I was 10 years old....waking up in the middle of the night since world cup was held in Spain that year...it was 1982....and i was determined to watch the games with my Uncle (fathers younger brother) at his new house....there were some chinese friends of his joining in to watch the game together....and i have no idea why i bothered waking up to watch it except that the thought of waking up like 2 or 3 am to watch TV was appealing...thats all...and the only name that sounded familiar to me at the point of time was...BRAZIL !! it was my Uncles' and dad's fav team...so my brother and i were inclined to believe only BRAZIL deserves the World Cup...!
So...as i managed to drag myself out of bed...washed my face and went to the living room...sitting as closely as i could to my uncle as i was feeling pretty cold...considering how skinny i was then...not much fat to keep me warm...haha...and then the game begins...my uncle and friends open a few packs of snacks...the kacang putih of course....and is watching and commenting on the game while i sit there waiting for someone to score a goal...for the only thing i knew about football then was that you have to score goals....i had no idea about what ...a penalty...or free kick or off side...or any of such terms meant !...so as i sat there staring at the screen waiting for the goals....i coudnt help noticing some sound like very loud blowing of horn...and sat there wandering where the sound was coming from...tried to figure it out myself...but eventually decided to ask my uncle " Babu...( i call him Babu which means papa ) ..whats that sound like horn..?" and he tells me.. " Ohh theres a vast sea behind the stadium and there a lots of huge ships sailing around...thats the horn from the ships" and there i was picturing ships going around the stadium...and thought how cool that was....hahahaha....and yes believe it or not....i never knew he made up that story untill the next 2 world cups at least....how naive can i be huh...poor me !!
And even now...this world cup ...i cant stop thinking of that first world cup and how i was fooled by my uncle...hahaha...so thats how the Brazil craze started with me and then it got stuck with my cousins as well...so we started watching it together on every world cup....
in 1998...when the finals was between France and Brazil....i was in Penang furthering my studies then...and another cousin of mine was in KL...but we made sure we came back to Ipoh for the finals so we could cheer together....so about 6 of us including my father and uncle got together and watched it at my uncles place....and what a disappointment it was...Brazil lost 3-0 !!! how sad we were....putting up a long face....we just went to bed quietly ....hahaha
then it was 2006 ! by then...i married and lived in KL ....while one of my cousin gone to UK for studies....so it was harder to get together to watch it...but still we were all watching it from our respective places and called and smsed each other each time a goal was missed or scored....my cousin Nithya gets sooo nervous for every Brazil game that she sends messages like....my heart is aching....i cant breath ....and so on....hahaha...we are nuts...and that year...we were in love with Ronaldinho ! But then again they lost in the quarter finals ....
And now its 2010....and time to cheer for Brazil again....i am still in Kl....and some of my cousins in Ipoh, some in Kl and one in UK.....but we are all geared up to watch it tonight though its going to be a 2 am game...and there will be some sms going on there again....consoling and cheering ...
Brazil playing the first game in South Africa 2nite....against Korea....hoping to see some sizzling samba...up to the finals again...:)
So anyway...thats why ....it is Brazil for me !!!!!!! What is it for you ?! :)
