Tuesday, July 7, 2009

True Champion

True champion

Roger Fedrer did it again.7th Wimbledon and 15th grand slam and I am quite sure that the numbers will grow healthier by the time he finishes his career.
Clinical serves, strong forehand and backhand returns, chicky drop shots, smart volleys and swift yet smooth mover on the court….who can’t be Fedrer fan?
A humble guy who at times is calm & composed and other times quite emotional. Above all the man with a never say die attitude. Who can’t be a Fedrer fan?
And neither I am different nor I am “who”(bad joke!!). I have always been a big Fedrer fan and have always cherished his victories but for the first time I was more concern about somebody’s defeat more than his victory. This somebody is none other than Andy Roddick. He played his heart out there and held Fedrer for nearly about four and half hours but……
Andy Roddick, as a player he might not be as accomplished as Fedrer but as a sportsman, he scores more than anyone else in the game. For me he was the real hero of wimbeldon’09 and hence the true champ.
Everyone will sing on top of their voices about Roger Fedrer’s achievements & records but I doubt anyone or any form of media would spare some space for Roddick(except for a snap with the runner’s up trophy).come on………..
I know that I am in no position to judge “who deserves what?”. But as a true sports lover and being a sportsman myself, I can at least raise my voice and say “Andy!! You rock man.”
The American won the quarter finals against Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. It was a hard fought five setter. Both the players played top class tennis for more than three hours and in the end Roddick came on top. It was the best match of wimbeldon’09 until the final was played.
Then the semifinals, against the British man Andy Murray. As always British media was considering Murray as the winner and for them he was in the finals before even playing the semifinal. Andy Murray was getting all the hype and attention as if he had already beaten Roddick. But Roddick had other plans and he executed them quite successfully. He kept serving his “bazookas” (as one of commentator termed his fast serves).Murray did not have any answer for them. Against all the hypothetically created odds, Roddick won the semifinal with clinical performance. I could not stop feeling that along with Andy Murray and his British fans, British media, the commentators were also quite disappointed as their predictions were proved wrong with some champion stuff.
For me, there are three kinds of celebrations.
a) I am the winner. (Which means I am the winner and you are the looser…)
b) Come on!! I am the winner over here. (Which means you are the looser….)
And then there is the Roddick style celebration “I won.” (Which only means I won.)
It was quite evident in his post match interview also when he said “ Andy(murray) has been playing and performing quite consistently over the year then I have but it’s just that I played a little better today.” It is this quality which makes him a true sports man and a true champion.
Players will come and go but there will be very few like Andy Roddick who plays the sport in its true spirit.
Roddick is good not because somebody is bad but he is good only because he is good.

Friday, January 9, 2009

contemplation

9th of January 2009.
Contemplation
More than a year has passed since i had written anything in my diary. Reason????????? Am i sharing my thoughts and feelings more often with people around me? Or the intensity, with which I live my life, has decreased????
Getting up at 8.00, 9.30-waiting fro the bus, 10.30-reaching to the office, 6.30-leaving for home, 11.00- sleeping time. Hours & hours, days & days and 7 months have passed. If i look back at this time and ask a few questions to myself then i am sure that results would be quite alarming. so i would definitely like to take this opportunity to question myself.
Forget taking pride but what are those few things which have given some happiness & satisfaction while and after doing it? *conceiving the overall spatial and elemental language for drishti consultants was fun*working out sports complex at the conceptual level was quite a fun task. *enjoyed myself while working out the installation for the kensigton reception lobby.
Except these three things i have not enjoyed my run in the profession. Off course learning and playing harmonica (mouthorgan) has been the most exciting and satisfying experience by far.
So what have i done? What am i doing? And hence a few more implied questions why am i doing? Or is this what i want to do in my life? Or where am i heading towards?
These paragraphs may have stated personal experiences and observations. But looking at the matter from a macro level, it doesn't remain only as an individual’s frustration. Hence the whole discussion leads me to a different set of questions. Certain questions hold much deeper meaning than just a definitive answer. In fact these kind of questions provoke a new thought process. Initiating this process (of provoking thoughts by questioning the present scenario) is the first step to bring about any change.
This is the vacuum between our beliefs and the real world's rules, this is the vacuum between what we aspire to do and what we are made to do, this is the vacuum between how you want to be and how the world wants you to be..............................
Many of us recognize this vacuum. Some of us choose to avoid it, and others just compromise with it and few others feel that "i won't be able to fight alone" but someone has to start somewhere. And then there are many such "I"S exist, standing together they can & will make a difference.
Here I must put this quote “tragedy of life is not death but what we let us die within us while we live” Norman Cousins
Illusion................ Reality...........................Ideal.......................
Illusion is an erroneous mental representation.
Reality is the state of world as it really is rather than as you might it to be.
Ideal constitutes or exists only in from of an idea or conception or mental image.
In spite of being quite different in their meanings, all these three words are closely related and dependant on each other.
Set of values which I learnt and inhaled in my school days; seem to have no consequences in the so called “professional” world. Then what do you call all these (beliefs),” Analyzing and understanding the context, conceiving the spaces with a deeper meaning than mere aesthetics” Illusion???????? Or an ideal scenario which is to be desired & achieved only in form of a mental image.
What is the solution?
“Learn to compromise” is the easiest way out. Compromise with your beliefs, compromise with your values, compromise with yourself & the list goes on and on and on…
the other day I was watching an interview of a famous actor, Jhonny Depp. One of the girls from the audience, who was about to graduate from her acting course, asked him that, “what advice he would like to give to the young aspiring actors who are about to start their careers” and the answer he gave was not aimed at a particular field or to a particular situation. It was simple philosophy and firm belief of his life which somehow showed the ray of hope to me also.
So without wasting anymore time, it’s over to Jhonny Depp.
“The best piece of advice I had received, was from my mom. When I was a kid, there was this other kid who was bugging me. So I told my mom that this kid is bugging me and she said all right the next time he puts his hand on you, just pick up the nearest piece of rock and lay him out. And then I did. I felt better. It worked for me. For me that was great lesson because someone had invaded my space, my being.
And then many years later, after being turned into a product (he calls himself the product of producers & directors) by a very huge corporation. They had their hands all over me and I could not escape it. At that time I promised myself that I would continue to move forward and do my best. Not to compromise in anyways whatsoever. Not to allow anyone to put their hands on me in the manner that it affects me that way.
So the best piece of advice is to keep moving forward. And don’t give a shit to what anybody thinks and keep moving forward & do what you have to do.”
So I would keep moving forward without compromising with my beliefs, my values & myself. What would happen at the most, I would fail disastrously. Does not really matter, I would fail and I would learn. But most importantly I would be honest with myself “I failed but I tried”