Away from the humdrum world..

Nov 10,2009 - Preparations..

Erasing out all the thoughts about my semester exams, food, movies, etc... I stepped into the PAP shooting range, Jalandhar(Punjab). We were literally shivering. A team of about 15 members had qualified for this Nationals. It was a commodious range with all the modern facilities. There were shooters from all over India. I saw all kinds of weapons and equipments. We (civilians) had to compete with ncc army, navy, bsf, railways.. which was very tough. We had to finish the weapon check and book our lanes on the first day. Weapon check was the most gruelling task. Waiting with the weapon outside the room with the shooting jackets and gloves put on drains out half the energy. Finally after 4 hours it was my turn. There was a corpulent officer whose looks were intimidating. My weapon check was successful. " Shooting coat - perfect.. gloves - perfect.. shoes - sole bahuth bada hai - rejected!". I was not dejected as my weapon check was over without any problem. Finally, moved on to the practice zone. Tamilnadu team was given two lanes for two hours which was not suffice. The intractable wind annoyed us. Anyways, I tried to set my weapon in the new range.

Nov 12,2009 - The final match!

I was there at the range around 9 am. I missed the curd rice (secret of my energy). The first slot had already begun. My prone match was at 10.30 am. I had a chance to meet efflorescence shooters like Gagan Narang, Tejaswini Sawant, Samaresh Jung, Shwetha Chaudhary and a few more. It was 10.20 am. The officer told the shooters of the second slot to occupy their lanes. Though it was my second nationals, I felt jittery when I occupied my lane. I looked around and was surprised to find Lajja Goswami (world no.1 junior shooter) in the lane next to me. "Your preparation time begins now", commanded the officer. I adjusted my scope, checked for my id card, glucose water,etc.. "3.2.1... Commence fire". My hands were numb and the weapon was cold. I started my sighter card. Fortunately, I was able to set my weapon in 10 shots and started off with my record shots. We had to shoot 60 shots and unlimited sighters in 1hr 30 min. My first four series was pretty good (10 shots per series). I was getting an average of 95. "Focus" was the only word which i had in my mind, but i lost my stamina in the last two series and my score reduced gradually. I should have taken a break. I made a blunder by calculating the time wrongly. I was in a state of vertigo when I completed my match. When the results were displayed in the notice board, I was happy to see that i got 560, my personal best. Finally, into the national team!! Each match taught me a new lesson and some tactics and this was the best match I had ever participated.

The Courage to Succeed

Going back to June 4, 2010. I was excited to go home for the weekend. Boarded the nagercoil express at 8pm. I didn’t feel like sleeping. People were boring in my compartment. I took out a book from my bag, ‘The Courage to Succeed’ by Ruban Gonzalez. Some people gave me dirty looks. I didn’t mind anyways because I had nothing else to do. I started reading the book. It was such an interesting book that I never felt like keeping it aside. It’s about the three time Olympian, Ruben. I came to know about the sport called ‘luge’ only after reading that book. A thrilling and exciting winter sport!! He explains his success story in a very lucid style. I was able to relate many things to my life, especially in my sport of rifle shooting.

It was 10 pm. People started switching off the lights. I had read only half, but wanted to finish it fully. I got up early next day (around 6 am). The train had to reach Madurai by 7am. I looked outside expecting Dindigul… but it was only Trichy. I felt like screaming. The train was 4 hours late. I took my book again to finish the remaining part. The second half was really good! It is about his experiences in the three Olympic games. It is a truly motivating book. A must read book for those who have big dreams..

My first adventurous trek..

I am not going to bore you in my first post. I will just share a few experiences of my trek.

It was the final day of the 12^th public exam. Fortunately our batch had a very easy math paper. I finished my exam and came out of the hall with a sigh of relief. My thoughts started to wander. I was preparing for the Nilgiris trek. It was organized by the government of India. (A five day trek).We were a team of 30 which included people from all age groups. A good team! We halted at the Parson’s valley trek shed the first day. The salubrious climate welcomed us. To our surprise, the place had water and electricity. Maybe they did not want to scare us the first day. We made a small trek which was easy. We visited the parson’s valley, an awesome place. I stood there admiring the placid waters. That night was terribly cold.

It was day 2. I was thrilled about the day’s activities. We started our big trek. We left around 7 am in the morning and reached our site before it got dark. We met the local tribes. It was nice to see the ebullient character of the little children. The people were very hospitable. The next spot was the park. We set the ball rolling by doing some exercise to make our body a little flexible. From there we were able to see the Mukurthi peak. The morning’s first golden rays hit the peak. The view was breath-taking. We started walking. It was easy in the beginning. In a few hours, the trek became difficult. It was the first hill which we had to cross. The ground was slippery. With a little difficulty, we crossed it. We quenched our thirst from the stream waters. It was very pure and sweet! Passing through some valleys, we reached our second site,which was a point of ‘no return’. I was expecting a tent but it was a small building. But for water, everything was comfortable. The only source for water was a river 2 kms from our site. It was a good experience.

We got up shivering the next day. We had soup and bread in the morning and started trekking through the bamboo forest. It was really dense. If you don’t follow the guide and maintain your pace, you will be lost! I had a tough time crossing that. We had to play hide and seek with elephants. In the afternoon, I experienced the harrowing phase in my life. We were on the top of some hill ( I don’t remember the name.. but it was close to the elk hill). We had to cross the hill and go to the next hill. The path was very narrow and rugged. One wrong step and you are dead. We had almost crossed 6 hills that day. We reached the site a bit late. And the room had no electricity. We had a campfire in the night.

The next day we went through the tea gardens in the morning. Around 11 am we started climbing the Mudumalai hills which was not at all a cake-walk. It is known for its pulchritude. We packed lunch in the morning itself. We ate curd rice (my favorite) near a stream. We reached the top of the hill. It was drizzling. A perfect spot to rest. We played cards just to relax. It was time to reach the foothills. We had to stop at several places to check for the wild animals. Finally we made it to the temple at the Mudumalai foothills. We looked up at the hill. I did not believe that I was there at the zenith of the hill.

It was the final day. The trek to Pykara. It was exciting. I lost almost 4 kilos but felt healthy and fresh throughout the day. We were gasping when we reached our final camp site. Our guide strictly told not to leave our rooms after 7pm as the wild elephants will chase you. I was eagerly waiting by my window to sight a tusker, but unfortunately it didn’t cross my room. Our guide distributed the certificates in the night. Felt good!! I bid goodbye to everyone and returned home carrying with me all the beautiful moments I spent in the trek.