Legendary Rivalries of Tennis

I thought I would list down some of the Legendary Rivalries in the world of tennis (sport that I love), I’m not looking at team rivalries, but some contests between some highly talented sports personalities, these rivalries have made people flock to courts… they excited people they wowed them for different reasons… 

 I am not listing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in this as they are still going…

1.) Boris Becker vs Stefan Edberg

This was the beginning of my introduction to this sport… I hated Becker but he was a worth while opponent to say the least… the serve and volley of these two and I have seen countless video’s of them even on repeats. When these two would play it would be excitement and nerve hopping.. When they played Wimbledon finals and Doordarshan would telecast them it was like bliss… !!!

Not too many heavy aces and not too many big ground strokes unlike today where every one is an athlete and blasts winners like crazy…. but subtle serve and volley… the old fashioned Tennis as they call it now… I loved their contests where it would be topsy turvy.. A truly sensational rivalry without any real bad blood and no raw passion from fans either… !!! Which was a welcome relief in a way..

Here is one really interesting video of the two in a tie-breaker at a Wimbledon Finals…

2.) Steffi Graf vs Martina Navratilova

One of the biggest sporting personality for me in the world of female sport was Martina Navratilova she was the epitome of fitness then… she would simply win them, be it singles, doubles or mixed doubles and still be hungry for more… in a way the ladies sport then became boring coz there was almost no match. Chris Evert was a competitor but nothing like you would want for a champion like Martina….and then came this almost shy, sweet smiling but unbelievably tough cookie to set up a rivalry… These two remain the best two tennis players in the history of female tennis for me…

In the initial phase of steffi’s career after she beat Martina in the 1987 final in French open to win her first Grand slam but the Champion beat her back to back in the Wimbledon and US open finals… thats when the era of these two started… and we would all sit in anticipation hoping the top two seeds would reach the finals…. I cannot pick who was my favourite among the two…

Two true champions again… !! here is another fight of the two on video again in Wimbledon… and if you haven't realised… Wimbledon is my favourite tennis tournament… I love the green grass… the whites… and the ladies errrr… the tennis players on it…

3.) Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi :

On one side was the best serving player the other side the best returner of serve.

On one side was style on one side doggedness.

Flash vs Grace.

The most endearing rivalries… While I believe Pete Sampras was one of the best players ever on fast courts… Andre Agassi was one of the most versatile players… These two when against each other was the biggest treat you could ever imagine… I still remember one match at the US open in the quarter finals of the year 2001 where Sampras defeated Agassi 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. If ever there was a perfect match this was one. The two players do not make errors… they only either force errors or get points by winners. This is one heck of a roller coaster match and the level of tennis in this match is of really high quality !! just watch it ... here are a few highlights of that match .

Driving in India

Rules Of The Road, Indian Style

Travelling on Indian Roads is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable — and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous.

Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on a Sanskrit text. These 12 rules of the Indian road are published for the first time in English:

Article I:

The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

Article II:

Indian traffic, like Indian society, is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to:

Cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs, pedestrians.

Article III:

All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers’ mantra.

Article IV:

Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):

Cars (IV,1,a-c):

Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, i.e. in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.

Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, i.e. to oncoming truck: “I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die”. In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).

Single blast (casual) means: “I have seen someone out of India’s 870 million whom I recognise”, “There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)” or “I have not blown my horn for several minutes.”

Trucks and buses (IV,2,a):

All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: “I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could.” This signal may be emphasised by the use of headlamps.

Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

Article V:

All manoeuvres, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

Article VI:

In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.

Article VII:

Rights of way: Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.

Lane discipline (VII,1):

All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

Article VIII:

Roundabouts: India has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.

Article IX:

Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you.

Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centres. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing — and one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

Article X:

Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

Article XI:

Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in India has reverse gear.

P.S. I got this in an email. This is not my original post. If you find out a source then please let me know. I shall gladly oblige.

