My First Indian Cap

The other week I attended my first Indian national team match. They were playing Namibia on a rainy Wednesday evening at Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi.  The new metro line recently opened up so I could take the train from my place in Gurgaon directly to the stadium in Delhi. What took 1 hour on the train would normally take 3.5 hours in horrendous Delhi traffic. 

After my first successful Delhi train journey that felt like a WWE trial, I finally squeezed my way out on the platform and on to the hectic streets of Delhi. My friend, Arup, met me at the station and we hopped into an auto rickshaw to get us to the stadium gates. 

Once we got to the stadium I was immediately amazed by how many security guards there were doing absolutely nothing, how many little shops were attached to the stadium and how many chaiwallahs there were sitting on the ground. Nothing like showing up to the Home Depot Center for a match.

We got into the stadium and there were about 12,000 passionate Indian fans waving flags and genuinely excited for the match.  Awesome sight that a camera can't do justice for. We were also sitting with a bunch of kids from a nearby youth academy who surprisingly knew a ton about the team. 

On seeing the Namibian squad, one would assume that given their obvious physical advantages that they would crush India. However, team India stood strong and ended up winning 2-0.  A much needed win after 2 straight losses to the Thai national team.

After the match, Arup and I joined some of our friends who work for AIFF and their wives and all went out to dinner for an incredible meal filled with Bengali delights and then finally made it home many hours and pounds later.

All in all it was a fantastic experience filled with some of my favorite things in life: food, friends and football!

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