This is Gangsta sh*t - The unusual begining

Well, what can I say, this blog post was due long back and I believe it is important to understand how the hostel inmates or the student community get along with their social life inside this campus. It took me almost one year to analyse the trends and make a record of them.

So let me not get into more formalities and get to the point straight away. And a warning to everyone, if you think you fit into any one of the descriptions, good for you because I am not taking any responsibilities for your broken feelings and I don't give a rat's ass about your backlashes or the "yeh tereko bahut bhaari padega wala" look.

Gang Name :- The Rostovs

Turf Areas - Food Court

Gang Description

This gang is present in every batch, it has a strength of 30 people to say the least. Usually seen hogging together in the food court, be it breakfast or lunch or dinner, nothing can break this family's will of hogging together.

This gang is easy to spot, if you find a group of clueless people roaming around without knowing where to go after their supper, you have found the Rostovs. This a powerful family and the family members are well protected.

It is nearly impossible to take them on single handedly, so please do it at your own peril.

Known Foes

Generally known for their peace loving ways, they don't have enemies as such. But they generate enemies dynamically when they go together for their midnight coffee, the order usually including 30 coffees and 30 maggies, its a sure thing that everyone else going to food court after that wont find anything.

Gang Name :-  Chirkut Gang

Turf Areas - Hostel Rooms (kahin aur nahi chalti inki)

Gang Description

I am going overboard here by calling them a gang, these gangsters come to life when everyone else is sleeping. Chirkuts can never be seen in the college most of the time as they are confined to their hostel rooms.

I can't say that they like being peace lovers, but to be frank they don't have any other option. This gang is famous for producing atleast one 4 pointer in every semester. This gang usually comprises of all boys or all girls with a  strength of atmost 5 people.

Known Foes
Well I would be glad to write anything here, you need strength to have foes and hence this section will be a simple N/A for this gang. (No hard feelings people)

Gang Name :- The Geek Squad

Turf Areas - All the labs and staff rooms

Gang Description

This is the uber geek squad and an almost exclusive gang where entry can only be earned by proving your coding prowess. Any solution with a complexity greater than O(nlogn), you will never be a part of this gang. The faculty loves this gang and this gang has the notoriety of churning out Algorithms and Data Management TA's.

Usually good at heart, but can be very cocky in class. They come up with solutions that are out of this world. Many wannabes who have tried gaining access to this elite club have been thrown out into such a dark hole of discreetness that they now fear to write even a prime number program or the much famed palindrome program. Never try to take the member of this gang even when you are in full strength because he/she can single handedly create a segmentation fault in your brain and can make a "file not found" out of you.

This gang may be small but their weapons of mass destruction includes Convex Optimization, Red Black Tree, Modified Heap Sort and a wide array of heuristics that even Karmarker  and Khachian would be proud of.

Known Foes - N/A simple because a certain individual once told me "Hisaab sey pishaap karo aur aukaat mein raho"

P.S :- There are still many gangs to cover and I believe if Peter Jackson can do this trilogy thingy, so can I.

There is "History" behind every engineer!

Follow your dreams they said, never give up they said, follow your heart they said and listen to your mind they said.  It all seemed fine until I realized, my dreams said one thing, my heart said another thing and clearly my mind said something else. Maybe this was the standard case of confusion that engulfed me into a rhetorical stateless state until my father came in and said “Son, it’s either my way or the highway!”

It was a moment of euphoria when I discovered that after my two years of hard work preparing for entrance examinations for engineering, I had managed to secure a BA Archaeology seat in the famed Loyola Academy, Secunderabad and No, I did not screw up my entrance exams.  Despite all this success, I was not happy pursuing my dream. This was clearly because my guilt conscience had started to overwhelm as I was on the verge of wasting my father’s pay-checks on two years of expensive training for nothing.

For me, the definition of passion was something different, my passion never told me what to do but it always made me to trust myself, which I think has been my biggest strengths. People talk about having passion for particular activity or hobby, but in my case the passion was all about fortifying the trust I had built between me and my conscience. For me, it was always about how truthful can I be to myself, and I feel passion inherently tells you that if your heart is not set into it, you better get out of it as soon as possible.

