Nissan Skyline and for a movie actor its Sergio Busquets :)

Play the game before you judge it.

Thank you !!

Its not Freedom of Speech, its lack of Common Sense!!

In response to this:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/mumbai-shuts-down-due-to-fear-not-respect/article4111814.ece

It is a shame. I thought I was a supporter but such incidents make me wish I was not. Although I still believe in the visions laid by its leaders. I respect the work they do towards progress and upbringing of the poor (as some popular newspaper consolidates it, "the Egalitarian World") but detest the petty things they get involved in. It is but a fact that such events soil their reputation. People of this free world denounce and abhor such extremist behavior. What was the need to ransack her Uncle's clinic? She is just a 21 year old girl afterall. Instead of involving the police try reasoning with her. There was no need for an arrest.

It is not that I am supporting her either. She might have written it innocently or just because she was irritated by the fact that she could not go out with friends on a Saturday night. Now people and the press are talking of freedom of speech in support. Well nothing is free in this complex world. Even freedom has a price. The reason I say this is because the execution of freedom of speech in this case was completely callous, ill-timed, distasteful, bland and vicious.

Let me give you an example. What happens if someone in your family passes away at an old age and there are lots of family and friends visiting your house. Vehicles are parked in front of your house and is somehow blocking the neighbors gate. What if the neighbor comes and says the exact same words she wrote on Facebook? Wont you feel bad? Or you should not feel anything because the other person is just executing their right to free speech? Are we humans or robots? I say this because if you think that freedom of speech is without bounds then you are wrong. There is a decent non-callous way to express your irritation. Don't they teach this in soft skills? All this does not mean the ransack is to be condoned.

Now about Freedom of Speech. It is a freedom by birth. No one will stop you from crying the day you were born but if you cry loudly in public at your age today, it is seriously lame and self-embarrassing. As you grow up, you learn that this freedom is not to be abused.  Not to misuse your right to free speech is your duty. As I know it, rights and duties go hand in hand. Use your right so far as to not harm others (physically, mentally or emotionally)[1]. It is common sense.

Please apply Common Sense the next time.


[1] Note that the most ironic and lame part of this law is that you still have to prove that you were hurt physically (probably go to your usual doctor's clinic and get proof of wounds), emotionally (probably go to a psychologist clinic and get proof of emotional distress) or mentally (just a proof is probably not enough, you have to get admitted to a mental hospital to prove this :p)


p.s: The post does not intend to embarrass the parties involved, but if any party feels they are vilified by this post, an apology in advance.

Track and Field :O, are you serious?

After reading this article I realized it, its not Cricket to blame, it is the people, the hypocrites, the pretentious sport lovers to blame. Have you been to any district level games? Have you heard people in the stands (not exactly any stands there, but you get my point) talk? If a girl runs fast, people say there is the next PT Usha. Is PT Usha been forgotten? Before writing this article did the author tried to search what an Olympic Gold medal means to Indians? Is Abhinav Bindra forgotten? Did he not receive a grand welcome? Did the President not congratulate him in person? Was that not enough a pride booster?

Why did the author not mention the Arjuna Award, the Khel Ratna or the Padma Bhushan awarded to Abhinav Bindra? Why does the author tell only a one sided story? The highest civilian award Sachin Tendulkar was awarded is the Padma Vibhushan and so is the case with Vishwanathan Anand. Both of them have been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhusha, the Khel Ratna, the Arjuna award. What was the point of comparing sportspersons? Can we really compare them? Can we compare sports? No, each sport is different. Each individual sportsperson is different. Some like to make money, some don't. Some can endorse any product that pays, some feel a moral obligation to their conscience and say no. They don't feel left out until people like this "author" tease them with such a disheartening article.

I think the problem is not the Indian people, it is not the government (to some extent, yes), it is the Cricket patronizing media. There is money in Cricket and isn't it well known that media sticks to the money making sports. Let me reiterate again, "There is no Mandira Bedi suited in the sexiest Saree and discussing Track and Field on national television".  It is the media that makes money. Media is like a b*** who is just sleeping around until she finds a mate who can deliver golden eggs (Please pardon my French).

