Live India, Love Football

The other day I did something that I always wanted to do.  I had the opportunity to speak with 500 Indian High School students about careers in sports marketing. A friend of mine is a counselor at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok and she asked me to speak at their Career Fair.    The things we get nervous about are funny. I can walk in front of 3,000 adults and deliver a speech without a single butterfly in my stomach, but put me in front of a bunch of high school students and all of my childhood anxieties begin to surface. Will they like me? Will they laugh at my accent? Will they even pay attention to what I'm saying? I prepared for the presentation for 2 days straight. I even delivered it in front of one of my colleagues to get his feedback. On the day of the career fair I showed up and was immediately ushered into the auditorium. It was filled to the brim with bored students, stale heat and fans that were making way too much noise.  When they welcomed me up on...

I'm not sure when or how it happened, but I've started to become a long distance runner. I haven't even run my first full marathon yet, but I now understand the positive impact that having a long distance event in your future has on your present. By this I mean that when I know that I'm going to be running a half marathon or full marathon sometime in the next 6 months, I treat my body differently leading up to that run. Plus I no longer have any issues waking up at 5am every morning for yoga sessions, long runs or cross training. Without the race in my future, I would be crawling out of bed at 8am and rushing to work while stuffing an aloo paratha in my mouth and washing it down with a cup of masala chai. Humans are funny.  I remember when I crossed the finish line after running the Delhi half marathon and said to myself that I would never run a full marathon. I also remember a week later when I wrote to my friend Ethan Zohn requesting that I get put on the Grassroot ...

Alright, I'm very very late on this, but it must be posted. Being in India to experience the Indian Cricket Team win the World Cup on home soil was special. The whole thing from the excitement in the air during both the Semifinal & Final, the goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes when we were singing the Indian national anthem, the pride Indians had in their eyes and voices when speaking about their country and THE DANCING ON THE STREETS after both historic wins. This World Cup validated something I've been saying for a long time. There are very few things in the world, if any, that can cause millions of strangers to erupt into a massive dance session on the streets.  Maybe the end of a war, however I don't think that's the case anymore. Sports is it. Sports can cause this incredible burst emotion and pure exhilaration that I witnessed on the streets in Delhi when Dhoni hit that historic 6.  I'll shut up now and let the pictures do the talking... ...