Rio de Janeiro: The City of God!

Favela on my way up the Corcovado

I have been following reports of the police crackdown on Rio’s drug gangs this past week and some of the images on the BBC website surely paint a completely different picture of the city than what I encountered during my trip.  I of course did not venture into any of the favelas (shantytowns built on mountain top overlooking the city and the South Atlantic) despite my humorous threat to do so when heading out of work in Sao Paulo.  Indian kid (not really a kid but kid sounds right when I type this), can’t speak português, travelling alone to Rio and threatening to walk into drug and crime infested favela! My Brazilian client contact laughed alright but something told me he wasn’t amused. I guess the fascination with Rio’s favelas has something to do with the fact that I absolutely loved “The City of God”.  It ranks very very high among my favorite gangster movies and is usually one of my first recommendations, if asked may I add.

Anyway like I was saying, I had a great time in Rio and at no point during my 3 day stay did safety cross my mind!!  I went everywhere, did late nights, took the subway, the bus and all I got was “Indiano?!!!” or “Slumdog milionário!!”.  Like Raj Koothrappali from 'The Big Bang Theory' would say “I was exotic!” and boy did I love it!! J  The touristy stuff was outstanding too.  The tram ride over the Lapas with me hanging out, the stunning sunset from Pao de Suca (Sugarloaf mountains), the colourful graffiti, the outstanding Maracana, the late night samba at Rio Scenarium, the chopp and bolinho de bacalhau on Copacabana, the unique Cathedral Metropolitana, the bohemian people and the majestic Christ the Redeemer (partly covered due to renovation) watching over us! Cidade Maravilhosa as they say it. City of God, I’ll add if you ask! 

Paint thy town...blue!

I was surfing through the pile of pics I accumulated during my Brazil trip and realize that there are quite a few gems in there.  There is of course the Rio trip which I haven’t documented for reasons unknown (Did I tell you I am lazy?).  And all the incredible graffiti. That was one of the things I remember the most. Shame I did not carry my camera around everywhere!! But here’s a small compilation from what I got.  

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Sachin Tendulkar: Why is he among the greatest Indians?

Sachin Tendulkar: Among the greatest Indians?

When I first created this blog (out of sheer boredom) I knew one thing for certain.  That I will someday write a glowing tribute to the “Special One”. Jose Mourinho may have taken on that title with aplomb in the world of football (or has he?) but for the millions of Indians around the  world there is only one who can be anointed King.  I can wait for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to announce his imminent retirement but then this post would become an “also ran”. (I am secretly worried about unfair comparisons (if any) between my silly post and the eloquent prose of the omnipresent Bengali sports writer (and South Indian statistician) who surely will be working overtime then!).  Besides can I even write when I am holding back my tears?  A lot of what is written below can be / and surely will be dismissed as irrational exuberance of a crazy fan but the truth is a lot of objective analysis (and imagination may I argue) has gone into what I am about the say.

To understand the almost God like worship of a mere mortal sportsman you need to understand the larger canvas that he operates in.  And no it’s not the green patch of land that you see on TV.  It’s the enigma called India. To understand Sachin you need to understand India! And what can I tell you about India that you don’t already know. Nothing. But something dawned on me that is relevant to explain the preposterous that I am about to utter.

Should we look at India as a country?  Or is it a continent masquerading as a country? As must be obvious by now I hold the not so obvious view. A country that is so diverse culturally, linguistically, geographically or hell even genetically that it’s a miracle it even came about in the first place.  (I am not about to thank East India company for putting it together because the conception of the “idea” of India was indigenous.)  If Europe is a continent how do we not qualify? We have more official languages (not dialects…actual separate languages with separate scripts) than the whole of Europe put together.  The Kashmiri and the Tamil are so different (culturally & physically) that they make the Germans and the English look like twins.  The Assamese farmer and the Rajasthani trader have zilch in common just like the Spaniards and the Poles. The food from Cochin is as different from the fare that you get in Delhi as Athens and Milan! I can go on but you get the idea. I think. We have magnificently pulled together thus far despite separatist issues which I don’t like to ignore personally but will put aside for the sake of this post. In this canvas of a billion plus diversity operates our superhero. 

Only four other Indians (in my humble opinion) have had a greater influence on the collective consciousness of the Indian mind. Buddha, Ashok, Akbar and Gandhi.  The first, who at his prime united vast swathes of this land by his simplistic yet powerful concepts on living. The next two, rulers who made first attempts at creating a country and establish rules that contributed significantly to what we know today as our constitution. And the last of course the Mahatma who despite skepticism (which shocking and fashionably has carried on till this day) saw us through the last hurdle and did it in some style.  But how can I dare forget countless other greats (scholars, politicians, freedom fighters, artists included) of centuries, decades and generations ago and pick a cricketer to come bat at number 5 in my fantasy list of great Indians?  One let’s admit it’s an endless debate. Two a lot of the others have had great influence over their chosen fields or specific regions but haven’t occupied the same mind space (in a favorable sense of the word of course) across India as the ones I have listed above.  Three we need and deserve a post independence icon. And nobody let’s face it has collectively made us as proud  as this Mumbaikar over the last 60 years.  And as many number of times.  Unlike even 20 years ago where large parts of the country hadn’t fallen to the spell of cricket (and overdose of information) now, thanks to television, it would be impossible for anyone in South Asia (and the rest of the cricketing world) to not have heard the name TENDULKAR. A vast majority will willingly like to be categorized as devotees.  Yours truly included.  Amen.   

