As you, my fawning fans, know I am a man of myriad interests and tastes. A true connoisseur of the good things in life and an open experimenter to boot.A man not afraid to try new things at the risk of mortal peril or societal reproof. Truly an amazing person (*bows, acknowledges the applause. Oh stop please, I want to continue this post too)
So anyhow, I have written on many occasions about the tennis I try to play every weekend. It started in October of 2007. A bright sunny day my then boss and I reached my then office's tennis court with Rs old tennis racquet. Three years and many racquets, tennis balls and restringings later I still like the game but have lost some josh that I had for the game in the early days. Sleeping at 2 and getting up at 4 in the morning to reach the court early enough (I have actually reached the court before the sun came up once. As Barney would say, true story) is becoming a thing of the past and I find myself not even setting an alarm for the morning and hoping that Sid would get up and give me a call to wake me up for the game. And heaven forbid if I've had a late night! The phone can ring till kingdom come and I wouldn't pick it.
But today I felt some of that josh of yore returning with baby steps in a new game. I went to AS' apartment to try this new beast called Squash. And what fun it was!
Its intense, its fast, its mindboggling (on occasion, when you lose sight of the ball and flounder and wheel around frantically to prevent it bouncing its dreaded second bounce!), and it is so so tiring! (As an aside its so good to be an army brat. Sid has played all these games before. And though I managed to win two out of three games (hehe), it must've been such a sporty childhood where you get to try your hand at so many sports with all facilities available). Anyway, I had a whale of a time.
And talking of wheezing whales, squash also has a murky side to it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, its not all fun and frolic at Swapnil's. We follow responsible journalistic tendencies and highlight the ugly with the good to ensure that you, the reader, the public, walks (or, you know, clicks) away from here with a complete and insightful view of the whole issue.
We were playing 15 point games and when I found myself leaning against a side wall, half bent over heaving and huffing to catch some breath with just 10 points having been fought over, the message was emblazoned across the wall (or, you know, the floor where I was staring in today's situation).
And it said - Fitness.not.good.Have.to.do.some.thing.
And I quickly put together an appropriate response of supreme urgency.
Will.jog.after.this.last.pitcher.God.promise.
So all in all a great sport that I'm looking forward to playing a lot often.
Actually a very good Saturday in totality. Played with AS' cute pugs after the game and rounded out the day with a couple of games of snooker as well. I am in my cue games phase and I must be getting old because I prefer snooker to pool now. Its so much tougher and serious.
One debate has started raging in my mind. Its a bit unrealistic considering I just moved in this house a few months ago but I am actually considering moving to an apartment with such sports facilities. I mean it would be expensive but it would be so cool to come back from a long, mentally exhausting day at work and then have a quick game of squash (can be played alone as well so no dependencies) or just soothe your mind with a gentle game of snooker before going to bed. Lets see, it doesn't make any economic sense but it would be so nice to have these things available...
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