El Diego - Diego Maradona

I have read it twice before and reading it for the 3rd time. Every time I enjoy reading the straight from the heart autobiography of the footballer of the century Diego Maradona. If Pele was FIFA player of the century Maradona was people's choice.

Story of struggle , hard work , dedication , belief in oneself, motivation. Diego's life is full of it and it inspires me a lot.
There are not many players who have lifted world cup on their own, Zizu came close in the last world cup but Maradona did it in 1986.

Book covers every detail of Maradona's life. How young Pelu was born in a poor family and since his childhood he enjoyed playing futball day and night. He was the start player since his childhood and this was proven when in just 2 years he jumped from divison 9 of Argentina to a national player at the age of 16 and Argentinos Juniors star player. He was also famous for showing his football skills at the half time when he was not a divison one player for Argentinos Junior.

Five years at Argentinos and how he managed to ditch River Plate who were gunning for him and join where his heart wanted to go i.e Boca Juniors. He went there even he was getting very less and Boca were not financially rich also. Pelu followed his heart always.

Pelu was not selected for 1978 FIFA world cup and he took his revenge by winning the youth world cup for Argentina.
Journey to Barcelona where he had a bad time due to fights with the president and also because he caught Hepatitis B. Finally he got transferred to Napoli Italy which was not one of the top club at that time.
Maradona gave the Nepolities the hope and worker class who were treated not at par with other italians the faith and belief in themselves. Napoli went on to win the Italian league twice , UEFA cup and many more events.

I came to know how he fought with Fifa Boss ' João Havelange ' at that time for the player rights and their sufferings when they had to play matches @12 noon during the Mexico world cup just because Europeans can watch the match during their day time. He also raised his voice against referring decisions.

1986 world cup legendary show by Maradona, Match against England , Hand of God and Goal of the century winning the final emotions . I loved this chapter in the book it was the best one.

1990 world cup , Argentina not the favorites, underdogs ,out of form loosing to Morocco in the first match. Beating Brazil and qualify to the next round , slowly moving to next rounds little bit through luck and more through team gelling at the right time. Italians hooting against the team and Maradona giving them some sermons at press conference. Napoli was like home to Argentina, kicking the italians out in the world cup ... you have to read it to enjoy it fully

Closing with a quote from the French great, Michel Platini, comparing Diego and Zizou

"Zidane does some extraordinary things, it’s true. But you have to put everything in context. What Zidane does with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange".

Read the book to know more about the Legend

The Zoya Factor

So finally I have finished reading the hilarious, full of pun , awesome book the Zoya Factor today. Its is Anuja Chauhan's first novel and she has really produced a feel good book. The book hovers around religion of India i.e Cricket.

I feel every cricket lover will enjoy this book. First the story in brief

Zoya Solanki is an employee in an advertising agency and is very much happy in her job since she joined 2 years ago. She is excided about her coming assignment with none other then Shahrukh Khan for Zing commercial. She is there in bombay for the commercial but has to leave in between and go to Dhaka and shoot the pictures of Indian cricket team players who are there for Mini World Cup.
Zoya loves cricket so much as 99% of Indians love ice hockey. She is no where attracted to the game. Due to Nikhil Khoda the captain of the team she is not able to finish her shoot on time and this leads to her staying in Dhaka for few more days.
But please remember she finds Nikhil Khoda ' yeh to bada toinnngg types'. In the course of stay the young players of team finds out that they can't win the match without having breakfast with her.
Zoya is born at the auspicious moment in 1983 when Kapil Dev lifted the world cup. This makes her very lucky for the cricket. She comes back before the finals in Dhaka and India loose of minnows Bermuda and this strengthens the belief of some players.

On coming back she watches 'Pap Ka Ant' with her Eppa and get to know about her luck from her bro Zoravar and Dad. She is in news all over Indian news channels about her luck factor.
Zoya flies with the Indian cricket team with a pre conditon that she will have break fast with the team on morning of every match. Fully paid trip to Australia with her chachi , friend mon and her naugty kid Arman. Arman is smallest sex maniac kid I have ever found. (read more about him in the novel).

In Australia she falls in for Nikhil , as India progresses in the world cup her stature in India goes up as zoya mata. People start worshipping her in India. She is being offered parliament ticket from Ayodhaya for the upcoming elections. Agarbati ad offers come in , Coke guys are chasing her. Her hug before the match can lead to a century or if she says some bad words it can lead to batsman getting out on duck.
Khoda doesn't belief in her luck and Zoya keeps clashing with him about he just using her. She goes through lots of emotional, moral ups and downs and finally the day of final comes ...................................... read the book for more :)

The book is truly an Indian book full of funny and some times double meaning one liners like Khoda Inviting Zoya to his hotel suite to watch Cartoon Network. Karol Bagh types , makaan number 13 , Border firing on the India Pakistan clash day in world cup. All these are so beautifully crafted in the story, everything comes in naturally. Reading about the cricket matches really takes you live at the stadium and you are hooked till the last ball is bowled. Slangs like KLPEd and Armans reciting poems are other hilarious parts in the book. Thoroughly enjoyable book .

Zoya Mata ki Jai