Kolkata:
Pensioners tend to put most of their savings into buying things for themselves - for eating well or maybe even investing but that's not the case with Kolkata's Chatterjees.
Seventy seven-year-old Pannalal and his 68-year-old wife Chaitali live frugally through the year to save up for one special event every four years - the FIFA World Cup!
They are absolute veterans when it comes to the World Cup; they haven't missed one in 32 years. This will be the eighth World Cup they're going to and even though this one hasn't even begun yet, they're already thinking of the ninth.
"1982 se hum football dekhta. Lekin abhi hum 2014 me brazil me honewala world cup football dekhna hain. Brazil football ka makka hain. Bas bhagwan se yehi prarthana hain 2014 tak mujhe fit rakhe, zinda rakhe (I've been watching football since 1982. But I still want to see the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil because the country is soccer's Mecca. I pray to god to keep me fit - and alive - till 2014)" said Pannalal Chatterjee.
The Chatterjees live in a one room house and get by on his limited pension. Clearly, football is more important than even food.
"Durga Puja is the time people buy new clothes. But I forego a new saree and put that money into my World Cup fund instead. We eat a little less everyday and use that money for our fund as well. I can stop eating, because when the World Cup comes again four years later, just watching it satisfies me enough," said Chaitali Chatterjee.
And that is a satisfaction that has kept the Chatterjees going for 32 years - the satisfaction and these memories it has created. Ticket stubs, programmes, maps, photographs, nothing has been thrown away. Their only regret this year is that they'll miss out on the semis and final because the tickets were simply too expensive.
Seventy seven-year-old Pannalal and his 68-year-old wife Chaitali live frugally through the year to save up for one special event every four years - the FIFA World Cup!
They are absolute veterans when it comes to the World Cup; they haven't missed one in 32 years. This will be the eighth World Cup they're going to and even though this one hasn't even begun yet, they're already thinking of the ninth.
"1982 se hum football dekhta. Lekin abhi hum 2014 me brazil me honewala world cup football dekhna hain. Brazil football ka makka hain. Bas bhagwan se yehi prarthana hain 2014 tak mujhe fit rakhe, zinda rakhe (I've been watching football since 1982. But I still want to see the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil because the country is soccer's Mecca. I pray to god to keep me fit - and alive - till 2014)" said Pannalal Chatterjee.
The Chatterjees live in a one room house and get by on his limited pension. Clearly, football is more important than even food.
"Durga Puja is the time people buy new clothes. But I forego a new saree and put that money into my World Cup fund instead. We eat a little less everyday and use that money for our fund as well. I can stop eating, because when the World Cup comes again four years later, just watching it satisfies me enough," said Chaitali Chatterjee.
And that is a satisfaction that has kept the Chatterjees going for 32 years - the satisfaction and these memories it has created. Ticket stubs, programmes, maps, photographs, nothing has been thrown away. Their only regret this year is that they'll miss out on the semis and final because the tickets were simply too expensive.
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