Ghulam Revisited

Never believed in something that happened at the ending of the movie, Ghulam , but could correlate so much to the movie yesterday on the badminton court. With absolutely zero energy left in me, I was contesting in a match for the third position against an seemingly arrogant chinese. It was quite an unusual day for me, I was playing after quite sometime, for the first time a singles tournament, and with totally different kind of shuttles. It was a corwd of nerly forty guys to beginn with, and I strategically entered into a easier draw. But in anycase, I somehow dragged myself to the semis, and by that time I barely had any more energy to be burnt out in my body. But with acouple of protien bars and lotsa gatorade I was able to stay thoroughout the game and lose :(.

But now was the match of my life, I was playing a chinese for the third position. My muscles were giving up and the guy was cruising to a victory in the first set. I had already gotten into a defeatist mode, and thought I will just accept defeat without playing the second set. Mr.Opponent was leadin, 14-1, but, just then he made a snide remark to his friend, "I wish I was playing a better player for the third position" , which kinda got me furious. I took a short break, pulled all my spirit back, gulped a bottle of gatorade, and fought back. I lost that set 15-10. Followed by winning the next on 15-4. I was no more tired, and felt that I could beat him very peacefully. Leading 7-1 in the third set, lady luck bade a goodby. I fell down trying to pick up a drop, and sprained my calf muscles. That was the enfd of the day, infact, I realize today, that its the end of atleast close to a week of physical activity for me. My opponent, I thought went ahead and claimed the third prize, but later realized that he was courteous enough to share it with me. (10$/2= 5$ each:-p and a T-shirt:)).

Anyways it was a wonderful experience... and a wonderful end to a day when the Nittany lions crushed Michigan to win the conference... rather shared the win with OSU .. like I shared the third prize:)