Emma Raducanu – A star is born!

 

Who would have thought that a qualifier will go on to become the queen of New York in a matter of 3 weeks? Emma Raducanu, Toronto born British teenager ranked 150 and nothing to boast off in her resume did something unthinkable that some great players have not been able to do in their entire career, only in her second outing in a major tournament. What was even better than that that she did not drop a set in her 10 matches throughout the tournament. No qualifier, men or women have lifted a major trophy before, and it is very unlikely to happen in future. Before this, Brits Andy Murray had to wait for 7 years and lost numerous grand slam finals to the big 3 to lift his first major trophy in 2012 and then adding couple more next year.

Just a couple of months back in Wimbledon as a wild card ranked 338, she went on to reach the fourth round and then eventually withdrawing from the tournament sighting breathing problems. She received a lot of flak for this from retired player and British journalists telling she can not handle pressure. She did not respond to these people and rather went back to her routine and practice.

Through all this whirlwind couple of months, what was striking was that she did not lose focus of the sight. Before this, her only big title was in Pune in 2019. She made history even before winning the final as she became the first qualifier to reach the grand slam final. Another teenager was waiting in the final and it was all teenage final where Emma fired an ace to clinch the trophy with a bleeding shin.

Amidst everything that she achieved, it was her impeccable grace on and off the court that she displayed, has received a lot of praise from all quarters. You could see her cherubic smile every time camera zoomed on her. She was enjoying the best time of her life. She was unfazed by the stage and the occasion she found herself in. From receiving a congratulatory letter from queen to getting invited for met gala, it must have been a surreal experience for 18 years old.

Whenever she was in front of the mic, she spoke with poise and confidence. Not to belittle Indian athletes but they must be taught how to speak to media. Media and social media are bigger platform now and everyone wants a piece of you when you win something big. Her twitter following increased from meagre 120K to 590K and counting in a matter of day. I hope she maintains this poise and hope she gets best advice as at this age things can go either way. Hope we are seeing a future super star and many more grand slam trophies to her name. She is just 18 and only going to get better and stronger.  

Through all this history being made, what was disappointing to see that Indian media did not cover this profusely. These are once in a lifetime event and a huge moment in tennis history and would have certainly encouraged a lot of young kids to take sport taking inspiration from Emma. I hope we encourage sports and not just Indian athletes to promote sport culture in India.

Congratulations Emma and all the very best.

Hideki Matsuyama – The Masters 2021 Champion!

Rain can be disastrous for some, can be fortuitous for some. Hideki Matsuyama found himself on the other side when the play resumed after the rain delay on Saturday. He went 11 under from 5 under and finished the day sitting good 4 shots off the lead heading into Sunday’s momentous final.

The start on Sunday was not great for the Japanese star as he dropped a shot bogeying the first hole but that did not deter his confidence as he came back on second to regain the dropped shot despite hitting his approach shot into the bunker.

He played superb golf from start to finish. He swung well and putted well. He got lucky on few occasions, but he put himself into great position to make birdies. Things got little heated on back 9 as he had couple of bogeys and Xander Schauffele made 4 birdies on the trot to reduce the lead by 2 and still 3 holes to play. Anything could have happened but triple bogey for Xander at 16 made thing easy for Hideki.

Nobody had expected him to be at the top of the leaderboard when the tournament began as there were no top 10 finishes for him recently plus English media hardly recognizes efforts from Asian players.

By this win, Hideki Matsuyama becomes first Japanese male player to win the masters tournament and only the second Asian player to win the major. He had previously won low amateur trophy at the Augusta national 10 years ago.

Hideki is already a star and followed by media religiously there in Japan and hope this win inspires other Asian players to dream big and put their names on the top in the major tournaments.

As Hideki Matsuyama sinks his last putt, celebration in Japan begins! Enjoy your Sunday drink with this master win while Hideki stops his club on his backswing! :)  

Equality or Neutrality?

What is more important? Equality or neutrality? 

There is hot debate these days to promote equality in jobs, promotion, sports, politics, society etc. But when you promote equality are you not indirectly showing bias? But if you don’t show bias then can the equilibrium be ever achieved? 

I have not been able to understand this but what I could understand is that if there is a level playing field then I think neutrality is a much better approach than advocating for equality. But again the question is can there be a level playing field in all walks of life? 

In the past, only few have been controlling all the resources of the world. Now this is changing and this is a continuous process. Until that equilibrium is achieved we should all try to advocate equality but we cannot be promoting equality everywhere blindly otherwise we are unwittingly begetting the feeling ill will amongst people which is unwarranted. 

