My brain vs heart

It's funny how one's heart can change a brain's well laid-out plans. Here, my brain was planning out my future and just waiting for the much-coveted assignment. It almost didn't happen and then by God's grace, it fell right into my lap. Until the moment it fell into my lap, I was restless and was wondering if my carefully drawn plans would just remain on the drawing board. Due to various reasons, I was almost disappointed when the assignment was handed out to someone else. I knew the effort was futile, but I went and talked to the powers-that-are. I returned empty-handed. But then again, this was what happened: "Manager proposes. Client Disposes."

So, I was excited for a day or two that I had landed the assignment. As the D-day neared, I began developing a very strange feeling of emptiness in my heart. It's very funny that what you have been looking forward to for quite a while, falls into your lap and then you start wondering if its really wise to take that up. I would be leaving behind my parents, colleagues, friends and the city where I grew up in. This feeling was very strange to me, as I had never felt this earlier...even when I spent 4 years away from the very place I was about to leave. As the days passed by, I began to get a lump-in-the-throat kind of feeling. This was particularly bad. My brain was saying that taking up this assignment is a good thing for me from my career perspective. But then, my heart didn't want to let go of all the people and the place. As they say, a person's face is a reflection of one's mind. So, I got used to everyone asking me what was wrong and you are not your usually-cheerful-guy-that-you-are, when you take up such assignments. I really didn't have any answer to such a question, because my brain didn't know the answer. If only humans could think with their hearts, I would have known the answer. With a heavy heart, I left my hometown to take up the assignment that my brain says was good for my career.

So, here I am having taken up the assignment and still feeling the blues. In the first few hours after taking up the assignment, my brain prevailed and I tried to convince myself that I had done the right thing. Once I got to know more details about the assignment, reality struck me and my heart got much more ammo to counter my brain's thoughts. I lost interest in things that I was very passionate about. Can you believe it? I strangely felt disinterested and didn't even watch the basketball games, that too the NBA Finals. People who know me well know that would be something I wouldn't trade anything for. But that is the truth. (Maybe, if my favourite Pistons were in the Finals, I would have)

In the next few months, I will know if my heart has succeeded in hijacking my brain's future plans or not. So here I am in a big quandry, whether to listen to my heart or let my brain take the lead. As people say, time is a big healer. Hopefully, my heart's wounds would have healed and better sense of my brain prevails.

Sania ranked 42 in WTA

As a follow-up to my earlier blog on Sania's great potential, I was talking about how Vijay Amritraj was mentioning during Wimbledon that he would be very happy if Sania broke into Top 50 by end of year. Apparently, Sania had been listening to him and she broke into Top 50 by jumping to 42 even before the end of all the Slams of 2005.

She reached the finals of Tier 4 event in New York in the run-up for US Open and lost to 66th ranked player. But that was enough to push her ranking into Top 50. Here is wishing Sania a great US Open and complete the year on a high note. Maybe, breaking into Top 30!!

But her real challenge would be to finish the next year at the same level as she would this year. This, being her first year on the circuit, she has no points to defend. But she will have to match her performances of this year to stay competitive next year. Here is wishing a successful 2006 to Sania!

My Sojourn to San Francisco

Finally, it happened....The wait was over. My sojourn to San Francisco got confirmed. I was very excited at the opportunity to work on a project in the Travel Domain. But not so fast. Since I had been keeping my fingers crossed since May 2005, it was more apt that God didn't want to give it to me on a platter. So, the TravelDesk guys were His instruments and had me on tenterhooks until the last moment by confirming that I would be travelling to SFO only on Friday evening. I could collect my tickets only at 6.20 pm Friday 19th August, when I had to board the flight the following night.

To top the suspense the previous evening, I was feeling sick with fever, sore throat and a blocked nose. (Thanks to Arun for passing on the bug to me!!) As usual, I passed my parents' offer of seeing me off at the airport. I have never been a person who would prefer to be seen off at the airport. Somehow, the thought of turning my back on my near and dear ones always makes me emotional. (Even if the trip is short) I have always found myself getting emotional, whenever I left from Chennai...even if it were for a domestic trip, say to Bangalore. To avoid all the mushy stuff and to keep my folks from sleeping early, I said no thanks to my parents' offer.

