MARADONA IN KOLKATTA - INDIA.

MARADONA IN KOLKATA – INDIA.

Sixth of December 2008 will go down in the history of Indian soccer as one of the most memorable dates. On this date one of the all time soccer greats Diego Armando Maradona from Argentina stepped his foot on the soccer crazy soil of Kolkata, India. 25 thousand people braved the darkness of the night to see the flight carrying Maradona landing with thunderous applause, some of these people were standing on the roadsides to welcome the soccer legend. People in Kolkata called him God but Maradona replied to them saying "God is God, I am God only of foot-ball". The modern day soccer artiste and genius foot-baller, came into prominence at world level in 1977 when he represented his country Argentina in the Junior World Cup held in Japan. Those who saw him in action during this tournament predicted rightly that he will be the next Pele of soccer. Though he was great yet in the following year 1978 for the FIFA World Cup held in Argentina, poor Maradona to his utter disappointment was excluded from the national team. Citing his valid reason for Maradona’s exclusion, the national team boss the chain smoker Caesar Menotti said “Maradona is still not competent enough to play for the senior national team of Argentina because he is yet to reach to the required maturity to represent the seniors. Maradona was very much annoyed at his exclusion and he has never forgiven Menotti for this lapse though in Argentina during that time some of the top personalities favoured Maradona’s inclusion in the national team even as substitute because 1978 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Argentina who finally went on winning the Cup under the able captaincy of defender Daniel Pasarella beating Holland in the final.

At the end of last century, one prominent sports magazine from France conducted a poll to select the best sportsman of the century and in this poll foot-baller Pele was selected as the number one sportsman followed by the athlete Jesse Owens and boxer Mohammed Ali on third spot. There is no doubt about the selection of Pele because he was a real thriller on the field. Thru his football genius he brought grace not only to soccer but also for sports as a whole. He was not only a great footballer but also a great disciplinarian and follower of morality during his hey days. He was gifted with both his artistic legs and also in aerial duels. Writing in World Soccer some years back, one of its correspondents said "What Maradona could do with his right foot no other footballer could do. He could make the ball with his right foot to do whatever he wanted to do except talk". Though he was supreme commander of the ball with his right foot yet he was no less with his left foot and exceptionally talented in heading. The goal he scored in the header in the 1970 World Cup against Italy was the most perfect header Pele executed according to his own confession in his book "Play Foot-ball with Pele" in which he gives 11 lessons to eleven players. Anybody remembers my late brother Jose Marie skipper of Sesa Goa in mid sixties how perfectly timed header he used to execute with perfect accuracy? Some soccer experts in Goa said there was nobody like him in Goa during those days and even now who could do what Jose Marie was doing. Even the top Sesa’s Germans and Italians confessed this once.

After retiring from first class active soccer somewhere in 1972 when Pele could still run 100 mtres in 11 seconds at the age of 32, (I was at the age 16 completing 100 metres in 11 seconds and it was considered a record in Goa during those days), in order to promote soccer in America, with entreaty of top Americans including Henry Kissinger, he was inducted into American League for the powerful team COSMOS along with some of the top footballers including the great German Backenbeur. With this team Pele in 1977 toured Culcutta and played one game against Mohun Bhagan at Eden Stadium where the result turned out to be a draw. For this match out of packed stadium, 70 thousand spectators came only to see Pele in live action while when his plane landed at Dum Dum Airport, 50 thousand people came only to welcome him there. Such a rousing reception and welcome nobody got. On behalf of Goans, Domnick Monsurate ex Goan referee in Kuwait, represented Goa Football Association. Those many ladies who gave birth to male children during that time named their sons after Pele. In praise of Pele’s trip to India, renowned Tiatrist the late Tony Call rendered a beautiful song at Keefan Hall, Kuwait. A few verses of that historical song as I remember it, I pen down down below:

Chear World Cupang khellon tanne, naum dovorlem ithiasin
Tin pavttim jikoilet Brazilak aplech ostongin
Real Madrid, Barcelona ani her vhodd Clubani
Vikto maglo, Brazilan na mhonttlo, mol korunk tachem mhonn kottin

Sounsar bhor khellon xekim bhett dili amchea deshak,
Ponnas vozar lokh ekttoulo Airportar taka ghevpak,
Sot’tor hozar lokh also khuim khell tacho poupak,
Ed’dho vhoddlo evkar adim Indiek mellonkna khuincheach khelgoddeak.

