Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

At the hour of the football World Cup, let's have a look at the Indian football prowesses...

 So you may know it or not but India does have a national football team! Created in 1937, affiliated to the FIFA since 1948 and currently ranking... 154^th (out of 207)!

In the sixties, Indians were actually among the top 3 of Asian teams. They even qualified in 1950 for the World Cup (in Brazil) but refused to participate, at the last minute. It is unclear why, the inadequate foreign exchange reserves, the long journey by ship, the obligation to wear... shoes (obviously the only reason which has been retained in the popular imagination)!

 Some Indians do watch football on TV – but almost only matches of English teams (a side effect of the colonization) are broadcast...

 Anyway, Indians and sport is not really a love story...

 Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26143796; http://fr.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html; http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/the-1950-FIFA-World-Cup-a-missed-opportunity-for-India/ 

I recently read a book, Turtle Feet, by Nikolai Grozni. The author, a pianist prodigy, narrates the four years he spent in Dharamsala (the place in the Indian Himalayas where the Dalai Lama found exile). Though I got completely lost whenever he tried to explain Buddhist philosophy, I found it very interesting – another kind of experience you can have in India!

And I like this quote:

“[…] India,” I said, pointing at another road sign that read “Slow down! The life that you save might or might not be your own!” “I’ve never been to a country where nonsense is the norm. It’s like a big joke – life, death, rebirth, Enlightenment – it all amounts to nothing, a play on words, a crazy puzzle that can never be solved. No wonder they came up with the idea of maya, or illusion, you know. In the West things are taken seriously. Life is a serious matter. Eating is a serious matter. Tomorrow is a serious matter. Here I can finally breather: there is no pressure to stay alive! Whatever happens is okay. Dying is okay, begging is okay. I don’t have to plot my life. I can sit back and actually enjoy it.” 

Turtle Feet, Nikolai Grozni (page 41), 2009

Though I am not a big fan (or rather I am a complete ignorant) of politics, a small note on the topic seems in order! A MAJOR change happened in India on Friday and that will probably have consequences for a lot of countries!!

I had written quite a bit about the Gandhi family, Nehru’s descendants, which has been ruling the country more or less continuously since 1947 (either by being prime ministers or head of the ruling party, the Congress); see their saga. Lately, the family tried to push forward the son, Rahul, known for his (very) looks, his half-Italian origin (yes, his mum, Sonia, is Italian and has been the Congress leader since 1998) and his inexperience in politics. But what looks man…

The Congress got a huge slap in the face in the elections of 2014 (when I say huge, I mean huge, first time their opponent gets to rule with a majority of seats). According to the media, the Indian people got tired of the corruption scandals that blew up in the past decade and felt like getting some change (almost 70 years of Gandhis, you may get tired to see their faces!).

So, the big winner is this guy, Narendra Modi, who is known as a Hindu nationalist (Muslims are trembling), an alleged terrorist (he has been till date forbidden visa to the US and UE – I guess that may change) and as a good businessman (based on the economic situation of his state, Gujarat). He also happens to rule a state where alcohol is banned, which is an inheritance of Gandhi (the Mahatma this time), and to have left his wife within 24 hours of marrying her.

God help us (them??)!!

What I can tell you right away is that after one year of craziness the rupee is finally behaving itself – a normal trend when elections happen. For the rest, let’s wait and see!!