A tribute to the legend "ROGER FEDERER"

The crown is back with the King to lead him to be the all time Great Champion of the sport. A career Grand Slam (win at each of the four Grand Slams) with the total tally of 15 – a feat never achieved by any tennis player. History bows to Legend Roger Federer.

Winning at Rolland Garros earlier this summer, which eluded him for years, must have been the most significant achievement in his career which made tennis pundits hail him as the greatest. It wasn’t easy for him to win that championship. Loosing on previous three occasions in the finals to Nadal (considered the king of clay), it seemed he would have to repeat a Pete Samprass – win the most number of slams without the French title under his belt.

But destiny as it seemed was in favour of Roger this time. The exit of Nadal in the fourth round having lost to Soderling, was a blessing in disguise. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands and finished the tournament with perfect execution and fine play to become only the sixth player to win career Grand Slam. It was also his 14^th title, equalling Pete’s record. It was the tenth tine Roger had beaten Soderling who gracefully conceded that he lost to the “greatest player ever.”

Come Wimbledon it was all Roger in the news. Will he break Pete’s record was the centre of every sports column. And with the withdrawal of Nadal owing to his knee injury, it seemed all probable that Roger would get it. But the battle still had to be fought. And wow, how well did he rise to the occasion!! The road to his finals was not as smooth as we would have expected, but Roger, the champion he was, passed all the obstacles to reach final.

And what a final it turned out to be. Roddick was great. Roger was much greater. With a fine display of talent, skill, power and nerves, both played awesome tennis.

It might not be the greatest of the matches for a purist, who expects more of rallies, playing closer to the net, serve and volley (It was more of an Ace marathon dominated by service points win.), but indeed a great match of it own league to show how a duel would be, when one wants to show that he's made a real comeback and another in pursuit of the Ultimate record!!

But in the end, Roger has the last laugh in what was the longest fifth set in any Wimbledon final when Roddick succumbed to strain in the 30^th game and committed two errors to allow the champion win the title, win the record, and win the sport tennis!!

From his front row seat in the Royal Box with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, Pete Sampras was left with no doubt about who is the greatest male player of all time. "I have to give it to him," said Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon champion who never thought his record of would be surpassed so soon. "He's won all the majors. He's won 15 now. He's only 27. He's going to win a few more. So in my book he is (the greatest)."

With this triumph, Federer reclaimed the No. 1 ranking he surrendered last August to Nadal. “He's a stud,” Sampras said. “The guy, he's a legend. Now he's an icon.”

True, arguably, Roger Federer is the greatest player tennis had ever produced and his name will be in the history for as long as the sport is played.

What is Life?

This question must have been raised infinite number of times , but till today there is no definite answer to it.  Once born, it is inevitable for us to die, no matter what happens in between.  

So why bother to live it in an ideal way (as preached to us). Life more than being a social and economic, is an end to end biological process. Right from our birth, as time goes by, a new biological process is taking place. Everything related to living being- thoughts, ideas, feelings etc are biological.  Every other process (psychological, philosophical, social, and economical) of life, barring spiritual, extends it. Many might argue that mind and its behavior is something out of reach of our body, still these thoughts are occurring in and due to, the existence of the physical body, and hence I feel mind and its processes are still biological(Hey, what am I getting at!!).

Coming to the question raised here, whatever innumerable answers we get, when we dig deep into them, everything, as I showed above, is related to this basic process in one way or the other.

The point I’m trying to make is, Life, no matter what anyone says, is primarily about SURVIVAL. It might be of self, or of others, but it is about instinct to survive. All the actions, feelings even the issues and problems of us is related to this instinct(then, why think about them and worry?).

Thus, I would say LIFE is, whether it has a purpose or not, for living (i.e. surviving), so LIVE LIFE.

(Am I being Eccentric???)

Recession

Last Christmas, with the stock markets round the globe at peaks, BSE SENSEX Crossed 20k! , and the economic situation of the world looking very bright, everyone was in the mood of partying and having fun. Exactly one year later, things changed drastically. Markets plummeted down, SENSEX fell to a low of 6k, and job scenario looks rather insecure.
Many, unlike a few who follow business news regularly and are actually a part of it, might not know the real scenario behind this downfall. There are plenty who feel the reasons are subprime crisis, fall of Mortgage in the US etc , but the actual cause , I guess only a few know(Not that I’m one of them :P).

But, one thing is for sure, an open secret, the real culprit for all this, about which we have heard stories and were told at avoid it from our childhood, but still many posses it, is – GREED. Yes, it’s as simple as this- people were greedy and now are repenting.

I’m not talking about just one person, a group, group of companies being so. Its about all. People took loans and credit which they could not afford to repay. Banks had given it to them thinking they would get a lot of interest and with promoters, investors and financers, at their back; they wanted to multiply their profits. Those who were backing the I-banks and Companies, felt they were doing great business and thus supported them and poured money on them. Companies, around the world, invested, promised, employed and crossed their limits.