Mohun Bhagan tim Culcuttachi ani Cosmos club Pelecho,
Zaite somzolole Cosmos pavs ghaltolet mhonn golancho,
Soglech fottoulet, Cosmosui thottaklet khell polloun Mohun Bhaganacho,
Vhodd mhan tanni amkam Indianank haddlo khell draw korun tea dissacho

Khell somptoch Pelen ghott veng marli Indian goalkeeper Banarjik,
Khuxeal zalom mhontlem polloun uxear khellgoddi tumche timink,
Tea bhair to mhontta Shayam Thapa, Akbar ani Habib mhonn voznadik,
Itle uxear Indiek khelgoddi asson Indian tim kiteak itli fattim.


Now recently when Maradona visited Kolkatta, he too received a rousing welcome of course deservingly. Maradona is no doubt a great but I will never equate him with Pele. Pele is Pele, as the great Portuguese Eusebio said in 1966 in his autobiography “My Name Is Eusebio” (originally written in Portuguese in 1966 immediately following the World Cup in England) when world equated him with Pele after Portugal defeated Brazil in 1966 World Cup. Pele was a complete footballer using both his legs with equal ease plus header with perfect precision while Maradona was not a complete player like Pele. Maradona was only a one legged left footed player and lacked heading skill. Maradona was too much complaining on the field while Pele was not. Maradona was emotional and cried when Argentina lost the final in 1990 while Pele was just the opposite who instead cried when Brazil won the World Cup in 1958. Pele applauded and appreciated openly even his opponents for their good moves while Maradona remained aloof. Out of soccer arena Maradona acted like a village urchin boy coming from Boca de Juniors gettoes in Argentina while Pele remained dignified and humble even though he came from poor family background.

Once in 1960 a Goan priest Pe. Chico Monteiro from Candolim who was the then Director of Lar dos Estudantes Panjim visited Portugal. During his visit Pele’s Club Santos of Brazil also visited Lisboa to play a friendly against Bemfica. Pe. Chico watched this match and after the game, Pe. Chico Monteiro went with an autograph to meet Pele thinking it would be easy but to his dismay Portuguese security personnel just pushed Pe. Chico away saying “go, go, no Pele, you cannot see Pele”. Pele just nearby walking out of the dressing room along with other players wearing long winter coat and covering his head with hood, overhead his name and came back to security personnel asking “what happened, who wants to see me?” At that particular moment Pe. Chico Monteiro said, “Senhor Pele, so um favor”. When Pele saw Pe. Chico in his immaculate priestly robe, Pele jumped with joy and asked “Sr. Padre, what can I do for you? Tell me? For this Pe. Chico gave Pele autograph where Pele signed saying “Seu Amigo Pele’. Since then Pele remained Pe. Chicos friend exchanging postcards. This is to prove the humility of Pele off the field while on the field, he was the King of football as none before, not after him and doubtful in future too. Such stalwarts come to this planet only once in centuries.

Once again those in Kolkatta who called Maradona as God are wrong. By calling him God they have lowered the power of God. Maradona said he was the god of football but even here he was wrong. Though I admit that he was a great footballer of which type after his retirement we never saw anyone yet he had lot of flaws. In 1986 World Cup when Argentina defeated England with one of the goals Maradona scoring thru the hand of God, English commentator and former great footballer Sir Bobby Charlton when asked about Argentina’s victory, said “Argentina won because they played with 12 players". When further questioned, he elaborated saying “One Maradona is equal to Two Players”. This is the greatness of Maradona inspite of his flaws. It is a pity that after his retirement we are yet to see another of his magnitude. Best of his soccer he played in Italy for Napoli in Seria A. He was not only playing but making others to play with his genius. Such genii comes to this planet only once in centuries. Fortunately for us in last century we had not only one but two genii, first in Pele and then in Maradona.

A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.

AN APPEAL TO WORLD-WIDE GOANS.

A General Appeal to Dear World-Wide Goans,

You are aware to what extent Goa’s self-seeking politics has deteriorated to. You are also aware of the people’s revolt in practically every Panchayat areas against the policies adopted by the present coalition Congress lead government. This clearly gives an indication of people’s acute distrust in their elected representatives to work for them in a planned manner, forcing them to leave their jobs and/or their own affairs of conducting their lives and run from pillar to post to get redress to their grievances as well as to try and save something of the Goa they grew up in for posterity.

