chilling night, treats and a broken string

It was the 2nd last day of my US stay... It was about 2 treats and a for-a-while last game of tennis and some memories to cherish..
the last 24 hours have been eventful. Yesterday out of the blue I though I should go out after dinner, who willingly agreed.. we were undecided on the destination - either seaport or times sqr.
We seemed to have decided on Times sqr and took the 33rd stt train. As it reached Hoboken, I thought that I had never been here before (except) when on the way to walmart.
So I asked Apoorv if he was ok with the idea and he was. So off we went the train and to territory unexplored. (This does not compensate the fact that I never visited the statue of Liberty (SoL) but atleast went 1 place I had not been to). It was cold but bearable. But the wind was pushing the bearable part to the very extreme extent. the NY skyline view was good, and the place though not much different from the riverwalk on newport-exchange place side was still worth 1 visit..we clicked a few pics before the chilling wind made it impossible to be there.
Back to the house before daylight saving took effect, there was virtually no chance of an SoL visit.
In the morning after giving 1 of the umpteenth final touch to packing and having spent a few min on calls, me & Apoorv went to Souvanik's place. They had cooked excellent food with so much variety.. it was truly amazing how she'd have worked to get it ready by12/1. Must have really got up early and that too when they were out last night. Food was tasty too, especially palak & aloo.. It was sucha pity that so much of it was left after we finished :(
I & Anirudha had decided on a tennis game and with this heavy a stomach really it was a bit difficult, but I had decided to go ahead.. Soon Andy called and I had to bid one of the first goodbyes... It was nice knowing Souvanik & Firoza (more so when we meet them together, they make you realize how well they compliment each other and how important in life is to find a right life partner).. Thanks once again Firoza and Souvanik.. it was amazing... I wish I had spent more time after lunch.. it was kind of mean of me..
The game of tennis started bad.. my forehand was not working well and couple that with my weak weak backhand.. I lost 0 set to Andy.. took a break as Andy practiced with Apoorv and then I too practiced with Apoorv.. My old racquet I suspected was well beyond its best b4 date.. and at 0-2 receiving serve the string broke.. it was fitting that it broke on the last day.. more or less symbolizing the end of a period.. Arijit's racquet was much lighter, newer & obviously expensive. It made me feel better not enough to win the next 2 sets, but being competitive..
Again.. Thanks to Andy for coming down 35 miles for this..
at the end of it all was a treat from a mix of my project team members/leads and my current depleted list of roomies. The food was nice though I did not have the appetite to really feast on it :)
There are times in life which you cherish and some which you remember for a long time.. today was 1 such day.. I felt that hopefully I touched some lives in a positive way.. I would like to re-affirm that I was not as good as the farewell speaches and goodbye words seem to make. But maybe it was that I fitted into this over the last 2 years 3 months.. and became a part of and possibly these were different people's ways of acknowledging the same. Maybe at certain times I will be missed. However happy I maybe to go back, I will miss the people here and would always remember this stay with a smile.

of sledging, cricket and a heart breaking loss..

It was 2:40AM on Sunday. the match had lasted full 5 days, unlike the previous one which an under-prepared India lost in 4 days.. Here we were the better side for 4 days, but with poor decisions all around the test was in a balance. Symonds' 3 chances in first and a possible 1 more in 2nd added to Ponting's first reprieve and Hussey's close LBW shouts more than offset the 100 runs Sachin scored after being not given on a plumb LBW. But day 5 was when bad umpiring turned to mockery... Dravid & Ganguly were given out to shocking decisions. Dravid, to an ageing umpire's folly and Ganguly to a wily slip fielder and a spineless captains' guile.. But still despite that we were so close to saving the test. It seemed like a stab in the back... it was like justice denied!!
God had let me down... as he does so often in cricket.. (can't complain coz I often let him down too)
I was furious and disgusted.. but it couldn't change the result.

All the drama that has unfolded and still unfolds was unimaginable... but somehow I have always hated the Australian team.. more so since Steve Waugh retired. Their sledging and attitude just ain't worthy of champions and I so heartily support SAs because they've been the only consistent challengers for the top spot (but have fallen apart in last 4-5 yrs and are regrouping now).
Thinking of sledging reminds me of one of the most memorable match I have ever played.
It was in college - the semifinal of the inter class cricket tourney.. a simple 10 over 8 a side tourney. With our penetrating bowling (read Samyak) and balanced batting (all of us were handy bats), we were never really challenged. Facing us was the favourite team- the final yr comps team. Their attitude and confidence was personified by their captain (sorry forgot the name) who used to bowl out people with equal disdain as he used to clobber sixes. Anyway, we had beaten them in a practice match (their team was without their captain) and I had hit successive 6s off their best bowler to finish that match.
Our usual strategy was to chase, but we lost the toss and had to set the target.. To our dismay, we found most of the good bats missing, the ones available were strokeless woods.. We complained with no avail. A B.E. class is always more resourceful than a T.E. :(
We decided to play on and we were 30/4 when I walked in. Soon it was 31/5 as Manohar ran himself out. What I witnessed then was my first real taste of how sledging works. The keeper and close in fielders were chatting every ball even talking till the point ball was delivered. Until then I had only witnessed sledging like "he is going to get out this ball" or "we'll get him now" types. They were tempting me to go for the big shots, ridiculing Sanjay who was at other end for lack of power. I understood the reason for our top order collapse & knew we had to stay. In a way they were constantly reminding me of what I did not have to do.. go for my shots.. Sanjay was more calm and though I was struggling for timing I concentrated and we ran really well. The best part was that Parag, who was their best bowler, when he came to bowl to me did not pitch it short, where he used to be so dangerous with his bounce he used to get because of the practice match experience. Slowly we found that the sledging had lost its incisiveness and they were just trying to break our concentration. Luckily that did not happen and we finished with 58 runs in the alloted overs. In the end in a sensational finish we won the match by 1 run when off the last ball with 2 need an edge was gleefully accepted by our keeper. THis was after some good bats magically appeared in the innings break and their captain was brilliantly caught on the boundary for a fisrt ball duck. I realized how much more important those 15 or so runs were, much more than reckless batting and sensational hits I was famous for in college :) We went on to win the finals. That remains one of the best memories of my college life.

I hope Indian team also rises to the occasion and stages a comeback in the series... Not likely, but am still hopeful.

A day short of my 26th birthday... Many years ago when i thought about my life I thought that this would be the year I'd get married. (imp.: pls note- many years ago). Now I am pretty less sure of when.. never really even been close to having a girlfriend and arranged marriage is one of the scariest things :)
I never would have imagined 2 years in US- I was amongst the very few guys who did not even give GRE from our engineering class.. A guy who'd hop back home to Bombay from Pune at every chance would stay an year away from his family and then another..
Once the shiest of guys, would party almost every weekend.. would have a big friend circle.
When I look back.. so much has changed. People have changed, relations have. some people close have drifted apart, many new friends have come and gone and more have come. Change is the very essence of life. To think if it was preplanned would be inanity. To think all was a coincidence would be incredible. Maybe its about the situations which are preplanned and the choices that you make which dictate your life... hence the balance.. and I look back at the choices I made then i don't regret much. Maybe I'd wait for better situations. Coz I expect more out of myslelf. Maybe I have to create situations.. lots of maybies.. think I'm going insane.. will wind up this post.

when i penned my misfortune :)

