BLOG 2 - Marine Musings 2 - TABLE TENNIS

PROLOGUE:

With trepidation, I have ventured into the field of Social Media, in the form of my own Blog.

I have always shied away from any public platform, preferring to stay behind the scenes.

After my last career oriented employment ended in 2014, I was at a loss. My interests had always been with ships and shipping. One would argue that to limit oneself to a narrow field without having outside interest, does not bode good for a post retirement life.

And it proved to be so.

The pre-conceived notion is that a retired Marine Engineer has no hobbies to occupy himself. So, he either goes in for teaching, or exasperate his daughters or sons by spoiling the grandchildren or - like in my case - turn to writing.

For nearly 6 months, I tried to become part of a couple of institutions as a lecturer. A newcomer faces biases in every field - it was more so here. I did not like the undercurrents of dirty politics that I found and, so, I left.

For 3 years, I struggled to find myself in an insane world. Then I started writing. My grand pursuit of the ultimate bestseller did not even get off the ground – I had no imagination.

On a whim, I started writing about each phase of my life, from childhood to the present and I found it to be extremely therapeutic. It started off in small spurts in the first couple of years and is now a steady stream. That is sufficient for me – I do not wish it to become a raging torrent.

I have been writing about my career, my ships, my experiences, my thoughts, my colleagues. I hurry to point out that by no means is this writing about myself narcissistic or egoistic, as I had no intention of letting this get into the public domain.

I, still, am reluctant to start a blog, but the devil in me rises. My son, Amrith, helped me start.

This is my 2nd blog.

Marine Musings 2 - BLOG 2

Chapter 2

My Table Tennis Takes Off

During selections for the college team, I eased into the team as the 5th member, the more senior players finding it very hard to beat me. I had the disadvantage of playing with a plain ‘Sundar’ bat, as the sandwich bats of those years were beyond my pocket money’s wherewithal. I saved for three months to buy myself a second hand worn out bat and changed the rubber on it. My game improved by leaps and bounds. I did find it difficult to even buy the ‘Montana’ (12 annas) or ‘Halex’ (1 rupee 4 annas) balls needed for practice.

I started participating in the open tournaments in Secunderabad and Hyderabad, paying the Rs 2 entry fee for each of them. A couple of tournaments down the line, I was playing the semifinals against a much fancied State player. The whole crowd of around 1000 people were rooting for my opponent, but that did not deter me and I extended him to the final set and lost marginally.

A couple of days later, I was in the college corridor when a senior BSc student passed me and, suddenly, backtracked to me and asked me if I was the one who played the semifinals a couple of days ago. When I said yes, he asked me if I was a student of this college. He was aghast when I said I was doing PUC here. He straight away pulled me to the President of the Students’ Union and told him ‘ this junior of ours braved a 1000 strong crowd and nearly beat a State player. Our college student must have some support’. Then I was told to inform the President of any tournament that I play and crowd support would come in the form of my college mates – 100 for QF, 300 for SF and at least 500 for the final.

My amusement knew no bounds. Pre University students were the low life of the college and not worth recognition, but I suddenly became the centre of attention. My game improved, my crowd base swelled and I came close to winning a couple of tournaments against some great stalwarts.

Meanwhile, our college won the inter college tournament and I was selected to play for Osmania University the following year. I lost the finals in singles and won the finals in the doubles and mixed doubles.

One of the TT coaches from National Institute of Sports who was stationed in Hyderabad, had seen a few of my matches and he asked me to come for coaching after the exams were over and before the next academic year begins. I was told that he was a scout for young talent to don the national colours and play for India. Alas, it was not to be.

Of the seven of us (5 male, 2 female), who were representing the college, 3 of them were from the Parsi community. They do not normally invite others to their homes, but once done they literally make you a part of the family. Wonderful people, warm and selfless, wearing their wealth inconspicuously, but living their life in their own cocoon.

My doubles partner was a Parsi. His uncle had a 5 HP Norton bike, so my partner would sometime take me to tournaments on this bike. I still remember the vroom…vroom of the numerous bikes at the last traffic light in Secunderabad before hitting the Tank Bund Road skirting Hussein Sagar Lake. All the other bikes screamed and raced away when the signal turned green. My partner sedately allowed all the other bikes to take a sizeable lead and then…. he opened the throttle. We reached the other end before the other bikes reached halfway. Pure bliss.

===== To continue in Blog 3 =====