Dear Zindagi...

Hi Reader Friends,

Greetings!

Last week I watched the Bollywood movie "Dear Zindagi" starring Alia Bhatt and Shahrukh Khan and directed by Gauri Shinde. It was released late last year itself but I couldn't watch it soon after it was released. After reading reviews in media and hearing the comments from the friends who had seen the movie I was thinking I should watch this movie. Since it was already out of multiplexes I had no choice but to wait for it to come on TV (I don't download any movies from the internet). Last week it was aired on a movie channel and hence I got my chance and I grabbed it.

Getting directly to my opinion, I liked the movie a lot! The story is simple, can be related to the present times and changing value system. It is about a girl named Kaira in her early twenties facing problems in committing to her relationships with her boyfriends (one after other) due to her love starved childhood. She has just begun her career as a cinematographer and is tensed, anxious and not getting sleep at night. During a shoot in one of the hotels in her hometown in Goa, she watches a psychologist named Dr. Zehangir Khan delivering in a seminar. She gets impressed and bumps into his house the very next day. How the conversation develops between the therapist and the patient, and how the former treats his patient slowly, steadily, step and step and finally helps her come out of her problem form the rest of the story. The best part of the movie are the conversations between Khan and Alia, very candid, straight forward but still matured enough to touch the hearts of anyone who is facing similar kind of issues. I can easily say it has been a commendable effort from the writer, director Gauri Shinde to deal such a topic with very ease without creating any extra drama. The performance of Alia stands out and it shows how fast she is evolving into a great actress. Shahrukh Khan has given a wonderful performance without any of his usual mannerisms.

Coming to my liking towards this movie, I feel I can relate to it in many ways. I had longed for a perfect romantic relationship of my choice but the film taught me that why should I put stress on one relationship when I can go for a coffee with someone, I can go to play a sport with someone, I can have a long walk with someone and that someone can be anyone among parents, spouse, siblings, relatives, friends. What is important is I should feel comfortable and the moments spent are enjoyable. Also the conversation between the two protagonists in the movie made me nostalgic as I too had the privilege of the company of a friend who is a decade younger to me. Though I was not a therapist and she was not a patient :) but the similarity was - we had gelled well as friends, we used to meet occasionally over dinner and discuss about lot of things and share many things about each other's life. The discussions used to be very friendly and candid but we never used to cross the lines of friendship. I keep remembering those times spent with her and I can say that was one of the good relationships I had. The film reinforced my thinking that though we may not have undergone the ideal or best of situations we long for, still we can make our lives better by creating small but meaningful situations/relationships for ourselves without disturbing our nearest surrounding environment.

After watching the movie I felt I should write something about it as I felt good. Off late I am using Facebook for writing movie reviews and my opinions on current affair. But I felt this writing is a bit too personal to share on social media, hence thought of putting it this forum.

"Love you Zindagi...
Love me Zindagi..."

Thanks for reading,

With Regards,
Chetan    

2016: Thank you :)

Hi Friends,

It is December 31! Starting from January 1, 2016 you and I have taken one complete revolution around the Sun along with Mother Earth. So it is time to recollect the moments spent during that revolution. After 11:59 PM today, 2016 will be referred as past forever!

Professionally 2016 was a better year than the turbulent 2014 and 2015. I opted for a change in my responsibilities at my workplace early this year and it brought me a welcome change. I had moved from managerial/administrative stuff to more towards technical/educating stuff. I had to face few challenges as I was out of my comfort zone but I am slowly getting into the zone. Though there were no tangible recognition coming in my way this year, still I consider it a good year professionally.

I entered this year as a married man as I got married in December 2015. With my family shifted to Mysore in February, this year saw me getting into Family man role! In the last one year I have started learning the nuances of performing that role but I can easily say it is a long way to go!

