Sunday, January 10, 2010

Cold Cold Texas

I hate the cold. I think I can trace it back to the time when my whore of a
captain had made me keep lookout on the monkey Island when the ship was in
the winter Baltic. There is absolutely nothing about the cold I like. And if
anything insists in associating itself with the cold, even if it is the
snow, fluffy bunnies or Santa, then I don't like them either.

Which is why I like the gulf of Mexico and Carrib region. Its a mellow
region and save for a few hurricanes a year, you would be forgiven to assume
that you were lounging about next to your pool in the backyard on a sunny
day. This trip proved otherwise. The arctic chill, also called "The Canadian
Express" made its way from up north and the temperatures reached record lows
in 27 years. Why they had to wait 27 years only till I reached the port is
something I have yet to figure out. But Water was freezing, decks were
icing, people were slipping, extremities were hurting and there was a lot
and lot of swearing.

It just wasn't Texas week as the Texas Longhorns lost to Alabama in the
finals of College football at Rosebowl at Pasadena. Over the last couple of
years, I've been trying to follow the sport and watching the movies, you
pretty much get the idea what the game is about. This particular game wasn't
so bad, and the 'bama team had to deal with a pretty decent fight-back from
the longhorns in the third quarter. These might just college kids pushing
around each other on a grass field, but they are huge in the US. When you
listen to them giving interviews at the post game celebrations, I was
reminded of Tendulkar when he was hitting Quadir for sixes. There is
something about the raw passionate power of excellence that brings tears in
my eyes at times. Van Gogh paintings, Tendulkar sixes and the broken elbow
of quarterback Cole McGraw.

Those and the cold bloody wind.

No comments: