Ole Nole!

Yesterday, Novak "Nole" Djokovic won his third Australian Open.  Unlike the semifinal match between Federer and Nadal, which featured a lot of brilliant shot-making, this was a long, hard-fought grind fest.  It was like watching two heavyweight boxers trying to wear each other down by trading heavy body blows in the form of heavy, hard hit groundstrokes with vicious topspin. As I watched this long, grueling match, I felt almost as worn down at the players themselves.  It was the longest final in history at 5 hours 53 minutes.  Djokovic and Nadal could barely stand at the end of this match for the awards ceremony. Their arms and legs were understandably sore from the beating they inflicted on each other over.

What makes this win remarkable wasn't just the fact that he beat Rafael Nadal, the toughest guy on the ATP tour.  It's the fact that he beat Nadal at his own game... yet again!  Nadal likes to wear his opponents down with punishing groundstrokes and make them run all over the court.  In this match, the Djoker made Nadal do all the running and wore him down all the way to sweet victory.

It was a bitter defeat for Rafa -- he came so close to beating his nemesis but failed yet again.  But he seemed to take the loss in stride, which is a good sign.  I do hope Rafa can bounce back from this loss, but it's pretty apparent that Djokovic is in his head.

Enjoy this sweet victory Nole.... and take some pain killers for that sore body of yours!

Inspiration

This scene from "Batman Begins" is one of the greatest, most inspirational ones in all of Hollywood cinema.  The scenery and the music are superb and flow together in perfect harmony.  The acting performances from both Christian Bale and Liam Neeson were outstanding.  But that's not what makes this scene so great.  What makes this scene so great isn't the outstanding dialogues, the magical scenery, the background music or the legendary actors in it.  What makes it so great, what makes it so inspirational... is the fact that you can actually learn from it.

Permanent Vacation

It was another typical Monday.  Rows of cubicles were filled with sounds of feverish typing on the keyboards.  It was a busy day at the office and there was lots of work to be done.  Everyone was working hard.  Everyone… except Charumathi.  She was busy whining as usual... about the traffic, about the weather, about 'all the work' she has to do, about just about everything.

Her managers, Venkat and Santosh, were fuming, trying hard to keep their cool.  Even the usually calm Venkat was visibly upset.

"We’ve got a real problem here, Venkat.  We have to do something!"

"We will, we will.  Calm down." said Venkat, trying hard to console Santosh.

"When?  This has been going on for too long already.  She spends all day complaining, gets other people to do her work for her, and then complains that she has too much to do.  This is getting to be too much!"

"I know, I know.  We’ll come up with something. (short pause) Tell you what, let’s set up a meeting with her next week, and we’ll get to the bottom of this, ok?"

"Alright, fine" said Santosh begrudgingly.   No one hated "Charu the Complainer" the more than he did.  He despised her carelessness, her incompetence, her indifferent arrogance, pretty much everything about her.  He’s not one to be impressed with just a pretty face.  He labored on the rest of the week, fixated on the meeting to come, when could he finally Charumathi have it! 

The following Monday arrived and it was business as usual.  But something was different.  There was an eerie silence in the office.  There were no sounds of complaints screeching mercilessly through the air.  Finding this development rather strange, Venkat and Santosh instinctively headed straight to Charumathi’s cubicle, only to find her missing.  They searched for her all around the office and inquired everyone about her whereabouts but no one had seen or heard from her.  Both Venkat and Santosh were totally perplexed.  Finally they went to the HR office and spoke to the representative there.  The representative gave them the shock of their professional lives!

"Miss Charumathi has left the company."

"What?!?!" said Santosh and Venkat almost simultaneously.  Both were totally exasperated.

"Yes, here are her papers.  She turned them in last week."

How could she just leave without saying a word?!?!, they both were saying to themselves.  But they carried on with business as usual, chalking up this unfortunate event to be a blessing in disguise.  If nothing else, they wouldn't have to put up with Charumathi's constant whining.

