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.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)