Back from Down South after rediscovering Chennai
Chennai was a completely unplanned break as 2008 rolled into 2009
Daughter was picked as Goalkeeper for the Maharashtra State Girls U-14 Football Team for the Nationals in Chennai…We followed her to Chennai…They came in second after having been told that they were the winners with 45 points,the night before closing ceremonies…but as is symtomatic of Indian Sport the host Team ,Tamil Nadu,lagging behind with 35 points were awarded controversial points for Coaching etc on the last day to enable them to clinch first place
Memento after Memento was presented to those Invited on the Dias and speech after speech followed to drag on the closing ceremony to over two hours….Some on the dias were associated with basketball and weightlifting and not football!…….For over 300 girls from 19 states who fought out for Honours over eight days and their coaches and managers there was not even a certificate presented on the day !….The Hosts got the Fairplay Trophy unfairly and were not cheered on by even a single team…there was no cup or trophy for the second and third teams….Local Chennai Editions of Leading Newspapers carried results but reserved headlines and content only for Tamil Nadu Team Performance
Yet our Team was very cheerful and bonded brilliantly…so overhelmed is Western India Football Association with this Girls team performance and for coming second that they are felicitating the Team on January 7,2009 and in a seperate function,the President of the Association and our Aviation Minister,Mr Praful Patel too will be felicitating them
In fact sources tell us that All India Football Federation has selected four Maharashtra Girls in the First List of 40 probables for the India Team….believe that daughter is one of these four…she captained the team against Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka who we beat 3-1and 5-0 respectively…In an opening encounter she also earned a Valuable Green Card for brilliant goalkeeping that gave five points to Maharashtra
Hindustan University had played hosts to the Football Teams and matches too were held at their grounds on Campus…The University is 35 kms from Chennai on the Old Mahabalipuram Road and can be accessed through the IT Expressway as well as from the the Chennai Airport Side…Did both routes…IT Expressway has Toll Booths and surprisingly for an Expressway it has a lot of vehicular,pedestrian and even animal traffic…..Infosys Campus stands out from others of Satyam,Polaris,TCS and HCL …Oh ! and I noticed that the controversial Maytas Infrastructure Board on a large Tract of Undeveloped Land on the Expressway.Satyam has three seperate Buildings at three different locations on the Expressway