The drive in the call taxi to the Chennai airport was uneventful (well, not totally...because I had forgotten my jacket on the couch and had to return to pick it up!!). I went through the security and emigration formalities uneventfully. As usual, my shins turned on the alarms when I went through the metal detectors and had to show my surgically repaired shin and that there is a steel rod inside my leg.

The flight from Chennai to Singapore was uneventful. Singapore Airlines started on time and reached early. Just about 3.5 hours duration. I didn't get to sleep properly because of the short flight and besides, I was cramped for space. I got down at Changi airport and was told to reach the Rainforest Lounge for my 10 hour stopover. I must admit that Changi airport is really a marvel. Great lounges, duty-free shops, restaurants of all kinds (including Indian food) and not-to-forget the availability of free Internet browsing for passengers. My throat started acting up and I had to take tablets and not-to-mention Hot Chocolate to keep my throat warm. I watched a sci-fi movie in a huge tv in one of the lounges, before retiring on a sleeper. I could finally spread out my legs fully and sleep in normal position. I slept fitfully, though, for 4 hours. When I woke up, it was time for lunch in Singapore and I helped myself to another hot coffee from Starbucks just to ease my throat. Finally, after spending a little more time in front of one of those huge wall-mounted televisions (almost like theatre) and watching the F1 Grand Prix qualifiers. (Unfortunately, Narain had trouble with the car and could not even begin the qualifiers). Finally, it was time to board the 5 pm flight to Hong Kong, en route to SFO.

I tried the technique of trying to keep my sleep/meal cycles as per the destination time. This time too, it worked successfully, as I had very little jetlag and had recovered pretty quickly in just abt day or two. I watched several movies on the flight as it was a really long 18 hour flight to SFO. I watched Alien vs Predator, a little of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and a little of Mumbai Express. Also, played Super Mario after a long, long time. By the time, we were 3 or 4 hours from SFO, my throat got really bad and I really had to shout, to make myself heard to the stewardess. This was the time I was thanking my stars that I did get back home to pick up the jacket. I wonder how worse it could have gotten, had I not gone back to collect the jacket.

Finally, landed in SFO airport and as usual, ran to the Immigrations with all the I-94 forms and agriculture check forms in hand. I selected a counter which had a Chinese-looking officer. I went in and greeted him and was out in a breeze without being asked a single question. I guess, my trip to Chicago and my previous stay in the US helped me sail through without any problem. No problems anywhere in the agriculture check too. As I came out of the gate, I was accosted by a limo driver and I agreed with him to take me to the Holiday Inn in downtown SFO for $45. Apparently, he was a Hispanic from Mexico with his family being there.

At the Holiday Inn lounge, I found all my colleagues who would work on this project ready to go for dinner. I declined their invitation because of my bodily condition. I was in no situation to go out for dinner. I checked in to my room on the 6th floor and found that it was pretty much ok. Atleast for now. I unpacked a little and found myself something comfortable to sleep in. I had a busy day because the next morning, I had to start work. At first, I wanted to call my sisters to inform them. But then, it was already 10.30 pm at SFO, which means it is pretty well late into night for my sisters staying closer to East Coast. I tried calling my folks in India to inform them of my arrival. But the hotel phone would not let me do that saying that I have to pay $25 deposit to even use the phone for local and toll-free 800 numbers. I was very frustrated. So, I thought I could atleast mail someone in India and ask them to inform my parents of the same. Then again, what I thought was free wireless Internet turned out to be $10/night to use the same. This was on top of the $100/night that I was paying before taxes for the room. No microwave or fridge. It was really strange that these guys could get away charging this much without any facilities, just because they are located in downtown. I just drank a little water and went to bed thinking of all the work that lay ahead of me in the next few days.

Unfortunate ruling in Imrana's case

The topic of women's safety in India is always a subject of great debate. Most people tend to agree that women are vulnerable only outside of their homes, especially at their workplaces and during the commute to work and that they are safe inside their homes. This statement is far from the truth. Take a look at the rape cases that are reported (only a miniscule percentage of rapes are reported to police fearing persecution by society), and police conclude that the perpetrators are mostly acquaintances to the victim. This becomes even more painful when the perpetrators are related to the victim.

