My earliest memories of Futbol are playing in the streets and rooting for Mohan Bagan. Cricket came later; futbol was what you played as soon as you could walk! There is no Title IX in India. But when my diaspora transplant friends tell me their kid is into her violin lesson (usually Carnatic or Hindustani), I ask if they play any team sport and usually the answer is no!

Life is a team sport. Start them early. My dad sat me down the week before State championships when I was 12 and told me “Let me be honest. I cannot fund a sports career and for a girl, I don’t think you want to be P.T.Usha. You’d rather be Dr.XYZ FRCS, MRCP”. The first surgery I ever watched was a hysterectomy as a 6 year old, performed by Dr.XYZ in a mission hospital. The irony, as I mull my own genetic legacy now! I decided not to become a surgeon once I saw him put all the contents back in and shake them into place☺ Atul Gawande is completely on point about checklists — the odds of medical paraphernalia left behind in the body — super high. I digress.

Futbol is different from Cricket. It is “more” of everything — team, physical, emotional, mix of all tactics, in the moment, agility, timing, sportsmanship, grace. And it’s a people sport — accessible, democratic (Oh,I am leaving out the futbol four letter word out of this piece!). Sad to see just one reference to Bossanova music in my twitter feed. At least Shakira well timed an album release! I wonder what the vuvuzela equivalent would be this time. Watching the Dutch lose in 2010 was painful making to the final in “The Group of Death” — I still can’t fathom why the captain sat out that last quarter — who does that and especially when it’s your last match? Well, here’s hoping for a clean, fun, month of futboling, albeit vicariously!

P.S. LinkedIn had problems uploading images — Bicycle Kick!