Did you guys watch Nadan and Federer final last evening? I guess it was too late in the night for most of you guys but for me it was a perfect afternoon. Rarely you get to watch a match which would eventually a history as longest and one of the best to-date. To say it was superb will be an understatement I guess. I am always a Federer supporter. Not sure why though. May be because he won Junior Wimbledon when I was in Switzerland and since his photos was on all the channels and papers which I could not understand anyway but could clearly make out the pictures and read his name! May be also because I love the serve and volley games and he resembles Sampras much and probably will go down in history as one of the greatest. Its fun to watch good games and if its a great one like this, its an added bonus. There are always some games you never forget right?

I still remember the first Wimbledon finals I watched. Pat Cash won in 1987 and I remember watching it in neighbor’s place with lots of kids sitting in the living room on a black and white Solidier TV! Can't believe its been 21 years ago. After that its been so many good games. Becker, Agassi, Steffi, Hingis, Navratilova and ofcourse Lendl who could never win a Wimbledon. Coming back to the game, even though I rooted for Federer, the sheer resolve of Nadal to come back every time he was down made me appreciate him all the more. Somehow I don’t quite like guys who win French open always but cant make it on grass but this guy should be fun to watch. The grace with which Federer accepts his defeats should put him on the top of the people I love the most. Sampras sure joins the team.

Its just apt for Wimbledon to quote the great Kipling  <a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html">IF</a>

in its boards

<i>If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same</i>

Why just tennis, dont we all remember some TV moments as if it just happened. After internet, google and now youtube its fun to catch up those again on net! Try it out some time.Be it Jadeja's catch against Pakistan in Bangalore during World Cup semi-finals or Tendulkar's six of Akhtar in semi-finals or his back to back centuries against Aussies in Sharjah or watching unlucky Klusner on other end watching Donald batting or the look on SA's team after they got to know 23 out of 1 ball is required. 

Its amazing to think now that how we not only remember the game but also the people we were with while watching. Like when Srinath first played for India, we were all watching it in our colony club. That was the time when people had just started to have TV's in their house but cable TV was not there yet. We always thought its fun to watch games in club rather than in our house for the sheer excitement it gives. We had all heard about Srinath by reading papers but then no Ranji trophy was ever broadcast on TV and we did not even know how he bowls and how he looks! Very first he bowled ( which I think was a wide ) , a friend remarked 'For a bomman ( Brahmin a.k.a Veggie) , he bowls pretty fast' . Inspite of gaining age, intelligence and other things to know things like and thats how it is with everything, we just want to keep somethings the same. Atleast I do or atleast watching good games with friends once in a while atleast once in a year :-)

Talking about growing up, other day this Russian guy in my office asked me out of blue to show him on Google map ( satellite ) where I grew up. Till then I had never thought I can do that so easily. Taking a look at it first made and that too from a top view was amazing. All other memories just back. Where we learnt cycling, where we swam, where we played cricket, how we went to school! Thanks to him to even show the interest on something which he probably may not see in his life. For complete two hours that day , all we did in out team was to huddle in his seat and look at each other's home town be it in China, Russia, India or Europe!

Well, so long!