The next Monday rolled forward.  As Venkat and Santosh began the weekday, they both got an even bigger shock than before.  Charumathi was back at her desk! Santosh went directly there, looking totally confused. I must be hallucinating, he was thinking.

"What are you doing here?!?!"

"What does it look like?  I’m working, of course" said Charumathi arrogantly.

"I can see that. But why?"

"Because it’s my job"

"Since when?!?!  We all thought you left the company already!"

"I didn’t leave.  I just went on vacation for one week."

"Vacation?!?!"

"Yes" said Charumathi, looking at Santosh like he was an incompetent fool.

"If you were going on vacation, don’t you think you should inform someone beforehand?!" asked Santosh. He was totally pissed off and exasperated by her attitude.

"I did.  I turned in my AVR form two weeks ago to HR."

Santosh just couldn't believe that she didn't inform her teammates or him or Venkat beforehand.  He was about to go off on Charumathi, but suddenly held back.  It was at that moment that he realized what had happened.  He dashed straight to Venkat’s office.  As the two men chatted, loud roars of laughter came from them both, which lasted several minutes.  After they regained their composure, they headed for Charumathi’s cubicle.

"Charu, you need to know something.  The ‘VR’ in AVR doesn’t stand for ‘vacation request’" said Venkat, barely able to control his laughter.

"It doesn’t?!" asked Charumathi, clearly looking worried.

"Nope.  Take a closer look" said Santosh, also grinning.  He showed her the form she filled out and pointed to the bottom of the page.

Charumathi looked at it nonchalantly at first, but then noticed a crucial detail she had previously missed.  The words she dreaded stared back at her:  Application for Voluntary Retirement!

Corporte World Lingo

The Corporate world is full of jargon, artificial-sounding buzzwords and inane catch-phrases, often rolled into one. As an IT Software developer who’s been in the industry for many years, I have been the recipient of many of these.  They say one thing but it means something totally different. I can’t help but roll my eyes every time I hear them.  Some of these may sound familiar -- check it out:


What they say: I need someone who can hit the ground running.
What it really means: It really means "I’m totally screwed. I desperately need someone to bail my sorry ass out of trouble." No one can hit the ground running -- you need time to at least assess what race you're in and who else is running.

What they say: Do you have the bandwidth?
What it really means: "You seem like your brain is fried. Can you pull yourself together to do this for me?"

What they say: Let's hit a home run.
What it really means: "I'm desperate to look good. It's the only thing that'll save me." (closely related to "hit the ground running").

What they say: You and I are not on the same page.
What it really means: "Get on my page. Your page is messed up."

What they say: Let's run the numbers and see how they look.
What it really means: "I know they look bad on first blush. But the true use of Excel is to keep changing the formulas until you find a format that makes the numbers look good."

What they say: My plate is full
What it really means: "Help I'm drowning with work" or "I would kill rather kill myself than to work on your project."

What they say: Let's close the loop
What it really means: "Let me make sure I'm not going to get into trouble for this one."

What they say: Let's touch base next week.
What it really means: "I don't want to talk to you now," or "You are on a short leash and you need to report back to me."

What they say: Keep this on your radar
What it really means: "This will come back to bite you...or me. So keep an eye on it."

What they say: Push the needle.
What it really means: "Take things to the next level"

What they say:  Let’s Leverage what we can for this project.
What it really means: Lets recycle previous work as much as possible.

What they say: We always follows the best practices in the industry.
What it really means: We always do it how everyone else is doing it.

What they say: We truly believe that Project X will add value to the organization.
What it really means: We’re trying to come up with as many reasons as possible to justify our program's existence.

What they say: We believe our product will impact bottom line in a positive way
What it really means: Our program is going to make money for the company.