When you are neutral you can take decisions without any bias. What I think is that when you are in a place or situation where you have to take decisions, you should exercise neutrality rather than equality otherwise you can ignore things which can be detrimental in the future. 

Not sure if it made any sense but thought of putting it here what was going through my mind. 

Happy Sunday! 

Sports authority of India – Are you watching?

19 years old from Poland Iga Swiatek just won her first grand slam title in Paris defeating this year’s Australian open champion from USA Sofia Kenin. By doing so, she became first player male or female from Poland, a country of less than 40 million people (one sixth of Uttar Pradesh) from Europe to win a grand slam tournament. Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland had previously come close to win Wimbledon in 2012 but was beaten by Serena Williams. She played a great tournament just losing 28 games. No player was able to take a set from her and none of the set went to a tie break. That shows how dominating she was throughout the whole tournament. Not to forget her doubles run where she reached semifinals partenirng with Nicole Melichar of US. She hasn’t won any title, major or otherwise before coming into this tournament. Her best result was 4th round in this year’s Australian open. Though she did win Wimbledon 2018 but as a junior not as pro. One can argue that field was weak as world no 1 Ash Barty did not participate sighting COVID reason, Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament, world no 2 and 2020 US Open champion Naomi Osaka was out due to hamstring injury but that cannot be her fault. She did beat world no 2 and top seed Simona Halep in round of 4 in straight sets and also defeated world no 4 Sofia Kenin in the final to win her biggest tournament of life. Her overall game is very solid and forehand is even better. Apart from her game, she is so calm and composed which is very rare for a 19 years old player. When asked in the post-match presentation what her dad, who is an Olympic rower taught her, he taught me how to be a professional – said Iga Swiatek. Indeed one needs to be professional first because there will be ups and downs in the match as happens in life and one need to know how to deal with these situations. There is a lot to learn for us from this event. How can a country of just 40 million people produce a grand slam winner amidst pandemic? A young girl to go on to win a tournament as big as French Open without anyone breaking her a sweat. What are we doing or not doing to produce these champions? I am pretty sure sports authority have enough money to provide facilities to our young boys and girls to train better and eventually hold a coveted singles trophy in these major tournaments. Sports can do a lot not just for players but for a country too. It can bring a lot of money and lot of employment opportunities, especially in a globally recognized sports such as Tennis and Golf. Hope our people are listening and watching this. Hope things get better. I am hopeful and waiting for a day when someone will hold a single’s trophy at London or Paris or Melbourne or New York!

Is teaching for 8 hours enough?

 

When we are in schools and colleges, our main focus is to get a good job. The same is percolated to institutions and teachers so they also have curriculum based on jobs’ requirements.

But isn’t job or office only for 8 hours? What about the rest 16 hours?

Competition is important so is empathy, reaching to the top is everyone’s goal but through fair and honest way and not through deceit. Lending a helping hand to someone in need even when you are rushing to office will be appreciated more than what you can think.

We are not taught how to live life away from four walls of the office which is more than what we spend in office. It is even more important now as we are living in a digital era where human to human interaction is waning.

If you open any social media sites these days, it is mostly full of hate. People who hurl abuses or ridicule others are also professionals. They might have been the brightest student in the class but their language in social media speaks otherwise. Why can’t there be some common decency?

Some may argue that this cannot be taught as it comes from within but then how can hate come from within and not respect to one another, not disagreeing respectfully?

When we are faced with difficult situation we often breakdown because it is not taught how to stand up against challenges.  We certainly learn as in when we face these challenges but these can be inculcated so that we don’t fear challenges.

So much chaos is going on and it is only going to get worse. We should be taught how to lead healthy and happy life and not rich and ostentatious one. We should try to better prepare coming generation to be more compassionate, empathetic towards one another. Every race, every gender is equally good if only they get the same support.

Hope for a better tomorrow.

Have a great weekend! Stay safe.

Education should be for knowledge not for exams

                                                           Photo - Mangalorean.com

Recently government of India promulgated new reforms in education policy after 34 long years. As the world is changing at a rapid pace, education should also need to be kept relevant. It will help people to find right job as well companies to get employees of right skill set. Things needed to be changed specially in this age of digitized and connected world and government took notice to bring forth these changes for good.

We were taught in an environment where we focused more on exams than understanding the subjects. At the end of the day results were the benchmark and not what we actually learnt. This pressurized both parents and kids so kids did not get any opportunity to focus on anything other than scoring good marks. This led us to mug up things at times if we did not understand any topic or subject, just to pass the exams.

Any new change comes with set of new challenges too specially in a country as diverse as India. How the syllabus is going to be changed, how these new changes will be enforced especially when it comes to language, additional requirement of properly trained staff and also and most importantly the budget.

