Dee-fence!

    Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to visit Toronto for two months for an academic project. In that time, I tried to take in as much of the city as I could. One or two articles wouldn't do justice to this long trip so I'm separating my observations and thoughts by subject. First, before the World Cup fever dies down, will be about what I saw of the sports culture.

    Some 90% of Canada's population lives within 100 km of the Canada-US border. As much as Canada tries to assert its unique identity (which does exist), there is no resisting the strong cultural influence from the bigger, wealthier neighbour down south. Plus, in the sports context, many of the leagues span the US and Canada with Canadian teams being a minority. For instance, in Major League Baseball (MLB), there is only one Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays. So, to some extent, I think some observations can be extrapolated to US-Canada sports culture as a unit.

    The first live game I went to was a Major League Soccer (MLS) game. (Side note, I have no qualms with the word soccer, but I do object to the abomination they call football. It seems to be mainly a pyramid scheme to give young men head injuries.)

Oldie but a goodie. 

     It was the first home game of the season for Toronto FC and they would be playing the New York Red Bulls. It was March and the weather was pretty chilly! 

Approaching the BMO Field

    Football in the US and Canada is mostly associated with children and families - none of the "hooligan" or "ultra" culture has crossed over the Atlantic. The crowd was composed of people of all ages and there was a wholesome air to it. Most people wore the red of the Toronto FC home kit, at least under their black jackets.

You can see the temporary World Cup stands to the right.

    The first thing one would notice if one is familiar with European football culture is the lack of chants at MLS games. English fans are well-known for making chants referencing a special moment from a player's history, or targeting an insecurity of an opposition player. The tunes may be from classic pop or folk tunes. They are often profane or crude, although not necessarily. Any club worth its salt will have a library of chants to fill the 90 minutes.

    "Steve Gerrard, Gerrard / He slipped on his [backside] / He gave it to Demba Ba / Steve Gerrard, Gerrard" -- a popular chant by Liverpool's opponents that followed Gerrard around for years.

    "His eyes are offside, his eyes are offsiiiide / Mesut Ozil, his eyes are offside" -- with variants for Luis Suarez's teeth, and more.

    In contrast, the Toronto FC fans didn't chant much except for "TFC" followed by three claps. Some players seemed popular (judging by the cheers when the lineup was announced) and the new signing Josh Sargent who came on as a sub; but players didn't seem to have lore or special affection as in Europe.

    There was one stand with some vocal fans, with one fan with a megaphone leading the chants. But being a small group, their chants were a little indistinct. I couldn't make out what they were saying and nor were any regulars near me joining in. 

The ultras with their flags and flares

    Nevertheless, the air was optimistic for most of the game and then suddenly glum as NY Red Bulls scored a late equaliser to deny TFC a win in their first home game.

TFC's hawk emblem. There is in fact a real hawk employed at the stadium to chase away seagulls.

    The next game I went to was a baseball game. Baseball is definitely much more beloved in Toronto. The first week of the season, all buses had a "Let's Go Blue Jays!" sign at the front. Indeed, the Blue Jays had reached the World Series (the MLB final) last season but lost, so enthusiasm was high that they would go the distance this time. (They are now last in their division.)

    The atmosphere near the stadium was buzzy despite it being a rainy afternoon. The stadium is one of the only MLB stadiums boasting a roof, so it was closed because of the rains. (I had been hoping for an open view of the CN Tower!) Together with a couple of friends I entered, for a match against the Minnesota Twins.

The closed roof

    Baseball matches are roughly the length of a T20 match, but the laid-back atmosphere is more comparable to a Test match. People mill about the corridors and stalls, not just during breaks.

    MLB teams play some 200 matches a year (i.e. almost every day for about 8 months). So, to introduce some variety, every match is designated as some unique occasion by the home team organizers. For instance, matches may be "LGBTQ Pride night" or "Venezuelan-Americans day". The most festive of all is probably "Loonie Dogs Night" where hot dogs are sold for just 1 Canadian dollar (loonie). We couldn't make it to one (and nor do I eat hot dogs), so the day we went was "Junior Jays" day where young fans could enter the field after the match and run all around the bases, as well as enter some contests during the innings breaks. It was nice seeing the enthusiasm of the little ones.

The view from right behind the batter was great, even though we were far back.

    In fact, I was sitting next to a boy who was attending a game for only the second time, and he was beyond excited. He was very fond of the Blue Jays and preferred the daytime games because he didn't have to go to bed and miss the ending!