Let’s leave aside my professional and family lives, because 2016 will be more memorable for pursuing my passion to a level upwards. I made a resolution at the start of the year that I will be running a minimum of 700 km (combining all the practice sessions and events) this year. It was estimated considering average of 2 km per day. I kept track of distances run against each day in my diary. The first three months’ performance was very lukewarm as I could cover only 130 km for the first quarter of the year. I needed to step up but I knew the second half would be better considering the three main running events of Mysore will be held in September. After running my first marathon in 2015, this year I thought of consolidating my status as marathon runner further. I registered for Kaveri Trail Marathon 2016 which was scheduled on Sep 18, 2016. I started practicing in July, my practice involved minimum of 4 km on weekdays and more than 15 km on weekends. By the time September second week came I had crossed 600 km and approaching 700 km which was my original target. But because of Kaveri water sharing issue the Marathon event was postponed to November 27, 2016 which meant more time to practice and more distance could be covered. I revised the target to 1000 km. But the challenge was to sustain the tempo for the weekend practice. In between the festival season came, I traveled to my hometown resulting a week break from practice. But I was firm on my resolve to run the marathon. As a result I completed my second marathon 10 minutes faster than the first one! Also during that event I crossed my revised target of 1000 km also! In between my father advised me to continue my weekend runs so that I could be always ready for a running event. As an obedient son most of the times, I agreed and continued my weekend runs. As a result at end of December I crossed 1100 km. Now I am looking for bigger running target for 2017 :).

This year I carried the experience and observation I gained through participating the events to organizing such events at my workplace. I and my few friends form a good organizing team now and conducted four events on par with any professional event. Also my running feat was communicated to entire Mysore office because of which wherever I go in office I am now regarded as a Marathon runner and athlete. Few of my friends said they took to running taking inspiration from me. I give entire credit to them only for their interest and energy but it makes me happy that I could at least spark a flame in them. 

This year I started thinking of adding a new dimension to my career. There are few options in front of me. I am looking for guest lecturing, arranging for career guidance sessions and professional blogging. This year I won my first earning outside my software profession and investments through guest lecturing. But the concrete plan is yet to be done and I hope the things will be clear in 2017.

As the end of 2016 approached, one thing became damn clear for me. If you want to achieve something in life you need to believe only in yourself. Sometimes I tend to depend on friends who are in a good position to give me a small push in my quest to achieve greater things. But I need to understand others may not be interested or may not relate to what I aspire. So the lesson for me is to work hard with complete focus on what I am doing. I need not bother about the things not in my control.

This year brought the tenth year celebration of my friendship with my close buddy Ravikirana Ramamurthy. I have made several good friends but Ravi is one friend whom I have met almost on daily basis continuously for last ten years. I can say I am very fortunate to have such a friend. For any initiative or adventure I have taken in the past ten years I was assured that I would be having support from Ravi. Even if he didn’t like my idea also he had a wise words so that I could go in a right direction. Thank you very much Ravi, I can say there is lot to achieve and your support and guidance is always needed.

As a conclusion note, I can say 2016 was really a great year, it brought a new hunger, new zeal and new direction in me towards new accomplishments, better things in life and most importantly towards the way I look at my life itself. Thank you 2016!

Thank you all for reading. I wish you, your family and all your loved ones a very Happy New Year 2017 J. May the coming year brings new hope, new desire and lots of positive energy in you to do good things and achieve greater heights in your career and life!

With regards,

Chetan

Monsoon Rain...

Dear Reader friends,

ಶುರುವಾಗಿದೆ ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ

ಚಿಗುರುತಿದೆ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಜೀವಕಳೆ

ತುಂಬಿ ಹರಿಯುತಿವೆ ನೀರಿನ ಹೊಳೆ

ಜನರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿತ್ತಿದೆ ಆಶಯದ ಬೆಳೆ 

(Monsoon rain brings much needed respite to Indian subcontinent after the scorching summer which spans from March to June every year. The temperature dips, the rivers start flowing, ground starts getting wet and soft, water table increases, brings back the greenery among plants, and infuses a new lease of life in living organisms especially humans.)

Good monsoon rains bring fresh hope among farming community and they get into action of producing adequate food for the 125 crore populace. Better agricultural produce means good income for farming community, growth for country’s economy, adequate food supply with lesser inflation for common people. I can go on and on…But my intention is different…

