Australian Open Finals: Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer

I couldn't have asked for more on a sunday afternoon.. It was a treat to watch Nadal and Federer play in the finals of this season's first Grand Slam, The Australian Open!! The two tennis Gods, when they meet on courts as opponents, they just give their lives on the court..

It was Australian Open finals, in melbourne, Rod Laver arena, a hard court, Roger Federer(The Swiss champ) vs Rafael Nadal (The Spanish.. world no.1).. the perfect oponents!! When they play I sometimes feel, they are not humans!! I felt the same in the epic Wimbeldon finals last year, that was the last grand slam finals they played.. Nadal won then.. defeating the king of grass court(Federer).. Also Nadal had defeated Federer in Roland Gaross on the clay court.. So this time it was way more interesting to see the two rivals meet again in the third kind of court!!



You just cant describe the perfection with which these two play.. Nadal's 'impossible' backhand returns and Federer's superb forehand shots.. GOD!! The shots were calculated, measured, and executed so flawlessly.. The ball was being called out by a margin of micro millimeters I guess.. Both of them stretched beyond limits!! There was one particular set in which I had lost the count of number of times they battled on deuce,advantage.. It was awesome seeing them fight for single single point.. They play with amazing spirit..

But towards the end of the game.. We could see that, Federer had exhausted all his ideas.. We could see him loosing his cool.. He had little unwanted conversations with the umpire(Federer is not usually seen doing that).. He started making more 'unforced errors'.. Roger made 64 unforced errors in comparison to Rafael's 41.

At the end of all this, The spaniard outclassed the Swiss Champ.. Nadal won.. 7-5, 3-6,7-6,3-6,6-2.. This was Rafael's 6th Grand Slam Singles title.. and Nadal is the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open..

But the match was little less exciting than the finals of Wimbeldon 2008..

It was a emotional match too.. Federer broke down and he couldn't stop himself from crying.. and when I saw Federer in tears.. I also found my eyes moist..(Though I was supporting Nadal through out the match!!).. Federer has 13 Grand Slam titles in his name.. And when a player of such a class said 'God.. Its killing me" It made me feel weird.. You could see how much he wanted the title, and how dissapointed he was.. If he had won this he would have equalled Pete Samprs' record of 14 Grand Slam Titles..

I thoroughly enjoyed the 4hrs 23 mins play..

Teachers..

Teachers.. Can you do without them in your life??.. They always are and will be a part of our lives inevitably.. This post is dedicated to my teachers..

They are one such 'group of people' who always hold a place in your memories.. be it good or bad.. I have had my share of good teachers and the not so good ones.. And the most beautiful part is.. when I ask my papa, he also has some fond memories of his teachers.. and more interestingly.. my grandfather also has 'n' number of stories of his encounters with his masterji's. This holds true across ages..

It is so important to have the right kind of teachers at the right time.. When we start going to school at the tender age of 2.5 years.. you start spending 6 to 7 important hours a day of your life with a set of people.. and you start sharing a lot of emotions with them sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly.. you start getting angry on them when they scold you.. you sometimes get scared.. you sometimes love them so much.. They are like celebrity in your life.. You want to know where your teacher stays and many such small things.. Your life starts revolving around them..

And its now when the teachers shape your personality to a very large extent, they embibe in you the morals, the values they believe in.. I feel it is so important for a teacher to tell his/her student about 'what the child can do' and not keep telling him/her 'what he can't do'

I find parents going to teachers in 'Parents Teacher Association' and telling them "My child is too shy.. Please help her in gaining some confidence". What an irony!! Such is a teacher's influence in child's as well as parent's life!!

As we grow into teenagers ( The most sensitive and critical phase of our life ).. you start wanting teachers to be more like your friend.. This is when you start rating your teachers as 'Cool Teachers' and 'the Khadus ones' . I remember in my school, my sir had once told " A teacher can always be your best friend, but the difference is a teacher also has the liberty to act as your guardian.. and the viceversa doesn't hold true" A teacher can so beautifully play a mentor's role.. Teenagers feel and face so many circumstances that they have no clue about!! and most of it is in school and if not, atleast revolves around the school.. Who else can be a better guide than a teacher!!

A teacher has the same capacity to play a devil's role in a child's life as much as he/she has the capacity to play an angel's role.. A teacher can change your life in either ways.. They play such an important role in teaching you the 'process of learning'.. Learning becomes so much fun when you have right kind of teachers.. Atleast for me I can learn anything under the sun if I am taught by the right person in the right way..

I feel a best teacher is who can make you think.. Infront of whom you can make infinite mistakes and still dare to make many more mistakes.. (and learn also!!).. Infront of whom you can put your stupidest of doubts confidently!!(I remember telling my maths teacher that I will prove that there is nothing like 'Imaginary numbers' and 'square of a number can be negative'
(I know its funny!!) but he was game for it!! He never said no to any of my doubts!!) why I am telling this is that this gave me so much more interest in the subject.. I started loving the subject and spending more time with the subject..

It is so important for teachers to show confidence in their students.. Teachers must act like confidant and not like detectives(I have an experience where a teacher was more of detective than a teacher!!)

