Live India, Love Football

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) hosted their 4 th FICCI Turf Global Sports Summit last week at the Federation House near India Gate.  This was the 3 rd time I had attended this event which is surprisingly the only high profile sports summit hosted in India for the public.  It was a 2 day event with about 400 people representing agencies, sports federations, government bodies, corporates, students, international groups, leagues and clubs in attendance. The format was panel discussions for the general group of attendees and invite only roundtables for select attendees.  I attended my first FICCI Turf in 2010 while I was with Dentsu and was as desperate and lost as one of the many students who typically attend this conference.  Back then I barely knew anyone and didn’t really have much to discuss in terms of my recent activities to support the growth of sport in India. In conversation I usually resorted to rattling off my background which en

It’s morning October 25, 2009.  I exit through the door of my NYC – Delhi Emirates Airlines flight full of a whiskey infused confidence.  I stride through immigration brashly displaying my freshly minted Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card and then head to the baggage counter to pick up my entire life which has been stuffed into 3 large suitcases. Despite the large amount of luggage I’m carrying, customs waives me through the exit and I search for my taxi driver who I assumed would be holding a large sign displaying my name.  I pace back and forth and see no “Neel Shah” placard.  My arms are getting sore lugging my bags back and forth, my face is getting tired of wearing the fake smile which I am unnecessarily keeping and my confidence is fading at the same pace as the whiskey high.  I don’t want to exit the airport as I know that they won’t let me back in so I just continue pacing for a half an hour. Finally, I give up and head over to the Airtel counter to call my future boss. Wh

This past weekend I participated in a 6v6 corporate football tournament which took place at Thyagaraj Stadium in Delhi.  I’ll save the readers of this blog from hearing about my dismal performance that included a yellow card for a nasty challenge which should have gotten me kicked out of the tournament and I’ll focus this post on some of the interesting work that tournament organizers, TheFootballLink, are doing to support the growth of football in India. TheFootballLink is an effort to create a trust based ecosystem, where all the stakeholders in football come together and work towards a common philosophy. With the football community, they research, plan, publicize and execute multiple initiatives in grassroots football. This is exactly what is taken off of their website and, at first glance, this mission statement would make even the most optimistic person working in Indian football a bit skeptical given that no one has been able to really unify the Indian football landscape. 

I almost died on an Indian road the other day.  I know when you read this sentence it is not a surprise; Indian roads are notoriously crazy and people, elephants, buffaloes, cows, donkeys, monkeys, pigs, lizards, squirrels, etc… fall victim to road deaths every day.  I didn’t almost die while driving on the road, I actually almost died while running on an Indian road. Again, you may say that this doesn’t sound too crazy as everyone knows that it is stupid to run through the supposed “organized chaos” of Indian roads.  Actually, I almost died running on an Indian road when there wasn’t a single car in sight. Ok, I’ll get to the point. I ran my 3rd Airtel Delhi Half Marathon this past weekend and literally almost passed out on the road. Anyone who has followed this blog would know that over the past 3 years I have run 2 half marathons and 1 full one which means that I shouldn’t have any issues with running one more half marathon; I thought the same as well until I did everything I cou