If you’re an IT coolie... oops, sorry I meant IT Software professional... like me, you’ve surely heard most (or all) of these.  If you have any more good ones like this, pass it on to me.... if you have the bandwidth! ;-)

Double Fault -- Part IV

Click Here for Double Fault -- Part III

After the physically and mentally exhausting match of the previous day, Vijay was looking a lot better at the awards ceremony, though understandably nowhere near 100%. Vijay and Miguel both entered the court upon much anticipation. Both players were heartily congratulated for their efforts.  There they both stood on Centre Court... one with an incredible defeat, and one with an amazing victory.

Finally, as Vijay held up the winner's trophy, all his emotions that he had held back for so long had finally poured out uncontrollably in the form of tears.  The floodgates of emotions were now open, and as the crowd cheered on loudly, there was hardly a dry eye in the stadium and no one was sitting down.  Vijay's friends were also all teary-eyed.  They knew the significance of this moment.  Vijay Rajagopalan had finally broken out of his winless slump, cleared all expectations and most of all, closed the book on Nisha for good! 

Through the course of one match, everyone got to see a young tennis player throw up…and grow up.  You never get to see that in one ticket!

A few days later, Roshni called Vijay over to tell him 'some important news'.  The two met at Marina Beach. 

“Vijay, I have something important to tell you”, says Roshni.

“Yeah, I know”, says Vijay with a knowing smile.

Roshni was shocked. “You do?  How?!”

“Anand” 

Their eyes met… for a long time ..and the rest …is history!

Double Fault -- Part III

Click Here for Double Fault -- Part II

December was the only real "off-season" tennis players get, and he used that time to prepare hard for the Chennai Open, which he wanted to win very badly.  It would mean a lot to him to start off the year on a good note, but more importantly it would unload all the mental pressure of last year.

Vijay's opponent was Miguel Costa, a clay-court 'grinder' who likes to play long, drawn-out points to wear his opponent down.  Vijay had the power and shot-making, but Miguel had the relentless defense to negate Vijay's offense.  No free points from Miguel, Vijay had to earn them.

The first set was tight, but with a couple of good returns and a few big serves, Vijay wins the tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4).  But as the second set wore on, Miguel started to play more aggressive, impose his game more and started to get Vijay into those long, drawn-out rallies. 

Halfway through the second set, Nisha made her way into the stands.  She had bought a last minute ticket to see the match.  She was feeling remorseful for being so insensitive to Vijay.  She was all caught up in her joyful feeling of being engaged to a bigshot guy and didn't give enough thought to how she had hurt Vijay.  As luck would have it, the guy turned out to be a womanizing gigolo.  She was now totally ready to root for Vijay wholeheartedly.  Vijay's friends noticed her from the friends' box but gave her the cold shoulder.  Nisha would cheer on loudly throughout the match, but at this point it was too late to make any difference!  She was way up in the back rows and the enthusiastic Chennai crowd drowned her cheers.

The match was tight all the way, with neither man giving in an inch.  At 5-6, Vijay started to suddenly feel fatigued.  His stomach was bothering him.  He hadn't hydrated himself or ate properly that day, plus he was feeling rather tense.  At this point, his Thalassemia began to catch up with him. From this point, he was just going on sheer will!   He managed to hold and force a fifth set tiebreaker. This was it, it was make or break time… and both players knew it.  The match was almost 4 hours long, and Vijay’s only saving grace was the cool night air.

Vijay was fatigued badly, so he decided to shorten the points and play more aggressively.  I’m just gonna go for it, he said to himself. At this point, he was simply trying to survive the match, not really win it.  He was a wounded animal fighting back with a racquet and a ball.

The tiebreaker started with Miguel serving the first point.

0-0.  Vijay puts a good return in play and after a few penetrating shots, rips a vicious crosscourt forehand. 

1-0 Vijay. As Vijay serves a short second serve, Miguel rips a great return followed by a forehand winner down the line.

Then the unthinkable happens! Vijay suddenly feels nauseous, and starts to throw up on the court.  As he staggered, he leaned against the backboard, trying hard to gain his balance.  He was badly dehydrated and exhausted. As Miguel waits patiently, the crowd gasps nervously.  They wanted this win for their hero as badly as he did.  Vijay slowly gathers himself, wipes the excess vomit off his face as though it was nothing, and gets ready to serve.

1-1. Vijay serves a better first serve and hits a very aggressive backhand down the line, which throws off Miguel.  Miguel gets to the ball, but ends up hitting it long. 

The nervous crowd heaves a huge sigh of relief and let out a huge standing ovation!  They willed their hero through every point, cheering his name loudly and with immense gusto. 

And so the match would go back and forth, both Vijay and Miguel fighting for every point.  Between points, Vijay would hobble from one side of the court to the other like an old man.  He was only 23, but he was feeling like he was 53.  He fed off the crowd’s applause, using their emotions to gather enough fumes to play the next point. He was using them like a crutch, as he was barely able to move on his own. 

Each point felt like an entire set, and Vijay was going on pure adrenaline.  Miguel, on the other hand, was still fresh and ready to play for hours.  Both men wanted this win badly.  The guts were spilling on the court, both literally and figuratively!

6-6.  Miguel suddenly plays even more aggressively by hitting a big serve of his own, which forces a weak reply from Vijay.  Miguel puts away the easy shot for a winner.

Things seemed all but over.  One more point and Miguel Costa is the winner.

7-6 Miguel.  Vijay throws a changeup serve high to Miguel's backhand.  Miguel returns the ball short.  Vijay pounces on Miguel's weak return and sneaks into the net behind the shot.  Miguel sees this out of the corner of his eye and smartly plays a low backhand slice.  Vijay bends really low and picks the volley off  (almost off the floor!) crosscourt.  Miguel flicks the forehand crosscourt and hits a tremendous passing shot.. but Vijay throws everything in his being to lunge for the ball and glance it off his racquet for a clutch winner to save match point!!

After that miraculous save on match point, Vijay is all but spent.  He doesn't look like he has enough strength to stand up, let alone play another point all the way through!  A thousand things run through his mind. Should he quit? Should he go for broke?  If he doesn't win today, how long before he can win again and lift the emotional bag of bricks off his shoulders?!?!

7-7. Vijay hits a weak first serve that misses badly.  He takes his time and then out of nowhere hits a 2^nd serve ace, stunning everyone, including himself!!  The crowd gives a standing ovation!

8-7 (Match point Vijay).  Miguel, still stunned from the previous ace, serves a fault.  He gathers himself to serve again, and all of a sudden, in a rare moment of fragility in an otherwise perfect match …serves a double fault!

9-7 (Game-set-match Vijay Rajagopalan).  Both the crowd and the players were absolutely stunned!  Vijay and Miguel slowly make their way to the net and embrace each other in congratulatory respect. 

Vijay is quickly whisked off the court for treatment for medical attention.  As each player left the court, the crowd gave each one a separate standing ovation for their tremendous effort.  Everyone was physically and emotionally spent!

Click Here for Part IV

Double Fault -- Part II

Click Here for Part I

They met and chatted several times through the course of the following year.  After a while, Nisha's chattiness started to rub off on Vijay.  Around her, he started opening up more and more.  She always found it strange that it was easier for Vijay to strike a spectacular forehand winner than it is to strike up a conversation.  He was amazed at how long she could talk -- even his longest matches don't compare to his conversations with her!

They chatted about many things, and often nothing at all.  He was starting to become quite smitten with her, but didn't really know it.  This feeling was very scary, very foreign to a detached guy like him but part of him liked it.  She, on the other hand, liked him as just a friend.  Over time, they became very good friends.  But as their friendship grew, Vijay’s tennis performance declined.  He didn’t train as hard as before, and his form on the court was starting to slip.  He was too happy…. too satisfied… not hungry enough to win like before.  He was starting to lose more.

One day, they decided to meet for dinner at a favorite restaurant. Each of them had a “big news” to share with each other.  They meet up at their usual restaurant and exchanged some normal pleasantries.  Finally the defining moment came.

