Today was the Brazil versus Croatia match. A lot of expectations, hopes and excitement in the air all over Brazil today. There is a virtual riot of the yellow and green T-shirts all around. These are the colours of the national flag and the jersey of the national team of Brazil, and the colours which virtually symbolize the Brazilian national spirit. Even the young ladies in the Fortuleza beach are having sea-bath and tanning their skin with yellow and green bikinis.
We saw the match with another 500 young cheering Brazilians in Crocobeach, a beachside restaurant which has a great view of crocodiles coming out of a large lake close by and having ‘sun-bath’!
You have to just see the spirit to believe it. Cans of beer and fruit juice, fried and baked snacks, fish and chicken delicacies, peanuts and cashew-nuts: all flowed like water and sank like sand in these voraciously eating youth in just no time and all eyes glued to the large screens hungry for a goal.
When Brazil gave the first goal you have to see the rejoicing. Strangers hugged and kissed strangers, friends went into a fit of frenzy. And, me and my camera-man had our dose of innocent fun too!! Brazil played badly but won the game 1-0 and the nation had a huge collective relief.
Then, we had a visit the next day to the interiors of the province where we were given a warm welcome by a large group of rural Brazilians, as we were led by the WHO Goodwill Ambassador, Yohei Sasakawa, the Chairman of the Japan-based The Nippon Foundation.
The revelry and spirit of the common man in the villages are also something to admire and get infected with. The common folks, in common dresses had uncommon smiles on their faces and had a hug for every one. They danced, sang, and we shot them to our hearts content.
They forgot the fact the 10% of Brazilians control 90% of the wealth and production means of the nation. They forgot that their average monthly family income was just 400 Brazilian Rheas (1 Rheas equals Rs.22), while the Sonata car we booked for a day is costing us 350 Rheas!
I later heard that commercial sex work is quite common as many village girls go to the nearby beach-towns and earn 100-200 Rheas a night to supplement family income. It also seems that the culture of the nation is somewhat liberal. ‘Have it, so flaunt it’ seems to be the adage.
But then there is a tremendous zest for life, innocence among the children and the teenagers, and a class among the youth. I will never forget that smiling lady in a lovely pink and off white evening gown who could hardly speak English but communicated a lot with her little words, small pieces of information, caring observations and glowing smiles.
Beyond the urban and rural glaring schism which saddened me a lot, the other thing that ruined my time in Furtoleza was the abysmal situation in the airport and the TAM flights schedules rescheduled three times before I had to fly through Terasina and Brasilia to Manaus while we had a direct flight.
What I understood in the process is that since the nation has just 22 crores of people, and rich are very less though they are stinking rich, the flights in Brazil are very few and far in between, highly expensive and with services on the poorer side. There is indeed a large market for low-cost no-frills airlines with reasonable services.
Deccan Air, Spicejet, GoAir, Paramount Air…….. are you all hearing??
June 16, 2006
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