P.S: I have in the past jokingly (maybe even seriously) told some of my western colleagues who show interest in travelling to India “If you are ever in trouble say ‘Cricket is my religion, Sachin is my god’. And then say ‘Help’. You will do just fine”.  

Luke's Law of Team Strength!!

11 is never equivalent to 11 in sports. Its either 12 or 10 depending on the 11th jackass you pick!!!

Yuck???

Octopus soup anyone?

I have been travelling on work for a few years now, usually on short term assignments with fellow colleagues from India!  And as is typical for Indian work colleagues we don’t really bond well (or pretend at least) unless we have had our share of ‘arguments’.  I have had numerous ones on topics ranging from presidential campaigns to sports teams, from the state of the economy to the more serious issues of our times like who’s hotter between Scarlet Johansson and Megan Fox? Scarlett of course! But no other topic of argument has come up as often as the great debate on Vegetarian vs. Non Vegetarian food.

Now this is a topic of discussion that has been fought out passionately across the length and breadth of our county (and others considering we pretty much inhabit every part of the world now!) and for good reason.  No other country that I know of has such a high percentage of vegetarians. A fairly reliable (or contentious?) free online encyclopedia (got it yet?) tells me that as much as 31% of Indians are vegetarians!!  No they don’t eat ANY meat, poultry, fish, seafood or in most cases even eggs. Onions and garlic is also taboo among the Jains who number as much as 4.2 million followers.   It’s only natural that when you travel abroad (for the record I have absolutely no problems) where a spicy vegan meal is “challenging” to find, to say the least, you end up hearing all kinds of arguments for vegetarianism. (Partly out of frustration I suspect J). Arguments range from vegetarianism being the healthier choice to cruelty to animals.  But the one argument that is hard to “bite” is “My Choice”. 

Is it really your free choice or is it based on conditioning? Just like mine may I add before you jump to the conclusion that I have an agenda!  The “free choice” argument doesn’t really fly.  The reason I don’t eat lizards today is because I have grown up in a culture which finds eating lizards “gross” and distasteful!!  If I were born and brought up in some part of China I might quite relish the thought of “sundried spicy lizard ” or whatever its equivalent is!!  Same rule applies to vast majority of Indian vegetarians. The only reason they don’t eat meat or fish is because it’s not acceptable in their socio-religious environment. They find chicken, lamb, beef or even the delightfully tasty pomfrets just as “gross” as I find eating lizards. In the perfect world we would have a fully understanding (in this scenario that would be ‘taste’ I guess) of all our choices and our choices would not be as influenced as it is today by where and which families we are born into! But obviously it doesn’t work that way.  Unless you are the guy from Man vs. Food, our choices for the most parts have been made before we were born and we just find rationalizations to justify those choices. With a deeper understanding of factors that drive my choices (or the lack of it) I am ready to experiment. Frog Legs? Sure. Lizards? Ehh…not sure if it’s healthy J

Crushed cans and hope!

Big sporting events are when bloggers come alive.  I must say I had plans to blog about my ‘perspective’ on Vuvuzelas, Larissa and some football this past World Cup but as I mentioned in my previous post, work took an unlikely precedent over following sports!!! And YES I plan to start my next few posts complaining  about the lack of work life balance only coz this blog is still anonymous and its highly unlikely that my boss will stumble upon this!! J  Anyway, the good part about work right now is travel. And the opportunity to experience something special if you keep you eyes and ears open.  Here I was in the middle of 100000 colorful Dutch fans in Amsterdam watching the World Cup finals. The overwhelming smell of weed. The pile of crushed beer cans. And hope.  

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Under the carpet

Mudras at New Delhi airport

So I did (could) not execute 1/12^th of my New Year resolution on time. “A post a month” resolution. I am tempted to seek solace in my genuine (and almost original) excuse of insane timelines at work but I am one for looking forward. So here it is. A new post!

Delhi’s new airport terminal (T3) has been described as “swanky” and “glitzy” and no doubt is a hugh improvement over the previous versions. Various reports I have “googled” tell me of the numerous immigration points, check-in counters, aerobridges, travelators, lounges, shower rooms, restaurants, bars, cafes and everything else that you should expect from a world class airport.  First impressions matter. And going by the number of Japanese tourists (I take the liberty of assumption) with cameras in front of the magnificent and tastefully done traditional Indian hand gesture (Mudras) sculptures, so far so good.