I hope these consideration have already been vetted otherwise it does not take much time for a situation to change from good to bad if not implemented properly as we have seen in the past, some of decision taken by this government.

Also, I hope the budget allocated is spent in a rightful and transparent manner. For example - when we spent 2.7% of GDP in education (which is less than many developing countries) still good 17% of it remained unused in FY 2017-18.

Out of all this one thing I do not understand is the obsession of changing names by this government. I am not sure what are they going to achieve by changing name from human resource development ministry to education ministry other than wasting money on paperwork.

As the government has clearly put the focus on skills and knowledge from exams I hope the same happens in politics too. Politics should be for governance and not for elections. There is always some election happening in some part of India. And when there is an election in India it becomes like a festival. Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, state legislative members are all on the roads to campaign for their respective parties leaving their day to day work. Honestly, current government has made this a habit to parade all their high profile ministers to engage in campaigning whenever there is an election rather than running their respective ministry which I unequivocally detest.

And last but certainly not the least, I strongly propose police reforms too in India. We haven’t made much progress on this front. We inherited the police system from British Raj and it is almost same since then.

Police should be to keep law and order in check in their local area and not to always serve the politicians and their families.

I hope things change as the world is changing, we adapt new ways of learning. We acquire more knowledge and less information. We get more governance and less noise. We get better policing where we feel safe and secure and less politics.

With this – Happy Rakshabandhan to you all !

Who to vote in the next general election?

As election draws closer, you get to hear a lot that if Congress wins it will make Maoists and terrorists happy and if BJP wins India will become a Hindu Rashtra. Both are very dangerous arguments. India will remain India and it will remain a democracy irrespective who forms the next government. Many thinkers and politicians said the same after we got our independence that India will be fragmented into pieces, but we have come this far despite all our problems and issues, and we are doing good if not the best.

Your job as an electorate is and should be to vote and vote for the right candidate. Candidate who can take care of the people in her or his constituency. There are many local issues like water, electricity, need of schools, hospitals, roads, sanitation, agriculture. Someone who can provide a better life to her or his people and not someone who will just make empty promises. Someone who will not divide based on religion, caste but will try to unite people.

Election should not be one-man vs the other or one-party vs the other. Our political system is different and there are many choices. As a voter you cannot be and should not be devoted to one party if there are better alternatives. As Dr Ambedkar said “in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.” One should always be mindful of that otherwise you forget what is right and what is wrong.

What we want is a nation where everyone is free to wear, eat, speak whatever they want within the freedom provided by the constitution. There is misuse of this power at times but then law should take care of that.

Many a times we happily share negative or damaging videos of someone you don’t like. We are served what sells the most. We should try to refrain from that as denigrating someone is not going to make your case stronger. Nobody is going to be helped by pointing fingers at each other. It will only generate hatred towards each other.

At the end you should do your bit to help in nation building. Do not drive on red signal, do not throw garbage on the door, switch off the electricity when you leave home, help someone who is in need, smile often, and more importantly ask questions when you feel something is not right.   

Whoever wins or loses, India will win!

Recognize good people

We got up early morning to watch 26^th January republic day parade at India gate after securing our passes.  We drove till Lodhi Garden and parked our car there and then walked down till India gate. There was huge rush to get inside as lakhs of people came to celebrate the festival of democracy. Parade starts at 10 AM but people started queueing up from 7 in the morning in Delhi’s winter to get front row seats. Generally, security is beefed up ahead of republic day and it was no different this time too. As we were getting inside from our respective gate for which we had passes, we were checked thoroughly if we have any prohibited items except mobile phones. My two friends got in and I was just behind them. As my turn came I was asked to empty the pockets and keep everything in hand. As soon as they saw car key in my hand and asked if it is a remote enabled one and they got affirmative answer from me, I was told in stern voice that I cannot be allowed to get in and alerted all the official around not to allow this person. I didn’t know that remote enabled items are not allowed otherwise we would have taken cab to reach at the venue. I was dejected that I can not see my first parade at the grandest stage. I tried to persuade the security official, but they didn’t budge, and their concern was quite legitimate.

I came out but did not want to miss the parade. My friend who was inside called me to pass the key inside, but I did not want to breach the security. I thought to hide the key somewhere or dig it but there were so many people and it could have been lost.

I asked police personal cordoning outside the gate if he can keep the key. He told that we keep moving around and I may not be here after the parade is over and, they put on the jammer once prime minister arrives, so phone network will not be there. I told him you please take it now and I will get it from you wherever you are and if not today may be tomorrow because I just wanted to get in. He finally agreed and that allowed me to get inside but by the time I reached, we lost the front row seats. He could have simply refused but he understood and helped me witness one of the greatest events of the largest democracy.

