Monk in the city

Like many other great personages, this man shed his mortal coils before he turned forty. Born this day in 1863, Vivekananda took "Hinduism" to the centre stage at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893. It took Vivekananda nearly four years after that speech to return to his native land; he arrived at Colombo on January 15, 1897 and then, traversing the route from Pamban to Madras, arriving in the city on January 20. Though he lectured at Colombo and several other stops on the way, Madras was the focus of this return trip.

The place that he stayed in was then known as Castle Kernan, or alternately the Ice House. It was not meant to be a residence, but then, it was spacious, on the Marina, and could accommodate the hundreds of visitors who wanted to meet this monk seemed to have strengthened their belief in themselves. The Madras Reception Committee said, in its welcome address, "...we come to offer you the love of our hearts and to give expression to our feeling of thankfulness for the services which you, by the grace of God, have been able to render to the great cause of Truth by proclaiming India's ancient and lofty religious ideals." So tumultuous was that reception that Vivekananda's words could not be heard by many of the nearly 10,000 strong crowd that attended. Their consolation was that they could look forward to a few more opportunities to listen to him over the next few days in their city. 

Vivekananda stayed in Madras for nine days. The enthusiasm which he generated was reason enough for an enterprising publisher from the city to put together a volume of his lectures. And somewhere in those lectures, he exhorted the young men of the city to build their strength, for a life of religiosity needed a strong body. He said, "First of all, our young men must be strong. Religion will come afterwards. Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita." Wonder which of those approaches have gained popularity now!

Knock-out

When the IPL started in 2008, it was expected that the Chennai franchise would be one of the top teams in the league. The success of that model has spawned similar leagues in other sports: hockey, kabbadi, tennis and football. Chennai does not have a team in the kabbadi league; the tennis league is in a different, international format and again, Chennai does not have a team there. Though the city fielded a team in the Premier Hockey League (Chennai Veerans), it does not have one in the Indian Hockey League that replaced the PHL.

That leaves football. There were no great expectations from Chennaiyin FC (Chennai's FC) when the Indian Super League began. The team is owned by three non-Chennaiites - Vita Dani (Dhirubhai Ambani's niece), Abhishek Bachhan and M.S.Dhoni. The last named is an adopted son of the city, being the captain of its IPL cricket team. That was the local connect; even the main sponsor, the Ozone Group, is Bengaluru-headquartered. That did not stop the Chennaiites from putting their weight behind the team. And Chennaiyin FC responded by pulling off some firsts: Balwant Singh became the first Indian player to score in the league, Elano Blumer was the first marquee player in the league to score - and is leading the competition for the Golden Boot. And the team has gone on to top the league (well, there is a match to be played tomorrow, which may see Chennaiyin FC going into second place), but hey, we're into the semis.

The team's logo has caused some debate about what it represents. Whatever the official version be, I think it is just symbolic of what we'd do to the competition. We are just going to நாக் (naak) them out!

Jabulani!

The Copa Mundial is here! Watched South Africa rattle the Mexicans and it is now time for Uruguay -France.....

In the meantime, here's a picture of a couple of the local teams playing at the Jawarlal Nehru Stadium. I'm not sure who is who, but I am sure yellow shirts will win!

Sporting arena

Home - rather, office address - to almost all sports associations in the state, the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium is the best venue in Chennai for track & field events or football matches. It would be a great experience to watch an exciting match or soak in the thrill of serious running and jumping when the stands are full. But the capacity has rarely been tested, mainly because neither athletics nor football arouses serious passions in a Chennaite. Sure, Nallusamy Annavi first came onto the national scene at Madras about 20 years ago with his record setting high-jump effort, but he never considered himself a Madrasi and the fever his record created died out pretty quickly.

As for football, the stadium is rated for international games, but memory strains to recall a decent international football match here. There have been matches of the South Asian games and suchlike, but none that featured high-powered international stars - and there are few local stars in the game.

No wonder then that the stands appear deserted almost all the time. A few hundred spectators watching a league football match or a state-level athletics meet will hardly serve to fill the 40,000 seats in this stadium!

Euro fever?

"That's a special tower for transmission of secret messages". Once these words had been whispered, it was a big risk to ask anyone what it actually was, because you could then be the target of sustained cross-examination. This was the considered wisdom during school days, when this building came up to mark the centenary of the Madras Port. Therefore, like many other everyday sights, the 'football' on top of this building remains an unexplained oddity.

The Chennai Port Trust does encourage a lot of sporting activity; it is however improbable that they have placed this as a monument to their football legacy. Though I took this photograph a few weeks ago, I thought I would post it only after I have better information about what that globe is all about. Now, I feel that I would not get any wiser - the few people I have asked are irritated at me, for having teased their curiosity - and so, I hope posting this photo will at least bring up some plausible theories as to the purpose of the topping.

It is also Euro fever in a way: was watching the Germany - Turkey match last night when I remembered this photo!

Added on July 6, 2008: I've found out what that globe is for. A cousin who works for the Chennai Port Trust tells me that the globe houses a meteorological radar and other met equipment, since the docks need data on a more real-time basis than what the Met department provides!