I knew archaeology was my forte, and I am saying this because history always fascinated me. I still remember the times I pleaded my father to go to museum, and I always wondered where the museum got its artifacts from. Be it the Archaeologists who burn their skin in the Egyptian deserts searching for lost tombs and pyramids or be it the paleontologists who spend their whole lives in search for prehistoric evidence of life on earth. 

I spent my childhood seeing documentaries on Discovery and History channel, and I must tell you, if mystery is something that turns you on, nobody does it better than these channels. I used to imagine myself exploring the thick forest regions in India, searching for ancient ruins, lost temples and ancient colonies.  The adrenaline rush I get the moment I think about being in an exploration team in charge of finding the lost city of Atlantis is truly unreal and out of this world.

There exists a fine line between being realistic and being impractical. This small difference could be the reason behind me being an engineer today instead of an archaeologist. It was never a question of suppressing my interests and goals in life, I was sure about me being an archaeologist, but it was never a feasible option for me as far as my financial future was concerned.

“Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” – Hillary Clinton

My father always had a major say in what I am today, for which I am grateful to him all my life. From the outside, my story of life would sound more like a boy whose dreams have been cut short by his parents, but in reality, if my father had not been their during my major decisions, I would have not seen the world I am seeing today.

I have seen movies where the kids feel vindicated when they prove their parents were wrong in interfering with their careers, I never understood that why on many occasions we kids forget our parent’s intentions in their interferences. My dad knew what was right for me and I trusted him, which was by far the sanest decision I have ever taken till date. I might not be an archaeologist today, but that does not stop me from being good in whatever I do. I do not have regrets in the decisions I took nor am I going to complain that my parents were wrong in interfering with my career interests. And this is where I say, trusting the person within me and understanding my parents were the two priceless lessons I have gained during important junctures of my life and as far as my interest towards archaeology goes, the archaeologist inside me will be alive for ages to come.

“It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” – Carlton Fisk

The road less taken - a journey with douches and jerks!

Never knew things would fly so fast here in Bengaluru, not that I hate when time flies, but it did seem too fast. Now I am going to use the most common phrase mentioning this year as "Roller Coaster" ride, met new folks, some I liked, some I din't. For the ones who are on the evil list, no offence folks, that's who I am, if I like a person I make sure I do everything to be the reason for their smile, even if that involves cracking a joke on myself, just anything.

If anyone of you see your name in this blog entry, then you have at some point of time made a mark in my life

Uddipan Dutta - Pocket sized dynamite. My Brother from far North East. A glorified jerk with a heart, a combination I thought would never exist. Green revolution and global warming enthusiast. He takes pride in pissing off people and zipping their mouth. Talks of finishing blood lines and family trees. Please advice caution.

Prateek Singhai - He is the epitome of humour, he himself does not know what it means to bring a smile on someone's face, and this guy does this on a regular basis. A passionate Indori, will do anything in exchange of 'sev parmal'.

Vineet Joseph Kumar - Evil, Pure Evil. This lad is good at politely saying how shameless and jobless you can be, which each one of you would gladly smile and accept as if he has just praised you. Has a knack of identifying stupidity at an alarming speed. Warning, Please don't piss him off, he has very low tolerance for stupidity !

Vikas Korjani - Can be irritating, but to say the least, he knows when to talk and what to talk. He has been there for me when i needed help. I will remember this!

Jatin Chaudhary - Well being the chairperson of Nawab Mukti Morcha, this guy can be a douche at times but he is good at saying "you suck" on the face, for which people thank him. On the other hand, he is the guy I would go to when I am confused and need genuine advice. He has been more like an elder brother I did not have.

Rahul Venkataramani - Yes, Mr. Maanik Baasha, well I do not know if I have a 'paandu kismat', but I was forced to be his alarm clock for a whole year. Apart from his disturbing sleep habits, we kind of share the same tastes in terms of music and literature interests. Top Guy!

Maninya - Not sure if I should say this, but what the hell. She knows her game, carries herself well and can be wicked. Has been a ray of hope to all the tambrahms who have taken the road less taken. If in future when machines rise against humans, we both are going to kick some serious metal butts. Because we both believe that the 'FORCE' is always with us! *hi 5*

Sangeetha - My initial impressions of her were that of an innocent and sweet girl. Well I was right about the sweetness, but definitely not innocent. She knows what being independent is all about. I was impressed!


