Copa de la Vida ...

Disclaimer: Chatu Da , this is not plagiarism ... as we discussed :)

I still remember (though vaguely) the day Roberto Baggio missed that precious penalty kick allowing the ball to fly over the Brazilian goal by over 1000 yards (exaggeration). It was the final of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and I was with a bunch of my family members enjoying the game at Kolkata (then Calcutta). It was a special occasion for the family too as my aunt was getting married the very next day! I still remember, we had clearly demarcated sitting areas in the room at my GrandaPa's house for the "opposing fans"!! Because of the marriage, a lot of the family had come from different places and it was grand re-union after a long time !! As of me, I was in a state of utter confusion about whom to support ! While the delicious Bourbon biscuits, Chocobar ice creams, roadside fuchkas, candy floss, and Hot Wheel cars came from the "Italian part" of the family ... The "Brazilian section" had HotWheel cars, Toy Guns, protection from mom-dads legitimate scoldings, Rashogolla ( a sweet) and Sandesh (another sweet) among their services!!!!! ..... And to tell you the truth, I still dont remember which side I chose!! But all I remember was the sheer fun of watching my uncles, aunts, cousins, more uncles , more aunts, more cousins .... everyone .. going crazy over a single white Ball!!!!
That probably is the oldest and the sweetest memory of the FIFA World Cup that I have......

When you look back you can almost define the different stages of your life from the different World Cup soccers! Since the 1994 Cup, every single World Cup has been associated with some very cherished memories for me. And every single cup has been a totally new way of entertainment! I remember spending the summer of 1998 in Durgapur, watching the Cup with Dad and some of his and my friends. The Korea -Japan World Cup in 2002 was also spent in Durgapur- following the Cup with my school friends. While the 2006 edition was spent at Gurgaon (my last few months in MS) .... and that was probably the first time when the Soccer + Alcohol combination started :) :)

Although India is a cricket dominated nation, football is almost equally followed.... atleast in the part of the country from where I come from. And specially in this part almost everyone will tell you "proudly" how India had qualified for the 1950 world cup, but couldn't play due to the lack of boots !!! "If they had played , may be they could have been the champions defeating Uruguay!!!!" ... BUT after many years I came to know that India was qualified by default as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. However, the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. The boot story was just another great Indian bureaucratic bull-shit. ... Despite this piece of information being quite well know now, we still are crazy about the World Cups atleast !!!... So whenever there is a world cup soccer, we support "our teams" !!!!!!!

So the question is how do we decide which team to support?? .... And before I tell you what made me support Germany, I will tell you some of the varied reasons why we select a specific team to root for : ... Over the years I have heard reasons that range from .. The style of football to the style statement of a specific player (am not being a sexist .. but thats mostly for girls), from the color of the Jersey to a good friend settled / working in that country, from an ex-great footballer to some great singer/actor in that country, from delicious cuisine to pretty ladies (and that mostly came from guys) !!!!!!!!!!!!
.. So what made me support Germany ? ... As far as my poor memory allows - both me and my brother started supporting Germany from the very day we started following World Cups seriously! .. Back in those days, there used to be a Chewing Gum brand (I dont remember the name) which would give you a photo card of a soccer player with every gum that you buy. AND LET ME TELL U ... IT WAS A VERY BIG THING .. back then! People (read friends) would exchange cards all the time with sheer corporate planning ... there would be bets on cards .. and even school soccer matches would end with a card exchange (always in favor of the winning team)!!!! Someone who possessed the max number of Maradona cards, was the unsaid ruler!!! Similarly someone who possessed cards for all the playing 11 from a big team like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy etc was considered very powerful!
....... So back in those days of card collection, we came across 2 cards of these 2 German players named Jürgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaus (Yeah thats the spelling). I still remember the pictures had an awe-inspiring effect on us!!!! ... Firstly Matthaus had an uncanny resemblance with Arnold Schwarzenegger (remember it was the Commando and Terminator era!!!), while Klinsmann's picture had something in it which evoked sympathy + we liked his jersey too !!!!!!!!!!!! That was it !!! ... we had got our team and so started the cheering .... which have lasted over the years and is present even today !!!!! Although the reasons have changed ..... while it started with the resemblance to a film star and the jersey + sympathy factor ..... more reasons were added in the following years ...the style of german football being the biggest. And then after many years the "cute chicks" factor was added to the list recently.
( I searched the internet for hours to find that picture which I strongly believe (as far as I can remember) were there in those cards ..... and I have uploaded those in this blog).