But peculiarly first impressions were not what I was thinking about as I walked the long walk from the arrival gate to the immigration check point. (Pretty sure every flight right now is being asked to taxi in at the last possible gate so that the arriving passengers get a full “taste” of our national pride.)  T3 possibly is the most carpeted airport terminal in the world. And not just any carpet. Thick carpet that will suffice for a mattress when your flight’s delayed or give you  enough practice on how to walk on a water bed when you are standing up!!!  As my initial bewilderment of looking at this vast expanse of carpeted area wore off, I wondered how on earth are we gonna keep this bloody thing clean. Pardon my skepticism but will we in three years have the world’s largest dirty carpet???  Very very likely.  I saw the odd janitor at work but something tells me I’ll find it hard to find a dustbin when I need it, a couple of years from now.  We don’t have to build the biggest or the swankiest airport in the world to create a positive first impression. We just need to build a practical airport with standard amenities that we can keep clean with minimum of supervision. Looking forward apparently is not a very common trait!!

Arsenal and their beautiful football!!

I reached 15 minutes before the game but it was probably 15 minutes too late.  Not just were the bar stools (my favorite vantage point) gone but every single table was occupied.  The bartender thankfully remembered me from the previous week and offered to find me a place.

“Anywhere” I said in desperation as I watched the two teams walk out.

The two gentlemen were kind enough to let me join them at their table and I tried to be as non interfering as possible by turning my back on them and squeezing myself out of their view.  Tonight was going to be about football and my eyes were glued to the screen.  The ears though were a different story.

“Inter” said the Italian behind me.

“I don’t think so” said the Englishman next to him. “Bayern are playing the more attacking football.  They are definitely going to score.  Inter just holds back and it’s not going to work”

“This Inter team does not play the classical Italian game” retorted the Italian. “They attack too. Counter attack!  They beat Barcelona 3 – 1 in the first leg. They beat Chelsea 3 – 1 in aggregate”

“Fair point Mr. Italy” I thought but I ain’t interfering. Tonight was going to be about football.

I heard faint grumbling every time there was a hard “challenge” during the course of the first half and then after watching a delightful run down the wings by Robben the Englishman could not hold himself back around the 54^th minute.

“Who is playing the better football?  Who is playing the beautiful football??”

The reply was curt. “1-0 Inter?? What are you talking about?”

I held my chuckle at the Italian’s reply but I ain’t interfering.  No I ain’t. Tonight was going to be about football.

“No but that’s not beautiful football…”. More grumbling.

At the end of the game (and two large pints) I couldn’t help but …interfere. I turned around, mumbled something about it being a good game and as soon as I drew a smile from the Englishman I innocuously asked “Are you by any chance from London and an Arsenal supporter??”

A pause and a reluctant grin later “Yes!! That is very perceptive.  How did you know??”

State of Miles

2 hrs 34 mins, GRU, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 0 Air Miles

That was nice. The lunch with friends but maybe I shouldn’t have pushed the time again. What if I didn’t get lucky with the traffic? The lady taxi driver did just fine though. “Voce e premiero mulher taxista” I told her in my broken Portugesh. Pleased her plenty I tell you!  Here I am staring blankly at another airport crowd.  Already missing Brazil. 45 more minutes to go before boarding. How am I going to deal with this multi continental journey?  The only book on me is Midnight’s Children and honestly I am not sure if I want to even start it. If the preface is any indicator, Rushdie is going to be about big words that make you wish there was a dictionary app in your head. Sleep. Need it. And Gatorade.

18 hrs 24 mins, JFK, New York, USA, 4760 Air Miles

Don’t remember how much I slept on the flight. Forgot to keep the watch in my pocket but I am sure it was decent.  Thank god I could just drop off my bag after customs and didn’t have to carry it around terminals till check in again.  Still good 8 hours to go.  The lounge is quite and nice. No bed though. The couch will do.  Rushdie is doing OK (I’ll say it for you..."Look at this little p@#$%...what credentials to judge Rushdie!!”). Lots of detail but I get the picture and that’s all that should count to the storyteller.

22hrs 15 mins, , JFK, New York, USA,

Oh that nap on the couch (leg up) felt good. May have come across as a ragged backpacker (or obnoxious Indian! or both!) to the few business travelers (trim and proper) who walked past but what the hell. Needed it.  Woke up dreaming about the Asian woman’s arrest I saw earlier today. Should check if Stoke did us a favour against Chelsea. That will be real cool.

25 hrs 58 mins, JFK, New York, USA

The best thing I have done this trip so far. Check into this lounge instead of going into the city and catch up with friends. I am not just talking about the cost saving but also the effort. Still have 24 more hours to go before I see a bed. The shower was fully equipped. Feel clean except my socks. Worst thing I have done on this trip so far. Forgot to pack one more clean pair of socks in my carry on luggage.  Not done. It ain’t stinking yet but I am conscious.

29 hrs 16 mins, JFK, New York, USA

What a great physical game of basketball!! Unbelievable 3^rd quarter against the Mavs by my fav team (only coz I saw them live once) San Antonio Spurs. Hope they can close out in style coz it might get really really close. Haven’t followed the playoffs this year.  Don’t even know which game this is. Got to hit nba.com once I get back home.