I was going to meet one of my friends as she happened to be in the city. Even though my colleagues overheard me discussing the meeting point and time and speculated I was going on a date, I knew it wasn't. I was dressed as normal as one would. I had no expectations and it was pretty much BAU (business as usual). I decided to pickup a sub for lunch and at my place in office as I started to unwrap the sub, half of it just popped off the wrapping onto my trousers.
Now the green sauce (what the heck, could they not have put any other coloured sauce) had spoilt my trousers.. I am clumsy at times, but this time I hated myself most for it. after all, who wants to meet a girl with an ugly stain on the trousers. I kept my cool. took the tissue, cleaned up as much of the mess I could and went to the restroom to erase all remaining traces of the mishap :). It seemed to be alright.. and I proceded to eat the innocent half of the sub, worked my way through an hour. And now my eyes just checked the point of impact..to my horror, the stain had returned as the area dried... Now I had to meet her in an hour and half. This gave me little realistic chance of going home and changing... So I again tried to clear the stain with a wet handkerchief... cursing myself for going for the sub.. :(.
I fixed the next trouser inspection in half an hour, failing which would call for drastic measures.
one of those was to buy a new one on the way and fit into it.
after 15 minutes it was clear that the stain was not going anywhere! I decided I had to leave early and buy a new one.. I opened my desk drawer to put some papers in. Just then I got a glimpse of a black whiteboard pen. after a few seconds of contemplating, I was going with the plan. I carefully colored the stain with the pen... worst case I could still buy the trouser, I thought! It looked alright.. I went to the restroom and verfied that it did indeed look fine.
I could go on with my 'Date' without having to buy a new trouser. sometimes a bit of common sense pays .. this time it saved, about 40 bucks...

Wimbledon

When I think of wimbledon, 90s and more specifically 1992 is the wimbledon that springs automatically to my mind. That was my 2nd year of seriously following any other sport than cricket... That championship was unique, just for the number of superstars of the day, past and present in the fray and also for the quality of tennis. There was Mcenroe playing his last few matches, Edberg and Becker, as good as ever on grass, hurting from their loss to Stich the previous year, there was Ivanisevic, blowing away opponents just with his serve, there was Sampras, tipped to win many titles here, and there was Agassi, man tipped for greatness for a while and just being beginning to be written off.
When people were hoping for a fourth dream final between Edberg and Becker, Ivanisevic blasted Edberg in a classic 5-setter.. He continued in semis to outlast Sampras to avoid what could have been another final between Sampras and Agassi, who on his part took care of Becker and Mcenroe to reach yet another slam final. The final was a classic, an epic 5 setter, remembered for Agassi's crawl on his knees to the chair :) and also for great grass court tennis, serve and volley versus classic baseline power. My dad supporting Ivanisevic and me rooting for Agassi. I wonder why my dad and me can never share favourites :)
The only team we can both root for together is the Indian cricket team :D
Agassi won that title, which was to be his only one here. But he surely was the best one time champion wimbledon had, 2nd best being the runner up that year.

90s had many great wimbledons Sampras winning most, Agassi coming close, but just falling short on grass. Ivanisevic trying everything for a title here.. knocking again and again, as if he knew it was his destiny. It was, at the expense of Rafter, another one who could have won more, but in the 2000s.
All those years the competition was tight and even Sampras had to play 5 setters to win, sometimes more than 1.
The past few wimbledons were dull for the plain fact that no one was even close enough to Federer to even take him to five sets and it seemed unlikely this year too. Until the final though. Federer started well. had a 3-0 lead. I knew if Federer cruises in the 1st set he'll be home in maximum 4. He usually starts well and never looks back. But Nadal pulled back. A tough first set in tie-break and yes, there was a contest at hand, more so after Nadal took the 2nd and then took the 3rd to a tie break. When Federer won the 3rd many would have predicted a cruise in the 4th. However, he had a poor game and an unusual lapse in concentration over a tough call through electronic review.. and suddenly it seemed that the master could lose. We were in 5th set. On serve 2-2, Federer had saved 2 break points in the previous game too. Now he was 15-40 again. With nadal serving well and wise, it was very important to hold. Federer, at this time somehow realized that it was not just a match and even a title at stake. He had more at stake. He had lost all close matches to Nadal on clay and if he lost this one on grass he would give him an edge he might never close.
Maybe the fear of losing is a greater motivator than the will to win. This point brought out the very best of Federer. he had been almost 90% of his best in the match. But now he was at his 100%. He was unstoppable. It was above ability now. It was in the heart and the head. And Roger won all the games from there to seal an amazing 5th title.
Yet with the grass court slowing down, he might not remain unbeaten here for long. With Nadal close on heels and Djokovic and Murray fast rising, we will surely have interesting Wimbledons. I am already looking forward to the next one.

