India's Soccer City

The list of football stars that have visited Kolkata in the past is long and illustrious compared to any other Indian city. Some of the names I can recall are the likes of Lothar Matthaus, Karl Heinz Rumminege, Diego Maradona, Branco, Romario, Oliver Kahn, and Gerd Mueller. Tomorrow another great footballing talent will land in the city. While all the aforesaid greats visited us only after they'd hung up their boots, this gentleman will need to go home and iron his jersey after his stint here is done. And he's just come off playing the tournament of his life.

Europa Champion 2010, World Cup Golden Ball Awardee 2010, Diego Forlan.

And he's not coming alone. She's gonna be there too!!

Zaira Nara, Forlan's erstwhile girlfriend

Ergo, be there at Yuva Bharti Krirangan, (Salt Lake Stadium) August 1, 2010 at 1700 hrs if you can. See you there!

Pictures from here and here respectively.

Back to the cradle

Got my hands on some old Mohiner songs. I had always been fond of Mohin's material. Especially because the youngest of Mohin's horses (the band being named Mohiner Ghoraguli literally translating to mean Mohin's Horses) Mr. Abraham Mazumdar was my music teacher at school and a close friend of the family. Further the band, despite performing in obscurity right through its career in the 1970s, was arguably singlehandedly responsible for the splurge of Bangla Rock bands and artists that came to fore during the late eighties and early nineties and is an important part of the history of modern Bengali popular music.

Last night I heard the song Tomay Dilam after an eternity. I had almost forgotten it even existed. Unlike most Mohin fans, I prefer this vocal harmony and keyboard driven number over their more renowned hits such as Bhalobashi, Prithibi and Ruksana. This seems to me to be a melancholic love song to the Calcuttan in general. Its a beautiful song and I wish I could put up the song itself, but being the technological retard that I am I haven't figured out how to do that yet. In any case it isn't mine to put up.

So instead I got down to translating it. My case is hindered by my poor grasp on the English language and an even poorer understanding of my own mother tongue (I'm glad blogs don't require mandatory pictures of its administrators for I'd rather no one saw my face). Albeit the same, I hope I am able to atleast give the reader a hint of the beauty and the mellow despair in this song and do justice to its eloquent wordplay in the Bengali language. It is a sad and beautiful song that left me awake till late last night.

Tomay Dilam (I give to you)

In the city’s warmest day

of tar fueled sunlight,

a breath of rain

I give to you today.

What else could I give?

Them old rallies,

the rows of them old trams,

the balloon store on the sidewalk

whose thread knotted reds & whites

are my discordant city’s Rhododendron

I give to you today.

What else is there in the late night neon lights,

that illuminate these restaurants.

The highest roof of the tallest building

I give to you today.

I cannot give

the smell of grass, flowers and rice fields,

two palmfuls of softness.

Instead the silent reassurance of the

slightly leaking burnt diesel,

I give to you today.

All the images of the city’s verse

I give to you today.

[I give to you today] x 3

Original Lyrics by the Late Gautam Chattopadhyay

Indian v. Red Devils

Delhi boy Sunil Chhetri will soon be seen taking the field against Manchester United on July 25 as part of the latter's tour of USA. Chhetri will be playing for his new club Kansas City Wizards when they take on the former world club champions in a friendly encounter. Although Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra are said to have stayed out of the tour on holidays, big names like Ryan Giggs, Berbatov and Edwin Van der Sar will be available for the English giants. A detailed report of the same is available here.

Sunil Chhetri appearing for his erstwhile club Kansas City Wizards

Here's hoping that the India No. 11 gets playing time against one of the greatest football clubs in the world and does us all proud. Gooo Chhetrii!

Romario comes home

Brazilian legend and Calcutta's favourite son (since most Bengali Calcuttans consider themselves Brazilians with the remaining firmly believing that they were actually born in Argentina, and that Bengal is in India today due to some sort of tectonic shift or CIA conspiracy) Romario de Souza Faria came to the city a couple of days back to encourage youngsters participating in a state-wide football tournament, the Kolkata Police Coca-Cola Friendship Cup. He is staying on to host a reality tv show on football, to be aired on Mahua Channel, alongside former team mate and fellow World Champion 1994, Branco.

It seems a tad weird to imagine how a game meant to be watched live can be any more real than it already is, but atleast its a good excuse to have one of the finest exponents of the game in your hometown. He's probably as loved here as he is at home, and probably better remembered. I can only confirm that after I have been to Brazil in 2014 ;)

Cheers, and good luck to Romario for his future exploits in the city of joy.

Picture from here.

