I have always enjoyed sports.. for one the fervor and enthusiasm of cricket in India was so compulsive to be part of and secondly, for the spirit that brings us bonding together. This has been my primary reason for following ten years of cricket before I gave up around college time, for lack of that support and enthusiasm in my then friends. Then more than half-a-decade later, thanks to my dear hubby, I was introduced to American sports like baseball, football and basketball all of which are quite interesting. Of course topping the list would be THE football, followed closely by basket ball. So however silly it may seem, I think I have been driven more so by popularity than any individual preference.
Tennis always remained a second degree in my sports following, living through Steffi Graf, Agassi, Sampras, Henman (I actually used to follow him quite a bit once upon a time), and then unconquerable Federer (or atleast I liked to think so). But then as always, sports is such a leveler. Who would have thought the world number one Federer will fall in a period of one year from paramount Kingliness?! There was a time a couple of years back that the second ranked player was so back in line that Federer could lose like a million games in a row and still retain the first place for the next few months or so.
After an illness that cost the Australian Grand slam, he lost to Nadal in French (which is forgivable) and Wimbledon (which I still cannot believe). I started watching the Wimbledon final hoping to see a clean sweep after what happened in Rolland Garros to set the records straight, but Nadal was too good. What separates a genius from the greats is often a hairline space and it seemed so true. I remembered his words after the last Wimbledon finals (the five setter) that he wanted to gobble down (win) all he could before Nadal started winning. And it was the last time Federer could really reign over Nadal !
Even then, I was hoping to pay back Nadal at the US open which has never been his favorite. But the games leading up themselves proved too much heat that Fed-Express derailed. What has been his for five years in a row is not his anymore!?
No one in my time (not Agassi or Becker or Sampras) had held on to the spot for as long as Fed did… that we thought he would truly defy gravity and keep it eternally! But we were rocked to remind that nothing lasts forever.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Silence !
I have always enjoyed a certain amount of solitude. Silence in isolation provides me the ambient atmosphere for some of my best and refined logical thought processes, be it writing a poem, cooking a new recipe or working at office. I am able to appreciate and understand my thoughts better and hence able to align them in order to arrive at meaningful conclusions.
Have you felt in total comfort in silence in a group? I routinely felt that through my childhood. I would just be sitting there studying truly oblivious to my surroundings. Television would be intentionally off, I don’t recall having a phone; and everyone at home will do their own stuff at peace in absolute silence. I would only hear my pen scratch against the paper, sometimes the lone tea shop on the street will blare some music that will faint out across so many walls and doors. I can always count the ticks of the wall clock, hear the water dripping from the improperly closed wash basin tap, cannot ignore the slight hum from opening the fridge, until the cooker would whistle and announce the dinner time.
Even at college hostel though rarely, around exam times, we would all be sitting on the corridor with a bunch of books spread all around us, dimming light and scratching heads. It is a time when you hate the fact that we haven’t touched those books in months, love the fact that you would not have to touch it ever again and be in an unsatisfied yet acknowledged and time-honored frame of mind about the inevitable impending exams- Silence it is.
Today, when I sit downstairs on the riverfront, the calming timbre of the dashing water and it alone would be so soothing that no length or variety of ipod music on Bose speakers can truly provide.
I consistently listen to music on mp3s in the gym at dangerous decibel levels, definitely ignorant to the person next to me even if he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I know I am at the risk of NIHL (noise induced hearing loss) and yet…..
If I left the ipods at home, may be I will blog years later about the wonderful times I had in the gym - how the churning of the myriad treadmills made intonations in harmony with the rolling arm pulleys and ellipticals to produce some unvoiced melody !!
There is music in silence and I haven’t quite listened to it in a while.
Have you felt in total comfort in silence in a group? I routinely felt that through my childhood. I would just be sitting there studying truly oblivious to my surroundings. Television would be intentionally off, I don’t recall having a phone; and everyone at home will do their own stuff at peace in absolute silence. I would only hear my pen scratch against the paper, sometimes the lone tea shop on the street will blare some music that will faint out across so many walls and doors. I can always count the ticks of the wall clock, hear the water dripping from the improperly closed wash basin tap, cannot ignore the slight hum from opening the fridge, until the cooker would whistle and announce the dinner time.
