I recently found out that Substack has the ability to create lifelong discounts, and so I will be starting every post with the discount link that entitles readers to a 95% discount on a paid subscription. Effectively, that is cheaper than a Starbucks coffee.

So buy me that coffee!!

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July 2008.

I had just spent the better part of 7 hours watching an exhilarating tennis match between the two best players on the men's circuit. It was non stop action with two contrasting styles. The game was just mind boggling. My favorite player lost, though to this day, I strongly believe that he would have won the game had it been played a year earlier or a year later, but that's for a different post1. How could two players go at it with so much passion and not inspire millions of people all around the world?

I was one such.

I read somewhere that a man has only two ages - 22 and 45. In 2008, I guess I identified as a 22 year old (even though the math said otherwise) and decided in that moment of stupid inspiration that I too would start playing tennis. We had a tennis court in the complex, and another 30 - turning 22 - year old similarly inspired friend.

And thus started a journey of my battle with the inner game of tennis2 learning to play a game, but also learning to live a life.

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For example, because my only other sibling was born in 1984, and since that was almost 6 years after I was born, I have always had this impression that anyone born after April 1, 1984 belongs to a younger generation. If you ask my kids, currently 17 and 14, they might both say it is irrelevant and both their uncle and their father are categorized as “old” because they were born before 1993 - which was when their oldest cousin was born.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I feel there is something weird about terming people born after April 1, 1984 as “legends” of their profession. This is not a general statement that I am making about humanity, just a comment that reflects my personal mental models.

And it is in this mental state that I approach this post about two gentlemen who are winding down their respective careers in cricket.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

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Most of us - al…

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NB: I had heard of the Irish poet Samuel Beckett but never really followed his works until I started following the game of tennis in the 2010s. I still haven’t read any of Beckett’s work, but he has been the inspiration for the most famous tattoo in tennis - and also the title of this post. So credit where credit due.

Why do we do what we do?

A few years ago, a Hindi movie about engineering students who are in this prestigious engineering college released. It was a proper Bollywood movie - songs, emotion, comedy, etc. - but was memorable, because it had a strong social message - we should not pressurize children into making career choices, and instead the youth should be given the freedom to “follow their passion”. The movie was funny in bits, slapstick in others, mostly preachy throughout, and a stupendous commercial success. The movie is still remembered through memes and catchphrases, but judging by the number of students who have in the following years signed up for special coach…

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