Ah

Finally, I had a good game of basketball today! And yesterday was good too.

Basketball is one of the most stable features of my life. I’ve been playing since 6th grade or so, although in retrospect I was really terrible all through school. Playing in Stephen’s, where the court is better and the standard of play much higher than in Vellore (not to mention a much higher average of height, age, and athleticism – there are no Jat college-goers in Vellore!) really improved my game. I’m not terrified of dribbling or driving to the basket any more, although for my height (5′ 10” in shoes, which is on the low side on a basketball court) my ball control should be a lot better for me to make valuable contributions to a game. Short players either need to have an excellent outside shot (shooting guards, they’re called, and for some reason I’m irresistibly reminded of Aby George knocking in shot after open shot in College!) or good ball-handling skills and an eye for passing (point guards – arguably the most glamourous position on a team).

Tony Parker, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Allen Iverson are among the best point guards in the NBA these days. Tony Parker especially is on fire these days – he reworked his jump shot a couple of years ago, apparently, and he’s now lethal whether he drives in or hits a medium-range pull-up jumper. He’s definitely played a big part in the San Antonio Spurs reaching the NBA finals, completely dominating the Utah Jazz. The finals begin next Thursday – San Antonio has home court advantage for the first two games, and will be playing either LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers or my personal favourites, the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, despite losing possibly the best interior defender in the league, Ben Wallace, to a trade at the start of this season, still play some of the best defence I’ve ever seen, while firing offensively as well. Their game is similar in some respects to San Antonio’s, and while I’d love to see a Spurs-Pistons finals series (best of 7 games), I suspect San Antonio will defeat whomever they play against. They have a complete game – Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to drive in; the superstar and hall-of-famer Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, and Fabricio Oberto to play inside; Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen for exterior defense, and Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Michael Finley, and Ginobili for three-point shooting.

Hmm. Got a bit carried away, there. Tony Parker is marrying Eva Longoria on 7/7/07, in France, by the way. The commentators mention it every time the camera shows Longoria watching her fiancee play, which is to say once every half in every game!

Getting back to me, I wouldn’t say I completely suck any more, though. I tend to make the majority of my shots when practising, but during a game it just all goes to pieces. Except on good days.

These good days are few and far between, but on those days my whole mood is uplifted. In fact, my daily dose of basketball has a large bearing on my mood for the day. Almost nothing else gives me as much satisfaction as a good, long, hard game in the evening. When it rains, or for some other reason I can’t play, I feel a mixture of glumness and irritation. My entire day is structured around my evening basketball game. Everything else takes second precedence – studies, girls, what have you. Only drinking and exams can dislodge baski – and exams only since I had a spate of injuries a couple of years ago, hurting the fingers on my writing hand during my Physics finals.

Why am I so passionate about something I’m not great at? I’m not particularly athletic, you see. More broad and heavy than light and nimble. Worse than that, my hand-eye coordination is just not at the same level as many others’. I know I’ll never play in the NBA – or even in the domestic circuit in India. I didn’t even make the College team! (I was on the school team, but only because I was in 12th grade. Got a jersey but never turned up for a match!)

But every day on the court, I’m playing for myself. It gives me such great satisfaction to play this game, and I do it for that reason alone. I may not ever be the best on court, but it’s not about that. It’s about me, and how much I’ve contributed to today’s win (or loss), and whether I was a little better than I was yesterday. I play because I derive enjoyment from playing, and though that might seem obvious, it’s not, really. Imagine if we had this attitude to everything we did in life, including studies/work. Constantly seeking to improve, passionate in the extreme, knowing our limitations but still striving to be the best we can be. Not caring what the world thinks of us, but caring only what we think of ourselves. Being our own worst critics.

If we had that attitude to everything we did, and the ability to back it up, we’d really be great at whatever we’re doing!

Okay, enough philosophy. Juicy gossip time!

Avril Lavigne has posed topless for a magazine cover. Ohhhhh. I’ve always found her quite attractive, and if your friendly neighbourhood librarian posed topless for a magazine cover, I’d be interested! It made the news partly because she had earlier lashed out at Britney for using her body to sell her music, or some such. I didn’t read the article too much, just looked at the pictures.

But this may be even juicer than that – if you went to look at the pictures, you’ll know what I mean. Virgin Radio UK informs me that Joan Jett, she of “Eyyye looove rock n roll, put another disc in the player, baby” fame, who is nearly 50 years old now, is dating…. wait for it… Carmen Electra!

Move aside, Dennis Rodman. What happened to Dave Navarro, anyway? Anyhow, Jett’s publicist denies the rumours, and claims that they’re “just friends.” My ass. Her ass, actually. Electra’s. I can find 50-year olds attractive in person, but being told they’re fifty and without any backing pictures, I get the impression of wrinkles and age.

Every morning, she would beckon – “come and lie with me, love”

So I’m hunting for accommodation in Bombay for my internship there in July.

I Google “free stay bombay” and find a link to this site called GlobalFreeloaders.com.

Wow!! It’s designed to facilitate piling on. You sign up for free, and then can ask to pile on at people’s houses all over the world, if you’re in their area. In return, you must at least indicate yourself willing to host a pile-on if one asks to stay with you – but there’s no obligation to say yes every or even one time.

So I write a nice few paragraphs about myself, making myself seem both smart and cool (“I play the drums and basketball”).

Surprisingly, I get a ton of replies! I wasn’t expecting even one.

As I expected, most of them say “sorry, no.” But one fellow offers to think about it later this month, when he gets home from New York. He lists a couple of points though – he lives in Andheri East, 1.5 hours minimum and optimistically by car from Nariman Point, which is where I’ll be working. And an hour by local train. In the Mumbai Monsoon (how could I have forgotten the 2005 floods??) No smoking in the house – not a problem. I’ve virtually given up, anyway.

But here’s the clincher – he’s gay. And he has only one (presumably double) bed. He promises not to pounce on me or anything, but says I have to be cool with it or it won’t work for a whole month. Oh, and he might bring back guys occasionally.

Hmmmm. I’d like to think I’d be okay with it. But there are a lot of things strange about this. First off, it’s so arbit!! Stay with some random guy, for free, for a month. (The website is clear about that – it’s freeloading. No money should be involved.) Second, the only time in the recent past I can remember sleeping close to a guy is when Anil and Oz, my ex-flatmates, spent one night with me in my room in Outram Lines. Three of us shared two mattresses. The flat last year counts, I suppose – there was a double bed which hosted me and, rarely, Oz. But he preferred passing out in the living room, in front of the tv. And I know Oz! And I know that he’s not gay.

This is a test of how cool I am with (unknown) gay people.

Would you do it? Honestly? Not in theory. If you actually had to sleep in the same bed, and share the bedroom of, a gay man. For a month. No doubt he’s smart, cultured, sensitive, and NOT going to come on to me. But would you do it?

As for me – my folks don’t think GlobalFreeloaders.com is a very good idea. So I’m applying to the Colaba YMCA hostel. 170 bucks a day, including breakfast and dinner. If I get that, I’ll take it…

Oh, the title is a lyric from ‘Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor (c) Dreamcoat.’ The first half of the line is sung by the Narrator, and the second half by Potiphar’s wife, a right old slut who’s horny for Joseph. The reply is – ‘Joseph tried in vain to stop her/ Till one day she proved too eager/ Joseph cried in vain – “Please stop! I don’t believe in free love!”

“Pity.”