Real teachers have become so rare.. But I am blessed.. My school, Delhi Public School, gave me 3 to 4 gem of teachers.. Surprisingly I couldn't find even one in college!! :) I have learnt and learning more about 'everything' in my school and office than I learnt in college(excluding the hostel life!!)

I guess no one can be blamed for lack of real teachers.. Because most of us in order to keep pace with everything happening around tend to forget the basics of life.. So is with the teachers.. They come to schools, college, spend 8 hours and go!! This is what is required to earn daily bread.. Its entirely on the individual.. He/She might need not be a teacher by profession, he/she might not have 10 degrees.. its only about ideas.. ideas on how to groom a child, on how to let a person grow(need not be a child!!) and every individual might have a different idea on this and have his/her own ways.. and the one who has it.. is a teacher!!

Thank you all my teachers!!

And before I forget.. This post is an outcome of my conversation with one of my school teachers!! and my recent experiences!! I am still finding good teachers!! Or may be I am lucky!! :)

Trip to Pondicherry..

I spent an awesome 'Long weekend' in pondicherry.. We started at 10.30 pm on the friday night.. i.e on 23rd Jan. We were to reach pondicherry in 6 hours.. but we took 10 hours.. :P kudos to our driver.. I dont regret a bit.. We enjoyed everybit of the delay. Finally when we reached and settled in the hotel.. Soon we were ready to go to the Pondicherry city beach(The main beach in the city). Its a beautiful one.. Its a rocky beach.. a stretch of around 1.5 km. You can't get inside the water.. but it was such an amazing experience to just be there on the sea shore.. be it afternoon, midnight.. I could sit there infinitely.. sometimes thinking a lot of things and sometimes nothing at all.. And there is a cute little french colony adjacent to the beach(with streets and restaurant's in french names).. It was so relaxing to walk on the clean streets of the colony at 11 o clock in the night with cool breeze from the sea.. It felt great.. On saturday night there was this country music being played on the beach.. The beats were such that it rejuvenated all of us..

On the first day we also visited the famous Aurobindo ashram.. The silence there with atleast 50 to 60 people around at a time amused me.. People were meditating(Atleast I could see people sitting with their eyes closed.. so I am assuming everybody was meditating) Now, I have a reason to mention this.. one of our friends had slept sitting in the ashram(the crowd there thinking that he is in deep meditation).. The funniest part is he snored after a while and everybody was looking at him and laughing.. We all ran out in embarrassment.. :) The ashram has a small garden but a beautiful one.. Every single flower looked so fresh.

The next day we visited this place called Aurovill.. Its little away from the city.. I guess around 10 kms. There is a temple called maitri mandir.. its like a golden globe.. looks beautiful from outside.. We couldn't go inside because it was sunday and the temple closes by 1 on sunday. The temple has a crystal on which the sun rays fall and gets scattered in a way which is worth seeing. Also there is a beach here which is not so clean.

There is a french museum and a botanical garden(established in 1826) also in the city.

On the third day we visited a beach called paradise beach. There is a resort called Chennambur resort.. From here we took a streamer that sailed through the backwaters and we reached the beach.. And then the adventure began.. We all dived into the sea and did not feel like coming out of it.. We played catch catch.. I tried learning swimming also.. :P.. It was real fun..

The climate there was normal coastal climate.. hot and humid in the afternoons.. and cool and windy in the evenings..

The food.. Oh My God!!.. Me being the only eggetarian could not try a lot of things.. but my friends who were non-vegetarians ate almost every species found under the sea or over the sea.. they ate crab, prawns, squids, and a few things they even couldn't recognize.. On the whole french food was yummy.. few of the well known restaurants are Rendezvous, Sathsang(The environment is exactly oppsoite to the name), The Promenade.

Then while coming back we planned to go to Mahabalipuram through the ECR(East coast Road), It has back waters on its sides.. Looks beautiful.. The road is well maintained.. well maintained would be an understatement.. I felt like taking the drivers seat and driving fast.. faster..

One of the 'not so very good' part about Pondicherry is that all the beaches are closed for tourists at 6 p.m. except the main city beach..

On the whole I could, to an extent fulfill my expectations that I from a vacation.

'Professionalism' or ' A way to mask your 'shortcomings'

My mind today was preocuppied the whole day.. I had a experience today in office that yet again made me believe to be careful of people around!! Its so 'not good' to be 'professional'. The so called 'professionals' might just be back stabing you and call it 'being professional'. In the 3rd month of mine, in this corporate world.. I found a strange thing.. People with 5 to 6 years of experience want me to get involved in the stupid office politics. I really couldnt believe I was forced to be a part of the politics (me being the junior most designation wise, age wise).. Politics out of which no one is going to gain anything!! (I tried my best not to be a part of it and faced the consequences!!)

Today was one more day when I was forced to think on the same lines.. and I know there are many more to come.. I just hope that people around in workplace are not acting all the time.. I hope they potray themselves as they are..

And now, after writing this I feel that this post is nothing but a vent to my frustration.. I am new to this world of prefessionalism.. So I would be more than pleased if someone comes up and tells me that my view on professionalism is wrong.. :)

I should not forget to mention that I still find people who really want someone else to grow 'professionally'. :)