Love all

Before writing about Chennai Open, my friend delivered her baby on 3rd Jan. A healthy boy. Sidharth. Mother and child are well.

I got 'Excellent'(grade) in my French exam. For which my mom and sis presented me with lovely gifts. *hugs & kisses* :)

What with the likes of encountering players like Ljubicic, Moya, Stepahnek, Muller and many others on a daily basis, that you quite lose the significance of their importance of their physical capability and concentrate more on their behaviour on the personal front. Thats exactly what happened to me. This was the first year I was going for Chennai Open and thought it would not be my fort when it started. I had no first hand information on any player so that ruled out preference nor did I have any great likings to Tennis to appreciate what was happening right in front of me. I was just another player service member doing what I was told to do. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had no expectations whatsoever, and what I experienced in such a short while - a span of 9 days, well, came as a bit of a surprise to me. This was the first year, I did not call up any of my friends to wish them a happy new year at the stroke of midnight. This was the first time, I did not look forward to gains/losses. This was the first time, I just let myself free of any prejudices to hold against anyone/anything. This was the first time, I just let myself free into a completely new atmosphere (of talks of sets, rankings, vollies, aces instead of designs, colours and drawings. And still felt belonged. This was the first time, I really enjoyed and I could call myself satisfied at the end of everyday, before I slept at night. For the first time, I was happy. Very happy. Yes, my new year had started. And the state that I am now in, Well, I could call it bliss. A week that changed my retrospective on some ..'complicated mind theories' that I had over for the past few years.