Everything was looking goody- goody and everyone was happy and expected a lot in the future. No one knew that they were actually standing on a sheet of ice, thinking it to be an unbreakable glass, and trying to reach the sky. What would happen when the ice reaches its threshold? It breaks and all the people standing on it would fall deep into the water. This is what happened, when the world markets reached their threshold, with people working on virtual business and its profits, they fell and everyone suffered huge losses.

So I guess, in future, before trying to reach for the sky, look where you are standing on, a glass or a sheet of ice. Not that I’m telling not to invest, do it, but securely.
I’m here to not to pinpoint at the reason or provide a solution to the existing recession and how world economy can come out of it (to be frank, I have no idea of them), but to provide a broader and general perspective of what had happened, so that next time people will be more cautious in putting their hard earned money expecting huge returns. And those who are in power like Government, SEBI etc can actually avoid this situation by regulating the system.

Still, it is said that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a different question of how long the tunnel is, time only will answer that.

(NOTE -: The views expressed here are completely personnel and may be different from the actual Facts.)

"Slumdog Millionaire" Ramblings

Ten Oscar nominations, Four Golden globe awards and more to come. No wonder this movie has put India on the global front, what with the thirst of millions of Indians for an Oscar to an Indian again would almost be quenched and who would be more deserving than the Master of music, the Legendary, the undisputed and unanimous King of Indian Music Industry— Allah Rakkha Rahman. He is one of the, if not the best music directors that India has ever produced. Should he win, and in all probability, with three Oscar nominations, I bet he would surely win, it would be one of the greatest achievement in the Indian cinema Industry, which I think every Indian would be proud of. It would be a crowning glory to the already fast spreading Indian Film Industry  and it would take our movies a step ahead in the Global Movie World

The Director, Danny Boyle, in the movie, showed how a slumdog from Mumbai, who was in the hunt of his love, was destined to become a millionaire by winning a “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” game show, his past experiences in life helping him answer, not only the very basic questions which a slum dog was not supposed to know, but also some of the most difficult questions (the answers to which, even the very educated from India might not know). 

The script, the background (Mumbai- the city of dreams, aspiration and skyscrapers which also posse’s one of the largest slums in the world), the setting, the music (No one but Rahman could have provided such a splendid music), the execution were nearly perfect and thus the movie had immediately gained  international attention it deserved.  The viewers, critiques and even the judges of the world’s famous award ceremonies could not but appreciate the masterpiece and make it as one of the landmark movie in the Indian Cine World.

But then it is said that even the Moon has black spots in it. Here, it is just a movie and it showed the darker sides of India—Poverty (especially life in the Slums) and Corruption, the problems from the very beginning, which India is struggling hard to eradicate. This realistic portrayal of India had drawn criticism from the likes of legendary Amitabh Bachchan and  management guru Arindam Chauduri who feel the movie, in spite of being a great entertainer, creates a false impression upon the viewers about Indians and their lifestyle, which would hamper India’s glory.

To add to that, a scene in the movie where the host of the game show tries to make the protagonist lose, by writing the wrong option on the mirror and even get him arrested to find out the source of his correct answers, depicts the host as mean and narrow-minded who is unable to digest the fact that a slum dog (i.e., a chai wala, as he calls the protagonist) would win the game show. Thus, it’s no strange that a few Indians feel that the movie is a downside illustration of the fast developing India which is enjoyed by the so called rich and elite West.

All said, the movie is running to packed houses and overall it has received  great ratings from the common viewer.  Movies, no matter what’s underlying them, if they are able to show something new and novel and at the same time entertain, would always be successful and Slumdog Millionaire is a fitting example of that. This is where Danny Boyle strikes a perfect chord with the audience and critiques which have enabled the movie win laurels and awards and a chance for an Indian to win the Academy Award. Isn’t that great!!!

" Heart Has Its Reason Which Reason Knows Nothing Of "

It means that the heart has a reason for an action that reason (Mind) cannot explain.
One's heart has its own intentions (to do some activity) but reason i.e., mind/logical thinking, doesn`t understand them, doesn`t know anything about the reasons of one's heart, one's reason (Mind) doesn`t know why you want to do that activity.
The heart's reasons are mostly emotional and sometimes illogical where as the mind feeds on logic and rationality. The heart senses what cannot be seen and thereby makes its decisions on what it feels and not on what the eyes see. It is the heart trying to process its own information like the mind is doing, just that it is not able to use logic to explain off. Sometimes, one might behave irrational on account of this
There are many situations in which both the heart and mind might contradict. What the person believes is right and acts decide his character, his personality.
Take the case of love at first sight. You meet a person for the first time, is attracted by his/her behavior, qualities and then start loving him. Here the heart feels and responds, it doesn`t even care whether this person would be good to/for you, you`re in love and there is no way out. There are others who inspite of getting attracted to a person may THINK... (you use your brain, mind, reasoning), hey, I don`t know this person and I`ve fallen in love with her/him - it`s stupid- your mind tells you so.
Thus, this conflict of rationality between heart and mind exists always and a judicious decision has to be taken by a person depending upon the situation .One has to balance both heart and mind to become a successful personality. To put it short, in my way, on the personnel front one has to give more weightage to the heart and its reasons while, on the professional side, listen to your mind.