Zizou- A loving tribute

It was July, 1998. I had a year or so ago finally unravelled the charms of cricket and was under the strongest conviction that nothing else could ever displace it from the pedestal of my favourite sport. But it was also World Cup time. Football World Cup that is. The hype and euphoria sweeping the city was bound to have an effect. I wanted to be a part of the conversation too!! But...........I didn't even have a team to support! One thing I knew, whatever happened, i would NOT support the universal favourite team of Calcutta, Brazil. Call it gut feeling. I had no reason not to support them. So i said a hasty eenie-meenie-minie-mo and picked the team in red, white and blue. France. They also seemed to have a balding midfielder everyone was going ga-ga about. He seemed to be quite intriguing, Zinedine Zidane. I decided I would follow his career with great interest!
So I did. I was one of the very few weeping tears of joy after the finals where France beat Brazil and Zidane headed in two immortal goals.

That was just the beginning. Since then, my official football hero has been Zinedine Zidane. I followed him from Italy (Juventus) to Spain (Real Madrid) as he changed clubs and his exploits on fields around the world. Though cricket fervour had once more strongly taken over, I managed to follow football in the pages of the Telegraph.

World Cup 2002. Saddest tournament of my life. Will not elaborate. All teams i supported lost. Aha, barely even caught a glimpse of Zidane's magic.

World Cup 2006. Germany.
Who ever gave France a chance?? I admit i didn't. Not after their first round shows. But then. It was like a chastising slap in the face. How could I ever have lost faith in Zizou?? Did my judgement count for nought?? His magic returned for the last time.

For once, let's forget the red card, let's forget the head butt; he gave me atleast not just a footballing icon, but a hero. I never saw Pele, Maradona, Platini, Beckenbauer, But I did see Zidane. I saw him in the making. He is a footballing great from OUR generation, that makes him extra special. I saw him play in the game of his life and also in his last match. I don't care about him head butting Materazzi; fucking pizza boy probably deserved it! He will remain the hero as garlanded around the Arc de Triomphe in July, 1998.

Au revoir, Zizou. Merci beaucoup.
Vous et notre le champion pour eternite!!

In honour of: The boy who wanted more

Once upon a time, (read: a lazy tuesday afternoon) a beral, a bear and a grumpy old tiger were sitting in a canteen known as moni da's and eating lunch. The tiger was being grumpy and refusing generous offerings of food. The beral and the bear were gorging on momos and soup. Finally being stuffed, the beral asked the bear to finish the soup, and also being stuffed, the bear asked the grumpy tiger to finish the soup, with a very sweet smile ( if i may add!! ). The tiger grumpily took the soup and tasted the first spoonful. "Mmmmmm!", he said in surprise, "The soup is GOOD!!" We shared askance glances. "Ok", we said. At this juncture, a certain Biletus approached and gave the trio a graphic description of what went into the making of the soup. A behind-the-scenes-expose, i might add! The bear and beral grimaced, having just eaten. The tiger, grumpiness disappeared, slurped up the rest of the soup undeterred! And then.......

AND THEN.....................

An unthinkable thing happened!
The tiger, looking up from the empty soup bowl asked in a plaintive voice," Say, do you think if i went up to moni da and asked for soem more he'd give me any??"
Pin drop silence.
Time froze.
It took an eternity for someone's discarded matchstick to fall to the ground.
All stared in awe at the tiger.
It was at this precise moment that the tiger's nerve failed.
"Is anyone willing to have a plate of momos so that i can have the soup?? I'll sponsor it!!" he bawled, across moni da's premises. There was an instant uproar. Such an offer had never been made in the history of the sacred establishment!!! It was an offer that couldn't be refused!!! The regular patrons searched their stomachs, but alas! The offer had come too late!! They had all had their lunch and eaten it too!! Would the offer go to waste then?? No! A certain Deep gallantly offered to stomach the momos just so the offer could stand in the history books of moni da's but...................

BUT...................

A fresher, new to tradition, having no sense of hallowed history and the momentousness of the moment, got up and offered her bowl of soup to the deprived tiger. the tiger, grinning a Cheshire beral-er grin happily accepted, and without spending a penny more, got more!!!

And he lived happily ever after.
The End.