Found socks. Bought it. Hell now I can take my feet out during the flight without worrying too much!! Not that I smell …but 29 hours in the same pair can do it to anyone!! Better safe than sorry. 

I gave Rushdie a break. I think Midnight’s Children has to be another one of my projects like Fountainhead. Picked up Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Couldn’t resist it when I saw it in Hudson News. I ‘discovered’ him following a link from gaurdain.co.uk. It was an article about how a weaker girls basketball team did well in some championship and the philosophy of ‘press’. David vs. Goliath kind of thing. Brilliant it was. Have in the past few months read a lot of his articles and find them extremely interesting. Love the simplicity of his writing and the ‘logicality’ of his thought process. Had to buy this. It’s holding good.

Hungry?  A little. Probably just wait for dinner once I board.  Might catch a movie as well.

31hrs 14 mins, JFK tarmac, York, USA

The rain is really coming down as the flight rolls out onto the runway. Managed a side aisle with no one next to me. English newspaper with all the football action from the weekend. Not bad huh?

31hrs 32 mins, JFK tarmac, York, USA

Perfect!! The flight’s f@#$%^g delayed due to bad weather. Do we really need to add any more minutes to this crazy trip??

41 hrs 19 mins, Mid Air (must be somewhere over Europe or closer to Middle East actually)

Don’t know when but at some point during the night my legs hurt. I think I just stood up, stretched my legs and then napped again with both my legs up. Helps that the flight is empty.

Watched Crazy Heart. Uncanny similarity to The Wrestler. One a wrestler…the other a country singer…but everything else is déjà vu! Btw the flight was delayed by ‘only’ 45 minutes. Not bad considering it was really pouring ‘cats and dogs’ in New York. As long as I and my bags can make it to the connecting flight I won’t complaint.

45 hrs 26 mins, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11610 Air miles

Maybe an hour to go before boarding my last flight to Delhi.  If there was anymore delay at JFK probably would have missed this connection or at least my bags would not have made it. I still don’t know if it will make it. It should. Can’t afford that to happen. This time I did not see the magnificent blue dome of this airport that I saw last time. Really cool. Wish I could just step out for a bit. Never really seen Middle East. Oh if only I could step out and explore the country in between connecting flights I would have ended up seeing twice as many countries. Lost count of the number of European airports I have been to. Never stepped out.

Desktops with metal keyboards and free internet access. The keyboard feels weird but heck it works. 2 in 3 people were on Facebook.  It’s amazing how many people around the world are on Facebook. And half of them are addicted.  I updated my status too. “44 hrs on the road…and one more flight to catch to Nova Delhi…beat that CLOONEY”. Obvious reference to Up in the Air. Only difference is right now I don’t see the sultry seductress in sight!! Most are covered head to toe. One thing that was obvious, last time I was here, was the dependence of these Middle Eastern cities/ airports on immigrants.  Pretty much everybody working here (except security) is either from the Sub continent (Indian, Pakistani) or South East Asian (Pilipino, Malay). Looking forward to Delhi and some unhealthy but spicy food!! Hopefully my roomie shows up at the airport. He doesn’t have the best track record to be honest. Need to buy daru for him at duty free.

51 hrs 22 mins, New Delhi, India, 13030 Air miles

Bed.

Brazil's "Route to the Indies"

It’s really amazing how well connected the world has become.  And I don’t necessarily mean economically or even geographically. In fact I can get carried away by my current job profile and say geographic distances don’t really matter (only coz my company pays for my ticket J) but surely its has become a lot more affordable to a lot more people to say the least.  But what is really amazing is how well the world is integrating culturally.  I for example just finished watching a Japanese and an Iranian movie thanks to torrents. Had Vietnamese ‘Pho’ soup for lunch and am craving some Brazilian “café” to set right this lazy afternoon in Brussels. And in every big city in every corner of the world people are discovering a culture other than their own in restaurants, television, movies and of course the Internet.  In fact I’ll stick my neck out and say that there is not so much of a cultural difference around the big cities of the world especially if you come from middle class families (and above…lucky B@#$%^&s! J).  You grow up watching the same silly stuff on T.V, playing the same video games, listening to pretty much the same tried and tested bands from America or UK and spend half a day checking out other people’s profiles on Facebook.  A young kid growing up in a nice apartment building in Mumbai for example probably has more in common with someone from Johannesburg or Auckland than let’s say some kid from Hanamkonda in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, India (I just looked up the place in Google Maps…so don’t worry if you have never heard if it). You could look at that last bit as a negative but for now I would much rather ponder over the beauty of the ‘commonalities’. Now that the theorizing is done…here’s a story.

Here I was on Copacabana beach talking to my new friends and they want to know about the untouchables from India. 

“Untouchables?” 

“Yeah Dalits?”

As baffled as I was about their knowledge of the caste system, I went on to explain (somewhat untruthfully…if I am completely honest) that caste divisions are more prominent in villages and that most urban Indians don’t care about stuff like that.

