Passion – I

I was 11 when I first stepped on a basketball court, no it was not at my school. Infact my school did not have a basketball court untill the year I passed out i.e. out of the school after grade 12. Before I was 11 most of my life had nothing to do with passions, just simple life, spending days at school and then later at home, and getting adapted to the new place i.e. my home town.

I used to walk to this basketball court at a local arts and science college, around a Km from my place. Most of the time I would bring along a ball with me so that I can dribble that to the court. I did not play much then, as in the game, most of the time it was just dribbling and shooting with the punctured balls (as in fill up every half an hour if u play for a couple of hours). I learnt a lot of ball there, watching the college guys play and occasionally playing a short game…and then when I reached High School it all ended, the regular basketball in the evening, and for what ? Hanging out, pool, PC gaming, riding bikes in and out of the small town and all the stuff one would like to do at school. At 17 I got into Table Tennis and Badminton and was one of the 2 best players of table tennis at school and formed the best doubles in badminton, but it was not as exciting as ball. Once I left school, there was no game I played more than I did basketball. Even with my small stay at Vellore Institute of Tech for like a couple of weeks, I went to one of the 4 flood light courts (yeah they had 4 courts with lights and I guess a couple more which were closer to hostels as the hostels are across the railway track and u got to go under the small bridge to go to the main building and Library) and watched some real tough guys playing good ball…..
For me basketball carries 40% of my stay at IIIT (as in the part of my life I will always rmr). All those amazing games right from the first year, when we played so much for fun, rao starting with basketball, ruchir, shivam and me building our game … then in second year, when I started feeling so much for the game, I so much wanted to win it, Prithvi vs Vayu game, which got a story in the echoes, will never forget that game. third year when we got one of the best player iiit will ever have, Arun B (I dont believe I m praising someone with that poor standard of the game ) and playing with ruchir, shivam, rao, hemanth and him was awesome. There are many moments with basketball at IIIT which are hardwired in my memory….
Then, a few days back I thought of quitting basketball….