Even at college hostel though rarely, around exam times, we would all be sitting on the corridor with a bunch of books spread all around us, dimming light and scratching heads. It is a time when you hate the fact that we haven’t touched those books in months, love the fact that you would not have to touch it ever again and be in an unsatisfied yet acknowledged and time-honored frame of mind about the inevitable impending exams- Silence it is.
Today, when I sit downstairs on the riverfront, the calming timbre of the dashing water and it alone would be so soothing that no length or variety of ipod music on Bose speakers can truly provide.
I consistently listen to music on mp3s in the gym at dangerous decibel levels, definitely ignorant to the person next to me even if he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I know I am at the risk of NIHL (noise induced hearing loss) and yet…..
If I left the ipods at home, may be I will blog years later about the wonderful times I had in the gym - how the churning of the myriad treadmills made intonations in harmony with the rolling arm pulleys and ellipticals to produce some unvoiced melody !!
There is music in silence and I haven’t quite listened to it in a while.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Recently one of my friends had written a blog on a 'common' name.
Is this common enough when I compare it with the flabbergasting originality of the Americans !
Think about MLK drives in the USA. Atleast one street connecting a interstate to a US Highway in every big town that I have stepped my foot in is a MLK drive. What about Vine St. ? I know in Cincinnati, there are two streets immediately parallel to each other atleast for a good 1 mile - and both are Vine ! Apparently one of them is short Vine ! Did I see Georgia in Eurasia, Was nt it the state south of South Carolina ?
Well, I know there are MG roads all over India - but thats just one example. I know atleast 10 Pine streets just between Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Does Lincoln / Broadway has to exist in every downtown?! What about Morristowns? what about Westchesters ? We lack any imagination and originality in naming our towns. And half the names are borrowed from Europe with the migration. There was once a friend at school and he said on the phone that he was in London..... I just saw him yesterday and he did not mention of any trans-atlantic plans and then I figure he is just 90 miles away in London, OH ! What are the chances you also find a Paris in a drivable radius from Cincinnati ! pretty good. There is one ! Now what about Berlin..... ! wow Berlin is 50 miles SW of Paris only in USA !
London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam should be found in half the states of USA !
and we dont stop here.... when I was TAing in my grad school, there were 3 Bills and 3 James - and all the three James had different names from their parents !
If you are talking about Karthik, Sriram and Murali, where do we put the Tom, Dick and Harrys !
Is this common enough when I compare it with the flabbergasting originality of the Americans !
Think about MLK drives in the USA. Atleast one street connecting a interstate to a US Highway in every big town that I have stepped my foot in is a MLK drive. What about Vine St. ? I know in Cincinnati, there are two streets immediately parallel to each other atleast for a good 1 mile - and both are Vine ! Apparently one of them is short Vine ! Did I see Georgia in Eurasia, Was nt it the state south of South Carolina ?
Well, I know there are MG roads all over India - but thats just one example. I know atleast 10 Pine streets just between Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Does Lincoln / Broadway has to exist in every downtown?! What about Morristowns? what about Westchesters ? We lack any imagination and originality in naming our towns. And half the names are borrowed from Europe with the migration. There was once a friend at school and he said on the phone that he was in London..... I just saw him yesterday and he did not mention of any trans-atlantic plans and then I figure he is just 90 miles away in London, OH ! What are the chances you also find a Paris in a drivable radius from Cincinnati ! pretty good. There is one ! Now what about Berlin..... ! wow Berlin is 50 miles SW of Paris only in USA !
London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam should be found in half the states of USA !
and we dont stop here.... when I was TAing in my grad school, there were 3 Bills and 3 James - and all the three James had different names from their parents !
If you are talking about Karthik, Sriram and Murali, where do we put the Tom, Dick and Harrys !
Saturday, July 05, 2008
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