“But where the hell did you learn about it??  Textbooks??” I asked worried that Brazilian kids are probably learning a negative aspect of my country right in school!

“No! Caminhos das Indias…it’s a soap opera on T.V.  Its in Portuguese with all Brazilian actors but shot in India.  They don’t let the lead characters marry each other because one’s a Dalit and the other's upper caste!”

“Wow” I am thinking. “What an original Indian story!” J

Oh the boys in us!!

Every self admiring, bloated ego, wannabe writer does this at some point. Write that quintessential ‘stuck in the airport’ and ‘starbucks’ post!!  Never dared to take my battered and bruised work laptop (don’t carry a personal one thanks to the weight of this monolith) amongst the cooler MacBooks that usually hang out at coffee shops but here I am with ‘genuine’ time to kill at an airport so why not? Besides making small notes about my multi-continental journey from Sao Paulo to New Delhi, I might as well catch up on Brazil. I have a word page full of ‘interesting’ topics that at some point I planned to write about and post on this blog.

We have all done this as kids. At least the boys did. Collect sports cards. As a 10 year old during the 1990 World Cup the value of a Diego Maradona card I managed to get with a 50 paisa bubble gum was nothing short of the excitement of lets say winning a million dollars as an adult. Not that I know how that feels! If I remember correctly I probably hadn’t even seen a full football game by then. Maybe some clippings of this madman making his way through five Englishmen. But the card was, in Mastercard speak, priceless.

20 years on I don’t know where that card is. Maybe Mom threw it away as rubbish. In fact I had forgotten all about the card until I saw the football card craze at work recently. Apparently it is still a big deal in Brazil. My Brazilian friend told me he has all the cards (which includes cards of players from all teams, team pics, national flags, stadiums etc etc...numbering close to 600 cards for each World Cup) from the last 8 World Cups!!!  Every afternoon (actually all day round) you’ll see 30 somethings trading cards at work.  In fact the cards are numbered and an excel spreadsheet is used to keep track of which ones individuals already have and which one they don’t. It’s almost competitive. Who’s gonna complete the official World Cup album first. Apparently some of the folks from work show up at Ibirapuera park over the weekend to trade cards with strangers from all parts of Sao Paulo. Super fricking cool, I thought. I in fact went out and bought 10 packs (0.75 reals each per pack.) of 5 cards each. Enough for me to trade and get 7 English players. I gave the rest to my friend who last I checked is short of only 25 cards to complete his album. That is before his weekend trip to the park!!

Not your usual conversation!!

“So what is your city famous for” I asked my new friend. 

“Famous for?” she smiled a little and hesitantly said “Aliens!”

“Sorry what?” I thought I did not hear right. It’s the traffic on Paulista Avenue.

“Aliens” she said again.

“You mean Aliens…like E.T. …Aliens??”  I asked again in disbelief.  When was the last time you asked someone what their city is famous for and got that answer?  I am expecting coffee, carnival, beer…and I get Aliens!! Phew!

“Yes.  It’s the most famous alien sighting in Brazil.  The only other alien case more famous in the world that our town’s is Roosevelt’s. Everyone is Brazil knows about the Varginha alien sighting”

“Roosevelt? The American President?”

“Yeah”

I grew up fascinated by aliens, like most kids I guess, but did not remember the Roosevelt incident.  Then again there was no Internet back then. Whatever! Right now this conversation seems unreal.

“When did this happen?” I asked expecting something from the 50’s or 60’s.

“96”

“1996?”

“Yes”

“Jesus that’s not too long ago…I had started watching X-Files by then.”  I pause a bit and then asked.  “So what’s the story?”

“Oh well…three girls saw an alien and lots of strange things happened that day in town.” she said and added as an afterthought “The Brazilian military came in”

“Really?”

“I believe the story…I saw the military myself”

“Wow…that’s amazing …I’ll look it up on Google”

“Yeah look it up” she said with a smile.

Corinthians!!!

Every Brasileiro's (yes that is what they call themselves…not Brazilians!!) first love. Futebol. Little background to the post I guess will help. Sao Paulo has three big teams who play in the highest league. Corinthians, Sao Paulo and Palmeiras.  Apparently Corinthians have the largest fan base (almost 40 to 50%) in the city and like in any other inter city rivalry these fans absolutely hate the other two teams. 

