U-17 World Cup puts India on the football world map

As somebody who loves football, I have always been a bit envious of people who can look forward to following their country at a World Cup. I was in Germany in 2006 when the World Cup was staged there. I joined throngs of Trinidadian “Soca Warriors” in Nuremburg, watched Angolans pray in the main cathedral in Cologne, and got swamped by a horde of Australians in Berlin. There is a carnival-like atmosphere to the tournament, which like a great fair doubles as a gathering of peoples. It didn’t matter that I had no representatives among the teams in Germany, I could still share in the joy of others.

In Frankfurt, we ran into two young men draped in Indian flags. They were actually British Indians, and with typically wry English humour they revealed why they were flying the Tricolour across Germany: “This is the only way India will ever get to the World Cup,” they laughed.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have something more than vicarious access to the passions of a football World Cup. It’s a pleasure to watch India win cricketing competitions, but the realm of cricket – inflated by the sheer numbers of the Indian subcontinent – is fairly provincial compared to football. I long for the elusive day that I might see India reach football’s truly international centre-stage.

At the time of writing, India had yet to play its inaugural game in the U-17 World Cup, in which our young talent took on the best of the United States. Even as hosts, India goes into the tournament as decided underdogs. Whatever India manages to accomplish on the field is secondary to what it seeks to gain in stature by hosting this youth competition. The U-17 World Cup puts India in a place it hasn’t been for years: on the footballing world map.

I hope that galvanises more investment, better coaching, training, and scouting for youth players, and more opportunities for local footballers to pursue meaningful careers in the sport. I also hope it wins the national football team even a portion of the support lavished upon India’s celebrity cricketers.

I’ve always been drawn to how football distils whole countries into a handful of men. It is a trembling crucible of identities. The British historian Eric Hobsbawm wrote astutely that nations become tangible through sport, that “the imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people.”

There are obvious clichés conflating football teams and their national identities. The Germans are routinely (and often incorrectly) characterised as methodical and efficient. The Japanese are technical and clinical. Even though their team is composed of players with all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, the Americans are known for their bludg- eoning Protestant work ethic. The Brazilians allegedly play “samba” football, expressing a vibrant musical culture on the field (this has not really been the case for a long time).

But teams can stand for more than cultural stereotypes. I was in rural Kerala during the final of the 1998 World Cup. On a grainy TV screen that had to be thwacked a few times to clear the picture, I remember watching Zinedine Zidane leap above the Brazilians to head France to victory. That French team represented a changing nation; it was drawn heavily from immigrant communities, so much so that the grumbling farright leader Jean-Marie Le Pen dismissed it as “not a real French team.” France’s talisman Zidane was born in Algeria. Other players hailed from Senegal, Ghana, and the French Caribbean. In winning the World Cup, they offered a glimpse of the real France, given shape on the field even as it remained difficult for many Frenchmen to process off the field.

The Indian football team represents the breadth of the country. It boasts players of Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Muslim backgrounds, from places as disparate as Kerala and the northeast (the under-17 squad is particularly full of players from the northeast, the growing centre of Indian football).

They are of course rather far from the international glory the French won in 1998; reaching a World Cup remains a remote prospect. But few other entities in Indian life capture this microcosm of the nation. Even a modicum of success would help exhibit to the world and – more importantly – to Indians the remarkable diversity that is their country’s greatest strength.

Turning terribly tiny stories into a big business

It made a small beginning as an online micro-fiction platform. Today, Terribly Tiny Tales has a million followers, a book of its bite-sized stories, and a business that spans micro-films and micro-brand content

It started out small…make that tiny. With a Facebook page that invited stories no longer than a sentence or two. That was 2013. Today, the one-million strong Facebook community of Terribly Tiny Tales is something of a mini business empire with merchandise, workshops, short films, a mobile app, digital ad campaigns, and about a hundred curators sifting through thousands of story submissions. Now, founders Anuj Gosalia and Chintan Ruparel have also spun off the popular ‘micro-fiction’ page, popularly known as TTT, into a book with 250 tiny tales.

In the online genre of what is called micro-fiction, a few punchy lines or a dialogue alone must provide the setup and denouement of a ‘story’. Sample this: “The corporation came to take the building down. She ran towards that corner where the echoes of her laughter were stored.” Another one reads: “The first kiss took her to cloud5. The proposal to cloud8. Marriage would have taken her to cloud9, had cancer not taken him to heaven.”

