6am...

"Aditya...uuth aata...saha(6) wajle..sir yetil aata...lavkar uuth"
who is this calling out? waking this young little kid so early in the morning? come on..he is barely ten..he needs some sleep..well, thats my ever so strict and ever so straight forward...my aaji (granny) .
the year is 1993, i cant remember the dates now..the year i started playing table-tennis...to compete..
going back a little more, let me start with the days when my baba (dad) and gauri tai (my sis) used to go to this small little place called YMCA to play table-tennis..i was barely 6 or maybe 7..i was too young to understand this game..i was barely the height of the table..i watched them play..and maybe thats how the interest evolved..in a couple of months, aai (mom) and baba made me join the coaching class at YMCA..i started playing under the guidance of Mr.Suryavanshi, a fairly old man with a stern voice and a sweet tone..does it contradict my statements? well..he was just like that.i used to shiver with fever whenever he gave a stern look, but then he was one of the most caring people i had ever seen..my coaching used to last for 10mins. thats what it was back then..Not like the 2hr and 4hr coaching classes that we have these days..hehe..but then, i was a beginner then and those 10 mins were enough to get my basics right.."Aditya, Forehand drive." and bang, my tiny little head and my hand came up at the right time to play that stroke..hehe...those were the days...Days, months went by and i was upgraded to 20mins of coaching..my my, i felt so proud...
one fine day, my mom said...Suryavanshi sir is retiring...there is a new sir who will coach you...i didnt know what was coming by...my life was about to change...a few days later, when at YMCA..i saw this man, 25yrs of age...short, lanky with a small moustache and almost a bald head..well, he looked so much like my earlier sir..just younger...Mr.Deepak Mani...My new coach...
I was his first student..though upgraded to 20mins coaching, i was a little kid with no experience..and my new sir, was equally new...not to the game but to coaching...he didnt believe in the 20min coaching scheme..well, he had a different mindset...a different style all together..
So thats how it all started...

sir will be here anytime..he comes to pick me up at 6:30 sharp...6 days a week...why? so that he can play with me for an hour..6:30 to 7:30...thats the official time...we never stopped playing before 8am though...he made me work hard, made me play as much as possible...made me exercise...run, jog, sprint, skipping, duck walks, frog jumps, sit ups, shadow practice...god..how i hated doing that. but then, i realised it brought me great joy...happiness...satisfaction...confidence...success...glory...recognition...and it went on and on...it was then and it is now...nothing has changed....

"Aditya...uuth aata...saha(6) wajle..sir yetil aata...lavkar uuth"