Although it is the media that adds spice to the game. They reach billions of people. If the media covers Olympic sports during these 15 days, people get to know their heroes in those 15 days. In addition, 15 days are enough to generate the rush you need for promoting track and field, swimming, gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, shooting, weight lifting, javelin, short put, etc. Afterall, I have learned the rules of Cricket by watching the sport on television and you would agree too. I learned football by watching  EPL, UCL on television. I learned sports by watching it and then trying to imitate the players. I learned sports by watching my coach do it. I learned sports by watching my elder siblings perform in various competitions. I watch the participants sweat in the hot sun, I watch them still go on, I absorb the spirit of sports. It motivates me and suddenly I start loving sports. I say to myself, "I can do it, I will". This is everyone at the age of 5 (+ or - a few years .... don't judge me). This is how we all learned sports. Please do not make fun of it. Address the issues, do not mock them.

Cricket is also a sport and a mockery of any sport is a mockery of the efforts put in by a sportsperson. It is a shame really that we blame this one sport for the bad performance in Olympics? What if Cricket was included in Olympics? Wouldn't there be a pretty good chance of us winning a Olympic gold? Do we always need someone else or something to blame? If anyone is to blame, it is us. We do not try hard and the hardest we try is not good enough. We need to try harder. One sportsperson can make a difference as Sachin Tendulkar did and still does.

I do agree that there is less effort put in sports by the government as well as the people. That needs to be addressed and sad satire is not the answer. Sadistic satirical posts about sports and sportspersons will affect the platonic, non-greedy love for sports in children who are yet to understand the meaning of flamboyance. I know that I had tried my best but was not patient enough to try harder. I respect them who survived the failures. I honor them. Please be patient with sports and sportspersons. India does not have the infrastructure at grass roots level. It is time we make that happen rather than just mock.


The hoarde needs an inspiration. We have several inspirations in the cricketing world. We have but a few in other sports. We need more stars, more competition, more interest. Why don't we become one of them and then talk?


Get your shoes and hit the track !!




Disclaimer: The photo was downloaded from the article. If there are any copyright infringements, please let me know and necessary corrections will be made. 

The C and the D's of India - the extremes!!

It has been long I have blogged. This seems to be a good topic to spend time.

Prequisite reading :

http://raagshahana.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-letter-to-delhi-boy.html?spref=fb

and

http://openlettertoopenlettergirl.tumblr.com/

Stop yaaron!! It looks like this is more of an ego war, who is superior NI or SI (acronyms i'll use for North India(n) and South India(n) henceforth).

I have a question for all of you, who is the judge here??

I think this is more of a "dekhte hain kaun kiski kitni mar sakta hai" kinda war. And talk of the war of words, whoa!! But, instead of such glorified use of a language in these writeups I'd really like to watch two "Indians"(this is supposed to hurt), a NI and a SI fight it live and I'd love the exchange of expletives. As they say, "necessity is the mother of invention", we will get to hear some innovative use of expletives during this fight. I'd enjoy it more because the fight will never end and people will get tired and things will be back to normal again. But whenever you need, you can always broach the topic and there will always be a NI and SI responding to this. Innovative and exciting exchange of words. Fun times!! You know who enjoys your conversation the most. It is entertainment for others :P (Yes, I am mean)

I'd really like to share my two cents. But I have a feeling after this writeup, I'd have fucked my social status.