Goa Su-Raj, a political party, built on ‘self-sacrifices’ and the ‘will’ to work towards good effective governance for Goa, (not just ‘good governance’, the term having been reduced to a joke by successive governments starting with the BJP since 2002), has not been able to move forward in all of the past ten years of its existence to make its programs and procedures known to the ordinary voter who is looking for a ‘CHANGE’ from the stagnating politics. The recent Mumbai’s Terror attack is the example of this stagnation. This party has had very limited opportunities to exposed itself to the voter during the Legislative Assembly Elections for 2002; by-elections of 2005 and L.A. Elections of 2007. This is because there are no money-bags affiliated to this party, since form the very beginning, its founders have stuck to their initial resolve not to go sweet on the money-bags for the party’s advancement which would, at any rate, be counter productive for a party which is designed to fight money-bags oriented politics. This party has seen the wisdom of staying away from the money-bags, even if it meant progress made towards its advancement and its ‘Good-Effective-Governance’ ideology was minimum. That way Goa would still have a political party that has shown its grit that its ideals can survive without money-bags.

But the irony is that without money life comes to a stand-still. And this phenomenon is most significant for a political party which is required to be seen rather than heard. Therefore, Goa Su-Raj Party, with all of its bagful of goodies cannot afford the luxury of being ignored by the general electorate, who, of late, is seeking change, especially after the electrifying ‘Obama Effect’ which has made history the way American elections are won.

When Goa Su-Raj was formed in the year 2000, it was decided, then, that this party would put total emphasis on its ‘project modules’ rather than on collecting funds into the party’s bank account. Attribute to this resolve was made keeping in mind the famous adage “Money is the root cause of all evil”

To give credence to the above adage, we would like to narrate this factual incidence that took place between two executive members of this party, both being the Party’s office bearers in the early years of its registration.

“Look here” said one Office bearer to the other. “If we have sufficient amount of money, we can do a lot of things to promote the Party”.

“Telling me?” said the other with a retort. “You must realize that I was not born yesterday not to know that”, and pushing the pen and paper towards the former, went one to say “ write down what exactly you want to do and we shall see what we can do about the funding”

“But you don’t understand” said the former. “A lot of things can be done to promote the Party if we have money”

“Yes, I know that” said the latter, “ If you want to have it that way, then imagine a bagful of money sitting at this corner here” he pointed out.“ Now write down all the things you want to do to promote the Party, and we shall tackle them one by one”

When uneasiness settled on the former, the latter continued by saying:

“I shall tell you what will happen. You will suddenly realize that you have to pay your mortgage installment. You will want the Party to help you out because breading your FDs, you stand to lose. If the request is refused, you get sore and raise a stink to kingdom come demanding to know why the hell the Party’s money cannot be used to salvage personal problems of its members, when the money sitting idle. If the Party obliges, it will have to oblige others too. Perhaps I myself will see that I too have financial problems and will want to help myself. When I ask you for the repayment, you will start telling stories. If I persist, you will call me autocratic and will start a back-biting campaign against me. “What does he think of himself…. etc” Eventually you will stay away from this office. And finally, the thing that must not happen will have happened. ALL THE MONEY WILL HAE GONE WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT. And most of all, the Party will have lost you”

The former, when he left the office that day, it was for good. Today, this right honorable gentleman even believes that the Party has been dissolved. The question is: If you have such founding members, who needs enemies???

To come back to the appeal, following are the projects the Party wants and needs to execute to gain popularity amongst the vacuous electorate of the day which has been rendered disappointed with the existing self-seeking political systems run by Delhi High Commands.

Conducting full day seminars on the topic of ‘The Desirable Political System’ with Power-Point Presentations by the Party, first in all major cities and towns. i.e. Margao, Vasco, Ponda, Mapusa & Panjim and continuing in each and every constituency, without too much gap, for promoting effective awareness. Prior registration will be required for delegates to speak at the seminars on the above topic irrespective of their party labels since good effective governance is desired universally.

Morning session: Registration- Delegates speak – Lunch break.
Evening session: Summary of points made out – GSRP Power Point Presentation- Tea Break- Question & Answer session – Vote of thanks.

Membership will be open throughout the seminar. Life member Rs. 300/-; Ordinary member Rs. 1 and above.

Costing:
Hall/Sound System/Tea/Snacks/Lunch/Adverts [10 x 1 CC x 4 nos] + Misc = 40,000/- (for Venue like Margao’s Vidhya Niketan.

