Live India, Love Football

I’m literally and figuratively “on top of the world” right now.   I’m currently flying from Delhi to my new home in Pune feeling so happy to be alive.   My wife and I spent the past few weeks in New York and Los Angeles visiting family and friends as a newly and happily married couple. I must say that this was by far the most fun and memorable of all of the annual trips I’ve taken back to the US since moving to India in 2009 (the number is up to 7 now). It was extraordinary to have the opportunity to take Avantika through my wonderful life in the US and show off my beautiful wife to my family and friends.   Sticking to the sports theme of the blog, it was also extraordinary to have the opportunity to show off a bit of my past professional life to Avantika.   Thanks to my friends and former colleagues at Major League Soccer, we got fantastic tickets to watch two exciting MLS matches in two incredibly unique environments.   The first match was New York Ci...

I was in Bhutan last month on holiday with my wife and in-laws. Before the trip, the only two things I knew about this small country was that it was voted "Happiest Country in the World" in an index ranking the Gross National Happiness and that not too long ago it was ranked lowest in the world (209th out of 209 member countries) in the FIFA rankings.  As we landed in the beautiful Paro Valley, I started getting excited in the anticipation of being around happy people and experiencing majestic landscape. What I wasn't anticipating was discussing or seeing anything connected to football which is typically one of the ways I like to explore a new country. So you can imagine my surprise when our eccentric tour guide Yashi took us to the national football stadium to watch a local match on the second day of trip.  The stadium was beautifully situated right in the heart of Bhutan's capital city Thimpu and I was blown away by the quality of the pitch and passion in th...