Sunshine in my life

Right now, that would be Table tennis (ping-pong). I had learnt this game formally as a school kid and used to play in the competitive circuit till college happened (strangely, i started playing at the insistence of my sister cos her friend played it and he was kindof a school hero; she never accepts it though). Stopped playing somewhere along the way...

I had gone to watch the Tamilnadu state championships last year...met some old friends that i had played alongside as a junior...they were playing in the Men's category and were working for the government (Postals/LIC/Agriculture dept and the like)...they had all taken up TT as their profession...i was thrilled to see all those people after such a long time...and was happy to see some high quality games...he proceedings excited me enough to think about getting back in the circuit...Chennai is a very-high-competition zone for TT (Bengal and TN can stake claims for being the TT capital of India, other states are way behind)...i could at-best hope for a 2nd or 3rd round entry (an opening
round exit is more like it:)...but things are different now...i would not be crying after losing a round like i did as a junior...i would not be too tensed during a match...and the entry fee would not matter much...

I went to this club called YMIA-Mylapore and told them that i wanted to practice there regularly...one of the guys in the club politely told me that they would not be able to accomodate me. To be taken in there u shud either be under 5 yrs of age or should be a currently ranked player in some state.(i had played a senior nationals for pondicherry some 8 yrs before...but then that was a long time ago and i knew i wud be rusty). But that guy was decent enough to refer me to a club close to where i live. I am glad he did that...thats where i play these days, with a bunch of
school kids...it is housed in a school called V.V.V in beasant nagar...and it boasts of a number of ranked players in the junior categories (the top one being the TN Junior girls' No:1 called Niveditha...she is a 11th standard kid, and she beats me hands down..)...It is a lot of fun...to play with a bunch of kids for whom TT is the most important thing in life, is nice...i can totally relate to that feeling...i've been there...beyond a point i never knew vacations...summer vacations meant Intensive TT coaching camps...I dint achieve much though...i was in Trichy, and to be something
in TT in TamilNadu, u got to be in Chennai (thats my excuse:)...but travelled a lot and made decent money (for a school sudent, any money is good money:)...

Anyways thats that...work prevents me from playing the ranking tournaments regularly...i still manage to play some matches once in a while and surprise myself(and a lot of others:) by winning some...it is such a nice feeling to win competitive games...i had nearly forgotten it...it is still extremely rare for me(i won only 2 good matches in the past year), but it is atleast not non-existant, and i give myself a chance to pull it off once in a while...