Making of a Football Fan

Liverpool vs Real Madrid 
Champions League
First leg, Round of 16
Feb 21, 2023

I’ve had the pleasure of watching football matches of various competitions right from my childhood. One of the earliest memories of football on TV for me was from the 1994 World Cup. My father is an ardent fan of the beautiful game and I remember watching with him late into the night (the cup was held in USA and we were watching in Saudi Arabia). His support was for Brazil and he would jump up shouting from the sofa for every chance created near the goal either side. His excitement was infectious and the football bug had got me as well. Saudi Arabia qualified for the round of 16 and the fervour was all around. The school and the streets were full of football craze. 

Fast forward to the 1998 World Cup, where I was supporting Saudi Arabia, France defeated the Saudis 4 to nil. What left a mark on me from that match was Zinedine Zidane getting a red card for a foul play against a Saudi player called Amin. I loathed France and Zidane in that World Cup up till the final. Brazil vs France. The whole world including my family was supporting Brazil and I simply wanted to stand out. I told everyone around who were gathered to watch the finale that I would be supporting the French. Wagers were made and I bet my Casio (solar powered, rechargeable) watch with one of my uncles that France would win. This match was the start of my love for the French football team and Zidane who had scored 2 goals to beat the favourites, Brazil. 

The 2006 World Cup was Zidane’s last and I don’t think I missed a single second of it. During his red card against Italy, I remember almost fracturing my wrist after punching it into a wall in frustration at the unceremonious exit. It was probably around this time, or maybe even earlier, that I had decided that I’ll name one of my sons after him. 

In the year 2016, Zidan was born. I could simply not name him anything else having decided more than a decade earlier that my son will have my favourite footballer’s name. Zidan went through a typical boy’s childhood phases from Construction vehicles, Avengers to Transformers. 

The start of FIFA 2022 changed all that. He became a boy obsessed with football and there weren’t enough YouTube videos post the World Cup for him to watch and take in every aspect of football trivia. He discovered Zinedine Zidan but his ultimate footballing hero became Cristiano Ronaldo along with other favourites like Messi, Mbappe, Salah, Haaland, Neymar, Rashford, Benzema etc. He now knows almost every Saudi player too! 

We enrolled him in football classes from Jan 2023 and the jersey collection started with Saudi, Argentina and AlNassr #7. He goes around the house giving a running commentary on himself while dribbling and scoring goals followed by celebrations done exactly like his football stars. 

The game between Real Madrid and Liverpool was our first father & son viewing of a Champions League match together. The ooohs and aaahs throughout the 90+ mins along with coaching tips coming nonstop from the 6 year old Zidan for the coaches and players on TV was a delightful experience for me! He was supporting Real Madrid and with them being 2 goals down initially, there were tears, squeals of joy, anger for every tackle and later absolute euphoria after Real kept scoring. 

Watching Zidan fully immersed in football at this moment, made me reminisce about my own journey. From 1994, 30 years later, the football obsession transfer across generations was now truly complete. From my father, to me to my son. The beautiful game just got sweeter for me now. 

My Name is Chotu. And I Sell Pani Puri.

A typical Panipuri

The Panipuri (pānīpūrī), Hindi: पानीपूरी, also known as Gol gappa, Urdu: گول گپّے‎, pani ke bataashe,Marathi: पाणीपुरी,Gujarati: પાણી પુરી, term used in Western India, phuchka (Bengali: ফুচকা), or gup chup (Oriya: ଗୁପଚୁପ୍)) is a popular street snack in the Indian Subcontinent. It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavored water ("pani"), tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. It is generally small enough to fit completely into one's mouth. It is a popular street food dish.  - Wikipedia 

Chotu

I come from a village near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It is a beautiful village. There is no pollution and everyone lves in harmony. I came to Bangalore 5 months back. My age is 12 and I studied till 4th grade. My elder brother brought me here saying business is good and he needs help to sell pani puris. I love my elder brother and will do anything for him. He is 18 years old. I like Bangalore and its people. All of them are friendly to me. Bangalore has beautiful weather too. It is a nice city.

There are many panipuriwallahs on this road like me. All of them are from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. 9 of us stay in a room in Bannerghatta Road. We wake up five in the morning to make the puris, masala and pani. I come here by three in the afternoon and we stay till nine or till the puris last. By evening, the street fills up with people.

