Australian Open, Federer and Baghdatis

I don't know when I started watching tennis. I have faint memories of a few matches I saw on TV when I was very young.

Gabriella Sabatini was a collective favourite of the family. I remember a few of Boris Becker's matches and how he used to fall every now and then. I also recall some matches involving the extremely vocal Monica Seles. Aaji was convinced that she knew Marathi and that she was shouting "Aahey!" or "Nahiye!" while hitting the ball. But I always liked Graf more than Seles. Graf was more graceful.

As with any other sport, even with tennis I have a special liking for the underdogs in the game. I always cheer for Kenya when they are not playing against India, I was cheering right throughtout Wimbledon 2001 for the wildcard entrant Goran Ivanisevic. I was really sad when he lost 2 previous Wimbledon finals to Pete Sampras. Agassi has been one of my favourites after his comeback, maybe because he was being counted as down and out.

Over the past few years, Federer has been my favourite in mens tennis. I don't think I need say anything about Sharapova. Well, she's cute isn't she? And she has beaten the Williams sisters quite regularly, what more can I ask for?

Coming back to Federer, I just love the way he plays tennis, it comes so naturally, so easily to him. It's like he was born to play tennis. Calm, collected and immaculate with his shots.

But now I'm confused. Whom should I cheer for in this year's Australian open final? Not that my prayers really matter, but I have to take somebody's side. On one hand is Federer. On the other, there is the underdog, Baghdatis, who is on a dream run at Melbourne. Having beaten Roddick in the second round and after a brilliant comeback act against David Nalbandian in the semi final, he looks unstoppable.

May the best man win!

Name decoders and Personality tests

Some dumb personality tests I took some days back and a fodu name decoder , which I tried today have given me enough matter to write an utterly useless post. Here it is:

Cyborg name decoder says Sankalp means:



Monster name decoder says:




Sexy Name decoder:




Then there are my Irish, Hawaiian, Japanese, elf and 1920s names:

Your Irish Name Is...

Gill O'Connell

What's your Irish Name?

Your Hawaiian Name is:

Nahele Keahi

What's your Hawaiian Name?

Your Japanese Name Is...

Jiro Matsuki

What's your Japanese Name?

Your Elf Name Is...

Freckles Snowballer

What's Your Elf Name?

Your 1920's Name is:

Wardell Elvis

What's Your 1920's Name?

I couldn't believe my Scary score:

You Are Scary

You even scare scary people sometimes!

How Scary Are You?

or this:

How You Are In Love

You take a while to fall in love with someone. Trust takes time. You give and take equally in relationships. You need your space and privacy. You don't like to be smothered. You love your partner unconditionally and don't try to make them change. You stay in love for a long time, even if you aren't loved back. When you fall, you fall hard.

How Are You In Love?

This made ROFL:

Your Personality Profile

You are pure, moral, and adaptable. You tend to blend into your surroundings. Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends. You believe that you live a virtuous life... And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye. As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Don't know what this means:

Your 2005 Song Is

Beverly Hills by Weezer "My automobile is a piece of crap My fashion sense is a little whack And my friends are just as screwy as me" You breezed through 2005 in your own funky style!

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Weird score:

You Are 70% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

No comments about this!

Personality tests are absolute crap!

Your Personality Is

Rational (NT) You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas. You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy! Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people. In fact, you're often a little short with people who don't impress you mentally. You seem distant to some - but it's usually because you're deep in thought. Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals. In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent. At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia. With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can't take your criticism well. As far as your looks go, you're coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly. On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

The Three Question Personality Test

Heart Colour?

Your Heart Is Purple

For you, love is about establishing and developing a deep connection. If it's true love, it brings you more wisdom and inner strength. Your flirting style: Sincere Your lucky first date: An afternoon at a tea house Your dream lover: Is both thoughtful and expressive What you bring to relationships: Understanding

What Color Heart Do You Have?

Your Hidden Talent

You're super sensitive and easily able to understand situations. You tend to solve complex problems in a flash, without needing a lot of facts. Decision making is easy for you. You have killer intuition. The right path is always clear, and you're a bit of a visionary.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Yeah, right!

I have many more results, but I guess this is enough.

Sidin quits consultancy for freelancing!

I log on to bloglines and what do i find? Sidin has posted again today. Two posts in two days? I click the link and read the post .

So the news is that Sidin, the author of my favourite blog, has chucked his cushy consultancy job to follow his passion. Kudos and good luck to him.

Sidin's profile: here

End of a long hiatus

Life is full of surprises. Things may look bleak, but they can change in no time, it's just a matter of staying positive. I am riding a wave of optimism, thanks to the developments in the past few days.

I had the idea about this post right from the time I came back after the vacation, but I kept postponing it. Maybe because I felt that all that I was writing was getting too self-centred. But since I haven't been able to think of anything better, I'll go ahead with this idea.

So, this is how the story goes. I am sitting in this train on my way back to Hyderabad from Indore. I realise that I have left my room key at home and that I have locked the spare key in my room itself. "No big deal, I can easily break the lock", I think. But then suddenly I feel sad, as if I am going to lose a faithful companion.

Interesting isn't it? How these things become our friends unknowingly. It was the same lock which had been with me in Kota for an year, which had guarded room 334 for another and had sincerely hung on to the door of room 331 for a semester. Almost 3 years, it had been a part of my daily life. The click sound it made as I slid the key in and turned it had been taken for granted, but now I miss it.

This set me thinking about other such friends. I think my best inanimate friend is my cap. It has been the most reliable and faithful friend for almost 4 years now. I have carried it everywhere with me, Indore, Kota, Hyderabad, the HKD trek. I also remember how I happy I had felt when I got it back after I lost it in a classroom at Bansal once.

It is special for another reason too. It reminds me of the innumerable nights we(Samay, Gabbu, Tarun and I) spent at Tarun's place trying to slog in the final few months before the competetives started in 12th. In the morning, while coming back home, Gabbu would always wear the cap. He absolutely loved it. Once, he even drove his bike against heavy traffic to retrieve it, when it blew off his head on the road.

It is not that the cap has been lucky for me. It's just that it has been with me in good times and bad.

I'm sure everyone has such companions, maybe we take them for granted. If this post helps you recognise your 'friends', which I hope it will, do leave a comment.

2006

Another year has passed and has left me with many memories, both bitter and sweet.

The first day in 2006 has taught me a very important lesson. Death is not such a far off possibilty as it seems. Life is short, so live it to the fullest.

In the past 20 years, I have said or done so many things that I should not have. So, today, to start off the new year with something new, something good, I apologise to all those whom I have hurt. I didn't really mean what I said, just forgive me. Who knows? I may die tomorrow and I don't want to die with this burden.

May the new year bring a new ray of hope to the distressed, love and friendship to the lonely, good health to the diseased, success to the persevering and happiness and cheer to one and all.