There is no doubt I am also one among our countrymen who eagerly wait for monsoon. The first occurrence of rain brings so much of happiness in me that I don’t mind getting drenched. The cool wind which accompanies the rain is so soothing. The rain jacket will be on whenever I go out and the blankets come out of boxes. But Monsoon rain brings another shade for me! You might have witnessed with rain comes gloominess which engulfs the entire atmosphere around oneself. When I am alone (and I prefer to be alone in such weather) my thoughts go into retrospective mode down deeper into the memory lane. Though I recollect lot of happier moments spent during earlier monsoon seasons but the ones which seek my attention usually are – the moments of lost opportunities (some because of my own inabilities, some because of others mistakes, some because of the situation I was in), the moments of defeats, the moments of let downs, the moments when someone very dear at that time parted ways, the moments when something important was taken away. If you are surprised after reading this and started thinking negatively about me then I don’t blame you because my thought process has always been like that. I do ponder about those past moments when I was at receiving end or in an uncomfortable state of mind. I could recollect few of those situations which I would have avoided by taking better decisions, which happened because of my prejudice or lack of courage and which might be totally out of my control. Each one of them brings at least one thing to learn for sure which gets added to my ever growing basket of experience but some of them raise questions - why it happened to me? Did I really deserve that? Why things just not happen to me as they seem to happen for others? Many questions stir my mind like anything…For some I wouldn’t be having any particular answer. What to do?

But past is past! Whenever I get into such retrospective mode and my mind start asking such questions, the most important thing would be to find a way to come out of that! You may agree there are lot of ways to do that and I usually find one every time I get into that gloomy mode. I don’t want to elaborate on those ways but I can draw an analogy here, getting into such retrospective mode is like taking your dirty clothes to laundry. The clothes first should get washed with water for removing dirt and then they should be dried and pressed so that they get fit for next wearing. Similarly after getting wet in gloomy weather whenever Sun (or any fresh/encouraging moment) comes next time beating all the clouds my mind also gets fresher like the washed and ironed cloth. 

As I started with a poem, I would like to end in similar lines 

ಸದಾ ಬೆಳೆಯುತಿರಲಿ ಸಂತಸದ ಬೆಳೆ

ಏಂದೆಂದೆಗೂ ಬತ್ತದೆ ಇರಲಿ ನಗುವಿನ ಹೊಳೆ

ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಡೆಗೂ ಹರಡಲಿ ಜಯದ ಜೀವಕಳೆ

ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿರಲಿ ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ

(I wish the harvest of happiness keep coming out without stop, let the river of happiness flow all the times, let there be life of victory everywhere, let the Monsoon Rain keep coming again and again...)

Thanks and Regards,

Chetan

2015 in Retrospect!

Hi Friends,

जिन्दगी का फ़लसफ़ा भी कितना अजीब् है,

शामे कटती नही और साल गुजरते चले जा रहे है...

Till evening, I didn’t have any plan of writing a blog on how the year went by! But when I was leaving office for the day, my friend Manu asked me what I am writing today. I told him I didn’t have any plan but insisted me on writing the reflections of the year going by! I told I couldn’t promise but here I am sharing my thoughts on the year 2015 in retrospect! (This is the side effect of being a writer, as you need to heed to the requests of readers J).

 2015 if I look back was really an eventful year! Professionally it began with a bang bringing my second Award for Excellence in Most Valuable Contributor category! But later the fortunes changed drastically bringing one challenge after another at workplace. There was really a frustrating phase when I felt like giving up! But somehow off late I have developed a forte to stick to my stand and principles and not giving up easily! But there were things which were not in my control and I was finding hard to change them! Hence I chose to change myself a bit, diverting my mind in doing something useful and different. I tried my hands in event management along with few friends organizing a Cricket tournament from scratch in our unit! Since cricket tournaments are common in our organization, we wanted to make our tournament a different which can stand apart! We spent lot of time and effort and gave utmost attention to each and every aspect of tournament, and despite rain intervention we were able to succeed in our mission and gaining lot of accolades for the entire organizing team! This induced new vigor in the sagging spirit of mine and topped it up with few more successful ventures in event management! This year also gave me the first opportunity to compete in 35+ year category events in our annual sports meet. I participated in almost all the events getting gold medal in three events. Also in the same event, I got to play an all important role of the team owner. Though in core area of my work the challenges continued but I could pull off one more award in recently concluded MyDC excellence award ceremony in MyDC Sparklers category ending the year on high note! Hoping for a better year at workplace in 2016J