There are many North Indians in this lane (JP Nagar). Every evening, they come here to have my

A Panipuri Stall

panipuris. My panipuris have a loyal following among the Kannadigas too. By around 4-5 in the evening, my stall is crowded with office- goers, hungry school children and slum dwellers. They tuck in at least four to five plates of my panipuris. The migration workers dine on my panipuris. They lose count of the number of plates but they always leave with a satisfied smile. I get best business during weekdays after office hours when everyone feels like having a snack.

I sell both sweet and spicy puris. It is served with a dash of aloo masala, chick peas and onions. Each plate costs Rs. 15. Most of the locals like it spicy and tangy. Few adults ask for the sweet puri. But the kids love them.

During the Holi and Diwali festival, we go to our village. I miss my home a lot. I am just 12 and I am away from my folks and friends. I miss my mother the most. But I have my friends here. We stay like a family. They make sure I never feel home-sick. I want to continue my studies one day. Hopefully this year when I go back, I won't have to return. They say education is everything. I want to study hard and be an engineer one day.

Grandpa I'm Coming Home..

There is something about Royal Enfield Bullet. It's a beast of a motorcycle. A machine that literally gives you adrenaline like no other. It was a while since I had visited my Grandpa in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. I decided to put the Bullet on a road trip to Vellore. The roads are good so why not.

My cousin decided to tag along and we departed Bangalore in the wee hours of the morning. We packed light since it was a 2-day trip and wore leather jackets and helmets. Now this might appear like a cliché but leather jackets are the best thing n windy conditions. There is a reason why bikers around the world prefer the same. I had leather gloves as well but did the mistake of wearing jeans. Now wearing jeans on a 250 km trip is not exactly a bright idea. After a while the jeans starts to bite into your skin and it is anything but comfortable! A valuable lesson learnt which was corrected on the way back.

We took the Hosur Road and since it was early there was not much traffic around. We went onto the Electronic City flyover which is about 9 kms long leading into the NH7. I always wanted to test the potential of the bike and with a pillion rider reached top speeds of around 110-115 kmph. I'm usually a safe rider so decided against any outlandish stunts of high speeds on the highways. Besides the whole point of riding a Bullet is the pure adrenaline rush and ride satisfaction. We took water breaks every 50 kms to stretch out (mainly because of the jeans condition!) and had breakfast along the way. 

The scenery is beautiful. Since this was December the climate was cool and cloudy. Up till Krishnagiri the villages and towns have the Karnataka influence on them. But once we took a left and thundered down the highway towards Vellore, one could see the real Tamil Nadu. A lot of industries and factories exist all along especially after Hosur. Famous automakers have their plants or assembly units on these highways. With a constant speed of 85-90 kmph we reached Vellore in almost 4 hours. The delay was mainly due to the Jeans condition and also traffic at Hosur junction.

Vellore till recently was a town but eventually qualified to be a city after fulfilling the population requirement and other infrastructure/connectivity needs. On the way to my Grandpa's

place, we passed by the famous Vellore Fort. Wikipedia describes it as "a large 16th-century fort situated in heart of the Vellore city, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India built by Vijayanagara Kings. The fort is known for its grand ramparts, wide moat and robust masonry." For a while it was also used as a prison. With a bloody history involving many dynasties from Marathas, Mughals, Mysoreans (Hyder Ali) to the British who held it till independence, the Vellore Fort is a popular tourist destination now.

The old town of Vellore reminds one of the British rule. But slowly the old buildings, architecture and other structures are giving way to a modern city in the making. The transition is still taking place in the hot dusty old town. A few of the areas transport you back by at least 30 years. The open drains, old Havelis (private huge mansions) to the simple people of the city all reminds one of simpler days. Some of these Havelis have the year of construction marked on top of them. Some date back to even 1905! In and around Vellore there are many places of interest that one can see. Many dams, forts, temples, hills, waterfalls, museums etc. exist which one can see on a trip here.

We finally reached our Grandpa's house and thanked the Almighty for bounties like cold drinking water, clean restrooms and cotton pyjamas. The weather was cool (this is rare since heat rules Vellore for about 9 months a year!) and Grandpa started his war stories from the olden days. We barbecued chicken that night under the moonlight and it felt so peaceful and perfect. This was the Vellore I always knew. Grandpa, his stories, Aunt's yummy food, cousins and lots of mosquitoes. All was well.

Cricketers, Passengers & Some Pondering..

A few months back I had gone to the airport to pick up a friend. The flight was delayed by a couple of hours for arrival. Now since I couldn't leave without him, I was deciding how to kill the time. I picked up an over priced coffee and sat down at one of the many tables outside the Arrivals at Bangalore International Airport.

The Champion's League was going on then in October, the final was staged in Bangalore between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. The KKR team had just landed and out came the players and support staff. I did a double take and noticed Wasim Akram walking towards the team bus that was waiting for them in the VIP driveway. I ran up to him and shook his hand while clicking a selfie with the greatest cricket bowler of all time. Before I could digest what was happening, the remaining players and staff strolled out. I kept shaking hands with them and wishing them luck for the final. Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir along with Robin Uthappa came walking briskly and the eager fans were all taking pictures and wishing them luck. The last man out was Yusuf Pathan who obliged for a picture with me. I noticed he wasn't that tall as he appeared to be. It was a fun sport celebrity spotting moment.

With a good 1 hour and 45 minutes to pass I looked at my phone to discover the battery was just 20% left. That ruled out any browsing or games to pass time. So I ended up looking at people. Wondering what emotions must be going on with different people departing and arriving. The son leaving his parents for higher studies abroad is all excited and nervous but at the same time full of sorrow of leaving his folks behind. The parents are all proud and joyous but worried about him too. A couple getting separated as the husband has to travel for his job. A sad wife looks on as he walks away from her. A family leaving for a holiday all bubbling with excitement. Looking forward for a good time. There were single passengers too. Business trips, visits to hometown, weekend getaways etc. Whatever the occasions you could literally read off from their faces.

I got up and strolled towards the Arrivals and saw a different set of emotions here. Mostly happy faces. Except for the odd ones that left their loved ones behind. An airport is a nice place to ponder and remember about who and what matters to us.

So finally I'm writing after 3 years. Life has changed a lot since then. More to come.

People Come and Go

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be - a roommate, a neighbor, a professor, a friend, a lover, or even a complete stranger - but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way.

Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart.

Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved straight flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience, help to create who you are and who you become. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are sometimes the most important ones.

If someone loves you, give love back to them in whatever way you can, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.
If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before, and listen to what they have to say.

Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you.
You can make anything you wish of your life. Create your own life and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

And if you love someone tell them, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store.

Learn a lesson in life each day that you live!
Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday. Was it worth it? 

The Valentine Scam

WHERE DID VALENTINE'S DAY COME FROM?

The Origin of Valentine’s Day:

The Christian history attributes many different origins of this day. But it is not really a Christian festivals at all, since it is known from history (mentioned in Encyclopedia Britannica) that the in the ancient pagan culture of Rome and Greece, the month of February was always considered as a month of romance, fertility and spring, and history proves that St. Valentines day originated from two most perverted and obscene Roman festivals of fertility called Lupercalia and Feast of Juno Februata both celebrated on the 15th of February..

Lupercalia

This festival celebrated on 15th of February was held to celebrate fertility in the honor of roman god Lupercus also called Faunus, an embodiment of fertility and lust. He had the head and torso of a man, but the hindquarters and horns of a goat

The ceremony began with the sacrifice of goats and a dog. The youths were anointed with their blood. They were made to wear goat skins (to impersonate Lupercus) and small pieces of goat skin were cut into long strips called Februa. The youths then ran around, striking at any woman that came near them with this Februa. This was considered to bestow fertility to the woman.

Feast of Juno Februata:

The feast of goddess Juno Februa was celebrated after the ceremony of Lupercalia. Juno Februa was the roman goddess of love, marriage and women. For this feast, women wrote their names on slips of papers and men would take the slips out. The woman whose name was on the slip would become his partner for the day’s l festivities.

Christianizing Lupercalia and Juno Februata

Christianity was greatly influenced by the Roman pagan philosophy during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine I (288 – 337 AD) who accepted Christianity but Pagan festivals continued under his empire and pagan philosophy also integrated into Christianity.

It was in AD 494, that Pope Gelasius I decided to suppress the perverted pagan festivals. He replaced Lupercalia with the Feast of The Purification of Virgin Mary, celebrated till now on 15th of February by the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches.

