Be a sport!

I am happy! I thought I live in a corner of Bangalore where fun quotient is negative (Its true to a large extent) but as they say - 'Every cloud has a silver lining'. There is a lot of open space around my apartment and recently a couple of folks living nearby have set up a make-shift Badminton court in one of the unused plots ( I assume this happened with the permission of the owner ;-) ) I'm all set to join in and enjoy my evenings -- Whatever remains of the evening by the time I reach. Anyway, I am certain weekends will be action packed for the already hyper-active me.

Throughout my school days, I used to play Badminton & Table-Tennis.  I did not pursue it actively during my college days. I don't really know why. The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that I had quite a bit of traveling to do in those days. But I know you're thinking 'Where there's a will there's always a way' ! ;-) Since I am on a roll with cliched sayings, let me add this for motivation as well - 'Better late than never' !! 

 In school # 4 ( I have studied in 5 schools ) , sports played a very important role. Would you believe if I told you that the boys used to be trained in Boxing here !!??! Nice way to arm them if you ask me. Ask a girl out, she refuses.. Box her ears !! :-D ( Nah I have no personal experiences! ) Not just that, they held annual marathons , hired excellent sports teachers and ensured everyone participated, by choice or force. They had a very annoying rule though. Sports classes/periods were always after school. Evenings 3 - 5 p.m. Twice or thrice a week. Their uniform was funny especially for boys. Too embarassing to reveal it here - Email me for details ;-) For girls, it was alright - skirt and shirt. Let me reveal something even funnier. Students were not allowed to wear their sports uniforms to school (like all other schools). Instead you had to carry it with you and change prior to the sports classes. Yuck. I used to HATE it. Imagine... I know you can't. Try !! School ends at 3. All girls rush to the changing rooms. Sports classes ends at 5. Again change and go home. Well I usually never changed back and went home directly. So much change in 1 day was beyond me and frankly I didn't care. 

More often than not, in the lower classes, I'd forget to carry my 'Sports Kit'. Or worse, my shoes would be dirty because I would've forgotten to polish them. My mom is a stickler for rules and cleanliness. Since the classes were always in the evening, she would polish it and keep it ready (and clean). My school was 2 kms away from home.  I was glad when I changed schools though !! Even most of their other procedures in schooling were strange and non-conformist. 

I loved the sports classes though. I played for inter-school, intra-school etc and I have fond memories of the winning moments. There are always hits and misses. That's what makes playing so much fun. In school # 5, I used to play Throw-ball too. I was abysmal to say the least. I couldn't  serve despite repeated sessions also. Didn't help my cause that I am not tall. Add to the fact that I was made the Captain. Ridiculous! I tried to reason with the sports-teacher that it didn't make sense. Thanks to the other girls, we managed a few respectable wins.

I have learnt several lessons as a sportsperson. I won't delve into preachy guidelines and sermons since I find them all sounding hollow :-) That its easy to let go of inhibitions nearly sums up all my learnings. I'm usually game for most things that life throws at me. Trying my hand at something new is my favourite hobby. 

I don't sit glued to the TV and watch sporting events regularly. I used to religiously follow a few Tennis tournaments when in college. My current favourite sports-person would be Michael Phelps. 

Even today, the Badminton, Athletics and TT certificates I had won are so close to my heart. None of my academic 'achievements' can take their place. There is simply no comparison (in my eyes). I plan to play all my life :-)