Transcending Boundaries

Yesterday night, travelling from Doha to Goa, waiting for my boarding call, that I decided to kill some time at the Qatar Duty Free Shop, that a very interesting incident happened. The previous night, Chelsea won a crucial hard-fought match against Manchester United and in that euphoria, I was wearing the blue Chelsea jersey. While randomly browsing through the store, a tall dark salesman comes up to me and exclaims, " Did you see Lampard Penalty?". My initial reaction was of shock and amazement, wondering what the hell just happened. But I overcame my shock and ended up chatting with him for over 10 minutes about the Chelsea-ManU match. The guy, a Chelsea Fan, was from Kenya. Football, in this incident was the key in bringing two totally different people together.

It reminded me of another incident. Last year, my grandfather was seriously ill with some heart issues. We had admitted him in Escorts, in a ward shared by an Algerian patient. At that time, the FIFA World Cup was going on in which Algeria was participating. We saw the Algeria-England match with our neighbours, and the match proved to be a wonderful way to bond with someone new, specially someone with whom under normal circumstances would have never talked with.

These incidents have led me to believe that given how popular football across the globe, it is one single entity which can transcend all boundaries and united the world as one. However, there is just one Divide. Gender. Football has failed to capture the imagination of women.

One wonders how easy life for man could be if football breaches this 'final frontier'. All dates would head to the Football Stadia. Men would no longer have to fight with their girlfriends for remote. Football hooliganism might even be considered as essential to masculinity. Just imagine how easy it be to pick-up girls. To start a conversation, talk about football. If conversation becomes awkward, start talking about football again. Also, women would stop spending on high-priced fashion. They would rather buy Jerseys and merchandise related to the club/country they support. If this frontier is indeed conquered, the most important consequence will be that it will make women mind and inner workings comprehensible. Man will finally understand what a girl wants.

Awaiting for this future, where there are no frontiers. Eagerly.

PS: There is certainly hope. From what I learnt, a number of girls saw the Chelsea-ManU match at my college. This is certainly bodes well for the future, atleast for my college.