Amrita Kaur - First impressions can always be wrong, and I was vindicated of this fact with this bindaas person. She is like the little sister I do not have. Good company, good critic and she makes this amazing bhel poori!

Sumit  - Our very own version of Peter Parker, there are very few on this planet whom he tolerates. Utters words that make sense in situations deemed as senseless.

Priyadarshini - The poor soul who has tolerated me for close to a year. Insanely down to earth and extremely good at sleeping. But on the bright side, a good friend!


P.S: If your names do not appear in this blog post, please do not be under the impression that you have made it to the other list. It's just that I am lazy a** ranter. For those who shall not be named, Winter is coming!

Thanks to the people mentioned above, I will always cherish my first year at IIIT Bangalore.

Disclaimer: Those who think I am no one to judge people let me make this very clear, this is my blog, my perception and my ideas. You would be mistaken if you thought you had a say in it!

Later,
Karthik Kunjithapatham

What do you know!

Everybody gets to be a dork at times!


Courtesy - 9GAG

Meanwhile a random rant!

Courtesy - http://failblog.org

AARAMBH HAI PRACHAND!

For once I wished somebody knocked my hostel room door and said " Sir Loondry", the fact that weekends are awesome, but when you look at the pile of clothes that needed some cleaning, you really start to realize that, weekends can actually make you feel grumpy.

Coming to the point, the college is on high spirits after the end of the prep sem, well for a certain few like me, retest(s) loom, but for most of the gyanis, things to look forward are the SAC elections.

SAC, the CCA wing of IIIT B, is in search for dynamic personalities who can transform and inspire the rest of students to showcase what they are really made of. For one reason, if i started showcasing my talent, then i guess a certain dance industry existing in Bombay would have a problem with me.

In the best interests of the students, I would personally like to recommend a certain Jatin Chaudhary. Many would ask on why a vote should be directed on someone without knowing about an individual's caliber towards decision making and leadership qualities. Many remained puzzled on who would be the ideal candidate, and started browsing every face and ask, is he/she the one?

Few individuals came to a conclusion that it is important to search for the candidates, a special body was needed which can identify the chosen ones, so that the responsibility of SAC falls in good hands.

The need for a dynamic leader looked imminent, the fellowship of the individuals was named as Nawab Mukti Morcha whose only goal was to search for a leader. The fellowship spent a lot of time thinking in the loo on who would actually lead by example, and one fine thursday morning, all the committee members had come up with one name, none other than, our dada, Jatin Chaudhary.

On friday night, NMM proudly announced Jatin as the party leader, the unofficial statistics confirmed that Jatin has a stiff competition to face, but we were confident and we always cheered, "YES...HE CAN!".

NMM party workers welcome everyone to join them in their occasional slogan chants

"Nawab mukti morcha...aaahooo...aaahooo(300 style)"

Jatin's and NMM's party pillars

1. Banish the groupism based on regional backgrounds
2. Prateek and Vikas Chacha's music classes for all
3. Birthday cakes are for eating, holi colors are for playing
4. No obscure* display pics on fb/twitter/myspace/orkut
5. Ban on aandu pandu status updates like "going to take a crap" or "going to sleep" on social networking media

* - (meaning no Sheila, sachin, rajni kanth, kung fu panda, rahul gandhi, balakrishna, Inspector Daya, ACP Pradyumn ,etc)

NMM followers now know who deserves a place in SAC, and now its time for you to decide if Jatin deserves a spot or not, I leave the decision to you!

In the end, I leave you with your ideal candidate Jatin, feel free to stop and interact with him, SAC member or not, he is always a leader and we love our dada.

P.S: Doing laundry on sunday is a very bad idea!

later

Karthik Kunjithapatham

Kunji_Baba's internet activity - http://www.lolblog.co.uk/

P.S: If you find the above article offensive, all I have to say is, I really don't care!

Disclaimer

All the credit should be directed towards the original author which is not me.

The above article is work of lolblog.co.uk author rat_attack.

Gangs of IIIT Bangalore - Part 1

My first ever post from my new base and it has nothing to do about how my past 3 weeks went here at IIIT Bangalore.