... Every year after the Cup is over, there is a feeling of emptiness and a little sadness. The idea that this is going to be back again after 4 years is kind of depressing. Specially if you enjoy it to the fullest with a whole bunch of people (as I have done in every World Cup including this one), then once its all over you tend to miss that bonhomie. When I look back to the previous world cups, I remember some faces , which are associated with the individual tournaments that suddenly flashes every 4 years!! People whom you remember only when you think about a particular world cup and how you had enjoyed it! ........

So ladies and gentlemen, dont miss this chance to join with others and go crazy for "your team" !!!... Remember its every 4 years... so manage your work, bf, gf, chats, chores, food, dinner, lunch etc etc .... and enjoy the game ... and SUPPORT GERMANY !! :)

.. Wishing you all a very memorable World Cup ... may you all make new friends .. whom you will eventually forget for the next 4 years ... until the next edition in Brazil ..


Copa de la Vida ... means ... The Cup of Life ....

The "Naivest" Man

" Thats a cross between a lion and a Wolf !!!!! " .. he said. "Wow!!.. quite a thing!" we replied, looking at the Dachshund (Smooth)[here you must check out Google to get a glimpse of this beast.. trust me , U MUST !!]. So, that was the day when I realized: you don't have to be stupid , to be naive .. you just need an immense trust on people, a big heart and a saint-ish belief that all living beings are good !! Because the person am talking bout here had enough intelligence to teach a bunch of crazy lunatics a subject called maths! And among those lunatics, barring a few , rather 2 to be precise, rest all had the urge and the tenacity to learn about numbers! ...... But yet he sacrificed all his judgmental abilities to believe what his neighbor had said about their pet.. the Dachshund!

This is a tribute to the "naivest" and "simplest" human being I have ever known in the past 27 years of my existence on this planet... Konar Sir.

As most of my dear friends know that my brother and me had above average intelligence when it came to mathematics! Therefore to further hone our skills we joined the tuition classes of Mr. Konar. My friend Aveek also joined the same batch with us, and am sure will keep regretting that decision as long as he is sane. Because if not for us, he would have learned some more maths than what he did.

We first got the taste of Konar sir's naivety during an early morning class one day. It was circa 1999-2000, and TB6 was reigning the masses (for those who are unaware of TB6 pls use google). So naturally a large part of the pre-class adda was dedicated to discussions on TB6 ... and that day was no different.
(I am going to write this discussion in Beng-lish, rest everything will be in English)
"baba sourojit .. baba aveek .. TB6 ki re ?" .. suddenly sir asked ( we were unaware that he was standing behind us)
"sir, ota kichu na .. ota national geographic er ekta sister channel", prompt came the reply from ingenious Aveek
"ohh!! tai !!! baah baah .... ta ki ki dekhay ote?", Sir asked
"All natural stuff sir !!!! shob natural jinish patro!!... ei dhorun evolution theke shuru kore population obdhi shob!!", .. I said
"ohh tai bujhi !! aacha tahole ajkei ami amar cable-wala ke bolbo TB6 dite" !!!!!!!
(we never really tried to find out what happened next)

Arijit's Australia trip and the kangaroo Incident:

Since that event, we were sure that Sir was oblivious of everything on this earth except mathematics. So quite often we would discuss TB6, Debonair (magazine), Mermaid (magazine), kamona-bashona (novel) etc , and sir would enthusiastically take part in our discussion to quench his thirst for knowledge. Sometime he would even note down the names of these "educational movies and magazines' with an aim to look for them in Kolkata's College street during his next visit.
Things were going fine and smooth ... and we were now a little bored .. we wanted some new excitement ... Finally it happened:
It was a chilly morning in the January of 2000. Indian cricket team was touring Australia and the telecast would start early in the morning in India. It was also the time when my dadu (maternal grandfather) had an angioplasty in Vellore and so Arijit (my twin bro) went to vellore with my Dad. Konar sir used to take the classes very early in the morning, and on that fateful day, we all saw India being completely devastated by the Aussie pace attack, before we started for the class. So the general mood in the class was gloomy... very gloomy . (remember cricket was a religion for us back then!!!)
[ I will translate this discussion in English]
Sir: What happened to you all? Why are you guys looking so sad ?