I believe this is just how we humans survive. We are born and brought up in an average area of mostly 1000 sq. ft. We fight for our existence. It is always good to know you exist socially. For an average SI, the social status is getting good marks and being a geek. If you want to exist socially in SI, it is extremely necessary for you to be a geek. If you are not good at studies, you suck big time. In contrast, for an NI, it is not necessary to be good at studies to be socially active. But it is utmost necessary to have a car and flaunt whatever you have or you claim to have. Now geeks are famous in SI and dudes are famous in NI. Both being an instance of the stereotype "wannabes" in each culture. Forgive me but what is the typical characteristic of a wannabe?? Ego, social status, bleedy/bloody attitude, etc etc !! From experience, I know, if you bloody try to fuck with any of these honorable possessions of a wannabe by any means, what you get in return is "exciting times" :P (yes, I am mean). Good Lord, it is not boring to be an Indian afterall. We always have something to blame our failures on!! An NI would say, I did not get Sabji and Roti in SI, it is too hot in SI, people do not speak hindi, blah blah blah and so I failed. And SI would say I did not get Rice in NI, people are so flamboyant in NI, they do not care for geeks, they are just a bunch of losers with their inherited voluptuous shaved bosoms which attract me so much that I fell for this NI and so I failed to survive in NI. That is why NI hates SI and vice-versa.

As I have said earlier, it is the 35 yards of your neighborhood that shapes your thinking. It is easy to live life within those 35 yards because you have a social status in there. And this status is dependent on whether you could live up to the expectations of you neighborhood. This shapes your actions. You will always try to succeed in your neighborhood. In SI, if someone you know had cracked IIT, it is incumbent on you to clear the exam and get a better rank to beat that SOB. In NI, if your neighbor buys a new car, you have to buy a better and more costlier car just to beat that SOB and regain your honor!!

Being brought up with these expectations, you develop similar traits and probably live upto the social standards set by your neighborhood. But the real challenge in life is when you move out of your comfort zone. You have to adjust to the new social standards set by the new neighborhood. Some people just blend in to the new environment and live life as it comes. Respect to all such people!! But a few cannot adjust. They remain geeks even in Delhi. They still wish to flaunt their new Ferrari in Chennai (ok, some lesser brand but you get my point!!). But you still remain a social outcast. Don't cry, suck it up, this ain't gonna work.

Finally if I were to choose between Delhi and Chennai .....

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Did you really expect me to give and answer and put an end to all the exciting times ahead, you Suck !!

Swades - "we the contemporary youth" --- ohh really ??

Born in a hospital, inhaled oxygen from whatever air was available (polluted/fresh ... i do not know) I started to walk, I remember the first day in school, I grew up, played football, played cricket, venerated Sachin, challenged myself to run faster than others in 100 mts (though today I am not as fast as I used to be), sat on the rooftop with friends to solve group D problems (self study, 1051 etc), passed board exams, congratulated friends, went home. And so was the life of all of us in school.

A few days later applied for admission in Junior college. Was confused, many different forms for different people. Some of my friends took the white while some took the yellow ones. I did not understand what is going on. Asked one of my friends.

He : Do you come under reserved category?

Me : How do I determine that?

He: Ask your parents.

Asked my parents ....

Me : Dad, what is reserved category?

Dad : Why do you care?

Me: We have different forms of different colours for each category, What is this category stuff anyways ?

Dad : Well you just take the unreserved category form. Category is a long debate. It is not time for you to think about it. You just need to study, get good marks and go ahead in life.

Me : OK

The next day. Talking to my best friend.

Me : It is the unreserved form. Which one is it?

He : the white one.

Me : ok. (Ordered two white forms)

He : why 2 ?

Me : For us.
He : I need to take the yellow one.

Me : Why? Do you come under reserved category?

He : Yes.

Me : ok. Anyways what is the difference?

He : I do not know.

So when I went home and told my mom about this reservation thingy, she said "Well you will have to score more marks than your friend if you want to get into the same college as your friend ...."

Why is my mom talking so nonchalantly about this and why the heck do I need to score more marks than him. We have studied altogether all these years, we will study together again and would nearly get the same marks.

Mom : Well you have more competition and lesser seats available than ur friend ....

Me : What the hell !!!

Mom : Ask your dad.

Both of us got science stream with vocational electronics. Studied ... passed 12th .... and CET. Applied to Engineering .... wanted COEP (actually IIT's but could not clear the mains .... crap) but got into PICT. My friend got COEP. I realized I was separated from my friends due to this shitty reservation thing.

