Why I love Football

The world of the Football Worldcup is the one I want to live in.

No, I am not talking about our inappropriately named American "football" (where only kickers dare to touch the ball with their feet) but the real football, the "beautiful game".

I follow many sports, but Football is the one I love the most. I am one of the billions of fans who are gripped with world cup fever. I waited 4 long years for this. For me, the World Cup is the only sporting event which seems to transcend sport itself. It's so big, with so many people eating and breathing football everyday for over a month, that it somehow becomes a historical event/celebration all wrapped up in one. That it happens once only every four years makes it even more special; the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, etc., all come once a year, but four years is long enough to allow you to invest some time and emotion in the current World Cup tournament. After all, who knows where you-or any of us-will be in four more years?

I love football. I love it because it is a beautiful game, a game that at it's best can be of such stunning elegance and beauty that it's as if you're no longer watching a rough and tumble sport, but dance. I love it because it makes me happy.

Brazil is my favorite team. I love Brazil not just for being the most successful national football team in the world. More than any other team, I think, Brazil show the world how beautiful the game can really be. Brazil plays with an artful rhythm and phenomenal skill, taking what can be a brutally physical game and turning it into something beautiful and surprising. When Brazil plays football, its as if players are doing Samba with the ball. A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it".

I am a passionate fan and I am enjoying each and every moment of the world cup. The worldcup will be gone before I know it, and yet it can't get here soon enough!!

Joga Bonito!!

Fun and Sun @ NY City

Well, Its been 3 weeks since I created a post. Its raining again in Boston and I finally got a chance to write something. What is with rainy days and cravings to sit at home and write something. In my case, its just the norm. I've had a week to digest and ponder my Long Weekend trip to NY and Atlantic City with the GANG.

I love long weekends and I was looking forward to this break after 2 months of hectic work. There was rain in the forecast. But, rain or shine, I wanted to have fun.

Friday: Memorial Day Weekend started with heavy rain in Boston. All my colleagues warned me that driving to NY in that rain and weekend traffic is like contemplating suicide. I had not other choice and luckily the drive was not that bad. I was able to reach NY on time. Our hotel is near JFK in a place called Jamaica. Fittingly, the area is full of Jamaicans and Afro-Americans. Anu, Karthic, Vijay and Madalasa arrived that night.

Saturday: NY might be the city that never sleeps, but we all slept very well and got up at 10am. We went to Airport in the morning to pickup GK. He missed his flight and had to spend the whole night in Atlanta. It took a while for me to recognize GK without Moustache. Gang wanted Breakfast from Dunkin Donuts and thankfully I was able to find one closeby. We started our day by taking the subway from Queens to Manhattan. Empire State building was the first thing on our list and luckily the crowd was less there. The view of NY city from the Empire State building was breathtaking as always. Gang wanted to eat rice and so we went to some Indian place for lunch. our next stop was Downtown. We saw the Ground Zero and the Wall Street there. This is my second time to the WTC site and its always sad for me to see the WTC site without the Twin towers. May be, I feel more sad because I visited WTC towers when they were there. Later we went to Central Park and met Sid and Archana. We ended our long day at the Times Square. All in all, NY city is an amazing place to see. It's definitely not a place I would actually live, but I would most certainly visit again.

Sunday: Sunday was a mixed bag for us. After a tiring Saturday, we all got up late on Sunday. We started our day by driving to Libery State Park. We wanted to take a ferry to Liberty Statue from there. GK's friends joined us there and our Gang bloated to 10 ppl. There was this sign "welcome to the Ferry" posted at the entrance. Someone changed the Ferry to Fry and the sign read "welcome to the Fry". This encapsulates our experience there. All of us got roasted and sunburned waiting for the ferry. In Anu's words the wait was ayyo abba for us. By the time we got into the ferry, we were totally exhausted and so decided no to get down at the Libery statue. We just took the ferry ride and came back. Then, we went to Jersey City for lunch. The lunch was so delicious that it became one of the highlights of the trip. How can I ever forget the mouthwatering Kulfi I had there. Then, we started our drive to Altantic City. I had some expectations about that place, but it fell way short of my/our expectations. We saw couple of casinos there. Gang wanted to go for a nightclub and so went to this place called 'Club Tru'. It was supposed to be the best club there, but the whole experience was disaster because of the Gay crowd. Well!!we were at the wrong place at the wrong time. I just found out yesterday from my boss that Sundays are Gay nights in all Hep nightclubs. So, no night clubs on sundays from now onwards :) On the whole, Atlantic City was nothing great. Especially, after seeing Las Vegas. Maybe we should have just spent one more day exploring NY city instead of visting Atlantic City.

Monday: We again started our day late and the 8 hours drive to Boston was looming in my mind. Madalasa's flight was at 3pm from JFK and she was very tensed whether we can make it to the airport on time. Some how, we made it to the airport on time and the bye bye time started. It's not that bad this time because we all knew that we were going to meet againg at Indu's place in 2 weeks. Night had fallen by the time I arrived in Boston. I was totally exhausted after a whole day of driving.

In a nutshell, It was a memorable weekend with lots of fun and sun. Not that I needed the tan :)

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1. After listening to numerous demands, esp from girls, for particular food and shopping in NY , I wanted to change our GANG name from 'Access the Gang' to 'Demandz Unlimited'. But, being with the Gang is lots of fun though. In maddy's words: "Be it ACCESSTHEGANG or DEMANDS UNLIMITED; our gang rocks.."
2. On my way back to Boston, I stopped for gas. A Jamaican came to fill gas. He just saw my face and asked me " How is Chandrababu Naidu doing? ". I got a shock of my life. Later I found out that this guy stayed in Hyderabad for couple of years and he keeps asking all Indians this question.
3. We all decided that our next destination will be "Yellowstone National Park" and I really hope that most of the GANG members can make it.

So long..