Ravisms

Single guys say "Why Marry".  I say "Why Knot".

Feb 20th 2009

What is the time between memorable quotes, when you are silent?  Ans: Memorable Quites.

      Feb 20th 2009

There are two kinds of men in this world -  the shaves and shave-nots.

        Feb 21st 2009

If I had to write a slogan for a Steel Company, it would be... "Ravi Steels:  Trust without Rust".

       Feb 28th 2009 

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.