Reservation of any form is not healing the differences introduced by caste system. At the same time, I do not agree that the age old Indians who introduced caste system were dumbos. They did whatever was right at that time. The sane people of old times just did not have the vision for the next thousand years. They underestimated the presence of GREED in people. As it turns out the old greedy brahmins made most out of it since they had all the powers. The situation is no different today. Greed rules and when we have power we are reluctant to change. The people in power take advantage of the powerless. Politicians' kins enjoy all kinds of walkaways from all sorts crime right from rape to murder. Politicians breed gundas to serve them in need. Even the President enjoys traffic free rides in "His/Her" ambassador along with the cordon of security professionals clad in safari suit and Ray Ban glasses :P An ambulance is given less priority than the president(seen it with my own eyes). The life of an Indian national is less important than the traffic free ride of the President. Anyways lets not digress.

Reservations will never mend the situation in India. Instead it is acerbating the differences introduced by the age old and obsolete caste system. The government thinks or rather proposes that reservations will bring equality and justice to the underprivileged. What is reservation serving? Nothing, except guaranteed admission to the premier institutes in the country even though one does not score good marks? I think the real underprivileged people crave for honor in the society more than admissions. What is the government's plan of action to reinstate the honor ?? Instead, the government issues official caste validity certificates to the SC/ST, OBC and other caste families, duh!! What needs to be eliminated is being officially recognized in the country based on the family of birth.

This is leading to a lot of pressure on the school going children. The non-reserved category students have to scuffle through this tough competition. They no longer bear any scruples for cheating on their friends. All the sensitivity, childishness, purity is lost. Most of all the creativity is lost. A child who is skilled in arts is forced into engineering. Parents have started acting like consultants for their children. Think objectively right from kinder garden?? The probability of the child to become one of the greats (like Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar, A.R. Rehman, Baichung Bhutia/Cristiano Ronaldo, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam) is minimal as compared to the safe path of pursuing engineering and getting a job in an IT company with a decent salary. I mean what are the odds, one in a hundred billion compared to a billion in a hundred billion??? And my argument, if I venerate Cricket, do I need to be Sachin?. If I love football, do I need to get a place in the Indian football team?? Let the youth play for fun .... let them enjoy the fun of sports and not think of the monetary gains. Having said that, the counter argument says, "more than 50% of Indian families are middle-class. All that the middle class thinks about is having a decent apartment, a decent 4-wheeler and a good salary."

Let me share an example. A university is offering 100 seats for a Computer Engineering program.

Total : 100 seats

Reserved category : 50 seats

Reserved for women : 33 seats

Remaining seats : 17 seats

The situation in South India is worse. In south India we have 75% quota for reserved category. Plus the newly introduced "Women's" quota.

I think you can imagine why there is a increase in sale of anti-depressants among the youth. We can see the loss of creativity. Most of the new Indian films are the degraded version of their Hollywood counterparts. I do not know of any great painter from India. I do not know of any sport being financially capable of atleast proper training facilities other than Cricket in India. I do not hear any parent bragging about their child being among the top athlete in their state. Instead even though their child is one of the top athletes in the state, children are forced to leave athletics for their greater good!!!

I say, all this bourgeois thinking will dour the creativity of a child ....

The great leaders said, "the students, the youth of India are the designers of future India" But if the creativity is lost, who will design the future of India? The government never learned from the British. It is known to every human on earth that the british used "divide and rule" policy in India and were very successful in overthrowing all of the opposition. The Indian govt. is dividing the people or rather the youth on the basis of caste. The young brawny minds of future India should not argue over the situation of caste and reservations. If they start arguing, India will be further divided.

If you ask any SC/ST or a reserved category student to have his thoughts on reservations, he/she would rather act diplomatic since they do not want to hurt their non-reserved category friends. If you ask a non-reserved category student he might go on and on (like my post) without any end to it. What I would really like to see in an "average" Indian youth is that, we should understand that we need not give in to the imperfections of the government. We have better things to do !!!!

