Saturday, July 5, 2008

Our Hockey Day out in Rotterdam

A few weeks back a dutch colleague was kind enougha to invite us to see a friendly match between the Dutch team and the Indian team. So 3 of us left office early to reach Rotterdam from Amsterdam which is a good hour away by train.

We got a little late- so much so that C (who invited us) had to go ahead to the match instead of the original plan to pick us up from the station. As it is we were feeling guilty of being late and did not want her to miss the match.

By the time we reached, 2 goals had already been scored including the only one that the Indian women would, in the entire match. Earlier, we had made it clear to C that we have to support India- even though we appreciated her hospitality to which she replied cheerfully with the customary Dutch frankness- “Oh by all means! In any case Holland is going to beat the crap out of you guys ‘coz Indian women are not playing that great!” So much for the graciousness of being a host :)

Well, we also knew this for a fact but still we had to be patriots and “Chak De India” is till fresh in our minds.

So we reach the staduim and call C to take us inside. Her first comment on seeing us, “Guys if we have a date- I f**king expect you to be on time or is it just habitual of Indians?” Uhh Ummm…heeehee..this is embarassing to say the least. But I already adore this woman!!

We quickly settle down and guess what? we are the only 3 Indians in the entire stadium! The first Indian name tag we see is “Pushpa” and S does a Rajesh Khanna “Pushpa”…then there’s Ranjita…and several others. We are shouting at top of our voices at every opportunity we get (which are not too many) but everytime we cheer - people around us give us amused glances but we care a hoot- it is the first time for me in a stadium and I am loving it. After a few times when people turned back to look at us- we actually wave our arms and shout, “Yes here we are!!” It is crazy, silly but so energizing- we hardly care that the Holland team is butchering the Indian team. Finally we lose- 4-1. But guys have a field day looking at the toned & fit Dutch girls!!


After the match, we head towards the VIP pavilion to meet the Indian team (and hopefully the Dutch team as well). We could dare to imagine this possible only here- back home the security itself would have been impossible to break. The lady standing there stops us for our VIP pass but when we tell her we are from India and want to speak with the Indian team, her reaction is, “What the hell! Go Go in …doesn’t matter” How refreshing…so we go inside and try to chat with the girls. We can’t believe how shy they are! It is a task to even make them look at us. Only one girl is responsive and gives her autograph. As usual for the consultants that we are we can't resist and start giving them tips on how to play- hah! What are we thinking of? Surely it cannot be the beers we had guzzled.

More never-done-before silly things happen subsequently. We practice shooting balls in the goal with hockey stick. Then C buys us T-shirts with the Holland team’s picture and we actually chase the players for signatures and photographs! God we are like kids running around- considering we were never interested in hockey ever! But the spirit of the things is intoxicating.

Seeing me watching the guys posing with all the hot players for pics. C is like; “Don’t worry honey, let them enjoy, we will have more eye candy for us coz next we are watching the Spain Vs Argentina men’s match. (Long sigh- yeah right).

So next we head for the real match which is the Champoin’s trophy match for Men. There is a group of giggling pre-teen and early teenage girls sitting on the front bench. C’s pearl of a comment, “ Look at them- they just hit puberty and realized they are women seeing the big boys play.” I almost roll off my seat laughing!

It is getting a little late and I start feeling hungry – we have plans for dinner (C has made reservations) but the guys want to stay for the entire match. So I am a little lost when suddenly one of the guys asks me, “So which one is your favourite”. I look at him blankly but quickly recovering tell him, “It’s a little difficult to figure out who is handsome from so far.” What I really had in mind was that there is nothing handsome about men running around with sticks in hand and especially the Spanish players who are wearing red sleeveless jerseys with Princess written in the front!

During the entire afternoon & evening we keep thinking and discussing that we ought to join some sport or game. We feel the rush of team spirit, playing in the outdoors- as we felt in our childhood. How long it has been since we did this? All of us are slobs- some of us do try to be regular with gym but playing a sport in a team is something else. Its not only good for your body but also spirit.

The post match dinner was at one of the oldest restaurants in the city called De pijp. The structure, the construction, furniture everything was as old as 1940. This place was like a garage bar in the pre-war times. It survived the world war II bombing which destroyed 90% of Rotterdam. A cosy little place with ground nuts peels all over the floor- it turned out to be a tradition to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Reminded us of India! The walls were covered with hundreds of ties and photographs of the fraternity. Unfortunately they weren’t serving chicken and we had to eat vegetarian food. But nonetheless, the entire experience was something special and cannot thank C enough. And the next time we have a date- I am going to make sure we avoid our Indian-ness and adhere to Dutch punctuality.

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