Happy Valentine's Day

Oh beautiful Isabella

In love with you, is this fella!!

A close friend of mine is he,

And he did confide in me.

I know it was another era

A whole lot of green on the terra

The sun was mild, and the breeze not wild

The skies were gentle as the sleeping child.

You stole him, despite your innocence,

Left him powerless, to seek vengeance.

He has tried, to return the favor

Lacked in fervor, inspite of valor.

And then life played its part

And destiny drove you apart

Distance and time

got you to dance to their rhyme.

And now he wonders,

Were they his blunders.

Did he press too hard too late.

Or left too much to fate.

The weather has changed now.

Too much worry into earning dough.

In the time of Dow Jones Fall,

Can love really conquer all.

My friend, has now lost the art.

My friend, is my heart.

He beats himself, forlorn

And life itself becomes a sojourn.

I think and I am, the mind

I live my life in rewind.

I think of the times

When hours were ours

And minutes weren't minute

And every second, a first.

Will you thread the flowers of my dreams

And tailor our lives with your seams.

For only you can give my friend

Happiness without an end.

Last Year, with Nadal losing out in the US Open, and the dearth of tennis sent me back into my shell for the rest of the year.   But here we are, in 2009, and the first Australian Open was a revelation again for my favorite player.  And here I am, after taking it all in, reading any article I could land my eyes on @atptennis.com, tennis.com, australianopen.com, espn.com, I am ready to grow out of my calm.  

Yes, I am a Nadal fan.  I am unapologetic, unashamed and unilateral about it.  I know there are a lot of Nadal fans out there, the fairer fans outnumbering the other sex (I am the other sex), so my fan-dom of this pickly matador from Spain has the danger of raising questions about my preference.  Questions about my private information aside, I still maintain that Raffa Nadal is my favorite player, and will remain my hope (not my expectation) to win the GrandSlam.  

"Where does Nadal appeal to you ?" "Where does he have the artistry of Roger or the compactness of the Djoker?"  "I can bet my life on Nadal not being as dominant as Roger has been" "The day I serve well, I will win against Raffa" "The day I destroy the arrangement of his bottles I will win against Raffa", you all say.  I agree with some of those.  Nadal is not the most artistic or most creative or most compact player around.  As someone said, with Roger, you see the economy of movement and flambouyance of artistry.  With Raffa its the other way round.  And add to that his quirks and idiosyncracies.  And his utterly uncomfortable, ceps-revealing attire!!!  But hey, forget about all the superficialities.  Take a look at his game again.  Flambouyance of movement, and economy of artistry.   The diametric end of Federer.  And who wins?  13-6 will give you the answer.

For all his genious, Federer over the last year or so, has shown that when he takes things for granted, he hasn't risen upto his own expectations.  Wimbledon 2007 was a close 5 set affair, that was defined by Rafa's 5 set mistakes as much as Federer's defiance to let go of his favorite trophy and turf.  If he had taken Wimby 2008 as his own, he was in for a teary awakening.  Now, Fed fans would argue that Wimby 2008 would have been his, if not for the fading light!  Wimby 07 would have been Rafa's if it was not for federer's saving break points at 2 all.  Wimby 2008 would have been a 4-set affair if only Federer's backhand had betrayed him like it usually does against Raffa.  My point is that the results are not random.  A champion doesn't arise by chance.  He / She takes their chances, and fights.  Points can be made by chance.  Not champions.

And that was on display during the Aussie Open 2009, too.  Could Federer have served well? Could he have run around his backhand and attacked the 2nd serves on breakpoint a little more? Could he have made lesser errors on his backhand and lesser errors on his forehand than his 64 unforced errors?  Sure, he could have done all that and more.  But that would also leave a chance for Raffa to play better.  Could Raffa not have run so much and ended points at the earliest oportunity (Well, he did that!!!).  Could Raffa... Well, I can't think of anything that Raffa could have improved.  If anything I wish he had played a shorter game on Friday.  But may be it was that match that gave Raffa the momentum.  May be it was the extra day that got Federer derailed.  May be Federer thought it was destiny that he would win his 14th GS at AO, no matter who was across.  May be Federer thought his forehands and backhands would magically work because he was destined to be legendary.  We would never know.  All we know was that whenever Fed had a great shot, Nadal had a greater reply.  Federer would be caught offguard and his next reply would suffer.  How many times have we played a shot that we thought was great and marvelled at it, only to see it come back, and return meekly!!!  A lot of times for me... :) And this where the flambouyant movement of Nadal negated the artistry of Federer.   Federer had always found it tough (in the past couple of years) against good counterpunchers (Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Guillermo Canas).  And I think these guys have found their inspiration from Nadal.

