Sunday, April 09, 2006

My hero ..

So often , we come across sportsmen who touch our heart , fire our imagination and inspire us to reach heights we would've never even dreamt of asipiring for , let alone achieve.Some of them stay forever in our memories , while some just peter out.

Think I was just seven , when I saw a certain seventeen year old Indian tennis player make his Davis Cup debut against South Africa. Don't remember as to what happened in his first match , but all that he has done ever since , is the stuff legends are made of.

Leander Vece Paes exemplifies what sheer dedication and grit , coupled with a hell lot of courage can do to an individual. As a player on the ATP tour , Leander would come across as one of those also rans , who would win a couple of rounds (if he is lucky), run around a bit , but then just phase out. But with the Indian tricolour on his back , Leander becomes a man possessed. Such is the greatness of the man that the statistics of 108 Davis Cup victories,47 of them in singles and an almost surrealistic 20 wins out of 22 matches in doubles , hardly tell us the entire story. Seeing him churn out one match winning performance after another on the Davis Cup circuit , without creating any fuss about the lack of support is what the man is all about.

His bronze medal winning performance at the Atlanta Olympics , the mauling of Goran Ivanesevic on a sultry Delhi afternoon , the browbeating of Henri Leconte , fighting till his last breath against Andy Roddick , all his best performances have come when representing the nation. Leander Paes embodies a true Indian hero.. Fighting against and rising above the system , having at the most decent if not mediocre talents , but still carrying on relentlessly on the dint of his determination and love for the country.
In an era , where the likes of Sania Mirza ( who's not even come close to winning a Grand Slam event ) have a cult following , the likes of Leander and their performances always get underestimated.They say Ramanathan Krishnan was a great sportsman , the first Indian to be ranked as high as number three in the world, but it is very tough to comprehend , that anyone could have made as much an impression on Indian tennis , as much as Paes has.

Today .. He has nothing left to prove. But faced with a situation where India was set to lose their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan for the first time , Leander took over the mantle, and did what he is best at ...Chipping and charging , running from one end of the court to the other , and volleying like no one else can. Age might have eaten away at his fitness , but his undying passion for success will always remain untouched. Watching him get teary eyed after the victory would have melted even the sternest of hearts.

A day would come , when even he would fade away into the sunset..And what a sad day it will be.Watching an icon bid goodbye to a sport he graced so beautifully.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Here it comes ..

Ask any damn Mumbai University engineering student , which is his most dreaded period in the semester .. And pat would come the reply "The period just before the sem end , with all the submissions and vivas."

So here we go again .. Into the last month before the exams ..
Where not a single day goes by , without hearing about a new rumour about the term end and papers. You finally realise that the money given by your pop to buy books should have been put to better use , than to hog on junk food.When you wish ud started writing those tiring assignments and journals a week earlier.
When you can't even bunk lectures to stay at home and study , coz your attendance is below par and you desperately want to cope up on that front.
It finally dawns upon you that probably paying attention in class would've been of a lot more help than sitting on the last bench and solving Su Dokus and Mind Teasers.

Undergoing the same experience for the 8th time now in 4 years. Though am glad to know that I m not the only one to ..


Channel [V] : " WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY "