The Badminton Diaries
Badminton :a game played on a court with light long-handled rackets used to volley a shuttlecock over a net
Now comes the difficult part.... playing Badminton.
All these months I was thinking I want to do something with my free time. I never liked going to the gym here. It was too much for me with very bad results. So the peril was how do I start losing some weight by not going to the gym. The answer was fairly simple I needed to 'Work out' by taking up a sport.
Now now I know that I am a fairly good table tennis player (well atleast in my company for sure). But that wasn't enough. It was just too easy. And doubles really didn't give me the exercise let alone the excitement I needed.
Then came the day when Milind and Sudhir decided to go for Badminton. We'll they had racquets but didn't want to play singles. So Vinod and me went with them. Now let me tell you playing badminton is one thing and playing badminton in formals is another. So like scapegoats Vinod and me were hammered around till we actually started getting the hang of things. I had last played badminton around 1998 which was like 10 years ago and I knew I wasn't the fastest player then.
And so it started we had a lot of people joining in over the last few months and apart from Suggu ( who's out due to injury) and Varun (who's now in Mumbai) I would stand third. I did shed a lot of pounds just by playing badminton. Thanks to Suggu, Varun and Youtube(the videos) for helping me grade up in my play.
And then it happend last week. Varun was back for a week and pushing me all over the court. Even though we were playing doubles it was mainly the two of us doing all the work. Then came the 'Active 3' as I would call it. Kul and Varun v/s Vinod and me. Now I knew I wasn't the sleekest mover on the court so I was resorting to my height and power shots to get us through. The first match went up to deuce (15-15) and they won. The second one we won again on deuce and I was dog-tired. The third one Vinod pulled out two blinders to actually get us from (15-16) to (17-16). I guess Varun noticed that I was going to collapse after the match and decided to push me. I can tell you he played the best shot of the game to place the shuttle in the right corner with me positioned at the left. And then I felt the 'Incredible HULK' coming out from me and charge to the right corner. It nearly hit the ground when I did what you can call a half-dive and managed to drop it just on their side. I was still travelling when I played the shot. Varun I guess out of sheer amazement hit it right back into the net and voila we had won! Now I was still travelling and like an idiot looking at the shuttle to see if it had made it through. As soon as I saw Varun put it into the net I looked in front and I saw the wall coming closer to me. Incidently I had forgotten we were on the last court as opposed to our regular court which was not functioning. And then boom! I had also forgotten that were stairs near the last court which I managed to miss while heading for the wall. I gripped the railing and hoped I wouldn't bang. Luckily I didnt. Like a hero I got up and said... "Game Over" "Well played guys". I didn't feel any pain that day. But I am sure I will always remember that 'Last Shot". And yes for the record I played two more days before I realized I had strained my right shoulder and heard a pop and my infamous ligament in the left knee popped. So here I am resting for a few days and not playing. Hopoing to get back by Monday.
All I can say is Badminton is fun and I am really enjoying myself.
Now comes the difficult part.... playing Badminton.
All these months I was thinking I want to do something with my free time. I never liked going to the gym here. It was too much for me with very bad results. So the peril was how do I start losing some weight by not going to the gym. The answer was fairly simple I needed to 'Work out' by taking up a sport.
Now now I know that I am a fairly good table tennis player (well atleast in my company for sure). But that wasn't enough. It was just too easy. And doubles really didn't give me the exercise let alone the excitement I needed.
Then came the day when Milind and Sudhir decided to go for Badminton. We'll they had racquets but didn't want to play singles. So Vinod and me went with them. Now let me tell you playing badminton is one thing and playing badminton in formals is another. So like scapegoats Vinod and me were hammered around till we actually started getting the hang of things. I had last played badminton around 1998 which was like 10 years ago and I knew I wasn't the fastest player then.
And so it started we had a lot of people joining in over the last few months and apart from Suggu ( who's out due to injury) and Varun (who's now in Mumbai) I would stand third. I did shed a lot of pounds just by playing badminton. Thanks to Suggu, Varun and Youtube(the videos) for helping me grade up in my play.
And then it happend last week. Varun was back for a week and pushing me all over the court. Even though we were playing doubles it was mainly the two of us doing all the work. Then came the 'Active 3' as I would call it. Kul and Varun v/s Vinod and me. Now I knew I wasn't the sleekest mover on the court so I was resorting to my height and power shots to get us through. The first match went up to deuce (15-15) and they won. The second one we won again on deuce and I was dog-tired. The third one Vinod pulled out two blinders to actually get us from (15-16) to (17-16). I guess Varun noticed that I was going to collapse after the match and decided to push me. I can tell you he played the best shot of the game to place the shuttle in the right corner with me positioned at the left. And then I felt the 'Incredible HULK' coming out from me and charge to the right corner. It nearly hit the ground when I did what you can call a half-dive and managed to drop it just on their side. I was still travelling when I played the shot. Varun I guess out of sheer amazement hit it right back into the net and voila we had won! Now I was still travelling and like an idiot looking at the shuttle to see if it had made it through. As soon as I saw Varun put it into the net I looked in front and I saw the wall coming closer to me. Incidently I had forgotten we were on the last court as opposed to our regular court which was not functioning. And then boom! I had also forgotten that were stairs near the last court which I managed to miss while heading for the wall. I gripped the railing and hoped I wouldn't bang. Luckily I didnt. Like a hero I got up and said... "Game Over" "Well played guys". I didn't feel any pain that day. But I am sure I will always remember that 'Last Shot". And yes for the record I played two more days before I realized I had strained my right shoulder and heard a pop and my infamous ligament in the left knee popped. So here I am resting for a few days and not playing. Hopoing to get back by Monday.
All I can say is Badminton is fun and I am really enjoying myself.
Comments