At the end of the day, Federer was beaten not by his technique, but by the heart of Nadal. Because Nadal took nothing for granted.    He was there playing every point.  And Federer stopped playing at 2-1 in the fifth set.  He went for broke on his serve.  And lost.  And was heart broken. And this is where Nadal is better than Federer.  

The skies are drenched...
The ground's thirst quenched
the Colors soar
singing VIBGYOR
Twins, half and full they are
Or are they half and a quarter
leprechaun's vehicle ?
Or Nature's miracle !!!
Sons of sun, daughters of rain
between them, they remain
Between White and black and Gray
We are there, they say
connecting horizons
connecting the heaven
they are a fellowship
A fellowship of Seven.

A Floride in California

Okkaye now!!! Back in Florida... And still carrying some memories of "that" trip. Since then, things have happened, that are bigger than a simple trip from the east coast to west coast. However, first things first.

I remember those days when my friend used to make these trips to the other side. Although there were single friends there, California remained predominantly a land of the married couples. Being from a student community where we thought we were the coolest crowd, we heard stories of cool couples, lotsa parties, games, good food and potlucks. Temples and antaksharis, card games and bagaara baingans, potluck parties, politics and celebrity gossips... could they be any cooler! However there was this misgiving about how a lone single would fit in, in a sea of spouses. Back then, there were just a few couples here in Florida, but hey, couples can fit-in with singles much easier than the other way round, don't they!!

What I found in California, after my initial shyness among new couples (and new people in general, I think I might be mildly xenophobic) was that married or not, single or not, people are ... well people. They thrive in communities, they love being together, they love to talk, sing and eat good food. They love to welcome new people. I think that could be a characteristic of married cliques - they are always looking for new people to join in. And would love it if you decide to bring someone along.

However, the only downside, is I guess the number. 4 become 8, 10 become 20. But the gender camaradarie takes care of itself, so rarely would you find anyone left out in a group of couples. Unless you are extremely shy and can't think of saying anything about a sport, or the government, or the Wii, or the money plant, or the new curtain that brightens the living room. Or your (or their pet). But once you connect, does not matter on what topic, you are in. Oh yeah, you can dance, sing, pray, worship, joke, tease and do all that stuff that makes you a cool single. And you are special among them, cos you are single. May be there is a distant relative of theirs, who is looking. You could get lucky.

But... anywho...I wonder. My trip was supposed to be fun. At a happy moment. And I was a guest. Would I have been meted out any different treatment! May be not. But still, its interesting to ponder if a group of couples is stronger than a group of singles. I believe that larger groups are unstable. Too many egos, too many subgroups, too many opinions, no real hierarchy or chain of command. Its impossible to satisfy everybody all the time. May be the same problems plague the couple groups too. But the effective size I guess is smaller there cos two people move as one in couple groups. And difficult situations defused more easily. Or are they? I would love to find out. May be to do that, I will have to form a coupling. With somebody by my side. So, I will drink to all the fun that I think singles have with couples. And the fun singles have when they get to become couples. Let me drink to all the friendships that couples all of them. And all of us.

A Floride in Caulifornia

And so... Another year now! I remember starting my last year echoing a similar sentiment. Its 2008 this time. But this time, its different. I am in the Golden State, the state of the Hollywood land, the land of the Silicon Valley. And this picture on the left would tell you a thousand words about where I was. You got it!!! Callifornia.

Its the land of graduation of one of my friends, its the land of migration of another of my friends, and its the home away from homeland for a million of my friends. Its a great big family of friends out there in California. The Silicon Valley.

This time, my visit to California was prompted by two things. Ever since I had the free ticket, a vestige from my trip to Washington earlier in the year, I had decided I would visit SNL (S being one friend, NL being the other), at the first opportunity. Second, S's parents were visiting, and it would be great spending time with the parents of one of your best friends. And so I set out to visit the coast on the west. From Orlando, the city beautiful, from sunshine state to the state of gold.

It was fun to meet with my friends, and meeting with their parents. But at the end of the two weeks spent in California, I couldn't help but wonder the counterpoint that life in Calif is to the life I live... as a student in Florida.