Ever been in a situation where you stand with your mouth wide open and your insides scream "WTF"?

The above line quite sums it up on my stay so far here at IIIT Bangalore.

Enough on the bad stuff, coming to the good stuff, it is the people around you that make this place quite special. Agreed that it is still very early and judging is not going to help anyone, but so what, at least I am quite content with the company I have here, and I guess most of you wouldbe feeling quite same.

Talking about an open secret within the premises, there are two major gangs operating

The Northies

• Always seen in smaller groups, but found at every corner of the campus
• Known for their “bade dil wala” attitude
• Always crib about missing momos or parathey wali galli in chandini chowk
• Dal chawal and achaar is a must for every meal
• Prefer samosa for breakfast over other breakfast options

The Southies

• Always flock together
• Known for their "always there to help!" attitude
• Tend to gulp down a lot of filter kaapi
• No sambar, no meals!
• Prefer Masala Dosa for breakfast over other breakfast options

Still a long way to go and a lot many to meet, which is good because every person is different in their own ways.

P.S - No offense intended guys, just an observation. More to come soon, this time covering the central, western and eastern gangs, though a minority, but always with a shout!

later

Karthik Kunjithapatham

All is well, I guess...

Good day folks, Bangalore looks quite a happening place despite its congested roads and reckless volvos scrapping me everytime I take the bike on the road.

Gearing up for a new tomorrow, I am not nervous but at the same time, I ain't excited either. Maybe this is because it has something to do with my mind occupied on things beyond my control. I guess my mind wants to change certain things in the past, not sure about I can do that now, but I hoped someone would do it for me, I guess this is not just my time.

How much can you count on someone?

The answer is quite simple, there will always be someone you can count on, and its YOU and no one else. This is the place where in if you do not think that it is not you but someone else, get your head straight, you cannot count on someone else to be there for you all the time.

Even the best of the best friends can sometime stutter and leave you to fend for yourself alone, then that is the moment you wished you had been familiar to something like this.

Count on yourself, it helps!

Later!

Blog's on the move!

Hey folks, The blog will soon move to its new base in Bangalore. I would dearly miss my current base, which happens to be my awesome current room, but on the brighter side, the new base ain't that bad at all.

Here are some pics of my new base, thanks to Prab from http://www.techbite.in/

Well, looks good from outside, lets see what the inside is all about. Later

Panda's Review: Micromax Q5 fb - 5/10

Micromax for sure is true to every word in it's tagline, but the catch is, I see it more on the negative side, indeed, Nothing like anything!

I am not posting the technical specifications of the device, sure you have many sites that do it, but I am going to jot down the positives and negatives of this device.

Positives

• Dual sim functionality (if working fine) can be a boon to people like me who study/work in one state and actually belong to a different state

• The QWERTY pad is really good, I never had trouble pressing any keys

• Can handle high jumps from tables and pockets on hard surfaces like the floor

Negatives

• The Trackball - Mother of all problems, biggest design blunder for a low end phone like Q5. If this phone did not have a trackball, it would have been a very big hit

• The Trackball - Easily gets spoiled in less than a month, and when it happens, the whole phone becomes handicapped, like without trackball you have no other keys that help you navigate

• The Trackball - Game breaker again, the trackball technology used in this phone is a cheap substitutes of the materials used in Blackberry phone's trackball, this somehow reminded me of the Mig plane scam that shook India

• Invisible Headset - Yes, you read it right, the phone automatically goes into Headset mode without even connecting a real head set, the service center guys say its the audio jack that is problematic on these devices

• Heavy - Yes the device is very heavy compared to other BAR phones with similar style and specs

• Dull Display - You cannot stare the screen continuously for more than 4 minutes

• Cheap Paint - Nobody likes a phone which loses its body paint with every month passing by

• 3rd rate firmware - I appreciate Micromax for delivering so much for such a low price, but I would have taken a cut on number of features over quality of the firmware. The phone restarts on its own, like it is possessed or something, and if you feel like updating your firmware, then I guess you will not find any

On a whole, it was a mistake on my part to buy this phone, it delivers a lot of features for a low price but Micromax needs to understand that many consumers prefer quality over quantity.

The lonely me...

