Remember when

They say people always remember exactly where they were when something significant/ life changing happened.  The exact place and time, what they were wearing, what day it was, the weather and what not.

Watching Federer play Nadal in the semi finals today, I realized that I seemed to remember almost every thursday of the third week of January for the last six years.  That's almost every Australian Open semi final Federer has played.  I remember the dejection and the jubilation.  That heart breaking semi final against Safin or the white wash of Roddick a couple of years ago.  I remember each such afternoon.  It's like we've shared this day, every year for so many years.

I've loved and followed Federer through each of those, with tears and shrieks of joy of course.  He may have lost today but I know there's at least one more grand slam out there to win! 

Here's to you Roger for being an inspiration and a true hero. 

See you at the French!

What a life - Part II

Forty odd years they were married.  And just like that, he's gone, leaving her behind.  The sadness doesn't leave her eyes.  It's like she's in a different world, unaware of conversation around her.  The house feels empty without him, like he's just around the corner, tinkering away in the store or fixing a light in the bathroom and that a moment later he's going to walk in the room.

But he's gone. 

I can't imagine what she feels.  The empty bed.  The empty house.  The empty chair at the dining table.  The empty whiskey glass.

It was a painful two years.  Looking at old photos suddenly reminds me of how weak he'd become.  It was freedom from the pain, it was what everyone was praying for.  Yet I can't come to terms with it.  Tears still fill my eyes when I see his photo in their room.  A man loved and respected by all. 

Here's to you Air Commodore OP Sharma, a true Air Warrior.  

I know you're out there watching over me. 

I miss you.

True That

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

- William Ernest Henley 

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Like my standard new year’s resolution of writing more.

I know I haven’t written in a while but it sort of took me by surprise to see August 15, 2011 on top of that last post. Where the hell have I been! Hopefully, this year will see more writing!

Coming back to the title of the post, it came to me while walking towards college on Saturday. I haven’t been back in almost two years and at the cost of sounding clichéd, it felt like I hadn’t ever left. I almost felt like I’d run into a van/ class member around the corner. Things have changed. But the smell of the trees near the basement, the canteen food and the musty commerce corridor took me back instantly. A million memories came flooding back. Really should go back once with the gang. Another new year resolution then?