It is also said that he replaced the Feast of Juno Februata by St. Valentine’s Day and moved it to 14th February. Instead of lottery of girls, the lottery was replaced by names of Christian saints, whom the youths had to copy that day. Different stories and legends were made, attributed to many different people by the name of Valentine, to give credibility to Saint Valentine's Day. The creation of a festival for such obscure figures further proves it was merely an attempt to white wash the pagan celebrations with a label of Christianity since they were not able to get rid them from their culture.

 Love is one of the strongest emotions placed in the heart of man - it is a power that can ruin or redeem a life- that can bring joy or painful heartbreak.

Today as the world celebrates this emotion on Valentine’s Day, we see hearts of all sizes and shapes all around, hearts of chocolate and satin. O Yes! It’s Valentines! The day of hearts, red roses, poetry, candies and above all - Love!

This festival in the recent years has seen a sudden boom in our society as well and is now ‘religiously’ celebrated by the young and old both. The media has played a major role in encouraging this festival and this day has become a flourishing business for selling Valentine's day cards, flowers, chocolates, gift items etc.

The question that comes to mind is why should WE Muslims celebrate Valentine’s Day? Is it our occasion? Days and occasions are part of a nation’s identity. They symbolize any religion or culture.

VALENTINE'S DAY TODAY

Whatever the origin of this day, today it seems to have returned to its pagan, vulgar roots with the child-god cupid and open dating being very much a part of it. It is celebrated in many parts of the world in different ways. For instance, in France, a girl befriends the first boy she sees in the morning and if this relationship lasts for a year, they end up getting engaged on the next Valentine’s Day. The Valentine lottery caused severe problems in France and was banned completely in 1776. Later Italy, Hungary, Austria and Germany also rid themselves of this obscene custom. England remained safe until it was under Puritan rule but then Charles II started it again and from there it entered America, where it was first commercialized by A E Howland, who made 5000 dollars from selling Valentine cards. In 1995 one billion valentine cards were delivered in the US and the postal Dept. made an extra profit of $ 30 million. Flowers began to be used in 1300.

Now people all over cash in on this opportunity to kindle the fire in young hearts and instill in their minds the necessity of having a ‘Special Someone’ to love. No wonder last year’s newspaper carried news of a woman who sued her husband for divorce for not giving her anything on Valentine’s. According to her it was absolutely necessary to express one’s love on this day and her husband did not give her anything which meant that he did not love her.

Apparently Valentine’s Day made her feel ‘unloved’ rather than ‘loved’.

What kind of love depends upon gifts for its survival? What kind of love is restricted to one day in the whole year? What kind of love breeds hatred, jealousy and a sense of deprivation in many?

Valentine’s Day also proves exceptionally painful for the not-so-popular kids in school who don’t get as many Valentine cards as their friends do.

In India, this day has come to mean getting dressed in red, valentine cards, hearts, and chocolates. Through these apparently innocent things the occasion promotes the culture of free sex and male-female relations. Also becoming common are public displays of emotions including advertising love messages in newspapers, going out on romantic dates and attending valentine balls and parties. Schools are not far behind in holding such parties for their students. As a result, even young children are fed new ideas of developing lusty feelings and expressing them boldly. Closet romantics are given a chance to emerge. They imitate their favourite movie love scenes in broad daylight. In all this ‘love’ fever Islam is given a backseat to sit and see how it’s teachings are being ridiculed in public.

(Data taken from Wikipedia.org)

The Curious Case of a Missing Blog. And it's Blogger.

Talk about being away. Its been a good 11 months and finally it struck me that I do have a blog. So why am I not writing in it? I forgot! So tied up with life and the daily adventures that I forgot I have a blog! Makes sense right? I know. Totally does. Not.

So how did I remember that I'm on blogspot.com? Simple. The spam comments reminded me. They were offering millions of dollars in return for my bank details. And then a queen in Nigeria wanted to come over and live with me. Some were less subtle. They were selling 5 dollar weight-loss tablets. So in a nut-shell I was reminded of my poor blog lying all by itself. It completed 5 years in October I think. No 5 year old anniversary post also. Selfish times. Such is the world. What to do. "No time", "I'm busy" etc have become such cliches. Okay that's not what this rant is about. It's about love, hate, betrayal and murder. No. I'm just cracking lame jokes just to warm my fingers. On the keyboard that is.


Interesting year went by. Whatever year you taking count of that is. Whether its the Gregorian, Hijri, Mayan, Chinese etc. But 11 months went by since my last post. So I'm using the blogspot calendar. Yeah, we're all slaves of the internet. Google specifically. Facebook also. That also has become such a cliche. (Did you notice I used the word 'cliche' twice in this post? No? Pay attention human!)


