Live India, Love Football

I could really write an entire novel about all of the reasons why I love Calcutta and maybe I will one day. But since this is a soccer centric blog I will focus on the beautiful game.  I went to Calcutta last week for some meetings.  It was business trip, but it never feels like business when you are in such a fascinating city full of die-hard soccer fans. Most of our meetings were spent on the field during club trainings, in stadiums watching matches or in a restaurant gorging on plates of delicious Biryani.  And what's great about these soccer administrators is that they are fans first and businessmen second. This may be one of the many reasons why the game hasn't grown over here as rapidly has it has in other parts of the world, but there is something very pleasant working with club owners who treat their players like their own kids instead of shares of stock that can be bought, sold or discarded at any time ...

My friend Alex Kotler created a great football networking site called Football Partnerships. I was honored to be one of the people he interviewed on his weekly podcast. The interview can be found by going to the following site http://www.footballpartnerships.com/2010/01/episode-60-neel-shah-of-dentsu/ . I finally listened to the whole interview instead of just the intro song which is permanently stuck in my head (you'll know what I'm talking about after you hear it). After the initial embarrassment that one gets when you hear your own voice, I began to reflect on how nice it was to be able to tell my story. More than the ego boost, I've realized that sharing your dreams with the world gives people the opportunity take their own dreams more seriously (I'm sure I've read that in some inspirational quotebook). But in all honesty, since that interview went live I have received countless emails from people all over the world who have always dreamed of g...

Okay. I've been living in India for exactly 3 months and starting this blog has been on my to do list every day for exactly 3 months. While the intention has remained consistent, the theme has evolved. Originally, I planned to blog about my general experiences in India. After a month of being here I realized that there are not enough words in the dictionary to properly describe the sights, sounds, smells, adventures and challenges that one experiences in this fascinating place. So rather than a general blog this will be a blog about my sports adventures while living here. For awhile now, I've been obsessed with the idea of growing the sports landscape in India and it just makes sense to focus on what I go through to fulfill this childhood dream. This will be anecdotes from experiences on the field, in the stands or while in the offices, restaurants, bars, clubs where sports business meetings are typically held. I will also include any other funny sports tidbits that surface...