Shah Rukh Khan

I refused an onsite(USA) opportunity last year because I wanted to be with my family as my mother and my brother were to perform the Haj pilgrimage. Five million people performing prayers at Kaaba, Mecca was unprecedented.

“Nothing to worry. It’s lot safer and organized these days. Just make sure you are always with Mom” I advised my brother. Even though I sounded confident I was feeling uneasy for Mom who was going away for the 40 day trial amidst half a crore people. Then I learnt about what she felt when I had left the country and lived on the other side of the globe for years.

“It’s all fine here. We have good accommodation. We are praying”, called my brother when they had reached Mecca. In the initial few days, my brother was all charged up. He did Umrah(prayer) for all of us. He pelted stones at Shaitaan at Mina. He went to Arafa and they had spent a night out praying.

“Wow! This place is so amazing! There are people from every other country, esp. Asians and Africans. Those black Africans are so huge you know; but they are harmless. These Turkish women are so strong. They climb the hills so easily. But only Indians and Pakistanis understand Hindi. Others don’t even know English. We mostly talk in sign language. I’m taking lots of photos here”, told my brother on the phone

“Here, the only thing we do is walk. On an average I walk 10 miles per day. When old people go to bed their feet shiver. But I’m making sure Mom isn’t walking much”. I hadn’t liked it much.

After few more days he called me again and said, “I have lost more than 5 kilos. We are away from the Indian camps. Here, we have only Bangladeshis who speak Bengali”

“We have all the facilities here. Mom often complains about her feet hurting. She doesn’t eat much either. Here, the problem is not of physical tiredness. The issue is of communication. We are unable to talk anything to anybody. Whatever we talk is over the phone. Even locals don’t know English. That’s the torture”, told my brother despondently.

“Shut up! This is the place of God. Don’t say like that. It will be lot comfortable once we go to Medina”, I overheard Mom disagreeing with him.

Couple of days later my aunt called me and asked me to call my brother at Mecca immediately.

For a moment I froze. I called his cell, “Hello”

“Hello, Sajid? Nothing major. She is fine.”

“What happened to Mom?”

There was a pause.

“Dehydration and fever. She wasn’t eating; she had stomach pain all of a sudden. Then the temperature rose high. Looking for a hospital”, said my brother meekly
I had never felt more worried ever before. I asked him to give the phone to Mom and I said, “Mom, the only treasure I have is you. Please take a flight immediately and come back. We will say ‘Sorry’ to God”

My eyes were moist.

“Nai Beta. Don’t say like that. It’s a sin. This is the land of my Prophet. I would be lucky if I get to die here” She said. That hurt me like hell. Faith can be such strong!

Before hanging the call, I had told my brother bitterly, “If something happens to her, I am not gonna leave you!”

Then I was so upset that I didn’t call them for next few days. I have no idea how challenging was that for my brother there. He had no one to talk to and no one to help them. But my aunt made sure she called Mom all the time and made her feel good.

Couple of weeks later they landed in Bangalore after completing the pilgrimage. I went and hugged Mom. She was fine and smiling. Then I summed up some courage and asked my brother, “What exactly happened after I hung up the phone that day when Mom was unwell?”

He said, “Oh… That’s pretty interesting. Let me tell you," He continued.

"Then a Malaysian couple came there. We wished each other. I asked, “English?’
The lady said, “No English. Malay. Malay”

“Oh! We Hindi!”

“Hindi?? India??”

“Yes. India”

“Shah Rukh Khan??”

Hearing this, I was pleasantly surprised.
I said enthusiastically, “Yes. Yes. Shah Rukh Khan!!”

“Kuch kuch hota hai??”

“Yes. Kuch kuch hota hai!!”

“Dil……to pagaal hai!?”

“Yes. Dil to Pagal hai!”

 We were so happy that we were smiling broadly at each other. Then suddenly a Pakistani Maulvi warned us, “Shhhhhh.. No movies talk here!”

They offered some sort of juice to Mom, helped me find a hospital and accompanied us till the hospital. Mom recovered fully in 2 days in the hospital”

As he said the above his eyes shone bright.

“God only could have saved us if those Malaysians weren’t there”, sighed my mother.

I then thought, how easily do we accuse the film stars to be selfish and showy but we hardly realize the love and harmony they spread across the world. It’s priceless. SRK surely does it I guess. Even the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, AR Rehman, Sachin Tendulkar transcend every barrier and unite people across the world. Their fans belong to different religions, countries and communities. Even though they speak different languages, they find the language of ‘love’ to communicate.

