calcutta is the country's football capital.ds of miles from the action, the fans there are getting into the world cup spirit. >> it's more to do with football probably because our team is for football. rain, weintewinter, sunshine, whatever. we are here. there's 15 or 20 of us. the whole line stay up and watch the matches. even then we're here at the morning at 5:30. again we have to go to work after we play football. >> i make idols of indian goddesses. this time i have made clay models of football players of participating nations. i work hard day and night to make these models. i'm an argentina supporter. >> translator: we wait for the world cup every four years. we have neighborhoods adopted to our teams. this is arrangentinaargentina. that is brazil. we forget we are in india. we feel we are in argentina. we want argentina to win on brazil soil. it will be historic. we don't just support football. we want next indian nation to play football. this is way to generate interest in the game. >> this is a huge event. each and eve

i am 91 and live in calcutta.hen i went to the world cup, i was so captivated by the beauty of watching the stadium, we decided we have to go to every world cup. >> translator: i can't express the fielding every four years. they don't show the complete picture, the strategy and formations in which players move. >> translator: some people drink. some are addicted to tv or cinema. my addiction is football. >> translator: he goes to watch local football and walks every day to keep himself fit. we save every penny for four year and try our best not to spend from it. sometimes we don't eat fish for a whole month. >> translator: yes, to compensate. we even cut down costs by packing ready to eat meals, biscuits, sweets and snacks from here. we even take tea bags. food is never a priority. it is the thrill of being able to watch the game. >> translator: when i thought how can a human win a team single-handedly. >> translator: i think zidane was better. >> translator: no. >> plenty of world cup analysis available anytime o

and then i worked for a newspaper in calcutta in delhi and became a journalist which again allowed me to see quite a bit of india especially what people think of as india because i was living in delhi for what four or five years as a journalist i was never a beach reporter i was often on the desk but i did do put a bit of writing and then on a certain point i felt that journalism itself had become very narrow in india in what what you could write about and so i turned to fiction and nonfiction in a way to capture what i saw as the very complex reality of india it you've done a brilliant job of capturing the complexity of the india you open your book the beautiful the damned. with a quote from mark twain's novel gilded age a novel of today where he talks about in a state where there's no fever of speculation no inflamed desire for sudden wealth there are necessarily no materials for such a history as we have constructed. why why that quote what's the metaphor is it a metaphor for the book for india of course of course i love twain. i have toys he was such a great writer he was an empty