So as I was saying an interesting year whizzed past. Didn't feel like an year actually. Feels like just yesterday I was doing whatever I was doing this time last year and boom! So many months have passed. So many new cities, change in fortunes, events, people etc. And in between all this, I completed 25 years. I'm silver now.


By the way, a thought just struck me. I write once in a while (look at my definition of a while: 11 straight months) so why am I actually writing again? Because I want to 'revive' myself. Yes. You read that right. I did say 'revive'. I want to 'revive' this blog. Writing sets one free. No inhibitions, constraints or fears. Expressing always does that. It sets you free. Try it out. My motivation is not the reader. My motivation is setting myself free. Okay that was a barrage of 'free' now.


I'm rusty with the keyboard for some reason. I'm more used to my BlackBerry now. I use that more often than any other device. I'm hooked on to being connected. Family, friends, business, browsing etc all on a smartphone. Welcome to the new age. Where the smaller is better. Small is the new in thing. Okay this is a random tirade to fill up paragraphs. But the point is I shall now kick myself to write. It's probably what I do best (I can feel so many of you rolling your eyes already!). But hey, I noticed that my blog has 10 followers. Now that's inspiring. But then my blog is integrated with Facebook (it was complicated but I did it. So what if it was only through  a click of a button. At least I did it.) so many eyeballs will be reading it. I need you to egg me on (egg me on, alright. Not throw egg on me).


I shall write more often (yeah right) and hopefully get in to a rhythm. Writing is wonderful. We should have more blogs than Facebook accounts these days. A blog is mightier than Facebook. Blog is blah blah blah. Bottom-line is, (I like these conclusion 'bottom-lines', they make it sound like this is it, nothing else matters) I'm back. Spread the word.


Cheers!

Work, Work and more Work!

After 8 months it's high time that I type this. The month of October 2010 marked my 4th anniversary of blogging. The number of posts and frequency doesn't justify the years but then what the heck, better late than never. By the grace of Almighty it has been a wonderful year. The move to Riyadh towards the end of 2009 made the difference. Looking back, there is much to reflect and ponder over.

It all started here with a hunt for a job early last year. After the hustling around between jobs, I finally decided that entrepreneurship is my calling. Along with 2 other wonderful friends of mine, Asim Iqbal and Nadeem Pilar, we came together to work as partners in our venture called, 'Centria Consulting &Training Services'. All 3 of us quit our regular jobs to give birth to CCTS. Our baby started slowly but surely and is now snow-balling into the right direction. It gives immense pleasure to nurture your own company and ventures and contribute towards its growth.

We launched something unique that was unheard of before in Saudi Arabia. Tuitions for all curricula (Indian/British/American) was started to cater the students in the Riyadh market. This was against the norms where the tuition industry thrived solely on private tutors and teachers taking tuitions after school hours. For the first time in the market, a professional service for students was available that provided quality coaching and assistance at affordable prices. It took time driving the nail inside but eventually the concept sunk in and Riyadh awakened up to a professional service for tutorials very similar to the ones back home in India.

Other than tuitions, CCTS primarily does Trainings (corporate level), IT Consulting and Recruitment carving it self a unique niche in the market when it came to customer driven satisfaction and quality deliverance. I sound like am marketing on my own blog! But this is exactly how life has become. An average working day has become 14-16 hours long with no difference between the weekdays or the weekends. Hectic as it is, the sweet reward comes in the feeling of triumph at the end of a project. More than the monetary benefits, the joys of seeing one's hard work bear fruits is awesome.

The Almighty has been really kind and merciful on us. Only due to His grace and blessings this was possible. Talking about blessings, all credit goes to the people who supported and believed in our venture. We were indeed blessed to be on board with people who were the industry experts in various fields and guided as well to take us till here! Today we compete against the might of MNCs and strive towards, by the kind grace of Almighty, being among the best in everything we do.


A special mention and thanks from the bottom of our hearts goes out to our parents who not only gave their consent and approval for this but also supported us whenever required in many ways.

Typing this and ranting on about something feels good! I have missed blogging. Will write regularly from now on. The feeling is fantastic and we hope from here on we can only improve, Insha Allah. Cheers!


http://www.centriaconsulting.com