The game was at the Cooperage Stadium in Mumbai and we had gone to see East Bengal, a legendary Indian team, play in a cup competition. The team had been formed during the days of the Raj to represent the Hindus of East Bengal. This was where my father had grown up, amid much luxury, our family being part of the rich Hindu minority that dominated East Bengal, where most of the population was Muslim.
All of this was lost in 1947 as a result of the partition of India when East Bengal became East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and millions of Hindus left. My father, who had made Mumbai his home, knew he could never go back. Watching the East Bengal team that Sunday afternoon was his way of connecting with the land he always regarded as home and whose loss he mourned. As East Bengal won, my father's spirits lifted.
Like my father, millions will be supporting their teams during the Qatar World Cup for reasons that go far beyond 22 men kicking a ball for 90 minutes. They will do so, despite the World Cup being held in a country with a dreadful human rights record and whose treatment of migrant workers is appalling. I am under no illusions, having visited Qatar, met the migrants who built the stadiums and seen their dreadful living conditions. But, despite that, I was in front of my television last Sunday when Qatar kicked off the competition.
At every professional level, the game is no longer the pleasant weekend activity of my youth. It is now a sordid marriage between money and football's power barons, with the fans used as pawns to preserve the myth of the beautiful game.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.