Find of the tournament

This World Cup saw various styles of football being executed by some really talented men. Some stars did not live up to their reputations, whilst others outdid theirs. One such who came through in glory was Per Mertesacker, who in my limited opinion has been one of the players of the tournament alongside the likes of Diego Forlan, Lionel Messi (yes, I thought he played great and with a lot of responsibility) and Sergio Ramos.

Per Mertesacker (Germany)

While I had experienced the other aforesaid superstars earlier, I hadn't quite seen much of the Werder Bremen defender in action. He was in the German squad that reached the Euro 2008 finals, however, I cannot recall him from that game. That being said I must admit that it was love at first notice this time around. He's a fantastic defender, who defends clean and effectively. Does not give out any set pieces near the penalty area, wins airballs/goalkicks, and also scores vide useful headers. Just to give one an idea what it must feel like being a striker attacking Mertesacker's defence, here's an image from the Germany-England game where Jermaine Defoe (one of the most prolific English scorers from the past season) finds himself on the wrong side of the tall Bavarian.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

PS : According to the grapevine, Arsenal a preparing to make a 22 Million Pound bid for this talented defender to play for them in the coming season. I pray and hope the deal goes through for its a fact that no striker would wish to run into Mertesacker en route to a goal.

Pictures from here.

I want to go

Perito Moreno Glacier (Patagonia, South America)

Any sponsors??

Picture from here.

Knight & Day

Tom Cruise is a certified idiot. Cameron Diaz looks like an uglier sibling of herself (even in a red bikini).

TJ Eckleberg is responsible for me viewing this absolute piece of shit.

First tag on this page. Tagged by Priyanka.

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”

Wnndrr!

Some rules of the Game:

a) Show off your honesty(and modesty) by thanking the person who gave you the award and link to their post. (Gracias Ms. Kumar!)

b) List 10 honest things about yourself. Cheating makes you lame, so just play along, all you taggees.

c) Select 7 other bloggers you think deserve this award and pass it on to them.

d) Notify said bloggers about the award and invite them to be the honest ones next.

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1) I don't comb or oil my hair. Ma says all my hair will fall off soon as a result.

2) I wish I were leaner and stronger, kinda like Sergio Ramos. (Sheesh)

3) If I were a rockstar I'd totally die on stage. Read Leslie Harvey.

4) I like to live vicariously off my heroes. Like re-enact their acts as would be done by me. Time...anytime, place...my dreams.

5) I know the lyrics to too many MLTR songs for my own liking. (I will shoot anyone who laughs)

6) I want to get a bike but my mum won't let me get one. So I drive a car...hahahaha! I still want a bike though.

7) I'm 'meat'arian. Love meat, survive purely on a non-vegetarian diet.

8) I can spend an entire day with only myself for company and not get bored. I love me.

9) I'd rather be a mediocre footballer than a kickass lawyer. But I'd rather be a mediocre lawyer than a mediocre anything else (apart from a footballer, ofcourse).

10) My next BIG plan is to be there for Brazil 2014! All the way till Mardi Gras. Doesn't matter if I even go, its worth planning for..

Tagging Shamli, Rahul Saha, TJ Eckleberg, Niniel, Oswald, Meenakshi and The Comedian. And whoever else wishes to be tagged or has nothing better to do ...

Cheers.

Its an overcast and lazy morning, and the world has a new champion. Kudos Spain!

'Tis a bad day to be at office. I do not have much work nor do I feel like getting anything done. I believe that the day after the football WC finals should be given off across the world. I mean I'm sure people would come up and say "you know how many billions of dollars will be lost??!".. and all. Well I don't, can I have my holiday now?

In any case this is who's been on my mind lately. Spent all morning trying to find the right image of her. I think I failed. She's beautiful, though not someone you'd notice right away. Rather she's like someone who'd be standing next to you at the bus stop on an overcast Monday morning such as today's. And then it'd start pouring. And you'll turn and look at her cause she's just opened her transparent Japanese umbrella. And you're getting soaked. And then she looks at you and smiles.

Sienna Guillory (image from here)

Saala, if only. thoo!

High Court Mumblings

In a matter before the Ld. VIIIth Bench of the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta, pertaining to trademark infringement and passing off, the following submissions were made amongst others.

"Such warnings, milords, only affect the pocket and not the brain" ...wherein warnings refer to the mandatory images being put on tobacco product packages at present.

"Milk, milords, is also carcinogenic, except the 20 billion dollar dairy industry won't let it be known".

Answering the Ld. Bench on whether the parties in contention were related the counsel for the appellants stated "Milords, we are all descendents of Genghis Khan, legitimate or illegitimate" ...to which Justice Bannerjee replies "Yes, yes Genghis Khan was a very prolific man".

I don't think I've ever said that I enjoy being an Advocate. Well I do. And now you know why. Cheers.