Saturday night!!

It seemed a usual night.. around 1AM. Saturday night. its normal for us to be awake at such times on Saturday, errr, actually Sunday. Usually we are rarely outside home. But it wasn't supposed to be a usual night. After all, not always does one of us walk up the Indian street (in Jersey) hand in hand with a blonde. hmmm... I see eyebrows raising.. well that was just to build the suspense.. hee heee.. Arijit, Tushar, Devendra and me.. were walking from babu's house to ours.. we wouldn't have been going to our house had we not had to leave for six flags the following morning. Now at the corner we see a blonde, weeping aloud. There were still people on the street, all ignoring her after a curious first glance. But somehow, we could not help but ask what was wrong. "I want to go home." she cried. I don't know weather it was cowardice or prudence that made us proceed only slowly towards her. She was clearly in need of help and we were skeptical of leading a helping hand. So much for the progress mankind has made, its still got a long way to go. Arijit, the one who seemed most amused at her first sight was most forthright in getting forward. He had the least hesitation. We asked her whereabouts of her home and she said she lived in Jersey. "But this is Jersey" we said.. "No its newark" she would not believe us, whatever reason she was left with after her drinks, she had used to read the Newark Avenue board on the street (newark Avenue happens to be the actual name of the Indian street in Jersey) . It was futile to argue with her. She would not understand. Now we were divided on the next course of action, Arijit insisting we call the cab, me and Devendra being more inclined towards calling 911. But then Arijit was more convincing and being more American than all of us put together (in terms of time spent here :D ) we decided its better to let him take a call. But then she could not explain her address to the cab driver we called up. Oh did I mention she had no money.. shit! I am the one who's guaranteed to have cash... I was wishing her home was nearby.. so it'd pinch my pocket a bit less. Well now back to the scene.. We had somehow managed to get her address. Now she wanted to get up.. Tushar being near her, gave her a hand.. but she could not stand firm and had to be escorted. So Tushar had to do the honours. Now Devendra & me went to the nearest cab stop and get a cab while Tushar and Arijit helped her walk to the main street. Again i forgot to mention the surprise of the onlookers to see 4 desis and a blonde walk together. We managed to get a cab real fast and it was only $7.. :) We tipped the driver too.. and asked him to ensure she reaches her house and hoped the same happened.
Sunday morning she'd have got up with a headache with faint remembrance of how she got home. Worst still she'd not have remembered who helped her, but probably she'd have learned her lesson. Just probably she'll feel she was lucky she was dumped on Indian street and that a few desis and not drunk kallas found her and would understand she can't afford to be so messed up again. May be she'll change. Possibly she won't, but its hope that carries this world ahead...

We are Indians

It was inevitable.. yet when the news sprung it made me unhappy. Indian team for Ireland-England tour was announced. Saurav and Sachin are back in the 1 day squad. I wonder what is wrong with me! Sachin, whose class I've grown up admiring, whom I always rated higher than Lara and Saurav, the in the field attitude that India always missed before him and the captain that reinforced the belief that emotions should always be part of sport. And I am unhappy at their inclusion.. Yes and I believe I am justified. Because when people think they are above the team, they must go. When a fellow bats on and on against Bangladesh scoring a paltry 60 in double the balls and loses his wicket just after his partner got out trying to accelerate the rate because of his slow batting, you know something is wrong, when a veteran of 16 years is stubborn enough to keep sulking because he's asked to bat in the middle order by the coach, when on being instigated he shows crocodile tears in front of media, the time has come for them to go.
Its all in the attitude, we Indians make them gods.. we make them think they are above laws, above equations.. a certain Mr. Chappel can't make this change. Nor can a certain selfless captain name Dravid.
They will still be in team. Because we are Indians. We will always have batsmen with great records, but never a great team. Because a team needs to be built and our system of hero worship will never let this happen.
When Saurav and Sachin were 'rested' before B'desh tour, there was a glimmer of hope.. but its fading and fading fast...help.. help.. can something be done??????