In contrast the personal life was more fruitful and joyful! The long wait ended towards the end of first half of 2015 with my marriage getting fixed with Savita with whom I entered into the nuptial knot in the last month of the year! With this my long stretched bachelor life ended ;) and I had mixed feelings for that, but I am really excited with my new role of husband and looking forward for a fruitful married life. Hold on! 2015 witnessed few more memorable moments in which I enjoyed the fullest! Those moments came in between June and September when I single mindedly prepared for my first full marathon! In the mid of June 2015 I made up my mind of trying my legs in a full marathon. The target was Kaveri Trail Marathon which was scheduled on September 20, 2015. I spent almost every weekend between June 20 and September 20 in practicing long distance running increasing the distance with every run. Finally the day arrived and the time spent running from 6 AM to 11:14 AM was one of the best in my life! Each and every minute was filled with an amazing experience as it was just me, my body, my mind, my endurance and the blessings of Almighty. Hoping the year 2016 brings even better memories!

With this I conclude my reflections of the year 2015, as I enter into the new year 2016 I wish all the reader friends a very Happy and Prosperous 2016 with peace, prosperity, good health and lots of happiness in your lives!

Happy New Year 2016!

Thanks and Regards,

Chetan

Reviving the memories of Chandni...

Hi Friends,

Warm Greetings!

It was in 1989-90 when Bollywood film Chandni got released, I was just 10 year old then and as a Kannadiga you can imagine my Hindi! All I can say I had just started learning. But my parents and elder sister knew Hindi well and they used to take me to watch Hindi movies whenever there was a good one showing in one of the two modest theaters we had in Chikodi where we used to live that time. As a child I was very timid so much that I couldn't bear the sound of films in theaters. Whenever there was a huge noise I used to get scared and used to start crying! It was very difficult for my parents to take me to the movies and it was a pity sometimes as they had to sacrifice some nice movies because of  my timidity! Those days internet was non existent one, and we didn't have TV also at home, but moreover there were no reviews also either being aired on TV!

Somehow my parents got the feeling that Chandni might be a good silent movie which I might like! Luckily they were not wrong! As the movie was devoid of fight sequences and high tempo scenes I not only allowed my parents to watch the movie but enjoyed myself also watching the movie. I liked the songs very much, mainly the title song "Chandni, meri Chandni...". I must confess here that one (good or bad) habit I had cultivated even before watching that movie was to keep humming the song for many days if I liked it. Here also it was no different, wherever I used and go and come, I used to keep humming the song "Chandni, meri Chandni...". My parents might have got bored listening to me so they took an advantage of one more "Kamjori" of mine during those days. During my childhood I used to be a bit reserved in nature and my Kannada Boys School upbringing had made the matter even worse! The matter was I was too shy to speak to a girl of my age and if someone jokingly teased me referring a girl then gone case! I used to feel too much uncomfortable and embarrassed and used to just go away from the place/situation. Now coming back to film, my parents and my sister whenever they heard me singing "Chandni, meri Chandni..." used to start teasing me that they will get me married to Chandni blah blah! As told earlier that was enough for me to get into the uncomfortable zone and I just used to stop singing and kept quiet! But still I couldn't stop humming the song and ended up into the same situation every time I get caught! Literally for my family members it was a huge fun :D but at the cost of my shyness :(. One day I remember my sister, my cousin and myself were playing a game where we had to write a boy's name, a girl's name and a place's name which are similar in pronunciation and all three should be related. My sister didn't miss the opportunity and she wrote "Chetan, Chandni and Chikodi" and started making fun of me. My face became red and I just stood up and walked away from the game!

But despite all this I must confess again that I was getting a kind of liking for Chandni and Sridevi who played the character of title role. I really didn't give much attention to the story but the character of Chandni had created a great impression on me! For a 10 year old it was just a plain infatuation. As and when I got to watch the songs of Chandni on Chitrahaar (Popular programme on India's only network of those times Doordarshan) my liking for Chandni and Sridevi used to get increased. After Chandni I watched many Sridevi movies like Lamhe, Chaal Baaz, Khuda Gawah but I couldn't like her as much as I liked her in the role of Chandni.