The settings around me looked quite familiar, the wall hanging my sister brought from Sikkim, the books spread across my study table, my balcony door that always remains closed when I am at home, the windows that never open, it was looking good because I have been this way for a long time.

I have spent hours in this small room of mine, the cruel exam prepping, the excitement for getting dressed when going on a date, the moments spent on my computer exploring the whole world, exploring adolescence, experiencing uber pwnages and the not so frequent killing sprees, the long ordeals of exciting sitcoms, the beautiful silent nights on a chat client with someone special and loads of personal peace(My version of Master Shifu's inner peace), may be the feeling everybody says, "Boy! This feels like home".

I have been alone in this room for days and not once I felt alone, it was like I would never ever feel lonely again, this was the time when I started thinking on what could go wrong, and then the lightning strikes when I least expect it.

I experienced not being alone when I am alone and today I am experiencing being the most lonely person despite being surrounded by everyone. I am not sure what this phenomenon is called and I really do not think that is running in my mind now. It's this feeling of emptiness inside you, it sure sounds harmless, but when you know you are alone because of someone, it really can mess your head a lot.

I have been going through this very strange thing I never really understood, and when I do not understand something, my next destination is Wikipedia. So according to Wiki, Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person experiences a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. No wonder Wiki nailed it again.

For me this loneliness is more like a naked terror, and it is a result of a healthy communication line ceasing to exist with someone you really thought would be there forever. Agreed that I cannot expect someone to be there 24X7 and I also feel that would be a little douche like behavior on my part, and yet here I am unable to find a solution to this.

The only good part comes when your are alone in loneliness, every morning when I run along the park, the flowers started to smell better, every night the silent cool breeze felt more relaxing.

What can be worse to a person who is lonely and does not like alcohol, a perfect recipe for a litigating disaster.

I am not done yet, I will be back, I need to add the element of "Pain" and see what it does to the whole process. I am going now, but I'll be back.

Your life's a b***h? Then stop being an a**!

Ok, it is a simple fact, life can be a real jerk at times and most of the times, it does bully you in a way that you succumb to it. I do not agree with certain folks who talk about self control, negativity conundrum and the power of optimistic vibes.

Life is not fair to anyone, but it does not help when you proclaim the gravity of your own mess. Do you really think the person standing next to you gives a damn?

There are certain incidents which I found very annoying

Scenario 1 - Godly Music Over Loud Speakers Phenomenon

I am not starting a discussion over godfulness(Technically not a word but rhymed with the latter) and godlessness, to be frank, I really don't give a damn. Your so called devotional music played over loud speakers send no message of theism to anyone, it really does not help anyone and the so called local politicians who fund these programs, really need to think twice and STOP BEING AN A**!

Scenario 2 - New State Syndrome

[(Uprooting statues)+(Cooking on roads)+(Mass procession)+(Public nuisance)] != NEW STATE


Nothing more on this, think twice and STOP BEING AN A**!

Scenario 3 - Beam Cable Junction Box Paradigm

You don't have to switch off the beam cable junction box placed on your apartment roof top every time your speed is reduced. Hey if you want good speed, then stop downloading cheap porn and start doing something useful. Just because your speed is down, you do not have jurisdiction on other customer's connection lines.

Nothing more on this, think twice and STOP BEING AN A**!

There are quite a few more, but my ice tea is losing its flavor by the minute and hence I shall stop now. Don't tell me I am being an a**, I just like my ice tea, you know, cold.

Will update later!

Southpark's most influential character is not ERIC CARTMAN

For those who have been spending quite some time in the fictional town of Southpark, it is time you people decided on who is the most influential. Well, the majority of the population would vouch for the narcissistic Eric, not just because of his effed up head, who can talk and piss you off at the same time, but on a personal front, Randy Marsh is my winner, Not because he is a cool geologist, but for the very reason where he takes even the simple aspects of life to the heights of melodrama that you can even dream of.

