Tennis Days

Playing tennis, that too under lights, in a state of the art court is an experience I could never ever imagine 3 years back. Thanks to Zehra and Tushar, I could play my 1st ever tennis game under lights on a chilling christmas night. This game came after a very long time as the last time I played was back in June 2010. The game was very refreshing, and the pain is being felt now.

It all started in MET, back in Jan 2009. As very few people were placed by that time among the recession-hit Operations batch, a lot of people had a lot of time to spend (Should I say waste!) in the otherwise boring Sem - 4. Most of us chose different ways of spending time, but we spotted the intimidating tennis court and felt a pull we just couldn't resist. But there's a story which actually initiated this.

One of those days when Zehra, Tushar and Bhavik were at the court. Some guys were already playing then so they were waiting for their turn. I wasn't with them that time, as I had been to Vaishnao Devi in Jammu, the farthest place I have ever visited in India till now. So, there they were waiting, looking at those guys play a rookie kind of tennis. Zehra had a word with those guys, asking for their rackets and some time to play which they agreed they would do. 30 mins passed by, yet the guys did not stop playing, making things a bit frustrating for us. Soon enough it was 4:50 pm and we just could not bare anymore as the court would be open for students only till 5 pm. Zehra lost her patience (quite naturally) and asked the guys to which those morons said, "Sorry guys, we have a class to attend. We can't give you our rackets." They said this and left, leaving behind 3 people - 2 dejected & 1 furious. Zehra was so angry, Tushar & Bhavik could feel the heat. Zehra felt this should not happen again ever. She suggested to get our own tennis rackets. Tushar and Bhavik were wondering about it.

Buying those rackets was not a simple decision. Among all of us, only Zehra had been placed in Piramal Healthcare by that time. Tushar, Bhavik, Mousami and I were tense enough as we were not. Jobs, forget good ones, were not easily available. Money was also an issue for some of us. We were not sure as to we would be playing tennis that often. Worst, were we deciding to buy rackets just out of frustration? Zehra, Tushar and Bhavik had a group discussion about this. Once they all agreed to contribute, they called me up to ask if I would chip in as well. I agreed, without thinking much about it. It took me some time to realize that I had made one of the smartest decisions of my life in a blink. That was the day after which the tennis court at MET virtually belonged to us till the time we left the institution. (you can ask any of our batchmates about this)

We all used to play for hours together on the court. We downloaded videos from Youtube on how to play the game. We clicked our pics, video recorded our games. We were also planning to organize a intra collegiate tennis tournament then. We had been tan for a very long time. Now Zehra is atleast 2 times fairer than what she was during those days, I am sure Mousami, Tushar and Bhavik would agree! We forgot everything else while playing the game. There was always the tension of placements, education loan, personal commitments troubling all of us. It was the tennis court that made us release all of it and enjoy our lives. We enjoyed a lot, not just tennis, but our lives surrounding it.