Almost 25 years have gone past since those events happened, and in all these years Indian economy got opened up for foreign investment as a result of which hundreds of Hindi channels are available for us to view now and some of them are totally dedicated to air Bollywood movies where the movies keep getting slots again and again! But ironically I had not got another chance to watch Chandni until last Thursday. During the scrolling of channels when I saw this film being aired I just put my other activities to halt and watched the movie again! All the sweet memories mentioned above though a bit blurred came afresh in my mind and my mind got refreshed like anything! I kept recalling those memories for sometime and thought of putting it on a blog. In these 25 years I have met/seen girls with name Chandni and their name used to remind me of this movie but frankly speaking for me Chandni was always Sridevi :). Whenever in leisure I happen to observe a moonlight night (English meaning for the word Chandni) I just imagine Sridevi obviously as Chandni...

Thank You,

With Regards,
Chetan

Staying relevant in the times of irrelevance

Hi Friends, 

It has been a while since I wrote last on my blog page. I can’t say I was busy or I couldn't find time but whenever some thoughts came into my mind, I used Facebook wall for posting them in the form of a small paragraph. From past 4-5 months I have been undergoing through an interesting phase, I am calling it interesting because it is not pleasant by any means but if I mention that phase painful or using any negative adjective it would be like accepting defeat. Without getting into the actual details of those situations I would like to put some thoughts of introspection I am getting while going through this phase.

I feel most of us get such phase(s) in our lives, the phase in which situations occur where your credibility is questioned, you will be pushed to corner, you are considered as an obstacle to be removed, you are belittled, you are considered arrogant, and these situations often leave your conscience shaken. I would like to name such phase as testing phase of your relevance. This phase may bring you a situation where in you are made to pay for other’s mistakes not because you are weak or a pushover but because of lack of admitting of mistake or lack of taking ownership from someone else involved.  Sometimes your sincerity, boldness and leadership qualities become bane as you are seen as an obstacle though you are going on a right path. If you are in such a phase though you have all right intentions and also working in right direction, but still you can end up as a scapegoat! One may say this phenomenon is common in all workplaces! But it is unfortunate that we as a society have accepted such things are common and don’t give damn care on fighting such anomalies!

Not to deviate from topic, coming back, this phase also brings you further surprises where your own near and dear ones start making you irrelevant! Either through an ill-intention-ed sympathy on your situation or just through highlighting your fallibility! Free suggestions whether you have sought or not, whether you like or not, just keep coming. If you don’t listen you will be looked upon as an outcast and there will be lot of questions on your upbringing. I just wonder why people take so much unnecessary interest in pushing the things on others when the outcome is far more relevant to that person than themselves. Let the person take a call! If you are helping a person, it doesn't mean he/she should do whatever you instruct! In summary this kind of phase may put you in receiving end of one-up-man-ship from your near and dear ones. Such phase will bring lot of ideas with negative frequency! Even though you are highly qualified or enjoying a good status among your friends and among your colleagues in workplace, still you start feeling irrelevant in your family and community.

Friends, if you feel what I have written is totally crap or a total time waste then also I don’t blame you. Because this is such a phase where you would like to just vent the inner agitation but usually don’t find right channel to do that. I thought I would pen down my thoughts through blog!  But if you are really giving a serious thought to this topic, you may be now curious to know how to cope up in such a phase! But I am really not aware if there is any particular method or procedure or formula or trick to overcome such situation. One thing is true! This phase is here to make me irrelevant! To question my relevance! Now I have just two choices – to make the situation win over me or to accept the challenge and prove my relevance. With all the experience I have gained in professional life and with all the guidance I have received from my father and by reading good books I have the chosen the second option i.e. to fight it out! But easier said than done, it takes real courage, metal, patience in order to put up a fight! Also the belief I have on The Almighty and giving myself a daily course of spirituality works immensely in putting up a fight! Every day I continue working hard with right intentions, going in right direction, working with right attitude and more often working smartly just to show that I am not getting bogged down. I make it a point to keep my eyes and ears open and wait for right opportunity, and once it is there I ensure to grab it to my own advantage, or to make my case stronger. Fortunately every time I face such situations in workplace, God is kind, I find some way to turn the things around but by now I understand the fight is never ending. The things get worse if such phase occurs on personal front; because here I need to counter my near and dear ones and most of the times in when arguments happen, logic and rationality are conspicuous by their absence. Here the main trick is to raise the patience level to great extents, keep listening to some unwelcome suggestions and advises just for the sake of listening, keep bearing the presence of few unwanted folks in get-togethers, and here also wait for the right opportunity to prove your point. Sometimes I have got into situations where I have run out of my patience putting myself into more trouble. But this is a fight, sometimes you win and sometimes not! But the fight has to be fought, in order to stay relevant!