Feeding the TTT empire are wannabe writers who submit their stories through the app. In all, says Ruparel, they have received between 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh entries to date, of which close to 6,000 stories have been published on its Facebook page. These have come from 75,000 writers from 4,000 cities.

Several I ndian microfiction and micropoetry platforms have mushroomed on Facebook and Instagram over the last few years such as TalesXpress, Little Letters Linked, Beyond Layouts, Scribbled Stories and Poetic Awakenings but perhaps none as successful commercially as TTT.

Gosalia says the rise of online microfiction has to do with shortening attention spans. “The idea of finishing a book is more and more demanding,” he says. Ishan Mahajan, a 29-year-old Gurgaon-based professional who regularly posts short verses on Instagram as @ishanmn on, says: “With these, you hammer just one emotion somewhere, and it’s done. Also it is absorbed more easily since Instagram is a visual medium, and it is easily searchable and discoverable with hashtags. Blogs or even Facebook notes tend to be text-heavy.”

Independence or truce with Spain? Cracks emerge in Catalonian bloc

Barcelona: Splits have emerged among Catalan separatist leaders over their plans to unilaterally declare independence following a secession referendum deemed illegal by Madrid.

Catalonia’s leader Carles Puigdemont has threatened to declare independence “within days”, but the region’s business minister Santi Vila proposed a “ceasefire” in the row with Spain’s central government. In an opinion article published in Catalan daily Ara, he urged the pro-secession camp to “reflect on the usefulness and consequences” of a declaration of independence.

Puigdemont put off until Tuesday an appearance in the regional Catalan parliament at which time some leaders have called for the declaration to be made.

The session of parliament to analyse the results of last Sunday’s controversial referendum was initially scheduled for Monday but Spain’s Constitutional Court ordered that it be suspended.

The Catalan government has also not yet officially ratified the results of the vote, a move which would open a two-day period in which the parliament can declare independence. Participants in the referendum opted overwhelmingly for secession, but turnout was only 43% as Catalans who favour remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot.

While Vila urged caution, Puigdemont is under strong pressure from the far-left CUP (Popular Unity Candida- cy) party — whose support his government will need to pass legislation — to move quickly. “The inescapable, inevitable moment of exercising self-determination has arrived,” said CUP’s lawmaker Carles Riera.

Puigdemont’s predecessor Artur Mas also weighed in, telling Britain’s Financial Times newspaper that Catalan leaders should focus not on “how to proclaim independence, but instead on how to make it effective.”

Analysts said the Catalan government risks losing international sympathy and giving Madrid an excuse for a hardline response if it makes a declaration of independ- ence based on an unconstitutional vote. But if it waits too long to act on the results of the plebiscite it could see the momentum behind the independence movement fizzle.

The debate is not just limited to politicians — supporters of the cause of independence are also divided over what strategy to follow.

“I have an inner conflict. I do not want a unilateral declaration of independence to happen that will last five minutes,” said Olga Jubany, who is an anthropology professor in Barcelona. “The strategy (of independence) was never ‘we are going to impose it’. It is not the strategy I would like to follow,” said Jubany.

We lost films as fast as we made them: Mani Ratnam

“We lost our films as fast as we made them,“ said veteran film director Mani Ratnam on Saturday, launching the Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop India at the Prasad Film Lab, Vadapalani

The acclaimed filmmaker was speaking about the alarming rate at which negatives of films, made over the last century, were disappearing due to lack of knowledge about preservation.“Cinema is the new art form.It encompasses several other art forms like music, drama, theatre and folk art.With film being a new art form, we went about it like a kid in the candy store and produced a large number of them.“

During the silent fim era, the industry in Madras produced 124 films and 38 documentaries, of which only Malayalam film `Marthanda Verma'(1931) remains. Film Heritage Foundation founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who organised the workshop here, called for it to be termed a “national cultural emergency“, given the rate at which films are being lost.

In a message read out at the launch, Amitabh Bachnan said, “The moment has come when we have to treat every last moving image as reverently and respectfully as if it were the oldest book in the library. After all, like books, films have the ability to tell us who we are.“

During the workshop, which will be on till October 14, 52 participants will train in film repair, poster and photographic conservation, film scanning, colour correction and sound restoration and work alongside technicians at the AVM Lab, the last surviving black and white film processing lab in the country.

