Day 1: Makkaraparamba, Malappuram District
Brazil beat Argentina 4-3, lifts the World Cup!

On my way to Malappuram, I saw this wonderful set of banners, ten of them in a junction. For the first time I saw such a long banner series,later heard from some kids that some where in Malappuram there is a series of 32 banners, a banner each for all World cup football finalists!

There were banners for Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Italy, North Korea, France, England, Portugal, Spain and Germany.
So as usual I started taking pictures of the banners, by the time some students of nearby high school gathered and were looking curiously. So I started my usual chat with the kids about the World Cup celebration. One guy almost screamed in excitement and said that Brazil beat Argentina 4-3. I was bit confused. Because the World Cup kick off was yet to happen and how come Brazil won against Argentina? Then the details started coming in.

The match was a locally organized one for the fans of Brazil and Argentina. These types of matches are a usual occurrence during World cup season in these parts.Players will wear various nations’ jerseys and play exhibition matches. So Sakkir, who used to play for Viva Kerala was the captain of Brazil team and Asif Zahir, ex SBT Kerala player captained Argentina. The match was very thrilling it seems. Around 300 people came for the match.

A local club, Legends Club at Makkaraparamba organized the game.

The members of the club with their favourite team's flags!

And the winner gets the World Cup, not the original one but a replica, this one made in cement by a person named Sukumaran. Later at a Aricode I met Sukumaran and had a rare opportunity, but that's a different story!

The victorious Brazilian team with the World Cup! believe me this will happen only in Kerala, that too in Malabar!

To be continued....