The most important thing I do is just to pray the Almighty for better times and for enough strength in fighting the tougher ones…

With warm greetings,

Thanks and Regards,
Chetan

A True Champion...

Hi Friends,

It has been a month since Rafael Nadal won his second US Open and his 13^th Grand Slam. Also it has been a month since my close friend Ravikirana asked me to write a column on our favorite Tennis player and athlete Rafa. A lot has been written already on the great comeback the Spaniard has made this year missing almost 7 precious months in his Tennis career. So to make my friend Ravi happy I had to write a bit different and he also knows it takes lot of time for me to bring out a column.

We all know in every sport, in fact in any competition, at a given point of time, there will be a champion and one or more challengers. The equation between the Champion and his challenger is very interesting and unique for every pair. At one side, a champion who is challenged by a worthy challenger can be dethroned or on the other side, the tougher champion may get better each time the challenge is thrown at him/her. Without a challenger or just a challenge, one cannot be crowned as the Champion, he/she should be challenged now and then to the brink so that the Championship material comes out glowing! The world has seen many such Champion-Challenger duos, to keep it just for Tennis and to name a FEW we had Pete Sampras throughout the 1990s. Though he won his first grand slam in 1990 but he announced himself as a champion only after his first Wimbledon win in 1993. But during that gap he was never a challenger and I don’t remember if he had reached any Grand Slam finals during that period. In 1993 everyone noticed him as a champion only, not lesser than that. Barring Rolland Garros he won everything which came in his way. He remained No. 1 for six consecutive year ends from 1993-98. There were few challengers to him but the most notable one was his fellow countryman Andre Agassi. Though equally gifted player he was he had to fight hard against Pistol Pete to make his mark and create some tenure for himself on the throne. He stayed and remembered mostly as a challenger than a champion. A brief period in 1995, a year or so during 1999-2000 and a brief stint in 2003 were the times when Agassi took over the reins of No. 1. Though he won all the grand slams and an Olympic Gold Medal, he ended his career with tally of 8 grand slams against Pete’s 14. Then arrived Roger Federer, just destined to be a champion. He too like Pete was never a challenger. He got noticed when he defeated Pete in the first round of Wimbledon 2002, but his announcement as a champion came one year after when he won the next edition of All England championship. He decimated everyone who came his way and suddenly tennis world started realizing that Pete was the person of past and Roger was the next Big Thing of tennis. 

Just a year and half after Roger took the control on entire world of tennis, entered an interesting character. When he arrived, he neither looked like a champion nor had any traits of a worthy challenger. His wore a deceptive look, as he looked like a brat who can play more of a football than tennis.  The way he used to run around the court was amazing as he looked never tiring and the way he moved it seemed like the court is smaller compared to his reach. As soon as he arrived he just stunned everyone by stopping the champion at the so called one final step (Rolland Garros) of achieving the greatness. And such a hurdle he proved to be, he stood there for the next 4 years firm and strong in the way of the champion. But unlike Roger, at the time of his arrival he couldn’t announce himself as a champion as he showed mastery over only one surface and not even a challenger on other surfaces. But step by step, slowly and steadily, he started getting closer to the challenger role, then mastering other surfaces also, not only he was able to dethrone the champion but also was able to suck up the self-confidence of the man who has been called the greatest of all times.  He added a new dimension to the game, playing from baseline, running hard, playing long rallies and tiring the opponent. After Wimbledon and Olympic wins in 2008, for the first time since early 2004, there was a new unique champion named Rafael Nadal.  Rolland Garros was anyways had become his fortress, but he snatched Wimbledon from Roger, Conquered the Olympic Gold medal and won the Australian Open in the quest for greatness. Since the champion was decimated already, who will be the next challenger was the question. There was no one near, but to his bad luck, the answer lied within. The ultimate challenger was his body itself. His knee in particular started giving him trouble just into his first year of ascending the throne. The things worsened as his fortress was breached for first (and last time also till now) time in 2009 and he was out of action for a year. Critics doubted his return to the glory as Federer regained the ground he had lost to his toughest nemesis. But by that time, Rafa had already 6 Grand slams in his kitty and he had conquered the grand slams on all the surfaces at least once.