The workshop will be conducted by 20 faculty members from L'Immagine Ritrovata (Italy), The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, La Cinematheque Francaise, Imperial War Museums, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, The Criterion Collection, The Finnish Film Archive and the Czech National Archive.

mind matters - What is Positive Intelligence?

Intelligence is of no use unless you learn to cultivate your own sense of well-being and optimism, a.k.a. PQ, say experts

We like to believe we are an intelligent lot. Evolution has ensured we come this far. We take pride in our IQ, and it's a quality we aspire for ourselves, and want our children to aspire to.But somewhere, something very vital has gone amiss. Because all that we have -Ivy League degrees, material wealth, instant gratification of all desires -hasn't made us happy or wise.In fact, we are more fractured than ever, and grappling with everyday anxiety and misery. IQ isn't the answer to everything, we've been told decades before, when we were introduced to the concept of EQ (Emotional Quotient). Experts said EQ was as important as our Intelligence Quotient for us to become wholesome individuals. Now, the whole world is talking about PQ, a.k.a., Positive Intelligence Quotient.

WHAT IS PQ?
Shirzad Chamine, the former chairman of CTI (Coaches Training Institute), the largest coach-training organisation in the world, and founder and CEO at Positive Intelligence Inc., coined this term. In his New York Times bestseller Positive Intelligence, Chamine explains: “Your mind is your best friend, but it is also your worst ene my. Your Positive Intelligence Quotient is the percentage of time your mind is serving you as opposed to sabotaging you.Your PQ indicates how much mastery you have over your own mind.“


Perhaps, it's the most im portant life skill that we have left behind in our quest to achieve and conquer, and call it success. How does one go about acquiring PQ?


Life coach Sarah Alexander says, “Positive Intelligence is our focus and action on the positive. What we focus our minds upon has the power to enhance our mental well-being (or destroy it).“ The keyword here is `action' m o r e than `fo cus', be cause action differ entiates positive thinking from Positive Intelligence. Alexander adds that positive intelli gence can only be an acquired skill.


Why? “Our brains are hard wired for negativity; this goes back to our Stone Age ancestors, who needed to be cau tious all the time from attack. Attack from dangerous animals, imminent bad weather or threats from other tribes,“ she says.


This negativity bias has remained with us and we naturally default to a negative focus, scanning for prob lems, and often, over-reacting when they occur.


Harvard Business Review said re cently that training your brain to be positive is not so different from train ing your muscles at the gym. Engag ing in one brief positive exercise every day, for as little as three weeks, can have a lasting impact. Without micro-moments of positivity on a daily basis, you'd still be grappling with the world no matter how intelli gent you are. Barbara Fredrickson, a psychol ogist at the University of North Carolina, has done research on foster ing positive emotions. In particular, her theory says well-be ing is a life skill that you must ac quire and accumulate. “If you prac tise, you get better at it,“ she says.


There are many popular practices such as gratitude affirmations or meditation that create lasting shifts in thought patterns. Also, acquiring PQ doesn't mean one must always be positive and happy. Even the most upbeat people have their `down' moments. And learning to accept that as well as enhance your thought process is the core of acquiring PQ.


According to Chamine, the first step to acquiring PQ is to increase empathy for yourself and others. Second, develop your creative mind and give yourself the chance to explore and innovate. Thirdly, make decisions based on your core values, and then act. Finally, train your brain to look for the positive, by recording five positive things that happen each day.

INDIA REIGN IN RAIN

Kohli & Co Beat Aus By 9 Wickets Via D|L Method

At 8:20 pm rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, appeared to send the players and umpires scurrying back to the dressing room, Australia heaved a sigh of relief. Their abysmal display with the bat in the first T20I against India was cut short by eight balls with the scoreboard reading 1188 from 18.4 overs.

At 9:35 pm the covers from the square came off as a packed Saturday house at JSCA International Stadium roared in approval. Thirty eight minutes later, the two super soppers having done their bit, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan walked out to the middle with India requiring 48 runs from six overs under the DL method.A cliffhanger? Not quite. India were home by nine wickets a few minutes later.


Sharma (11) was the one to miss out. A boundary and a six later, his middle stump was sent packing by Nathan Coulter-Nile.


