Just Me: The Kratik Malhotra Blog

Some of y’all know how I would frequently tour the UK and watch football games and visit football clubs and cricket county teams. Through my tours and experiences, there are many relationships and friendships I have cultivated which are absolutely amazing. One such friendship is with Shaam uncle who owns Zuri Café in Wolverhampton.

Liverpool were playing Wolves at Molineux in the FA Cup and I thought to myself, “Why not! So, I paid the annual membership (talk about a hack) for Wolves and bought a ticket. Then, I looked for the cheapest hotel room I could find and Britannia hotel it was. Priceline, baby!

I got down at the Wolverhampton train station, walked over to Britannia and guess what, it exactly reminded me of this hotel I had stayed at in Kolhapur, India. Oh Kolhapur, you taught me a thing a two and sometime I’ll write about my Kolhapur experience also but let's not go off topic. The elevator (lift, like the rest of the world calls it) did not work and I had to drag these two massive bags I was carrying from 'Merica up the stairs. The room had one twin bed, which was smaller than a US twin bed, and no windows. I mean, it was straight walls! I thought to myself, 'this is interesting'. I remember Clemson was playing Alabama in the national championship that same night and I knew no bars in Wolverhampton were going to be open for the game, so, I had to figure that out too.

It was around five in the evening and I was starving and really felt like having coffee. So, I walked over the first café I saw on the other side of the road. As I went inside the café, I noticed an Indian gentleman who ran the café. He seemed to be not in the best of moods. I ordered food (don’t remember what) and coffee, and sat down at one of the tables. As I checked the tickets email on my phone, I noticed the email said that the tickets had to be printed. I called Britannia and they said that they couldn’t print anything. So, I went to the Indian gentleman and requested him to print the ticket. As I said, he wasn’t in the best of moods and flat-out refused, and told me that he didn’t know where I could possibly get the print.

I went and sat down at the table where I was sitting, had a couple of sips of the coffee, and went back to him and asked, “Uncle, kahan se ho?” (translates to: where are you from?) He turned towards me and said, “India. Delhi.” My being myself, I talked about how some of my extended family is in Delhi and all the places I’d go to get the great north Indian delicacies. Uncle smiled at me, paused and asked, “Aap kahan se ho?” I told him that I lived in Texas but was there in Wolverhampton to watch Wolves smash the crap out of Liverpool. He was puzzled how I had traveled across continents just to watch football – honestly, was more puzzled than the immigration officer who stared me when told him I was taking a train in the two hours to Newcastle to watch Man United; the officer stared at me for a good couple of minutes as I was entering the UK!

Me and Shaam uncle talked and talked for like two hours, and he introduced me to Paronthini. He said it was invented at that very place, and trust me lads, if you go to Wolverhampton, you gotta try the Paronthini at Zuri Café. He made me try his favorite one and said, “It’s parontha + panini.” I had another cup of coffee and another paronthini. It was worth it! Before I was leaving, he said, "Didn't you want to get your ticket printed? It will get done here! Don't you worry!" I was so grateful! So, yeah, that's how my ticket got printed …and jetted off to the game.

At the game, I met Peter Wain, who was a English gentleman and a diehard Wolves fan. He grew up in Wolves and would come to all the games with his mates. He was shocked and asked me, “Wolves fan from America?!” I said, “No, sir. I am a football fan but I do like Wolves.” Wolves beat Liverpool 2-1 that night and what scenes from the stadium. What a game too and it was the magic of the cup! I had always heard of the oldest cup competition in the world and there I was, experiencing it all! I remember singing with the Wolves fans pointing at the Liverpool section, “you’re just a shit Man United. Shit Man United. Shit Man Unnnnniiiited you’re just a shit Man United.” What memories!

I walked back to Britannia and went to bed. Then, woke up at 4am and put on ESPN on my phone to watch the second half of the national championship game. We had played both Clemson and Alabama that year (and almost beat Clemson); what a game that was at Kyle Field! I couldn’t believe how well Clemson played the championship game to beat Bama’. I hopped on the train a couple of hours later.

Over an year later, I was in Wolverhampton again and this time to watch Man United take on Wolves! I got off the train and walked straight to Zuri Café and Shaam uncle greeted me like I had known him for years! First off, I was surprised that he even remembered me. Secondly, there were so many people in the café that time and uncle took time out to introduce me to a bunch of people including his daughter (I think). He was like, “Remember, I told you about this guy who came from Texas to watch the match!”

There are people whom you meet who instantly feel like family and Shaam uncle is one of them. I have met him a couple of times since, and uncle has always been as sweet as ever. The man is a gem and if you ever go to Wolverhampton, make sure you try his paronthini!

Love y’all,

Kratik