Earlier my mother didn't have any interest in the movies. Now she adores SRK :-)

Tennis for Beginners

There are four kinds of people who play Tennis. One, who play just for fun; they just want to hit the ball without caring where it would land. Two, who want to reduce and stay in shape. Three, who want to make it big in the world of Tennis. Four, who want to update on FaceBook for the world to see.

Well, it may seem that I belong to the fourth category. But I would say a big NO! I actually belong to category five. I would explain it a bit later.

The other day one of my young friends said that he loved doing Yoga. The other one said he loved to play golf. I said, “I do love Yoga and golf but not now. At this point, I want to play Tennis, lift weights and do sky diving!” I then explained my point to them saying that I want to do things in my youth which I may not be able to do when I’m old. The point I was making was, ‘Youth’ is so precious and let’s do what we love doing before it gets too late.

Anyway, coming back to Tennis, it is a wonderful sport played across the world wherein your performance depends solely on your skills and not on your size. There is no body contact here unlike in Footballs, Basketballs, Kabaddis etc. Even though it’s very physical it’s a clean game. It was in the year 2007 that I held my first racket and would love to share some tips for the aspiring Tennis players. First and foremost requirement for Tennis is that you should be athletic, period. If you aren’t ready to run like a dog on the court then stop reading further.

1.If you have played cricket or TT before, Tennis is not difficult. After all it’s a ball game and ball games aren’t a cake walk. It is very evident that you must have the sense of the behavior of a ball. Take a tennis ball and try throwing it up or catching it or bouncing it off a wall. The idea is to get the feel of how to control a ball

2. Buy a basic racket. You get those $15-20 Wal-Mart rackets. Once you are comfortable with the basics and are ready to switch to power game you can switch to power rackets. Remember that you shouldn’t play power shots with Wal-Mart racket else you might end up developing what is called ‘Tennis Elbow’ just like my friend Baaji

3. Choose a partner whom you are comfortable with. If he/she is better than you then it’s good for you. Buy extra duty tennis balls for hard courts and heavy duty balls for clay courts. I prefer Wilson brand

4. Most basic thing in Tennis is how to grip a racket. There are various grips for various shots viz., Western, Eastern and Continental and so on. Initially start with the Eastern grip for all the shots, that is hold the racket straight perpendicular to the ground.

5. Start playing. Your goal should be to just cross the net and keep the ball in play. One mistake every beginner does is to try to hit hard or try their hand at Serve. Serve is the most difficult shot in Tennis may be after the high backhand shot.

6. After few days, either meet someone who plays well or go to YouTube.com or enroll for few training sessions to learn different grips of rackets. Those grips will enable you to impart spin to the ball. Learning Top spin is a must. It will take lot of time to learn it but with dedication, patience and practice you will get it

7. Once you get a fair idea of forehand, backhand, chop, slice, volley, overhead, lob etc you can take to the Serve. Again you need expert training on this. Else go to YouTube again to see the step by step techniques. Serve if done with improper technique can greet you with a Tennis Elbow

8. Next, the things you need to do is practice, more practice and still more practice. You can change the racket at this stage. Again consult an expert on what tension of the strings suits your game. Start hitting those power shots and those cute drop shots. Don’t try crazy stuff like hot dog and all. Once I tried and hit myself in a wrong place. The idea is to practice regularly and keep improving yourself. Observe yourself or ask someone else to observe you and try correcting your mistakes

9. Tennis is a hard game to master. It will take years before you master every stroke. Dedication is key. In 2007-2008 I used to play tennis a min of 2-3 hours per day without fail for more than a year except when it was peak winter in December-January. Funny thing was I even played in rain. And my fat content of the body was less than 10% then. 'Dedication' is the word. Never panic. Never lose heart if you don’t get those shots right. It took me 4 years to learn different serves with the right technique

10. Meanwhile you can join a league, fancy your chances against the unknown players and make friends. And then the sky is the limit. I tell you, it’s an amazing feeling to hit the ball and see it land precisely where you wanted it to. One more thing, do it while you are young! All the best!!

Now, coming back to what I had said about category 5. Category 5 is for those who play Tennis just for the sheer love of it. I don’t know how to describe it. For them Tennis is religion. I used to watch the sport on TV in the late 80s even before I knew what cricket was all about. May be it was then that I fell in love with it. Fortunately my first love was not a woman. But unfortunately I never got that chance to play in my teens. You know how it is in India. But now I am almost married to it. It’s my only priority in life now until I guess I will no longer be able to run like a dog on the court.

My passion for the sport may look funny, crazy or foolish to people at times. But all I want to say is that, ‘I don’t know any alternate way of living life’! See ya later. Practice Time Now J

PS: I have put the picture of Steffi Graf. I was her biggest fan!