Serenity

Sitting in the balcony with my back to the wall,
Staring into the sky at raindrops as they fall,
Conscience light, mind vacant, eyes unseeing,
Delighted I am, my worries are fleeing.

A light breeze blows some leaves off a tree,
A kite entangled in it is nudged, and sent free,
The rainwater patters on the roof of a car,
As I sit quietly, and watch from afar.

A peddler pauses under the tree for shelter,
He sets his wares down to take a breather,
Lighting a beedi, he squats at its foot,
Enjoying an idyllic moment, without a moot.

Whether time stands still or flies by, I know not,
Glancing inside, I pick my guitar off the cot,
Strumming chords in a random sequence,
I hum some unrecognizable tune in cadence.

(Dedicated to Gaurav D. Jain, who just called up to appreciate Emotions 😉

MJ

[Listening to: It Is Scary (Michael Jackson) – (5:35)]

I want to close my eyes, lift my head upward, and scream out loud,

“Let them all materialise!!”

If only I could..

Unfortunately, my colleagues will not brook such atrocity. I purse my lips, Alt+Tab to switch to my browser window, and carry on with the tutorial.

This is the last day of my too-short-for-the-liking bench period. Tomorrow will see me in a new assignment. Fulfilling my desire of a “test automation role in the storage domain”, the project augurs well. I only hope it is so. Its crossword time..

Day 9- Hewitt

©EPA/ G.Penny

“COME ON!!”

That shout sent a tingle down my spine. There he stood, as always, with his cap turned backwards in salutation to his fans; Lleyton Hewitt, the man who’d earned my support by obliterating the “Safin-ouster” (as I call Feliciano Lopez). With that resounding 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) victory, he has proved himself the man most deserving, beyond doubt, of single combat with “God” (as I call Roger Federer). Tomorrow, the phrase “Clash of the Titans” will attain a new meaning.

Andy Roddick is in top form, as he showed by beating Sebastien Grosjean, in spite of the excellent tennis played, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. But like Gonzalez’s booming serves and rocketing forehands were, his too will be reduced to mere popguns against Federer in the finals, a repeat of last year’s. He will, however, have to play the 2002 Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson first. Johansson played well to beat David Nalbandian, runner-up here in 2002, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-2.

Emotions

Cry, ‘cuz your eyes need washing,
Laugh, ‘cuz your cheeks need stretching,
Shout, ‘cuz your throat needs clearing.

And hey, do all three at once if you can,
‘cuz your life needs rejuvenation.

You’re not the one to tell me to die,
I’m not the one to tell you good-bye,
And they’re not the ones to say we’re alive.

Look there, tell me, do you see him dance?
Thats ‘cuz he knows he’s disrupted your fantasies..

(To be contd.)

Day 8- Venus

Mary Pierce won her first game against Venus Williams only in the second set! Her game then underwent a makeover, and she took the set into a tie-break, but lost by a hair’s breadth, the score being 6-0, 7-6 (12-10).

Venus will face Sharapova next, and though I want the latter to win, I fear it shall not be so. The other semi-final will be between Davenport and Mauresmo. Today’s Men’s Singles matches are gonna be awesome! I’m even thinking of leaving office early, to watch. 😉

Watch out for..

..these beauties.

©AFP/ de Souza

©Getty/ C.Brunskill

Day 7- Top Seeds..

      
©AELTC                                      ©EPA/ F.Coffrini

..Lindsay Davenport and Roger Federer did their due, by def.ing Kim Clijsters and Juan Carlos Ferrero to advance to the quarter-finals. Clijsters did not make it easy for Davenport, saving a match point in the second set and holding serve to take it into tie-break. She won it too, with her agility and lovely ‘splits‘, but gave it all up by double-faulting thrice in the deciding set, the last one at match point. 😦 Davenport deserved to win though, showing determination instead of her suspect stamina. She will face Sania’s ouster next.

On the other hand, Federer just breezed through. Roddick also did the same. I foresee a final between them, tho’ I daresay Hewitt would beat Roddick if they were in the same half.

[Listening to: One By One – Enya – A Day Without Rain (3:54)]

Vin arrived!!

Vineesh got back to B’lore y’day, after a year on-site, in the UK. Ashok and I had planned to pick him up from the airport, but I was too sleepy after Sat’day’s CS session (Anoop, AKutty n’ I went to play n’ we were there for almost five hours), so I stayed at home monitoring Vineesh’s SMS updates, while Ashok agreed to bring Vinu over. His plane was delayed a few hours, and it was daybreak by the time they got home. We woke up AKutty, had tea, and sat down to play Monopoly till the others woke up. We breakfasted at the Andhra Mess and munched on the chocs Vinu brought back, after which he went to church to pass on to his unc, their share. He’s got himself a nice phone too.

At 10, AKutty n’ I helped Siddhu shift to his sis’ place in Brigade Millenium. We picked up Shivu before going there. Then we got back home and rode to MegaMart on Anoop’s bike, where AKutty bought some shirts and we got ourselves a pair of jeans each, all at throwaway prices. We got home to find Vineesh just back. All the juniors dropped in after noon, whilst I grabbed forty winks. After I woke up, we took a walk to KBC (Mallu Mess closeby) for ‘kappa n’ meen curry‘. We went to GoldenQ after that, to play snooker. Tho’ we had to play doubles thru’out, everyone played quite well, so it was OK. In the evening, Vinu wanted to meet Shivu/Siddhu, so we paid them a half-hr visit and got back home, to go with the juniors to Lemon Grass restaurant on Sarjapur Rd for dinner.

Birthday Pot

Sat’day was my darling junior Rakesh‘s birthday, so I got home early on Friday to order him a birthday cake. AKutty got home soon after and we went together to collect it. Chandra picked us up in his Alto at about 11pm. We got to Rakesh’s place n’ met Zaki, Robin, Kicha, etc. and had a lot of fun. Chandra wanted to go to Zaki’s place to spend the night, so we tagged along.. They potted while we slept. AKutty n’ I woke up early on Sat’day n’ took a walk. Zaki’s place is just opp. the Lalbagh East Gate. We bought a potted plant for home before going back with Chandra.

Gaurav called up at noon to find out if we were interested in some CS, so we went over with Anoop to play. We got back home ‘cuz Rajiv (AKutty’s batch– college junior) had come there. I took them to Jayanagar 4th Block, ‘cuz AKutty wanted to buy trousers. We dropped in at Nandhini later for supper, but it was too crowded, so we took a carrier meal parcel home and had it there.

Day 6- Murray, Clijsters, Federer

            
©Getty Images/ C. Brunskill         ©Getty Images/ P. Cole                  ©AFP/ A. Dennis

This article I read off www.wimbledon.org describes beautifully what transpired to end the English dream that was Andy Murray. After taking on an inspired two sets to nil lead over David Nalbandian, I switched off the TV and luckily, didn’t have to watch the rest. Andy was tiring too fast to stay in the match, and soon, fatigue prevailed to gift a 6-7, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 win to an undeserving Nalbandian.

Kim Clijsters was a pleasure to watch, as she took Roberta Vinci apart in a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Its a pity she’ll have to face the No.1 seed (who has lost only eight games yet) in her next match. Serena Williams‘s lack of preparation showed in her straight sets 3-6, 6-7 (4-7) defeat, which Jill Craybas was the author of. For the first time this Wimbledon, Roger Federer lost a set, but held on to win 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 7-5 over Nicolas Kiefer.