Wimbledon is arguably the most prestigious tennis tournament of the year. Thousands turn up every year in the London courts, waiting for whole days to get tickets and the final of the tournament has the same number of fans outside the courts as are inside of it; those poor fans who could not get their hands on tickets, watching the match on the big screen outside of it. The traditional white clothing of Wimbledon against the green grass courts is an iconic view of a tennis master class.

A Clash of Titanic Events

But this year, Wimbledon has clashed, as it does every four years, with another sporting event of an even bigger scale; The FIFA World Cup. 32 teams from all over the world have gathered in Brazil to play for the ultimate prize in football.

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is the world's second biggest sporting event- second only to the Olympics. As the World Cup kicks off, hype on the media and social media has soared. With every match shown live on TV and the media providing live coverage before and after the match, this event has the attention of everyone. News channels show the keep the viewers updated about every goal, and the football fever has truly gripped the world.

If the mainstream media wasn't enough, the World Cup is also the most discussed thing on Twitter and Facebook. Since the start of the event, it has been mentioned 70 million times and it is expected that some 3.2 billion people will watch the World Cup on TV, making it the most watched sporting event ever.

The World Cup's Long Shadow

In this scenario, the Wimbledon 2014, although still important, is being overshadowed by the FIFA World Cup. There has been a 20% drop in tickets bought for the World Cup which is attributed to the popularity of and the interest in the World Cup. As the World Cup grabs the attention of most of the people, only hardcore tennis enthusiasts and maybe the people in London are gripped by the Wimbledon this year. Although both events are global sporting events, but the fact that the World Cup takes place once every four that the sheer scale of it is unmatchable by the smaller Wimbledon tournament has meant lesser viewers for Wimbledon this year.

Also read:

• Why a Winter Worldcup in Qatar Makes Sense
• Cost of FIFA Worldcup 2022
• Football Worldcup in Qatar and Cultural Issues

FIFA vs Wimbeldon

The concept of an arranged marriage sounds so ridiculous, doesn't it?

"Am I supposed to marry someone I haven't ever even properly talked to? How do I know she is made for me? She might be just the opposite of what I am looking for!" These are the typical arguments you get when you try to talk a youngster of today's world into an arranged marriage.

What the Stats Say

But actually, statistics show that arrange marriages have a greater chance of being successful than love marriages.

Countries like Pakistan where an overwhelming number of marriages are arranged marriages have drastically lower divorce rates than most western countries.

But a family staying together is one thing; their staying happy is quite another. The reason for lower divorce rates can be put down to a patriarchal society where it is difficult, bordering on impossible for a woman to function alone. Hence, women are forced to stay with their husbands despite all the problems because they simply have no other option.

Arranged Marriages Do Make Sense

But arranged marriages are still not as illogical as they first seem. When an arranged marriage is set up, many factors are considered, starting from financial background, education etc. down to the reputation of the families in the society. Only when these things match up, the marriage is ready to go ahead.

When the marrying couple is so similar in background and upbringing, it is very likely that they have similar goals in life, similar habits and similar demands out of each other. These makes things simple for them and makes it easy for them to live with each other.

A common problem that people have with arranged marriages is that you don't know the person you are marrying personally. Well, my experience with the world tells me that people are generally good-natured, especially if you are clever enough to work their personality out quickly and act accordingly. In an arranged marriage, there is a high percentage chance that the person you are being wed to is a decent soul. But, okay, there is a chance that he or she could be a horrible person, impossible to live with. But marriage is a risk anyway, and you just have to accept it.

Arranged Marriage is the Safer Way

In an arranged marriage, a conflict of personality is probably thing that could ruin the family. In a love marriage, where people marry into different kinds of families, in different nationalities, in different societies just because they are in love, the family could be broken apart by many other things too. Arguments could break out due to the so many differences. In my opinion, an arranged marriage is the much safer path with a higher chance of success.

The latest Disney outing Maleficent stars Angelina Jolie as the main character. She plays the role of the witch in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. But this movie casts her not as a witch but as a misunderstood fairy who was not evil as she was made out to be in the fairy tale. It is a role of a villain in a story told to all children. But giving the main role to a villain from an earlier story continues a recent trend of villains gaining more and more importance in the movie world.

The Fabulous Dark Knight Trilogy Villains

In The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger produced such a stunning performance as the Joker, that there are now more Joker fans around than Batman fans. Joke's lines are still remembered and every Joker scene from that movie has been watched over and over again by Batman- or maybe Joker fans. The Dark Knight trilogy is particularly famous for fielding some absolutely great villains. In addition to Joker, Bane, Ra's Al Ghul, Harvey Dent and Scarecrow are themselves scary and intimidating antagonists.

The Hangover' Chow

In The Hangover, there is an Asian character Chow who is the head of a criminal gang. This little Asian is basically a bad guy who kidnaps another character in the movie. But Ken Jeong's hilarious acting and his very interesting character made everyone like the little guy so much that he doesn't sound like a villain at all anymore.

Jason Statham and Fast & Furious 7

The upcoming Fast and Furious movie will star the popular Jason Statham as the villain. Jason Statham has previously appeared as the hero in the Transporter series of movies. Starring such a popular household name as the villain goes to show the importance of a strong villain to the films. For a movie to be successful, it has to have the villain as impressive as the hero.

But recently, the performance of villains has been so impressive, that some of them have become as famous as the heroes themselves. Maybe this feeling has led big movie houses like Disney to make movies starring a traditional villain as the central character of the movie. Maleficent is the first movie of this kind and it has been pretty successful at the box office taking in $ 580 million against a budget of $180 million. So this strategy has paid off well, but we will have to wait and see if the next movies perform as well as this.

You can choose to be happy. This is what many psychologists say. Positive feelings of empathy, gratitude and optimism can take the mind away from bad things and take the bitter feelings away. In this way, despite of challenging conditions, you can convince your mind to be happy by focusing on the positive things.

This research has some weight. But what if there are not many positive things in your life at all? Then what will you focus on to make you happy?

It's Not Simply Flipping a Switch

This makes it apparent that being happy is not all about flipping a switch inside your head. It is about life's struggles and achievements too. A person who has all the possessions he wants and everything he needs, it will certainly be easier for him to convince his mind to be happy than a jobless, homeless person.

Being happy isn't all about a choice. To be happy, you need to be successful to some degree. Success here does not mean a top tier white collar job. A shopkeeper running his small shop but running it well is successful. Succeeding in small things in life is as important as succeeding in the bigger ones. Success harbors optimism and optimism is a cornerstone for being happy.

Everyone is not successful and everyone is not wealthy. You can try for these things but ultimately gaining them can be down to chance too. So happiness does come down to chance too. It is very much likely that a luckier man is the happier one.

It is Choice AND Chance!

But there is no simple relation between luck and happiness. A healthy frame of mind is important too. A person who has a positive, charismatic personality can be happier than a gloomier, slightly luckier person. So it is actually a bit of both things. It is important to be successful and lucky, but to make the most out of your conditions, it is vital to be psychologically healthy.

Tag: Does money make you happy?