Sponship for the publishing of gripping political plays (nataks) in Devnagri script for rural consumption with the Party’s message in the prologue. Well accepted and sought after author/s with soft corner for the party are willing to undertake this project. A prototype play is already awaiting the necessary sponsorship.

Costing:
Each booklet (play/natak) is approx 70 to 80 pages. The cost of printing is approx. Rs. 15000-20000 for 3000 copies. There is a ready-made clientele for this segment and hassle-free distribution throughout Goa is assured. Besides the low mark-up price and purchase of production rights will generate substantial funds to finance the printing and distribution of new plays.

Organize on all Goa basis a sustained, low profile, moving on 4-wheels ‘Party Office’ which will be parked at busy centers in every constituency, basically to encourage membership so that the Constituency Working Committee [CWC] is established as a grass-root constituency level organization. This requires an in-house vehicle with a driver and an assistant on regular payroll.

Costing:
A new vehicle i.e. Sumo (diesel); Qualis, Maruti Omni (LPG) Between Rs. 3.5 to 4.0 lacs approx. Less on Omni.

Driver: Salary @ Rs. 3000 -4000 p.m.
Assistant: Salary 2500-3000 p.m.

Note 1: The Party has decided that it will not field a candidate in a constituency for the next or coming Assembly Elections if the respective constituency does not have a Constituency Working Committee’ [CWC]. The head of the CWC is its President who is the ‘Candidate’ with the Secretary being the ‘substitute candidate’. The constitution of CWC: One Village Representative [VR] (life member only) for every village in the Constituency (appointed by the Party Executive). Every VR appoints Ward Representative [WR] (ordinary-life member) to work with him. Therefore the grass-roots organization in a constituency is complete. Fielding a candidate without the CWC is useless and will not be done. So far the Party was exposing itself to the Goan public through contesting elections.

Note 2: This Party will not actively contest local Panchayat or Municipal elections on Party lines as this very act is defeating the ideals behind having ‘local self- governance’, but will actively campaign to elect these bodies on ‘panel basis’ so that the local self-governance ideology is collective and not individualistic or party based, as is seen today. This party believes that ‘local self-governance should be apolitical to the core, unbiased, if it is to succeed.

Organize Citizen’s Initiative/ Youth programs where the youth/general public is given the chance to voice their grievances and hardships and help them to organize themselves for the common good of all. Example: ‘Mapusa Nagrikancho Ekvott.’

AND MORE……


The details of each of the above projects will be made available to any person or persons showing interest towards sponsorship of the respective ‘project modules’ with, as far as possible, accurate costings. The understanding being that when the project has been executed, the Party has exhausted the sponsored amount. The projects, of course, could be part sponsored. Needless to say that the accounting will be most transparent and readily available.

This Party believes that ‘SMALL MONEY FROM A LOT OF PEOPLE MAKES BETTER SENSE THAN A LOT OF MONEY FROM ONE OR FEW PERSONS” [This drive may easily be started at your end wherever you may be for a ‘collective fund raising – the ’Obama Effect’ to take hold in Goa]

This Party also believes that ‘ THERE ARE NO GOOD OR BAD PEOPLE. ONLY GOOD OR BAD INTENSIONS.

And towards that end, Goa Su-Raj Party shall strive.


NOTE: 1
Potential Sponsors please note the following:

1. Crossed Cheques ( drawn on any Indian/Foreign Bank in India) to be made out to Goa Su-Raj Party and sent to ‘ 383 A Pirazona, Moira, Bardez, Goa – 403 507, India.’ Amount exceeding Rs. 10,000 =00 requires the registration of the sender’s name in our registers.

2. Detailed accounts of the expenditure incurred towards the execution of the particular ‘Project Module’ shall be given to the sponsor as a general procedure.

NOTE: 2
Party General Secretary Floriano Lobo will be available on phone (magic-jack) 209 224 9131 ( a local call for any place in the U.S. & Canada only) between 22.00 & 23:00 hrs daily US/Canada time (0830-0930 IST) or email floriano.lobo@gmail.com your local telephone number and the time desired to be called from this end.


Note 2:
It must be remembered that helping Goa Su-Raj is helping Goa and Goans,

And,

A stone thrown into a pond from a distance can create a ‘wave’ or even a ‘Tsunami’ than just a ‘ripple’ by the same stone thrown from the edge of the pond. J


Sincerely, with kind regards to one and all.

Floriano Lobo
goasuraj
9890470896 / 91 832 2470 223
www.goasu-raj.org