The Corinthians vs. Sao Paulo game was being really talked up at work.  The struggling Corinthians badly needed a win against the more comfortably placed Sao Paulo if they had to have any chance of qualifying for the Paulista Championship Semi final.  Paulista Championship is the intra - state championship and is different from the first division football we are used to watching in Europe.  We had told our Brazilian friend at work, pretty much on the first day of our project, that we need to / have to / absolutely must see a game here in Brazil and he suggested we wait for this one.  “I’ll take you as long as you don’t wear anything in green (Palmeiras colour)” he added being a ‘hardcore’ Corinthians fan. J Having no previous allegiances, I was leaning towards Corinthians anyway partly due to the two big names they had in their ranks. Ronaldo (the fat one! Highest goal scorer in World Cups) and Roberto Carlos (arguably one of the best left backs of our generation…arguably). I was dying to see one of Roberto Carlos’s legendary free kicks. That left leg can pack a punch even in mid 30s!!  He had scored a stunner in the previous week so was likely to take a few shots on goal at least. I kept telling my friend that Roberto Carlos is going to score. Roberto Carlos is going to score. Everyone, I guess, just found my enthusiasm amusing J

The atmosphere was fantastic even though the stadium was far from full. Once particular group of fans called ‘Gaviões da Fiel’were really boisterous. Apparently they are the largest group of ‘organized’ Corinthian fans in the city. I was told they indulge in some harmless ‘organized’ trouble every now and then but I didn’t see any myself so I am not going to hold them against that reputation!! Don’t believe what you don’t see. Especially if the allegation is against sports fans J Nope. Never.

I though I had picked up parts of the Corinthians chant as well during the game until I found out (embarrassingly a day later) that all I was saying was ‘Abacaxi’ (pronounced ba.ca.shi) which means Pineapple in Portuguese!!! Had a hard time explaining the goof up to our friend from work. Guess all the new words got mixed up and I created my own Indiano - Brasileiro - Corinthiano version of the chant!! 

The game itself turned out to be a classic. Corinthians nicked the game 4 – 3 in injury time thanks to an own goal!!  As this modest Nostradamus predicted Robert Carlos scored off the first free kick he took.  Wasn’t exactly his greatest kick ever but was forceful enough to make it through the fumbling goalkeeper. Fat Ronaldo was a pale shadow of his former self! Didn’t, at any stage of the game, look interested and barely made an effort to run. Which brings me to the age old sports question…when is a good time to hang up the boots?? Later.

The Noose!!

"The NECKTIE traces back to the time of Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. Due to the slight difference between the Croatian word for Croats, Hrvati, and the French word, Croates, the garment gained the name "Cravat". The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. In the late seventeenth century, the men wore lace cravats that took a large amount of time and effort to arrange. These cravats were often tied in place by cravat strings, arranged neatly and tied in a bow."

- The stupid-est piece of fashion that did not disappear into oblivion in two years!!! Funny thing is, hotter the country and higher the level of education...the less like you are to question it...stupid stupid!!! 

Skye is the Limit!

Skye Bar, Sao Paulo

I am not huge on nightclubs. A television  with sports and beer will do it for me but I got to talk about this one. Syke Bar at Unique Hotel (the hotel is shaped like Noah’s ark btw…look it up!) has got to one of the best I have ever been to. Infact is by far the best nightclub I have been to. Period. Expensive but the view of Sao Paulo from the terrace is worth every single Brazilian reals (pronounced ‘hay-eyes’! No kidding…even the currency is pronounced sexy :)). I was looking up stuff to do in the city a few days later and on one of the websites one (what read like a well travelled) bloke was all about Skye. He kept raving about how he’s been all over the world but that Skye stands out as the best. I am not surprised. The terrace pool, the bar, the restaurant, the crowd, the ambience and the view.  Incredible! 

Lunch anyone???

So we come back after an early lunch and the office is like a ghost town…not a single person in sight ...I am not kidding…not one…and its 12:50 pm on a Thursday afternoon. My hung over ‘New York’ mind is thinking “what the hell is going on?”. We find out that apparently the whole office takes lunch at sharp 12:30! Every single one …for an hour…and they all go out…no lunch boxes and no fricking 'working lunch' business. As unusual as it is to see, the culture is easy to explain. The street below has great reasonably priced restaurants, incredible food, the weather is around 30 degree centigrade (back on metric units..YAY!!) and I can’t even describe the eye candy. Got to be a fool to spend lunch hour in front of a computer. Thankfully Paulistas unlike some New Yorkers (what?? I am being honest!) don’t have the ‘I work harder than you coz I even have lunch at my desk’ attitude!!

Sampa Sampa Sampa!!

Menina Bonita next to me on the flight. View of the pool from my hotel window (and I am not talking about the colour of the water duh!) Great Sushi and Sake. Lonely Planet Poor-too-gesh phrase book. Futebol on TV. Great view. Couch. Likely nap in the warm sunlight coming in through the windows. This is it!!

Best Football League in the World?? Really??

Fight for best league in the world

1. The Argument.

Which is the best football (soccer) league in the world? The question’s been asked before on the web. Yahoo Groups, Wiki Answers, Countless Blogs, et al. The overwhelming majority of the responses say English Premier League (EPL)! I am tempted to concur considering the amount EPL I watch. It surely is the most popular. It surely (you may disagree on this ‘surely’) is the most exciting. Biggest cash cow. Most watched. Talked about. And all that. But is it really the best??

Before we go any further we need to figure out what exactly are we looking for? League with the best players? The most successful clubs? Style of play? Most competitive group of clubs? Or is a blend of all these and more?? A certain X factor as some call it!! It’s complicated and some of these factors are extremely subjective. But let’s look at all of them individually and try and see if we can ‘clear the air’ a little bit. Or at least add a new dimension to the argument because lets face it… we may just have to ‘agree to disagree’ at the end of it all!