The Indian Dream (Football)

I came across this write-up and could not resist but react.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/3294/the-indian-dream/2010/06/20/1985857/the-indian-dream-dont-blame-cricket-blame-y#comments


I would say it is the fault of the Indian media. They give more importance to what makeup Katrina is wearing or what bikini Bipasha is endorsing .... The media never reported Dempo winning the I-league or had day long discussion on I-league with Mandira Bedi wearing the sexiest saree available and repeat this telecast for days together..... The media made IPL the way it is. We do not see large columns or catchy taglines in newspapers about football. Or in a sense I would say ... since fball is smooth sailing ship in India which noone boards just because there is no money involved. Or we see no controversies surrounding fball with politicians or glamorous people from bollV getting involved into fball ... or Shilpa Shetty dating an Indian fball star or owning a fball club ..... The best an Indian player can do outside India is play for Kansas city (might not be even compete with the fourth league teams in any european league)

In India fball is taking a turn, dont blame others for not knowing the fball players in Indian team... why the hell should we know the players in Indian team? They never play the best fball.... I watch Sachin not because he is called God of Cricket, I watch Sachin playing because he plays with such grace that we can learn form him.... Watch the smaller leagues, 5 a side tourneys and all... u'll get the feel of fball in India. fball is improving in India just because of the impression of UCL and EPL on the youth. We watch these great teams play and learn from them. Do not tell me that Man Utd is a overrated club in India. It is the 1999 trebble that generated the interest of people watching EPL and UCL in India. More than 50% of youth in India love Rooney playing for Man Utd (even the chev fans or the scousers agree that Rooney is a great player though they usually accept the fact with some negative content, he is just a bully) ... Most ppl only know Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo, why ?? They have a lot of presence in the media than any other players in the world. Very few youth watch the Spanish league and watch Messi play in the Spanish league. Most of them watch Messi playing only in UCL. Why? It is just because EPL and UCL has more presence in the Indian Media (ESPN and STAR SPORTS atleast) than Spanish league or Bundesliga or in fact there is noone watchin the Copa American leagues just because it has no presence in the Indian Media... No one cares who won the Copa campionship. The endorsements and the money that ESPN and STAR SPORTS get for showing EPL and UCL (Ten Sports) is what made fball more presentable to Indians and thus we begn to atleast watch fball....

I remember watching ONGC Nehru cup when I was in 5th grade or so when the final was played between India and Pakistan (it was the only reason I was watching the match) I was amazed by the passion of Indian fball players. It is then I started respecting fball. The Indian players were playing with such passion that noone was ready to get substituted. In a way this is lame. It shows the weakness of the coach or manager. But the Indian captain sacrificed himself for the sub. And finally India won. I was elated by the win. Start having more such matches. Have India Pak play more matches in a league. Let the passion spread ... atleast India vs Pak will attract the Media. The fball players will have their names printed on our TV screens, let them get some fame.

I remember that Bayern Munich played a exhibition match against Mohan Bagan at the Salt Lake stadium in West Bengal and it got some media cover just because it was Oliver Kahn's last game before retirement. I remember that the Salt lake stadium was packed with more than 1 LAKH AND 20 THOUSAND spectators. Yes, for the fball noobs in India, the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata stands second in the world in terms of capacity. It is in the league of May Day Stadium(North Korea), Camp Nou (Barcelona), Estadio stadium (Mexico), Soccer city stadium (SA) and Wembley (ENG).

Has anyone from India other than the ppl in Kolkata cared for the biggest derby of Indian fball? West Bengal vs Mohan Bagan. The passion in Kolkata is so high that Kolkata witnessed riots concerning a controversial decision by the referee.