Take the recent case of Imrana. She was allegedly raped by her father-in-law in Muzaffarnagar. Now you may be wondering what is peculiar about this case. As bad as the crime being committed by a member of her household itself, what is even worse is the decision taken by the religious court that Imrana should terminate her marriage immediately. Now, for those who are wondering why should a religious court pass judgement and why are the police and regular law-enforcing mechanisms not working on this case, the answer is that the victim belongs to the "Minority" community and that Imrana agrees that this case should be handled only according to the religious court's interpretation of Shariat (Muslim Personal Law). According to Shariat interpretation, when a woman is violated by any of her husband's relatives, she becomes "haram" for him and hence should immediately terminate the marriage. The poor woman has accepted this verdict too.

Now, I am not taking potshots at the Shariat nor am I showing disrespect. The Shariat was evolved over thousand years ago in Arabia and was compiled by eminent people. It represented the thinking (whether conservative or liberal) at that time. What concerns me is that people still abide strictly by the Shariat even after a thousand years have passed and times have changed a lot since then. As appalling a decision as this is, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (which has the final say in such affairs) went a step further and issued a fatwa upholding the interpretation. No wonder the Women's groups across India are up in arms against this decision of forcing Imrana to terminate her marriage because of her father-in-law's crime.

Amidst all this, the basic humanitarian issue is totally lost. The woman should be given enough time to recover from this horrific episode and then given the option to make a decision about her marriage. As if the horror that she had to undergo due to her father-in-law's crime were not enough, she is being punished too (for no fault of hers, other than being a victim from the "minority" community) by being forced to terminate her marriage. As it is, our society tends to look down upon such unfortunate individuals. Now if she were to terminate her marriage and lose her protective cover, it would be a double whammy for her.

It remains to be seen whether the Muslim Personal Law makes some changes to their interpretations, keeping in the mind the changing times and the victims' rights.

Sania a.k.a Desi Graf?????

Just finished watching a very exciting second round Ladies' Wimbledon match involving Sania Mirza of India and Svetlana Kuznetsova (seeded 5) of Russia. I was in Chicago, when Sania became the first Indian woman to win a WTA tour championship in India. I still remember vividly reading articles on rediff singing paeans about the next big sensation in women's tennis from India. Bereft of sport superstars in a vast country such as India, I thought this was another case of the media going to the town and wondered what all the brouhaha was all about. I just dismissed it as a case of media hype, as I have seen many an Indian sportsperson bite the dust after promising so much. I confess I was also one of the doubting Thomases, even when Sania beat Svetlana in Dubai earlier in the year, dismissing it as a stroke of luck.

To begin with, she was playing on the Centre Court in Championships Wimbledon for the first time against a #5 seed. Though she had beaten Kuznetsova in the Dubai Open, an 18 year-old can easily be overawed by the tradition of the Centre Court at Wimbledon. When the match started, I was thinking Sania would be very nervous and her game would fall apart, playing as she was at Wimbledon's Centre Court for the first time, and that it would be cake-walk for Kuznetsova (ranked #6 in the WTA tour and the reigning US Open champion). In the first set, Sania broke Svetlana's first service game itself and the players traded breaks with each failing to hold on to their service games. Finally, Sania was up 4-3 and serving 40-0 trying to go up two breaks. Svetlana pulled herself out of the hole with 5 straight points and took the game with a strong finish at the net. Sania was full of nerves and promptly lost the next two games and the set to Kuznetsova. Though Sania lost the first set, I was impressed with her groundstrokes. She has a booming forehand (which reminded me of my favourite Steffi Graf), pretty good backhand and can serve decently (not the patsies that most women on the tour throw up as an apology to serve) and most of all a solid temperament and no stage fright.