2. The Research – Part 1

The ‘league with the best players’ argument, as subjective as it is, can be used as a justification to eliminate all leagues other than the three big ones in Europe. I know it not fair and it certainly not meant to be disrespectful but most people who follow football can’t deny that the cream of football talent ply their trade in Europe. The last time someone from a club outside of England, Spain and Italy even finished 2nd in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards was Oliver Kahn of Bayern Munich way back in 2002!!! For all of Brazil’s dominance in world football, an overwhelming majority of their current squad play in the Big 3 European Leagues. The same is true for most of the big players from Africa. Coaches of Asian national teams would do anything for their ‘boys’ to get some experience in Europe. So clearly the imaginary race to get anointed as the ‘best league in the world’ is between English Premier League (EPL), Spanish Primera Division and Italian Serie A.

But can we look at the star cast and decide which one of these leagues is the best? I would much rather not. Gerrard vs Kaka. Rooney vs Benzema. Ronaldo vs Ronalidino. Eto vs Ibrahimovic. Vidic vs Gattuso. Messi. Lampard. Iniesta. David Silva. Aguero. It’s a crazy muddle of talent and honestly it’s not going to help this discussion (ok monologue). Only prolong it.

3. The Research – Part 2

Which one do you like vanilla or chocolate? Spicy Italian or Chicken Teriyaki? :) The fast paced direct English style or the ‘technically superior’ Spanish style? Or is it the cold blooded cautious approach of the Italians that whet’s your football appetite? This again is a hard one to call. Two reason. One. Its really up to the viewer what he or she wants to watch. The purist may prefer the creative Spanish but me personally…I love the frenzy of the English game. And who is to say who is right? Two. The big clubs don’t really play one particular style anymore. The influx of foreign coaches (especially in England) has lead to teams changing their tactics to suit opponent though it may be argued that the core of their approach has still remained largely unchanged.

This line of comparison leads one straight to the Champions League. How have the different styles of football matched up to each other? Over the last three seasons the English have dominated the Champions League. 3 out of the 4 semi finalist in 08-09, 07-08 and 06-07 seasons have been English clubs. No wonder the internet is full of posts declaring EPL to be the best…and invariable in every one of those posts the success of the English teams in Champions League has been used as evidence enough of EPL’s superiority!! They have a point but let’s scratch the surface just a little bit more. How has the next tier of English team done in UEFA / Europa cup?? Last time an English team made it to the finals was in 2006 when Middelsbrough lost to Sevilla. One English, four Spanish and two Italian teams have made it to the semi finals of the UEFA Cup in the last five seasons. There obviously is a hugh drop in the standards after the big four (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool…for the folks who live in America or in a cave :)). Things are changing at a rapid pace with all the investment coming into City, West Ham and other smaller teams but can we say that the big four has had an easier time winning in the English Premier League? Does Real, Barcelona or the teams from Milan deal with a tougher set of competitors’ week in week out?

4. The Research – Part 3

How do we determine the competitiveness of each league?? Subjective again but I think some number crunching might help us look at things a little more objectively. In a world where dirhams, roubles and dollars flow in and out of clubs, changing the fortunes of players and competitiveness of leagues, 3 years is a long time in football to measure change. So I aint looking beyond the 2006-07 season for my Sunday morning research. The fundamental premise of my number crunching is that the stronger the lower half of the league…stronger the league! You are as good as your weakest link as they say or links in this case. How well are the bottom 10 teams performing in comparison to the top 10?

(For the uninitiated reader, probably an American (I am not picking on you!:)) or a cricket crazy Indian :), each of the three leagues has 20 teams playing two games against each other. One at Home and one Away. That makes for a total of 38 games for each team each season. They get three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The team with highest points at the end of 38 games is the winner. Period. No Play offs. No Post season)

The first thing to look at is the end of season point differential between the top ten and the bottom ten teams. I took a three year average of point difference between top 10 and bottom 10 teams for each of the leagues and to my surprise the Spaniards came out on top.

STAT A: Three year average of point difference between top 10 and bottom 10 teams

(Lower the difference, stronger the league)

English: 27.76666667

Spanish: 21.46666667

Italian: 28.9

I looked at the numbers again. There’s got to be some kind of mistake. The English can’t be that way off the mark. I found an excuse to redo the math. In 2007 – 2008 season, Derby County was rock bottom of the EPL table collecting only 11 points over 38 games. No other team did as badly in any of the leagues over the three seasons I was looking at. I was convinced that this lead to the anomaly. So I pretty much did the first step again except I took out the top 3 and bottom 3 teams (from each league) to try and neutralize Derby's horrendous performance in 07-08. It did not make any fricking difference!! :) I need to come up with a good one now if I have to turn it around for EPL!!

