Calcutta boy ARUNAVHA CHANDA, a freshman studying computer engineering at Columbia University, tells Metro how Indian soccer has gone from Mudiali to being the talk of Manhattan

Columbia in the heart of Manhattan is a huge confluence of cultures where, apart from the rigorous academic curriculum and the normal friendly chat, something new is being discussed a lot lately.

The answer may come as a surprise, but it is the Indian Super League (ISL) that is grabbing eyeballs here!

A few days back, I was in our dining hall when I met my friend Felipe from Brasilia in Brazil. Felipe and I are part of a group of students here who are completely crazy about soccer. Generally, Felipe and I meet, talk about life and then discuss the latest international friendly result and Premier League happenings. But what he asked me that day came as a pleasant surprise. He said, 'Hey, Arunavha! Did you see Atlético de Kolkata's goal that day? Luis Garcia's assist was so good!'

I asked him how he knew about the ISL, because I was yet to make any reference of this tournament to him. He replied, 'It's all the rage on Facebook! I saw videos of the first game and then went on to the second! I'll be following the rest as well.'

Then he went on to ask me where the team NorthEast United was based and what were the famous places in India's Northeast.

This was an amazing experience for me because though I've been an ardent football fan for years (10 years a Chelsea FC fan), and almost 75 per cent of the discussions within my group of friends would be about football, India was almost never a part of it. However, here I was in the US and we were discussing Indian football!

Fast forward. I was going to watch the New York Red Bulls' last home game in the Red Bull Arena with a few other soccer fanatics from Columbia. I jokingly said to an Ethiopian friend whose last name is Teferra, 'Teferras are in awesome scoring form now, man!!' (referring to Fikru Teferra, Atlético de Kolkata's top scorer then). A person thitherto unknown to me quizzed me, 'Is that the ISL you are talking about? Atlético de Kolkata has been fantastic! Borja Fernandez has done so well too!'

I went on to befriend Cody and learn that he had become so enamoured of the ISL after reading an article online that he went on to watch the highlights of all the games when he was supposed to be studying!

The ISL has managed to do what has never been done before: make India the centre of discussions about football. When people prefer to talk about ISL in place of the Premier League or the Champions League, you know Indian football is doing things right. The quality of the goals and the general standard we have seen over the past few weeks of the ISL have been way higher than previously imagined.

But how will this impact Indian football?

The English Premier League has proved that the presence of a league of elites does not necessarily make the country's football stellar. However, in India's case, the country needs a model of football to follow. While following the past is never an option (football, like everything else, is ever-developing), Indian players need to have an idea of what kind of football is played at the highest level and upgrade themselves accordingly - get a sense of what they lack and learn how to improve. A lot of people argue that it is the body structure of the players that makes the difference. However, when you have players like Lionel Messi, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard doing so well, body structure isn't really an excusable complaint. What is encouraging to see is how Indian players like Cavin Lobo, Baljit Sahni and Harmanjot Khabra have stepped up and are doing well, matching up to the level of the international players who are grabbing eyeballs from Mudiali to Manhattan.

The experience these players gain from the tournament should really be a huge boost to their own football and also for the development of the game at the grassroots. So, while the Indian Super League is making Indian football popular all over the world and especially here in the island of Manhattan in New York City, it will also serve as a huge investment and, hopefully, we will see it pay off as a World Cup qualification for India within the next 20 years. Hoping for overly quick results would be too optimistic, but the process will definitely be expedited by the Hero Indian Super League.

Godspeed.