Friday, September 22, 2006
A GOLDEN VOICE...
Most of us spend a lifetime searching for a vocation, which gives us joy, contentment and fulfillment, and blessed are the few who find it. Yet fewer muster up the courage or whatever else it takes to pursue such an ideal and a handful truly manage to take these vocations to fruition of any kind. And in today’s world , more than any other time, the sagely Paul Getty with “Success is what we achieve, when we don’t find something noble to fail at” sounds precariously close to the Truth.
Earlier this month, Sona ( nee Mohapatra ) released her eponymous album amidst unexpected media coverage and fanfare ( Unexpected, for me , that is !). She featured prominently on music channels and most of them plug the title track titled “Bolo na” which sounds like a New Gen track with a simple storyline.
She went to the same B-school as I did and I am pleased as punch for her. Her heart was always in singing and she basically ensured that in all Inter-school competitions the Oh-so-precious Trump Card was for her musical prowess and not for her vaunted Literary/Business/Case Study talents. Happily enough I don’t recall an instance of either party not winning ! She always found time for Marketing- her specialization and managed to finish a very creditable third in a very decent batch. More than her academic achievements, I found her extremely passionate about Marketing and easily among the most committed persons that I have ever come across. Her eloquence and confidence ensured that we never managed a single point of agreement but I always respected her point of view ( She saw to that, I guess !)
My sister and I were arguing over that as she felt that a career in music after all these years somehow negated the assiduous efforts put in to master Business Management while I averred that while anybody can become Brand Manager of India’s Best Known Haircare Brand, which Sona was when she quit a corporate career, it may require something special in a field as dangerously competitive as singing. I am undecided but my experience of matinee idols making a meal of their two-bit “phoren” scrap, models yodeling about non-existent sporting prowess and damsels squealing about their banking and consulting careers emboldens me into thinking that hers is an achievement to cherish, no matter how many CDs or tapes are sold .
Saturday, September 09, 2006
SHE WORE BLUE VELVET.....
And generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked these courts in flesh, flash and blood…..
The bald eagle rides away on his Rosinante into the distant dusk, secure in the knowledge that his place in the hearts and minds of tennis-crazy brethren and then some is impregnable. The spirit was willing, but the will was not spirited and truth be said, a thirty six year old on creaking knees, an intransigent back and weary hands could not have done much more. Still, Benjamin Becker…..
If my sporting favourites endure, as they have in most disciplines –Cricket, finally ending on a warm Sydney afternoon after some nineteen summers, the first six spent convincing an understandably disbelieving world that the kid was the goods; Football, happily renewed albeit in a different role this World Cup; Table Tennis, that a spiky-haired Swede was the best over two decades despite losing all the time, and so on.
In contrast, it does appear that those I despise do somehow get accorded the opportunity to round the bend in my capricious affections, the foremost example being one who heartwarmingly and damningly will play yet another Grand Slam final today.
And the lycra-clad renegade punk of yore has indeed turned the corner, and while he may never quite make the grade as a favourite, even beating the rains of hostility and contempt to the sanctuary of equivocation is a huge step. This would be perhaps be attributed largely to his tennis rather than his blow hot-blow cold whimsies off court, where his transition and sustained self reinvention from a youth icon to a marquee to an epitome of familial attachment is credible, if implausible. And most of all, my implicit faith in the judgement of a sporting fraternity which likes many but loves only a very select few
I will continue to quibble about his subnormal IQ, a beatific indifference to his own impact on the game, a discernible remoteness with the Davis Cup ( despite a nifty record !), the needless introduction of schedule shenanigans and power demonstrations over officials among others. And yes, of the eight biggies he won, four were at the “runt of the Slam litter” and history may not record Arnaud Clement, Andrei Medvedev, Todd Martin ( now there’s an American I liked !)Rainer Schuttler as worthies of any merit whatsoever.
So we close with what may well be his most eloquent ( if I ignore “ Coup, did you say “coup”. No. I don’t what that means. How do you spell that ?” )
“ “The scoreboard says I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. Over the last 21 years I have found loyalty; you have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I have found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I have found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams; dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the the last 21 years I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life….. “ "
PS—What’s with the commentary ? Taylor Dent is like Winnie the Pooh with a mike
“ Wow, three amazing shots, a serve, a return and a winner …” . D-uh !!
Some hastily wiped tears at my favourite team losing in the quarters to Zvonareva & Dechy. The giggles are missing, and I fear the worst…
Nadal redeemed himself with a most candid interview after losing to Youzhny, and I wish the Fed learns from that.
Damm is in two finals, hope he wins both.
And the lycra-clad renegade punk of yore has indeed turned the corner, and while he may never quite make the grade as a favourite, even beating the rains of hostility and contempt to the sanctuary of equivocation is a huge step. This would be perhaps be attributed largely to his tennis rather than his blow hot-blow cold whimsies off court, where his transition and sustained self reinvention from a youth icon to a marquee to an epitome of familial attachment is credible, if implausible. And most of all, my implicit faith in the judgement of a sporting fraternity which likes many but loves only a very select few
I will continue to quibble about his subnormal IQ, a beatific indifference to his own impact on the game, a discernible remoteness with the Davis Cup ( despite a nifty record !), the needless introduction of schedule shenanigans and power demonstrations over officials among others. And yes, of the eight biggies he won, four were at the “runt of the Slam litter” and history may not record Arnaud Clement, Andrei Medvedev, Todd Martin ( now there’s an American I liked !)Rainer Schuttler as worthies of any merit whatsoever.
So we close with what may well be his most eloquent ( if I ignore “ Coup, did you say “coup”. No. I don’t what that means. How do you spell that ?” )
“ “The scoreboard says I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. Over the last 21 years I have found loyalty; you have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I have found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I have found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams; dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the the last 21 years I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life….. “ "
PS—What’s with the commentary ? Taylor Dent is like Winnie the Pooh with a mike
“ Wow, three amazing shots, a serve, a return and a winner …” . D-uh !!
Some hastily wiped tears at my favourite team losing in the quarters to Zvonareva & Dechy. The giggles are missing, and I fear the worst…
Nadal redeemed himself with a most candid interview after losing to Youzhny, and I wish the Fed learns from that.
Damm is in two finals, hope he wins both.