I watched full parade with lot of pride and took so many photos and videos. It indeed is a different experience all together. Watching women march in unison, seeing jhakis of some of the states beautifully embellished by live act and music, catching firefighter jets high in the sky.

Once the parade got over, I was thinking about my key. I tried to call him as I had got his number, but his phone was unreachable as jammer was still on. As soon as I came out I saw the gentleman standing exactly at the same place where I handed him the key. I was delighted not just to get my keys back but by the thought of it that he took it upon himself not to bother me. It was a true class act.

His name is Mohit and he works for Delhi Police. I have his picture as well but not posting as I do not know whether I am allowed or not. Give him a big shout out if you happen to meet him.

Paanch kahaniyan – five stories

Women understand women better:

I travelled a lot using public transport when I was in Toronto for 2 years. There generally bus does not stop once it leaves the stand even if you are late just by a second or two. But I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a lady bus driver stopping for a lady who was carrying two heavy bags and it was quite cold and windy outside. I was thinking why we don’t have more women professionals, we would have been better off. They understand each other better.

Appearance does matter:

Generally, I take office cab to commute for work but one day I had to come early so I took metro on my way home after office. As usual metro was crowded so I was standing by a pillar. Three stations passed by and I still couldn’t get a seat. One guy who seemed younger than me got off from his seat and offered me his seat. Despite telling him that I am OK and asked him to stay put but he still got up and insisted me to sit instead. I couldn’t understand why he would offer me a seat. I wasn’t looking tired or sick. I thought he might have to alight at the next stop, but he continued for at least 3-4 more stops. It got me thinking. After much deliberation in my head, it struck me that it could have been the case that I was wearing suit and talking in English. Is this the only criteria? I was happy to get the seat, but it dichotomized me that how people get influenced just by appearance.

Balloon seller at the signal:

While coming back from office, we were waiting at the signal at AIMMS flyover when a ten something years old girl came to our car to sell her balloons. We were not interested to buy balloons, but the girl was relentless. She dropped the balloon inside the car and immediately after, signal turned green and our car started moving. We tried everything from persuading to threatening her so that she can take her balloon back, but she didn’t budge. We finally had to throw the balloon out. Yes, they are living a tough life but what if some mishap happens and there are so many vehicles on the road? Also, I don’t encourage young kids to be wandering in the streets selling things for partly sum.

Encounter with another balloon seller at midnight:

Like any other night we were out for coffee at midnight. After finishing coffee at Galleria market, while our way back we were accosted by a balloon seller. He was pleading so that we could buy a balloon from him. Then suddenly, he started saying, Sir you spend so much in party and food and this balloon costs less than that of a beer price. That kind of infuriated me. We also work hard to get what we get, may not be in as tough conditions as they do but it doesn’t come easy for us as well. I was so put off and decided not to buy his balloons. Should I have bought his balloons?

Kindness goes a long way:

Once I had to go to Mexico Embassy to get my Visa. I entered into office leaving my bag at the gate, but I had to come out to get my office ID card. I opened the gate and asked the gatekeeper if I can take out my ID card. He agreed and said "Sir,aapne jis tareeke se poocha, mai aapke liye kitni bhi baar permission de sakta hoon" (The way you asked me, I can permit you as many times as you want). After taking out my ID card, I closed the door gently and did all the Visa formality.

When I was leaving, the guy comes and says, "Sir, yahan to chaprasi bhi pair se darwaja kholta hai, aap toh bahut gentle hain (Sir, here even peon opens the door by pushing his legs, you are too gentle)”. I smiled, and he reciprocated. Kindness goes a long way

Ending with a smile because it is contagious.

These are true stories. Comment below if you have any interesting story to share.
Tis the season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Shaayari

वैसे तो फ़ूल सारे पसंद हैं इस बग़ीचे के
लेकिन महकूँ तो महकूँ मैं गुलाब की तरह ।
कहा वो मेरे आँगन मे खेल कर बड़ा हुआ
आज वो धूप भी मुझे देता है पैमाने की तरह ।
यहाँ कोई हिंदू कोई मुसलमान कोई सिक्ख कोई ईसाई
जियूँ तो जियूँ मैं यहाँ इंसान की तरह ।
वैसे तो सब एक दूसरे के रंग में रंगे हैं
गर बुलाया जाऊँ मैं तो रहूँ उनके तौर तरीक़ों की तरह।
अब बस एक यही ख़्वाहिश हैं की हर तरफ़ उजाला हो
क्यूँ हीं ना जलना पड़े मुझे जुगनु की तरह । - अनिल