My shots!

WIth every passing week, I am getting better and better at tennis and it won't be soon before I am fit to lose 6-1, 6-1 to any decent player. Now you will wonder just what I mean by this? Well having started so late in the game, I am still a beginner. I might not fumble or look clumsy at the baseline or even serve well for a beginner but I still stand no chance. So where exactly is my tennis game. I mean I only have to climb a 40 storeyed building and gaze down at anything that looks as tiny as an ant. That ant is where my game is.
I started in the first week of August this year and gave myself a month to see if I would continue. At the end of 3 months if I was still smacking balls and wearing my soles thin at the net then I would present myself a good- quality racket.
I had bought a cheap Kuawei racket not knowing if I will still be with the game and not wanting to invest in something wishful if thats what my whim turned out to be. I am happy playing tennis and surprisingly it didnt take me long to actually connect the racket with the ball and send it smartly over the net. I had been watching Martina and Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Sabatini, Becker and Sampras and also John McEnroe (though memories are fading and are restricted to his smashing the racket:)) and now my present day hero Roger Federer. He is GOD! I have recorded all those moves of theirs on court- all those shots that I loved, I now appreciate them even more and when I watch any game I participate-sigh when the beautiful forehand lands a whisker outside the sideline or a guaranteed volley is gulped down by the net just like people do while watching cricket. It thrills me that I got this far. It is absolutely more exhilirating than say completing a 5 Km walk on the threadmill or managing to do those painful push-ups for the 3rd time. You run, you swoop down on the ball, you smash, you make a passing forehand (believe me nothing is as thrilling as this) and you run across this court that you felt was so small that you could cover it in three strides and now that you are actually playing on it, the world seems like a smaller place than the court
And I must mention when I go to bed, I am thinking of my serve and my right hand actually involuntarily twitches. I see that as a "divine sign" that I will continue with tennis for many years to come and evetually turn a 1-6, 1-6 loss into a win with 6 on the left hand side.

Who needs a friend?!!!

The last month has been very busy. Getting hold of carpenters, electricians, plumbers and then dancing to their tunes and times. We have been settling down in the new city and really warming upto it. But there are times when I wake up and really don't know where I am. Geographical disorientation! I had a guest last week- old friend of my father's. I was marvelling at how old age finally catches up. And there he was talking about his son, daughter-in law, his grandchildren. He hardly sees his children these days, they are forever travelling, or working late or on weekends taking a short holiday on those expensive resorts. His grouse was that they hardly socialise, no friends coming over or them visiting any. Just colleagues, phone calls from office, work, work and more work. "Well its OK now that you folks are young and wanted, you are skilled, do a good job, you are on a roll, a high that your professional successes give you. But when you retire, grow old, no longer have your routine to fall back on, no place to go to every day, no mails to check, no meetings to attend, what then?"
I wasn't really paying attention so far to his conversation but the last one got me. Yeah what then, when we are old and our children have flown the coop...we need friends, we need constancy, stability of familiar places, old faces, poeple who have known us long and know us well. People who have genuine affection for us; long forgoten relatives, friends we somewhere stopped talking to..
So guys - moral of the story is start making friends along with buying insurance. Both will be great walking sticks when we need them when we are no longer needed.

The year is coming to an end

Ganapati cha visarjan zhala, sigh!
Now its Diwali and I have decided to make all the Faral goodies at home. So, Ganpati, Dassera, Diwali and Christmas holidays; thus comes 2007 to its end and then its time to view the same old 'new year' programmes. Well but the subject of my rumination is the city of Chennai with all its strangeness. It has medicine shops that stocks " all vetnary medicines and English medicines", "encourage" and "discourage" are two words that I have come across more frequently than in the books I have read (goes to show that Chennai is indeed consarrvative). I was given a circular by the society association containing all rules that residents have to adhere to 'in order to live in peaceful harmony'- "drivers are discouraged from loitering in areas other designated' which means they are encouraged to loiter in designated areas!!!! They shall not drink in the parking or smoke or gamble and are also discouraged to talk agressively, spit or interact with people living in the colony. So here again we find 'encourage/ discourage.
Hotel Aiswarya serves 'Chettinadu , Chainies and Andhra'
Hotel Bharani also does 'Tiffen'
many more such peculiarities....so until my next thought-blog
Ciao.

Modak, Aaraas, aarti, prasad and lots of fun!

Its that time of the year- I think Ganapati is more exciting than Diwali. This year the theme of my Ganpati is "Shetatla Ganpati" - representing bountiful harvest. We have sown mustard, fenugreek, aaleev, rice and we can already see the seeds sprouting. In the next couple of days Ganpatichi murtee will be surrounded by an abundant crop. I have placed the murtee in the middle surrounded by cardboard strips on which I have shovelled soil (using the children's sand set) and sown these seeds. We hope that this year will bring the same abundance in our lives a nd those of our near and dear ones- family, friends, colleagues, those whom we work for and those who work for us!

Heroes Forever!

The earliest pin-ups in my cupboard were all tennis players- Martina Navratilova (she was the first and most favourite) Steffi Graf, Sabatini, Monica Seles, Chris Evert and Boris Becker. As years passed by even Salman Khan found a home next to my books and I have often thought about it- why Salman Khan of all the people. I have never been a fan. There were also a few figure skating posters of east German skaters whose names I forget, some Banana Republic posters- men in white shirts and a day old stubble.
The last poster I pinned was (believe it or faint) (and I forget the name here) was of a character actor who was a part of Bold & Beautiful TV series. What was his name????He was the villain who turned into a good guy and actually marries the villain....what was his name? The strange thing was I don't remember having lusted after these guys or anyting. The sports people were the real heroes (puhlease no cricket) No one could serve and volley like Navratilova, or do a mean forehand like Steffi or grunt like Monica, after all she started the trend. Sabatini was the Chris Evert of the 90s, Boris was the blue eyed boy (who went all wrong post tennis- imagine being caught in a cupboard with a maid!!!!) Of course now I smile indulgently when my daughter so adoringly stick a poster in her room. My first thought is that the paint will peel when she takes it off. So we have a pact- everything that needs to be put up, goes inside the her book, clothes and games rack. Nothing on the walls.
We actually waited for the Sportstar issue every month and could hardly wait to see who the pin up for that month was- imagine my glee it being a tennis star and such disappointment when the honour went to a cricketer with their dumpy clothes and heavy bodies and really dumb looks. Tennis stars were gods- I mean they looked like gods of their game. Now if Iwere to relive my "pin-up" days who would it be? Why, Roger Federer of course. Silly you would ask me!

Extreme Silence

When your mind is racing ahead involved in a myriad of activities- managing relationships, juggling home, office, social domain, managing your time, reasoning with people, explaning your point of view, trying to persuade, convince, talk your way to solutions you see fit, trying to patch something falling apart- when you are in the midst of it and your brain is haemmoraging, try to close your mind's eye and just go to sleep in the warmth of silence.
Just shut out everything and stop your energies form leaking out. Stretch yourself in the bubble of silence and feel its seductive arms pull you inside.
don't talk, don;t think for a moment. Be still, be silent.
Try it out. After a while you will be addicted to it.

Comment on Art of Living- Part III

Read this comment posted by fellow-blogger Neelum of theseasoning.blogspot

Even I find AOL very well branded...but the marketing strategy is amazing (amazingly sick). When you attend their course, they tell you that when you go back home, do it alone, don't teach anyone, let no one see you...so ultimately if you want to learn you are forced to attend the course...Did you know they also have a high level job hunt & head hunters within AOL network....so one way to reach the top is to know that ur CEO is an AOL member & then sign up!!