To start with, my new year day, 1st Jan started like any other, with only an extra chore of wishing all the players 'Happy New Year' with the usual 'Good Morning'. As Player Service (hereafter, P.S.) personnels, our part of the job is actually very simple. Players or their coaches mostly, turn up at the desks and fill up the names on the practice schedule sheets. Say for example, the columns have the place[Centre Court, Court 1, Court 2 and so on] and the rows have timings [10-11am, 11-12am..]. The coaches need to just choose the best timings and place for their wards to practice. And then the players would turn up at the desk for Unopened cans/ Used balls/ Towels etc. When matches happen, one P.S. is the sitter, aiding the players with their wants like towels, water, cool drinks, ice. And the other P.S. would supervise and provide extra if anything else is required. He/She would also note down the score and make sure the score cards are up. So as such, there was nothing much eventful, the way my job started. We were given two t-shirts and tracks and a pair of shoes(adidas) and an ID card which were to be our uniform till the tournament ended. There was always lot of activities in and around. We'd have to run a million times here and there to check the courts, the store, the IMG office to arrange for accredition. Sometimes the towels wont come from laundry on time. There would be no towels at all to give the players (I dont think I have ever folded so many towels in my whole life.. some 100 odds everyday) Then sometimes waterbottles would not be cold. The coolers were not working in the courts. Some bright co-workers pasted the doubles partnership names mixing it up. The score cards were not lined up properly. Kits (for every match, we take 6 towels, 6 cans of unused balls, one can of used balls, sawdust, ice) to be prepared. Then the sponsors dropped in their line of tennis balls and t-shirts demanding us that we get it signed. Might sound minimal, but occupied most of our time. There was no time to think. Only just to act. Inbetween all these were my interactions with some people, whom I will never forget in my life. Some rare moments joking with the players, some players teasing the other. Some of them, trying to escape from other players, not wanting to play with them. Pranks played. They just looked like a bunch of boys - naughty ones, having the time of their lives. And in the game, they suddenly turned professionals. They apolgised when they wronged/ appreciated when their opponent scored.. most of all the discipline that everyone followed.
Some of the players that I interacted with and found a liking owing to their styles (apart from their good looks :P) were : Simon Stadler (Germany), Ivan Navarro Pastor (Spain), Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic), Gilles Muller (Luxembourg), Kristof Vleigen (Belgium), Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) and ending with the doubles pair Michal Mertinak (Slovakia Republic) and Petr Pala (Czech Republic). Me taken a liking for more players from Czech.
Other than the players, I was also trying my hand at talking in french wherever possible (Most europeans could). The people whom I interacted with were - Cyril Saulnier's coach, Muller's coach (Gilles Muller is from Luxembourg, but his coach from Paris), Kristof Vleigen's coach (Belgium, but could talk in french) and my most favourite of all - Hugo (He's going to come more often in this post). My victims were quite a few, I daresay. They put up with all my grammatical errors and tried to help me by talking slowly. Other than the french connection, P(my friend) and myself were talking to Aida Ljubicic (his wife). Through Ljubicic's blog, I came to understand that she wanted to see more of Chennai's real face, than being impressed by 'The Park' where they were all staying. P wanted to buy something for Moya's coach and Aida. A gift that would remind them of colours/craft/culture something that would leave them in a better thought about India than just pollution and population. I also wanted to give something to Muller's coach and most of all, Hugo.
Before going any further, let me tell you about Hugo. He is the physiotherapist appointed by the ATP Tennis for the tournament. He is french. So thats how my conversation started. I told him how I was trying to improve my french. From then on, whenever he passed our desk, he asked a question or two or greeted me in french. Not just that. I do not know how to put this, but he is the kind of person who is very friendly with everybody. He was making everybody laugh with his wierd expressions, singing some song or other, and doing his work with efficiency( I witnessed this twice, during a particular match). Once with Harsh(India) and the next with Tomas Behrend(Germany). And always had a whole-hearted smile to offer anyone who passed him. I guess to me, that matters quite a lot, on how people interact with others. I hate attitudes. Every one has something to offer, that makes noone a lesser human. I grew to like him a lot these last few days of the Chennai Open. He just made it more lively. And something for me to look forward. Oh ya, tennis affected me too. Experiencing it at close quarters, wanted me to see more of it. Somehow, I've fallen in love with the aces and vollies and such. Yes, caught the fever. I've decided to follow it starting with the players that I mentioned above.
Back to the gift part. So P and myself shopped or lets say, hunted for three hours around Mylapore to get some traditional stuffs. Got bangles, terracota horses & goats, metal crafted paper weights, and lot of peacock feathers to go with. Then packed it in another traditional cover and kept it ready. On Saturday, we gave it to Aida when she came, made sure nobody was seeing (We did not want the management to know). We told her this also. She was quite surprised and gave us a hug and also wrote a very nice letter to us, the next day. Then P gave hers to Moya's Coach, Joan Borsh. And I gave my gift to Muller's coach. Muller's coach surprised me by giving me a T-shirt of his and signing it too. I'll be posting a photo of that soon. As every gift was given without the other P.S member's knowledge, it grew quite difficult as the crowd next to the desk kept increasing. I smuggled and gave bangles to Jiri Vanek, exasperated to know, he is married. Same kind of bangles to Vleigen also. My mom gave me a book of Sudoku puzzles to give to Vleigen's coach(which Kristof was threatening his coach, to get it filled with the answers given at the back!), when I told her he was trying the game printed in 'The Hindu'. We gave a small decorated mirror to Muller for his girl friend who had accompanied him.
I had bought a pair of terracota horses, bangles (for his wife/daughter, I told him) for Hugo and had written a petite letter for him. The task of giving this was quite challenging as it was of considerable size. The others had fitted into our pockets but this..
It was during the Stepanek vs Moya Match, all of us were standing next to the Players entrance trying to catch a glimpse. Hugo also came there. I guess, ready to be called for (Moya has this shoulder problem, that needs constant care) and Stepanek was ruling over him. One match, I really wanted Stepanek to win. Anyway, I passed the gift to him saying 'Pour vous' (For you), he was so surprised. Took from me and gave me a peck on each cheek. It was my turn to be surprised. The next day, he gave me an ATP cap where he had written a short note in french. I'm gonna treasure this. I have taken a photo with him. I'll post that also in a short while.
When we said Good-bye to these wonderful people with the knowledge that we might never see them again, it was quite difficult. Especially to me, Hugo. I knew I could catch a glimpse of the players in the TV/ Internet. But a physiotherapist? A tear escapes me to find the right words.
To end with, I learnt something from this week, something that I was thinking about for a while in December. Whether, I would do a job, other than designing and still be satisfied with it. In this case, yes. Maybe I would have started disliking if it had gone on forever. But something that I found which still persisted in me is the fascination of how people could still make a difference in you, by a gesture, by their presence however minimalistic. And I want only this from my life. Yes, I did want to be an art director.. and still do. But people matter to me. Wherever I am, whichever field I am working, however the working conditions are, I know, I'd be able to handle with competence, or atleast my job. And have the courage to take responsibility if something went wrong. And weigh my opinions a lot more times before judging. My retrospective once again takes a turn. I doubt, it will a few more times. I had a great start this year. Maybe there will be more miracles/stony paths down the way. That day, I'll come back to this post and know, that I'll feel the same warmth, I am feeling now and become serene to start afresh allover.