    Unfortunately for him and the Blue Jays, the Twins hit eight runs quite early on and the game was one-sided from there. Most of the stars had been rested; the most famous Blue Jay playing was probably Vladimir Guerrero and he didn't make much of a mark. 

    I liked the charm of the old-timey atmosphere of baseball. The stadiums also have traditions for various points of the game: specific songs to be sung during innings breaks, the "seventh-inning stretch" and so on. The tickets were inexpensive as well and it seems a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I heard from various others that the atmosphere becomes more charged during the business end of the season (and probably for close games as well). 

    The main chant of the fans was "Let's go Blue Jays" - the standard for two-syllable team names all over the continent (Yankees, Phillies etc). The aforementioned Guerrero had his own chant ("Vladdy! Vladdy!") but otherwise, the fandom was more expressed in t-shirts and in following the local home game traditions. 

    As a sport baseball is basically a less complex version of cricket. The ball is thrown over-arm and does not bounce, so there's no possibility of spin. Pitchers (bowlers) have a small arsenal of variants like "curveball", "slider" etc but the fans seem less aware of these than the average cricket fan knows about (or can identify) yorkers, googlies and so on. The field positions are fixed so there isn't scope for variation there. Most restrictive of all, the batter can only hit on one side (what would be the leg-side in cricket) so there's hardly any aspect of shot-selection either. Almost to make up for this simplicity, baseball viewers study an array of stats, usually up to three decimal places.

    The final game I went to was an ice hockey game, of the Toronto Marlies. The main ice hockey team of Toronto are the Maple Leafs [sic], but their tickets are out of my budget range so I had to settle for their de facto junior team. 

The ice hockey venue. All three stadiums I went to, and the basketball stadium I didn't go to, are in the southern end of the city near the lake shore.

    Indeed, most of the fans there seemed to be primarily Maple Leafs fans, there to see some ice hockey and cheer on the future stars. The visiting team were the Laval Rockets who are the junior team of the Maple Leafs' biggest rival, Montreal Canadiens.

    Ice hockey stadiums are slightly chilly! In this case, not much more than outside, but I can imagine in other places like Florida, fans would have to dress specially for the match.

    The game was fast-paced and exciting. I knew it was a contact sport, but it was more violent than I had expected! Players frequently tackled each other to the ground and against the glass walls. When they weren't doing that, they were gliding gracefully across the ice. The tiny puck was sometimes a bit hard to follow from the stands.

    Ice hockey is not divided into halves or quarters but into thirds! During the breaks, a special vehicle called a zamboni drove over the ice to smoothen it.

You can see the lines made by the zamboni.

    Ultimately the Marlies won over their local rivals quite easily. Every goal got huge cheers. Finally, after a frustrating draw and a heavy defeat, I got to see a Toronto side win! 

    One sport I missed out on was basketball - Toronto Raptors tickets were just too expensive. They had just made the NBA playoffs. Hopefully I'll get to see an NBA or WNBA game live sometime.

    The wholesome, family-friendly atmosphere I saw at the Toronto FC game turned out to be a theme of all the sports I saw (as well as videos of World Cup fans I saw online later!). For sure, as a foreigner, it was more welcoming than if the stands were packed with rowdies. But, sports can also be an outlet for tribalism and nationalism which might take unhealthier expressions if suppressed. For sure, I've seen more partisanship and jeers at CSK matches, which also made them more distinctive and memorable experiences. I wonder if the Torontonian locals feel these edgier instincts at all, and if so, how they express them. Maybe they are reserved for the Raptors stadium and hole-in-the-wall bars. That's for a future visit.

    And for a true comparison, I'd have to go to a game across the pond. When I finally get to Stamford Bridge, that will be the happiest post I ever write here.

Art dekho!

    This post is mostly a photo reel and a report of an exhibition I went to some months ago. You can click the images for better quality.

    A few months previously, my father had sent me pictures of an exhibition in the US, about Art Deco and the architectural connections between Mumbai and Miami. I remember thinking it would be a shame if that exhibition didn't come to the other city it's about. Good thing is, it did! It was in one of the nicest places around, the backyard of the Bhau Daji Lad museum in Byculla. Keen readers of this blog would remember I had made a post about the museum itself, about six years ago. At the time I possibly didn't register that it had a temporary exhibition room in a separate building in the back.

