Federer's French Open glory in "The Lion King" style

The most awaited and a glorious chapter has been etched. A name not to be easily forgotten for years and generations to come has been permanently chiseled in the annals of tennis history. Roger Federer, the Swiss maestro has clinched the three time eluding Coupe des Mousquetaires (French Open) trophy. In doing so he has equaled Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam championships and also becoming only the sixth player in history to achieve a career Grand Slam by winning all the four majors at least once. He also equaled Ivan Lendl’s 19 Grand Slam Finals appearances. He created a record of 20 successive Grand Slam Semi-Finals appearances.

Let us look at Federer’s latest French Open victory in “The Lion King” movie style for a change.

The setting: The night before the finals on Philippe Chatrier while Federer was asleep. In his dreams…

The Past Greats: You’ve forgotten us.
Federer: How could I.
TPG: You’ve forgotten who you are and so you’ve forgotten us. Look inside yourself. You are more than what you’ve become. You must take your rightful place in the history of the game. Remember who you are. You are Federer, the one true king.

Just before entering the dressing room before the finals, the weather was a little cloudy and there was a cool breeze blowing across. And, Federer was with Mirka.

Mirka: What was that? The weather, very peculiar, don’t you think?
Fed: Ya, looks like the winds are changing.
Mirka: Ah! Change is good.
Fed: Ya, but its not easy. I know what I have to do but going into the match means I’ll have to fight the demons in my head and the burden of pressure. I’ve been unable to handle it for so long.
Mirka: It doesn’t matter. The way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. So, what are you going to do?
Fed starts moving towards the dressing rooms.
Mirka: Hey, where are you going?
Fed (emphatically): On to the court.
Mirka: Good! Go on.

While Mirka was trying to get to her spectator box, she saw a few people talking to her in-laws. By the time she came close…
Media: Hey, have you guys seen Federer?
Fed’s parents: We thought he was with you.
Media: He was. But now we can’t find him. Where is he?
Enters Mirka and responds to that question...
Mirka: You won’t find him here. The king has returned.

Click here for my other articles on Roger Federer in the last one year or so.

Are These Dasavataras Or Human Evolution?

I was always intrigued at the dasavataras of Lord Vishnu in my childhood. Each story, explaining the reason behind the avatars is inspiring. Though I don’t share the same excitement as I used to, I will read it anyway just to keep my memory fresh if ever I get access to this topic.

Recently, while I was browsing through various topics on wikipedia, I came across this “dasavatara” page. I read through the page and started to skim through the other links (for each individual story). In this process of reading through a sudden thought struck me. All the avatars have shown a logical transition of evolution right from the first through to the last (am not really sure of 9th and 10th).

The List

1. Matsya
2. Kurma
3. Varaha
4. Narasimha
5. Vamana
6. Parashurama
7. Rama
8. Krishna
9. Buddha
10. Kalki

The first avatar shows a simple life form of Matsya, the fish. No complications, no attitudes-basically a very simple form. It followed with Kurma, the tortoise. From here on we can see the process of evolution, “From a simple water living creature to an amphibian”. But the attitude remains the same-docile.

Then came the avatar of Varaha, the boar. The amphibian slowly giving way to a terrestrial creature and the attitude starts turning aggressive. From hereon it became very interesting for me. The psychological evolution is amazing when related to the evolution of mankind.

To be contd…

Freudian experience explained, though partly

Today, I saw the actress, Sriya Saran. I was so attracted to her eyes that I started following her. She was getting on board, the same flight as I was, and I was just behind her – almost a touching distance. We were almost at the entrance. I was thrilled at the opportunity of starting a conversation with her and seize the moment to request her to sit next to me. At the same time I heard someone calling me. There were two distinct voices and I instantly recognized both of them. In the fascination of getting a closer look at the enticing eyes I almost forgot that I was with my parents.

The thought of the presence of my parents with whom I should travel made me stop at the doorway of the flight and turn around, though only for a fraction of time. In the next instant she was gone. When I peeped inside to see where she was, I saw that she was already paired with the actor Tarun. They were sitting together side by side and they’d already started a conversation on something. My thoughts were like, “I guess these guys won’t leave them even in real life.”

So, I reluctantly turned round and traced my steps back to my parents to get on board the flight together. Even this time, I was behind them by the time we were about to enter the flight. Once again I heard someone calling me. This time I wasn’t sure of the voice. I’ve never heard that voice before. I turned around to see some officer asking me to stop where I was – destined to be the same spot where I stopped trying to follow the actress.

He said that I cannot board the flight. I was like, “Why and what makes you think that I cannot board?” He told me that I cannot as my Passport has expired. I was perplexed. I thought this man must be crazy. I couldn’t figure out what he was talking. With an air of confidence I waved him away saying, “You must be mistaken. How could I ever reach up to this point of boarding if my passport has expired?” His expression made me unusually uncomfortable. He coolly darted back, “Buddy, during the interim time between check in and entering the flight your passport has expired and our rules don’t allow anyone to get on board this flight without a valid and LIVE passport.” This just put me off. I was sure that this guy must be out of his mind to say something like this. To confirm my eligibility I took out my passport and opened the pages for him to get a clear view of the expiry date and I got a rude shock of my life. It sure was expired.

I was at a loss of words. The officer maintaining the same coolness repeated, “I cannot allow you to enter the flight till you present to us a LIVE passport.” I did not have any other choice. So, I ushered my parents into the flight saying that I’ll join them later and turned back homeward bound at which moment I got up from my dreaming slumber.

The fact that explains the second part of this dream was I’ve applied for a Passport renewal some time back and I am awaiting its dispatch. So, till I get the passport I cannot accompany my parents who are scheduled to leave for the US in a few days from now. I know this pretty much sums up the above description from the third paragraph onwards. But I still need to figure out what the first two paragraphs mean in my dream. Are there any Freuds or people practicing his ways that can solve the puzzle for me? They are most welcome.