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Showing posts from June, 2008

When Destiny Sends Its Helpers

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At different stages of life, you’re confronted with different challenges. And each time you cross a hurdle, you feel that familiar sense of accomplishment. It’s tempting to attribute that success to your own skill, tenacity, and willpower — to pat yourself on the back and feel proud of how you handled it. But when you zoom out and look at the moments where you somehow managed to trump the odds, a quieter realization sets in: It’s never just you. There is always an unseen army that shows up at the right time. It was 2005. I had decided to pursue my Master’s in the US. I picked a few schools in the Midwest where the expenses were manageable, and that’s how the University of Missouri–Rolla entered the picture. But funding was still a massive question mark. I hadn’t secured any assistantship, and we didn’t have the means to pay out of pocket. We went from bank to bank, hoping for an education loan. Each manager asked for property as collateral — something w...
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The Open era

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My tryst with the game of tennis began way back in the late eighties, when the solitary source of information and entertainment, the Doordarshan , telecast the two of the four Grand Slams, Wimbledon and the French . It was not feasible for the US and Australian open to be shown due to the daunting time difference, and it was a fascination to know that there were other games apart from cricket. Boris Becker had become an household name, what with his unbelievable dives and ripping tennis, that evoked those lovely oohs and aahs from the audience, leaving everyone speechless and spellbound. There was always a mini battle at home, with my mother siding up with Lendl and Edberg , while my dad let his loyalty rip towards Becker. They had their fair share of happiness, as Becker beat Edberg in the '89 Wimbledon finals, while Edberg gave it back in the subsequent year in an incredible five setter. Pic: Steffi Graf, with one of her numerous trophies It was a start of the open er...
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A/S/L?

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As the late nineties witnessed a massive shift from the conventional protocols of communication to the internet, almost everybody wanted to give a piece of his mind on the new find. Everybody was talking in fancy jargons, and I was feeling out of place. Only some of my tech savvy friends had an idea of what a browser is, and would make it a point to discuss it, the intricate details of chat, messenger and other things that would be known to them in the most superficial way. The others would look upon them as if they had conquered the world, mesmerized by their half knowledge. Maybe I was too naive to understand the technological revolution happening around me, but I tried to work my way through it as slowly as possible. First of all, I felt there really was no need to go about learning the internet, since at that time, it really did not impact my life in any way. So, it was a slow start in the world of computers for me, as I was slowly exposed to the big bad world of connections....
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