Live India, Love Football

I spent Valentine's Day doing something I truly love instead of being with someone I truly love. I was at a conference discussing sport for development in India. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) partnered with Magic Bus and the British Council to host a first of its kind in India event entitled: CSR: Changing Lives Through Sport. So on Monday morning I found myself in a room full of 150 people representing various private companies, NGOs, government sectors and athletic organizations. The organizers were able to bring together some top influencers within Indian sport such as Tarun Puri (Managing Director - Nike India), Kapil Dev (Indian cricket legend) and Matthew Spacie (Founder - Magic Bus). However, what was great was that the conference gave some of the smaller NGOs who are doing extraordinary work under the radar, their opportunity to share what they are up to. The person who "stole the show" was a young American named Franz Gastl...

The other day I received a text from a friend of a family friend. It read "Hi Neel. We are celebrating Janak's birthday tomorrow at our residence from 12pm - 4pm. We want to invite you if you are in town."  I was free so I wrote back saying that I would be there at 12 and would have to leave at 2pm for a meeting. Although I didn't know the woman who wrote me too well, I thought it was sweet of her to invite me to her husband's birthday party since she knew that I'm looking to grow my social circle.  I woke up the next the next morning and was just not that excited to go to the party. It was a gorgeous Delhi winter day and the last thing I felt like doing was sitting inside an apartment making small talk with a bunch of adults. I put my lack of excitement aside and put on my favorite new jeans and shirt since I had a lunch meeting afterwards and then was ending the day at an outdoor concert. I get to the house, ring the door bell and the door o...