STAT B: Three year average of point difference between top (4 to 10) and bottom (11 to 17) teams

(Lower the difference, stronger the league)

English: 17.0952381

Spanish: 12.71428571

Italian: 23.76190476

What is a good team?? From the 10 years (not much by most standards) of my watching football closely, I can say, that good teams score away from home and rarely concede goals at home. A ratio of goal scored away vs. goals conceded at home is a good indicator of the team’s ability to win matches. For the sake of simplicity let me call it the Weakest Link Ratio. Can this magic ratio be the saviour? Let’s see.

STAT C: Weakest Link Ratio (Three year Average) = Average Goals Scored Away by Bottom 10 teams / Average Goals Conceded at Home by Bottom 10 teams

(Higher the Ratio Stronger the Bottom 10 teams)

English: 0.644986578

Spanish: 0.749581422

Italian: 0.721181961

Again!!!

5. The Conclusion

On all three of my STATs the Spanish Primera Division came out on top…hands down. Does it bother me?? Yes it does. Never again can I be in an argument and say “EPL is the best” without a little hesitancy in my voice!! :) You decide…but only for yourself.

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If any of you had the patience to read through this post and would be interested in looking at the spreadsheet I used to crunch the points table…feel free to write a note below with your email address and I’ll send it to you.

18° Feels Like 5°!!!

One of the less documented aspects of travel is the weather! The grandeur of ancient building, the glamour of nightlife, the aroma of food and the diversity of local culture for obvious reasons take a precedence over the oh so boring weather for most travel bloggers (me included...and I know I am shamelessly giving too much respect to my silly posts by categorizing myself :)). But isn't experiencing 115◦F heat just as memorable as seeing Taj Mahal for an Alaskan?? :) Or Snow for a South East Asian.

This was beautiful!!! In this day and age of $18 IMAX experience....thankfully the best visuals still are free and not animated!

The 'Money Order' Economy!

I have had better starts to a new year than this!! Just got back from warm and sunny Kerala to a wet and cold NYC and to add to my misery ...it sucks at work right now. But I aint bothering my accidental reader with all that. Let me think up something else to write about.

They call it ‘God's Own country’ …my little native state of Kerala, India. Its green, fertile, beautiful and was named as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 places of a lifetime" by the National Geographic Traveler magazine. It’s also has one of the highest standards of living in India, highest literacy rates, high life expectancy, low infant mortality, highest per capita consumption of alcohol (YAY!!), etc etc. I can go on but honestly I got no right to brag considering how little time I have spent there (having grown up all over India). And besides it’s easier to look it up on wiki or something. That will give you the bad side as well coz I conveniently will forget to mention that bit :)

One of the more fascinating aspects of the state though is its economy. Well it’ essentially was an agricultural society and that should come as no surprise considering the amount of rain it gets (touchwood!) but it has now moved towards the Service sector. But as any Malu (short form for Malayali {native Keralites}…fondly {hopefully!} used in urban India) will tell you, as will countless articles on the web, one of the significant contributors to the Kerala economy is what they call the Non Resident Keralite (NRK) styled after the Non Resident Indian. He / she (very likely a she…and very likely a nurse!) sends a mind boggling amount of foreign remittance back home (Social scientists on the web call it the ‘Money Order’ economy) and build fancy houses that their old parents struggle to maintain (since maids are not as common a phenomenon as some other parts of India…I think it’s the prohibitive labour costs), buys land and of course gold. Nothing wrong with it. After all that’s the reason they went abroad in the first place. Financial security for themselves and their loved ones.

But I saw something quite remarkable this time I was back home. No our neighbors’ did not add a third floor to their 4000 square feet house!! A fine Indian American doctor by the name of Dr. Jose C Mantil sponsored a new state of the art school building for the village which I was told must have cost him over half a million dollars. Apparently Dr.Mantil’s father was the first principal of the school and he himself a student. Half a million dollars is a lot of money in any country and at any stage of your life. Even if there is an emotional attachment (like Dr. Mantil clearly has) rarely do Non Resident Keralites, Non Resident Indians or Non Resident Anywheres part with such large sums of money. I am not judging them but think about it. Dr.Mantil could have easily bought his kids a Cadillac each. Or done something else most of us would do. But he did not and that calls for a Thank you even though I never studied in the school and barely know anybody in the village except immediate family.

What was also interesting was that the school organized a Cultural parade around the village. Now it wasn’t exactly like the one in Rio or Macy’s but it was interesting to watch :) The school is run by some Catholic priests but the parade included traditional attire from all religions. I thought that was pretty cool. My mom woke me up from my afternoon nap and made me run half a mile just to make sure I get the event on camera :) I though it was good enough to post it in Youtube. I skipped the whole opening ceremony bit as soon as the local politicians started rambling but was told later that some old village football stars were also honored. Apparently football used to be pretty big in the village at one time. OK…that explains something!!!!

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Google induced after thought fact: Per the World Bank, India has retained its position as the highest recipient of global remittance flow at $52 billion in 2008. China, Mexico and Philippines are 2,3 and 4. Kerala accounts for almost a fifth of all NRI remittances.

God bless the Malu Nurse!!!