Someone (I dnt remember who it was): Sir ..... Sir ... there is a bad news ... (!!!!!!!!)
We all could sense that something was coming ...

Sir: what happened !!!!?????????

That Someone: Sir ... Arijit .. Arijit is .....

Sir : WHAT ???????? TELL ME ??????
(we all were dumbstruck and quite....we didn't know what was happening)

That Someone: Sir... Arijit has been beaten by a Kangaroo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Now that was it !!!!!! ..... everyone was trying to turn their head 360 degs and laugh!!!)

Sir: What??????? I don't understand !!!!
(it was my turn now....)

Me: Sir .. actually we forgot to tell u that Arijit won the Brittania contest and went to Australia to watch India play. Now there I told him to be careful ... but you know how he is ... he went to a safari ... and saw some kangaroo kids playing .. so he wanted to take one of the kids back home with him and also wanted to have a joy ride in the pouch of the big kangaroo!!!! ... he ran towards them .. and the father kangaroo .... sensing danger .. bit him !!!!!!!!!!! ( I still dunno where this story came from!!!)

[Pin drop silence]

Sir: Oh My God (OMG) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are you saying !!! OMG !! How is he?? How bad is the cut ?? is he in a lot of pain? Where did it bite him ??

[ Now that was the point when we almost collapsed trying to control our laughter!!!! he actually had believed a complete bullshit story!!! .. we actually had devised a new source of fun!!!!!]

Me: Sir !! Sir!!! please calm down !!! control yourself !! he is fine now!! .. I talked with him today morning , he said it bit him in ... bit him in his .. in his .. ASS!!!!... and he also said that it was not painful at all!! rather he felt a little ticklish when the kangaroo bit him .. he realized later that it was actually a bite and not a lick!!!

[ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!! god it was all happening] ...

So, for the next few day all of us would stretch our imaginations to the fullest and tell stories from Australia (apparently heard from Arijit). I don't remember how long this went , but it ended when one fine morning Arijit re-joined the classes.."limping" (!!!!!!!!)

Konar Sir could never even think that someone can lie to him! His world, his perceptions and his ideas were as pure as his love and respect for his profession. For, how on earth could he believe the fact that a class XII student actually showed a "complaint letter" written to his parents and got it signed by them !!! Or how could he NOT believe that it was not the concerned students' dad ... but the student himself, talking with him over the phone !!!

After leaving school, I have tried to visit him whenever I went to Durgapur. But the last time I saw him was almost 5-6 years back. But still today whenever I do even a little of maths (the kind needed for my work).. I still remember that 5.5 ft tall figure... in crisp white "Dhuti-Panjabi" .. and with the most harmless and heart warming smile ..

The Twin Paradox

Statutory warning: This has nothing to do with Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Over the years I have come across a lot of inquisitive souls. And the most commonly asked question has been about my childhood: how it was to grow up with a photocopy/mirror image of myself or in short "How it feels to grow up with an identical twin?" .. and so I thought of writing this ... just to give them a glimpse ... after all you don't get to see a lot of identical twins around! ......

We came into this world in the August of 1982, weighing four and a half pounds each; with hard little knots of muscle in our arms and legs that our mother said came from fighting in the womb. And I think she was correct, because we were the living embodiment of the cliché about brothers who beat the hell out of each other but team up to defend each other against anyone else.

Most of our early childhood was spent on risking life and limb with daredevil stunts. Like the time we saw that man on TV (later I knew he was Mr. AB) beating hell out of another guy, and went to the bedroom and tried to cut off each others head by using a sliding door of the dressing table! We were pretty good, as well as I can recall; we came really close, but nobody got beheaded that day. In the later years our fights became more competitive, I exactly knew what his next move would be ... and so did he !! Therefore in most cases the result was a bi-lateral damage and mostly needed a third party intervention with force (read mom or dad or both)!!!