Out came Virat Kohli (22*), determined and firing.The cover drives and the pulls which had been eluding his broad blade for some time returned at the opportune moment while Dhawan (15*) hooked and came down the track to the seamers with purpose and poise. Unlike their Australian counterparts, the Delhi duo's calculated aggression never put the team in a tight spot as the Indian skipper reeled off seven runs in Daniel Christian's first over to seal the tie with three balls to spare.


Earlier, having lost the toss and put into bat, Australia once again suffered at the hands of the Indian spinners and Jasprit Bumrah. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed stand-in skipper David Warner (8) in the very first over, while his opening partner Aaron Finch (42) looked comfortable on a slow deck.


Glenn Maxwell's old nemesis ended his struggle. Introduced into the attack in the seventh over, Yuzvendra Chahal (123) dismissed Maxwell for the fourth consecutive time in the series, having tormented the righthander throughout the ODI series. Australia's `Big Show' hit the leggie straight into the hands of Bumrah at short mid-wicket.


Finch, unperturbed by the fall of wickets, dismissed Chahal over the deep-mid wicket boundary for the first six of the match and appeared settled for a long haul.However, Kuldeep Yadav (2 16) decided to gatecrash the opener's party, conjuring one trick after the other. The chinaman accounted for Finch before removing allrounder Moises Henriques as the spinners stifled the Aussies. While Travis Head (9) lost his head and stumps to Pandya, comeback man Tim Paine (17) hung around for a while, living a charmed life with two dropped catches, before Bumrah's late burst erased any hopes of an Australian turnaround.

BRAZIL WIN CLASH OF LITTLE TITANS

Spain started their U-17 World Cup campaign against Brazil like a Ferrari, but five minutes into their journey it seemed as if they had exhausted all their fuel.

Stung by an early own goal, the emerging talent from Brazil showed they are a resolute lot, just like their illustrious predecessors. Brazil dominated their rivals for the rest of the game to register a 2-1 comeback win in their U-17 World Cup opener here at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium on Saturday. The win gave Brazil a vital three points and a head start in the `group of death'.

Incidentally, all the three goals in the game were scored by the Brazilians, with Wesley's own goal putting Spain ahead before the `little Canerians' got back in the game with goals from and Lincoln and Paulinho in the first half.

But the first five minutes of the match were in sharp contrast to how the rest of the script panned out. Brazil were all at sea as soon as the game got under way as Spanish wing er Ferran Torres tore open their defence with raids down the right wing twice in the first few minutes.

In the first instance, his cross found an unmarked Mohamed Moukhliss, but his shot was parried away by Brazilian goalkeeper Gabriel Brazao. But on the second occasion, Torres worked his magic with his deft footwork and sent a low cross into the box, where an unmarked Moukhliss was waiting to slot the ball in. But before the ball reached Moukhliss, Wesley slid in to thwart danger, only to see the ball brush his leg and reach the back of the net.

Down by a goal in the game, Brazilians didn't let their heads drop and slowly clawed their way back into the match. The triumvirate of Brenner, Paulinho and Lincoln, who were kept quiet in the first quarter of the match, slowly began to get into their stride and the Brazilian moves began to gather momentum.

In the 17th minute, Marcus Antonio split open the Spanish defence with a ball played to Paulinho. But the Brazilian forward's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez. The ball fell at Lincoln's feet but the striker lost his balance and his attempted shot on goal went wide.

It didn't take too long for Brazil to equalise, though. Lincoln made amends for his earlier miss by getting onto the scoresheet in the 25th minute.He collected an excellent cross from Brenner from the left wing and slotted it away past the Spanish goalkeeper to make it level. Spain were dealt a blow in the 34th minute when defender Mateu Jaume was injured and substituted by Victor Perea. After Jaume's substitution, Marcus Antonio began to get some space in the Spanish half and the Brazil midfielder made full. In the added-on time in the first half, Antonio lobbed the ball above Spain's defensive line to find an unmarked Paulinho and the striker beat the off-side trap to fire the ball in and put Brazil ahead.

Spain couldn't create many chances in the second half and their much-hyped striker Abel Ruiz was a big disappointment.

Spain's appeal for a penalty in the penultimate minute was turned down by the referee as Brazilians walked away with deserving three points.