There are a few episodes that will fortify my shout for Randy Marsh,

• Guitar-Queero - Oh GOD, I just love this song, Carry on my wayward son, anyways, observe the scene where Randy sneaks out of his bedroom to play Guitar Hero on his son's console, the way he raises his hands up in the air and then the swings across the bridge of the guitar controller, AWESOME

• No Internet - Randy Marsh's best individual performance throughout the episode

• Night of the living homeless - Randy's strong performance convinced us the fact that homeless problem can be worse than the fictional zombie problem

• Pandemic 1 and Pandemic 2 - It is an episode where you can see the best of all characters, but Randy Marsh deserves a special mention for his cam antics and the consistent eccentric behavior as a whole

I still think many would find it hard to see Randy better than Eric, but you see, this is my blog and I don't give a damn about what you think. Randy is my winner. No offense intended.

On a whole, Southpark is EPIC WIN!

What the hell just happened here!

"What the hell did you do to my Hyderabad ?", This question should be taken seriously by our politicians, civil servants, law enforcements and the common man like you and me.

The only thing that can save this Hyderabad - selfless approach by the common man, who has always been looked down upon, become more politically active and most important fulfill your duties as a citizen.

So far I have met almost 25 people who supported the Telangana Cause, and not surprised to see that a separate Telangana for them was just a change in the vehicle number plate, and a new state in India, and new color for city buses. Delusional ass jockeys I say!

For those who really know what Telangana sentiment is all about, here are the things that I want to say to you that can make your approach towards a new state good, if not better

1. Stop organizing the Bandhs on weekend and start organizing them on Mondays - You are not making a statement by causing problems to the common man, you are not making any progress with your rebellion by stopping the buses, closing down all restaurants and stores and more importantly the bars. Having a Bandh on Monday would be a lot more useful to the common man because

• Perfect break for a good hangover, so if Monday becomes a dry day also, it helps them recover quick for Tuesday.
• Makes long weekend look even more awesome
• Corporate crowd would be adoring you guyz for the bandhs and they might even join you on your occasional Jai Telangana slogan competition.

And FYI, your so called telengana supporters were with me watching the Lord Of The Rings extended trilogy while you were busy, I don’t know, breaking or burning something. Won't you bring them to justice for bunking your protest march?

2. Stop burning anything that has more than 4 wheels - Who do you think you are to burn our city buses and effin vehicle, tere baap ka maal hai saaley? I’d say burn what you can earn, if you have the balls and funds to buy a cycle, burn a goddamn cycle not a bus or a car that you can afford only in your dreams.

3. Stop people standing behind you from smiling and showing the symbol “V” when you are being interviewed on camera about your cause, If you want to be seen on television, read a goddamn Manorama year book and go for KBC, at least people would applause your effort! Because if you don’t I’m going to rip your tongue out, wipe it down your 3 lettered leader’s asscrack and smack you across the face with it like Dhalsim of street fighter.

4. Organize your vandalism – It is confirmed that you will resort to vandalism, but what I say is just organize it, instead of uprooting good statues, shift your area of interest towards statues that need a replacement or something that is in a bad shape, coz you know, win-win situation, this way you will not hear a common man ripping you on your face everytime he/she looks at you. Organize and try your vandalism where municipality never stepped in, that way you are helping making this Telangana region better.

P.S: If you are so interested in breaking the gates, you are most welcome to break our society gate, our sad-ass president refuses to fix a new one, that way I would owe you guyz one! I'll make you guyz an offer you can't refuse.

Follow these steps, and you will be well on your way to becoming a successful individual, and more importantly, a human being and yea it will add a new dimension to your rebellion.

Sincerely

Karthik Kunjithapatham

Arsenal boss Wenger: Walcott OK

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is confident Theo Walcott has avoided serious damage after being forced off late on in yesterday's 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic.

"Theo does not look bad," said the Arsenal manager. "The physio told me he had to come off straight away because he was numb as he had been kicked on the nerve.

"He twisted his ankle and we checked on a X-ray, and he looks all right."

Arsenal boss Wenger: England failure left me choked

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he was "choked" by England's Euro2008 failure.

"I don't think McClaren should have been sacked for his lack of competence but, in this environment, it is impossible," said Wenger. "What I don't like is the fact that, the next morning, he is sacrificed. Let's assess the situation for two weeks.

"The FA need deep thinking for what happened and to find solutions. They can't now just appoint a new coach and think England will win the World Cup in 2010.

"But don't slaughter the players because the England national team has good players."

He added: "I have been in England for 11 years and I went to bed very sad and choked on Wednesday night."