HOW TO CRACK INTO TCS

PHASE ONE: APTITUDE TEST
We had an Online Aptitude Test...NO NEGATIVE MARKING BUT SECTIONAL CUT-OFF(so everyone attend every single question,provided you have the same conditions).

We had three sections in the Aptitude Test:
Verbal was difficult....in the sense that it didn't have words from previous papers!!!
Quantitative Aptitude was the easiest,i had already seen 90% of the questions from this section,in the previous TCS papers.
Logical Reasoning or whatever one calls it,was Latin and Greek for me. I think one can get a good idea about it from BARRONS 12th EDITON.

PHASE TWO:TECHNICAL INTERVIEW
Once you clear the aptitude test(level one) you are  75% done.We then move on to the Technical interview.The interviewers were really friendly...especially mine.There was a gentleman(also a KVites).I opened the door and asked their permission to enter,with a 1000W smile on my face.They asked me take my seat...I thanked him and sat down.My resume was on my lap..they never asked for it.All they referred to was the application form that I had filled.

The gentleman(sadly i do not remember his name) broke the ice by asking an informal questions...anyway my reply was confident.He then asked me about my favourite subject,which was as i said,Physics(surprised??so was i,when he asked about school subjects!!).

He asked me what SONAR meant...i really didn't remember..so i managed by telling him,it was related with sound and had DOPPLER EFFECT as a basis.He said,"That's good.But can you explain?". I told him i didn't remember.

Then he asked me about Concave & Convex Lens and Kepler's Law Of Gravitation. I managed both correctly,and we moved on to the core subjects(at last!!!!). My areas of interest are DBMS. He asked me about the Various Phases of S/w Engineering (a very general question). I was able to answer them. Then I was asked to write a c-program to reverse a string(a success) and later on,the question was about Singularly Linked-List from Data-Structures.And finally,DBMS concepts were touched upon....i spoke confidentially for two minutes,when they asked me to stop. I had the feeling things were going to turn out well...!

In between I had actually stammered once,but I was not reprimanded.They reassured me by letting me know that they knew exactly how I was feeling.I was asked to relax,ask a glass of water if needed and then to continue…from hereon I spoke confidently till the end of the HR,making sure i made no lapse in speech.

At the end,they asked me weather I had any questions..I enquired about the prospect of higher education through TCS.After giving me satisfactory answers,they asked to wait outside.

And there I was,waiting nervously outside my TECHNICAL interview room...and when finally,I was asked to go down for the MR(same as HR) interview.....RELIEF ebbed through my entire body.I knew for sure that once I had reached this level,i was not going to return home disappointed.

THE FINAL PHASE:
I could see happy faces outside the HR room..evidently fuelled by the fact that they will get selected.I had to wait a long time to meet my HR interviewer(he was a bit busy) which I did not mind at all.Meanwhile I asked my other friends as to what they were asked…some unlucky guys were drilled a lot on tech..most of the people had just a casual chat.
Finally i went in to meet my interviewer.I was beaming at him and when I reached the table,we shook hands and sat down.He was really sweet.He actually apologised for the delay(3hours actually)..i said it was no problem.

He initially asked me why i wanted to join TCS..i answered it straight from the books.
Next,"OK these are the reasons u want to join TCS. Why should we hire you?". Bookish answer again.

Moving on,we had a good chat on F1 as he too was a follower.We had a good fight over whether "Micheal Schumacher" should return or not. Later did i realized that it went too informal, i should have restrained from being too augmentative. Finally he asked me as to weather i have any questions....i asked him not one,but THREE!!

1.sir,the prospects of higher education in TCS.
2.What does TCS actually expect from its newly-joining freshers??
3.What actually happens during the training?and after the training??

When we were finished, we shook hands and left with the words,"it was a pleasure meeting u Sir." I had a feeling of jubilation when i came out. It was a long wait for the results starting at 5pm which eventually ended at 8:30pm. When my name was read out it was like,” oh my god, I really made it through”.I was delighted. I thanked GOD and congratulated all my friends.