I have seen a lot of early round action, where the stars are tested slightly in the first set and then they would go into cruise control mode and win the match easily. So, I wondered if it would be the same in Sania's case too. But, that was not to be. Sania broke Kuznetsova right away to take a 2-0 advantage in the second set. She again had a 4-3 and 40-0 lead on the serve and she let Kuznetsova back in the game again. Just as we were wondering whether she would squander the second set too, Sania held on to her serve and forced a tie-break and what's more...she won the tie-break and the second set. As the match progressed into the second set, more spectators milled to see a classic matchup between two teenaged girls on the Centre Court. The crowd was clearly rooting for Sania (evidenced by their applause for Sania's winners and apparent lack of same to Kuznetsova's winners) and one of the Brit commentators was overheard on television "C'mon Sania, get us into the third set". The British commentator didn't just stop at that and commented that the crowd may be seeing the beginning of a new tennis star on the WTA Tour. The Brit commentator asked a trick question to Vijay Amritraj (the other commentator) as to what would be a reasonable ranking that Sania could achieve in the near future (Top 25, 50 etc.) But the diplomat that he is, Vijay answered the question with panache saying he is not really bothered about how high a ranking Sania could achieve. Rather, he would be very happy if she improves her game and represents India and does well in the Fed Cup for her country.

The decider began with both players holding their first two service games. Kuznetsova drew the first blood, when she broke Sania twice from 2-2 to go up 5-2. Kuznetsova changed her tactics from the first two sets. She started going more to the net and was also helped generously by Sania's double-faults at break points. Just when it looked like it was all over for Sania, she showed her mental resilience by holding her service game and bouncing back (using what else but her powerful forehand ground strokes) to break Kuznetsova right back. At this point, Kuznetsova was totally tired and and Sania was making her earn each and every point the hard way. Everyone in the crowd were supporting Sania and were expecting Sania to break Kuznetsova's next service game. But the world #6 showed her experience and why she is the reigning US Open champion by serving out the game to win the match and book a spot in the third round.

I hate to confess, when I am wrong (who is not?) ... I was thinking that Sania, with her model looks, was all primed to be another Kournikova. What with all those ads that Sania was appearing in, I was beginning to wonder that it would only be a matter of time before the notorious media would pull her down. To be fair, Sania has already won a WTA title, whereas Anna hasn't done so. Boy, am I glad to be proved wrong? After last night's match, I have become me a complete believer in Sania's ability/skills and I have no doubt that she belongs to the big league. I truly believe that she can be a Top 25 player on the women's circuit. At the end of the match, everyone would agree that Sania definitely had the talent and the strokes to make it big. Obviously, her big pluses would be her cool demeanor and forehand ground strokes. She has a pretty good backhand and a good service. She just needs to learn to add net game to her repertoire, to do well on grass. Her serve needs to be more consistent, as she served double faults at the crucial junctures in the match. If there is an Indian tennis player (male/female) with potential to make it big in the singles, it has to be Sania Mirza. I know we are putting lot of hopes and expectations on the 18 year-old lass from Hyderabad. But that comes with the territory and hope she doesn't get bogged down with all those expectations and pressures. Here's hoping that we would soon be toasting Sania for her singles exploits on the Tour!!

Sania's destructive forehand...
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Home Alone

For the past 3 weeks, I have been "Home Alone" because my dad went to visit my sister in USA and my mom has already been there for the past one year. In the few days leading to my dad's departure to US, I surprisingly found myself a wee bit concerned. I use the word "surprising" because I am (atleast, I thought I was) used to living away from my parents during my days at Kentucky (though, I must add that I was always surrounded by friends who never made me feel home-sick).

I had always thought that the experience of managing all the little things/intricacies in life (like paying bills on time, being responsible, blah blah) in US would definitely prepare me for the small test that I was about to face living alone in India. This was the first time I was living alone in India, though. I soon realized that it was a totally different proposition. Even mundane things like depositing my dad's cheques in the bank, paying utility bills like telephone, electricity etc. requires a great deal of patience and effort in India. Little things, such as some relatives calling up from the rural areas for information about something in the city of Chennai, were usually handled by my dad. I found all this a little annoying, partly because of the effort it involved, the transportation, the heat and humidity of Chennai and basically it all boiled down to my laziness. As anybody would, I am missing my mom's cooking. When my dad used to stay with me, I used to atleast cook different dishes each weekend. Now that I am alone, I am not even bothering to cook much...Just picking up what is available and managing with any kind of leftovers. I am not even cooking every other weekend these days. As a result of staying alone, I have to find some motivation to cook, even if it were only on weekends. I don't enjoy cooking, when I know that there is no one to share the food with.

