You'll Never Walk Alone - My Liverpool Story

It was during my MBA days that my rubber-faced friend Chhitiz (he actually could make faces like Jim Carrey) introduced me to English Football and the Premier League. Then I didn't even know that Barclays was a Bank. DAMN.
He followed Arsenal and I too started following it a bit here and there. But honestly I didn't have the patience to watch a match late into the night and wake up early in the morning just to argue with a rival fan. Sleep was much much dearer then. But fate it was and I got to work for Carlsberg in Nepal. I was the brand guy and by default the promotional activities were a big chunk of the work. It was stressful sometimes and it was interesting. Carlsberg, though I've always been a loyal Tuborg guy, fascinated me because of it's international image and the things that came along with it. The international promotional plans, the international strategies, and then INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL. Yes we had separated international and national football for Carlsberg and San Miguel respectively. And lucky me got to get a chance to promote the legendary club LIVERPOOL in Nepal.
First hurdle was to understand how the league functioned. The points system, home and away system, transfer window, bidding of players, their salaries, managers, and even the daylight savings. I've personally got a grudge with Daylight savings because once we were supposed to promote an activity in television through a scroll ad and it didn't appear in time because of the time difference due to daylight savings. The scroll appeared only in the 70th minute. Got a good scolding from my boss the next day and I had to research about fucking daylight saving. Though I still don't understand it properly, I found a shortcut. An online time converter. Voila.
So getting back to football or rather Liverpool promotion, it was getting interesting by the day but stressful as well. I had to keep track of matches among which I had to select some top rated matches against some top clubs. We were promoting live match events, placing branding materials around Adidas showrooms and distributing jerseys to lucky draw winners at bars etc.

Then came the big promotion. The "The Football Trip of a Lifetime" promotion where a lucky draw winner could actually get a chance to go to Anfield, watch a live game sitting at the VIP seat with Carlsberg served, and then finally give the Carlsberg Man of the Match to the best player of the day. DAMN.
The promotion ran for a few months and then the day came for the lucky draw. A winner was picked. His name was Mr. Yugesh Bade Shrestha, presently the CEO of Prabhu Insurance. Then he was a senior person at Alliance Insurance. Now the story onwards makes me believe in FATE. Mr. Shrestha was already a Liverpool fan and a hardcore Carlsberg loyal. He happened to be drinking a bottle at a bar and he got his coupon there. And because of his profile, there was no hassle in getting a visa. The matchday came. It was Liverpool vs Tottenham (I remember vividly because of the daylight saving blunder). Liverpool beat the shit out of Tottenham with 3-0. I was wondering if only Liverpool had lost that match, what would happen to my promotion? And then the next day I went to office very satisfied and happy. My boss called me up to his table and showed me a pic. He asked me to identify the person standing with Mr. Yugesh Bade Shrestha. I actually couldn't recognize but said it looked like STEVEN GERRARD. I didn't recognize because I didn't actually believe it. Then he told me that it actually was SG8 because he was the Carlsberg Man of the Match the other day.
I just had that melancholy feeling along with a feeling of happiness somewhere. The animal instinct actually was jealous and sad that it was Mr. Shrestha standing beside SG8 and not me.

But then I got over it in a while and came back to my senses.

Then on, the publicity we did for that was massive with pictures and press releases everywhere. Mr. Shrestha was popular overnight. And in due course, Liverpool had also gained some fan following. It was a HUGE success.
And then what was left behind was me. So what I gained apart from experience, running a campaign successfully and salary was I started following EPL and became a hardcore fan of Liverpool and most importantly Steven Gerrard.
And the day came when I left Carlsberg to pursue my career elsewhere. I was lucky enough to receive not one but two genuine Liverpool jerseys gifted by my two dear colleagues at GB. One by Nirvik, sadly a hardcore Chelsea fan and Punam, who's not actually a football fan. And the recent scarf brought by my friend Rojan all the way from Anfield is a precious addition.
I still cherish those jerseys with Carlsberg written on the front and the scarf.
So that's my Liverpool story and Stevie retiring made me write it. And I've always been proud of the fact that I was one of the first persons in Nepal to start promote Liverpool.
You'll Never Walk Alone...

Picture: Mr. Yugesh Bade Shrestha presenting the Carlsberg Man of the Match to Steven Gerrard. (The picture that actually stunned me)

Nepalese Solar System

NO. It's not about the astrological science that I'm writing about now. It's about the solar system. No, what I'm trying to say is the astological SOLAR SYSTEM is completely different from what SOLAR SYSTEM means here in Kathmandu. Yes that's what I'm trying to say. And that's what my 7 year old cousin brother proved it was.
He studies in St. Xaviers, Jawalakhel and I've always found it to be one of the best institutions in terms of maintaining balance among the students. Balance of everything. So one fine day my cousin comes back home and starts to complete his assignment of drawing a SOLAR SYSTEM. And as you can see the picture above is what he drew. My nini (aunt) posted this on our family Viber network and we all had a good laugh. Some even jokingly commented saying the school fee needs to be refunded. But then I realized that it's not the fees that should be refunded. The teacher knew exactly what s/he was asking and the student exactly knew what he knew. Just that there was a huge gap between the  knowledge of the teacher and the knowledge of my cousin. The teacher grew up never seeing a SOLAR PANEL on top of his house until now, and my cousin grew up seeing the SOLAR PANEL on top of his home before he even knew that a different SOLAR SYSTEM existed beyond the borders of our planet EARTH.
And regarding the joke of having the fee refunded, I said instead of the fee we should ask for a refund from our politicians because it's because of their ignorance this situation has arose. A child is made to believe that that flat panel made up of some black material called silicon is the solar system. And I was actually not joking. I was and am serious about it.
Now what all are these politicians going to make believe the upcoming generation? I worry about my son and all of his age and below. Are they going to believe that door to door water supply or regular electricity or proper free education or good nutrition or indigenous products or sustainability or honesty or morality all are myth and nothing else? Are they going to grow with a very low acceptable standard of all the mentioned subjects? And finally are they going to grow up LESS HUMAN than we actually were?

Gully

As I walk up to Swoyambhu, I come across this scene and I find it beautiful. I'd already made up my mind to take some wonderful pictures that day because the weather was fantastic with a little chill in the air and bright sun with the clearest of visibility.

So on my way up I just saw this and sat down across it to take the best shot. Many people were crossing the same path, and seeing me with the camera, they would turn to their left and see what I was trying to capture. And to their disappointment, there was nothing but an empty gully. I could tell that they were expecting something more interesting to them like a pair of monkeys or a small monkey jumping around or eating something or the breathtaking view of the mountains. But as they realized that there was nothing amusing as such and just an empty space, they would give a smirk and move on. And I smiled back to myself. To some extent proud enough that I can see something what others can't. It kinda felt like having a superpower.

Though not that frequent, I guess that's one of the reasons that pushes me to keep clicking pictures.