Tag: Sports

সালটা ১৯৭৬। বেঁটেখাটো শক্তসমর্থ একটি ছেলে। ১৬ বছর বয়স হওয়ার দশ দিন আগে ১৬ নম্বর জার্সি গায়ে এই ক্লাবে খেলার সুযোগ হয়েছে তার সম্প্রতি। আর্জেন্টিনোস। প্রিমেরা ডিভিশন। বুয়েনোস আইরেস। ক্লাবের ইতিহাসে কনিষ্ঠ খেলোয়াড়। জন্ম আর বেড়ে ওঠা ভিল্লা ফিয়োরিতো বারিয়ো নামে বুয়েনোস আইরেস-এর দরিদ্রতম অঞ্চলের একটিতে। অথচ ফুটবলের ভাষা তখনই এই ছোকরার নখদর্পণে। আরও একটা জিনিসের জন্য সে বিখ্যাত। নাটমেগ। অর্থাৎ, বলটাকে অন্য খেলোয়াড়ের দু’পায়ের ফাঁক দিয়ে বার করে তাকে বোকা বানানো। সে যে কেবল দু’বছরে ক্লাবের প্রধান ভরসা হয়ে…

Fools of the full moon. photo by author On 5 May, Eden was the place you would die to be at. I mean we generally pine to make it to the heaven in case we perish, but that day the rush was a bit too much, somewhat ‘hellish’, to put it mildly. No, really, we are not talking about jihad here in which ascending to heaven is taken at face value. We are against violence of all kinds, especially those…

Sachin Tendulkar of India takes a breather during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images and is under copyright. Sachin Tendulkar’s nomination for Rajya Sabha has created the desired effect for the Congress, at least across the cyberspace and the various media platforms. For the last week or so, nothing else has generated more debate across the public forums as this piece of news. The reaction, on the whole, has been hostile towards the proposition…

Call me Warne, Shane Warne Shane Warne dared — and won. Not many gave him or his team much of a chance in the Indian Premier League. But then, he won despite his reputation. And it would be fair to say that many weren’t even talking strictly about his professional rep. After all, Warnie isn’t the sort you’d describe as a gent in flannels. He’s a sort of buccaneer with his romps, his drinking, his smoking, his devil-may-care attitude, always…

I wept for George the Best It is not easy to walk the streets of Mumbai and not feel guilty about being a Bengali these days. Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion – and then, inclusion – in the Indian team has assumed political proportions – so much to question the myth or reality of a nation-state like India that has to negotiate many other furtive nation-states turning sides within itself. It has not been long since I have arrived in Bombay and…