How did you spend your time as a child? Pause for a second, and let those fussy imaginations come to your mind. What can you see?
Well, what I see is in my visualization is that I am playing in piles of clay, building palaces while sensing the touch of clay particles on my feet and hands. At the same time, I see my childhood friend sitting in a similar posture as mine ( to be specific in a potty position) doing similar things as I did ( trying to make castles with walls all around).
This part of life may seem normal to you. But what about my other imagination where I see myself traveling to different states almost every year and racing among the best skaters of the nation? Yes, this is what I did for almost NINE years of my life somewhere between the late childhood stage to the late teen stage.
The earliest memory of my athletic childhood is when I was in kindergarten and we had a sports day at a school. I remember the butterflies in my stomach prior to different sports events, and the eagerness to come first ( not even second or third) at those games. Throughout my schools’ life of almost 12 years in India, I did not miss even a single event in which I did not receive any rank ( mostly first rank). I guess that craving to come first remained throughout my skating journey, and it still persists to somewhat degree today as well.
As they say, destiny leads you to where you are supposed to be. I think my luck led me on the skating floor. My earliest memory with the skating was me, sitting with the bunch of thirty-forty skaters similar to my age ( kids I would say now), while their parents were trying to fit those tenacity skates to their tiny feet as my parents did to mine.
The open sky, the fresh air and the playground ( skating floor) to burst all my energy out made me excited to come out every single day during the summertime to the skating rink. And the same hunger and enthusiasm persisted throughout the eleven years of the skating journey. I guess that is what fueled me to become the Best in the field.
My first ever competition out of my hometown (Ahmedabad) was in Rajkot became the turning point in my life. The champion trophy that I received at the end of the tournament opened the eyes of my coaches. I am still grateful for that moment and initiation by my coaches as they showed me the path towards the progression.
They pushed me to get training under the best skating academy of the state possibly. In the next few years, I received training under one of the best coaches of my state (Gujarat).
The journey of skating with countless hours of practices, millions of memories, hundreds of competitions, a couple of accidents, many of friends and competitors, lots of emotions, numerous trips and so much more… And at-last making my dream reality of wearing Indian speed suit. All these will be explored to you in another part of this blog!!
For now, what do you think do I have a unique childhood? I am sure you all have bundles of memories of childhood. Mine happens to be somewhat less usual than some of you out there.
This post is to let you rewind in the past to bring some of the most cherished memories of childhood. To relive those moments again is always refreshing. Isn’t it?
skatertodpt 