The love of my life

I have wondered often, if I'm ever going to find the love of my life! You know the kind of girl;
Who would make your heart skip a beat?
Whose thought would make you feel light and almost levitate?
Whose sweet voice makes me forget all your worries?

I thought it was my "Jenny" (Name changed) for a long time, then briefly thought it was Penny (Name changed again) and somewhere in between or before or after it was Benny (Name changed ofcourse)!! I even wondered if it was Jack (Fictitious).

I strongly believe myself to be really really lucky in life. And yet, my poor heart has had to go through so much action and trauma!! Luckily (as always) I had a few hobbies that I could pursue (Thanks to my parents!!). So I took up tennis in a big way, also wanting to win the ISL tennis tournament again, comprehensively this time!! I even wanted to dominate swimming like Phelps!!

I remember vividly my first day back in the tennis courts after a break of about 15 years! I had this huge grin on my face whenever my coach fed the yellow tennis balls to all of us, waiting in queue to hit them! I'm sure my co-students on the court wondered why in the world was this old guy smiling and chucking for no apparent reason? (Remember the next youngest student was like 12 years younger than I was!).

And then there was this pretty girl Aiesha (Name changed) who lightened up my mornings, more than the sunshine and the kingfisher plane that hovered on top of the courts daily at 7 sharp! The plane above my head made me smile!! Have you ever wondered what an invention the airplane is????

I cannot forget playing with this 14/15 year old girl (I don't know her name). As long as she rally'd with me, I could hit back with the same intensity. But as soon as she started hitting harder (You will not believe how hard she can hit) I could not return the ball to her court. It used to generally go out or to another court or out of the court. I am old enough to laugh at my inabilities and I thoroughly enjoyed every game I played with her. I was almost a nightmare to the ball boys who played so well. I could defeat them in their own backyard!! I felt like Edberg!! All grace and power!!

That's when it hit me!!!
No matter how tired I was the previous night, I couldn't wait to wake up and get to the courts.
No matter how late I came back from work (Sometimes 2am); I woke up and went to the courts.
No matter how much it rained or how cold it was, I was there on the courts; Hoping that by some miracle the courts have dried. (I do believe in miracles)!
No matter how much my body ached cuz of the sudden pounding my body was taking, I was there on the courts.

I have not been able to wake up at 5:30AM without an alarm. Be it the most important exam, the train to Black Forest, the bus to Paris or the Great Ocean Road, or to NASA. And here I was waking up at 5:30AM, without any alarm!!!!! Just so I am the courts on time to start my day with a bit of tennis!!

That's when it hit me!!! I surely did love Jenny (a LOT), Penny and Buffy and I hadn't turned gay!! That's when it hit me that the love of my life need not be a girl!!! I'll surely hope for that special girl a while longer. Hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies. But..

It is "Tennis", a love affair that started 22 years ago! Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Pat Rafter and Andre Agassi my heroes!! I almost had tears in my eyes when Justine Henin announced her retirement; It takes courage to quit and move on! Will you believe me if I said I just had goose bumps as I was writing this!?? Just a confirmation from my body that "Tennis is magic to me"!!

I love tennis!!!