Being kids we thought that we have supernatural powers. This idea was further re-inforced by the hindi movies (specially the 70s,80s n mid 90s stuff) where they showed the highest level of wireless communication possible :... yess between twin brothers! We saw twins transferring data, sound, videos (probably more than 1000 GBs!!)etc etc etc ... just by thought!!! Needless to say, after several failed attempts (specially during exams) to replicate the superhuman feats depicted by those human beings on screen, we were convinced that reality sucks. But people around us didn’t seem to believe that! Because they kept asking "Do u feel the pain if someone pinches your bro?"(!!!!@#$%@#$%) . Now I wish I could say "Yes" .. and make a fool out of them!!! .. But, back in those days, I was not that mean ! (am talking about III-IV standard).

Although mother nature didn’t allow us the supernatural powers, but it did give us an added advantage over others, and that is the “confusion” associated with identical twins like us: Teachers, friends, x, y, z ... no one can call you by your name. Everyone seems to be apprehensive - in case they "hurt your sentiments" by calling you by your brother's name!! For most of our childhood, teachers, friends and some relatives tended to address us as if we were one person! BUT to tell you the truth it never mattered to us! On the contrary, this confusion helped me more than once when I was a kid, like when I committed some crime in school.. and my naive brother faced the consequences !!!! Therefore as a kid it was a good cover for both of us .. depending on the situation :)

By now, you must be jealous of all the twins in this world! So, to make you guys feel a little better I will tell you that everything was not that smooth and fun. Being twins has its downside too: First, when you are a kid you are MADE to wear similar dresses.. and hence you become the center of public attention everywhere. Now that’s the norm for all twin kids … people around you seem to enjoy the ‘double trouble’ !!! But ask any twins and am sure you will understand how frustrating it is!! Then as you grow up you gain your "rights" and can now stand up against the "inhuman dressing torture" inflicted by your parents .. so you consciously wear different colors and dresses . But now that you are growing up, you have to pay the price for it. And like all of you, bhowmick twins also had to pay the price:
Firstly, we both got caught more than any of the other trouble-makers did in school, because everybody recognized us. Someone would see a bunch of boys bunking classes or involved in a fight, or whatever the particular offense was, and call the authorities to report: "I saw a bunch of boys doing (whatever). I couldn’t recognize any of them, but I know the Bhowmick twins were there (even if only 1 of us was present)." The Bhowmick twins always got caught, even when we weren’t guilty. If there were any two boys in a group who happened to look alike, the Bhowmick twins got the blame !!!

Secondly, while Bhowmick twins were a strong united force against any enemy, they started having issues as they grew up, which resulted in occasional disputes among them: I must mention here (and you will know why) that all this happened for the last time in college ... and thankfully it has never happened again. But this was an issue that kept us busy from school days till the last day in college (before we got physically separated by distance). The problem was .. our similar genetics always made us admire the same girl !!!! ... Wait !! dont get a shock !! .. I told you it stopped at the end of college!! So STOP your imagination from going wild !!!! Anyways, we soon found a solution to this problem !! - Thankfully there were more than one name.. "almost" EVERY TIME and so we always had an EASY SOLUTION when the number was EVEN .. BUT in case of ODD numbers, it was a diplomatic nightmare! Under such circumstances the deal generally made sure that "you pay a heavy price for attending the 'target' un-interrupted" .. that meant loosing your rights to choose a dress, shoes, watches or even the "equal share of cigarettes and pegs" ... for almost a month! Hence, a detailed scrutiny of the "subject" involved was mandatory before you sign the deal (NB: For women activists: please dont screw me for these words, its a joke after all!!) .... Good old days !!! :(

(I can go on and on and on writing about the exploits of and the experience of being the Bhowmick Twins, but am sure that some of my readers are slowly moving towards that little red cross sign at the top right corner of this page. So ... I will try and wrap it up ..)

Today when I look back I realize how important it is to have a twin brother. Because when you are a kid or a teen (the two most vulnerable stages of life) its your twin who is the only person on earth who can understand you the best. He is the only person with whom you can share anything and everything AND he is the only person who ensures that you always have a "partner in crime" ... and hence that way the "punishment" gets shared!!! (Even if it involves the heinous crime of "re-scoring" the mark sheets.. or bunking the ever boring Brilliant's / NICS exams !!) .
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Ask me, and I will say, those were the wonder years! Although things have changed now e.g we do not fall for the same girl anymore except for gals like ……. (that’s a classified info), we do not look exactly same now, and the Bhowmick Twins are no more the “notorious” bhowmick Twins, BUT as they say , old habits die hard .. still today if I make a mistake …… its always his idea ;)