"Vijay, I have something exciting to share with you." said Nisha, with a big smile and full of excitement.

"Great!  I have something to tell you too!" said Vijay in anticipation. 

"You'll never guess what I'm about to tell you!"

"I think I have an idea", he said with a twinkle in his eye.

 "I doubt it.  But anyway, tell me your news."

After much hesitation, he finally forced out the words. "I like you, Nisha.  I really like you a lot!"

He had done it!  He had finally worked up the nerve to tell her.  This was the first time he had told a girl he liked her and wasn’t really sure what to expect.  But he felt like a big weight was taken off his shoulders as he heaved a big sigh of relief.

"Oh, that’s nice!" she said nonchalantly, almost indifferently.  She reacted like it was just some insignificant thing she heard on the news the other day. 

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.  Vijay was totally confused.  He didn’t expect this.  He was hoping to get a bigger reaction for such a big news.  This was such a slap in the face!  But he finally regained his composure.

"Ummm….. so what were you going to tell me?" he said hesitantly, almost at a loss for words..

"I'm getting married.  My parents fixed me up with this really cool guy.  He has his own business and he’s from a well-to-do family.  I got confirmed last week! Isn’t that great?!?!"

Vijay's jaws dropped to the floor.  He could say nothing. "Great”, he said half-heartedly, barely able to mouth the words.

"You don't sound like you're happy for me." said Nisha, unable to comprehend his pain.

"Happy?  Of course I'm happy!  I'm thrilled!! I'm totally thrilled that you just threw my love in the trash and then happily off marrying someone else!  HOORAY!"  he said, his voice full of bitter sarcasm. 

"What the hell is your problem?!  Who asked you to get carried away with your feelings, anyway?"

 Vijay’s blood was boiling now.  He was exasperated. He felt betrayed, backstabbed. "I didn't do it on purpose.  I didn't even realize it till much later.  You act like I committed a crime!"

"You know, if you were a real friend, you would be happy for me!"

Vijay snapped back "If you were a real friend, you would actually understand how I really feel.  But I guess that's too much to ask from an ice princess like you!"

"Oh, quit feeling sorry for yourself and grow up!"

"Quit being such a bitch!"

Vijay stormed out of the restaurant and never spoke to Nisha after that.  This was the last thing he needed.  He already had a lot of pressure, both self-imposed and from his fans, to win.  This "love" crap only made things worse.  After all, love means nothing in tennis!

The days following the fight with Nisha were absolute torture! Everything became harder, from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep.  Unlike most people, Vijay wasn't the type to talk, cry or scream out his problems.  He thought of everything in terms of wins and losses.  His only way of getting through his problems was to simply push harder and win, whether it was his father passing away or a love failure.  The highs from the wins would cancel out any of the lows.  This is just another loss to recover from, he kept saying to himself.

He would train harder and longer, drank more fluids, exercised more, did everything possible to try to win but it did little to help.  He would overdo his workouts and end up injuring himself more.  He never got past the Quarterfinals in any of the tournaments he entered. He was a step slower when reacting or running for the ball.  It felt as though he had weights attached to his arms and legs. He would tire more, become thirsty more, his muscles were tighter, and being anemic didn't help matters any.  The mere thought or mention of Nisha would get the usually stoic Vijay on edge.  He didn't want to hear her name, see her face, hear her voice or have anything to do with her!  They hadn't spoken a word since the day of the fight, and it may be just as well.  Everyone, especially Vijay, knew he had to move on. 

Vijay needed help, and he knew it!  So he had a long heart-to-heart with his trainer and coach. He channeled all his negative emotions into his workouts and slowly got himself back into shape. He wasn’t the type to back down or wallow in self-pity, so he kept at it.  He was starting to become like his old self, and he liked it!  The hunger, the drive, the single-minded determination… it was all starting to come back. 

But his true test… his ultimate test… was still yet to come!!

Click Here for Part III