This is not to say that living alone in India is a nightmare. It does come with its own advantages too. I could come home in the dead of the night and I wouldn't have to keep my folks informed of my whereabouts, eating out every weekend, having friends stay over and basically the carte blanche to do what I please and whenever I feel so. I can watch any show that I would want without feeling guilty that others watching TV with me may not be interested in the same show.

Subscribing to the new Dish TV has been even more helpful because I am getting to watch the one passionate hobby that I developed during my days at Kentucky (watching basketball). If my folks were around, I wouldn't even think of spending so much time watching my favorite shows, sports (NBA finals, Wimbledon, NatWest Series and of late F-1 GP). Of late, I have been watching a lot of English movies (now that Home Box Office is available). In fact, I have watched lot of good movies that I missed out. All these positive things make me wonder how long I could live in this "Utopia". This "Utopia" is going to last only for another 5 - 6 weeks after which my folks would be back.

All-in-all, it's definitely a totally different experience living by myself in India when compared to living alone in the US.

Wonders of privatisation

Recently, I converted from Airtel pre-paid to corporate post-paid and the airtel guy had promised me that the conversion would take only a day. I had to call for almost 4 days to get my SMS and caller ID activated. Finally, I lost my cool and threatened the Airtel guy that I would switch the service provider, if these weren't activated soon. Ahhh, one of the wonders of privatisation of the telecom industry!!

Sunday Evening at IIT

It's a moderate Sunday and I am trying to immerse myself into "Blue Horizon"(incidentally, the first novel I bought out of my own money) which I had already finished earlier. Out of the blue, my phone rings and it is nandhi. Surprised to see his name displayed on the caller ID. Atlast, my Airtel service has been properly restored! Nandhi says he's gonna meet dopan and asks if I would join too. I said I'd be glad to....coz I am desperately starved of friends!!
Dopan informed that he is at IIT attending "Shastra 2004". Myself and nandhi set off for IIT with the "unlicensed and uninsured" nandhi driving. Very surprised to see the "usually cluttered" madhya kailash junction being devoid of traffic on a Sunday afternoon.
The moment we entered IIT campus, the temperature visibly dropped 3-4 Celsius. To help matters, the roads were wet due to rain. Interestingly, there was no rain outside IIT campus as evidenced by dry roads. It was a very sylvan setting, with deers and lot of green shrubs and vegetation. Kinda like college, but with a lot more greenery. We met Dopan at the auditorium. There was a documentary on Prof. Feynman(A Nobel prize winner in Quantum Physics and one of the inventors of Atom bomb) running. It was very informative one. He gives few anecdotes that are witty and interesting coz it made a lot of sense. He keeps talking of his father's positive influence on his life.
At the end of Feynman's documentary, the the much-awaited quiz finals began. Surprised to see that even in the hallowed institute such as IITM, our guys don't keep their time. The programme finally took off, about 45mins behind schedule. There were about 8 teams, mostly from IITM, IIMB and one from Anna University. Surprised to see the quiz participants lying spreadeagled on the dais. No chairs, tables or anything. As expected from a technical institute, most of the questions were technical stuff....ranging from physics, chemistry etc. In the entire quiz, I knew answers only to 2 questions - one about FedEx and the other abt Google. The quiz programme seemed to go on endlessly. After 2 hours, we thought enough was enough and we needed a breath of fresh air. We hit the stalls to satiate our hunger. I don't know about Dopan, but myself and srini were really relieved to take this break. We discussed mundane matters, while we munched on the snacks.
I had reason to believe that the quiz programme would have ended, by the time we stepped in to the auditorium, a good 45 minutes since we left for the stalls. Alas, that was not to be! And we sat through the quiz programme for another 45 mins or so. It was not my day. I had high hopes of doing some bird-watching....thinking it would be something like the ex-Mardi Gras or Saarang(as it is called now). Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be a damp squib. Other than those in the trees, I could find absolutely no birds.
Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Dopan and his wife and in-laws(who had come to pick him up). I thought that was the end of our IIT experience. But, old Nandhi dog had more tricks up his sleeve... showing off his stunts with his bike, whenever we encountered the speed breakers(and believe it, there were a lot of them) The bike was flying in the air on these speed-breakers. On one of these speed breakers, I got a feeling that I was flying in the air....a.k.a Kate Winslett in the movie Titanic!!

