Eer, Bir, Phatte aur Hum…chale US Open! (Part 1)

How tennis helped reunite 4 blokes after 24 years.

Arre, who goes to Amreeka with friends to watch the US Open?

Till even 3 months back, my answer would have been, The Nawab of Pataudi. That is, celebs of his ilk. 

Yes, have seen friends fly down to Singapore for F1, and to Moscow for the FIFA World Cup. Or extend their work trips to catch some sporting events. But somehow my middle class upbringing never allowed me to think I could possibly make a self-funded trip to the US, just to watch tennis. Here’s how it started.

In our WhatsApp group of IMT, Ghaziabad batchmates, somewhere in the 1st half of June, 2018, Anurag Rohatgi (Philadelphia) invites the tennis fans on the group to come over to watch the US Open. To sweeten the offer, he said we could stay at his place, and that the tickets were on him! Vikram Khanna (Auckland) asks him to confirm the offer again – clearly, nibbling at the bait. Rajnish Girdhar (Bombay), buys some time to think over – clearly, on the fence. And as they mounted pressure on me to join in, the ludicrousness of it all was just too much; simply put, even the idea was just way too rich for me.

As this was happening on the group, I was sitting on the swing at home, laughing about it, when my wife, Lakshmi catches me & asks ‘what’s so funny?’ I tell her the mad plan that was hatching. She says, ‘Yeah, why don’t you also go?’ I stop laughing. She says, ‘You love the game, the players, and you get to meet all your friends. One life, go!’

And I start to think – how long will the Federers, Nadals, Djokovics & Serenas keep playing? After this legend generation goes, will I even feel like going to a Slam? And hey, my US visa is also still ‘alive’!

Daughter hears the whole thing, and joins the chorus, ‘Dad, this is our Father’s Day gift to you – go!’ And before my rational mind could come back & kick some sense into me, within the next 24 hours, I booked my tickets.

Eer kahen, chalo US Open dekh aayi.

Bir kahen, chalo US Open dekh aayi.

Phatte kahen, chalo US Open dekh aayi.

Hum kaha, chalo hamau US Open dekh aayi!

 

We all landed up in Philly around 24th-25th August,

visited DC on 26th,

and spent 27th – 28th August in Flushing Meadows, NYC watching the first 2 days in the 50th year of the US Open.

How did that go?

Click on to the part 2 of the series!