The effect of media is not hard to recognize. Just hint about Lakers or introduce Kobe Bryant in the after dinner talk and most of the Indians who went to USA will start on it at length, "Lakers got their sweet revenge, didn they? There aint no sport greater than basketball … ". Or an insinuation to Super Bowl will make u suffer the long ardent talk about American fball. An Indian watching American fball for the first time is surprised to know that catching the fball is not “hand balll” in America and to watch the same person getting emotional about Super Bowl is something special. The media does play a very important role to guide our interests.

I know a player of Indian origin ... he plays for Atheletico Madrid, used to play for Sunderland ... "Michael Chopra". Some ppl say he makes India proud. I say, he feels nothing for Indians being proud of him. He is of Indian origin but not Indian. Did India made him the player he is today ? No, it is his own determination, hard work and instincts that made him the player he is today.

A big finger (in fact a "moving finger", fans of Dr. Sheldon Cooper would understand) to whoever says that we do not respect Indian fball. We are Indian fball, we are the hoi polloi of Indian fball. It doesn’t matter which league we ardently follow or which club we support or the colors we wear, the fact that fball is not in Indian blood or was never so cant be wiped off. We watch good fball and learn to paly good fball. Let us take the wrong turn if you feel so. I can’t just pick up a team from the I-League and start following it. After all why should I? Just for the sake of it ??? Let us say that I follow Pune FC just because I have been in Pune for more than 6 years. But the fact remains, I do not give a shit if they lose, I do not get goosebumps when PFC scores in injury time or PFC draws against Mohan Bagan. It is about time fball in India has to revolutionize. It cannot be done by encouraging people to pick any team form a list and hope they ardently follow it. VJ Mallya invested 8 crores in Indian fball (the Indian colors endorsed Kingfisher for some time) and to what result....nothing? At least I cannot say that Suni Chhetri or Baichun Bhutia is my role model.

Welcome to the island....

I had this crazy dream a few days back. Wanted to write about it since then.

It was a sunny/damp Mumbai afternoon. I was standing in a row for the visa interview. Afterall I had secured admission in one of the best Universities in the world. Its my turn. Went inside. The VO scurried around some docs and then turned towards me.

VO : Hi

Me : Good Afternoon Mam.

VO : Okay, so I see you have all the financial docs, I-20 and other materials. But ..

................... freaking silence .................... nerves .................. still silence ........................... she was not able to find some doc. I decided to break the silence

Me : Is anything missing Mam?

VO : Ahh, here it is ... the LIST

ME : what is this LIST?

VO : It is Jacob's LIST

ME : ~confused~ Jacob??? :O :O

VO : Yes, you are indeed special .... {freaking silence ..... like they have in Indian Idol before announcing the anticipated result } (sudden thought of Wendi Miller came into my mind, I am special) .... still silence ... f***

VO : So, Jacob has listed you. Welcome to the island and enjoy your stay. ~smiles~

ME : ~confused~ Thank you.

A few days later I board the "Oceanic 815" .... ~Deja Vu~ I thought. A few moments later ....

I am on the island ... All I can see is a crashed plane, and a few other people around me. I do not remember what happened. It was like we crashed ...... Suddenly I see "Hagrid" guiding the way. He was saying

"The University welcomes you. Follow me. Do not get lost" ~his looks zoom deep into my eyes~

I joined the congregation.

A few miles offshore, Hagrid lead us into a HATCH .... ~Deja Vu~ I have seen this HATCH somewhere ... I just cant rememb... fuck shit... Desmond used to stay here.... shit am I on "the island", the island that moves through space time continuum whenever a bronze age wheel is turned???? I am one of the freaks !!!!!

Suddenly I see a lot of candles suspended in the air. (WTF) A grating voice of Locke is heard. Locke appears from nowhere at the podium and

"Welcome to the Island my friends, I am the new Dean. Some bad news first, Jacob is dead". Then suddenly ~the weird black smoke monster sound is heard~ .......

The next thing I see is a lone orient fan rotating anticlockwise. Shit, it wasn't real ???

p.s. : I was watching LOST since a week (se01 to se06 completed in a week's time)