Journey of a football fan in India

Here is my journey as a football fan in a nation obsessed with cricket and I hope some of you will be able to relate to it. Please do give it a read if you have the time.

I was born and brought up in a small suburb in West Bengal. I am fully aware of the stereotype about Bengalis and their love for football but lemme break the stereotype right there and tell you that I didn't even touch football untill I was 10-12 years old and this was the norm with most of the kids around me in our town. I was an avid fan of cricket and the master blaster himself, as I guess, most of those born around my time were. I feel absolutely no shame in admitting that I used to adore cricket up untill a point in my life(you don't have to be a cricket hater to be a football fan I guess). The first memory I have about football is watching world cup 2002 final with my dad and he was the one who introduced me to this beautiful game. I distinctly remember him explaining the basic rules of football to me before the kick off so that I could be a spectator of the biggest spectacle on earth. Well 'el fenomeno' Ronaldo stole the show that night with two goals against the German wall Oliver Kahn(well this was how the papers had described him).I can't remember how I felt about football even after watching the game. What I remember next is the world cup of 2006. I had watched some PL matches here and there while shuffling channels before the world cup but I wouldn't dare to call myself a football fan at that point. I was supporting Brazil in that world cup because my dad used to support it(I know...lame logic...). Then I saw one player named Zinedine Zidane absolutely destroy a star studded Brazil side during the quarter finals between the two sides and all while making the game look so easy. It looked like he had so much time on the ball and I was so in love with the elegance with which he played. I quickly changed my allegiance to the french side after the quarter finals (Yes call me plastic I know I deserve it). It was heartbreak when France lost the World Cup finals and Zidane received his marching orders following the head butt on Materrazi. But the magic had started and I began to realize why this is the most loved sport of all by that time. I began to understand the immense emotion behind the game,the adrenaline rush it generates,I could feel the testosterone levels going higher when your team scores or wins a match and drop when you loose. Let me tell you without any shame I had very little idea/no idea about club footballs and Champions League up untill that point.While I have this opportunity let me also  tell you about another incident from that world cup which ultimately played a big part to turn me into a fan of this game. Cristiano Ronaldo had seemingly playing a role in sending off his club team mate Wayne Rooney during a match between their respective countries in the quarter finals I think and  it was all over the papers the next day. So one day while shuffling the channels, I could see Man United playing and I suddenly remembered this is the club where both these players used to play. I was bored and started watching the game just to see the reaction of the crowd towards Christiano Ronaldo a player due to whom they(England) were out of the world cup. Well I surely didn't need any hint from the commentators to know who Ronaldo is.He was booed whenever he received the ball but that didn't seem to affect him at all.I just sat there dumbstruck and saw him pulling every trick in the book to dribble past the opponent, going on those lung bursting runs through the right and left channels of the field oh and what speed and all the while making the opposition look like they don't belong on the same pitch as him. HE STOOD OUT. HE HAD FOUND A NEW FAN THAT DAY. My football journey had well and truly began- I started showing some interest in PL because that's where I could see him perform magic on the field day in day out. I came to know about the concept of champions league the year Man United went on to win it. Well, safe to assume, I started following the matches of Manchester United and I started liking the team as well because I didn't want my footballing icon to lose any matches. But to be honest with you all I wasn't really a Man United fan, but rather a fan of ronaldo untill that point.
I only used to watch the PL matches to watch him weave him magic through his feet.
So fast forward a few years because football and I were in a love-hate relationship when I was preparing for JEE mains exams and once I got into college,cricket fever was back with the Cricket World Cup happening in India and India being favourites to lift the coveted world cup trophy. After the cricket world cup wave finally subsided I started regaining some of my lost love for football again. This was also partially because of champions league football matches being watched by large crowd in the college hostels in the common TVs and the debate that ensued once the match was over among the two set of fans of the clubs.I wanted to be a part of that madness,I wanted to belong. I knew ronaldo had moved over to Real Madrid from Man United. So come 2012 my love for ronaldo re-kindled as star sports decided to stop being an asshole and broadcast the spanish league as well apart from the PL(Before that spanish league was not broadcasted in India for at least 3-4 years,I don't know if it ever was before that) .

So I start watching my first EL CLASSICO in the hostel with 200 other testosterone charged guys one half cheering for real madrid and the other for barca. Well I wanted Real Madrid to win as ronaldo was playing for them. I dont know how many of you would remember the EL CLASSICO which ended 2-2 with both ronaldo and messi scoring two goals each( one of the best classicos ever).Ronaldo did the calma calma celebration at camp nou after equalising the 2nd goal for madrid just after messi had scored an insane freekick.I fell in love with real madrid instantly because of all the emotions running through my body when ronaldo silenced the crowd at the camp Nou and the barca supporters of the hostel. This was the first team I actually cared about the team and as you would have probably guessed by now I became a Madridista that day. This was also the first time I saw messi playing for barca and once again I had the same feeling which I had some 5 years earlier when I saw ronaldo playing for the first time in Man United colours.I realized these two players are of a completely different level than the rest of the players that were on that pitch and for Gods sake it was a classico showcasing some of the greatest players on earth. The inevitable had happened there was a new king in the jungle ready to fight for the crown in this case to be known as the gretaest player of his time. I started following football closely after that, and I was so in love with this game within a very short time. I started having heated discussions with my friends on which team is better in epl and la liga and debated heavily on who is better among Ronaldo and Messi.I always knew both of them are special in their own ways and you can't stop appreciating those two geniuses deep down your heart when you watch them play and anyone who tells otherwise is just too blinded by hate to see the beauty of football and actually doesn't love the game. But first love is always special and I had already given my heart to Ronaldo some 5-6 years earlier. What a roller coaster ride it has been for the last 5-6 years being a madridista - from being humiliated 0-4 by barca to shedding tears of joy when the club won the 'la decima'(10th UCL), from that night of heartbreak against Juventus when the ball just wont go in the nets in ucl semis to decimating cl winner bayern by scoring 6 goals,from dominating teams under ancelloti and winning nothing to winning the double under zidane in his first full season. I could surely say that I grew up and became a true football fan during the course - From waking up early at 5:30 am to watch messi play for argentina to being awake upto 4:00 am to see la liga matches and from illegally watching PL matches on live streaming to being a premium member of hotstar so that I could watch all the PL matches, from liking every fan page related to football to watching every possible video available to know about the past legends of the game I have done it all now. Feel free to call me a fanboy but I will always love Cristiano Ronaldo because he is the one who made me fall in love with this beautiful game and he still is one of the reason that I am still so much in love with it.

Some of you may be able to relate to my post while to some of you all these may sound real absurd. This has been my journey up untill now from a cristiano ronaldo fanboy to being a true fan of this beautiful game.Whats yours??