Now, I am not the kind of guy who would make deep, profound, intellectual deductions based on a two week journey that alters life as I know it. But these are just some off hand, on-the-spur-of the moment reflections (that I have preserved for two weeks without analyzing too much), that I hope would reflect what I am and how I think. Mostly for myself.

I'm bored

It's been a long time since I have written anything on the blog!!! Yeah, Yeah... thats a cliche!! But you know what.. I'm gonna go all out. I'm not going to care about cliches anymore. I'm not going to care about bounaries any more. Who is going to read my blog anyway! (I hope only absolute strangers read this ... Don't want to make enemies out of friends!!) But then... those boundaries are so strong. Don't want to rub anyone the wrong way. Hell, haven't rubbed anyone the right way either (Who is the cunning linguist now, Mr.Bond!)
For the "artistically" obsessed with Bond movies, the pun in my previous utterances is profundly clear. And punny, may be. If you actually realise that, well, thats exactly the kind of thing that you will not associate with a nice, decent guy like, ahem.... me. You know, sometimes these boundaries can be so stifling. There is always this image to live up to. There are always people whose expectations will always try to define what we are. People comprised of family. Friends. Acquaintances. Colleagues. How I wish I could say "You dont know what I am capable of!"
But one of the contradictions with living upto expectations is that, over time, we (I don't want to generalize to everybody, but feel free to substitute "You" for "we" where ever. You are not gonna read this anyway...) where were we... Oh yes... we, tend to define ourselves as an image borne out of these expectations. And every once in a while, we wish to dash those expectations, do something so unlike us (unlike the expectations of us), do something rash. Of course, there are boundaries to that too. We don't want to be narcissistic sociopaths just to be rash and different, do we!! Just have some mostly harmless fun.

The week Batman and Robin succumbed to the Djoker

For a long time, I have been a fan of Rafael Nadal. He plays great, he plays hard, but even before I understood the nuances and nuisances of the game, I fell for Nadal's game for his ability to consistently challenge Federer. Thanks to Federer (I dont really mean thanks) but tennis was going to the way of test match cricket with Aussies at the helm. Thankfully there, England and India produced wild and wildcard performances that put the T back in test cricket. And Rafael's games with Federer did almost the same thing.
Hey, but don't get me wrong. I don't think Nadal is the best player ever. He is solid, and usually consistent but very predictable player. He is the best contemporary player on the clay courts. He flatters to deceive on the hard courts. He has had a good run on the grass courts, but anywhere other than clay, his opponents, who live in valleys next to the mountain that is Federer, will always fancy their chances. Berdych, Youzhny, Blake. A few of the players who have had consistent winning records against Raffa. And then, there is Novak.
Watching Novak Djokovic's winning run this week at Montreal Masters, I couldn't help this sense of awe as he dismantled Nalbandian (who according to me is a player with amazingly fluid game), and went about destroying Roddick's dreams, and bombing Nadal out of the court. Now, playing rallies with Nadal and frustrating him in long rallies is something that only Nadal has managed against his opponents consistently for quite some time now. And Nadal tasted his own bitter medicine, and lost his feet and balance from the game. Was this a better version of Nadal we were watching!! Even then, I couldn't help but be resigned to the fate of the finals. I had a wish that the final would run to three sets. I bet on the wrong winner.
Watching Novak play Federer, you could feel that he was confident of what he wanted to do. The same thing Nadal does when he plays Federer. Except that with Novak, he had his serve to back him up. And a consistent return game with amazing flat forehand down the line strokes. So, whenever the points were taking a little bit longer time, he would come up with THAT shot. Both Federer and Nadal looked tentative when they were playing Novak. And the Djoker had nothing to lose.
And so now, we have hope. May be after a long time, we are not just looking at a rivalry. May be we should call it a trivalry.:-> Bad djokes aside, a larger question now comes up about whether Djoker can keep up this level for 5 sets. By playing higher ranked players (just the three of them anyway) on three consecutive days, he has shown he has go the mettle. But may be its too soon. Youth always has a high exuberence that flashes and then diminishes. But then, thats what people like me would have thought after watching Federer defeat Sampras in THAT match. I am reminded of the Hamburg final when Federer finally defeated Nadal on Clay. And Now, The Djoker has defeated Federer on hard courts. It will be interesting to see if Federer does a Nadal in the US Open. And if Nadal silently, has anything to say about this. And so, cheers to the next great trivalry.