First Test

Ind vs Aus Bangalore Test 5th Day's Play

Another one of those boring weekends, it was, and the damn telly tube wasn't working properly. India had already capitulated on Saturday to Australia. But, it was very heart-warming to see delightful strokes played by Pathan and Harbhajan against Shane Warne. Pathan's compact defence and a straight bat made me wonder why Dravid was shielding Pathan in the morning by not taking singles at all. Harbhajan and Pathan toyed with Shane Warne, as if he were a gully bowler. Heart-warming to see that the greatest spinner's figures were completely obliterated by these two wanna-be batsmen. Maybe, Warne was going after the world-record figure for total wickets and he was a little dazed. But one thing stood out: Dean Jones at the commentary repeatedly referred to Pathan as the next superstar of the world cricket initially. Once Pathan got to this fifty, he started referring to Pathan as the next genuine all-rounder superstar in the world of cricket. Whether Pathan realizes his immense talent(with bat) or not, we would have to wait and see. Almost a decade ago in the Titan Cup, it was another similar combination of batsmen(a fast bowler and a spinner) who had won a ODI for India against the Aussies. Alas, Sri didn't develop his innate batting capabilities. But there is something very polished about the way Pathan defends and goes about playing his strokes. He bats more like a batsman, rather than a tail-ender. One of his strokes that made India's day was the lofted six over mid-wicket of Darren Lehmann's slow left-arm spin. That ball reached the upper-most stands of the stadium, much to the delight of the Sunday crowd gathered at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Even Harbhajan joined the party by hitting a huge six off Warne. This was a classic stroke. I remember watching Steve Waugh playing exactly the same kind of stroke against Harbhajan during the unforgettable 2001 series. Bhaji went one knee down and played it cleanly across by sweep-pulled it over the long-on boundary. At the end of the day, Warne's figures were badly mauled by these two batsmen. During the "Fair and Lovely Fourth Umpire" show at lunch break, Cheeka had interestingly mentioned that Warne is yet to bowl as well as he could, in the Indian conditions. He still has got 3 more Tests to show off his wares in India. In the end, it was Aussies who had the last laugh, continuing the notion that Bangalore is not India's happy hunting ground. Due to the batting exploits of Bhaji and Pathan, India managed to reach a respectable score of 239. I, for one, am very optimistic about India's chances in the Chennai Test for a reason. Bhaji bowling was simply fantastic in his 2nd Innings. Interestingly, his tally of 10 wickets in both innings was the 4th consecutive time that he had taken 10 wickets against Aussies at home. The batsmen can't bat any worse than they have in the 1st Test. Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome for India in the Chennai Test.

Nostalgia

Here I was....Going thro' yet another back-breaking journey through the so-called "IT Expressway" on my way to work. The 2 - 2.5 hours commute is never short of thrills...especially of the hair-rising kind!! I really admire our bus driver for his dexterous way of tackling the maddening traffic; not to mention the darting people and the grazing cows in the middle of the road.

I strike up a conversation with an acquaintance from my previous morning ride to work. Beginning with the bad roads and traffic conditions, we move on to our backgrounds. And that's where we strike up a connection...He studied in Asan and he knows my buddy, as well as my buddy's friends and his brother. This took me back to the school and college days when we used to play cricket on the road....that's when nostalgia struck me...when we used to break the neighbor's pots and windows...the times when we used to have bet matches at Somasundaram ground (and I still remember, we never won any match to-date and in the process lost a small fortune!!)...the times we spent on the terrace overlooking the city and the traffic. Those were really heady days!!

To top it, my acquaintance knew a lot about my college....right from the presence of the TEAM factory across the road and the presence of a residential school to the presence of swimming pool within the college campus. Was very surprised to hear this from him....Later came to know that he had several colleagues from my college. All those pleasant college memories started flooding my thoughts...those that had been deeply hidden within the confines of my neurons!!!

All these pleasant and nostalgic memories made my morning sojourn a walk in the park!! And then reality strikes back rudely...when I see the office building in front of my eyes. But this was one really enjoyable ride to work.