Football and “The Cup”

In 1999, a Bhutanese filmmaker called Khyentse Norbu made a movie called “The Cup” (“Phorpu” in Bhutanese). It was a story of two young Tibetan boys who were getting trained in a Buddhist Monastery. They are crazy about the ongoing Football World Cup. They put up a proposal to get a TV and a satellite dish to the monastery to watch the finals which is accepted by the head Lama. After some hilarious problems the boys finally get to watch the game. Here is a conversation between the head Lama (Abbot) and the monastery’s disciplinarian (Geko).

“Abbot: “When is the fight?”

Geko: “What? What fight?”

Abbot: “You said it was two nations fighting for a ball.

Geko: “Oh, oh, that … I think it’s around one in the morning.

Abbot: Picking up his thermos from under the table …

“What a strange time for a fight.”

Looks around for his cup…

“What do they get out of all this?”

He finds his cup and pours hot water into it …

Geko: “They get a cup.”

Abbot: Sipping from his steaming cup he ponders for a moment in deep thought…

“A cup… Mmmm.”

He continues to drink slowly, trying to suppress a smile.”

Made on a shoestring budget, shot in a real monastery and most of the cast made up of real Buddhist monks this film managed to be extremely successful. It won the audience award in Gardanne Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. It was the only movie ever sent to Oscars by Bhutan.

After seven years it is again time for another Football World Cup. 2006 FIFA World Cup has got rolling and the world will have its eyes on Germany for the next few weeks. This will be my third world cup. I remember watching the 1998 world cup on DD2. I was very curious about it because the newspapers made a huge deal about it. I had never seen a Football match before and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. For about a month I was immersed in it. I kept speaking about Ronaldo and Zidane to everybody showing off my new found knowledge. I still remember the drama surrounding the final when Ronaldo supposedly had a seizure but the rest of the team refused to play without him.

After the completion of the world cup except for reading occasional news items like Manchester United winning the EPL and David Beckham marrying Posh Spice I was completely detached from the Football world. Four years later the carnival was staged again, this time in South Korea/Japan. This time I was a little better equipped with Football knowledge. I at least knew most of the important players and teams. The timing of the telecasts helped a lot and I managed to catch quite a few matches. I was rooting all for South Korea and Japan and was elated to see them do so well. The Italians and Spaniards just didn’t know what hit them. In the end sanity was restored and Brazil lifted the cup.

After coming to IIIT in 2004 I started following the game. I chose Liverpool to support and I still very passionately do. I started watching the matches which were being telecasted in ESPN and Star Sports. I was ecstatic when Liverpool won the Champion’s league and F.A.Cup a year later. I woke up at 12:30 in the night in my home to watch this year’s Champions league final between Barcelona and Arsenal. I check for latest Football news every couple of hours on the net.

After watching club football for about 2 years, here comes World Cup again. Brazil seems to be runaway favorites and my money is on them to lift the cup but I will be happier if England, Spain or Italy manages to do it. This is because I followed their leagues for two years and would like to see these really football crazy nations get their due. I will be really hoping to see Steven Gerrard win the Golden Ball. According to me he is the best player in the world and is only recently beginning to get his due. Even Pele picked him as the player to watch out for. Will be posting the updates and reviews of the matches as the Cup progresses.

Currently reading: False Impression by Jeffrey Archer.

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