Live India, Love Football

It’s been a cliché for the past 50 years. An Indian moves from a small town to the United States or United Kingdom, starts at the bottom of the corporate or business ladder and, after a certain point in time, makes it rich through hard work and self-belief.   So many Indians have taken this route, including my Father and Mother, as it is clearly a viable way to jump into a different socioeconomic stratosphere, probably much faster than if they would have stayed in India and put in the same amount of effort. The story is now reversing. It’s commonly known that over the past 5 years, some foreigners have chosen to move to India for opportunities in the areas of Information Technology, e-commerce and a whole host of entrepreneurial ventures.   Some have made lots of money, much more than they would have back in their own countries and others have left frustrated with the country’s many bureaucratic, infrastructure and human resource challenges.   Now there is a sto...

In May 2011, just a month after I had joined Libero Sports, our Managing Director, Sukhvinder Singh, organized a retreat for the entire staff to take part in a day of strategic discussions and resort-style fun at the Westin in Sohna, Haryana. At that point, Libero Sports had only recently moved beyond concept phase and I remember sitting at the dining table in the President’s suite with my colleagues discussing, debating and strategizing on how this young group (average age of 26) was going to pioneer and shape the Indian football industry. After hours of discussion, we joined our guests and spent the rest of the evening swimming, drinking, eating and dancing.   It was an unforgettable day which established a football family and laid the foundation for our organization to move forward. Now fast forward 4.5 years and here are at the Westin again.   The itinerary is set, afternoon of discussion and then evening of debauchery.   There are similar faces, a similar missi...

I’ve found that in life there are times when existence puts you back into a similar situation or physical environment to remind of you of the purpose of your journey.   Many of us require this cosmic kick in the butt because, in this world of immediate results and progress, it is just too easy to stop believing in yourself or get distracted by what others are doing in their lives.   While I do fall victim to this every once in awhile, I’m fortunate to have the awareness and luck to recognize when a sign is being held up right in front of my face. The other week I experienced one of these signs.   My colleague and I travelled to Ahmedabad, Gujarat to meet with the Director of Nirma University Institute of Management. The objective of our meeting was to discuss a football project we want to launch with their next batch of MBA students in order to give them an on ground opportunity to build their sports management experience and skills.   While I always enjoy ...

I was in Pune last week to watch a few U19 I-League matches at the Liverpool International Football Academy DSK Shivajians.   It was a quick visit as I was only at the Academy for less than 24 hours however I’m extremely pleased that I chose to make the trip as my experience at the tournament validated a few beliefs I had regarding the development of football in India.   Validating my beliefs is important for me as too many people in this industry just make random statements about the development of the sport in conversations, at conferences and in the media, not because they know it’s true, but because they heard it from some other so called “expert.” India is a unique country and I know that one must actually see, touch, taste or feel things before they can be sure about anything as theory or speculation is just well packaged noise in my book.   So here are the 3 beliefs which were validated for me: Belief #1: An intelligent football investor should choose ...

Anyone who actually reads this blog would know that I'm just in awe of Sylvester Peter and the extraordinary youth at My Angels Academy.  This man has not only transformed the lives of 100+ slum dwelling youth, he has also established systems to ensure the legacy of his love, discipline and commitment continues whether he is physically present or not.  A few weeks back I was invited to witness the My Angels Academy Annual Day function at St. Marks school in Janakpuri.  Although I've been to the actual academy in Vikaspuri many times, I've never had the opportunity to see the Annual Day which I've heard is something that can't be missed.  The program was about 3 hours long and consisted of dance performances, skits, acrobatics and an awards ceremony.   I loved the entire program as just the experience of being around the Angels is enjoyable and therapeutic. That said, a couple of moments of the evening truly stick out for me: There was a ballroom dan...

The past few weeks have included a few “Indian football firsts.” I travelled to football mad hill city of Shillong for my first time, had a meeting in the historical (and impossible to describe) Mohun Bagan Maidan for the first time and now I’ve finally experienced my first Bengaluru FC home match.   I know it’s crazy that up until now I'd not been to a BFC match especially given the fact that the club’s immediate impact both on and off the pitch last year was the best thing to happen to Indian football since Baichung Bhutia.   Anyway, I happened to be in Bengaluru last week for meetings and scheduled my trip so I could catch the Tuesday night 7pm BFC game against Sporting Club de Goa. I was excited about everything set up for the evening: meeting my colleague Pinky at UB City before the match, getting to see the match with one of my favorite families, the Varshneya’s, the awesome seats the club set up for us, the perfect Bengaluru weather and, of course, having the oppo...

This past week I had the pleasure of traveling to Kolkata: a city which never ceases to amaze or amuse me.   This place clearly has an identity crisis regarding whether its an old city or a new one, yet its citizens don’t seem to mind, actually they seem to like it this way. It is so apparent the second you get off the plane and walk through Kolkata’s beautiful new airport only to step into an Ambassador taxi which seems to have been built in the 1950s.   Then you drive down pot holed streets which haven’t been fixed since the 70s and look out the window and see modern high rise apartment buildings as nice as any structure you may see in some of the world’s best cities.   Along the streets, rich Bengalis and westerners walk by the poor and the handicapped who seem to have been sitting in the same position since Mother Theresa’s days.   Even in the city’s best restaurants on Park Street like Flury’s or Peter Kat, or Mocambo you have brand new interiors and menu ...