As I mentioned earlier Rafa has always been an unique personality, also I feel and many other people will definitely agree, one of the best traits of a true champion is to stage a comeback when down. With the kind of fighter Rafa has been, the fans kept faith in him and in his fighting spirits. He underwent rigorous training and rehabilitation and came back to the circuit fully fit in 2010. After he came back he didn’t like to be just sympathy gainer (usually happens when one comes back after the injury break), he fought hard, he won his fortress back, repeated the performance of 2008 in Wimbledon, and also conquered the unconquered territory of US open to join the elite club of players who have won all the slams at least once and in the process regaining the World No. 1 ranking. 4 out of 5 Grand slams since his comeback and within a period of just more than one year made all the critics bite their words. He celebrated a great year of comeback but there was another challenge waiting for him, this time it was outside, in the form another interesting character Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. Djoker, as he is fondly called, touched the peak of his game during the mid of 2011 seldom losing any match. Since June 2011, three grand slam finals saw Rafa fighting hard against the new sensation and going down in each of them. It was not as if Rafa was not playing well, but Djoker had taken his game exponentially high to snatch the No. 1 ranking to become a new Champion. But Rafa was not the one to go down meekly. Speaking to a media person he told that he would beat Djoker in future and so he did in Rolland Garros in 2012. He held his fortress to win his 11^th grand slam title and showed some glimpses to regain the crown he had lost a year back. But the challenger within surfaced again and this time in a more serious fashion. Rafa was ousted in second round match of Wimbledon 2012 which proved to be his last match in that calendar year. This time the knee tendonitis was so serious that not only critics but hard core fans also doubted his return. I was stunned after reading a newspaper story which mentioned Rafa had this problem since his younger days and the doctors had predicted only 2 years of tennis life. By that time of reading, Rafa had already played 8 years and I was wondering how strong his will power might be! After reading that I was convinced that he would be staging comeback one day but when no one was sure, I think not even Rafa.

Now I am mentioning again, staging a comeback is one of the traits of a true champion and Rafa had a big task to prove he was one. After seven months of hiatus, he came back in Feb 2013, played couple of low profile tournaments with very low expectations but still made it to finals in both of them winning the second. The fire was back in his eyes, the legs were gaining momentum, the quest for glory returned as he kept on winning title by title defeating every other better ranked player. He retained his fortress becoming the first tennis player among men to win a grand slam title staggering 8 times. Though he bowed out in the first round of Wimbledon raising few eye brows, but there were no such hiccups when the Hard court season started. Again he defeated every one on the surface which was termed not suited for his kind of play and the ultimate result was winning the US Open for second time and taking the tally of grand slam victories to 13 which is just 4 short of Federer and 1 short of Pete Sampras. This victory brought him to pedestal of regaining the crown, the No. 1 ranking. Just one more final appearance needed to achieve that feat and without any doubts Rafa completed the formality with ease in China Open. What had seemed to be impossible 7 months back was made possible and look easy. The win-loss record for the year stood at amazing 66-4 after the China Open final. Just I would like the readers to remember that Agassi also had made such a comeback in 1999 but at that time Sampras was showing the signs of fading out. In comparison Djokovic is younger to Rafa and has many years of tennis career left in him. Dethroning such a player is more difficult but as I said before, Rafa is a true champion and he had to do that for just proving himself. Grit, Hunger, Hard work, Self-confidence, never give up attitude made him regain the No. 1 spot for the third time in his career and I am sure he will retain it for a while.

Any article on Nadal would be incomplete if there is no mention about his off field behavior. Though he looks like a hungry tiger on the courts running hard like a big cat in search of its prey, but when he steps out of the court he is as gentle as one can imagine. No one has seen him undermining his opponents how lower ranking may be. On victory he is jubilant but equally gracious in defeats also. No crying, no excuses, just giving proper credit to the winning opponent. No fights with media, no bad behavior shown in public and always content being away from the camera glare.

Life is full of adversities and pains and overcoming them is a big challenge. One thing which we all can learn from Nadal is how to bear the pain and how to fight it out during adversities. Though it was his body which was coming in his way but he made his mind stronger to not let the former do the ruling over the latter. If we gain that ability and make our mind stronger than body we can achieve any goals we have set for ourselves.

Hats off Rafa!!! Vamosssss…….

Regards,

Chetan