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??????