    Art Deco would be a well-known term to anyone even slightly interested in the architecture of south Bombay. Indeed, I had attended a heritage walk on this, a couple of years ago now. It was conducted by Khaki Tours as part of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, near the Oval Maidan area and concluding on Marine Drive. 

    Some of the features that characterise Art Deco are: bold geometric shapes and colours, images from nature like seas and sunrises, and stylised lettering. 

 

When facing the actual buildings, it really does look like a ship is coming towards you! 

 

    The connection between Mumbai and Miami is specifically because they are both port cities. This means they became repositories of influences from many cultures; plus, they became wealthy and the architecture reflected the glamour. The port connection made the nautical motifs all the more apt.

 

Jaali-s, chhatri-s, and other Indian elements you can find incorporated. 

    These building obviously did not build themselves; here are some of the architects who were keeping an eye on global architectural trends and decided to make them a reality right here in Mumbai, with a local flavour.

    Outside, a tile company had put up a thematic exhibit, and some grilles from all over the city had been recreated. 

    Someone had (literally) woven these together into a tapestry, replete with the sun motif.

     

    Finally, a miniature and an old photo of some theatres nearby where I've spent many happy hours. (Metro Cinema is also pictured in one of the above collages)

So next time you're walking along Marine Drive, look away from the sea and enjoy the buildings too!

Here's the tea - US trip #2

Click the photos for better quality!

I alighted in Boston's Back Bay station (yes, it shares a name with the second-nearest bus stand to me in Mumbai). My friend Malavika picked me up and we took a short walk to the nearest Green Line station. Boston has many metro lines but the Green is the most used and has several branches. That day we decided to stay in and I had vegetarian sushi (!) for the first time.

The next day we crossed the river to Cambridge and looked around Harvard University. We went by Uber, so we did not park our car in Harvard Yard. 

 

Harvard Square

 

Library

 

Memorial Church

It seems to be a beautiful and stimulating place to learn. 

After a look around, we made our way to Assembly Row, which was that week's location for Urban Sketchers Boston, a weekly sketching group. There was no missing the meeting point — a giant Lego giraffe.

We all sketched for two hours and then regrouped. It was a lovely, wholesome group with artists of all levels — I hadn't held a colour pencil in years and I didn't feel like a rank outsider. 

 

Look, points for trying.

Our next halts were the picturesque North End and Long Wharf areas. The North End was where Italian immigrants settled. 

 

It's out of affection. They have the best anthem in the world, after all. 

 

Statue of Paul Revere

 

The Long Wharf is, well, a long wharf. Next to it is the New England aquarium — that's for my next visit. 

Now it was time for an aerial view of what I'd seen so far. So up and up the giant Prudential Tower we went — in a very fast lift! The view from the 52nd floor was fantastic. 

 

The tower, from Hynes Convention Centre

 

Charles River

On Sunday, we went to the Museum of African-American History. It has some exhibits in one building, then a guided tour in the next building which used to be a meeting and prayer hall. Our guide was knowledgeable, captivating and handsome. He told us how Massachusetts outlawed slavery by 1790, but segregation persisted. White people taught the African-Americans Christianity, but not before they removed the anti-slavery parts from Bibles! A school for Black children was founded in the next building. In the meeting hall where we sat, thought leaders discussed the future of the school, the place of Black women within the movement and more. 

 

Illustration of how slaves were packed into the ships

 

Frederick Douglass

 

Prayer hall on the first floor

 

Meeting hall on the ground floor

The area comprising present-day Boston had several hills that were flattened and the rocks used to reclaim land from the sea. Beacon Hill is the only one that remains. We walked around under a cloudy sky, past the State House and into Boston Commons park.

 

State House under a stormy sky

 

"Frog Pond" in Boston Commons

 

The aforementioned frogs

 

A sculpture depicting Dr Martin Luther King embracing his wife Coretta Scott King upon learning he had won the Nobel Peace Prize

 

Monday morning saw me go for a riverside stroll.

 

A building of Boston University!

 

From a foot overbridge

 

A boat house visible across the river

 

Boston University behind a tram

But most of the morning was spent at the Museum of Fine Arts. Being in America, for the first time no less, I wanted to see the gallery of the Americas. It had paintings, chairs, silverware and more. Many of Bostonian John Singleton Copley's portraits were on display.

 

I did some of these.

