Discover it!!!...before its too late

An often-said saying goes "You realise the value of things only after you lose them"... well, these past couple of weeks have given me an insight to a thing or two which I would never even have realized the presence of to rue the fact of missing them.. but gladly, that isnt the case. The beginning of this semester has seen some uncanny things happen fore me. After a hiatus of a year, I returned to the rigours of working part-time on campus.. people move on from working part time to securing assistantships, mera thoda locha ho gaya, I find myself on the other side.. but alls well that ends well.. and end I am sure I will make it good.. in the meantime, working as an event staff in Texas Hall has given me the opportunity to be a part of the university from the non-academic aspect...and mind you, its good.

Every university in the US has a pretty strong sporting connection.. Rahul can't stop gooing about his Trojans every saturday (makes no sense to me as I follow NFL and not the college league and he, the vice-versa) and even a severly hampered sports follower like Neil (I can see the barrage of expletives coming but knowing and rooting for Ralf Schumacher doesen't make you a sports fan WASTE!!!) knows that his Maryland basketball team is good and have a 36 ka aakhda with Duke .. mine on the other hand, doesen't boast of a football team but does have a pretty decent Basketball program, especially the wheelchair basketball teams winning the Nationals on a fairly regular basis. People who know me know that I fall into a category that defines a vast majority of urban Indians, extremely fond of sports but ask me to play football and I'd prefer playing the goalie.. not for the responsibilty aspect but for the lack of movement (read running) involved!!

I must confess being a part of an exhorbitantly large international student contingent in the engineering grad school, I have had minimal interaction with Americans during my stay at UTA. And we desis never ever felt the need to go to Texas Hall and watch a game of hoops, prefering to go to the badminton courts during the weekends and securing the playing area with bhai and bandhu before the Chinese invasion occurs!! It hence, although sheepish to admit, caught me by surprise to see about a 100 people on the bleachers for the womens basketball game. Local families with tiny tots running about juggling a fistful of popcorns... and a few senior citizens, who now I know after 3 - 4 such games, are regular in coming to support their local university (mind you they can be as vociferous as some of our boys in the North Stand at the Wankhede back in Mumbai). Its a nice evening out for families and an atmosphere of yo-lets-have-fun-but-kick-their-ASS prevails for a good part of two hours.

One good thing about americans, they loooooooooooooooooooooooooooove to eat... so the concession stands fellas have their task cut out till the moment they close the register. The womens team has been on a roll this season, unbeaten all along for 12 games now. The men on the other hand, have had a bit of a roller-coaster but strangely enought, drew an almost packed house for their game last night. It probably helped that two of the Greek fraternities decided to have a fun mock-shootout on court during half-time. So that meant atleast a 100 young guys and girls (certainly a pleasure to the eyes) cheering on the team, probably a reason why they thrashed the visitors for a most convincing victory. The UTA band is also there in full strength, belting out some fairly good tunes during the time-outs. Half-time generally involves some performance by the school kids of the neighbourhood.

In the end, what I have benefitted the most while earning some measly dollars by checking people's ticket is to have a glimpse into a general fun evening, within my university, which I was oblivious to, all this while.

Random thought: (This section is being appreciated quite a bit of late)

I just made a quick check on a weird list: A list of people who I believe have more faith in my abilities and will to succeed than me myself. In no particular order, mom, dad, Neil, Rahul and Jayee..the kind of unwavering support I get from these people, added to the loads of others who know me and always have a kind word to say to me makes me feel pretty special.. thanks fellows.. thanks a ton.

Song currently on my nano: "Maula mere" from the film Anwar. Excellent orchestration (not sure if its a word really) and Roop Kumar Rathod's voice makes it a perfect hear when all alone.. for once I haven't really been smitten by the lyrics but I just love the sound of the song as it carasses my ears...