Energizer Manny

I being a sports freak was no wonder I got into the game that earned me the title. Being from India, you should not be surprised that I am into Cricket - the only non controversial religion in India or rather whole of the Sub Continent that unites the people of South Asia beyond borders, politics, religion and language. However, as always, I had love for other sports to like Football (In some parts of the world like here in US call it Soccer. I still wonder why?). Football is the game that I played the most in my childhood, more than cricket I guess. I love the adrenaline flow when you score a goal and the team effort it takes you to score a goal. Its awesome! Unlike Cricket, this game is no one man show. That being said, you should suppose it's natural for me to have a liking for any other game. And you are right.

Tennis however happened to me in quite a dramatic manner and has nothing to do with the lone women tennis star from India or rather my city of Hyderabad, Sania Mirza. I always followed the game right from the days when Pete Sampras won his first Wimbledon and Monica Seles challenged the superiority of the German super woman Steffi Graf. Sampras and Seles were my favorites to start with the game as they won their championships defeating the then defending champions.

I started playing the abridged version of the game by setting a make shift benches as net, the hard bound covers of note books as tennis racquets, my study room as our indoor court and my younger brother as my opponent. Did I mention that a ping-pong ball used to be our tennis ball? Well, those were the amazing days where happiness could be found in little things and everything can be attained from the available resources.

Never in my wildest of dreams did I think that I would be playing Tennis in indoor courts of USA. Those were the days when all my mates were getting ready to land in the dollar nation and even I was one to follow the bandwagon. However as fate had it, I met with rejection at the US consulate and that made me fell dejected, depressed and what not. I had the feeling of the burden of the whole world on my shoulders and had no sense of living for a long time, until I got my next VISA appointment that went well. Thanks to my leads and friends who supported me that time. Moreover thanks to the game that got me busy and made me live for something more than job.

Thus I started playing actual Tennis with a racquet that I bought from one of my friends who moved to US. Took coaching at the tennis academy (Again a wonder to find a tennis academy in a remote location as my place). My first coach was the support staff at the academy as the actual coach was on leave for the weak that I joined the academy. I still use the same grip (eastern) and the traditional style of playing the game that I was shown by first coach. That guy learned the game just by supporting the actual coach and was perfect to the core in identifying the minute technicalities of the game. Thanks to the man, that I play some good fore hand shots, that some of my friends have loved to watch.

The approval of my VISA application made me stop the formal coaching of the game as I had to fly to the dollar nation, to make my dream come true. But, that had it's disadvantage in terms of learning the game as I had stopped playing the game just before I had to learn the back hand and service. However the number of hours that I spent in the tennis academy had given me enough to play an acceptable level of tennis that was admired by my mates.

I played the game with my mates in Los Angeles, for some time got a great company of friends who loved playing tennis but was on irregular basis. There were times it was fixed for a brief period of time. I even had a challenge game with one of my mates / tough competitors at office, which landed us on tennis court challenge. However, as my misfortune had it, I met with an accident on my India trip just before the game when I hurt a ligament in my right knee that left me limping for two months. The first thought that crossed my mind when I met with accident was the tennis game I would miss after returning to LA. This led to a break in my tennis and cricket for over 2-3 months. Once I landed back in tennis court after a gap of 3 months I felt like I had a re-birth. Owing to the challenges in office, our challenge tennis game did not materialize.

In the mean time I moved from LA to Denver. I was lucky enough to find a friend / a roomie who was more interested in tennis than cricket, a rare interest for some one from the sub-continent. But that was exactly what I needed and we hit tennis courts more often in the cold of Denver than in the sunny weather of LA. The only thing that stopped us from playing the game more regularly was the snow. That was the first time I made an unfruitful attempt of searching for indoor tennis courts in Denver. However, we made best use of whatever good days we had in Denver by spending most of that time on court.

As I grew more luckier, I found myself in Sin City of the world, Las Vegas. This time with one of my good buddies who was literally addicted to tennis. I was mere interested in tennis but this is the guy who had his leg fractured, thanks to his 6-7 hour days on court. He was so addicted to the game that he got an apartment that had a tennis court just in front of the door. Another roomie of ours is a doctor who was on his internship in LV, from the same region as we are, had the same level of interest for tennis. Thus there was no stopping for us. Everyday for two months, every evening starting at 8 PM we played tennis like crazy. There were days when our games have lasted from 8 PM in the evening to 1 AM. That was crazy to the core! However this madness didn't last long, as our project was scrapped and we had to get out of Sin City. Still I regard those days in LV as my best days of life / consulting career / tennis madness. I forgot to mention about the challenge with my office collegue which I lost eventually, when I visited LA.

Though it was unfortunate to leave the hot Sun of Las Vegas for Lansing, MI one of the coldest places in US, it turned fortunate in terms of tennis. As I found a bunch of folks who were really into tennis at a skill level that was better than my previous tennis mates and me. Thanks to the indoor tennis courts of Lansing, now we can play tennis irrespective of the weather conditions. I got into some serious tennis. There was a gap to meet our crazy project schedule but once the things have calmed down in project. Recently played a doubles tennis tournament organized by the local Tamil community of Lansing with one of my mates and best players that I ever played tennis against / with. We were able to upset the tournament favorites and play the semis, however lost to a good team in the semis. But the tournament made me take the game with even more dedication and skill.

Now a days we play tennis regularly and has got some good tennis enthusiasts in the project team. We make sure that we get onto the tennis court immediately after office and make it a point to get some good practice. The longer rallies that I play in the game had earned me a nick name among my friends 'Energizer Manny'. I would like to stick to the game as long as there is energy left in this energizer.

Another year away from home.

Another year away from home. In the last three years in the dollar land, this is the first time when I had spent the whole year away from home. The last 365 days, have been 4 cities, 2 countries and finally settled (for time being) in the Spartan city.