Yet Wenger insists he is not interested in leading the Three Lions. He said: "If I was English then of course - but I am not so it is a 'no'.

"That is in line with what I have always said. The England manager should be English. The problem for me is McClaren was a competent guy but he has never been completely accepted in England.

"He had the qualities needed to do the job well. You could feel there was always a reluctance for him.

"He needed a positive experience to convince everybody he had the qualities to do the job."

Hammers seal frediie deal

The 30-year-old has completed his move to Upton Park after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

West Ham have signed Ljungberg in a deal that could rise to £3million.

The move ends a nine-year spell at Arsenal for Ljungberg who joined the club from Halmstads in 1998.

The Swedish international struggled with injuries last season and Arsenal have decided to let him move on as he could not be guaranteed a regular spot in Arsene Wenger's side.

Ljungberg becomes West Ham's fifth new signing of the summer and he will help bolster Alan Curbishley's midfield options following the injury to Julien Faubert and the departure of Yossi Benayoun to Liverpool.

Ljungberg is relishing the challenge of playing for West Ham and he revealed the ambition of chairman Eggert Magnusson played a big part in his decision to move to Upton Park.
"I'm coming here because I want to build a great team," said Ljungberg. "And why I want to join is because of Magnusson. He wants to bring them forward to be top of the country.

"He's willing to go to the transfer market to buy top players and mix them with youth players. West Ham have a great academy.

"He wants to help take the club up and take them to the top in England. It's a big challenge for me."
Hammers boss Alan Curbishley was delighted to land Ljungberg and believes he will prove a valuable addition to his squad.

"We spoke to Freddie over the last week and we tried to sell him the club and what we're about," Curbishley said.

"He's seen players come in and push us forward.

"He brings a few things, Champions League experience, captain of Sweden, he's versatile.

"There's a hunger there. He wants to come and push West Ham on and be partly responsible for that.

"He's joining another terrific club and that's the way he's got to see it.

"He understands the passion of the club and the passion of the fans and I'm sure he'll be a big hit here."

Hammers confirm Freddie deal

The 30-year-old has completed his move to Upton Park after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

West Ham have signed Ljungberg in a deal that could rise to £3million.

The move ends a nine-year spell at Arsenal for Ljungberg who joined the club from Halmstads in 1998.

The Swedish international struggled with injuries last season and Arsenal have decided to let him move on as he could not be guaranteed a regular spot in Arsene Wenger's side.

Ljungberg becomes West Ham's fifth new signing of the summer and he will help bolster Alan Curbishley's midfield options following the injury to Julien Faubert and the departure of Yossi Benayoun to Liverpool.

Ljungberg is relishing the challenge of playing for West Ham and he revealed the ambition of chairman Eggert Magnusson played a big part in his decision to move to Upton Park.
"I'm coming here because I want to build a great team," said Ljungberg. "And why I want to join is because of Magnusson. He wants to bring them forward to be top of the country.

"He's willing to go to the transfer market to buy top players and mix them with youth players. West Ham have a great academy.

"He wants to help take the club up and take them to the top in England. It's a big challenge for me."
Hammers boss Alan Curbishley was delighted to land Ljungberg and believes he will prove a valuable addition to his squad.

"We spoke to Freddie over the last week and we tried to sell him the club and what we're about," Curbishley said.

"He's seen players come in and push us forward.

"He brings a few things, Champions League experience, captain of Sweden, he's versatile.

"There's a hunger there. He wants to come and push West Ham on and be partly responsible for that.

"He's joining another terrific club and that's the way he's got to see it.

"He understands the passion of the club and the passion of the fans and I'm sure he'll be a big hit here."

Baptista putting Real first

Julio Baptista wants a go at breaking into Bernd Schuster's Real Madrid team before considering his options.

Baptista is back with Liga champions after spending last season on loan with Arsenal.

The Brazilian forward has been linked with a move to Newcastle, but Baptista is keen to win a place in Schuster's side before looking further afield.

"I believe I showed at Arsenal last season that I can play in England score goals and make goals," he told the Sunday Mirror.

"Newcastle is a big club but before I consider a move I need to know about my future with Real.

"I want the chance in pre-season to show our new coach Bernd Schuster I should be part of his plans.

"If things don't work out here I will have to look at other options in Spain and England."