 

The museum building

In the afternoon we went for the Duck Tour! It's a tour in a boat-van, a replica of a WW2 amphibious vehicle called the DUKW. We started from Prudential, drove past the Boston Public Library and a few nice old churches; between the State House and the memorial to the 54th Regiment in the Civil War (comprised of African Americans). Soon we were at the Charles and it was time to descend. We went under the Longfellow bridge, named for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who lived here. 

 

From the belly of the duck

 

For he's a jolly Longfellow

 

See here for more on this giant kettle

The guide was a genial and witty gentleman. He talked quite fast even for an American so you had to hang on to every word.

On my last day, I started at the Old State House. It has a small museum of the independence struggle. It is right by the spot where five people were gunned down in what's now called the Boston Massacre. I pointed out to the museum guide the (not very deep) parallels to the Indian freedom movement: the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre and the salt tax (a similar sore point in America was a sugar tax). She nodded politely; I don't think she was impressed.

The museum had an exhibit with various examples of violent resistance, including a few labour movements and then the January 6 2021 insurrection! The goal was to get kids — and adults — thinking about when violence is and isn't justified. There was also a short film playing about how a bounty was placed on the heads of Native Americans in the area, and how present-day members of the Penobscot Nation read the government order and reacted. 

 

Old State House

 

Having got some more context on the American independence struggle, I walked down to the Tea Party Museum. That one is an experience: the story is narrated by actors in full costume and character, and visitors are assigned characters as well, with names of real people who were known to have taken part in the event. Samuel Adams and other Massachusetts heroes gave rousing speeches — "no taxation without representation" was the catchphrase — then the cohort moved onto the boat. Kids acted out throwing boxes of tea overboard. We moved back indoors, where we were shown some short films and videos, including one where paintings on the wall appeared to be talking. It was colourful and memorable.

 

My character

 

Samuel Adams

 

Aboard the ship. No, they did not have us dress up as Native Americans, I think that would have crossed a line.

 

The museum, from the bridge leading to it

For lunch we went to Eataly in Hynes/Prudential — a supermarket with Italian and European food stalls. It was quite crowded for a Tuesday afternoon - rightly, because the food was tasty.

We went back to the north side of the river to look at the Bunker Hill memorial — which is not on Bunker Hill — and the USS Constitution.

All of these — as well as the Old State House and others — are connected by the Freedom Trail, which marks all the places in Boston connected to the independence struggle. By the way, Mumbai also has one, connecting August Kranti Maidan, Mani Bhavan, Gokuldas Tejpal House (where the Indian National Congress was formed) and more. 

The Bunker Hill monument commemorates the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill, which the British won but only after suffering heavy casualties, which contributed to them losing the war later. 

 

A museum opposite the monument which was unfortunately closed.

The USS Constitution was one of the original six ships of the US Navy. It has exhibits about how soldiers on it lived. I have no love for the US armed forces, obviously, but it was well done and looked beautiful on the water. 

 

We took a ferry back to the main city, and headed to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. They were full of life, packed with stalls and activities. A magician was unfortunately just winding up his performance as we approached. I will never have the famous New England Clam Chowder, but I did try some corn chowder with croutons and it was nice. 

 

Hopefully the driver was no rookie.

 

Faneuil Hall

It was almost time to go — but not too late to see the Boston Public Library. It's big and beautiful.

 

 

Chinatown

Before I knew it, I was at South Station bus stand waiting for my overnight bus back to NYC. I would love to be back soon. The Museum of Fine Arts definitely deserved more time; a baseball game would be fun to watch too. Of course, a proper NYC visit would be fantastic too, with several days to spend at the many museums.

My (brief, geographically limited) impression of America? Vast and generally friendly. I saw people of various skin tones, shapes and sizes, accents, first and last names. And as a result, most people don't really care where you're from. Mainly, if you're in a place like a New York subway station, you just shouldn't hold up the line. But also, flags and patriotism everywhere.

It was election season, but being mostly in confirmed blue areas, it wasn't a huge deal. I saw the odd "coconut tree" t-shirt and overheard a lady who was worried about Trump's comments that people "wouldn't have to vote any more" if he won (several news cycles ago, already mostly forgotten). 

Boston in particular had a chilled-out air. It seems like a nice place to live. I will say it's a bit uncanny that everything around is not more than 300 years old. In India we really take it for granted that we are surrounded by far older temples, forts and palaces, side by side with offices, airports and stadia. The land has that heterogeneous texture.

So that's it for this trip! Hopefully some other workshop or conference will come calling before long, and I can watch movies on another paid-for flight. So long, catch ya later, America!