SAFF AND SHUKRA

It’s been hectic, this week for all Nepalese. Despite all our hopes to see Nepal in SAFF’s final, we couldn’t make it to final. Rohit Chand’s failed to put the ball into the back of the net, not once! but twice. There wasn’t a single Nepali who didn’t spank his/her palm like hammer on the forehead. We couldn’t care less about the pain caused by the blow on the forehead; rather the missed penalty shots nearly caused everybody a heart ache. I was dumbfounded. I wonder my reflex would still be the same, had Nepal lost like that in FIFA world cup’s final.

There were so many scams, rumors and abhorrent decisions and dealings associated with the tournament. There were tickets sold in black market, some policemen were allegedly captured in cameras dealing with the black merchants (some posts on facebook said they themselves were involved in the business)   , and a very disgusting move of hiking ticket’s price by very responsible ANFA. I personally hated it; they tagged the price so high that I had to miss out the game which would have been my third consecutive match as a spectator in the Rangasaala (Nepali word for Stadium). I met a friend of mine day before the match, he is taking referee courses provided by ANFA who disapproved of price hike too and added, ‘I want Nepal to lose since ANFA couldn’t care less about the poor people and students who are crazy about Nepali football’. He should have said that in a rage of some kind but that somehow was true. If we believe there are positive vibrations associated to every success, then those furious people talking against their beloved football team might have impaired the success we are yet to taste. This makes Rohit Chand and Afgan goalie look less villain and piles up blame towards ANFA. I don’t mean disrespect to Rohit Chand , he had been truly amazing all through the tournament. 

Once my birth details (China in Nepali) were scrutinized by a psychic, he said that I had troubles with planet Shukra (Venus). The symptom he told that got me convinced was, I will do things closer to good yet I will struggle with the final outcome. I wonder if the birth details of Nepali players were provided to the psychic he would have told same about the team too? The game had the similar verdict though, I reckon. We lost to a good side, I would not have liked had we lost to Indian side. The best team won the Cup, Bravo! Afghanistan. There might be so many critical approaches to the match we lost. The experts might have their own say like, Rohit chand wasn’t the best option to take the shot. Strikers always know where to fire the right shots. They might say, Raju tamang the best shot taker should not have been substituted for the management should have expect something uncertain like that in the match. For me, Nepal stood second only that defeat we tasted should have been the final.

It’s not just the football team who is enduring the troubles with Shukra; it’s the government, it’s the people, it’s all the processes that our country is going through. The first constituent assembly’s (CA) election held was closer to historically remarkable event and it backfired date for another CA’s election. Before that, Nepali Congress led by B.P Koirala fought for CA’s election and they were compromised to regular election. Then the infant democratic process was murdered by a tyrant at birth. They strike again, got the democratic process back and the second infant who just started to crawl was killed by Maoist’s war. The People voted Maoist for they did want to put an end to years long of violence and destructions. Peace finally manifested as a cloud of smoke; just losing its concentration to a thin and sustainable atmosphere, then the former rebels break into fractions. One of the hard fractions terrorizes again and threatens to blow the cloud of smoke away. On the other pages of country’s progresses, the government’s decision to expand roads was yet another historically bold move but it left Kathmandu valley with fog of dirt and dust. I sense the dirt should not be troubling me for a few days because my eyes are so wet after the defeat that it washes the dirt away.